Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a series of damaging defeats over the government’s Brexit policy Wednesday, as lawmakers attempted to pass legislation to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union with no deal on Oct. 31. In response, Johnson tried to force a general election, but that was also rejected by MPs. Henry Ridgwell reports from London on the latest twists in Britain’s extraordinary Brexit saga.
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Month: September 2019
Kenyan Farmers Benefit From Insured Loans
Kenyan farmers hope to benefit from insured loans that will help them purchase farm inputs and seeds. Unlike other commercial bank loans, the Risk Contingent Credit Scheme, which is a brainchild of Washington-based IFPRI, aims to cushion farmers from huge losses accrued from crop failures due to climate change. For the past four seasons, there has been little rain in Machakos county, and farmers have watched in despair as crops withered away. Climate change has pushed them closer to poverty as they stream to markets to buy food instead of living off their own harvests. Beatrice Ndavi is one of those farmers.“The farmers of Machakos county have a challenge of drought because when there is a drought, we don’t get enough food for our families,” Ndavi said. Help came in 2017, just before another drought, in the form of a loan facility dubbed the Risk Contingent scheme. It is the brainchild of the International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI). Senior scientist Linzhou You is leading the project.“When the rains doesn’t come, there is no harvest, the farmers don’t need to pay back the loans. Of course, if the rains come you have a good harvest you have to pay back the loans, plus insurance premium,” Lingzhou said.This is a departure from the traditional practice where commercial banks avoid lending to smallholder farmers, according to Esther Muiruri, a director at Kenya’s Equity Bank.”So, for one acre we process for them about 10,000 Kenyan shillings [$97] so that they are able to buy fertilizer, certify seeds and other chemicals that they need for their crops to grow,” Muiruri said.The farmers receive the loans after undergoing agronomy training, as well as financial literacy classes. Ndavi took the first loan and was among 265 farmers who took a second loan this week.”Before the banks started giving us loans, the production was very low because we were just using the manure alone. But when we started applying these artificial fertilizers there has been improvement in production,” Ndavi said.The plan is still in its pilot stage, but there are plans to replicate it for other arid areas in African countries.
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British PM Johnson Suffers Historic Brexit Defeats as Election Looms
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a series of damaging defeats Wednesday over the government’s policy on leaving the European Union.A coalition of opposition and Conservative lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union with no deal on Oct. 31. The prime minister insists such a law would undermine negotiations with the bloc.The bill was voted through the House of Commons, effectively Britain’s lower chamber, with the help of 22 MPs from the ruling Conservative party who voted against the government. Among the rebels was veteran MP Nicholas Soames.“[The bill] merely seeks to avert the immediate risks of a disaster of a no Brexit exit on the 31st of October and it thereby seeks to give the government and this House a further opportunity to achieve a resolution of this profoundly difficult issue,” Soames told fellow MPs during the debate.
British PM Johnson Suffers Historic Brexit Defeats as Election Looms video player.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in in the Parliament in London, Britain, Sept. 3, 2019, in this still image taken from Parliament TV footage.Other parliamentary shortcutsAnalysts say Johnson could use other parliamentary shortcuts, such as a simple one-line bill, to try to force an imminent election. The prime minister received backing Wednesday from his ally across the Atlantic, U.S. President Donald Trump.“He’s in there, I watched him this morning, he’s in there fighting. And he knows how to win. Boris knows how to win,” Trump told reporters.So far, Johnson has lost four votes out of four in the House of Commons.The legislation to block no-deal is being debated Thursday in Britain’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, where opponents could seek to filibuster the bill. Britain’s political meltdown could be turning rapidly into a constitutional crisis.
