Month: June 2018

AT&T to Close Time Warner Deal, But Government May Appeal

Posted on by SeeUS

AT&T Inc may close its $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner Inc under an agreement reached on Thursday with the U.S. government, which might still appeal a case seen as a turning point for the media industry.

AT&T said it could close the deal by Friday. The government has not ruled out an appeal and has 60 days to file.

AT&T agreed to temporarily manage Time Warner’s Turner networks separately from DirecTV, including setting prices and managing personnel, as part of the deal approved by Judge Richard Leon late Thursday.

The conditions agreed to by AT&T would remain in effect until Feb. 28, 2019, the conclusion of the case or an appeal.

Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Tuesday that the deal to marry AT&T’s wireless and satellite businesses with Time Warner’s movies and television shows was legal under antitrust law. The Justice Department had argued the deal would harm consumers.

U.S. President Donald Trump, a frequent critic of Time Warner’s CNN coverage, denounced the deal when it was announced in October 2016.

The fact that Turner, which includes CNN, will be run separately from DirecTV makes a stay unnecessary, said Seth Bloom, a veteran of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division who is now in private practice.

In its lawsuit aimed at stopping the deal, filed in November 2017, the Justice Department said that AT&T’s ownership of both DirecTV and Time Warner, especially its Turner subsidiary, would give AT&T unfair leverage against rival pay TV providers that relied on content like CNN and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

“This is clearly leaving open the door for the DOJ (Justice Department) to appeal,” Bloom said. “If Turner is run separately, they don’t really need a stay.”

The AT&T ruling is expected to trigger a wave of mergers in the media sector, which has been upended by companies like Netflix Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.

The first to come was Comcast Corp’s $65 billion bid on Wednesday for the entertainment assets of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.

AT&T had been worried about closing its deal ahead of a June 21 deadline if the government won a stay pending an appeal. Any stay could take the deal beyond a June 21 deadline for completing the merger, which could allow Time Warner to walk away or renegotiate the proposed transaction with AT&T.

The government may have a difficult time winning on appeal because of the way Judge Leon wrote his opinion, four antitrust experts said.

“I don’t think this would be overturned. It is so rooted in the facts that I would be surprised if an appellate court overturned such a fact-laden opinion,” said Michael Carrier, who teaches law at Rutgers.

In a scathing opinion after a six-week trial, Leon found little to support the government’s arguments that the deal would harm consumers, calling the evidence for one argument against the deal “gossamer thin” and another “poppycock.”

The merger, including debt, would be the fourth largest deal ever attempted in the global telecom, media and entertainment space, according to Thomson Reuters data. It would also be the 12th largest deal in any sector, the data showed.
…

your ad here

Honey Smacks Cereal Recalled Over Salmonella Risk

Posted on by SeeEU

Kellogg Co said Thursday it is recalling an estimated 1.3 million cases of its Honey Smacks cereal from more than 30 U.S. states because of the potential for salmonella contamination, in the latest case of U.S. food products possibly tainted by the illness-causing bacteria.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration said it worked with Kellogg to issue the recall after preliminary evidence linked the product to more than 60 illnesses.

“The FDA is working with the company to quickly remove this cereal from the marketplace,” the agency said in a statement.

Cereal pulled

The FDA said it has asked Kellogg to request that all retailers of the product immediately put up signs saying Honey Smacks cereal has been recalled and to remove the potentially contaminated product from shelves.

The U.S. health regulator also said it is inspecting the facility that manufactures Honey Smacks.

Kellogg earlier Thursday said it launched an investigation with the third-party manufacturer that produces the cereal immediately after being contacted by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding reports of illnesses.

The company said the affected products had use by dates of June 14, 2018, through June 14, 2019. The voluntary recall involves its 15.3 ounce and 23 oz. Honey Smacks packages. No other Kellogg products are impacted by the recall, the company said.

Outbreak linked to melon

Earlier this month, the FDA warned residents of eight U.S. states about recalled packages of pre-cut melon linked to a salmonella outbreak. They had been distributed to stores operated by Costco Wholesale Corp, Kroger Co, Walmart Inc, and Amazon.com Inc’s Whole Foods.

The FDA and CDC are investigating that outbreak, which has also been linked to more than 60 illnesses and at least 31 hospitalizations in five states. No deaths have been reported.

Salmonella can cause diarrhea and severe abdominal cramps lasting up to three days and is particularly dangerous to young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. 

It causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths in the United States each year, according to the CDC.
…

your ad here

UN Fears Grow for Civilians in Yemen City of Hodeida

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.N. Security Council called Thursday on all warring parties in Yemen to keep the key port of Hodeida open, as humanitarians try to deliver critical assistance to about 600,000 civilians in the city. 

