They are trapped in squalid detention centers on Libya’s front lines. They wash up on the banks of the Rio Grande. They sink without a trace — in the Mediterranean, in the Pacific or in waterways they can’t even name. A handful fall out of airplanes’ landing gear.As their choices narrow on land and at sea, migrants are often seen as a political headache in the countries they hope to reach and ignored in the countries they flee. Most live in limbo, but recent tragedies have focused attention on the risks they face and the political constraints at the root of them.A record 71 million people were forcibly displaced around the world in 2018, according to a report last month by the U.N. refugee agency, in places as diverse as Turkey, Uganda, Bangladesh and Peru. Many are still on the move in 2019, or trapped like thousands in detention in Libya, where an airstrike on Tuesday killed at least 44 migrants and refugees locked away in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura.Most of those in Tajoura and other Libyan detention centers have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard, which has become the go-to border force for the European Union, which can’t get 28 governments to agree about migration. Despite the rhetoric about migration crises in Europe and the U.S., the top three countries taking in refugees are Turkey, Pakistan and Uganda. Germany comes in a distant fifth.A 20-year-old who fled war in his homeland in sub-Saharan Africa two years ago survived the airstrikes, gunfire from militia members trying to keep migrants inside the compound, torture for ransom by traffickers and a sinking boat in the Mediterranean. He is now sleeping outside the Tajoura detention center along with hundreds of other migrants and awaiting a second chance to go to sea.“I faced death in Libya many times before. I am ready to die again. I already lost my brothers in the war in my country,” he told The Associated Press. He didn’t want his name used because the militia fighters who shot at him are still guarding the compound.Libya’s interior minister, Fathi Bashagha, pleaded Friday for Europe “to address the problem in a radical way — not to prevent migrants, but to provide jobs and investment in the migrants’ places of origin, as well as in southern Libya … so as to absorb these huge numbers willing and eager to migrate to Europe.”Within days of the airstrike, at least two boats filled with migrants sank off Libya’s coast, leaving around 140 people missing. Another group was picked up by a rescue ship and then barred from docking on the Italian island of Lampedusa, touching off the 21st standoff between Italy’s populist government and humanitarian groups. A pregnant woman watching a shipboard ultrasound of her baby smiled broadly, seemingly oblivious to the political furor on land and at sea.A similar disconnect played out recently when the body of a stowaway on an inbound flight from Nairobi crashed to earth next to a man sunbathing on a Sunday afternoon in his London garden. The next day, mourners held a lavish burial in El Salvador for a man and his young daughter who drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas.As during a 2015 wave of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis pouring into Europe, daily reminders of migrants’ plights are back on front pages.The U.S.-Mexico border has become a flashpoint amid President Donald Trump’s ambitions to build a wall to keep out migrants. Many children caught crossing are stuck in squalid, unsanitary detention centers. Children have also been separated from parents in custody. Critics call such policies inhumane, heartless and “un-American.”More broadly, advocates for the huddled masses on the move say not enough is being done in the migrants’ home, transit or destination countries. Only international cooperation can help resolve the agonies, they say — a tough sell at a time of rising go-it-alone, populist and nationalist sentiment in many places.Filippo Grandi, head of U.N. refugee agency UNHCR , said his office has a “dialogue” going with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and “if there is any help that we can provide to the U.S. administration in dealing with this matter, we’re ready to do it.”But he called for a regional discussion among countries like the United States — the destination for many — as well as transit country Mexico, and the troubled home countries for migrants and refugees such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, where gang killings and lawlessness are rife.“I have been to Honduras, to Guatemala, to El Salvador,” he told reporters recently in Geneva. “The violence perpetrated by gangs, the inability of these governments to protect their own citizenship, cause part of these flows. So this needs to be addressed in the proper manner — without stigmatizing these people.”
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Month: July 2019
Massive Displacement in Eastern DR Congo Poses Health Hazard
The International Organization for Migration warns massive displacement from renewed inter-ethnic fighting in DR Congo’s Ebola-affected Ituri province poses a serious health hazard. At least 160 people were killed during renewed clashes early last month between Lendu farmers and Hema herders in Ituri province. U.N. agencies report the violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and sent more than 7,500 refugees fleeing for their lives into neighboring Uganda.The International Organization for Migration reports people who have fled the frontline of the conflict are living in abysmal conditions that create a fertile ground for the spread of disease, most worryingly Ebola. The latest World Health Organization figures put the number of Ebola cases at 2,382, including 1,606 deaths. The bulk of these cases and deaths are in conflict-ridden North Kivu province About 10 percent are in Ituri.The inter-communal fighting has displaced an estimated 400,000 people. IOM spokesman, Joel Millman, says his agency manages 12 displacement sites in Ituri’s Djugu Territory. Thousands of people unable to cram into these overcrowded camps, he says, are sheltering in spontaneous sites.“Poor hygiene conditions in displacement sites severely increase the risk that Ebola, as well as cholera, measles and acute respiratory diseases, will spread,” Millman said. “Many of these people are seeking assistance in Ebola-affected Bunia, where the displacement site officially called “General Hospital Site” has received more than 5,000 new Internally Displaced Persons, increasing the site’s population to 10,000 or twice its capacity.”Millman says plans are underway to relocate many of the IDPs to a new improved settlement on land owned by Bunia’s Catholic Diocese. He says IOM also is reinforcing its Ebola surveillance and disease prevention activities at Ituri’s Points of Entry at International borders. Measures include hand washing, hygiene promotion, and screening travelers for possible Ebola infections.On June 11, the first case of Ebola spread across the border from DRC to Uganda. A five-year old boy and his grandmother subsequently died from the deadly virus.Millman says IOM is working to reduce disease transmission to new areas and across borders by expanding its preparedness measures to include Uganda, South Sudan and Burundi.