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China: Trade Talks with US to Take Place in October
U.S. and Chinese envoys will meet in early October for talks aimed at ending a tariff war, later than initially planned, China’s Commerce Ministry announced Thursday.The announcement came amid anxiety among companies and investors over last weekend’s new round of tariff hikes by both sides in a fight over trade and technology and a report that officials were struggling to agree on a schedule for talks, originally planned for this month.Investors who worry the escalating battle will tip the global economy into recession are looking for progress from the negotiations and were dismayed at possible disruption.Technology threatThe agreement came in a phone call conducted by the chief Chinese envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the ministry’s statement said.Officials will “conduct conscientious consultations” in mid-September to prepare for the talks, it said. It gave no details but said the two sides wanted to create favorable conditions.”The Trump administration is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other industries. The United States, Europe, Japan and other trading partners say those violate China’s market-opening commitments and are based on stealing or pressuring companies to hand over technology.Beijing has agreed to narrow its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States but is reluctant to give up development strategies it sees as a path to prosperity and global influence.Talks broke down in May over how to enforce any agreement. China: US must lift tariffsChina insists President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs must be lifted once a deal takes effect. Washington says at least some must stay to make sure Beijing carries out any promises.Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in June to resume talks, but the last round in July in Shanghai ended with no indication of progress. Neither government has given any indication it is ready to break the deadlock by offering concessions.
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Dutch Woman Who Saved Jews from Nazis Dies at 99
A Dutch woman hailed by the king as one of the country’s national heroes for saving hundreds of Jews from the Nazis has died.Diet Eman was 99 and lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Eman was born in The Netherlands and joined the Dutch underground after the Nazi invasion in 1940.She provided safe housing and forged identity papers for Dutch Jews who would have ended up in Nazi death camps. Eman also helped allied pilots shot down over Dutch territory.Eman wrote about her experiences in her 1994 memoir, “Things We Couldn’t Say.”Dutch King Willem Alexander visited with Eman when he visited Grand Rapids in 2015, calling her one of The Netherlands’ national heroes.
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Charity Helps Fight Child-Trafficking in Malawi, as Country Grapples to End Vice
Malawi is struggling to end child trafficking, despite existing legislation intended to stop the problem. The Trafficking in Persons Act, which was enacted four years ago, also mandated the creation of a special fund to support victims. But efforts to reinforce the law remain a challenge.A teenager, who we’ll call Maggie, recalls the day back in 2018 when she says she and other two girls were trafficked from Neno district in southern Malawi to work as prostitutes in the commercial capital, Blantyre.Maggie says their families were misled by two strangers who came to their village, pretending that a woman was seeking to recruit girls as housemaids. This victim of child trafficking — now 19 years old — was taken with Maggie last year and forced into prostitution. (Lameck Masina/VOA)She says they were later turned over to this woman, but they were not taken to the person’s home. Maggie says, “When we arrived in Blantyre, we were taken to a drinking joint full of men taking opaque beer. We were given knives (used to open the beer)]. When we asked about the use of the knives, she told us that we were employed to serve beer and sleep with men to earn a living.” Maggie was 17 at the time. The other two were 16 and 19. Maggie says although they were devastated and scared, thoughts of poverty back home forced them to do as they were told after being promised a salary of about $20 a month.She says, “She gave us a target of sleeping with 40 men per day. But she was the one collecting the payment and never paid us the promised salary. And whenever we failed to meet the target, we were not given food to eat.” After forcibly working as prostitutes for two months, Maggie, now 18, says tough conditions forced the three of them to flee.MalawiThe issue later caught the attention of child rights group People Serving Girls at Risk, which runs a project on child trafficking.Since last September, however, their case has been beset by delays, largely due to lack of interest in reinforcing existing anti-trafficking laws. In 2015, Malawi enacted a Trafficking in Persons Act, which mandated the creation of a Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Fund to support victims in terms of care and court proceedings.Child rights campaigners say the arrangement continues to lack procedures to support the victims. They say, for example, no budget has been allocated to the fund this year.Caleb Ng’ombo is the director of People Serving Girls at Risk. “Lack of enforcement of laws is affecting us in so many ways,” Ng’ombo says. “For example, for an institution to take a case to court, requires a lot of resources. And for you just to lose on a technicality is a major setback not only for us as an organization, but also to the girls who are searching for justice.” Ng’ombo says with support from international women’s rights organization Equality Now, efforts are being made to seek justice for victims. Peter Langwe, of the Social Welfare Department, center, and Lydia Mtago, standing, of the NGO People Saving Girls at Risk, talk with guardians of girls who were forced into prostitution. (L. Masina/VOA)”On average every year, we respond to a considerable number of cases, both in the way that we respond to them directly or just to make referral to other organizations, so I would say in a year an average of not less than 200 cases,” Ng’ombo says.The organization also provides economic empowerment to vulnerable young people like Maggie. “We have identified a community-based trainer on tailoring skills as well as knitting skills to ensure that they have some business skills for them to manage the tailoring as well as the knitting project,” Ng’ombo says.Peter Langwe is the child protection officer in the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare.He told VOA that despite challenges in reinforcement of the trafficking in persons legislation, other efforts are being made to stop the vice.Langwe says the ministry is holding meetings to encourage communities to reinforce child protection rules. He says the bylaws stipulate that those found or facilitating child trafficking are subjected to a penalty of four goats to their traditional leaders and have their cases taken to court.” The effort, Langwe says, has helped cut trafficking in girls by one-half.
