Month: May 2019

South Africa’s Ramaphosa Sworn Into Office

Posted on by SeeAF

Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn into office Saturday as South Africa’s president before regional leaders and some 30,000 spectators in Pretoria, the capital.

“I am humbled by the trust you have bestowed upon me,” Ramaphosa said, “and I am also aware of the challenges our country faces, but I’m also alive to the fact that our people are filled with hope for a better tomorrow.”

Ramaphosa took over the presidency last year after his predecessor Jacob Zuma was forced to step down amid numerous corruption scandals, including using about $20 million in public funds for improvements at his private estate.

Ramaphosa said, “In recent times, our people have watched as some of those whom they had invested their trust have surrendered to the temptation or power and riches.”

He told the crowd he envisioned a country free from graft and “resources squandered.” He called for South Africa to end poverty in a generation.

The party of Nelson Mandela remains in power with Ramaphosa’s election, but its grip on power has slipped. For the first time this year, the ANC won less than 60 percent of the vote.

Ramaphosa said after the election results were announced the election was “a resounding expression of the will of the people of South Africa.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Four More Countries Vote in EU Election

Posted on by SeeEU

Voters in Slovakia, Malta, Latvia and the Czech Republic are casting ballots Saturday in European Parliament elections.

The stakes for the European Union are especially high in this year’s selections, which are taking place over four days and involve all 28 EU nations.

Many predict nationalists and far-right groups will gain ground, and would try to use a larger presence in the legislature to claw back power from the EU for their national governments.

Moderate parties, on the other hand, want to cement closer ties among countries in the EU, which was created in the wake of World War II to prevent renewed conflict.

Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands have voted, and the Czech Republic started voting Friday and continues Saturday.

Slovakia, Malta and Latvia are holding their European Parliament elections Saturday, and all the other nations vote Sunday.

Official results will be released Sunday night, after all countries have voted.

A Dutch surprise?

Voting in the Netherlands may have already produced a surprise. An Ipsos exit poll forecast a win for the Dutch Labor Party, and predicted that pro-European parties would win most of the Netherlands’ seats in the European Parliament, instead of right-wing populist opponents.

Overall, the European Parliament’s traditional political powerhouses are expected to come out with the most votes. But the center-right European People’s Party and the center-left Socialists & Democrats look set to lose some clout and face their strongest challenge yet from an array of populist, nationalist and far-right parties skeptical of the EU.

Emulating Trump, Brexiteers

Those parties hope to emulate what President Donald Trump did in the 2016 U.S. election and what Brexiteers achieved in the U.K. referendum to leave the EU: to disrupt what they see as an out-of-touch elite and gain power by warning about migrants massing at Europe’s borders ready to rob the continent of its jobs and culture.

The traditional parties warn that this strategy is worryingly reminiscent of prewar tensions, and argue that unity is the best buffer against the shifting economic and security challenges posed by a China and U.S.-dominated new world order.

Voters across Europe are electing 751 lawmakers, although that number is set to drop to 705 when Britain eventually leaves the EU. Each EU nation gets a number of seats in the EU parliament based on its population.

The legislature affects Europeans’ daily lives in many ways: cutting smartphone roaming charges, imposing safety and health rules for industries ranging from chemicals and energy to autos and food, supporting farming, and protecting the environment.
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Volunteers Build Communities Through Service

Posted on by SeeUS

In the heart of Watts, a minority neighborhood in south Los Angeles, 300 volunteers gathered on a recent Sunday to beautify an elementary school. Amid the poverty in this area, local residents and youngsters, and volunteers from other neighborhoods, pitched in to help.

Many students at Lovelia Flournoy Elementary School live in Nickerson Gardens, a public housing complex that 50 years ago gave birth to the Bounty Hunter Bloods, a notorious street gang.

School is a refuge for these students, and many joined their parents, planting trees and flowers, painting murals in the hallways and preparing bags of food for local families. For some volunteers, the project marked an opportunity to give back to the community.

Jesus Enrique Arrocha, a teaching assistant taking a break from digging a garden, said the adults were leading by example to “make sure that the kids understand hard work and they see that (we’re) making the campus beautiful, not only just for them but for the next generation.”

“There are challenges,” said Robin Arrocha, the school’s psychiatric social worker. “But the kids are amazing, and the teachers work really hard to help their kids out and do as much as they can.”

Big Sunday

The volunteer day was sponsored by Big Sunday, a charity that recruits people for community services projects on weekends and other days throughout the year.

Big Sunday started 20 years ago as a single Sunday devoted to service, said founder David Levinson, a Hollywood scriptwriter who organized the first event as part of an outreach at his synagogue. It grew into a charity that included Christians and others. Today, it is secular and non-political.

“We’re a community-building organization, he said. “Our mission is to connect people through helping.”

Volunteers from all walks of life came from many parts of Los Angeles, including Watts.

“We’re just beautifying the school, and the kids are enjoying it and having fun,” said Liliana Gonzalez Suarez, the mother of a Flournoy student. She has been involved in the school’s activities for the past nine years, as her children have progressed through the grades. Today, she’s filling bags with donated food for local families.

Nesly Trazile, who came with a group of volunteers from the web-based organic food company Thrive Market, said the volunteer work “gives me an opportunity to widen my experience and knowledge of different people and different lifestyles.”

2,000 events a year

Big Sunday produces, promotes or sponsors more than 2,000 events a year to build community ties, said founder Levinson. It is needed now, he said.

