Month: September 2018

Nigerian Finance Minister Adeosun Resigns Over Forgery Claims

Posted on by SeeAF

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, who said she stepped down over allegations of using a forged certificate to avoid participation in the country’s mandatory one-year national youth service scheme.

Adeosun, a top cabinet member and a former investment banker who promoted the government’s policy to boost growth following a recent recession, said in a statement that she believed she was exempt from the service scheme but felt bound to resign because of the administration’s “focus on integrity.”

Allegations that Adeosun had used a forged exemption certificate to avoid participation in the youth service scheme surfaced in recent months in the Nigerian media. Adeosun did not comment on the claims initially, prompting criticism from her opponents.

In her statement on Friday, Adeosun said her understanding was that she was exempted from the scheme because she had moved back to Nigeria from Britain, where she was born, after she had passed the required minimum age.

“I have, today, become privy to the findings of the investigation into the allegation made in an online medium that the Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) that I had presented was not genuine,” she said in her statement. “This has come as a shock to me and I believe that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, I must do the honorable thing and resign.”

The claim that Adeosun had used a forged exemption document was first reported by Nigerian online publication Premium Times.

Adeosun was appointed by Buhari to manage the finances of Africa’s biggest economy in November 2015. Her flagship policy was a bid to improve tax collection and shore up the country’s finances by cracking down on mismanagement by government agencies.

Adeosun also oversaw a strategy of restructuring Nigeria’s debt portfolio into longer term maturities by borrowing more offshore and less at home to lower costs.

Buhari took office in 2015 after an election campaign largely fought on his vow to fight corruption, but his detractors have accused him of failing to investigate allies accused of wrongdoing.

The presidency approved that the minister of state for budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, would oversee the Finance Ministry with immediate effect, it said on its official Twitter account.

The west African country emerged from recession last year, but growth remains sluggish and largely dependent on higher oil prices, despite the stated aim of Buhari’s administration to increase non-oil revenues.

The government’s handling of the economy is likely to be a campaign issue in February’s presidential election in which Buhari plans to seek a second term.
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Erdogan, Putin Strike Deal on Idlib Demilitarized Zone

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin say they have reached an agreement that averts a looming military offensive on the Syrian rebel-held Idlib enclave.

“We will prevent a humanitarian tragedy which could happen as a result of military action,” Erdogan said after Monday’s talks at the Russian Black Sea Sochi resort.

The two leaders agreed to create a 15 to 20 kilometer demilitarized zone in the Syrian enclave. Putin claimed the agreement would remove the threat to the Russian Hmeimim military airbase, which has been targeted by rebels, including using drones.

Putin said Russian and Turkish forces would enforce the demilitarized zone, which would see the removal of the rebels’ heavy weapons as well as the “withdrawal of all radical fighters” from Idlib, including the Al-Nusra Front.

Syrian forces, backed by Russian airpower, were threatening to overrun Idlib — the last rebel stronghold. Erdogan has warned of a looming “bloodbath.” On Monday, he said the “world was looking at Sochi” to avert a humanitarian crisis.

A top U.S. official Wednesday called the talks between Russia and Turkey “encouraging.”

“The discussions that they’re having lead us down a path the potential that you’re going to get something that’s less kinetic [based on military action],” Defense Intelligence Agency Director, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, told an audience in Washington.

A military campaign “does no good for the long term of Syria because all it does is continue to add to the human suffering,” he said. “We want to see the factions and the different parties come together to be able to start to look at a way we can start setting peace and start working to a sense of normalcy.”

Up to 3 million civilians are believed to be trapped in the enclave, along with tens of thousands of rebel fighters, including jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State.

Erdogan said Monday’s agreement underscored the importance of the two countries’ deepening ties.

Turkish media reported that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said a deal would soon be reached by Russian and Syrian forces to end airstrikes on Idlib.

The Sochi meeting is being viewed as a diplomatic success for Erdogan.

“We can say this is a success, as there is a new timeline of the 15th of October, when the heavy weapons have to be evacuated [from the demilitarized zone],” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served across the region.

“The mere fact that this meeting in Sochi could have happened — the two leaders being of the same mind as much as possible — this tells me this Russian-Turkish relationship is still very much alive,” he added.”

Securing more time for Idlib was a key priority for Ankara.

“It’s asking for more time to find a nonmilitary solution to the Idlib conundrum,” said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Edam think tank.

Ankara fears any attack on Idlib would see hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing across the border. With over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Erdogan said the country could not take any more.

Damascus, supported by Moscow, claims the Idlib region is a center of terrorism, which threatens the whole country.

At a summit in Tehran earlier this month with Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Erdogan proposed that Turkish forces help to differentiate rebels from designated terrorist organizations in Idlib. Putin dismissed the proposal.

Despite backing opposite sides, Ankara and Moscow have been cooperating with Tehran to end the Syrian civil war. The process was initiated in the Kazakh capital of Astana, focusing mainly on resolving battlefield issues.

Turkish-Russian cooperation on Syria is the springboard for broader deepening ties, causing concern among Turkey’s NATO allies.

“If we witnessed such an operation against Idlib, it would undermine Turkey’s trust in Russia,” Ulgen said.

