The World Health Organization is calling for urgent action to end bad health care practices responsible for killing millions of patients around the world every year. WHO issued a report in advance of the first World Patient Safety Day on September 17.People who fall ill go to their doctor or sign themselves into a hospital in the expectation of receiving treatment that will cure them. Unfortunately, in many cases the treatment they receive will kill themThe World Health Organization reports one in 10 patients is harmed in high-income countries. It says 134 million patients in low-and-middle-income countries are harmed because of unsafe care leading to 2.6 million deaths annually. WHO notes most of these deaths are avoidable.Neelam Dhingra-Kuram is WHO coordinator of Patient Safety and Risk Management. She said harm occurs mainly because of wrong diagnosis, wrong prescriptions, the improper use of medication, incorrect surgical procedures and health care associated infections.”But the major reason for this harm is that in the health care facilities, in the system there is lack of patient safety culture. And, that means that the leadership is not strong enough…So, lack of open communication, lack of systems to learn from mistakes and errors. So, already suppose errors are happening and harm is taking place. If you do not learn from it, it is really a lost opportunity,” she said.Dhingra-Kuram said systems must be created where health care workers are encouraged to report mistakes and are not fearful of being blamed for reporting errors.Besides the avoidable and tragic loss of life, WHO reports patient harm leads to economic losses of trillions of dollars globally each year. It says medication errors alone cost an estimated $42 billion annually.On the other hand, WHO says a study in the United States finds safety improvement in patient care has resulted in estimated savings of $28 billion in Medicare hospitals between 2010 and 2015.
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Month: September 2019
Last Public Sendoff for Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Draws Light Turnout
Crowd that fills about one-third of Zimbabwe’s national sports stadium gives final public sendoff to former president
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Coalition says ‘Good Progress’ in North Syria Buffer Zone
The U.S.-led coalition said Sunday that “good progress” was being made in implementing a buffer zone in northern Syria along the Turkish border.Turkey and the United States last month agreed on the so-called “security mechanism” to create a buffer between the Turkish border and Syrian areas controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).The YPG led the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, but Ankara views the Kurdish fighters as “terrorists”.The United States and Turkey launched their first joint patrol of the border areas on September 8, but Ankara has accused Washington of stalling in the week since.A coalition delegation on Sunday visited a military council in the northern town of Tal Abyad, from which Kurdish forces started withdrawing late last month.”We are seeing good progress for the initial phase of security mechanism activities,” the coalition said in a statement handed out to journalists.”The coalition and SDF have conducted multiple patrols to identify and remove fortifications to address concerns from Turkey,” the statement said.”Four joint US and Turkish military overflights” were also carried out, it said.Little is known about the buffer zone’s size or how it will work, although Ankara has said there would be observation posts and joint patrols.”We will continue our talks and close coordination with Turkey to work out additional details for security mechanism activities,” the coalition statement said.”We will continue the removal of certain fortifications in the security mechanism area of concern to Turkey,” it said.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to go his “own way” if the buffer zone was not set up by the end of September “with our own soldiers”.Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday belittled efforts to create the safe zone as largely “cosmetic”.Syria’s Kurds have established a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Syria during the country’s eight-year war.Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, and the prospect of a US withdrawal after the territorial defeat of IS in March again stoked fears of an incursion.Damascus labelled the first patrol last week as a flagrant “aggression” that seeks to prolong Syria’s war.Turkey has already carried out two cross-border incursions into Syria, the latest of which saw Turkish troops and Ankara’s Syrian rebel proxies seize the northwestern enclave of Afrin last year.
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Hong Kong Protesters, Police Clash
Hong Kong protesters clashed with police Sunday.Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and bricks at police near the Legislative Council building.Police responded by firing water cannons filled with blue jets of water, a practice usually initiated to identify protesters later.Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were on Hong Kong’s streets Sunday.The weekend demonstrations have continued for three months despite the Hong Kong government’s promise to withdraw extradition legislation that sparked the protests. Dissenters have since broadened their demands for the direct election of their leaders and police accountability.Protesters carrying umbrellas take part in march in Hong Kong, Sept. 15, 2019.The protesters saw the bill that would have allowed some Hong Kong criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial as an example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.More than 1,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began in early June.The increasingly violent demonstrations have further damaged Hong Kong’s economy, which had already been weakened by the U.S.-China trade war.Earlier Sunday, demonstrators gathered outside the British consulate where they sang “God Save the Queen.”Under an agreement with the former colonial power Britain, China has promised Hong Kong can maintain its free market system and democratic freedoms until 2047. But hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for marches to protest what residents of Hong Kong see as steady encroachment on those freedoms by Beijing.
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Calls for Release of Separatists, Political Prisoners Intensify in Cameroon
Consultations have begun in Cameroon ahead of a national dialogue ordered by president Paul Biya. Civil society groups and opposition political parties are calling for the unconditional release of Anglophone separatist leaders and other political prisoners before discussions begin.FILE – Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute visits Bamenda, Cameroon, May 10, 2019.Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute began consultations with political party leaders, civil society activists, opinion leaders, traditional rulers, lawmakers and clergy on September 11, one day after President Paul Biya called for a national dialogue to solve the separatist crisis rocking his country.Prince Ekosso, president of the United Socialist Democratic Party, says among the recommendations they are strongly making for the announced dialogue to be successful are the unconditional release of all people he says are illegally held in prisons and detention centers and an end to the separatist war in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.”Mr. Biya should call for a cease-fire. He was the one who declared war against the separatists. Release all those who are political prisoners in Cameroon including Maurice Kamto and Tabe Ayuk Sisseku [Julius Ayuk Tabe], and he should create a situation where all Cameroonians can express their will,” said Ekosso.Biya declared war on the Anglophone separatists in November 2017 and said he would crush them if they did not surrender.In August, the Yaounde military tribunal gave life sentences to Julius Ayuk Tabe, the leader of the separatist movement, and nine others it said had been found guilty of secession, terrorism and hostility against the state.FILE – Maurice Kamto, then-presidential candidate of Renaissance Movement (MRC), holds a news conference at his headquarter in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 8, 2018.Opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who came in second in the October presidential election, but claims to have won, is on trial with dozens of others in a military tribunal on insurrection charges.Biya has insisted that he will maintain Cameroon as one nation and indivisible. Justin Roger Ndah, assistant secretary-general of the opposition MRC party says they are urging the government to accept discussions on the form of the state.He says Paul Biya should not think that speaking about the form of the state during the expected national dialogue is a taboo subject and an indication of his weakness. He says it is fundamental for all issues disturbing Cameroon to be brought to the discussion table and required constitutional amendments be made when the time comes.Siddi Haman, a senior official of Biya’s CPDM party says people should see in the expected dialogue the president’s true will to bring peace to the country.He says all Cameroonians should have confidence in Biya, who, as the father of the nation, has called for the dialogue. He says after the dialogue the president can use his constitutional power to grant the desires of the people, as the most important thing he is asking for before he leaves power is to maintain Cameroon as a peaceful, one and indivisible state with every one living in harmony.The conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions has killed more than 2,000 people, internally displaced more than 500,000 and caused more than 50,000 Cameroonians to seek refuge in Nigeria, according to the United Nations.