“We live in very divisive times, very fraught times. But I think when we turn off the TV, we turn off the internet, put down the newspaper for a minute, most people want to focus on what we share, what we have in common, and how we can make our world a better place together,” he said.
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Volunteers Build Ties Through Service in Politically Divided America

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In politically divided America, there is an organization that is building ties and community through volunteer service, despite people’s differences. The organization Big Sunday recruits people for community service projects on the weekend and year-round — beautifying schools, coaching youth sports teams and distributing food to the hungry. Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles.
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Trump Begins State Visit to Japan

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in Japan for a four-day state visit heavy on ceremony and sports, although a senior White House official promises “there’ll be some substantive things to announce.”

Trump went directly from the airport on Saturday evening to the U.S. ambassador’s official residence to address several dozen top Japanese business leaders.

“The relationship with Japan and the United States I can say for a fact has never been stronger, never been more powerful, never been closer,” the president told the executives. “This is a very exciting time for commerce between the two countries that we both love.”

Trump expressed hope the United States and Japan will soon be able to reach a new trade pact.

“Japan has had a substantial advantage for many, many years, but that’s OK, maybe that’s why you like us so much,” said Trump, adding that the trade imbalance strongly in Japan’s favor for decades would become “a little bit more fair.”  

The overall visit, however, will focus more on photo opportunities rather than deal-making and that may be intentional on the part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has forged a close relationship with Trump. The two have met or spoken more than 40 times, which is “absolutely unprecedented,” according to the White House.

Keio University Professor Tomohiko Taniguchi, the prime minister’s primary foreign policy speechwriter, envisions that apart from the visit’s ceremonial aspects, there will be little of substance. But Taniguchi points out Abe is the only foreign leader with whom “Trump can spend hours and hours speaking without prepared talking points, which in itself bears strategic value for Japanese diplomacy.”

Asked by VOA if the trip would result in any deliverables on trade and defense cooperation, a senior U.S. official pointing to a scheduled Monday Trump-Abe news conference replied, “they’ll have some very interesting announcements concerning the range of the relationship.”

​‘Trump Cup’

The president is to attend a banquet with the new emperor, golf with the prime minister and view the ancient sport of sumo — awarding what has been nicknamed the “Trump Cup” to a champion wrestler. The cup (officially known as the President’s Cup) is about 137 centimeters  tall, according to a senior White House official, and “weighs 27 to 32 kilograms.”

One goal of Abe’s during their time together in Tokyo is to ensure Trump is committed to next month’s Group of 20 leaders summit Japan will host in Osaka.

“The meeting will test Japan’s ability to act as a global statesman and champion the need for multilateralism,” says Shihoko Goto, the Wilson Center’s deputy director for geoeconomics and senior associate for Northeast Asia. “Making sure the United States is fully engaged in the G-20 summit will certainly be a key factor for Japan to achieve that goal.”

Abe also is eager to get Trump’s commitment not to skip this year’s Group of Seven summit in France.

“It’s critical for Japan’s survival that the U.S. uphold the international institutions built after the war,” says Michael Green, the Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Abe hopes to demonstrate “nobody works better with this president or the United States than Japan,” Green added. “That’s an important message for Asia, which has seen mixed signals out of Washington over the last decade about whether China or Japan would be the most important partner for the U.S.”

Both leaders also desire an economic pact following the U.S. withdrawal from the multinational Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

“Japan’s priority is to have a bilateral trade deal with the United States that would not impede its exports,” Goto, of the Wilson Center, told VOA. “In addition, Japanese businesses are looking for stability in trade rules, and certainly stability in U.S.-China relations that would allow them to make investment decisions in the longer term.”

Golf, sumo

Abe will have ample opportunity to lobby Trump about the global world order and trade while they golf and then sit side by side close to the sumo ring before their formal summit on Monday.

No immediate breakthrough in the trade arena is foreseen by analysts.

“Exactly how and when agriculture and autos is going to be addressed is still very much up for debate,” said Matthew Goodman, senior adviser for Asian economics at CSIS.

There is anxiety among Japanese officials that Trump could lash out at his hosts and reinforce his tough stance on trade.

“My gut is that he will be, in this context, on his best behavior because of the pomp and circumstance of this visit and the golf and all the rest of it,” predicted Goodman, a former White House and National Security Council staffer.

Trump on Monday also meets with Emperor Naruhito and attends a state banquet.

The U.S. president is Japan’s first formal guest of the Reiwa era, which began May 1 with the new monarch ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne, succeeding his elderly father, Akihito, who abdicated.

​Yokosuka naval base

Trump and Abe on Tuesday, according to a Japanese defense source, are to inspect a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter carrier at the Yokosuka naval base, putting the final focus for the president’s visit on the close military relationship between the two countries, which were on opposing sides during World War II.

 

The 250-meter-long Izumo-class vessel named the Kaga is categorized as a helicopter carrier but could be modified to launch the short take-off and landing version of the F-35B supersonic stealth fighter jet.

 

“The Japanese have not decided officially yet whether they’ll procure the F-35B, but there’s an awful lot of interest. I’m sure Donald Trump would like to sell them,” Green tells VOA. “The impression the Abe government had was that the Obama administration was much more ambivalent about all this stuff.”

 

Trump’s enthusiasm signals “to the region and to the Japanese public, and the American public, that the U.S. is fully supportive of what Abe is trying to do on security,” adds Green, a former National Security Council staffer.

 

At Yokosuka, Trump also is scheduled to address U.S. military personnel aboard a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship while it’s still Memorial Day back home, specifically noting the “global nature of the partnership between Japan and the United States,” according to a senior White House official.