Analysts suggest Putin’s apparent accommodation of Erdogan is likely motivated by his broader strategic goal of continuing to foment tensions in NATO by courting Erdogan.

“Right after this meeting in Sochi, President Erdogan will be traveling to New York,” Selcen noted. “And so, maybe Putin felt he had to sweeten this relationship enough, so not to push Turkey towards the American side once again.”

U.S.-Turkish relations remain deeply strained over a myriad of differences. However, the two sides share common ground opposing Damascus’s threatened Idlib operation.

Ankara has also been reinforcing its armed presence in the rebel enclave. Under an agreement with Moscow and Tehran, Turkey has established 12 military observation posts in Idlib.

In the last few days, the observation posts have been beefed up with tanks and heavy artillery.

“We will fulfill our responsibilities in Syria,” Erdogan said Monday before his meeting with Putin. “The protection of civilians, as well as dealing with terrorists, are a crucial matter.”

Turkish armed forces are also deployed on the Idlib border, including long-range artillery.

“Moscow was determined to avoid the danger of a confrontation between Turkey and Damascus,” Selcen said.

The Sochi agreement appears to have at least bought time for further diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation in Idlib. However, analysts warn there are good reasons for caution.

“We have to wait and see what happens in the next month or so in Idlib,” said Selcen. “How will Turkey stop groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [an al Qaida-linked group] [from] fighting and give up their heavy weapons? That task will fall heaviest on Turkey. It remains to be seen how they will achieve this. That is why I am cautious.”

Jeff Seldin contributed from Washington.
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Israel to Approve Immigration for 1,000 Ethiopian Jews

Posted on by SeeEA

The Israeli government announced Monday that it agreed to absorb 1,000 Ethiopian Jews — accepting just a fraction of the African country’s 8,000 remaining Jews who want to move to Israel.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a special committee had agreed to allow community members who already have children in Israel to immigrate. It was not clear what will happen to the remaining 7,000 people.

 

Alisa Bodner, a spokeswoman for Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah, a group petitioning the government to allow Ethiopian Jews to immigrate, called Netanyahu’s decision an “incredible disappointment” and “another spit in the face” for Israel’s Ethiopian community. Citing his previous vows, the group is calling on the prime minister to provide a path to citizenship for the remaining 7,000 members of the Jewish Ethiopian community.

 

Many of the 8,000 are practicing Jews and have relatives in Israel. But Israel doesn’t consider them Jewish under strict religious law, meaning their immigration requires special approval. The 8,000 are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity around a century ago, and the Israeli government views bringing them to Israel as family reunification rather than “aliya,” or Jewish immigration.

 

Israel agreed in 2015 to bring the remaining Ethiopians to Israel, but has not authorized funding for their move. The families allege discrimination.

 

Avraham Neguise, an Ethiopian-Israeli lawmaker and member of the special committee, said that while he welcomes the government’s decision, he was disappointed that this issue has yet to be resolved.

 

“We won’t cease in our mission, our struggle until everyone is reunited with their family here in Israel,” he said.

 

Neguise said the committee did not discuss plans for the remaining 7,000 Ethiopian Jews in Monday’s meeting.

 

Israel is home to approximately 144,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent, the majority of whom immigrated to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. Last year Israel approved immigration for 1,300 Ethiopians with relatives who had already immigrated.

 

But their assimilation into Israeli society hasn’t been smooth, with many arriving without a formal education and then falling into unemployment and poverty. Ethiopian Jews have also protested in recent years against perceived discrimination in Israeli society.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Receives $400 Million Luxury Jet From Qatar

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a $400 million luxury jet from the emir of Qatar last week, triggering a wave of criticism from political opponents.

In response, Erdogan Monday said the luxury Boeing 747-8 was a “gift” from Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Bin al-Thani, rejecting claims the aircraft had been purchased. The Turkish leader told reporters Ankara had been interested in buying the plane, but that the emir insisted on offering it as a gift.

Erdogan also maintained that the jet belonged to the people of Turkey and not to him personally, adding that he would use the aircraft for his trips. News reports from the region say the jet comes with board rooms, lounges, staterooms, and even a functional hospital. The massive plane is designed to carry 76 passengers.

Erdogan disclosed the plane’s $400 million price tag after questions were raised about the cost, with a member of the opposition party filing an official inquiry into the matter. Erdogan has faced criticism in the past for his spending on such extravagances as a presidential palace and a fleet of luxury vehicles. Turkey is facing double-digit inflation and an ailing currency.

Doha has sought closer ties with Ankara as its relations with its Gulf Arab neighbors deteriorated over Qatar’s alleged support for Muslim extremists. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar, alleging it supports terrorism. Qatar denies the allegation.
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Kurds Opt out of First Local Elections in Syria Since 2011

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Syria held its first municipal elections since 2011 on Sunday, amid tensions with the country’s self-administered Kurdish region, which refused to allow polls.

Turnout was modest at stations in the Syrian capital and candidates aligned with the ruling Baath party were expected to win. The Baath party has controlled Syria’s political and security apparatuses since the 1960s.

Hassan Taraqji, a Baath candidate in Damascus, said reconstruction was a top priority for voters after more than seven years of civil war.

“We hope we can meet the people’s aspirations and improve conditions and services in the city,” he said.