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Experts: China Could Be ‘New Road’ Touted by North Korea
China may be a “new road” for North Korea if diplomacy with the United States fails, experts say.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a senior North Korean official Wednesday in Pyongyang during a three-day visit that began Monday, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.Wang told Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, that China’s prosperity cannot be impeded by any country, apparently referring to the U.S., with which Beijing has been involved in an FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk during Xi’s visit in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), June 21, 2019.ReconciliationKim and Xi held their first summit in March 2018, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s landmark Singapore summit in June 2018, and have stepped up diplomacy in an apparent move to repair their relationship. Kim and Xi have met five times since the first summit.Relations between the two historical East Asian allies soured when Kim took power in 2011 and began testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. In response to North Korea’s weapons tests in 2016 and 2017, Xi supported U.S.-led sanctions against the country.Wang’s visit to Pyongyang came as North Korea’s first Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Saturday that FILE – People watch a TV screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 3, 2018. North and South Korea agreed Friday to revive their formal dialogue.Kim said during his 2019 New Year’s Day speech that he was willing to FILE – South Korean protesters shout slogans during a rally demanding withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Korea Peninsula near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, July 31, 2019.In August, Trump said South Korea “agreed to pay substantially more money to the U.S. in order to defend itself from North Korea.” He often said South Korea should pay more to keep about 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, an idea that South Korea rejects.Differences over cost-sharing for keeping the U.S. military in South Korea have apparently been exacerbated by Seoul’s decision in August to end an intelligence-sharing pact through which it agreed to share sensitive military information with Tokyo.Seoul’s decision generated U.S. criticism because the withdrawal could complicate U.S. security cooperation with both South Korea and Japan to guard against a North Korean threat.
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Hong Kong Leader to Speak to Media After Killing Extradition Bill
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam is expected to address the media Thursday, a day after she withdrew a controversial extradition bill that has triggered mass protests and plunged the Chinese territory into its worst political crisis in decades.Lam, in a prerecorded televised message, Wednesday formally withdrew the bill, acceding to one of pro-democracy protesters’ five demands, although many demonstrators and lawmakers said the move was too little, too late.The official China Daily said Thursday that the withdrawal of the bill was an olive branch that leaves demonstrators with no excuse to continue violence.Protesters hold placards reading “Strike for Hong Kong” during continuing pro-democracy rallies in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, in Tamar Park, Hong Kong, Sept. 3, 2019.Beijing stopped earlier withdrawal The announcement came after Reuters reports Friday and Monday revealed that Beijing had thwarted Lam’s earlier proposals to withdraw the bill and that she had said privately that she would resign if she could, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters.The Beijing-backed leader is expected to meet the media before she departs for a trip to China’s Guangxi province Thursday afternoon.Skirmishes broke out in some districts late Wednesday after Lam’s announcement, which came after a weekend of some of the most violent protests the city has seen in the past three months.The Asian financial hub has been roiled by some of the worst violence in decades, with protesters burning barricades and throwing petrol bombs and police retaliating with water cannon, tear gas and batons.The bill, which would have allowed people in the city to be sent to China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party, was seen as the latest example of what many residents see as ever-tighter control by Beijing, despite the promise of autonomy.Thousands of students gather during a strike on the first day of school at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, Sept. 2, 2019.Shrinking rightsThe former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” administration that gave the city of more than 7 million people more freedoms than mainland cities, such as an independent judiciary.China denies meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs and accuses Western countries of fueling the protests.More than 1,100 people have been arrested since the violence escalated in June and Hong Kong is facing its first recession in a decade.China has strongly denounced the violence and warned it could use force to restore order. Beijing is eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China Oct 1.Lam said in her televised message that her administration would reach out to the community to start a dialogue to address the discontent and the “foremost priority now is to end violence, to safeguard the rule of law and to restore order and safety in society.”