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Thai Government May Beat Legal Threats, But Flagging Economy Looms
Less than two months into its term, Thailand’s post-junta government is fending off a series of challenges to its very existence, including a brewing political storm over the Cabinet’s failure to recite the full oath of office.A general election in March returned the 2014 coup leader, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, to power to widespread criticism that his military junta had manipulated the contest in its favor. Two months later the country crowned a new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has been consolidating power around the Royal Palace since the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016. The country’s GDP growth rate has meanwhile dipped to its lowest level since just after the putsch.Analysts expect the country’s courts to save Prayut’s new administration from collapse. They say, though, that a pending fight in the lower house of Parliament next week over the botched oath could further batter its already bruised image, especially if the economy continues to flag.FILE – People gather holding a portrait of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn along a sidewalk near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, May 3, 2019, ahead of King Vajiralongkorn’s coronation. which will take place from May 4 to 6.Legitimacy of administration challengedBy challenging the administration’s very legitimacy, the opposition parties are “trying to wake Thai people up to the fact that this is not a democracy; this is simply the continuation of the junta by a different form,” said Paul Chambers, a political analyst and lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University.At a swearing-in ceremony July 16, Prayut and his 35 ministers lined up before the king and pledged their allegiance. They also swore to work for the people and country but left out the last few words of the official oath, which included a vow to “uphold and observe the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand in every respect.”The opposition says the omission raises fresh doubts about Prayut’s commitment to the rule of law. In theory it could also undo everything he and his Cabinet have done since taking the oath, including the approval of a draft 2020 budget and economic stimulus plan, if their tenure is ultimately deemed illegitimate.FILE – Members of the National Council for Peace and Order, from left, Wissanu Krea-ngam, General Paiboon Khumchaya and Pornpetch Wichitcholchai speak during a press conference at Government House in Bangkok, July 23, 2014.Prayut has yet to explain why he and the ministers failed to recite the oath in full. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam fueled speculation that it was deliberate while deflecting questions from local reporters in the days that followed.“One day you’ll know why we shouldn’t talk about it,” he was quoted as saying by local media, adding that it was “something no one should stick his nose into.”On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court bowed out of the brawl by claiming the matter was between Prayut and his Cabinet and the king. The Office of the Ombudsman had forwarded the original complaint to the court after deciding that the incomplete oath had breached the national charter.Pitch Pongsawat, an assistant professor of political science at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said he was not surprised by the decision from a court that has developed a reputation for siding with Thailand’s royalist, pro-military establishment.“It’s unconstitutional,” he said of the swearing-in, “but [it] doesn’t matter with this regime … Everybody knows that they will find a way out.”Parliament to grill PrayutThe opposition is scheduled to question the prime minister over the oath in Parliament Wednesday.Pitch said the best it can hope for is to do more damage to the government’s democratic credentials by drawing an often truculent Prayut into a political faux pas or blunder under the pressure of a public grilling.“If they do it very well … it will put the regime in trouble,” he said. “I think that’s what they’re aiming for.”The day of the debate, the Constitutional Court is also set to rule on whether Prayut was even eligible to run for prime minister while still at the helm of the military government that followed the coup.Eligibility questionedThe Constitution bars “state officials” from running for political office. A ruling against Prayut would trigger a new vote for prime minister in Parliament.Pitch and Chambers expect the court to clear him one way or another, or draw the case out indefinitely.Even if the government does survive, it may find it ever harder to actually govern.Prayut’s Cabinet entered office with a razor-thin majority in the 500-seat lower house of Parliament to begin with. Having been passed over for ministry and legislative committee posts since then, a few of the coalition’s smallest parties recently announced that their votes were no longer guaranteed, leaving the parties remaining in the alliance with just under half the seats.Pitch said, though, that the government was counting on lawmakers among the opposition parties to switch sides and make up for any losses when the time comes.Chambers also noted that the lawmakers threatening to split from the ruling coalitions have said they were going “independent,” not necessarily joining the other side, possibly to win concessions for their continued loyalty.“As independent MPs, they can demand more from the coalition for their vote. Actually they become more powerful,” he said.A street vender pushes a cart with piggy banks in a market in Bangkok, Sept. 4, 2019. World Bank records show the poverty in Thailand declined in last 30 years, but the pace of the decline has slowed recently.Slowing economyThe one thing that just might bring the government down, Chambers said, had nothing to do with the courts, Constitution or Parliament.“Probably the only thing that could really hurt this government is the economy,” he said. “If the economy sours increasingly … then those people who still like Prayut are going to wash their hands [of] the government. At that point there could be another election.”Thailand’s year-on-year GDP growth hit 2.3% in the second quarter of 2019, its slowest pace in nearly five years.The government spokesperson’s office would not comment for this story. A spokesman for Prayut’s party, Palang Pracharath, did not reply to a request for an interview.
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With New North Korea-US Talks Likely, Will a Deal Result?