The war waged by President Bashar Assad’s government against local opposition forces and the Islamic State group has cost the country more than $300 billion in economic damage, according to a recent U.N. study. Observers say more than 400,000 people have been killed.

But parts of the country remain beyond Damascus’ reach, including the U.S.-backed self-administered Kurdish region in north Syria, which also includes Arab and minority populations.

The region is governed by its own Syrian Democratic Council, which refused to allow the Damascus-organized elections to proceed on its territory.

“The regime wants us to remain under its rule and under the rule of the Baath,” said Ibrahim Ibrahim, a spokesman for the administration.

Kurdish officials say they want a federalized Syria that respects the northeast’s autonomy from Damascus and guarantees rights and privileges for national minorities.

High-level meetings between representatives of the SDC and Baath and federal officials in Damascus are yet to produce a breakthrough.

Damascus insists it will assert its authority over the whole country.

 

Hussein Dabboul, a Member of Parliament from Aleppo, a north Syrian city near the edges of the self-administration zone, said the the SDC was “linked to foreign powers and to the United States, and it has certain objectives and targets.”

The Kurdish-led administration itself is criticized for single-party rule.

More than 40,000 candidates are competing for 18,478 council seats, according to the Ministry of Local Administration. Polls are slated to close at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Presidential elections were held in 2014 in limited areas of government control.
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Sweden Gives Final Election Tally amid Political Uncertainty

Posted on by SeeEU

Swedish officials have officially confirmed the ruling Social Democratic Party won the most votes in the Sept. 9 general election despite a record low result and the far-right Sweden Democrats getting a big boost amid growing anti-immigration sentiment.

Election officials presented the final tally Sunday that showed Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s Social Democrats getting 28.3 percent, the center-right Moderate Party 19.8 percent and the Sweden Democrats 17.5 percent.

Neither the left-leaning bloc led by the Social Democrats nor the Moderates-led opposition, center-right bloc managed to secure a governing majority in the 349-seat parliament.

The result means Sweden will face weeks of political uncertainty amid expected government formation talks.

Both blocs have refused to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a potential kingmaker in Cabinet formation talks. Voter turnout was 87.2 percent.
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Hurricane Florence Hits Farmers Hard in North and South Carolina

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Farmers may be among the hardest hit by Hurricane Florence, which is hit at a particularly bad time and is pouring rain on some of the most important agricultural areas of the Carolinas. VOA spoke with one North Carolina farmer, who says the rain is damaging his cash crop.
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Kenyan Kipshoge Shatters Marathon World Record

Posted on by SeeEU

“I lack words to describe this day,” Eliud Kipshoge said Sunday in Berlin after setting a new marathon world record of 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds.

Kipshoge, who won the marathon gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, took to the streets of Berlin where he dazzled thousands of supporters lining the streets cheering him on.

On a sunny autumn day with no wind, it was clear early in the race that Kipshoge would be the winner.

When he sprinted through the Brandenburg Gate, he cemented his reputation as one of the greatest runners of all time. He had taken more than a minute off the previous world record.

Fellow Kenyan Gladys Cherono was just a few minutes behind, wining the women’s race with a course record and best time of the year of  2 hours, 18 minutes and 10 seconds.

 
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UNICEF: Education a Major Casualty of Yemen’s War

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The school year in Yemen is officially underway.  But, the U.N. children’s fund reports the country’s ongoing civil war is keeping millions of children out of the classroom. 

More than three years of fighting between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels is having a devastating impact on children’s health and well-being. The U.N. reports more than 11 million children or 80 percent of the country’s children are dependent upon humanitarian aid.

Another major casualty of the war is children’s education. The U.N. children’s fund says the education sector is on the brink of collapse because of conflict, political divisions and chronic underdevelopment.

As a consequence, UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac said around two million children are not going to school this year. Furthermore, he said nearly four million primary school children soon may not be able to get an education because of a severe shortage of teachers.

“About 67 percent of public school teachers — and this is across the country — have not been paid for nearly two years. Many have looked for other work to survive or are only teaching a few subjects. So, obviously, the quality of education is at stake. Children are not getting their full lessons due to the absence of their teachers. Even when schools are functioning, the schools’ days and years are shortened.” 

Yemen also suffers from a shortage of learning facilities. UNICEF reports more than 2,500 schools have been damaged or destroyed by the war.  Many schools also are being used as shelters for displaced people and some have been taken over by armed groups.

The agency warns children who are out of school run many dangers. It notes boys are at risk of being used as child soldiers. It estimates more than 2,600 children have been recruited by all armed groups.

UNICEF says girls are likely to be married off at an early age. A 2016 survey finds close to three quarters of women in Yemen have been married before the age of 18, and 44.5 percent before the age of 15.
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Tropical Storm Florence Weakens Into A Depression

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Florence is no longer a tropical storm. It has weakened into a depression, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The center says, however, that “flash flooding and major river flooding will continue over a significant portion of the Carolinas.”

“This is still a catastrophic, life-threatening storm,” said hurricane center meteorologist Zack Taylor about Florence, which has claimed at least 12 lives.

After the heaviest rain leaves the area, the flood disaster will likely persist for days, if not weeks longer, as rivers will remain severely out of their banks.