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Trump Clings to Idea Alabama Faced Big Threat From Dorian
President Donald Trump isn’t giving up on the dubious idea that Alabama faced a serious threat from Hurricane Dorian.
During an Oval Office briefing Wednesday, Trump displayed a map of the National Hurricane Center forecast for last Thursday that showed Dorian could track over Florida. The map he displayed included what appeared to be a hand-drawn half-circle that extended the cone of uncertainty over a swath of Alabama.
Trump had raised eyebrows and drawn an emphatic fact check from the National Weather Service on Sunday when he tweeted that Alabama, along with the Carolinas and Georgia, “will most likely be hit [much] harder than anticipated.”
The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, tweeted in response: “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.”
Few if any meteorologists put Alabama in the hurricane’s path. Asked Sunday if Trump had been briefed about potential impact to Alabama, Christopher Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote in an email, “The current forecast path of Dorian does not include Alabama.”
On Monday, Trump pushed back on skeptics by insisting that “under certain original scenarios, it was in fact correct that Alabama could have received some ‘hurt.’ ”
And then, on Wednesday, Trump displayed the graphic with the alteration that suggested the storm could have tracked over Alabama. Trump had no explanation for who had altered the map he displayed in the White House.
But he told reporters, “I know that Alabama was in the original forecast.” ‘We have a better map’
He added: “Actually, we have a better map than that which is going to be presented, where we had many lines going directly — many models, each line being a model — and they were going directly through. And in all cases Alabama was hit if not lightly, in some cases pretty hard. … They actually gave that a 95% chance probability.”
The highest probability issued for a U.S. locale for Dorian has been in the 60% range, not 95%.
The National Hurricane Center has issued 45 advisories giving probabilities for tropical storm and hurricane force winds for dozens of cities. Alabama locations have not been in any of those wind probability advisories, although Massachusetts and Canadian locales have been listed.
“Trump should have just admitted he made a mistake and moved on!” emailed Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.
Meteorologist Bob Henson of weather.com emailed that “Alabama was never in the five-day cone except for a tiny sliver of the southeast corner of the state at one point.” But by Saturday night and Sunday, he added, that scenario had become much more unlikely. Tiny bit of state, before warning
While forecasts from overnight Friday showed a tiny bit of Alabama at the edge of the cone of uncertainty, by Saturday morning — more than 24 hours before Trump’s warning about Alabama — the storm was predicted to pose no threat to the state. Trump was getting regular updates about the storm.
Ryan Maue, a private-sector meteorologist, said it’s important for the president’s tweets to be accurate if he wants to provide helpful information to the public facing a potential emergency. He said the problem with the president’s tweet came from sending out stale information.
“If he’s going to be a provider of up-to-date information, he needs to be up to date,” Maue said.
The White House did not immediately release any additional maps.
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Report Warns No-Deal Brexit Means Political Uncertainty
The British government announced Wednesday that it would spend an additional $2.4 billion on preparing to leave the European Union, bringing the total spent so far on Brexit readiness to more than $10 billion. The extra investment comes as a coalition of opposition lawmakers attempts this week to pass legislation blocking a so-called no-deal Brexit, warning of catastrophic consequences for the British economy if it leaves the bloc without a withdrawal agreement. The European Union is also stepping up its preparations for a potential no-deal Brexit, announcing Wednesday that it would release money to help member states from a fund normally reserved for natural disasters. “In order to be fully ready for an eventual no-deal Brexit we have made the necessary legislative proposals. Better safe than sorry,” said European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva. Separately, researchers from the “UK in a Changing Europe” program at Kings College London said in a new report that a prolonged period of political uncertainty would follow a no-deal Brexit, as a new relationship with the EU will have to be agreed to.