Promised talks this month between the United States and North Korea will give President Donald Trump yet another chance to conclude a deal with the reclusive nation, something that has eluded several of his predecessors.But after three summits and more than two years of on-and-off talks, some analysts are asking just how well Trump’s self-proclaimed prowess as a dealmaker translates to the world of diplomacy.This week, FILE – Real estate mogul Donald Trump announces, during a news conference in New York, the opening of his Taj Mahal Resort Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Feb. 28, 1989.Baruch Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Politics and Strategy, said Trump’s dealmaking with world leaders is influenced by his dealmaking in the business world.“Mr. Trump’s business experience is primarily as a real estate developer,” Fischhoff said. “In that business arena, it was possible for him to have major properties go bankrupt and still get funding for new ones.”In the world of business, deals are often viewed through the lens of cost and benefit analysis, and strategies involved are aimed at maximizing profit while minimizing cost, said Vershbow, the former Bush administration ambassador.However, in the world of diplomacy, Vershbow continued, costs and benefits cannot always be assessed in monetary terms and strategies involved cannot solely be based on gaining financial advantage.“In the business world, you’re talking about economic benefits and costs,” he said. “It’s kind of fairly dry but straightforward. In [diplomatic] negotiations, there’re many different factors in terms of building trust between different countries, different cultures, and calculating the interest of third parties who may not directly be involved but could be affected. So it’s more complex undertaking.”It is in the international system of alliances where Trump’s business calculations tend to overshadow the building of relationships and fostering intrinsic values, said Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief of Korea and current senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.“Trump’s transactional views on the U.S. alliance and the stationing of American troops overseas are at odds with 70 years of post-World War II American strategy,” Klingner said. “Seeking alliances as business transactions, rather than based on [sharing] common values and strategic objectives, is a disservice to the men and women in the U.S. military.”On the Korean Peninsula, Trump has been FILE – President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi., Feb. 28, 2019.Top-down approachIn pursuing a denuclearization deal with Pyongyang, Trump began dealing with the North Korean leader himself in a so-called top-down approach toward diplomacy. This had the two leaders beginning the talks rather than adhering to the diplomatic convention of using working-level negotiators to put together a deal before any top-level meeting.Sherman said, “The president sort of left things at the top and keeps saying what a great relationship he and Kim have.” She continued, “Personal relationships certainly matter. [But] in very complex negotiations, it is not nearly sufficient.”Trump FILE – North Korea test fires a new weapon, in this undated photo released Aug. 11, 2019, by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.Vershbow said a big-deal approach that demands a full denuclearization up front is ineffective because of the complications involved, including getting North Korea to inventory its nuclear arsenal, and verifying and inspecting its nuclear program.“[Trump] thinks he can have a big bang and all the issues will fall into place,” Vershbow said. “That’s sometimes possible. But in the case of North Korea, clearly, there are … tremendous complications …. so this is simply impossible to solve with a big bang. You need to accept certain incrementalism.”Vershbow continued that a big deal approach could be risky, putting the U.S. and its allies, South Korea and Japan, in “a corner.”“Once you say it’s all or nothing, either you succeed or if you fail, you’re sort of forced to escalate and possibly even bring in military threats rather than having more modest expectations and proceeding step-by-step and maybe creating some momentum,” he said.Vipin Narang, a professor of political science and a North Korea expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Trump might “blame [the outgoing National Security Adviser John] Bolton for the Hanoi hold-up, and reset America’s negotiating position toward a step-by-step deal, comprehensive in scope but implemented in phases.”Trump announced he fired Bolton on Tuesday over disagreements on foreign policy issues, including North Korea. Bolton was known for taking a tough stance on North Korea, and against Trump’s overtures to Kim and their meeting at the inter-Korean border in June.
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Mines Shut Down, Bring New Worry to Top US Coal Region
At two of the world’s biggest coal mines, the finances got so bad that their owner couldn’t even get toilet paper on credit.Warehouse technician Melissa Worden divvied up what remained of the last case, giving four rolls to each mine and two to the mine supply facility where she worked.Days later, things got worse.Blackjewel worker Melissa Worden, poses for a photo in Gillette, Wyo., Sept. 5, 2019. When Blackjewel shut down Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines, July 1, 2019, people thought they would reopen. “I don’t think we’ll ever be that naive again,” she said.Mine owner Blackjewel LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 1. Worden at first figured the accounts would get settled quickly and vendors of everything from copy paper to parts for house-sized dump trucks would soon be back to doing normal business with the mines.“The consensus was: In 30 days, we’ll look back on this, and we made it through, and we’ll be up and running, and it’s a fresh start,” Worden said.What happened instead has shaken the top coal-producing region in the United States like a charge of mining explosive. Blackjewel furloughed most of its Wyoming employees and shut down Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines, the first idled by hardship since coal mining in the Powder River Basin exploded in the 1970s.It’s a big hit to the region straddling northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, where coal has quietly supported the economies of both states for decades and fuels a shrinking number of power plants in 28 states.Negotiations that could reopen the two Wyoming mines under new ownership — potentially previous owner Bristol, Tennessee-based Contura Energy — are stalled more than two months later. Some 600 employees remain off the job. They lost health insurance coverage in late August.The entrance to the Blue Ayr Mine south of Gillett, Wyo., Sept. 5, 2019. The shutdowns of Blackjewel LLC’s Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines in Wyoming since July 1, 2019, have added more uncertainty to the Powder River Basin’s struggling coal economy.And doubts are growing about the long-term viability of the region’s coal mines — particularly Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr, the fourth- and sixth-biggest in the U.S. by production, respectively.“I don’t think we’ll ever be that naive again,” said Worden, 44.Blackjewel, based in Milton, West Virginia, told its Wyoming employees this week that the mines might be up and running soon and to let the company know if they wanted their jobs back.Worden said she felt little reassurance. On a break at a part-time electrical contracting job in North Dakota, she wondered if she should accept any offer of full-time work or hold out for her old job.She’s not the only one questioning long-held assumptions about Powder River Basin coal mines, which produce cleaner-burning coal less expensively than mines in other parts of the U.S. and weren’t widely thought of being at risk despite a push for renewable energy to combat climate change.But with coal in long-term decline, how the basin might eventually scale down production to a sustainable level has become a big question, said Rob Godby, director of the Center for Energy Economics and Public Policy at the University of Wyoming.