As Florence continues its slow crawl, it will produce “heavy and excessive rainfall” in central and western North Carolina into far southwest Virginia; southern North Carolina into northern South Carolina; and west-central Virginia, north of Roanoke and west of Charlottesville.

The hurricane center also says a few tornadoes are possible Sunday across North Carolina and eastern South Carolina.

The remains of Florence are expected to pick up speed as they head northward later Sunday and Monday, eventually reaching the northeast U.S. before heading out to sea.

Catastrophic flooding

The large storm came ashore earlier in the week as a hurricane, flooding rivers, forcing high-water rescues and leaving a trail of destruction.

 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday that despite the downgrade, Florence was still “unloading epic amounts of rainfall” and still very capable of wiping out entire communities.

“The flood danger from this storm is more immediate today than when it made landfall,” he said. “We face walls of water at our coast, along our rivers, across farmland, in our cities and in our towns.”

Cooper said floodwaters were continuing to rise, and he urged evacuees to “stay put” until they received “the official all-clear.”

Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina said Saturday that President Donald Trump had assured him “he would do whatever it takes to see that everything is available” in terms of federal resources for South Carolina as it coped with the onslaught and aftermath of Florence. 

McMaster said record amounts of rainfall in the Carolinas had been measured — “in feet, in some places, and not inches” — and warned that in addition to the extra rainfall, South Carolina would have to handle flooding from North Carolina that was moving downriver.

Hundreds of people in North Carolina have been rescued from rising water. Authorities said they had received more than 150 telephone calls to rescue people in the historic town of New Bern alone because water had entered their homes.

Shaken after seeing waves crashing on the Neuse River just outside his house in New Bern, restaurant owner and hurricane veteran Tom Ballance wished he had evacuated.

“I feel like the dumbest human being who ever walked the face of the Earth,” he said.

New Bern resident Latasha Jones was one of the more fortunate ones.

“The evacuation was countywide, but since we’re not in a flood zone, we weren’t really worried about that,” she told VOA.

“The way our house sits, it’s elevated. We have steps on the sides of the house, so it’s a few feet off the ground anyway. And since we’re already on high ground, those two things together kind of help insulate us a little more than, I would say, others,” she said.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.

WATCH: Hurricane Florence Comes Ashore

 
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Doomed Palestinian Village Turns to Its Last Hope: Europe

Posted on by SeeEU

For the anxious Palestinian residents of Khan al-Ahmar, there’s little left to do but wait.

After the West Bank hamlet lost its last legal protection against demolition late last week, Israeli forces could swoop any day now to tear down the desert community’s few dozen shacks and an Italian-funded schoolhouse made from recycled tires.

Some hold out hope that Israel might be deterred by an inevitable international outcry over razing the community. Major European countries have warned that flattening Khan al-Ahmar poses a grave threat to the already fading prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

International attention

The seemingly outsized international attention being paid to the tiny community is linked to its strategic location in the center of the West Bank. It’s an area deemed essential for setting up a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in 1967.

Israel has portrayed the battle over Khan al-Ahmar as a mere zoning dispute. Critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies say the village has become a symbol for what they describe as an ongoing displacement of Palestinians to make room for Israeli settlements.

With demolition now looming, dozens of activists, including foreigners, have been spending nights in Khan al-Ahmar to show support. They sleep on mattresses spread out under a green tarp covering the front yard of the Italian-funded school.

“We cannot prevent demolition,” said activist Mohammed Abu Hilweh, 30, from Jerusalem, as he stretched out on a mattress on a recent evening, settling in for the night.

“But we can resist, delay and when it happens, we can rebuild,” he said.

Khan al-Ahmar is a few dozen meters from a four-lane highway that runs east-west, effectively slicing the West Bank in half at a narrow waist and linking Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley.

Strategic location

The highway is also flanked by several Israeli settlements, including Maaleh Adumim, the West Bank’s third largest. A new settlement across the highway from Maaleh Adumim, called E1 by Israeli planners, would effectively block the remaining land link between West Bank Palestinians and east Jerusalem, their hoped-for capital. Khan al-Ahmar sits just outside the area mapped for E1, which until now had largely been frozen under U.S. pressure.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, called the planned demolition a “blatant attempt” by Israel to separate the Palestinians from Jerusalem. 

“It is absolutely imperative that the international community intervene,” she said.

Two-state solution fades

For the past 25 years, the international community has favored the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel as the best hope for peace. But those hopes are quickly fading.

In a departure from predecessors, President Donald Trump, who has promised a new peace plan, has refused to endorse the two-state solution while recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, over Palestinian opposition.

The U.S. State Department has said little about the looming demolition, referring reporters to the Israeli government for details.

​Europe speaks up

By contrast, European governments have been outspoken.

“The demolition of this small Palestinian village would not only affect a local community,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini recently told the European Parliament. “It would also be a blow against the viability of the state of Palestine and against the very possibility of a two-state solution.”

Separately, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom warned in a rare joint statement that demolition would have “very serious” consequences.

For now, Israel appears to be moving ahead. After a decade-long legal battle, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a final appeal earlier this month. Late last week, a moratorium on demolition expired.