Council members held the emergency closed-door session after the Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes on Hodeida early Wednesday, after what coalition partner the United Arab Emirates said was the expiration of a deadline for Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to surrender the critical Red Sea port.

“It is time for the Security Council to call for an immediate freeze of the military attack on Hodeida,” Swedish U.N. envoy Carl Skau said ahead of the meeting. “This is needed to give the [U.N.] Special Envoy and United Nations-led efforts a chance to avert disaster and find a sustainable political solution to the conflict.”

U.N. Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths had been shuttling around the region trying to prevent the offensive, which the U.N. warns could have catastrophic consequences on a country where 22 million people already require assistance and is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. He is due to brief the council Monday.

The U.N. has evacuated dozens of staff from Hodeida, but work continues through local partners. 

“Yesterday, even as the city was being shelled and bombarded, a U.N.-contracted vessel, which is docked at Hodeidah port, off-loaded thousands of metric tons of food,” U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande, said in a statement. 

Grande said two more vessels are waiting to do the same. Humanitarians have been preparing for a possible assault for weeks and have pre-positioned food, water, fuel and other emergency supplies. 

Hodeida is a lifeline for the poverty-stricken country, which imports 90 percent of its food, fuel and medicines, 70 percent of which come through the city’s port. The Houthis have controlled Hodeida for the last two years.

Despite an international arms embargo against the rebels, the coalition accuses them of using the port to smuggle weapons into the country, a charge the Houthis deny. 

“We believe the coalition operations can create the right dynamic under the Yemeni government leadership to advance the work of the U.N. Special envoy Martin Griffiths in support of his peace plan,” UAE U.N. Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh told reporters. 

“We don’t think there is a military solution to the conflict in Yemen, but we think every time we push hard, the Houthis accept to engage,” Yemen’s new foreign minister, Khaled Hussein Alyemany, told reporters in New York. 

The coalition has expressed concern that the Houthis may try to blow up the seaport if they are forced out of the area. Alyemany said he has expressed this concern to U.N. envoy Griffiths and asked him to push the Houthis to respect international humanitarian law, which prohibits the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure. 

Alyemany said coalition forces are not targeting the port as part of their offensive. “We are not planning to destroy the infrastructure; we are not planning to cause a major humanitarian impact,” he said. 

Saudi Arabia began bombing Houthi rebels in support of the Yemeni government in March 2015. Since then, the U.N. estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed, mostly due to airstrikes.
…

your ad here

Activists: Senegal’s Abortion Laws Lead Women to Infanticide, Prison

Posted on by SeeAF

Infanticide is the second most important cause of female incarceration in Senegal. Rights groups, who have raised concern over the conditions of women’s detention, blame the country’s restrictive laws on abortion. Many are calling on the government to loosen its legislation.

Aminata, a name she chose to hide her true identity, was asleep with her two youngest children when police came to her home in the town of Mbour in the middle of the night.

She had given birth two days earlier and a neighbor had seen her bury the baby. Aminata claims it was stillborn.

She said she was impregnated by a cousin, who took advantage of her situation after she lost her husband and moved to Mbour to find work.

“I did not want the baby,” she said.

Aminata was arrested on the spot and served four years in prison for infanticide, one year shorter than the typical sentence. She was released in 2015.

After drug-related offenses, infanticide is the biggest cause of female incarceration in Senegal. Rights groups estimated that in 2015, almost one in five women were arrested on charges of infanticide.

In the Thies detention center, where Aminata served her time, this figure nears 30 percent.

 

Joseph Faye is a lawyer for the Senegal Human Rights League, a local partner of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights which — among other things — advocates for legalized abortion around the world.

 

He said female prisons are overpopulated, and the country’s strict abortion laws are largely to blame.

Senegal is one of 10 countries in Africa where abortion is prohibited in all circumstances.

There are strong feelings against abortion in Senegal, both in society and at the government level. In a nation that is 96 percent Muslim, Imams speak out forcefully against the practice. Women’s rights advocates say there is also the cultural perception that allowing women to have abortions on demand will encourage them to be promiscuous.

Women in Senegal can legally terminate their pregnancies if three doctors certify that her life is risk — a task activists say is almost impossible to complete within the abortion time-limit.

In the female quarter of the Thies detention center, women chat quietly amongst themselves as they embroider tablecloths and napkins.

Prison officials say there are never more than 30 detainees at one time, but both rights groups and former convicts claim the real number is higher. Aminata recalls sharing a cell with more than sixty others.

UN takes issue

The United Nations has taken issue with the conditions of women’s detention. In a 2015 report, the world body says Senegal’s prisons are not adapted to women, with no facilities to handle pregnancies or accommodate children.