Warnings of Brexit Chaos as Britain, EU Step Up No-Deal Preparations video player.
Embed” />CopyWarnings of Brexit Chaos as Britain, EU Step Up No-Deal PreparationsThe report warned there would also be a big impact on trade, especially at bottlenecks like Dover. Ten thousand trucks pass through the port there on a busy day. The port is Britain’s major link with the European mainland. Cargo includes anything from car parts to fresh fruit, livestock and critical medicine.
Most goods pass through unchecked and tariff-free thanks to Britain’s membership in the European Customs Union and Single Market. A no-deal Brexit would result in half of all British exports facing disruption, said report co-author professor Anand Menon.
Anti-Brexit and anti-Boris Johnson messages are projected onto the Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, England, Sept. 3, 2019, in this picture obtained from social media on Sept. 4, 2019.”One of the things no-deal means apart from tariffs, which are relatively unimportant, actually, is the fact that goods are going to have to be checked,” Menon said. “And these companies work to very tight schedules. They don’t store parts; they work on the basis of one-hour turnaround times for these parts. If you suddenly start getting delays, their whole business model will be called into question.”
They include auto companies like Nissan, Honda and Ford; and Airbus, which makes its aircraft wings in Britain. Companies like those generate hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The report also warned that a plunging currency would most likely bring rising prices and possible shortages of some fresh food. The British government dismisses such claims and says it will be ready for a no-deal exit. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid told lawmakers Wednesday, in announcing the extra $2.4 billion for Brexit preparations, that the money would mean “more border force staff, it means more transport infrastructure at our ports, and more support for business readiness.”
‘Mutual recriminations’The chancellor added that Britain would be able to strike a free-trade agreement with Europe after a no-deal Brexit. That won’t be so easy, warned analyst Menon.
“Once we’ve had no deal, you’ll get mutual recriminations on both sides of the [English] Channel, because there will be economic damage on both sides of the channel,” he said. “So under those circumstances, politically, it might be difficult for both sides to sit at a table in a good-natured, trusting way and start to negotiate.” A pro-Brexit protester carries signs outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Sept. 4, 2019.U.S. President Donald Trump has promised a trade deal with Britain after Brexit, saying the transatlantic allies could do “four or five” times more trade. It won’t make up for the shortfall, Menon said. “If we remove every single tariff on trade with the United States, it would amount to a gain of about 0.4 percent of GDP,” he said. “A no-deal Brexit would damage the economy over the next 10 years to the tune of 8 to 10 percent of GDP by conservative estimates, so no comparison, really. The Americans won’t do a trade deal intended to benefit Britain. They’ll do a trade deal intended to benefit the United States.”
Britain and the EU both say they want a Brexit deal. But with political paralysis in Britain and time running out fast, such an agreement seems unlikely before the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline.
Unless the deadlock can be broken in Parliament, analysts warn, the chaos of a no-deal Brexit is just weeks away.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Defies Pressure Not to Have Nuclear Warheads
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out at pressure on some countries — including his own — not to acquire missiles with nuclear warheads.”Some (countries) have missiles with nuclear warheads in their hands but I shouldn’t have it. I do not accept this,” he said in a speech in the eastern city of Sivas. Turkey does not possess nuclear weapons and has been a party to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty since 1980. The Turkish leader’s remarks come amid burgeoning defense ties between Turkey and Russia in defiance of Ankara’s NATO ally the United States.Washington has reacted to Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 by kicking the country off its F-35 fighter jet program.The U.S. says Russia will be able to glean sensitive technical knowledge about the new fighter if it is operated alongside the S-400.On Friday, Erdogan suggested Turkey could look to Russia for an alternative after its F-35 exclusion.