 

 

 

 
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Women Run Grave Risks Fighting for Change in Egypt, Sudan, Algeria

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From Egypt to Sudan to Algeria, women have become more active in participating in demonstrations demanding lasting change in their societies. But their vocal activism in these Islamic societies have been viewed by some as an unwelcome threat, leading security forces to react harshly — often sexually assaulting women as a tactic of control. As VOA’s Salem Solomon reports on the dangers for women involved in protests that call for change.
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Kenya Upholds Ban on Same-Sex Relations

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenya’s high court on Friday upheld laws that criminalize gay sex. The much-anticipated ruling Friday was decided by a three-judge bench on Kenya’s High court in Nairobi.

The laws, sections 162(a) and (c) and 165 of Kenya’s Penal Code, criminalize consensual sexual conduct between two adults of the same sex, an act that as of Friday’s ruling remains punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Justices Roselyn Aburili, Chacha Mwita and John Mativo issued the ruling.

In arguments read in court, the three judges stated there was not enough evidence of discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.

The judges also argued that decriminalization would open the door for same-sex marriage and said there was no scientific evidence that pointed to LGBTQ persons being born as they are.

Justice Aburili commented for the court panel.

“Decriminalizing the impugned provisions would indirectly open the door for unions among persons of the same sex. If this were to be allowed, it would be in direct conflict with article 45 sub article 2 of the constitution. We take this view fully aware of numerous decisions from different foreign jurisdictions, which we have referred to that have decriminalized provisions similar to ours, however persuasive this decisions may be, they are not binding on this court,” Aburili said.

Friday’s ruling is a result of a petition that dates from 2015, when the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), and the Nyanza Rift Valley and Western Kenya Network (NYARWEK), all LGBT rights organizations, filed petitions with Kenya’s high court asking it to declare Sections 162 (a) and (c) and 165 unconstitutional.

Court hearings began in February 2018.

In a series of proceedings through 2018, the petitioners argued the laws, as stipulated in the penal codes, violated the right to privacy, freedom of expression, the right to health, human dignity and the right to freedom from non-discrimination.

The petitioners behind the historic case wanted the high court to declare unconstitutional the sections of the penal code that discriminated against members of the LGBTQ community.

Eric Gitari was one of the petitioners who was present during the ruling.

“It sends a very chilling message, not just to LGBT people in Kenya but LGBT people across the African continent that there is preference, as you heard the judges say, certain cultures, which is the heterosexual culture and protection of the family. When judges have to weigh the protection of human rights of LGBT persons, they will give preference to majoritarian views and majoritarian interest of protecting families — that’s what we have been told and so we will remain criminals,” Gitari said. 

After Friday’s ruling, members of Kenya’s LGBT community were clearly distraught.

Outside the courts, members of various Christian churches congregated, singing songs of jubilation.

One of them is Pastor Katy Kageni of the Sozo Church.

“So it’s not a sin worse than the other sin, but the problem is what it does to the family,” Kageni said. “Our fight is for the family unit. I am a mother of four, I came to this court, I told God, ‘don’t let us get into a position where I have to explain to my children why a man is holding a man.’ If he does it in the bedroom, that’s up to them, and between them and God — but not in public.

For the LGBT community, decriminalization of gay sex would provide guaranteed freedoms that they once only dreamed of, Gitari said.

He said because of today’s ruling, many of Kenya’s LGBT community would remain in the closet, and some will be too ashamed to access basic services, like health care.

Countries such as South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome, and Principe and Cape Verde have struck down anti-homosexuality laws from their constitutions through court rulings or changes in their laws.

Twenty-eight of 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to uphold laws penalizing same-sex relationships, Kenya included.
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IS Threatens ‘Hot Summer’ by Scorching Iraq, Syria Farmlands  

Posted on by SeeEA

The Islamic State in its al-Naba newspaper claimed responsibility for setting fire to hundreds of acres of agricultural land across Iraq and Syria, encouraging its followers to continue the sabotage of “apostate” crops during the harvest season.  

 

In an article titled “Roll Up Your Sleeves and Begin the Harvest — May Allah Bless What You Reap,” the group said the arson was in retaliation for what it claims Shiite and “apostate” forces did to Sunni homes and farmlands in areas formerly under IS. 

 

“It looks like it will be a hot summer, burning the pockets and hearts of rejecters and apostates who have been burning Muslims and their homes over the past years,” the group said in its 183rd issue of al-Naba online newspaper that was published Thursday.  

 

The term “rejecter” or “al-Rawafidh” is historically applied by some extremist Sunnis to refer to Shiites, while “apostate” or “al-Murtad” is used against those Muslims who are accused of heresy.  

 

In the article, IS said it was behind the farmland scorches in predominantly Kurdish territories across Kirkuk, Diyala, Ninawa and Salahuddin provinces in Iraq and al-Hasakah province in Syria. It claimed the fire was “just the beginning” and that it had burned hundreds of acres of wheat and barley fields.  

“And the season of harvest is still long. We tell the soldiers of the caliphate, you have before you millions of acres of land planted with wheat and barley, belonging to apostates, and you have before you their plantations, fields and homes, as well as their economic foundation. So roll up your sleeves and begin the harvest. May Allah bless what you reap,” IS told its followers. 

 

Farmers across northern Iraq and northeastern Syria began protesting as their crops were hit by mysterious fires in recent weeks.  

 

Religious taxation 

 

In Iraq, Kurdish peshmerga forces Wednesday told VOA that IS militants had asked villagers in disputed territories between the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Region to pay a religious tax known as zakat or find their crops destroyed.  