“The irony here — and it’s really a cruel irony — is everybody is focused on getting these miners back to work. But really the solution to creating a healthy industry is some mines close,” Godby said.For now, little appears changed in Gillette, a city of 30,000 people at the heart of the basin of rolling grasslands midway between the Black Hills and snowcapped Bighorn Mountains. Tattoo shops are abundant, and big, late-model pickup trucks still cruise the main drag.This year, however, has been especially tumultuous. Three of the Powder River Basin’s nine producers — Westmoreland Coal, Cloud Peak Energy and Blackjewel — have filed for bankruptcy since March. Two others, Arch Coal and Peabody, have announced they will merge assets in the region.The turmoil comes as U.S. coal production is down more than 30% since peaking in 2008. Utilities are retiring aging coal-fired power plants and switching to solar, wind and cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas to generate electricity despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up the coal industry.Blackjewel employee Rory Wallet poses for a photo in Gillette, Wyo., Sept. 5, 2019. The shutdown of Blackjewel LLC’s Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte mines in Wyoming, July 1, 2019, left Wallet unemployed, but he’s optimistic about coal’s future.A decade ago, about half of U.S. electricity came from coal-fired power. Now it’s less than 30%, a shift that heavy equipment operator Rory Wallet saw as utilities became less willing to lock in multiyear contracts for Belle Ayr mine’s coal.“The market’s changed,” Wallet said. “The bankruptcies all tie into that.”Wallet, 40, followed his father, an equipment mechanic, into the Belle Ayr mine in 2008. He said the recent mine closures and loss of his $80,000-a-year job took him by surprise.He has four children, ages 11 to 16, and his wife’s job at the Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant in Gillette is their main income while they await news about the mines.Blackjewel said Thursday that it was working on plans to restart the mines while pursuing their sale. There were no indications in federal bankruptcy court filings in West Virginia that the mines were set to reopen, however.“This is a fast-moving and sometimes unpredictable process, and accordingly, we do not have answers to all of your questions at this time,” the company’s statement said.Wallet is looking for a job and using his downtime to sell “We Will Rise Again” T-shirts to benefit families of out-of-work coal miners. He’s also lobbying Wyoming lawmakers to fight harder to force Washington state to approve a port facility expansion that would allow more coal exports to Asia.He questions the outlook from Godby of the Center for Energy Economics and Public Policy that some mines must close.“I think, with Rob, it’s the middle- to worst-case scenario,” Wallet said. “The ports are going to be a big deal. Asia is going to be a big deal.”Wallet pointed out that the Powder River Basin still has a century or two of recoverable coal left. And just north of Gillette, the state has invested $15 million in a facility to study how to capture climate-changing carbon dioxide from a working power plant and profitably use it in products ranging from concrete to biofuels.Wallet is optimistic that technology could save coal. But carbon capture, if it happens at all, could arrive too late to do the coal industry much good amid global concern about climate change, Godby said.“We will not see widespread adoption of carbon capture and storage for at least a decade,” Godby said. “That’s just the reality.”He also doubted that exports can save the region’s coal industry. There’s no direct rail line to the Pacific Northwest from most of the basin’s mines, and the amount of coal that the proposed export terminal could handle would offset only a small fraction of the amount that production has declined, Godby said.FILE – A dump truck hauls coal, March 28, 2017, at Contura Energy’s Eagle Butte Mine near Gillette, Wyo. President Donald Trump lifted a federal coal lease moratorium that will allow new coal leasing at the mine and others in the Powder River Basin.Powder River Basin mines employ about 5,000 miners — 20% fewer than eight years ago. But the impact is even wider because an additional 8,000 jobs, from teachers to car mechanics, have indirect ties to the broader economy around the coal industry.Local unemployment rose to 5.7% in July, compared with 4.1% a year earlier.Trump got 88% of the vote in Campbell County, the heart of the basin. Locals cheered when he lifted a federal moratorium on coal leases that former President Barack Obama imposed, but Worden and Wallet disagree about whether changing environmental regulations will do much good in the long run. Wallet thinks improvement could be just around the corner.Both say coal should continue to have a place in the economy alongside renewable energy.“It needs to be a group effort, not green is on one side and black is on the other,” Worden said. “We don’t want this community to die.”
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UK’s Johnson, Likening Himself to Incredible Hulk, Vows Oct. 31 Brexit
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson likened himself to the unruly comic book character The Incredible Hulk late Saturday in a newspaper interview in which he stressed his determination to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31. The Mail on Sunday reported that Johnson said he would find a way to circumvent a recent Parliament vote ordering him to delay Brexit rather than take Britain out of the EU without a transition deal to ease the economic shock. “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “Hulk always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be — and that is the case for this country. We will come out on October 31.” Britain’s Parliament has repeatedly rejected the exit deal Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, negotiated with the EU, and this month rejected leaving without a deal — angering many Britons who voted to leave the bloc more than three years ago. No ‘backstop’Johnson has said he wants to negotiate a new deal that does not involve a “backstop,” which would potentially tie Britain against its will to EU rules after it leaves in order to avoid checks on the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The EU has so far insisted on the backstop, and Britain has not presented any detailed alternative. Nonetheless, Johnson said he was “very confident” ahead of a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday. “There’s a very, very good conversation going on about how to address the issues of the Northern Irish border. A huge amount of progress is being made,” Johnson told The Mail on Sunday, without giving details. Johnson drew parallels between Britain’s situation in Brexit talks and the frustrations felt by fictional scientist Bruce Banner, who when enraged turned into The Incredible Hulk, frequently leaving behind a trail of destruction. “Banner might be bound in manacles, but when provoked he would explode out of them,” he said. FILE – British politician Sam Gyimah speaks during a People’s Vote press conference at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London, May 9, 2019.Earlier on Saturday, former Conservative minister Sam Gyimah said he was switching to the pro-EU Liberal Democrat party in protest at Johnson’s Brexit policies and political style. Opinion polls late Saturday painted a conflicting picture of the Conservative Party’s political fortunes under Johnson, who wants to hold an early election to regain a working majority in Parliament. A poll conducted by Opinium for The Observer newspaper showed Conservative support rose to 37% from 35% over the past week, while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour held at 25% and Liberal Democrat support dropped to 16% from 17%. Support for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party remained at 13%. However, a separate poll by ComRes for The Sunday Express put Conservative support at just 28%, down from 30% and only a shade ahead of Labour at 27%. ComRes said just 12% of the more than 2,000 people it surveyed thought Parliament could be trusted to do the right thing for the country.
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Tropical Storm Warning Discontinued in Bahamas
The Bahamian government has discontinued a tropical storm warning as Humberto moves away from the island nation struggling to recover from Hurricane Dorian.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Humberto was expected to become a hurricane by Sunday night or early Monday but wouldn’t threaten land by the time it intensified to that strength.
Officials warned that the storm could still cause dangerous swells in the northwest Bahamas and along the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina later this weekend and early next week.
At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Great Abaco Island. Humberto was moving 7 mph (11 kph) north-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph).