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Major Quake Hits Same California Area, Causes Damage, Injuries
A quake with a magnitude of 7.1 jolted much of California, cracking buildings, setting fires, breaking roads and causing several injuries while seismologists warned that large aftershocks were expected to continue for days, if not weeks.The Friday night quake, preceded by Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert, was the largest Southern California quake in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of large and small aftershocks, including a few above magnitude 5.0.There is about a 1-in-10 chance that another 7.0 quake could hit within the next week, said Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the U.S. Geological Survey.A fireman looks over a home Saturday, July 6, 2019 that burned after a earthquake in Ridgecrest, Calif.The chance of a 5.0-magnitude quake “is approaching certainty,” she added.Aftershocks from the new main quake could occur for years, Jones said.However, the quake was unlikely to affect fault lines outside of the area, she said, noting that the gigantic San Andreas Fault was far away.Latest A mobile phone customer looks at an earthquake warning application on their phone in Los Angeles, Jan. 3, 2019. The app, called ShakeAlertLA, is available for download on Android and Apple phones.Warning appEarlier Friday, Los Angeles had revealed plans to lower slightly the threshold for public alerts from its earthquake early warning app. But officials said the change was in the works before the Thursday quake, which gave scientists at the California Institute of Technology’s seismology lab 48 seconds of warning but did not trigger a public notification.“Our goal is to alert people who might experience potentially damaging shaking, not just feel the shaking,” said Robert de Groot, a spokesman for the USGS’s ShakeAlert system, which is being developed for California, Oregon and Washington.The West Coast ShakeAlert system has provided non-public earthquake notifications on a daily basis to many test users, including emergency agencies, industries, transportation systems and schools.Construction of a network of seismic-monitoring stations for the West Coast is just over half complete, with most coverage in Southern California, San Francisco Bay Area and the Seattle-Tacoma area. Eventually, the system will send out alerts over the same system used for Amber Alerts to defined areas that are expected to be affected by a quake, de Groot said.California is partnering with the federal government to build the statewide earthquake warning system, with the goal of turning it on by June 2021. The state has spent at least $25 million building it, including installing hundreds of seismic stations throughout the state.This year, Newsom said the state needed $16.3 million to finish the project, which included money for stations to monitor seismic activity, plus nearly $7 million for “outreach and education.” The state Legislature approved the funding last month, and Newsom signed it into law.
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Report: Amazon Founder Bezos’ Divorce Final; Settlement $38B
Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos’ divorce from his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, was finalized by a Seattle-area judge Friday, paving the way for her to receive $38.3 billion worth of Amazon stock, Bloomberg reported.In April, Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, said in a filing that 4% of its outstanding stock or 19.7 million shares would be registered in MacKenzie Bezos’ name after court approval of the divorce.The couple announced their plan to divorce in a joint Twitter statement in January, causing some to worry that Jeff Bezos could wind up with reduced Amazon voting power or that he or MacKenzie would liquidate large position.He retains a 12% stake worth $114.8 billion and remains the world’s richest person, Bloomberg said. MacKenzie Bezos has said she would give him voting control of her shares.MacKenzie in May pledged to give half her fortune to charity to join the “Giving Pledge,” a campaign announced by billionaire Warren Buffett and Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates in 2010.
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Selling Leftovers to Help Prevent Food Waste
Leftovers. It’s what’s for dinner. In Germany that saying does not just apply to people who cook too much at home. These days, more and more restaurants are selling their leftovers to hungry city dwellers at reduced prices. It’s good for business, good for the consumer and good for the environment. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Turkey Fires Central Bank Governor
Turkey fired its central bank governor Saturday and replaced him with the bank’s deputy governor, a presidential decree published on the official gazette showed.Murat Cetinkaya, who had been serving as the governor since April 2016, was removed from the role and was replaced by his deputy Murat Uysal, the order showed.No official reason was given for the sacking, but markets have speculated over recent weeks that Cetinkaya may be pushed out by the government because of his reluctance to cut rates.The central bank has faced pressure in the past from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to lower interest rates to boost economic growth.Two government sources told Reuters that differences between the government and the governor over the conduct of monetary policy have deepened in the past few months.“The difference of opinions between the governor and the ministers in charge of the economy has deepened in the recent period,” said one of the sources.“The president and the finance minister demanded his resignation, but Cetinkaya reminded of the bank’s independence and declined to resign,” the other source said.In a statement Saturday, the central bank said it will continue to operate independently and that the new governor will focus on maintaining price stability as its key goal.Data earlier in the week showed Turkey’s consumer inflation slowed to its lowest level in a year in June, mainly because of a high base effect from the prior year and a drop in food prices, potentially paving the way for the country’s first interest rate cut since last year’s currency crisis.Analysts expect the central bank could ease monetary policy at a July 25 meeting if the lira is not hit this month by threatened U.S. sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile defense system.
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7.1 Magnitude Quake Strikes in Southern California
Authorities are now reporting injuries and damage from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake jolted Southern California and was felt as far away as Mexico Friday night.The quake initially was reported as magnitude of 6.9 to 7.1. It was also measured at 7.1 by the
European-Mediterranean Seismological Agency. It would be the largest temblor in the region in 20 years and was centered in the same area as a 6.4 quake that hit a day earlier.The shaker at 8:19 p.m. was centered 11 miles from Ridgecrest, a Mojave Desert town 150 miles (240 kilometers) away from Los Angeles that saw building damage, fires and several injuries from the earlier quake.Kern County fire officials reported “multiple injuries and multiple fires” without providing details. Officials in San Bernardino County reported homes shifting, foundation cracking and retaining walls coming down. One person suffered minor injuries and was being treated by firefighters, they said. Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology’s seismology lab, tweeted that the quake was part of the sequence that produced the earlier quake.This is the same sequence. You know we say we 1 in 20 chance that an earthquake will be followed by something bigger? This is that 1 in 20 time— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) July 6, 2019The new jolt was felt in downtown Los Angeles as a rolling motion that seemed to last at least a half-minute. Reports said the quake rocked chandeliers and rattled furniture as far away as Las Vegas, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was felt in Mexico as well.Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department told KNX-AM radio says more than 1,000 firefighters were mobilized, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.The press box at Dodger Stadium lurched for several seconds, and fans in the upper deck appeared to be moving toward the exit. Enrique Hernandez of the Dodgers was at-bat in the bottom of the fourth when the quake occurred. He stepped out of the batter’s box, but it wasn’t clear if that was because of the quake.An NBA Summer League game in Las Vegas was stopped after the quake. Speakers over the court at the Thomas & Mack Center continued swaying more than 10 minutes after the quake.The quake came as communities in the Mojave Desert tallied damage and made emergency repairs to cracked roads and broken pipes from the earlier quake.Like any quake, today’s M7.1 has a 1 in 20 of being followed by something even bigger. Smaller quakes – M5s are likely and a M6 is quite possible.— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) July 6, 2019Hours earlier, seismologists had said that quake had been followed by more than 1,700 aftershocks and that they might continue for years. However, that quake would now be considered a foreshock to the Friday night temblor.Damage from Thursday’s quake appeared limited to desert areas, although the quake was felt widely. The largest aftershock, magnitude 5.4, was also felt in Los Angeles before dawn Friday.At an afternoon news conference, a seismologist had said the odds of a quake of magnitude 6.0 or larger happening in the next few days was only 6 percent and dwindling.Earlier Friday, Ridgecrest Regional Hospital remained closed as state inspectors assessed it, spokeswoman Jayde Glenn said. The hospital’s own review found no structural damage, but there were cracks in walls, broken water pipes and water damage.The hospital was prepared to help women in labor and to give triage care to emergency patients. Fifteen patients were evacuated to other hospitals after the quake, Glenn said.The quake did not appear to have caused major damage to roads and bridges in the area, but it did open three cracks across a short stretch of State Route 178 near the tiny town of Trona, said California Department of Transportation district spokeswoman Christine Knadler.