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US Moves to Disrupt Iran’s Oil Distribution Network
Patsy Widakuswara and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
WHITE HOUSE — As the United States took action Wednesday to disrupt an Iranian oil shipping network it accuses of funding terrorism, President Donald Trump expressed optimism about engaging in diplomacy with Tehran.
“They want to talk. They want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, when asked about the new sanctions announced by the Treasury Department and whether he is willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, during this month’s United Nations General Assembly session.
The president reiterated that the United States is “not looking for regime change.””They have tremendous potential and I think they’re going to want to take advantage of that,” Trump said Wednesday.Iran announced late Wednesday a further scaling back of its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
This involves “the development of centrifuges. We will take this step on Friday,” Rouhani said in a televised speech. Trump, last year, withdrew the United States from the pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Word of Iran’s further backing away from the JCPOA by comes just after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on 10 individuals, 16 entities and 11 vessels alleged to be directed by and financially supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah.FILE – Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin speaks during a news briefing at the White House, in Washington, July 15, 2019.“Iran continues to take provocative actions to destabilize the region and the world. Treasury’s action against this sprawling petroleum network makes it explicitly clear that those purchasing Iranian oil are directly supporting Iran’s militant and terrorist arm, the IRGC-Quds Force,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement Wednesday. “Our actions over the last two weeks should serve as a strong warning to anyone considering facilitating the Quds Force’s oil sales that there will be swift consequences.”
According to the Treasury Department, over the past year, the IRGC-QF has moved oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more through the network benefiting Syria’s regime, Hezbollah, and other illicit actors.
OFAC is also issuing a new shipping advisory to the international maritime community, warning of these types of schemes and the sanctions risks associated with blocked persons.
Although the U.S. is not likely to succeed in squeezing off all of Iran’s oil exports, the key — according to government officials and analysts — is to create enough stress and pressure on Tehran’s government.
“The Iranians aren’t stupid,” James Carafano, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for national security, told VOA. “As you sanction activities, they’re going to develop workarounds and other ways to move money around the oil route. And then you’re going to have to sanction those. So, if you’re serious about keeping the pressure on, it is kind of a dynamic game of cat and mouse.”
Part of that game currently involves an Iranian oil tanker, the Adrian Darya 1 (formerly known as the Grace 1), released by Gibraltar and at the center of a stand-off between Tehran and the West.
Its captain, Akhilesh Kumar of India, is refusing to offload the ship’s oil in a Syrian port and is looking to be relieved of his command, according to U.S. officials.
The U.S. representative for Iran, Brian Hook, has sent e-mails to Kumar, offering him a multimillion-dollar reward if he will steer the vessel to a friendly port where it would be impounded on behalf of the United States, the Financial Times reported.”We have conducted extensive outreach to several ship captains as well as shipping companies warning them of the consequences of providing support to a foreign terrorist organization,” a State Department official told VOA. The Adrian Darya 1 was seized by British commandos off Gibraltar in July on suspicion it was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions. After Iran promised the oil would not be delivered to Syria, a court in the British territory ordered the ship released, amid efforts by the U.S. to seize it.A crew member checks the new name of Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya, formerly known as Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar, Aug. 18, 2019. Gibraltar rejected a U.S. demand to seize the tanker at the center of a diplomatic dispute.Hook announced Wednesday “a reward of up to $15 million for any person who helps us disrupt the financial operations of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force.”
Hook also told reporters at the State Department that the United States will not provide any sanctions waivers to accommodate a French proposal to extend a $15 million credit line to Tehran.
“We did sanctions today. There will be more sanctions coming. We can’t make it any more clear that we are committed to this campaign of maximum pressure and we are not looking to grant any exceptions or waivers,” said Hook.
“It would be helpful if Iran would meet our diplomacy with diplomacy instead of kinetic force,” Hook told reporters. “The president’s made clear we do not want to see a conflict in the Middle East. But we’re also going to intensify our maximum pressure campaign because [in terms of] Iran, we need to deny it the revenue it needs to fund its foreign policy.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. imposed its first-ever sanctions against Iran’s space agency and related institutes, accusing them of disguising a missile program.
The U.S. says Iranian space launch vehicle technology is “virtually identical and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles,” including ways of controlling a missile during its flight.