Israel has not announced a date for the demolition, but earlier this week dismantled five corrugated metal shacks near Khan al-Ahmar that had been set up by villagers a few days earlier in a show of defiance. On Friday, troops returned with heavy equipment, removing earthen mounds set up to slow demolition. Two Palestinians and an American-French law professor were detained.

​Bedouin tribe members

The 180 residents of Khan al-Ahmar are members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe that has lived in the area since being expelled from the southern Negev Desert after Israel’s establishment in 1948. The United Nations granted them refugee status.

Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Israel has offered to relocate the villagers.

She said the tribe squats on land that is not safe for living, and that the Israeli government has prepared an alternative site a few kilometers (miles) away with sewage treatment and access to water and electricity. She said Israel has invested more than $2 million in the relocation project.

“We are doing them a service,” she said. “This is not against them, this is for them.”

Residents acknowledge that life in their village is tough. But they say there is no place they would rather live. They say Israel is trying to move them to a site that will be too crowded for their livestock and that sits near a sewage facility and a garbage dump.

“We Bedouin people like the desert life,” said Yousef Abu Dahouq, a Khan al-Ahmar resident, sitting on a wooden bench near the school, sipping tea and smoking a waterpipe. “We live next to each other, support each other.”

Deeper Israeli agenda?

The Palestinians and Europeans see a deeper Israeli agenda.

Khan al-Ahmar is in the 60 percent of the West Bank that is known as Area C and remains under full Israeli control, according to interim peace deals from the 1990s that are seemingly locked in place because of diplomatic paralysis. The remainder of the territory is administered by a Palestinian autonomy government.

Area C is home to about 400,000 Israeli settlers and an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians. Israel places severe restrictions on Palestinian development while supporting and promoting dozens of settlements in the area.

The EU has attempted to build numerous structures for Palestinians in Area C, only to see them demolished or rejected because of a lack of hard-to-get permits. Khan al-Ahmar’s Italian-funded school was built from car tires because a construction permit could not be obtained.

“This is the situation on the ground: New settlements for Israelis are built, while Palestinian homes in the same area are demolished,” Mogherini said. “This will only further entrench a one-state reality, with unequal rights for the two peoples, perpetual occupation and conflict.”

The village chief, Eid Khamis, promised to put up a fight.

“They want to kick us out and build settlements and we will not let that happen,” he said. “It’s our land.”
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What’s Happening: Florence by the Numbers

Posted on by SeeUS

A major response is making its way through heavy rains and floodwaters to help people trapped or displaced by Florence’s onslaught. Storm winds might be dropping, but rivers are rising and the next few days could bring the most destructive round of flooding in North Carolina history.

​By the numbers

Storm deaths: At least 11 people have died

Heavy rains: Nearly 31 inches (79 centimeters) of rain was reported in Swansboro, on the North Carolina coast

In the dark: More than 700,000 outages as of Sunday morning, mostly in North Carolina

Protected: More than 20,000 people in shelters in North Carolina, 6,400 in South Carolina and 400 in Virginia

Grounded: More than 2,400 flights canceled

Potential losses: estimated $10 billion to $60 billion in economic damage

Rescued: more than 500 people needed help in high waters around New Bern and Jacksonville, North Carolina

Find alternate routes

Officials say closures could last up to a week along Interstate 95 in North Carolina. The highway could be flooded near Fayetteville and near the South Carolina state line because of expected flooding in the Cape Fear and Lumber rivers. A 16-mile (26-kilometer) stretch of I-95 near Dunn was already closed Saturday.

North Carolina recovery

Emergency management officials and nonprofit groups aren’t waiting for Florence’s rains to end or floodwaters to recede before starting to help people recover from the storm. Tens of thousands of meals were being prepared to serve in the most damaged areas, and hotel rooms and other temporary housing are being located for people displaced from their homes.

Outer Banks

Outer Banks residents and businesses owners are reporting relatively minimal damage in the low-lying barrier islands. Though the popular North Carolina tourist destination seems to have been spared the worst of Florence’s wrath, the islands still have some of the fastest rates of sea level rise in the world, nearly an inch a year.

Recovery supplies

The government can only do so much when a storm strikes, so hardware and building supply companies get ready with batteries, gas cans, tarps and chainsaws long before landfall. Home Depot and North Carolina-based Lowe’s — the two biggest home supply companies — both activated sophisticated emergency command centers with their own meteorologists.

​Two major storms

Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut roared ashore on the same day, half a world apart, but the way they spread devastation was as different as water and wind. Experts say Mangkhut may well end up being the deadlier storm, though Florence could tally a higher insured damage total.

Wild horses

Wildlife experts say there was no need to worry about a herd of wild horses that roams North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The Corolla Wild Horse Fund posted a Facebook update Saturday saying the herd of wild Colonial Spanish Mustangs were “doing their normal thing — grazing, socializing, and wondering what us crazy humans are all worked up over.”
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Florence Floods Inland Rivers in Disaster’s Next Stage

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As the death toll from Florence mounted and hundreds of people were pulled from flooded homes, North Carolina is bracing for what could be the next stage of a still-unfolding disaster: widespread, catastrophic river flooding.