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Trump Floats Possible Defense Treaty Days Ahead of Israeli Elections
U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible mutual defense treaty between the two nations, a move that could bolster Netanyahu’s re-election bid just days before Israelis go to the polls. “I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving forward with a Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Israel, that would further anchor the tremendous alliance between our two countries,” Trump said on Twitter. He added that he looked forward to continuing those discussions later this month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in New York. Netanyahu thanked Trump, saying in a tweet that Israel “has never had a greater friend in the White House,” and adding that he looked forward to meeting at the U.N. “to advance a historic Defense Treaty between the United States and Israel.” Close race seenThe timing of Trump’s tweet, just days before Israel’s election on Tuesday, appeared aimed at buttressing Netanyahu’s bid to remain in power by showcasing his close ties to Trump. Opinion polls predict a close race, five months after an inconclusive election in which Netanyahu declared himself the winner but failed to put together a coalition government. FILE – Benny Gantz, the leader of Blue and White party, speaks at an event hosted by the Tel Aviv International Salon ahead of general elections, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 9, 2019.Netanyahu’s Likud party is running neck and neck with the centrist Blue and White party led by former armed forces chief Benny Gantz, who has focused heavily on looming corruption charges Netanyahu faces. In a televised interview with Israel’s Channel 12 later Saturday, Netanyahu made a direct appeal to voters based on the treaty. “I’m going to get us a defense pact that will provide us with security for centuries, but for that I need your votes,” he said. Trump previously bolstered Netanyahu’s candidacy when he recognized Israel’s claim of sovereignty over the Golan Heights ahead of the elections earlier this year. Some Israeli officials have promoted the idea of building on Netanyahu’s strong ties to the Trump administration by forging a new defense treaty with the United States, focused especially on guarantees of assistance in any conflict with Iran. Trump provided no details, but a mutual defense treaty could obligate the United States to come to Israel’s defense if it is attacked. Nuclear threats, IranIsraeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that a pact should apply to “defined issues — nuclear threats and the matter of long-range missiles aimed by Iran at Israel.” FILE – Israel’s acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Feb. 24, 2019.”We have means of offense and defense, but this would spare us the need to earmark enormous resources on a permanent basis and for the long term in the face of such threats,” Katz told Israel’s Ynet TV. Netanyahu’s chief rival Gantz assailed the idea as a “grave mistake,” arguing it would strip Israel of military autonomy. “This is not what we want,” the centrist candidate told a conference in Jerusalem. “We have never asked anyone to get killed for us. We have never asked anyone to fight for us. And we have never asked anyone’s permission to defend the State of Israel.”
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Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Gets Tepid Turnout at Final Public Sendoff
The flag-draped coffin had arrived, followed by black-clad family members, their heads bowed. Several dozen suited dignitaries marched in, chests puffed out. Military members stood rigid and proud. All of the pomp and circumstance one would expect at the memorial for a man hailed as an African icon was in place Saturday for the final public sendoff for Robert Mugabe.But there was just one thing missing: A crowd.
Final Public Sendoff for Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Draws Light Turnout video player.
Members of the public sit in the stands during the state funeral for former president Robert Mugabe, at the National Sports Stadium, in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 14, 2019.Mugabe, the first president of independent Zimbabwe, died last week at the age of 95, after ruling for 37 years.In attendance were a smattering of African heads of state and former heads of state – but no major leaders from outside the continent. Those who came included leaders like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – who has ruled Equatorial Guinea with an iron fist since 1979 – and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of independent Kenya’s first president. They praised Mugabe for fighting to liberate his country from the yoke of centuries of colonial rule.Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa pays his respects to former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, at the National Sports stadium during a funeral ceremony in Harare, Sept, 14, 2019.But his own family described Mugabe, who was forced to resign in 2017, as a bitter man. His widow, Grace, draped head-to-toe in black lace, stood on the dais, her head down. The family’s spokesman, Walter Chidakwa, hailed the leader, but also offered some sharp words.“Towards the end of his life,” he said, “he was a sad man. A sad, sad, sad man.”So where was everyone on this sunny Saturday?Many were in one of Harare’s hours-long petrol queues – a consequence of the shattered economy that many blame Mugabe for.The coffin carrying the remains of former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe arrives at the National Sports stadium during a funeral procession in Harare, Sept, 14, 2019. Teacher Betty Mukombani told VOA she had no interest in driving to the stadium to bid farewell. At the time, she was staring down a four-hour wait in a petrol queue just a five-minute drive from the stadium.“He’s the one who ruined the economy of Zimbabwe, so I have no interest in burying such a criminal,” she said.
And others in the queue, like archeologist Happy Marufu, say they have real relatives they’d rather be with.“I should be doing something else or sometimes even relaxing with my family,” he said.Even those who turned out to see off the father of the nation couldn’t resist making a point about this country’s ruined economy.They sang, hundreds of them: Before, bread cost $1. Now, it costs $10.
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Congo: Confirmed Ebola Deaths Near 2,000, Cases Over 3,000
Congo’s National Ebola Response Committee says confirmed Ebola deaths in the east of the sprawling African nation are nearing 2,000 and confirmed cases of the virus have exceeded 3,000.The committee released the latest numbers Friday after a discussion in Goma by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church about efforts to help stem the spread of Ebola in communities. A mistrust of health workers and widespread security issues still threaten the fight against the second deadliest outbreak of Ebola in history in a region where armed groups have fought for decades over the mineral-rich land.The committee reported 3,002 confirmed Ebola cases with 1,974 deaths.
The World Health Organization said Friday they recorded the lowest weekly incidence of Ebola since March 2019 with 40 new cases, but said it was unclear if this positive trend would continue.
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Rival Protesters Clash at Hong Kong Rallies
Clashes erupted Saturday between rival groups in Hong Kong in the latest round of demonstrations that began with calls for democratic reforms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.The skirmishes broke out shortly after pro-democracy demonstrators gathered at a plaza in the Kowloon Bay area, where hundreds of pro-Beijing demonstrators were singing the Chinese national anthem and waving red flags.Groups of people exchanged blows and some attacked opponents with umbrellas. Online videos showed a group of men attacking a group of primarily younger victims with large flag poles, kicks and punches, prompting onlookers to run away.Baton-wielding police moved in to break up the violence, considered minor compared to previous weeks when pro-democracy demonstrators attacked the legislature’s headquarters, set street fires, trashed subway stations and clashed with police.
Kowloon Bay Protest, Saturday, Sept 14, 2019 video player.