Awa Tounkara works for the Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers, an organization advocating the legalization of abortion in cases of rape and incest, or when a woman’s health is at risk. She said ‘there really shouldn’t be any women in jail,” considering their role in society.

She said her association is pushing the government to consider alternative penalties that would allow women to serve their sentences outside prison.

“This would be better for their families and for the education of their children,” she added.

Aminata was not allowed to take her children to prison. They were collected by her eldest daughter and taken back to their native village, where they stayed until her release.

Shunned by her family, Aminata now lives in a corrugated iron shed on her elder brother’s mango plantation, 12 kilometers from Mbour.

Aissatou Kebe, a program manager for Tostan, a Dakar-based NGO that helps reintegrate former detainees, said being arrested for infanticide “is something that will continue to haunt you for the rest of your life. These women are rejected by their families and rejected by society.”

But Kebe does not think loosening abortion laws would have a significant impact.

“Many women are illiterate,” she said. “They would not even think there could be an alternative to giving birth and smothering the baby.”

She is pushing for more access to contraceptives as a solution.

 

Family Planning 2020 says fewer than 16 percent of women in Senegal were using a modern method of contraception last year.

Aminata believes her fate would have been different, had she had more options.
…

your ad here

At Ramadan’s End, Egyptians Feel the Pain of Austerity

Posted on by SeeEA

In Egypt, as in other parts of the Islamic world, the end of Ramadan is a period of feasting and sharing with friends and strangers alike. Eighteen months after Egypt devaluated its currency and took other painful measures as part of an IMF loan package, this Ramadan has been especially difficult for many Egyptians. Edward Yeranian reports for VOA from Cairo.
…

your ad here

VOA Interview: Mother of Boko Haram Leader Speaks Out

Posted on by SeeAF

Driving west from the city of Maiduguri, Nigeria, the roads get narrower as the towns get smaller. Along the road lie bullet-ridden buildings and security check points as vigilante members patrol gates, all signs of a region where people are trying their best to protect themselves.

After three hours VOA ends up in Yobe state, at a village called Shekau. Here, elders and community leaders take VOA to meet Falmata Abubakar, who they say is the mother of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

His father was a local district imam before passing away a few years ago.

Falmata said she had never spoken to journalists before VOA approached her, and she does not know where her son is hiding.

“I don’t now if he’s alive or dead. I don’t know. It’s only God who knows. For 15 years I haven’t seen him,” she said.

Concealing their hometown

People here say they often hide the fact that they are from Abubakar Shekau’s hometown because others may fear they have Boko Haram connections.

Falmata says her son left Shekau as a boy to continue his Islamic education in Maiduguri, a center of religious studies for hundreds of years.

Shekau was an almajiri. In the generations-old tradition, almajirai are sent off by their parents to study the Quran in schools locally known as a tsangaya, where a teacher coaches the dozens, sometimes hundreds of male students, to memorize the entire Quran.

Almajirai beg on the streets for food, and it is believed that Shekau did the same. At some point in his studies, Shekau, according to his mother, met Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, who condemned Western education as sinful. Falmata says her son was brainwashed.

‘Different characters’

“Since Shekau met with Mohammed Yusuf, I didn’t see him again,” she told VOA. 

“Yes, he’s my son and every mother loves her son, but we have different characters,” she said. “He brought a lot of problem to many people. Where can I meet him to tell him that these things he is doing is very bad? He brought many problems to many people, but I am praying for God to show him the good way.”

Mohammed Yusuf was killed by Nigerian security agents in 2009, and Abubakar Shekau then took over as the leader.

Shekau is accused of leading an insurgency that has killed more than 30,000 people in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.

 

Destroying schools is at the heart of Boko Haram’s manifesto, and the group has attacked more than 1,400 schools, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Members of the group invaded the first primary school in northeastern Nigeria in 2010 and 2013. They killed the principal and secretary.

In 2014, Boko Haram killed 59 students at a federal school in Buni Yadi, Yobe State. The school is being rebuilt but the expansive campus is barren, a reminder of one of the bloodiest school attacks in Nigeria’s history.

In February of this year, the sect kidnapped more than 100 students from the girls’ secondary school in the town of Dapchi.

The insurgents returned the students a month later, but held onto Leah Sharibu, reportedly because she refused to convert to Islam in exchange for her freedom. Her mother Rebecca and her brother say they feel in their hearts that Leah is still alive.

It’s the 2014 abduction of the Chibok Girls from their school that brought Boko Haram into the international spotlight for unprecedented condemnation. The Bring Back Our Girls activists are still demanding the freedom of at least 100 Chibok Girls, including Dorcas Yakubu who turned 20 years old this week, marking her birthday while in Boko Haram captivity. In 2016, Dorcas appeared in a proof of life video released by the terrorists.