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Amid British Brexit Turmoil, EU Braces for Worst
Britain’s political turmoil is again making headlines across the English Channel, with a number of European commentators criticizing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit.But others, like conservative French lawmaker Nicolas Bay, saluted Johnson for standing firm, and honoring Britain’s 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.In Brussels, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said the EU’s position toward Brexit has not changed.”There may be twists and turns in political developments in London right now, but our position is stable,” she said. “We are willing to work constructively with Prime Minister Johnson and to look at any concrete proposals as long as they’re compatible with the withdrawal agreement.”The commission is freeing up millions of dollars in disaster funds for farmers, workers and companies to cope with a potentially chaotic or hard Brexit — although governments and the EU parliament must sign off on the plan. It also published a checklist for European businesses trading with Britain to prepare for Brexit — and a citizens’ hotline.Europeans have been preparing for months for a potentially chaotic Brexit. In France, where roughly 20,000 businesses export to Britain, the key port city of Calais is conducting simulations to prepare for both deal and no-deal scenarios. France, along with Belgium and the Netherlands, has hired hundreds more customs agents to cope with expected backlogs.Experts predict Brexit will deal an economic blow to the EU as well as Britain — at a time when countries like Germany and Italy are braced for economic slowdowns.
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UN Commission Warns of Likelihood of Genocide in Burundi
The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said Wednesday that the country, following years of political turmoil, was primed for a genocide.
The commission’s warning, contained in its latest report on human rights in Burundi, was based on an analysis developed by the U.N. Office for the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect.
The three-member panel found that eight common risk factors for criminal atrocities leading to a possible genocide were present in Burundi.
Factors included an unstable political, economic and social environment; a climate of impunity for human rights violations; a weak judicial system; and the absence of an independent press and freedom of expression.
Commission member Francoise Hampson said the criteria identified by the Genocide Prevention Committee indicated that in countries where these factors were present, there was a risk the situation could deteriorate.
“On top of that, our own report shows the continuation of violations of human rights law based on human security,” she said. “So, things like arbitrary killings, torture, arbitrary detention. And this year, a deterioration … freedom of expression, freedom of association. Now that is actually already getting worse compared to last year.” Nkurunziza campaign
Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term in 2015, defying critics who said he was violating constitutional term limits. Violence prompted more than 300,000 to flee the country.
Hampson said the crisis in Burundi was essentially a political one. She noted that targeting people because of their political affiliation does not come within the definition of genocide, according to the Genocide Conventions. However, she said, “There are elements on occasion where there is an ethnic dimension. There are sometimes taunts of people in detention. And, there have in the past been the chants of the Imbonerakure [the youth wing of the ruling party] when they have been gathering, which have got hateful content.”
The U.N. report documented widespread human rights violations by the Imbonerakure, including intimidation and harassment of political opponents, activists, journalists and human rights defenders.
After the report’s release on Wednesday, Willy Nyamitwe, a senior adviser to Nkurunziza, tweeted a message that said, “Burundi is no longer interested in responding to lies and manipulation of opinion on the part of some Westerners whose aim is to destabilize Burundi.”
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E.Guinea Holds Journalists for ‘Work They Shouldn’t Have Done’
Two journalists working for a private TV station in Equatorial Guinea are being held by police after they interviewed a suspended judge, sources told AFP on Wednesday.The tiny West African state has one of the world’s worst records for media rights, ranking 165th out of 180 on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).Raul Obiang, head of news for Asonga TV, said journalists Melanio Nkogo and Ruben Dario Bacale were picked up a week ago after broadcasting an interview with a judge, Nazario Oyono.Oyono was suspended on August 21 by the president of the Supreme Court for “irregularities.”The pair are being held in the central police station in the town of Bata, Raul Obiang said.He quoted the deputy head of security there as saying the two were being held because “they did work they shouldn’t have done.”RSF called on the authorities to free the pair, adding that their arrest “shows the extreme vulnerability of journalists” working in Equatorial Guinea.It recalled the case of noted cartoonist Ramon Nse Esono Ebale, who was jailed for five months before being released in March 2018.Asonga is the only privately-owned TV and radio station in Equatorial Guinea, which has been run by iron-fisted President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for 40 years.The station’s owner is his son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who many say is being groomed for succession.