Embed” />CopyWATCH: Kowloon Bay Protest, Sept 14, 2019 (Stephen Boitano)There was also a sit-in student protest Saturday at a downtown public square and a pro-democracy march in the northwestern suburb of Tin Shui Wai.Saturday’s clashes occurred after several nights of peaceful rallies at shopping malls by supporters of the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations.They have continued despite the Hong Kong government’s promise to withdraw extradition legislation that sparked protests. Dissenters have since broadened their demands for the direct election of their leaders and police accountability.The protesters saw the bill that would have allowed some Hong Kong criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial as an example of the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.More than 1,300 people have been arrested since the demonstrations began in early June.The increasingly violent demonstrations have further damaged Hong Kong’s economy, which had already been weakened by the U.S.-China trade war.
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US Hospital Ship Dispatched for Migrants in Trinidad and Tobago
While the political and economic crisis worsens in Venezuela, countries in the Western Hemisphere continue to be economically impacted by migrants seeking refuge and asylum. To help alleviate some of the burden, the United States Navy has deployed the Comfort hospital ship to assist countries like Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit visited the ship on one of its last stops, Trinidad and Tobago.
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Osama bin Laden’s Son Killed in US Counterterrorism Operation, White House Confirms
The White House said Saturday that the son of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden has been killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.The White House said in a statement, “The loss of Hamza bin Ladin (Laden) not only deprives al-Qaida of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group.”The younger bin Laden was described by the White House as “the high-ranking al-Qaida member” who was “responsible for planning and dealing with various terrorist groups.”Some media organizations previously reported earlier this summer Hamza bin Laden had been killed about two years ago, but it was not confirmed by the administration of President Donald Trump until Saturday.Hamza bin Laden was believed to have been in his 30s.
His father declared war against the U.S. in 1996 and was the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States. U.S. Navy SEALs killed him in a raid on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
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Charity: Italy Allows Rescue Ship to Disembark Migrants in Lampedusa
Italy has agreed to allow rescue ship Ocean Viking to disembark 82 migrants in the southern port of Lampedusa, the SOS Mediterranee charity which runs the vessel said Saturday.”The Ocean Viking just received instructions from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Rome to proceed to Lampedusa,” SOS Mediterranee tweeted.”An ad hoc European agreement between Italy, France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg has been reached to allow the landing,” said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, referring to the division of the migrants between the five countries.”We now need to agree on a genuine temporary European mechanism.” Castaner added.The Ocean Viking was on its second mission and was shuttling between Malta and Italy for nearly two weeks, seeking a port to land the migrants.Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), which runs the ship jointly with SOS Mediterranee, said the group comprised 58 men, six women and 18 children.The Ocean Viking had rescued 356 migrants on its first mission. Italy is trying to set up an automatic system for distributing migrants rescued in the Mediterranean between European countries, diplomatic sources said recently.Such a deal would put an end to the case-by-case negotiations over who will take in those saved during the perilous crossing from North Africa, which has seen vulnerable asylum seekers trapped in limbo at sea for lengthy periods.France and Germany have given their green light to the new system, which could also involve Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain, Italy’s Repubblica and Stampa dailies said.
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IOM Repatriates More Than 100 Migrants Stranded in Libya
The International Organization for Migration reports it has repatriated 127 African and Asian migrants stranded in Libya under difficult, brutal conditions.Tripoli’s Mitiga International airport was shut down last Sunday after being hit by missiles. For safety reasons, IOM’s chartered plane with 127 migrants aboard took off earlier this week from Misrata, about a two-hour drive east of the Libyan capital.From there, the passengers, which included women and children, flew to Istanbul and then onwards to their home countries. Missions from 15 countries in Africa and Asia, including Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh and Egypt were involved in the complex, risky operation.IOM spokeswoman, Safa Msehli told VOA stranded migrants is a reference to those those who either are held in Libyan detention centers or are living freely in urban areas across the country.“In detention centers across Libya we have close to 5,000 migrants that are still detained. In Libya alone, according to IOM Libya’s DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix), there are over 600,000 migrants, a lot of whom – not only due to the current context of war – but a lot of whom have arrived in Libya and remain without a solution,” Msehli said. Libya’s detention centers are notorious as places where refugees and migrants are subject to horrific forms of abuse, including torture and rape, as well as the lack of sufficient food and medical care. Migrants and refugees in urban areas are vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and kidnapping for ransom.Despite all the difficulties, IOM has succeeded in returning more than 7,200 stranded migrants to their countries of origin this year. Upon their return, Msehli said the migrants receive a reintegration package that helps them resume their lives, continue their education or start a small business.
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HRW: Children Imprisoned in Nigeria on Terror Charges Face Brutal Conditions
Musa, a 17-year-old living in northeastern Nigeria, has a grim story. He said when he was eight years old, members of the armed Islamic group Boko Haram attacked and burned down his village. Musa’s family relocated, but two years later Boko Haram struck again. This time, the insurgents went off with Musa’s family’s livestock. To help the family, Musa began selling yams, but when he was 13 years old, Nigerian authorities arrested him and accused him of selling yams to Boko Haram.
Musa said, “you can’t tell who is Boko Haram and who isn’t,” so had no way of knowing to whom he was selling yams. He was held in prison for about a year.
Musa told his story to Human Rights Watch when representatives of the organization recently came to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in the country’s northeastern region; the city where Boko Haram got started in 2001.
Musa is still bitter about what happened to him.
“I’m very angry with the government because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Musa told HRW. “The government should dig deeply and investigate before detaining someone.”
Stories like Musa’s were captured in a report released this week by HRW, called “‘They Didn’t Know if I Was Alive or Dead’: Military Detention of Children for Suspected Boko Haram Involvement in Northeast Nigeria.”
It documents how Nigerian authorities are detaining children, usually with little or no evidence of links to Boko Haram terrorists.
Children as young as five years old were held without charge for months or years in degrading conditions inside overcrowded military detention facilities.FILE – Woman and children detained by the Nigeria army who have no links to Boko Haram sit under a canopy before their release at the Giwa military barracks in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2016.HRW did not have direct access to the detention facilities in Nigeria, so this past June the group interviewed 32 formerly-detained children and youths between the ages of 10 and 21 in Maiduguri.
The U.N. reported that Nigerian armed forces detained more than 3,600 children for suspected involvement with non-state armed groups between January 2013 and March 2019.
And Human Rights Watch says the arrests are often arbitrary.
The children who spoke to HRW said they were picked up by authorities and detained in the state’s main military detention center, the infamous Giwa Barracks.