Falmata says she can never curse her son, but he has become someone who she doesn’t recognize anymore.

“He just took his own character and went away,” she said. “This is not the character I gave him. I don’t know what this type of behavior is. It’s only God who knows.”
…

your ad here

The Fight for Europe – Macron Versus Salvini

Posted on by SeeEU

Like prizefighters slugging it out this week, Italy’s populist leader Matteo Salvini clashed with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The immediate cause for the bout was Salvini’s closing of Italian ports to humanitarian rescue ships carrying migrants from Africa.

Few doubt, though, the cosmopolitan French leader and the iconoclastic Italian nationalist, who is the interior minister in Italy’s new coalition government and its driving force, will clash time and again in the coming months in a prolonged contest to shape the future of the European Union.

Both men defied naysayers and flouted conventional political norms to get where they are: Macron created a centrist political movement, Salvini transformed the regional far-right Northern League into a nationwide insurgency.

But they represent conflicting visions of Europe and are being seen as the key champions in a struggle for mastery between centrism and nationalist populism.

Their first-round clash this week was sparked when Salvini banned NGO ships carrying migrants, mostly African, rescued from the waters off Libya to dock in Italian ports, part of his hardline policy, popular in Italy, to curb new arrivals. Salvini also plans to deport more than 500,000 illegal migrants.

In the past five years Italy has taken in more than 640,000 mainly African migrants and says its EU partners must ease the burden.

France reprimanded Italy for closing the ports, focusing on the stranding at sea of an NGO ship carrying 629 migrants picked up in the Mediterranean, arguing it breached the rules agreed by EU member states.

Macron scolded the Italian government for “cynicism and irresponsibility,” triggering a tit-for-tat trading of insults with Salvini, with other ministers on both sides piling on.

“Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not,” insisted Salvini. Instead he urged Malta to receive the migrants and suggested France could take them.

A spokesman for Macron’s party La Republique en Marche shot back, “The position, the line of the Italian government, makes you want to vomit. It is inadmissible to use human lives for petty politics.”

Salvini retorted in the increasingly ill-tempered dispute that Italy had “nothing to learn from anyone about generosity, voluntarism, welcoming and solidarity” and demanded a formal apology. Italy summoned the French ambassador to protest the French reprimand and cancelled a planned meeting between the Italian economy minister and his counterpart in Paris. It also threatened at one point to postpone a scheduled meeting Friday between Macron and the new Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte.

A “spat” was how many European newspapers described the clash, but it has widened the most dangerous fault-line in European politics over how to share the burden between EU member states for migrants from conflict zones and poor countries trying to enter the bloc or and whether they should be welcomed at all, while exposing divisions over the rights and prerogatives of nation states.

The populist governments of Hungary and Austria leapt to Salvini’s defense. Salvini told Italian lawmakers he is open to a possible “axis” with Germany and Austria, before an EU summit this month that will consider possible changes to asylum law.

Macron has pitched himself as the antidote to the “illiberal democracies” of Central Europe and the defender of the European Union threatened by populist-nationalists like Salvini. The French leader wants to reform and revive the bloc by increasing the political and economic integration of Europe.

The 44-year-old Salvini wants the opposite, not only a brake on further integration, but a reversal with the bloc being a looser grouping of nation states not ordered around by Brussels or too hedged by EU treaties.

Both embrace opportunism and are nimble. According to Davide Vampa, an expert in Italian politics at Britain’s Aston University, Salvini, nicknamed by supporters Il Capitano (the captain), has borrowed much from other populist leaders.

His language is direct and often guttural. “È finita la pacchia per i clandestini, preparatevi a fare le valige” (Illegals, the gravy train is finished, pack your bags), he announced earlier this month.

A graduate of France’s elite institutions Sciences Po and École nationale d’administration and a former Rothschild investment banker, Macron is more intellectual. “In the face of authoritarianism,” Macron told the European Parliament in Strasbourg in April, “the response is not authoritarian democracy, but the authority of democracy.”
…

your ad here

Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Released From Jail

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was freed Thursday after serving a 30-day jail sentence for his role in organizing massive protests against President Vladimir Putin last month.

“I’m with you again after a 30-day business trip,” he wrote on Twitter.  “I’m so happy to be free.”

Navalny and hundreds of his supporters were detained during the May demonstrations in Moscow and dozens of other cities on the eve of Putin’s inauguration to another six-year presidential term.  He was charged with inciting an unauthorized rally, and a Moscow court ordered him to jail.

Navalny, who also organized massive street protests to coincide with Putin’s 2012 re-election, was barred from the presidential ballot in March because of a conviction on financial crimes, charges he contends were fabricated.

He has served a number of weeks-long jail terms in recent years for organizing protests.