After blowing ashore as a hurricane with 90 mph (145 kph) winds, Florence virtually parked itself much of the weekend atop the Carolinas as it pulled warm water from the ocean and hurled it onshore. Storm surges, flash floods and winds scattered destruction widely, and the Marines, the Coast Guard, civilian crews and volunteers used helicopters, boats and heavy-duty vehicles to conduct rescues Saturday.

​Evacuations ordered far inland

Rivers are swelling toward record levels, forecasters now warn, and thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate for fear that the next few days could bring the most destructive round of flooding in North Carolina history.

Stream gauges across the region showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to crest Sunday and Monday at or near record levels: The Little River, the Cape Fear, the Lumber, the Neuse, the Waccamaw and the Pee Dee were all projected to overflow their banks, possibly flooding nearby communities.

Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7,500 people living within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the North Carolina coast. The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000.

John Rose owns a furniture business with stores less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the river. Rain-soaked furniture workers helped him quickly empty more than 1,000 mattresses from a warehouse in a low-lying strip mall.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever had to move anything like this,” Rose said. “If the river rises to the level they say it’s going to, then this warehouse is going to be under water.”

On U.S. Route 401 nearby, rain rose in ditches and around unharvested tobacco crops along the road. Ponds had begun to overflow, and creeks passing under the highway churned with muddy, brown water. Further along the Cape Fear River, grass and trees lining the banks were partly submerged, still well below a highway bridge crossing it.

“It’s hard to believe it’s going to get that high,” said Elizabeth Machado, who came to the bridge to check on the river.

Fayetteville’s city officials, meanwhile, got help from the Nebraska Task Force One search and rescue team to evacuate some 140 residents of an assisted living facility in Fayetteville to a safer location at a church.

Two feet of rain, more on the way

Already, more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of rain has fallen in places, and forecasters saying there could be an additional 1 feet (45 centimeters) before Sunday is out.

As of 11 p.m. Saturday, Florence was centered about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east-southeast of Columbia, South Carolina, crawling west at 3 mph (6 kph), not even as fast as a person walking. Its winds were down to 40 mph (75 kph).

In Goldsboro, North Carolina, home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, roads that frequently flood were closed Saturday by rushing water. Dozens of electric repair trucks massed to respond to damage expected in central North Carolina headed to the coast. Hundreds of thousands of outages have been reported.

Coal ash landfill collapses

On Saturday evening, Duke Energy said heavy rains caused a slope to collapse at a coal ash landfill at a closed power station outside Wilmington, North Carolina. Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said about 2,000 cubic yards (1,530 cubic meters) of ash were displaced at the Sutton Plant and that contaminated storm water likely flowed into the plant’s cooling pond.

Sutton was mothballed in 2013 and the company has been excavating ash to remove to safer lined landfills. The ash left behind when coal is burned contains toxic heavy metals, including lead and arsenic.

​Water rescues

In New Bern , along the coast, homes were surrounded by water, and rescuers used inflatable boats to reach people Saturday.

Kevin Knox and his family were rescued by boat from their flooded brick home with the help of Army Sgt. Johan Mackie, whose team used a phone app to locate people in distress.

New Bern spokeswoman Colleen Roberts said 455 people were safely rescued in the town of 30,000 residents. She called damage to thousands of buildings “heart-wrenching.”

Across the Trent River from New Bern, Coast Guard helicopters took off to rescue stranded people from rooftops and swamped cars.

The Marines rescued about 20 civilians from floodwaters near Camp Lejeune, using Humvees and amphibious assault vehicles, the base reported.
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Picking up Litter in Boat Made From Plastic Litter

Posted on by SeeEU

A boat made from recycled plastic, now sailing on London’s river Thames, is a creative way to make an environmental problem part of the solution. Faiza Elmasry tells more about the significance of the Pet Project and its mission. VOA’s Faith Lapidus narrates.]]
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Famous Italian Designer Touts Vision of Humanistic Capitalism

Posted on by SeeEU

An Italian designer’s dream to improve the quality of life of his workers and the environment where his company is located has turned his vision into reality in the past 40 years. Brunello Cucinelli calls his philosophy humanistic capitalism. He has adapted the practice to his cashmere empire based in the rolling hills of Italy’s lush central region of Umbria. VOA’s Sabina Castelfranco visited the Umbrian countryside.
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Cold War Soviet Sub Trapped in Southern California

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The “Scorpion,” a Soviet-built submarine that tracked U.S. vessels across the Pacific Ocean during the Cold War is slowly rusting in Long Beach harbor. But Southern California could be just another way station on the long and winding journey that’s taken the military vessel from the depths of the Pacific to the coast of Australia and finally, into a lawsuit in the United States. Angelina Bagdasaryan has its story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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When a Hurricane Hits, ‘Waffle House’ Becomes Barometer

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Most towns in the southern United States have at least one Waffle House restaurant. During big storms, the breakfast chain is often the only business that stays open, serving as a disaster metric of sorts. VOA talked with customers and employees at a Waffle House in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in the midst of Hurricane Florence, now a tropical storm, which is hitting the East Coast.
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Cameroon Media Regulators Demand End to Hate Language Before Poll

Posted on by SeeAF

Media in Cameroon have accused the country’s National Communication Council (NCC) of censorship ahead of October’s presidential election after it issued a stern warning accusing the media of propagating hate language that can deepen fighting in the central African state.