A 2016 Amnesty International report described Giwa Barracks as a place of death.
Amnesty said scores of detainees have died there, many seemingly from disease, hunger, dehydration and gunshot wounds.
Seventeen-year-old Abdul described the room where he was kept.
“The room smelled awful,” he said. “When we first arrived, there was no toilet in the room. We had to defecate in a bucket, in front of everyone, as well as urinate standing in the same room we slept in.”
Khadija, a soft-spoken and petite 14-year old, was also detained.
“We really suffered [in prison],” she said. “It’s a deep kind of suffering. They [the army] didn’t take care of us, and they kept beating me. Lice in our hair, lice on our body.”
Children say they also saw male soldiers making sexual advances to some of the female detainees, even removing them from the cell for long periods of time. One girl told HRW that girls in her cell became pregnant while they were imprisoned.FILE – Children between the ages of seven and 18, cleared of ties with Boko Haram, get in a car being escorted by military personnel in Maiduguri, July 9, 2018.In response to HRW’s findings, a Nigerian military spokesman said the report is poorly researched and false.
Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu said the Armed Forces of Nigeria do arrest children who are coerced into helping Boko Haram, either by setting off explosives or spying for the terrorist group.
But, he said, the armed forces treat the children “as victims of war and not as suspects.” He said that “apprehended children are kept in secured places, where they are adequately fed, profiled and de-radicalized before their release.”
He added that children are not subject to arbitrary arrests nor are they tortured in any facility.
Jo Becker, the director of children’s rights advocacy at Human Rights Watch, said Nigerian authorities are breaching international standards. Becker said none of the children have appeared in court. She added that they were not told of any charges against them.
“International standards are clear that when children are involved in armed conflict, they are entitled to rehabilitation, reintegration and help getting back into their community and into civilian life,” Becker said. “They don’t belong in military detention. Nigeria has programs that are ready to deal with these children.”
Becker told VOA that she visited a transit center in Maiduguri that is equipped with social workers to do educational training and has a capacity to receive hundreds of children. But at the time of her visit in June, the center was completely empty.
The U.N. estimates that Boko Haram has recruited at least 8,000 children into its ranks, often through abduction. Children are coerced to carry out attacks, cook, relay messages and act as lookouts.
Most of the children featured in the report denied any involvement with the terrorist group. But some did say they were abducted or forced to marry an insurgent.
More than 37,000 people have been killed in the ongoing insurgency, including at least 15,000 civilians. The sect claims it is seeking to establish an Islamic State.
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Hong Kong Police Break Up Scuffles at Shopping Mall Protest
Baton-wielding Hong Kong police moved in to break up scuffles Saturday between pro-China protesters and those denouncing perceived Chinese meddling at the start of rallies planned for across the city after months of often violent unrest.The pro-China demonstrators chanted “Support the police” and “China, add oil” at a shopping mall in the Kowloon Bay area, adapting a line used by anti-Hong Kong government protesters and loosely meaning: “China, keep your strength up.”“Hong Kong is China,” one woman shouted at passers-by who shouted obscenities in return in an angry pushing and pulling standoff, marked more by the shouting than violence.The clashes spilled out on to the streets, with each confrontation captured by dozens of media and onlookers on their smart phones. Police detained several people.Pro-democracy activists hold signs and form a human chain on Lion Rock in Hong Kong, Sept. 13, 2019. Thousands of the activists used torches, lanterns and laser pens to light up two of the city’s hillsides in protest during the Mid-Autumn Festival.Mid-Autumn FestivalProtesters complaining about perceived Chinese interference in the former British colony came out in the hundreds across the territory Friday, singing and chanting on the Mid-Autumn Festival, in contrast to the violence of many previous weekends when police have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.They have also gathered in malls, with occasional scuffles with flag-carrying China supporters, often denouncing police for perceived brutality.Anti-government protesters were also gathering in the downtown Central district, and hundreds were marching in the northwestern New Territories district of Tin Shui Wai.The spark for the anti-government protests was a now-withdrawn extradition bill and concerns that Beijing is eroding civil liberties, but many young protesters are also angry about sky-high living costs and a lack of job prospects.The bill would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts, but the protests have now broadened into calls for greater democracy.Hong Kong returned to China under a “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including a much-cherished independent legal system.China says Hong Kong is now its internal affair. It says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” arrangement and denies meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs.China is eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1. It has accused foreign powers, particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting the unrest.
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American Farmers Hope for US-China Trade Deal as Pork, Soybean Tariffs Ease
China has announced a tariff exemption on U.S.-produced pork, withdrawing duties as high as 72%, one of many tariffs Beijing imposed on American agricultural products amid a protracted trade war with Washington. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from the Midwest state of Illinois, farmers feel the economic pinch even as China’s need to import pork is growing.
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Ex-New Mexico Priest Gets 30 Years for Child Sexual Abuse
A former Roman Catholic priest who fled to Morocco before he was returned to the United States and convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy in New Mexico in the 1990s was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.U.S District Judge Martha Vazquez imposed the sentence in Albuquerque federal court on Arthur Perrault, 81, a onetime Air Force chaplain and colonel, U.S. Attorney John Anderson said in a statement.”There are few acts more horrific than the long-term sexual abuse of a child,” Anderson said. “At long last, today’s sentence holds Perrault accountable for his deplorable conduct.”U.S. Attorney John Anderson, right, and federal prosecutor Sean Sullivan converse after a former Roman Catholic priest who fled the country decades ago was sentenced to 30 years in prison, Sept. 13, 2019, in Santa Fe, N.M.Perrault’s trial attorney, Samuel Winder, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Perrault was convicted by a federal jury in April on six counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact with a minor in 1991 and 1992 at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque and at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, prosecutors said.The victim, now an adult, testified that Perrault befriended him when he was 9 years old, showering him with gifts and trips before sexually assaulting him, prosecutors said.Although he was convicted of abusing one victim, prosecutors alleged in court filings that Perrault was a serial child molester who abused numerous young people in more than 30 years as a priest in New Mexico and Rhode Island.At his trial, seven other alleged victims testified that Perrault, ordained in 1964, abused them during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.The Roman Catholic Church has been roiled by allegations of sexual abuse since 1992, when the Boston Globe newspaper revealed a decades-long cover-up by church hierarchy of sexual misconduct by its clergy.The U.S. Catholic Church has paid out more than $3 billion to settle clergy abuse cases, according to BishopAccountability.org, which tracks the issue.Under federal law, a convicted defendant must serve at least 85% of a sentence, meaning Perrault will likely die in prison.Perrault fled the United States in 1992 when his criminal conduct became public, prosecutors said. He was located in Morocco, where he was arrested in 2017 following his indictment on the sex charges, and was extradited to New Mexico.Linda Card, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, said Perrault served in the Air Force Reserve Chaplain Corps, and for a time was on active-duty status.