 
…

your ad here

Hungary Sentences 4 Men to 25 Years Over Migrants Deaths

Posted on by SeeEU

A Hungarian court sentenced four members of a people-smuggling operation to 25 years in prison Thursday for the deaths of 71 migrants who suffocated inside a truck in 2015.

The four were convicted of murder in a court ruling in the town of Kecskemet.

In August 2015, authorities found the bodies of 59 men, eight women and four children in the truck abandoned alongside an Austrian motorway.

The victims came from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

They were among the hundreds of thousands of other migrants who were trying to reach Germany during the height of Europe’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
…

your ad here

Knife Attack Kills 2 at South Africa Mosque

Posted on by SeeAF

Two people were stabbed to death at a mosque in South Africa Thursday, and several others wounded before the attacker was shot and killed by police.

The attack took place in the town of Malmesbury near the city of Cape Town. Police say the attacker, believed to be in his thirties, was still on the scene and still armed when they arrived. He ignored calls to surrender, and was shot dead after he tried to attack police.

No motive has been given for the attack.

Thursday’s incident happened a month after one person was killed and two others injured in a similar attack on a mosque in Verulam, outside the eastern city of Durban. No arrests have been made in the case.
…

your ad here

Russia Shuts Out Saudi Arabia in World Cup Kick-Off

Posted on by SeeEU

The football World Cup kicked off Thursday with host Russia defeating Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening match of the tournament.

Russia President Vladimir Putin attended the opening ceremony the the event at the 80,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Russia is spending $13 billion to put on the event with matches taking place in 11 host cities.

Group play runs through June 28 with the knockout phase beginning June 30.The World Cup champion will be crowned July 15.

Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina and defending champion Germany are among the favorites to win the 32-team tournament.

In addition to fans watching the games in Russia, television broadcasts will reach massive audiences around the world.

Football’s governing body FIFA said during the last world cup in 2014 an estimated 3 billion people watched at least part of a game during the tournament, while 1 billion tuned in for the final match between Germany and Argentina.
…

your ad here

In Egyptian Football Star’s Home Village, World Cup Ignites Big Dreams

Posted on by SeeEA

Egyptian fans are placing big hopes on footballer Mo Salah, whose popularity has been skyrocketing both at home and abroad. Hamada Elrasam takes us to Salah’s home town of Nagrig where his success, and his sponsorship of community projects including a football school for children, are changing the lives of many.
…

your ad here

For Some High-School Students, Graduation is ‘Magic’

Posted on by SeeUS

Millions of high school students are done. So done.

In flowing gowns and square caps, more than 3 million will walk across a stage this month and be handed a diploma, what they’ve been working toward for 12 years.

Latavea Cole, a graduating senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore, Maryland, wore a black cap decorated with yellow feathers and words that glittered.

“Mine says ‘Black girl magic,’” Cole told VOA. “It’s an inspirational thing, and graduating is really just … magic.”

Personalized caps

Many students personalize their caps with inspirational quotes, feathers and glitter to stand out in a sea of other graduates for family and friends in the grandstands. Some just want to celebrate their hard-won achievement that culminates in filing into a gymnasium and walking across a stage to receive their diplomas.

At Dunbar, the high school attended by the late rap artist Tupac Shakur, nearly 200 graduates filed in one by one as the school band played “Pomp and Circumstance,” the traditional music of graduations throughout America.

Over half of the caps were vividly decorated, with rhinestones that reflected the gymnasium’s light, and fake flowers mirroring real ones gifted to the graduates by their families.

On to college

Cole said she will pursue a degree in special education at a nearby community college after leaving Dunbar, which specializes in preparing students for careers in health care.

“Dunbar high school is a high school for professional health careers, and it gets you ready for college and the next level,” Kelvin Williams, a fellow graduating senior, told VOA.

Williams will move to North Carolina in the fall to major in sports medicine with plans to become a doctor to “help athletes.”

“The entire group is just dynamic, boisterous. They’re looking at wonderful things in their future,” said Tameka Taylor, an English teacher at Dunbar.

“They’re going to colleges in Arizona, Kansas, all over the state of Maryland, with over $500,000 to $1 million in scholarships. So, we are just excited, and we can’t wait to usher them out into the world,” Taylor said.

Before and after the ceremony, many students pondered their four-year journey through high school.

“I had a great experience. It was fun. There were some serious times, but mostly fun. I wouldn’t pick a different school,” Cole said.

“It’s been hard, but it’s been great,” her classmate Carl Kuniken added.

“Mine says I’m a draguate’,” said Jahi Chatman, turning around to show the camera his decorated cap. He will be headed to military basic training in the fall.