 

Kurdish officials warned the continuation of the fires could ignite violent clashes between Kurdish and Arab residents in the area, especially as the Kurdish farmers say only their fields are targeted while Arab farmers’ fields are being spared. 

WATCH: Militants Target Kurdish Farmers in Disputed Territories in Iraq

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, about 500 hectares (1,185 acres) of farmland have been scorched in recent weeks across the disputed territories as well as al-Najaf and al-Diwaniyah governorates. 

 

In Syria, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that fire outbreaks in northeastern Syria have blazed down thousands of hectares of land. Less intense fires were also reported in the outskirts of Damascus and Hama. 
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Yemen President Slams UN Envoy’s Handling of War in Letter to Secretary-general

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Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi criticized the U.N.’s special envoy to the country in a sharply-worded letter to the U.N. chief, describing him as legitimizing Houthi rebels his Saudi-backed coalition is locked in a four-year war with.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who ousted Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in 2014, have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent days in a resurgence of tactics that had largely subsided since late last year amid United Nations-led peace efforts.

The attacks come the same month that U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths appeared to have achieved a diplomatic breakthrough, getting the Iranian-aligned Houthis to agree a unilateral withdrawal of their forces from Hodeidah and two other ports.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE head a Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim states that back Hadi and intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government ousted from power.

The five-page letter, addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and dated May 22, outlines a litany of grievances directed at Griffiths, criticizing “his insistence on dealing with the rebels as a de-facto government,” referring to the Houthis.

The letter states that Griffiths has failed to properly oversee an agreement struck last year in Stockholm for a ceasefire and withdrawal plan for the port city of Hodeidah, and has not dealt with issues surrounding detainees and hostages.

“It is clear the envoy has a weak understanding of the nature of Yemen’s ongoing conflict, especially the ideological, intellectual, and political elements of the Houthi militias and their fundamental rejection of the principles of democracy and the peaceful rotation of power,” stated the letter.

A UN spokesman said on Friday that Guterres reiterated his confidence in Griffiths after receiving the letter, and said the special envoy would double down on efforts to support both sides in the conflict and ensure that the Stockholm agreement is fulfilled, a U.N. statement said.
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Defying Congress, Trump Sets Arms Sales to Saudis, UAE

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U.S. President Donald Trump, saying there is a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress and cleared the sale of $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

The Trump administration informed congressional committees on Friday that it will go ahead with 22 military sales to the Saudis, United Arab Emirates and Jordan, infuriating lawmakers by circumventing a long-standing precedent for congressional review of such sales.

In documents sent to Congress and seen by Reuters, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listed a wide range of products and services that would be provided to the three countries. They include Raytheon precision-guided munitions (PGMs), support for Boeing Co F-15 aircraft, and Javelin anti-tank missiles, which are made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Some lawmakers and congressional aides had warned earlier this week that Trump, frustrated with Congress holding up weapons deals like the sale of the Raytheon-made bombs to the Saudis, was considering using a loophole in arms control law to go ahead by declaring a national emergency.

Lawmakers had been blocking sales of offensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for months, concerned about the huge civilian toll of the two countries’ air campaign in Yemen and human rights abuses like the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Congressional sources said Friday’s order included all the defense equipment that members of Congress had been blocking. “I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Trump Administration has failed once again to prioritize our long-term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favors to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia,” Senator Bob Menendez said in a statement.

Menendez is one of the members of Congress who reviews such sales because he is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Another, the Republican Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator Jim Risch, said he had received formal notification of the administration’s intent to move forward with “a number of arms sales.”

In a statement, Risch said, “I am reviewing and analyzing the legal justification for this action and the associated implications.”

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In his memorandum to Congress justifying the sale, Pompeolisted years of actions by Iran. “Iranian malign activity poses a fundamental threat to the stability of the Middle East and to American security at home and abroad,” he wrote, and cited “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Tehran. 

Congressional aides questioned the contention that the weapons had to do with Iran, saying the equipment and services listed by the administration includes large amounts of offensive weapons, like the PGMs and tank ammunition. They said lawmakers have not been blocking defensive equipment such as Patriot missile defense systems that have been sold to the Saudis.

“This is all materiel that arguably could be used in the Yemen military operation. The defensive stuff we’ve cleared,” one congressional aide said.
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Senate Foreign Relations Chief: North Macedonian NATO Accession Vote Possible by June

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This story originated in VOA’s Macedonian Service. 

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers may vote to approve North Macedonia as the 30th member of NATO as early as next month, according to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator James Risch.

“The process is that we need to have a hearing on it in the Foreign Relations Committee, and I have tentatively scheduled that for approximately two weeks from now,” the junior Idaho Republican senator told VOA’s Macedonian Service. “Then, as far as when it will be finalized, it goes to the Senate floor, and we would very much like to have that done in June, and we are cautiously optimistic that we can get that done in June.”

North Macedonia’s long-standing bid to join the military alliance was blocked for more than a decade because of a name dispute with neighboring Greece, which has a province called Macedonia.

North Macedonia, formerly known as Macedonia, changed its name under the Prespa Agreement in June 2018 with Greece, opening the path to NATO and EU membership.

North Macedonia’s accession protocol was signed by all member states in Brussels on Feb. 6. The accession process continues in the capital of each allied nation, where individual protocols are ratified according to national procedures.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has praised the country as a “steadfast security partner,” submitted its NATO accession protocol to the Senate for ratification on April 30.

North Macedonia’s full accession to the alliance would represent a blow to Russia, which opposes NATO expansion and, therefore, the country’s accession.

Asked if North Macedonia’s NATO membership can reduce Russian influence or political meddling within North Macedonia, he said “that’s going to be up to the North Macedonian people themselves.”