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Hong Kong Protest Leaders Bring Human Rights Diplomacy to US
Joshua Wong, one of the most visible leaders of the Hong Kong protest movement, has arrived in the United States to rally support following a whirlwind visit to Berlin.Wong, who has been permitted to travel internationally while on bail facing charges stemming from more than three months of pro-democracy protests, will spend the next several days speaking to legislators, human rights advocates and students in New York and Washington.College students are among the audiences Wong, 22, and fellow protest leaders are aiming to address on their U.S. tour, with a stop at New York’s Columbia University on Friday and an appearance scheduled for Wednesday at Georgetown University in Washington.Wong and other protest leaders will also testify at a hearing organized by the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), aimed at examining recent developments in Hong Kong and the future of U.S.-Hong Kong relations.FILE – Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong speaks to students at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2019.At a recent diplomatic event in Washington, Randall Schriver, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security, told VOA that Washington maintains regular contact with the Hong Kong government through the U.S. consulate there, “and we also, of course, have conveyed our concerns in Beijing about the potential for a heavier hand or use of violence, which we strongly discourage.”Schriver added, “We support freedom of expression in Hong Kong. We believe that’s a right that is guaranteed under the Basic Law, so we’re hopeful that this is resolved between the citizens of Hong Kong and the governing authorities there.”Winston Lord, who served as the United States’ ambassador to China and later assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, believes China’s leaders will try a range of other measures before resorting to a crackdown and the global criticism that would bring.”I think that through the combination of propaganda, nationalism, censorship, rounding up the leaders, getting the tycoons upset, playing up supposed violence, they hope to exhaust the protesters and win that way,” Lord told VOA.”They know it would be a mistake to go in there,” he said. “Trust me, if they have to, they’ll go in, but they’re going to try to avoid that if at all possible.”
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Zimbabwe’s Grace Mugabe Regains Prominence for Husband
The controversy swirling around the burial of Zimbabwe’s founding leader, Robert Mugabe, centers on his widow, Grace, who has remained dramatically cloaked behind a heavy black veil as she succeeded in getting the country’s president to scrap his plans for the ex-leader to be buried in a simple plot alongside other national heroes and instead build a grand new mausoleum for her husband.Known as a strong-willed woman with political ambitions, Grace Mugabe has made the most of her role as the grieving widow — and some in Zimbabwe think she is using the issue to reassert herself as a force to be reckoned with in the country.When the 54-year-old Grace objected to the funeral plans for Mugabe, who died last week at 95, President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to her palatial 25-bedroom residence in Harare’s posh Borrowdale suburb to consult her about how the interment should proceed. He departed saying he would respect her wishes and scrapped his funeral plans.The coffin of the late former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe at his residence in Harare, Sept. 12, 2019.She and other family members said they had enlisted the support of Zimbabwe’s traditional chiefs to determine how Mugabe would be buried. In a series of announcements throughout the week they divulged details of where, when and how Mugabe would be buried. The saga culminated Friday with the announcement that the funeral had been postponed for 30 days, until the elaborate new edifice could be built at the Heroes’ Acre national monument.“We are building a mausoleum for our founding father at the top of the hill at Heroes Acre,” Mnangagwa said on state television of the plan to construct the imposing monument to Mugabe, a guerrilla leader who fought to end white-minority rule when the country was known as Rhodesia. “It won’t be finished, so we will only bury him after we have completed construction.”Latest acrimony, latest achievementThe wrangle over the burial highlighted the lasting acrimony between Mugabe’s widow and Mnangagwa, who helped oust Mugabe in 2017 after 37 years of often tumultuous rule as the country went from prosperity to economic decline, hyperinflation and widespread shortages.It was also the latest achievement for Grace Mugabe, who rose from being one of the president’s secretaries to become first lady. Mugabe and his first wife, Sally, had one son who died while Mugabe was jailed by the Rhodesian regime. When Sally was ailing with kidney failure, Mugabe struck up a relationship with Grace, 41 years his junior, and they had a daughter and two sons. Following Sally’s death in 1992, Mugabe married Grace in 1996 in a lavish ceremony at his birthplace, Zvimba.As Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace became known for shopping sprees in Europe and Asia, building huge residences, and staking claim to farms in the choice Mazowe area, outside Harare, as part of Mugabe’s seizure of once white-owned properties. Grace also featured in a series of scandals and lawsuits, including one in which she sued a diamond dealer she said didn’t deliver a 100-carat diamond she claimed to have paid for. In South Africa she was charged with assaulting a young woman who had been in her sons’ hotel suite in Johannesburg.She also became increasingly prominent politically, becoming the head of the Women’s League of her husband’s ruling ZANU-PF party. She launched a series of public attacks on then-Vice President Joice Mujuru that led to Mujuru being sacked in 2014. She then turned her sights on Mnangagwa, who was fired from the vice presidency in 2017 and appeared poised to take that position herself. Mnangagwa fled the country, saying he feared for his life.Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa stands next to Grace Mugabe, after receiving the body of her husband, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 11, 2019.Military coupThe prospect of Grace Mugabe gaining so much power, especially as Mugabe was becoming visibly feeble, prompted the military to put the couple under house arrest. Mugabe was forced to resign in November 2017, and his wife was expelled from the ruling party.With Mugabe’s death and the protracted drama surrounding his burial, Grace has reasserted her national prominence — and her ascendency over Mnangagwa.“That stuff about traditional leaders making the decision is rubbish. Grace was determined to decide how Mugabe should be buried,” said Zimbabwean analyst Ibbo Mandaza. Since Mugabe’s ouster “Mnangagwa has not taken any action against her. Nothing has happened to the mansions, the properties, the state allowances.”“The whole narrative of the ruling class is the same. There is hypocrisy and looting. There is no honor or dignity,” he said.And Grace might just make a political comeback, he added. “Maybe in a year we will see Grace in bed with Mnangagwa, politically, if not literally,” he said.
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