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African Leaders Meet to Push Forward Free-Trade Deal
Officials are gathering in Niger’s capital this weekend for an African Union summit that begins the “operational phase” of a long-sought continental free trade zone.Some 50 heads of state were to arrive in Niamey on Friday, a day behind their foreign ministers, for Sunday’s summit on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). By integrating economies and reducing trade barriers such as tariffs, the pact aims to increase employment prospects, living standards and opportunities for the continent’s 1.2 billion people and to make Africans more competitive regionally and globally.FILE – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in for a second four-year term in Africa’s most populous nation in Abuja, Nigeria, May 29, 2019.The trade deal got a boost earlier this week when Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, committed to signing the deal this weekend. The ECOWAS Executive Director, Mohamed Ibn ChambasRegional common currencyECOWAS plans to introduce the ECO currency in 2020, though its debut has been delayed repeatedly since 2000.The African free trade zone has been under discussion since 2002, with a draft deal signed in early 2018. In May, it surpassed a threshold of ratification by at least 22 member countries’ legislatures.“And now the process of free trade can start,” said Ibrahima Kane, a Senegal-based senior program adviser with the Open Society Foundations.A date of next July 1 has been put forward for trading to begin, but “saying that this treaty will be operational in 2020 is not realistic,” said Kane, who focuses on African Union matters. “People are still negotiating on a number of critical issues,” including rules of origin, which determine whether a manufactured product gets taxed or not.Challenges, disparitiesKane cited other challenges, including disparities among African countries’ connectivity, infrastructure, customs and regulatory enforcement, payment systems and more. “Many things will be done online,” he said. “How many countries have official borders? How many will be equipped with this kind of infrastructure? … African countries need to agree on standards. It’s a long, long, long process.”AU and national leaders also are expected to decide Sunday where to locate the trade zone’s headquarters. Five countries are in the running for headquarters: Egypt, eSwatini, Ghana, Kenya and Madagascar. As Reuters points out, a country’s selection will bring it more prominence.The pact is intended to improve circumstances for the whole AU bloc. Currently, intra-African trade accounts for 16% of exports, up from 5% in 1980 but “low compared to intra-regional trade in Europe and Asia,” according to the African Export-Import Bank. Tariffs on intra-African trade average 6.1%, more than those levied on non-African countries, the French news agency AFP reported. It also cited an International Monetary Fund report that said “improving trade logistics, such as customs services, and addressing poor infrastructure could be up to four times more effective in boosting trade than tariff reductions.”
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In Britain, Leaders of Modern-Day Slavery Ring Sentenced
Members of what prosecutors have called one of Britain’s largest-ever modern-day slavery rings have been convicted and sentenced for their role in forcing around 400 Polish people to work and live under inhumane conditions.The cases against all eight suspects, originally from Poland, ended Friday, allowing reporting restrictions to be lifted and details of their trials to be published.Prosecutors say the victims, who were from Poland, were forced to work for barely any money while the organizers of the operation earned several million dollars. They say the human trafficking ring lured homeless people, former convicts and alcoholics from Poland to Britain with promises of well paid work but instead forced them to live in squalid conditions, paying some less than $1 a day.Victims described going to food banks to try to find enough to eat and of being threatened or assaulted if they complained.Jurors in two separate trials in Birmingham heard the accounts of more than 90 victims.All eight suspects, part of a criminal gang led by the Brzezinsky family, were convicted of modern slavery offenses. Seven of them were also convicted of money laundering.They received sentences ranging from 4½ to 11 years.Judge Mary Stacey said at the end of the first trial earlier this year that the conspiracy, which ran from 2012 to 2017, was the “most ambitious, extensive and prolific” modern-day slavery network ever uncovered.The operation was discovered by the anti-slavery British charity Hope for Justice. The group said it alerted police after victims made contact through its outreach efforts.
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Oregon State Senator Faces Hearing on ‘Heavily Armed’ Comment
An Oregon state senator who was among the Republican lawmakers who fled the Capitol last month to scuttle a vote on a bill to fight climate change faces a conduct hearing over remarks tinged with threats of violence about any efforts to force the senators to return.Senator Brian Boquist, who is a former U.S. Army special forces officer, ahead of the Republicans’ departure said on June 19 to the state Senate’s Democratic president: “If you send the State Police to get me, hell is coming to visit you personally.”Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, enlisted the State Police on June 20 to try to bring Republicans back to the Capitol, but ultimately the Democratic-sponsored bill died. By fleeing the Capitol, the Republican senators prevented a vote from being held because, under Senate rules, there were not enough lawmakers present for legislation to be voted on.The state Senate’s Special Committee on Conduct will hold a hearing on Monday over Boquist’s comments.Boquist also told a reporter from a Portland television station that if police came looking for him, “Send bachelors and come heavily armed.”The Senate Special Committee agenda for Monday calls for its two Democrats and two Republicans to consider a recommendation from an outside counsel that Boquist not be allowed to return to the “workplace” during an investigation.The memorandum from the outside counsel, attorney Brenda Baumgart of the firm Stoel Rives LLP, cited the need to “ensure that the Capitol is free from threats of (or actual) violence and intimidation.”The two Democratic senators on the committee could not be reached for comment.Boquist did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Baumgart’s recommendation.He told the Salem Reporter that he had made comments to State Police officials similar to his remarks to the television reporter, specifically that they should “send bachelors and come heavily armed.””And of course, they see this is purely political free speech and discussion, you know, within the politics and the realms,” Boquist told the Salem Reporter.The Oregon climate change bill would have required the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions below 45 percent of 1990 levels by 2035.The approach would have capped the state’s total amount of greenhouse gases, forcing companies such as utilities to buy emission allowances.