“I dragged my way through high school, so I’m a draguate!”
…

your ad here

Pompeo: No Sanctions Relief for North Korea Before Complete Denuclearization

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Thursday pushed back against a North Korean state media report that U.S. President Donald Trump agreed during this week’s Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un to gradually lift sanctions against Pyongyang, saying Trump had been very clear about the sequence of steps in the process.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Trump offered to lift sanctions against it as relations improve, indicating a phased-in approach where concessions would be provided at various stages of the denuclearization process.

Speaking at a news conference in Seoul alongside South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, the U.S. secretary of state said the Trump administration would not repeat the mistakes made by past presidents that rewarded Pyongyang for denuclearization promises.

“When we refer to the mistakes of the past. They were providing economic and financial aid relief before the complete denuclearization had taken place. That is not going to happen. President Trump made that clear,” Pompeo said.

Singapore declaration

President Trump described his meeting with Kim as a resounding success and in a tweet said, “There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.” But the U.S.-North Korea joint declaration was vague on details, providing no clear definition on what constitutes denuclearization, set no timeline for the dismantlement process, and said nothing about outside verification requirements.

Pompeo, however, pointed out that in the Singapore statement both countries reaffirmed the inter-Korean Panmunjom declaration from April, in which both South and North Korea agreed to uphold all past agreements that did specify detailed nuclear prohibitions and verification requirements.

The secretary of state and his counterparts in Seoul and Tokyo said they are united in support of the U.S.-North Korea agreement, and in agreement on the goal of complete, irreversible, verifiable dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program.

​Military drills

After the summit, President Trump surprised allies in the region by calling the joint military exercises with South Korea “provocative” and saying they will no longer be held, as long as North Korea continues to make progress toward denuclearization.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang said the issue of these military drills was not discussed in detail at the U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral meeting, but she reaffirmed that the U.S.-South Korean military alliance remains strong, and they will continue to closely consult on all joint security decisions.

“The joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea are a matter based on the alliance between the two countries, and are an issue to be decided between the military authorities after consultations. Regarding the alliance, we are dealing with all the issues under the premise that we maintain the ironclad joint defense posture. We have not spoken in depth about this topic between the three foreign ministers today,” Kang said.

U.S. officials said it was unclear what type of training involving U.S. and South Korean troops might now be stopped because of Trump’s order to end the “war games,” but the massive annual exercises that bring in nuclear-capable ships and warplanes from Guam and other U.S. bases in the region will likely end.

Overall the South Korean foreign minister voiced strong support for the Trump-Kim declaration agreement, calling it a “historic turning point” toward peace that will bolster political momentum toward action.

​Japan reservations

Japanese Foreign Minister Kono was more cautious in his praise. He also welcomed the diplomatic progress made at the summit, but sought clarification at the trilateral meeting that North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile arsenal that could target the mainland of Japan and its chemical weapons capability would also eliminated as part of the denuclearization deal.

And he sought reassurance that the U.S. military presence in Japan would not be reduced, after Trump indicated that he would like to withdraw all or some of the more than 28,000 troops in South Korea at some point, as both a cost saving measure, and to reduce a perceived overextended U.S. military presence overseas.

“We also understand that the United States maintains its commitment to defend allies and the Japan-U.S. security commitment and U.S. forces in Japan posture remain unchanged,” Kono said.

A number of analysts caution that the U.S.-North Korea denuclearization agreement has not produced any reduction in the North Korea nuclear or missile threat, and they remain skeptical that the Kim government will agree to dismantle its entire nuclear and missile weapons programs that has long been seen as vital to it survival.

Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report.
…

your ad here

US Muslims Celebrate Ramadan in Different Ways

Posted on by SeeUS

Much like the rest of the world, Muslims in America are in the midst of the holy month of Ramadan — praying, fasting, giving to charity and breaking their monthlong fast every day at sunset. But as VOA’s Urdu, Kurdish and Turkish services reports, Muslims get together to enjoy the holy month in different ways. Serhan Akyildiz, Aziz Ahmed, Raveen Dosky contributed to this report. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
…

your ad here

Health Experts Dispatch Experimental Vaccine to Fight Congo’s Latest Ebola Outbreak

Posted on by SeeAF

Health experts are dispatching an experimental vaccine in areas of The Democratic Republic of the Congo that are considered ground zero in the fight against Ebola. Their hope is to try to combat the outbreak from the onset. The crucial test is providing hope, in times of uncertainty. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
…

your ad here

DACA May Finally Get a Vote in the House

Posted on by SeeUS

Leaders of the Republican-led House of Representatives are promising to hold votes on two immigration measures next week, putting the heated issue back on center stage during a tough election year. The move ends a plan by moderate Republicans to force a vote, with the fate of thousands of young undocumented immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, at stake. VOA’s Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
…

your ad here

African Community Demands Justice for Death Cover-Up

Posted on by SeeUS

In November, a young Guinean immigrant died beneath the wheels of a garbage truck in the Bronx, New York. The driver told police he was a homeless man who jumped aboard the moving truck, but VOA published articles exposing the truth: the man’s name was Mouctar Diallo, and he was actually an off-the-books worker for the trash-hauling company Sanitation Salvage. Months later, the same driver for the same company struck and killed another man—an elderly pedestrian. VOA’s Kiera Feldman reports.
…

your ad here

Concerns About Racism, Violence as African, Latin American Fans Attend Russia’s World Cup