“But they’ve already spoken on that,” Risch said. “I think the election itself, regarding accession, was a good, clear indication that they don’t want that Russian influence, that they don’t want that Russian propaganda. So, this taking of what would really be a final step into NATO is a final rejection of Russia and what it stands for and the kind of malign influence they bring.”

Last August, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson and Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, sponsored a bipartisan resolution to put the tiny Balkan country on the path to NATO and European Union membership.

Risch also said he anticipates near-unanimous support for North Macedonia’s accession protocol when the bill arrives on the Senate floor.

 
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Pompeo to Make Up Canceled Germany Trip on Europe Tour

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo next week will make up a trip to Germany he canceled earlier this month amid heightened tensions with Iran.

The State Department says Pompeo will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin before heading to additional stops in Europe.

Pompeo abruptly canceled a planned May 7 stop in Germany to make an unexpected visit to Iraq, shortly after the Trump administration announced it was sending an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in response to threats from Iran.

After meeting Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the department said Pompeo would travel on to Switzerland and the Netherlands before joining President Donald Trump on his state visit to Britain in London. Pompeo leaves Washington on Thursday.

 
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UN Honors Peacekeeper Killed in DR Congo

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The U.N. secretary-general Friday honored a Malawian peacekeeper who was killed saving the life of a fellow soldier during a firefight last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

“He saved his comrades and helped the U.N. protect the vulnerable,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said of Private Chancy Chitete of Malawi. “He personally made a difference. A profound one.”

Chitete’s widow wept as she was presented with the U.N.’s highest peacekeeping award at a ceremony ahead of International Peacekeeping Day next Wednesday. The medal is named for Senegalese Captain Mbaye Diagne, who was killed protecting hundreds of civilians during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Private Chitete is the first peacekeeper to receive the honor since it was created in 2014 and posthumously awarded to Diagne in 2016. 

​Deadly firefight

Last November, U.N. peacekeepers from Malawi and Tanzania were caught in a firefight while trying to repel ADF rebels, who had been raiding towns near Beni and North Kivu in the eastern part of the country. The area is also currently in the midst of a major Ebola virus outbreak and ADF attacks have disrupted the response.

The Malawian troops were providing fire cover for the Tanzanians to move to more secure ground. 

A Tanzanian soldier, Corporal Ali Khamis Omary, was badly wounded during the operation and lay stranded as the ADF fighters neared. Chitete saw him and dragged him to a safer area. As Chitete administered first aid, he was struck by enemy fire. 

Both men were evacuated for medical treatment, but only Omary survived. 

“Private Chitete’s selfless heroism and sacrifice helped the peacekeepers achieve their objective and dislodge the militia from its stronghold and that was vital for the Ebola response to go on,” Guterres said. 

Being a U.N. peacekeeper carries significant risk. Last year, 98 military police and civilian peacekeepers from 36 countries were killed in the line of duty. While that is the lowest number in a decade, the secretary-general said that “it remains unacceptable.”

“We ask much of our peacekeepers,” Guterres said. “In return, we must continue to do all we can to ensure they are as safe as possible.”

Twenty-one peacekeepers have been killed this year. 

The secretary-general also laid a wreath in a special memorial garden at U.N. headquarters, which honors staff and peacekeepers who have lost their life in the pursuit of peace. 
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Trump to Send 1,500 Troops to Middle East

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he will send about 1,500 American troops to the Middle East, mostly as a protective measure, amid heightened tensions with Iran.

He said the deployment involved a relatively small number of troops.

The forces would help strengthen American defenses in the region, two sources told Reuters earlier on condition of anonymity. They said the forces included engineers.

 
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Drought Leaves 2 Million Food Insecure in Angola

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Southern Angola is facing the worst drought in decades, with at least 2.3 million people at high risk of suffering malnutrition because they couldn’t get enough food, the United Nations Children’s Fund says. 

Among them is 58-year-old farmer Eduardo Noukala, who is struggling to find enough grass and water for the cattle his family now depends on.

The worst drought to hit southern Angola in decades destroyed his entire crop.

It hasn’t rained since November and thousands of farmers like Noukala were left with no harvest and little hope.

He says only God knows about the drought this year, because he hasn’t seen something like this before.

Families depend on cattle

Cattle farmers were forced to make an annual trek with their herds three months early, in search of green pastures.

Few of the animals are expected to survive, and thousands have already died.

The United Nations Children Fund says the drought has left more than 2 million people in southern Angola at risk of food insecurity.

Asorio Setequele, a local farmer says they are starving at home and have no water because of the drought.

​Malnourished children

Malnourished children are treated at Ondjiva Hospital.

But Dr. Daniel Ricardo, who is a nutrition specialist, says most of those starving are too weak to reach medical care.

He says the health condition of those children will get worse because this drought does not only affect people nutritionally, but also has a huge impact on the children’s health at the community level.

Aid group World Vision is treating 32,000 hungry children younger than 5 in Cunene with 11 containers of food supplements.

More aid needed

Robert Bulten, the emergency program director in Angola, is concerned about the extreme need.

“This is not enough,” he said. “We will need to find other resources by additional suppliers, because we foresee that with the field harvest of this season, we are expecting that we will encounter a lot of malnourished children at least until the harvest of the next year, which will be in March.”

Angola’s president, Joao Lourenco, visited the region this month and acknowledged the situation is grim.

He says the government is not indifferent to this. The reason for his presence in these two provinces was a sign to show that the government is following up on what is happening in almost all of southern Angola.