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African Migrants in Record Numbers Head for US via Latin America
Marilyne Tatang, 23, crossed nine borders in two months to reach Mexico from the West African nation of Cameroon, fleeing political violence after police torched her house, she said.She plans soon to take a bus north for four days and then cross a 10th border, into the United States. She is not alone, a record number of fellow Africans are flying to South America and then traversing thousands of miles of highway and a treacherous tropical rainforest to reach the United States.Tatang, who is eight months pregnant, took a raft across a river into Mexico on June 8, a day after Mexico struck a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to do more to control the biggest flows of migrants heading north to the U.S. border in more than a decade.Trump threats encourage migrantsThe migrants vying for entry at the U.S. southern border are mainly Central Americans. But growing numbers from a handful of African countries are joining them, prompting calls from Trump and Mexico for other countries in Latin America to do their part to slow the overall flood of migrants.As more Africans learn from relatives and friends who have made the trip that crossing Latin America to the United States is tough but not impossible, more are making the journey, and in turn are helping others follow in their footsteps, migration experts say.Trump’s threats to clamp down on migrants have ricocheted around the globe, paradoxically spurring some to exploit what they see as a narrowing window of opportunity, said Michelle Mittelstadt, communications director for the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.“This message is being heard not just in Central America, but in other parts of the world,” she said.Record breaking numbers from AfricaData from Mexico’s interior ministry suggests that migration from Africa this year will break records.The number of Africans registered by Mexican authorities tripled in the first four months of 2019 compared with the same period a year ago, reaching about 1,900 people, mostly from Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which remains deeply unstable years after the end of a bloody regional conflict with its neighbors that led to the deaths of millions of people.‘They would have killed me’Tatang, a grade school teacher, said she left northwest Cameroon because of worsening violence in the English-speaking region, where separatists are battling the mostly French-speaking government for autonomy.“It was so bad that they burned the house where I was living … they would have killed me,” she said, referring to government forces who tried to capture her.At first, Tatang planned only to cross the border into Nigeria. Then she heard that some people had made it to the United States.“Someone would say, ‘You can do this,’” she said. “So I asked if it was possible for someone like me too, because I’m pregnant. They said, ‘Do this, do that.’“Tatang begged her family for money for the journey, which she said so far has cost $5,000.Epic journeyShe said her route began with a flight to Ecuador, where Cameroonians don’t need visas. Tatang went by bus and on foot through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala until reaching Mexico.She was still deciding what to do once she got to Mexico’s northern border city of Tijuana, she said, cradling her belly while seated on a concrete bench outside migration offices in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula.“I will just ask,” she said. “I can’t say, ‘When I get there, I will do this.’ I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”FILE – A migrant from Cameroon holds his baby while trying to enter the Siglo XXI immigrant detention center to request humanitarian visas, issued by the Mexican government, to continue to the U.S., in Tapachula, Mexico, July 5, 2019.Reuters spoke recently with five migrants in Tapachula who were from Cameroon, DRC and Angola. Several said they traveled to Brazil as a jumping-off point.They were a small sampling of the hundreds of people, including Haitians, Cubans, Indians and Bangladeshis, clustered outside migration offices.Political volatility in Cameroon and the DRC in recent years has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.People from the DRC made up the third largest group of new refugees globally last year with about 123,000 people, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency, while Cameroon’s internally displaced population grew by 447,000 people.The number of undocumented African migrants found by authorities in Mexico quadrupled compared with five years ago, reaching nearly 3,000 people in 2018.Most obtain a visa that allows them free passage through Mexico for 20 days, after which they cross into the United States and ask for asylum.More families coming, tooFew choose to seek asylum in Mexico, in part because they don’t speak Spanish. Tatang said the language barrier was especially frustrating because she speaks only English, making communication difficult both with Mexican migration officials and even other Africans, such as migrants from DRC who speak primarily French.Those who reach the United States often send advice back home, helping make the journey easier for others, said Florence Kim, spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration in West and Central Africa.Like their Central American migrant counterparts, some Africans are also showing up with families hoping for easier entries than as individuals, said Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute.U.S. data shows a huge spike in the number of families from countries other than Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras at the U.S. southern border. Between last October and May 16,000 members of families were registered, up from 1,000 for the whole of 2018, according to an analysis by the MPI.Regional approachThe grueling Latin America trek forces migrants to spend at least a week trudging across swampland and hiking through mountainous rainforests in the lawless Darien Gap that is the only link between Panama and Colombia.Still, the route has a key advantage: Countries in the region typically do not deport migrants from other continents partly because of the steep costs and lack of repatriation agreements with their home countries.That relaxed attitude could change, however.Under a deal struck with United States last month, Mexico may start a process later this month to become a safe third country, making asylum-seekers apply for refuge in Mexico and not the United States.To lessen the load on Mexico, Mexico and the United States plan to put pressure on Central American nations to do more to prevent asylum-seekers, including African migrants, from moving north.For the moment, however, more Africans can be expected to attempt the journey, said IOM’s Kim.“They want to do something with their life. They feel they lack a future in their country,” she said.
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California Towns Survey Quake Damage as Shocks Persist
Communities in the Mojave Desert tallied damage and made emergency repairs to cracked roads and broken pipes Friday as aftershocks from Southern California’s largest earthquake in 20 years kept rumbling.
The small town of Ridgecrest, close to the epicenter, assessed damage after several fires and multiple injuries that were blamed on the magnitude 6.4 quake. A shelter drew 28 people overnight, but not all of them slept inside amid the shaking.
“Some people slept outside in tents because they were so nervous,” said Marium Mohiuddin of the American Red Cross.
Damage appeared limited to desert areas, although the quake was felt widely, including in the Los Angeles region 150 miles (240 kilometers) away. The largest aftershock thus far — magnitude 5.4 — was also felt in L.A. before dawn Friday.
Hospital closed Ridgecrest Regional Hospital remained closed as state inspectors assessed it, spokeswoman Jayde Glenn said. The hospital’s own review found no structural damage, but there were cracks in walls, broken water pipes and water damage.
The hospital was prepared to help women in labor and to give triage care to emergency patients, Fifteen patients were evacuated to other hospitals after the quake, Glenn said.
Workers repair lines that were broken during a powerful earthquake that struck Southern California, near the epicenter, northeast of the city of Ridgecrest, July 5, 2019.The quake did not appear to have caused major damage to roads and bridges in the area, but it did open three cracks across a short stretch of State Route 178 near the tiny town of Trona, said Christine Knadler, spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation’s District Nine.