Posted on by SeeEU

Up to a million football fans from around the world are expected to travel to Russia over the coming weeks for the World Cup, which kicks off Thursday. They include hundreds of thousands of supporters from South America and Africa, who are famous for bringing their passion and partying to the tournament. But as Henry Ridgwell reports, there are concerns that stem from a record of racism and violence in Russian football.
…

your ad here

Rights Groups Slam French Involvement in Jerusalem Tramway

Posted on by SeeEA

Rights groups and unions in France are slamming the involvement of French companies in the building of a tramway in Jerusalem that has links to Israeli settlements — even as the French government has long criticized the building of Israeli settlements and, more recently, the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. 

A new report endorsed by more than a half-dozen French rights groups and unions singles out three French companies involved in the West Jerusalem tramway construction. One, Alstom, is privately owned. But two others, Egis Rail and Systra, are mostly or completely state-owned. 

The groups say the tramway is a “tool of Israeli colonization and annexation,” and violates international law.

Contradiction in foreign policy

The report’s author, Didier Fagart, of the activist group Association France Palestine Solidarite, says the firms’ involvement in the tramway project marks at the very least a contradiction in French foreign policy.

On the one hand, Fagart notes, the French government has criticized Israeli settlement building, as well as the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. But when it comes to the construction companies, it doesn’t follow that condemnation with action.

Two of the companies declined to comment, while a third could not be reached.

Two-state solution

France has been a longtime supporter of a two-state solution in the Middle East, with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state. Tensions in the region periodically spill over to France, which has Western Europe’s largest communities of both Jews and Muslims.

Last week, President Emmanuel Macron again criticized the U.S. embassy move, saying it did not advance the cause of peace.

Fagart said France’s government must put pressure on the companies to pull out of the Jerusalem tramway project.
…

your ad here

Georgia’s Prime Minister Resigns 

Posted on by SeeEU

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili says he has decided to resign after a dispute with the ruling Georgian Dream party.

“We’ve had some disagreements with the leader of the ruling party,” Kvirikashvili said in a televised statement Wednesday. “I think there is a moment now when the leader of the (ruling) party should be given an opportunity to staff a new Cabinet.”

According to Georgia’s constitution, the whole cabinet is required to resign along with the prime minister. 

The leader of the Georgian Dream party is billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in the country. 

Kvirikashvili said the squabble was over economic issues.

Ivanishvili stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after just a year in office, but since then he has been widely believed to be the man in charge in Georgia. He made a political comeback in May, assuming chairmanship of the Georgian Dream party.

Experts say Kvirikashvili’s resignation is not a surprise.

“There has been friction between the now former Prime Minister and Ivanishvili for some time,” sad Paul Stronski, a senior Russia and Eurasia Program fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told VOA’s Georgian Service. “And, the wave of protests in Tbilisi over the past months indicates there is a large segment of the population that is unhappy with the status quo.”

“Kvirikashvili is a decent man who did his best to move Georgia forward,” David Kramer, a professor at the Florida State University, told VOA. “But he was burdened with constantly having to look over his shoulder to get approval from Ivanishvili. That kind of situation is not very sustainable.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Kenneth Yalowitzm said he’s concerned that “the government seems to be directed from outside.”

“Mr. Ivaniashvili, I am sure, has good intensions and good ideas, but he is not a prime minister and he is not above the process. And yet that seems to be what’s happening here,” Yalowitzm told VOA.

Ani Chkhikvadze of VOA’s Georgian service contributed to this report.
…

your ad here

UN General Assembly Calls for Protections for Palestinians

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for protection for Palestinian civilians living under Israeli occupation, after the U.S. blocked a similar measure in the Security Council.

After a proposed U.S. amendment condemning the Palestinian militant group Hamas failed to receive sufficient support to be included in the draft text, the original text was adopted by a vote of 120-8, with 45 abstentions.

The U.S. and Israel were supported by Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo and the Solomon Islands in voting against the measure. Many European countries abstained. 

While the resolution does not explicitly name Hamas, it does condemn “all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as acts of provocation, incitement and destruction.”

It also “deplores the use of any excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force by the Israeli forces” against Palestinian civilians.