Angola has promised to fund its own emergency and development programs within four years.

While the plan is praiseworthy, aid groups say the vow of self-reliance makes it harder to attract donations to help Angolans suffering from the drought.
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Trump Considering Troop Deployment to Deter Iran

Posted on by SeeEA

The White House is considering a plan presented by the Pentagon Thursday to send thousands more troops to the Middle East to deter potential Iranian threats. Earlier this week, Trump administration officials told lawmakers the U.S. is not trying to provoke Tehran. Many are concerned that mixed messages from the administration may increase the risk of conflict and lessen the chance of persuading Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Maduro Accuses US of Attacking Food Aid Program

Posted on by SeeUS

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Thursday accused the United States of seeking to destroy a food aid program that the government of the crisis-stricken OPEC nation says feeds 6 million families.

Washington is preparing sanctions and criminal charges against Venezuelan officials and others suspected of using the food program to launder money for the Maduro government, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The measures against the program, known in Venezuela by its Spanish acronym CLAP, are expected to be enacted within the next 90 days, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified.

“(The U.S.) is preparing sanctions to destroy the CLAP system,” Maduro said in televised broadcast, accompanied by the military high command.

“Do what you want to do, Venezuela will continue with the Local Supply and Production Committees,” he said, referencing the full name of the CLAP program.

The State Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Subsidized food

The program sells at subsidized prices boxes of food that include products such as rice, pasta, oil and powdered milk.

Some of the products are imported from countries such as Turkey, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

Maduro launched the plan in 2016 in response to chronic food shortages and spiraling prices, as Venezuela struggled under hyperinflation and a severe economic contraction. Critics call the program a form of social control that is used to pressure its recipients to support the ruling Socialist Party.

Crisis deepening

Venezuela’s political crisis has deepened since opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that socialist Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

The United States as well as most European and Latin American countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

But Maduro retains control of state functions and the support of the military’s top brass, as well the support of allies such as Russia, Cuba and China. He says the country’s economic problems are the result of an “economic war” led by his political adversaries with the help of Washington.
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Anacondas Born to ‘Virgin Mother’ at Boston Aquarium

Posted on by SeeUS

Anna, a female green anaconda that has lived most of her life in an all-female enclosure at the New England Aquarium, has given birth.

The anaconda produced 18 snakes in early January. A DNA test has confirmed that the births were a result of a nonsexual reproduction process known as parthenogenesis, or “virgin birth,” according to the aquarium.

Parthenogenesis commonly occurs in the plant world and among animals without a backbone, but is rare among vertebrates. The process has been documented only among lizards, birds, sharks and snakes.

The phenomenon involving Anna is the second known confirmed case of parthenogenesis for a green anaconda. The first was at a British zoo in 2014.

Only two of Anna’s 18 offspring have survived.

Aquarium staff said the young snakes are clones of their mother. Limited genetic sequencing shows complete matches on all the sites tested.
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Sources: FAA Expects to OK Boeing 737 MAX to Fly in June

Posted on by SeeUS

The Federal Aviation Administration expects to approve Boeing Co.’s 

737 MAX jet to return to service as soon as late June, representatives of the U.S. air regulator informed members of the U.N. aviation agency in a private briefing Thursday, sources told Reuters. 

The target, if achieved, means U.S. airlines would most likely not have to greatly extend costly cancellations of 737 MAX jets they have already put in place for the peak summer flying season, but the FAA representatives warned that there was no firm timetable to get the planes back in the air. 

American Airlines Group Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and United Airlines suspended 737 MAX flights into July and August after the FAA grounded Boeing’s best-selling jet in March following two crashes in the space of five months that together killed 346 people. 

FAA and Boeing officials privately briefed members of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) governing council in Montreal on the 737 MAX on Thursday, the same day that the FAA’s acting administrator. Dan Elwell. met with international air regulators for eight hours in Fort Worth, 

Texas. 

Laying out a potential schedule for getting the 737 MAX back in the air in the United States goes further than the FAA’s public statements so far. 

Elwell declined to answer questions about the private ICAO briefing. “The last thing I want is to put a date out there and then to have anybody, either the FAA or you or the public, drive to the date instead of the end result of the process,” he told Reuters at a briefing with reporters after the Fort Worth meeting, which he called “constructive.” 

Safety first

He repeated previous statements that the FAA will not approve the plane for flight until it has completed a safety analysis, with no set timetable. 

The path to getting the 737 MAX back in the air outside the United States remains even more uncertain. Canada and Europe said on Wednesday that they would bring back the grounded aircraft on their own terms, not the FAA’s. 

Shares of Boeing, the world’s largest plane maker, pared earlier losses on Thursday to close down 0.6% at $350.55. The stock has fallen about 17 percent since the second crash, of an Ethiopian Airlines jet in March, wiping about $40 billion off its market value. 

Software fix 

The FAA has said it will not reverse its decision to ground the plane until it sees the findings of a multiagency review of Boeing’s plan to fix software on the 737 MAX, which the plane maker has described as a common link in the two crashes. 

Boeing said last week it had completed an update to the software, known as MCAS, which would stop erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system that automatically turned down the noses of the two planes that crashed, despite pilot efforts to prevent such action.

Boeing has yet to formally submit the fix to the FAA and has not set a date to do so. 

“Once we have addressed the information requests from the FAA, we will be ready to schedule a certification test flight and submit final certification documentation,” Boeing communications director Chaz Bickers said on Thursday. 

Even after the FAA lifts its ban on 737 MAX flights, airlines will have to spend about 100 to 150 hours getting each aircraft ready to fly again after being put in storage, plus time for training pilots on the new software, officials from the three U.S. airlines that operate the 737 MAX told Reuters. 