Those cracks were temporarily sealed, but engineers were investigating whether the two-lane highway was damaged beneath the cracks, Knadler said. Bridges in the area were also being checked.
The Ridgecrest library was closed as volunteers and staff picked up hundreds of books that fell off shelves. The building’s cinderblock walls also had some cracks, said Charissa Wagner, library branch supervisor.
Wagner was at her home in the city of 29,000 people when a small foreshock hit, followed by the large one, putting her and her 11-year-old daughter on edge.
“The little one was like, ‘Oh, what just happened?’ The big one came later and that was scarier,” she said.
Naval air station OK so far The nearby Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake said in a statement late Thursday that no injuries were reported and so far all buildings had been found to be intact, but assessments continued across its vast acreage. Its workforce was ordered to not report on Friday.
The ruins of a house that burned after a powerful earthquake struck Southern California are seen in the city of Ridgecrest, July 5, 2019.The earthquake knocked over a boulder that sat atop one of the rock spires at the Trona Pinnacles outside Ridgecrest, a collection of towering rock formations that has been featured in commercials and films, said Martha Maciel, a Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman in California.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles revealed plans to lower slightly the threshold for public alerts from its earthquake early warning app. But officials said the change was in the works before the quake, which gave scientists at the California Institute of Technology’s seismology lab 48 seconds of warning but did not trigger a public notification.
“Our goal is to alert people who might experience potentially damaging shaking, not just feel the shaking,” said Robert de Groot, a spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert system, which is being developed for California, Oregon and Washington.
The West Coast ShakeAlert system has provided non-public earthquake notifications daily to many test users, including emergency agencies, industries, transportation systems and schools.
Late last year, Los Angeles released a mobile app intended to provide ShakeAlert warnings for users within Los Angeles County.
The trigger threshold for L.A.’s app required a magnitude 5 or greater and an estimate of level 4 on the separate Modified Mercali Intensity scale, the level at which there is potentially damaging shaking.
Although Thursday’s quake was well above magnitude 5, the expected shaking for the Los Angeles area was level 3, de Groot said.
A revision of the magnitude threshold down to 4.5 was already underway, but the shaking intensity level will remain at 4. The rationale is to avoid numerous ShakeAlerts for small earthquakes that do not affect people.
“If people get saturated with these messages, it’s going to make people not care as much,” he said. Monitoring network
Construction of a network of seismic-monitoring stations for the West Coast is just over half complete, with most of the coverage in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area and the Seattle-Tacoma area. Eventually, the system will send out alerts over the same system used for Amber Alerts to defined areas that are expected to be affected by a quake, de Groot said.
California is partnering with the federal government to build the statewide earthquake warning system, with the goal of turning it on by June 2021. The state has already spent at least $25 million building it, including installing hundreds of seismic stations throughout the state.
This year, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state needed $16.3 million to finish the project, which included money for stations to monitor seismic activity, plus nearly $7 million for “outreach and education.” The state Legislature approved the funding last month, and Newsom signed it into law.
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British Seek Clues to Iranian Sanction Busting From Crew of Seized Tanker
British police on Friday were questioning the crew of an Iranian supertanker that was seized at 4 a.m. Thursday in waters near Gibraltar, and which remains anchored close to the eastern shore of what locals refer to as “the Rock.”Gibraltar’s supreme court announced it was extending the authority to hold the ship for 14 more days, saying there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel was acting in breach of established of EU sanctions against Syria.”A spokesperson for Gibraltar’s government told VOA that an initial order to seize the vessel for up to 72 hours was issued the day before it was boarded by 30 Royal Marines flown in from Britain. The seizure of the 1,000-meter tanker Grace 1 as it stopped at Gibraltar for scheduled reprovisioning bears the hallmarks of a planned military operation aided by satellite and on-ground reconnaissance, as well as special forces.According to the British Foreign Office, Grace 1 had loaded oil in Iraq that was destined for Syrian refineries sanctioned by the EU. Analysts said the unusual route around Africa and through the Strait of Gibraltar suggests the ship’s operators wanted to avoid the shorter route through the Suez Canal, where it could have been more easily subject to inspection and boarding by Egypt.Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrel told reporters in Brussels the seizure had been requested by the U.S. He said Washington supplied information about the ship’s destination and its cargo to the British government, which informed Spain only at the last minute about the planned boarding operation, in what Madrid considers to be its territorial waters.”Prior to the intervention by British forces, the UK had maintained, through opportune channels, consultations with Spain in which it shared suspicions that Grace 1, which was expected to stop in Gibraltar, transported a cargo of crude whose final destination was Syria, which British forces would act to embargo,” according to a Spanish Foreign Ministry statement.A picture taken from La Linea de la Concepcion in southern Spain shows supertanker Grace 1 suspected of carrying crude oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions after it was detained in Gibraltar on July 4, 2019.Spanish officials have told VOA the ship was too large to enter Gibraltar’s port, so it slowed down to take on provisions from small boats in waters off the Gibraltar coast. That was where the British forces boarded the ship, with Spanish police patrol boats nearby.Fast launches carrying British marines and Gibraltar police surrounded the vessel as commandos of the Special Boat Squadron roped onto the deck from a helicopter to take control of the bridge and ensure that the ship stopped. Gibraltar residents say they heard unusual noises from a hovering helicopter about 2 a.m.Police have been interviewing the Grace 1 crew, which consists mainly of Indians but also some Pakistanis and Ukrainians, to determine the vessel’s precise instructions. They also hope to gain intelligence on tactics that Iran may be using to skirt international sanctions on its oil exports, according to reports by the Gibraltar broadcasting corporation, which broke the news of the seizure Thursday morning.An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander said in a tweet Friday that Iran should seize a British oil tanker if the Iranian tanker is not released immediately. “If Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities’ duty to seize a British oil tanker,” said Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezai, according to Reuters.The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the seizure of the vessel at the request of the United States amounted to an act of “piracy.”Speaking Friday to the BBC, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo denied reports the British rock colony was under a security alert.