Rebuked members

Ahead of the vote, U.S. envoy Nikki Haley rebuked the General Assembly for using its time to criticize Israel, instead of addressing other situations.

“Instead, today the General Assembly is devoting its valuable time to the situation in Gaza,” Haley said. “Gaza is an important international matter, but what makes it different and more urgent than conflicts in Nicaragua, Iran, Yemen, Burma or many other desperate places?”

She said the assembly was meeting because “attacking Israel” is the “favorite political sport” of some U.N. member states.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, went further saying, “This type of worldwide assault is reserved for Israel. It is not criticism, it is not difference on policy, it is anti-Semitism.”

He said countries that support the text put forward by the Palestinians, Algeria (as head of a bloc of Arab countries) and Turkey (as head of the Organization for the Islamic Conference), were giving their “stamp of approval” for terrorism.

“By supporting this resolution, you are colluding with a terrorist organization; by supporting this resolution you are empowering Hamas,” Danon said. “You are the ammunition for Hamas’ guns; you are the warheads for its missiles.”

Seeking relief

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour defended the decision to seek relief for his people in the General Assembly when he could not find it in the Security Council.

“To condemn, to regret, to express concern is not sufficient, we need action, we need protection of our civilian population,” Mansour said. “And why should that be offending anyone? We are just asking for a simple thing: We want our civilian population to be protected. Is that a crime to ask for?”

The draft adopted carries no legal weight but has the moral backing of the majority of U.N. member states. It requests the U.N. secretary-general to present a written report within 60 days outlining his proposals on ways to ensure “the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinian civilian population under Israeli occupation.”

Tensions along the border have escalated over the past two months, with Palestinians holding protests calling for a right to return to land they fled or were forced to leave when Israel was created in 1948. They have also rallied against a blockade of Gaza that has been in place for more than a decade, as well as the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli forces have killed at least 120 Palestinians since the end of March, drawing criticism for the use of force. Israel has blamed the militant group Hamas for provoking violence and says it has acted to protect the border.
…

your ad here

Indian Chess Player Quits Iran Tournament Over Headscarf Rule    

Posted on by SeeEA

An Indian chess champion announced she will not be participating in a tournament in Iran, as the country’s law requiring women to wear headscarves is a violation of her human rights, she said.

Soumya Swaminathan, a 29-year-old grandmaster, wrote on Facebook, “It seems that under the present circumstances, the only way for me to protect my rights is not to go to Iran.”

Swaminathan was scheduled to be part of the Indian team in the Asian Team Chess Competition, taking place in Hamadan, Iran, from July 26 to Aug. 4.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are two countries that by law require women to wear headscarves in public, although the practice is common in fellow Muslim-majority nations.

In February, Iranian police arrested 29 people following a series of protests in which women removed their headscarves in public.

Swaminathan is not the only female grandmaster to find herself in opposition to Iran’s laws. In October, Iranian national Dorsa Derakhshani was barred from playing in the country, or for the national team, after she played in a tournament in Gibraltar earlier that year without donning the headscarf. 

Derakhshani later moved to the United States and joined the U.S. national team.

“It feels good and … peaceful to play for a federation where I am welcomed and supported,” Derakhshani said.
…

your ad here

Urgent Talks Set at UN on Crisis in Yemen

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.N. Security Council holds urgent talks Thursday on the situation in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition is pounding the vital rebel-held port city of Hodeidah.

Britain called the meeting after one of its diplomats, Martin Griffiths, who is the U.N. special envoy to Yemen, urged all sides to “exercise restraint and engage with political efforts to spare Hodeida a military confrontation.”

Saudi-led planes and warships began attacking rebel positions around Hodeidah early Wednesday after the rebels ignored a deadline imposed by the UAE to surrender the port.

The Houthis claim to have repelled a landing from the sea, a claim that has not been independently confirmed.

The UAE news agency said four Emirate soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels control Hodeidah, the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and most of the more heavily populated areas of the country.

The coalition said the rebels have used Hodeidah to take deliveries of missiles that the Houthis have fired into Saudi Arabia.

The coalition said it has no interest in fighting a street-by-street war in Hodeidah for the sake of civilians, but wants to take back the sea and airport and keep the road to Sanaa open.

It is essential that the port of Hodeidah remains functional. About 70 percent of all humanitarian aid to Yemen arrives there, and aid workers have vowed to stay on the job.

Yemen is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the country on the brink of famine. Fresh water, fuel and medicine are in severe short supply. A cholera epidemic has compounded the misery.

The Houthis took over the capital nearly four years ago, sending the Western-supported government of Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi fleeing into exile to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi airstrikes against the rebels began the following year and have obliterated entire neighborhoods, including hospitals. More than 10,000 people have been killed.

VOA’s Chris Hannas contributed to this report.
…

your ad here