Southwest, American and United provided estimates to Reuters after discussing the process with Boeing in Miami earlier this week. 

Southwest is the world’s largest MAX operator with 34 jets, followed in the United States by American  with 24 and United with 14. All three have dozens more on order, meant to service booming air travel demand. 

Long checklist

Each airline has a long list of items to tick off as it uploads the new 737 MAX software, including fluid changes and engine checks. 

FAA associate administrator Ali Bahrami said on Thursday it could take up to a week to return the planes to service following approval, noting that some grounded 737 MAX planes have missed scheduled inspections during the grounding. 

On top of that, each airline must train its pilots on the new software.

Boeing has said that simulator training is not necessary for the 737 MAX, and is recommending a mandatory computer-based course that explains MCAS and could be completed at a pilot’s home in about an hour, according to pilot unions. 

Elwell said on Thursday that “no individual country stood up and said we need to have sim [simulator] training.”

The FAA has made no decision yet on what type of pilot training will be required. Each airline will be responsible for developing its own training plan once the FAA lays down guidelines. 

If the FAA hits its target of approving the 737 MAX to fly by the end of June, airlines may still have to adjust their schedules for the busy summer travel season. 

United has removed the MAX from its flight schedule through July 3, Southwest through Aug. 5 and American through Aug. 19. 

For Southwest and American, that has meant more than 100 daily flight cancellations during the summer travel season. Both have said they will start using the aircraft as spares if they are ready to fly before those dates. 
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CAR Slates Three Days of Mourning Over Massacre 

Posted on by SeeAF

The leader of the Central African Republic proclaimed three days of mourning starting Thursday for more than 50 people killed this week in a massacre attributed to an armed group called 3R. 

 

The public display of sorrow was to honor the victims of the killings that took place Tuesday in villages near the northwestern town of Paoua, close to the border with Chad, as well as the slaying of a 77-year-old French-Spanish nun in the southwest of the country whose beheaded body was found Monday, according to the decree by President Faustin-Archange Touadera.  

The slaughter near Paoua was the biggest single loss of life since the government and 14 militias signed a deal in February aimed at restoring peace to one of Africa’s most troubled countries. 

 

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, revised its death toll from the northwest massacre to more than 50, from a previous count of more than 30. 

 

According to one U.N. source, the 3R group — which gets its initials from “Return, Reclamation and Reconciliation” and claims to represent the Fulani, one of the country’s many ethnic groups — hosted a meeting with the villagers and then gunned them down indiscriminately. 

 

MINUSCA and the country’s authorities on Wednesday gave the 3R group until the end of the week to hand over the suspected perpetrators of the massacre.
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Iranian FM Visits Pakistan Amid Tehran’s Rising Tensions With US 

Posted on by SeeEA

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in neighboring Pakistan late Thursday for bilateral consultations amid Tehran’s escalating tensions with the United States. 

 

Officials in Islamabad said Zarif would begin his official engagements on Friday. He will brief Pakistani civilian and military leaders on current regional developments, Iranian state media said.  

 

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been escalating since U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to try to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero and beef up the American military presence in the Persian Gulf in response to what he said were Iranian threats. 

 

Pakistan already has stated it will not take sides in the confrontation and described the crisis in the Persian Gulf region as “disturbing.” Islamabad says, however, Washington’s decision to deploy an aircraft carrier and bombers has fueled tensions and “the existing precarious security situation” in the Middle East.  

Support for dialogue

 

“We expect all sides to show restraint, as any miscalculated move can transmute into a large-scale conflict,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told a weekly news conference hours before the Iranian foreign minister landed in Islamabad. 

 

“Pakistan always supports dialogue and desires that all issues should be settled peacefully and through engagement by all sides,” Faisal stressed.  

Border security issues are also expected to be discussed during Zarif’s visit.  

 

Pakistan and Iran share a border of more than 900 kilometers. Iranian officials regularly allege anti-state Sunni militants use hideouts on the Pakistani side to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Iran. 

 

For its part, Islamabad says separatist groups active in its volatile Baluchistan province use sanctuaries on the Iranian side to plan cross-border terrorist attacks. 

 

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last month made his first official visit to Tehran and spoke extensively with President Hassan Rouhani on strengthening bilateral security, economic and trade ties. 

 

Rouhani noted that Khan’s visit would be “a turning point” in improving bilateral relations. 
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Pentagon Denies Media Reports Detailing Mideast Troop Increase

Posted on by SeeEA

White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara, national security correspondent Jeff Seldin, and VOA Persian’s Mehrnoush Karimian at the State Department contributed to this report.

PENTAGON — Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has denied reports that between 5,000 and 10,000 U.S. troops could be sent to the Middle East to defend against a potential threat by Iran.

“There is no 10,000. There’s no 5,000. That’s not accurate,” he told reporters, referring to a Reuters report that the Pentagon was considering sending 5,000 defensive troops to the region, and an AP report that up to 10,000 could be deployed. 

 

WATCH: Trump Considering Troop Deployment to Deter Iran

VOA had reported that Shanahan and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would provide the president with a wide range of options Thursday in response to rising tensions in the Middle East, including possibly sending thousands more U.S. troops to the region.

Shanahan confirmed this ahead of his presidential briefing at the White House, telling reporters he was considering deploying more U.S. forces.

“What we’re looking at is, are there things that we can do to enhance force protection in the Middle East?” Shanahan said. “It may involve sending additional troops.”