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TIM to Extend 5G Services to 6 More Italian Cities by Year-end
Italy’s biggest phone company, Telecom Italia (TIM), plans to extend 5G services to six more Italian cities as well as dozens of tourist spots and business hubs by the end of the year.The former monopoly unveiled its 5G mobile services plan on Friday. It is also negotiating with rival Vodafone to share 5G infrastructure to deliver services at a lower cost across wider areas of the country.TIM has already begun 5G services in Rome, Turin and Naples, is testing them in southern cities of Matera and Bari and plans to move next in Milan, Bologna, Verona and Florence by year’s end.The group plans to cover 120 Italian cities within two years, or 22% of the population, it said in a statement.TIM will offer tiered data-download packages to consumers and business clients, rather than unlimited data plans, according to details of its offers outlined on Friday.
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France Calls on G-7 to Double Girls’ Education Funding in Africa’s Sahel
PARIS — France wants the world’s leading industrial economies to double funding for girls’ education in the Sahel at a summit next month in the French town of Biarritz. Speaking Friday in Paris at the headquarters of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, French President Emmanuel Macron laid out initiatives to increase educational and economic opportunities for women, with a special focus on Africa’s Sahel region.
Macron, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Group of Seven advanced economies, challenged fellow G-7 members to not only increase their financial commitment to girls’ education in the Sahel but also to make sure funds are spent efficiently and make a difference.
Macron also denounced anyone seeking to deny girls an education, including on religious grounds. Keeping girls at home, he said, was a form of modern slavery. Fighting inequality
The French president spoke at the end of a two-day meeting that brought together development and education ministers from G-7 nations under the broader theme of fighting inequality, which is the goal of France’s G-7 presidency.
UNESCO’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, said that while gender parity in education is increasing worldwide, it’s lagging in some places, including conflict zones. In some of the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa, she said, only 30 girls for every 100 boys finished their secondary education between 2013 and 2017.
Nobel peace laureate and Pakistani rights activist Malala Yousafzai also called on G-7 members to increase funding for girls’ education in developing countries, especially in Africa.
“Right now, there is not enough getting done,” she said. “Just 10 percent of your aid goes to countries where girls face the biggest challenges.”
She said educating girls could add up to $30 trillion to the global economy, and she urged G-7 members to guarantee girls worldwide have access to at least 12 years of schooling.
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Justice Department Still Working to Add Citizenship Question to Census
Justice Department attorneys confirmed Friday that they were still working to add a citizenship question to the census, although they did not provide a new rationale for doing so, a requirement the Supreme Court set last week.
In a Maryland court filing, the Justice attorneys said they had been “instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, that would allow for the inclusion of the citizenship question on the census.” Critics have said adding such a question could suppress the count of minorities.
Before the filing, President Donald Trump said he was considering “four or five” ways to add the citizenship question to the census.
“We are working on a lot of things, including an executive order,” Trump told reporters Friday outside the White House. He also said that “we could start the printing [of census forms] now and maybe do an addendum after we get a positive decision.” In court, however, Justice attorneys said the Commerce Department had not yet adopted a new rationale for the citizenship question. “In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the government will immediately notify this court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief,” the filing said. Critics’ complaintTrump’s Democratic opponents have said that including the citizenship question is a Republican ploy to scare immigrants into not participating in the census out of fear that immigration officials might target those found to be in the country illegally for deportation. An undercount in Democrat-leaning areas with large immigrant and Latino populations could result in reduced congressional representation for some states and less federal aid. FILE – Immigration activists rally outside the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments over the Trump administration’s plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, in Washington, April 23, 2019.The Supreme Court ruled June 27 that the government’s reasoning for including the citizenship question on census forms did not meet standards for a clear explanation. The matter then seemed settled Tuesday, when the Justice and Commerce departments made public statements and comments in legal cases that the printing of census forms was going forward to meet a deadline.
But with a series of tweets, Trump injected uncertainty back into the citizenship question matter: “We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.” At the start of the country’s Independence Day holiday, Trump tweeted that Commerce and Justice officials “are working very hard on this, even on the 4th of July!”
So far, rulings have focused on the administrative process and whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted reasonably in pursuing his agency’s goals. An examination of equal protection challenges would bring into the case whether the administration sought to suppress the count of minorities in the census. Clarity sought
The attorneys general of California and New York asked federal courts to hold conferences Friday so that the Justice Department could make its positions clear after what happened in the Maryland district court and with the changing statements from the Trump administration.
In a conference call with the Maryland court on Wednesday, Justice Department special counsel Joshua Gardner admitted that he was still sorting out how to respond to Trump’s statements.
“The tweet this morning was the first I had heard of the president’s position on this issue, just like the plaintiffs and your honor,” Gardner said. “I do not have a deeper understanding of what that means at this juncture, other than what the president has tweeted. But, obviously, as you can imagine, I am doing my absolute best to figure out what’s going on.”
Gardner added, however, that the Census Bureau had not stopped the census forms printing process. The Census Bureau had previously set a target date of early July to begin printing the questionnaire in order to have it prepared for delivery to the American public by the April 1, 2020, deadline.