One supposed offenders – Amplitude FM, a radio station in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, which told potential voters to be ready for carnage that will spread all over the central African state should its president, Paul Biya, be reelected October 7. The broadcaster says that after 36 years as head of state, Biya should peacefully hand over power – and if he doesn’t – be forced to do so.

The radio station’s program in question is called Polimetre. Less than a month ago, its host, Dieudonne Mbah, anchored another political program called Polifocus that was suspended by Cameroon’s NCC, the country’s media regulator, for spreading hate language. He simply changed the name of the program.

Mbah says his program, like 12 others, was targeted because it takes a strong stance against Biya’s long stay in power. He says if he should be punished for asking people to vote for change, so, too, should other journalists for asking potential voters to take a tougher stand against those who oppose Biya.

“Some media houses like the state-run CRTV, television stations which are owned or backed by government ministers, seem untouched even when their journalists are known to have broken the same rules which other journalists and other media organs have been punished for, but they go unpunished. So I think that the NCC still needs to rise to that occasion where they can discipline any media houses irrespective of the name or irrespective of who owns it,” Mbah said.

Jude Kiven, president of the Yaounde chapter of the Association of English-Speaking Journalists, says politicians have manipulated many journalists who now no longer practice their profession, but take sides with some candidates. Jude says many producers of programs suspended by the NCC simply change their names or the names of the media organ.

“It is important for the National Communication Council to sanction anyone or any media house that is guilty of hate speech, yet the National Communication Council can take decisions and sanctions that can be ignored by the journalist or the media house. Government did not give the National Communication Council enough powers to be able to enforce their decisions,” Kiven said.

Last month, a court in Yaounde asked the president of the NCC, Peter Essoka, to pay a fine of $30,000 as damages to Vision 4, a TV station in Cameroon. Essoka had suspended some of the station’s programs, saying they could be compared with those of Radio Mille-Collines, the media outlet that was at the heart of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Essoka acted after journalists from from Vision 4 said all English speakers in the bilingual country where French also is an official language should be held responsible and punished for the crisis rocking the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

Private media outlets in Cameroon also defied a ban on political programs imposed by the National Communication Council, which insisted political debates may cause conflict ahead of senatorial elections on March 25.

In 2017, the NCC suspended 35 journalists and media outlets, accusing them of failing to respect professional norms and ethics. Some of those punished had criticized the government’s handling of the crisis in the English-speaking regions. Others criticized senior state functionaries about the use of public funds.

“It has been so insulting, abusive; it is becoming rampant, developing into a hate society,” Essoka said. “We cannot permit that some people destroy the state of the nation under the pretext that they are free. Freedom or liberty has its limits, and we shall insist on that limit. Part of the crisis in our country is based on the things that people say.”

Essoka said the NCC is committed to cleaning up the media landscape in Cameroon, but it doesn’t not have a way to enforce decisions and must rely on administrative and security officials who very often refuse to collaborate.

Essoka said he regrets that media rights group Reporters Without Borders thinks the NCC is taking a tougher line toward journalists and media.

Cameroon was ranked 126 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2016 World Press Freedom Index.

Cameroon has more than 500 newspapers and 100 radio and TV stations which express divergent views about the presidential election.

 
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UNHCR: $270M Needed for Syrian Refugees, Displaced

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) warns it is running out of cash to provide life-saving assistance to millions of Syrian refugees and internally displaced living in dire and extremely precarious conditions.

UNHCR says it urgently needs $270 million to make it through the end of the year.  This, it says, will provide millions of vulnerable people living inside and outside war-torn Syria with the vital aid and protection they need to survive the rigors of the oncoming winter season.

UNHCR cares for more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees, nearly half of whom are children, in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq as well as Egypt. Without financial support, the agency warns people also will have to go without health care or education.  

It says many will have to resort to so-called negative coping mechanisms involving sexual exploitation, child labor and forced early marriage.

The lion’s share of the needed money will be used in support of Syrian refugees outside of their homeland. UNHCR spokesman, Babar Baloch says $73 million of the appeal will help meet the most acute and pressing needs of people displaced by the conflict inside Syria.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the start of the year, and many now rely on humanitarian support to meet basic daily needs.  Additional funding would allow UNHCR to rapidly scale up activities across key sectors such as protection, shelter, and the provision of basic aid, helping up to 1.8 million people,” Baloch said.

Earlier this year, the UNHCR appealed for nearly $2 billion to run its Syrian humanitarian assistance and protection operation for 2018.  Only 31 percent of the funding goal has been met.  

The UNHCR says the $270 million dollars needed until the end of the year represents only a tiny fraction of this year’s total appeal. It says it will be used to cover the most pressing and critical needs of some of the most destitute, disenfranchised people in the world.  

 
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Rwandan Opposition Leader, 2,100 Others Walk Free from Prison

Posted on by SeeAF

One of Rwanda’s most prominent opposition leaders walked free Saturday after the government approved the early release of more than 2,100 prisoners with little explanation.

Supporters of Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and the state-run The New Times newspaper posted photos of the opposition leader walking out of Nyarugenge prison hours after the justice ministry’s announcement.