The request for additional force protection came from the U.S. Central Command chief, Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie. Shanahan said the request was part of a “normal back and forth” with CENTCOM, but added that it was “at a higher-elevated level, given all the dynamics there in the Middle East.”

It is not clear if the White House will approve sending additional forces or equipment, such as more Patriot missile batteries or ships. It is also not clear where those additional resources would come from, if approved.

In a phone conference Thursday with reporters, Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine expressed strong opposition to any possible U.S. military confrontation with Iran.

“You’ve seen very bellicose tweets from the president. You’ve seen bellicose language used by both the secretary of state and the national security adviser. It would be a colossal disaster if the United States were involved in Iran,” he said.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have been escalating since President Donald Trump announced his decision to try to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero and beef up U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf in response to what he said were Iranian threats.   

 

“Iran has been a very dangerous player, very bad player. They are a nation of terror, and we won’t put up with it,” Trump said Thursday. 

Speaking to VOA Persian at the State Department on Wednesday, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said the U.S. would use military force against Iran “only if we were attacked first.” He said the Trump administration believed that Iran-backed attacks on U.S. interests were “imminent” but had not yet seen such attacks materialize.

Hook also reiterated Trump’s offer to receive a phone call from Iranian leaders to talk about negotiating an end to their perceived malign behaviors.

“He has made that clear repeatedly,” Hook said. “So has Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and so have I. We haven’t heard from the Iranians. So that is a choice that they are going to have to make. We encourage Iran to take advantage of the president’s offer.”

Last week, Trump told Shanahan that he did not want to go to war with Iran.

Sending additional U.S. troops to the region would mark a shift in position for Trump, who has repeatedly said in the past he wanted to reduce the number of U.S. troops in the region.

Last December, Trump announced the withdrawal of 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. In February, however, he decided to keep about 400 U.S. troops there.
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Italy Anti-mafia Body Says Berlusconi ‘Unpresentable’ for EU Vote

Posted on by SeeEU

The Italian parliament’s anti-mafia committee on Thursday declared five candidates for the European elections “unpresentable,” including billionaire and three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The five include three candidates from Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party and one from the far-right Casa Pound, and all are currently under investigation or being tried for alleged crimes, according to the committee’s president Nicola Morra.

The committee’s declaration will not stop the candidates from running in the European Parliament elections, which in Italy are to be held on Sunday.

Media magnate Berlusconi has faced a string of charges over the so-called Rubygate scandal linked to his dinner parties and then 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug, also known as “Ruby the heart-stealer.”

The 82-year old is currently on trial accused of paying a witness to give false testimony about the notoriously hedonistic soirees.

Berlusconi is also being investigated or prosecuted for alleged witness tampering in Milan, Sienna, Rome and Turin, each time accused of paying people to keep quiet about his so-called “bunga-bunga” parties.
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US Charges WikiLeaks Founder With Violating Espionage Act

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. prosecutors Thursday announced new criminal charges under the Espionage Act against jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over his alleged role in what they termed “one of the largest compromises of classified information” in U.S. history.

The charges are not related to WikiLeaks’ alleged role in disseminating stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

An 18-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia accuses Assange of working with former Army specialist Chelsea Manning to obtain and publish on WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of highly sensitive U.S. government reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The documents, many of them classified as secret, contained the names of journalists, dissidents and other human sources that provided information to U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as to U.S. diplomats around the world.

Warned in 2010

Assange, prosecutors allege, knew that disseminating the names endangered the human sources and that he continued to do so even after a warning by the State Department in late 2010.

Assange was charged last year with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in connection with working with Manning. The indictment was unsealed in April after Assange was expelled from Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he’d taken refuge in 2012, and arrested by British police.

He remains in jail on charges of violating his bail conditions and faces possible extradition to the U.S. and Sweden.

The new charges against Assange include conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information as well as obtaining and disclosing national defense information. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum of five years in prison. Each new count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Assange has long maintained that he’s being targeted for his work as a journalist.

“This is madness,” WikiLeaks tweeted after the charges were announced. “It is the end of national security journalism and the First Amendment.”

Press and government transparency advocates have come to Assange’s defense, arguing that prosecuting Assange could endanger others who publish classified information.

But U.S. law enforcement officials were quick to emphasize that they don’t see Assange’s work as journalism.

“The department takes seriously the role of journalists in our democracy and we thank you for it,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers told reporters. “It has not and never has been the department’s policy to target them for reporting. Julian Assange is no journalist.”

​‘Complicity in illegal acts’

U.S. Attorney Zach Terwilliger stressed that Assange is only charged for his “complicity in illegal acts” and for “publishing a narrow set of classified documents” that contained names of confidential human sources.

“Assange is not charged simply because he is a publisher,” Terwilliger told reporters.

Assange, a 47-year-old Australian computer programmer and activist, founded WikiLeaks in 2006 as “an intelligence agency of the people.”

To obtain secret documents to publish, he “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal and provide it to WikiLeaks to disclose,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.

Manning, an intelligence specialist based in Iraq, responded to Assange’s call by stealing and providing to him databases containing about 90,000 Afghanistan war reports, 400,000 reports about the Iraq war, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables, according to the indictment.

Manning served seven years in a military prison for her role in the WikiLeaks disclosures before then-President Barack Obama commuted the remainder of her 35-year sentence shortly before he left office in January 2017.

She spent 62 days in federal jail earlier this year on civil contempt charges after she refused to answer questions to the federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Last week, a federal judge ordered her back to jail.

The charges against Assange predate by several years allegations that the anti-secrecy website published tens of thousands of Democratic documents stolen by Russian agents during the 2016 election.
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