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China’s Reforms Move May Just Be Bargaining Chip for US Negotiators
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently announced a major economic reform move, saying China would scrap ownership controls on foreign companies investing in the financial sector next year, ahead of schedule.”We will achieve the goal of abolishing ownership limits in securities, futures, life insurance for foreign investors by 2020, a year earlier than the original schedule of 2021,” Li said while speaking at the Summer Davos in the Chinese seaside city of Dalian.His government also will reduce restrictions next year on market access for foreign investors in the value-added telecoms services and transport sectors, according to the premier.The announcements appear to be a response to a much discussed need for widening economic reforms and aligning the Chinese financial industry more closely with the international market. Some analysts contend, though, this may be part of Beijing’s effort to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of China’s opaque markets and move toward a settlement to end a trade war.”The timing of the announcement suggests that it has more to do with the trade negotiations than anything else,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at consulting firm Capital Economics. “China is expecting some kind of concessions in tariffs.”U.S. President Donald Trump meets with China’s President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.Li was speaking soon after talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G-20 meeting last month in Japan, which revived hopes of an early settlement in the trade dispute.Lourdes Casanova, director at Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Institute, attended the Summer Davos where Li made the announcement. She has taken a somewhat different view.”China is coherent with their plan to be an open economy and its belief in the power of globalization, as Premier Li said at the Summer Davos in Dalian,” she said.She also pointed out that Li appeared to be equally tough as he indicated that China is going to blacklist certain foreign companies. “This seems to be in retaliation to possible blacklisting by the U.S.,” she said.Casanova warned it would be wrong to assume the year-long trade war has proven to be devastating to the Chinese economy, giving the U.S. an additional lever in trade negotiations.”The Chinese economy is still growing at 6.2% and the forecasts are between 6 and 6.5%. This is very high growth for an economy of that size. So far, there is no sign of the weakening yet,” she pointed out.Crucial questionThere also is the question about how international players in financial and other sectors would respond in terms of making preparations for what may be a game-changing move for many companies seeking to enter the world’s second-biggest economy.Evans-Pritchard is skeptical. “Being able to enter a sector is one thing and being able to compete with the existing players is another thing. This is going to be an area of contention.”He noted that foreign companies have eagerly entered other industry sectors once officials allowed it, though they later learned it is very difficult to survive and compete with local players receiving government support either directly or indirectly.Regardless, it would be difficult for Beijing to show it was providing a level playing field to foreign investors. A recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China showed that a majority of their members found themselves less welcome in the Chinese market in recent months than they had been in the past.”At the moment, it is easier for Chinese companies to sell in the U.S. than it is for the U.S. companies to sell in China. It is still quite difficult for the Chinese to argue the U.S. needs to reduce its market barriers as compared to China,” said Evans-Pritchard.Changing relationsChina recently cut the number of sectors subject to foreign investment restrictions, a widely expected move, to 40 from 48 in June 2018. This is seen as another move by Beijing, which is acting under U.S. pressure in the midst of the trade war.Different views are being expressed about the possible outcome of the trade talks, which now are back on track after the recent Trump-Xi meeting.”More generally, with talks now back on track, we’re still hoping that a strong enforceable deal can be reached that addresses the structural issues that our members have long raised,” said Tim Stratford, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, before making a significant observation.”Both sides now realize that U.S.-China economic ties are not going to be the same as they were in the past; however, we have confidence that it can still be a very robust relationship,” he said.
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Election Protesters Promise Vigils in Malawi
Protesters in Malawi have wrapped up two days of demonstrations aimed at forcing the head of the country’s electoral commission to resign. The protests followed other nationwide demonstrations on June 20 calling for the resignation of Jane Ansah as well as the rest of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC). Ansah is accused of mismanaging the recent election in which President Peter Mutharika won a second term. The protests turned violent in three cities, and demonstrators said they would hold vigils outside Ansah’s house unless she stepped down. In Lilongwe this week, former President Saulos Chilima, leader of the United Transformation Movement, joined the protests. “We are continuing from where we stopped last time,” Chilima said. “I am here as a Malawian to join fellow Malawians in seeking justice. We would like Justice Jane Ansah to leave office because as everybody is aware, the elections didn’t go well and we are not happy at all.”
Lazarus Chakwera, leader of the opposition Malawi Congress Party, also took part in the demonstrations. The MEC declared that Mutharika won re-election with 39 percent of the vote. Chakwera was second with 35 percent, followed by Chilima with 20 percent. Chakwera and Chilima are challenging the election results in court, alleging ballot box stuffing and the use of correction fluid to change votes. Offices of the opposition Malawi Congress Party were looted in Blantyre during this week’s election-related protests, July 5, 2019. (L. Masina/VOA)Violence In this week’s demonstrations in Lilongwe and the northern city of Mzuzu, the protesters looted shops and burned government offices. In the commercial capital, Blantyre, there were clashes between the protesters and members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party trying to protect the party’s offices. The confrontations forced the government to deploy the military to bring order. “It is really unfortunate that [protesters] are disturbing the business of people, lives of people,” government spokesman Mark Botoman said. “And this cannot go unchecked. Obviously, anyone who is found torching offices, breaking shops and the like, they will be apprehended.” Timothy Mtambo, chairman of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which organized the protests, said those who perpetrated violence were not the demonstrators, but were hooligans who took advantage of the peaceful protests. “We condemn that in the strongest terms possible, and we disown those people because the demonstrations that we have are peaceful demonstrations,” he said. “We called for peaceful demonstrations.” Ansah, who maintains her innocence, told local radio last week that she would resign only if the court ruled that the elections were fraudulent. A hearing on the election dispute is expected to begin July 29.
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Merkel, May at Summit on Western Balkans’ EU Aspirations
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May have joined a high-level meeting in Poland that seeks to reassure Western Balkans nations aspiring to join the European Union that support for their accession remains strong, despite symptoms of a loss of momentum.The meeting in Poznan has brought together foreign, interior and economy ministers from some EU nations and from membership candidates Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, as well as potential candidates Bosnia and Kosovo.The troubled Western Balkans nations are seeking EU reassurance after some leaders in the 28-member bloc have spoken against the enlargement and there is no set time frame for it.Poland is the host because it currently presides over the so-called Berlin Process that brings Western Balkan nations together with EU members.
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NATO: No Breakthroughs in INF Talks With Russia
NATO and Russia did not make any breakthroughs on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in talks at the alliance headquarters, NATO’s secretary-general said.”We did not see any sign of Russia being willing to come back into compliance with the INF treaty,” Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Friday in Brussels after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. Stoltenberg said the chances of a resolution on a landmark Cold War arms treaty were “going down, day by day” but that NATO had not given up on its efforts to try to persuade Moscow to destroy the SSC-8 land-based cruise missile with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles).Moscow says it is fully in compliance with the INF treaty negotiated by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the two countries.The United States is set to pull out of the treaty on August 2, arguing that it needs to develop its own warheads to deter Moscow, after Russia’s last-minute decision not to destroy the medium-range missile that NATO says violates the INF.
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Critics Question Cost of Trump’s ‘Salute to America’ Production
U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to host a massive “Salute to America” extravaganza on the nation’s 243rd birthday has some critics calling for an investigation into how taxpayer money may have been used to finance the event.Trump played host Thursday evening in Washington for what he called “The Show of a Lifetime” to celebrate the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Trump directly took charge of the celebration, by introducing military jet flyovers, patriotic music and a display of military tanks.Amid tight security and soggy weather, Trump delivered a long speech at the Lincoln Memorial. It was the first time in nearly 70 years that a sitting U.S. president had spoken on Washington’s National Mall – a long grassy area that houses several monuments – to mark the holiday festivities.
A Celebration of Independence, in Trump Fashion video player.