Also approved for early release was musician Kizito Mihigo, who along with Ingabire received a presidential commutation. The ministry statement said both had made their most recent requests for clemency in June.

Ingabire, head of the FDU-Inkingi opposition party, was arrested in 2010 and found guilty of conspiracy to undermine the government and denying Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, charges that she denied. She was sentenced to 15 years.

Human Rights Watch has called the charges politically motivated and linked to her criticism of the government ahead of the 2010 presidential election.

Mihigo had been convicted on charges of conspiring against the government.

Rwanda’s government has long been accused by rights groups of suppressing the opposition and having a justice system that lacks independence, which the government has denied. Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the government uses accusations of “genocide ideology” as a way to silence critics.

Still detained in Rwanda is Diane Rwigara, who tried to challenge longtime President Paul Kagame in last year’s election but was disqualified from running over allegations that she forged some of the signatures on her nomination papers. She denied it.

Rwigara later was charged with inciting insurrection against the state.
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Richer Nations Get More Aid Than Poorest, as UN Poverty Targets Off Course

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Aid money urgently needs to be redirected to the poorest countries in order to reach the United Nations’ goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, according to a new report. The Overseas Development Institute says that currently, middle-income countries receive more aid than the 30 poorest nations and warns at least 400 million people will still be living on less than $1.90 a day, despite governments pledging to eliminate all extreme poverty. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Israel-Palestinian Peace Elusive Under Trump Administration

Posted on by SeeEA

Twenty-five years after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Oslo Peace Accords that raise hopes for a comprehensive settlement, experts say peace in the Middle East is as elusive as ever. And as VOA Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, some of those experts caution that the Trump administration has lost the trust of Palestinians to be an honest broker in the conflict through several recent actions.
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Manafort Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate with Mueller Probe

Posted on by SeeUS

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges Friday in connection with his past lobbying efforts on behalf of Ukraine. As part of the plea deal, Manafort has also agreed to cooperate in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election led by special counsel Robert Mueller. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
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Florence, Mangkhut and Climate Change: Yes, No and Maybe

Posted on by SeeUS

The seas are angry this month.

While the remnants of Hurricane Florence soak the Carolinas and Typhoon Mangkhut pounds the Philippines, three more tropical cyclones are spinning in the Western Hemisphere, and one is petering out over Southeast Asia.

Experts say some of this extreme tropical weather is consistent with climate change. But some isn’t. And some is unclear.

It’s unusual to have so many storms happening at once. But not unheard of.

“While it is very busy, this has happened a number of times in the past,” said meteorologist Joel Cline at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Mid-September is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. If there are going to be storms in both hemispheres, Cline said, now is the most likely time.

Stronger storms, and a grain of salt

Scientists are not necessarily expecting more hurricanes with climate change, however.

“A lot of studies actually (show) fewer storms overall,” said NOAA climate scientist Tom Knutson.

“But one thing they also tend to simulate is slightly stronger storms” and a larger proportion of Category 4 or 5 hurricanes, Knutson said. Florence made landfall as a Category 1 storm but started the week as a Category 4.

Knutson and other experts caution that any conclusions linking climate and hurricanes need to be taken with a grain of salt.

“Our period of record is too short to be very confident in these sorts of things,” said University of Miami atmospheric scientist Brian McNoldy.

While reliable temperature records go back more than a century in much of the world, comprehensive data on hurricanes only starts with satellites in the 1980s.

​Extreme rainfall

Scientists are fairly sure that climate change is making extreme rainfall more common. Global warming has raised ocean temperatures, leading to more water evaporating into the atmosphere, and warmer air holds more water.

Florence is expected to dump up to 101 centimeters (40 inches) of rain in some spots, leading to what the National Weather Service calls life-threatening flooding.

One group of researchers has estimated that half of the rain falling in the hurricane’s wettest areas is because of human-caused climate change.

Knutson agrees in principle but can’t vouch for the magnitude.

“We do not yet claim that we have detected this increase in hurricane rainfall rate,” he said.

He points to earlier studies that blamed climate change for 15 to 20 percent of the devastating rainfall Hurricane Harvey poured on Texas last year.

However, these studies looked at all kinds of rainfall, not just hurricanes, Knutson notes.

“We think that hurricanes are probably behaving like the other types of processes, but we have the best data for extreme precipitation in general,” he explained.

The latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has “medium confidence” in the link between climate change and rainfall extremes.

As Florence trudges across the Carolinas, one recent study suggests that hurricanes are moving slower, giving them more time to do their damage.

But that may be natural variation more than climate change.

“I think we’re still early in the game on that one,” Knutson said.

​Rising sea levels

The area where scientists are most confident is sea level rise. Climate change is responsible for three-quarters of the increase in ocean levels, according to the IPCC report.

“Once you have human-caused sea level rise, then all other things being equal, whatever storms you have will create that much higher storm surge,” Knutson said.

That means more erosion and more damage farther on shore.

Whether this hurricane season as a whole will be one for the record books remains to be seen. While the seas are angry at the moment, that may soon change.

An El Niño warming pattern appears to be developing in the Pacific. That tends to squash hurricane activity in the Atlantic.

“It appears that perhaps next week will be much more quiet in both basins,” said NOAA’s Joel Cline. “So it does ebb and flow.”
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