The stage is dismantled as clean up is underway after the Fourth of July celebrations in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Friday, July 5, 2019, in Washington.It is not clear how many people turned out for the Salute to America event on the National Mall; but, before leaving the White House Friday for a trip to Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said, “We had a phenomenal crowd last night.” He also said, “Last night was spectacular.” He predicted the event would draw a lot of recruits into the U.S. military.The Fourth of July festivities commemorate America’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1776.Trump called the history of the United States “the epic tale of a great nation of people who have risked everything for what they know is right and what they know is true.”There were fears Trump would turn the nation’s birthday party into a political event by talking about what he feels are his accomplishments as president.But he made no mention of politics, next year’s election or the Democratic candidates seeking the White House. Trump avoided talking about what divides Americans and spoke of what unifies them.”As we gather this evening in the joy of freedom, we remember that we all share a truly extraordinary heritage. Together, we are one of the greatest stories ever told,” the president said. “Americans love our freedom and no one will ever take it away from us…our nation is stronger today than it ever was before.”Trump paid special tribute to each branch of the U.S. military and appealed to young Americans to consider making the military a career.President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at an Independence Day celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Washington.But many who live in Washington were angry that the Pentagon and security officials commandeered areas of the National Mall where the public usually gathers for celebrations.Others were upset the White House handed out tickets for seats to Trump’s speech only to Republicans loyal to the president.Anti-Trump protesters were highly visible along the mall all day, including the now familiar blimp depicting Trump as an angry baby in a diaper. Vendors sold mini-Trump baby balloons on wooden sticks for demonstrators to wave.A “Baby Trump” balloon is seen over demonstrators as they participate in an anti-Trump protest in London, Britain, June 4, 2019.Protesters included military veterans who said they resented someone who never served in the military exploiting their service for his satisfaction. Trump supporters in red “Make America Great Again” hats confronted some of the protesters, but their debates were civil and free of insults and name-calling. Parades, picnics and fireworks took place in other parts of the United States as well.
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UN: Release All Refugees, Migrants from Libyan Detention Centers
United Nations agencies are calling for the release of all refugees and migrants from Libyan detention centers. The call comes in the wake of the deadly airstrike July 2 on the Tajoura detention center, on the outskirts of the capital, Tripoli.The International Organization for Migration confirms 53 people, including six children, were killed and more than 130 injured in the Tuesday night bombing.The casualties comprise almost one-third of the more than 600 migrants and refugees who were detained in the Tajoura facility and represent at least 17 nationalities, mainly African. IOM spokesman Joel Millman says 350 migrants remain in the camp.FILE – Debris covers the ground after an airstrike at a detention center in Tajoura, east of Tripoli in Libya, July 3, 2019.”Approximately 180, slightly more people in the Tajoura detention center, had already been registered for evacuation under the voluntary humanitarian assistance flights that we have been running out of Libya,” Millman said. “We know of two people for certain who have died who were going to leave.” In April, the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, General Khalifa Haftar, launched an offensive against the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli. Neither side has claimed responsibility for the attack.However, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, Charlie Yaxley, says both sides knew where the civilians were sheltering. “We reiterate once again that the coordinates of these detention centers in Tripoli are well-known to both sides of the conflict and this was a preventable tragedy that never should have happened,” he said. “There needs to be a fundamental shift in approach now. The status quo cannot continue and that involves immediately releasing all detainees from detention centers in Libya.” The centers house migrants who came to Libya hoping to sail across the Mediterranean to Europe. Some started the journey, only to be intercepted at sea and returned to Libya, where most have no relatives or friends for support.The UNHCR is calling for an independent investigation to determine who is responsible for the airstrike.The head of the U.N. Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salame, and the U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, have condemned the attack and said it could constitute a war crime.
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After LegCo Break-in, Hong Kong Assesses Damage
A month into the latest round of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, events have taken a more aggressive turn. On this week’s anniversary of Britain’s handover of Hong Kong to China, young protesters broke into the city’s legislature, vandalizing and briefly occupying the building. As some protesters become more aggressive, VOA’s Bill Gallo looks at whether the move will hurt public support.
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Trump Considers Executive Order to Add Citizenship Question to US Census
President Donald Trump on Friday said he may issue an executive order in an effort to add
a contentious citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census as
his administration faces a Friday afternoon court deadline to
reveal its plans.
“We’re working on a lot of things including an executive order,” Trump told reporters outside the White House as he left for his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. He also suggested that a query about citizenship could be added at a later date even if it is not on the questionnaire
currently being printed.
Maryland-based U.S. District Court Judge George Hazel wants the administration to state its intentions by 2 p.m.
A White House spokesman said on Thursday that officials are examining “every option” available to add the query to the decennial population survey. Trump administration officials have been scrambling in the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling on June 27 that blocked the
inclusion of the question, saying administration officials had given a “contrived” rationale for including it. But the court left open the possibility that the administration could offer a
plausible rationale.FILE PHOTO: Balloons decorate an event for community activists and local government leaders to mark the one-year-out launch of the 2020 Census efforts in Boston, April 1, 2019.Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday said the Census Bureau had started the process of printing the census questionnaires without the citizenship query, giving the
impression that the administration had backed down.
But Trump then ordered a policy reversal via tweet on Wednesday, saying he would fight on, although the government has said the printing process continues.
The census is used to allot seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and distribute some $800 billion in federal services, including public schools, Medicaid benefits, law
enforcement and highway repairs.FILE – Demonstrators are seen at the Supreme Court as justices deliberate on a census case involving an attempt by the Trump administration to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 27, 2019.Critics have called the citizenship question a Republican ploy to scare immigrants into not participating and engineer a population undercount in Democratic-leaning areas with high
immigrant populations. They say that officials lied about their motivations for adding the question and that the move would help Trump’s fellow Republicans gain seats in the House and state
legislatures when new electoral district boundaries are drawn.
Trump and his supporters say it makes sense to know how many non-citizens are living in the country. His hard-line policies on immigration have been a key element of his presidency and
2020 re-election campaign.
A group of states including New York and immigrant rights organizations challenged the legality of the citizenship question, arguing among other things that the U.S. Constitution
requires congressional districts to be distributed based on a count of “the whole number of persons in each state” with no reference to citizenship. Three different federal judges blocked the administration before the Supreme Court intervened.
The Supreme Court ruled that in theory the government can ask about citizenship on the census, but rejected the rationale given by the Trump administration for adding.
The administration had originally told the courts the question was needed to better enforce a law that protects the voting rights of racial minorities. Administration officials had repeatedly told the Supreme Court they needed to finalize the details of the census questionnaire by the end of June.
Even if a citizenship question is not included, the Census Bureau is still able to gather data on citizenship, which the Trump administration could provide to states when they are
drawing new electoral districts.
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