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UN Rights Chief Slams US Asylum Policy
The U.S. administration’s asylum policy may be in breach of international human rights law, said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. Policies that restrict migration must be in compliance with standards that do not put people’s lives at risk, she said, adding that migrants unable to enter a country through a legal crossing point will find other routes, which could put them in danger.FILE – United States Border Patrol officers return a group of migrants back to the Mexico side of the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, July 25, 2019.She also expressed reservations about the new Trump administration policy of keeping asylum-seekers waiting on the Mexican side of the border until their cases come to court. Before anyone is returned to Mexico, she said, the United States must study the case to determine whether the person is a refugee and entitled to international protection.”We believe that the policy measures that have been adopted by countries, and in the case of the United States, some countries, like Central American countries, are putting people in more vulnerable situations,” Bachelet said.Bachelet told VOA she is opposed to the U.S. policy of family separation, adding that she has received reports that family separations also are occurring in Mexico. She noted that in July, the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee said that hundreds of children have been separated from their families since the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy was enacted in June 2018.”We do believe that the arbitrary separation of families constitutes an arbitrary and unlawful interference with family life and a grave violation of the rights of the child,” Bachelet said. “It is against all the legal conventions and international human rights law and the laws of the child.” Detaining children for longer than 21 days is both unconscionable and unlawful, she said, adding that she has heard it could take up to two years before asylum cases are adjudicated. She called on U.S. authorities to speed up the process and to ensure that asylum-seekers are protected while they are waiting.
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Indonesian Human Rights Lawyer Accused of Inciting Protests
Police have accused a prominent human rights lawyer of spreading information on Twitter that incited violent protests in Indonesia’s restive Papua region.East Java police chief Luki Hermawan said Wednesday that rights activist Veronica Koman intentionally spread information about the arrests of 43 Papuan students in Surabaya last month, sparking protests in recent weeks in West Papua and Papua provinces.Hermawan said police will request assistance from the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency and Interpol in tracking her location. Police believe she is currently abroad.Koman could face up to six years in jail and a fine of 1 billion rupiah ($70,000) if found guilty under Indonesia’s criminal code and electronic information and transaction law.
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Alleged American IS Emir Faces Life Behind Bars
A U.S. citizen who allegedly joined the Islamic State terror group as a sniper and eventually rose to the rank of emir is facing new charges and the possibility of life behind bars. U.S. Justice Department officials filed a new five-count indictment against 43-year-old Ruslan Maratovich Asainov of Brooklyn, New York, in federal court Tuesday. The indictment charges Asainov with conspiracy to provide material support to IS; providing IS personnel, training, expert advice and weapons; receiving military-type training from IS; and obstruction of justice. If convicted of all the additional charges, Asainov could face a life sentence. Under the original indictment, Asainov would have faced, at most, 20 years, in prison. U.S. officials repatriated Asainov in July, sometime after he had been captured in Syria by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.According to court documents, Asainov, a naturalized citizen who came to the U.S. from Kazakhstan, traveled to Syria in late 2013, where he began fighting with IS as a sniper. Eventually, he became one of the terror group’s emirs, responsible for establishing training camps for IS recruits and for teaching them how to use weapons. “We [IS] are the worst terrorist organization in the world that has ever existed,” he allegedly wrote in one communication to a confidential FBI informant, adding he wished to die on the battlefield. In other messages, officials say Asainov talked about fighting in places like Kobani, Deir el-Zour and Tabka. In addition to the messages, U.S. officials said in court documents that some of the evidence against Asainov is based on interviews with “at least one other individual who provided material support and resources to ISIS during part of the same time period as the defendant.”U.S. citizens Since the collapse of the Islamic State’s physical caliphate in Syria this past March, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been holding an estimated 2,000 foreign fighters from more than 50 countries in make-shift prisons. In addition, the SDF has processed tens of thousands of civilians linked to IS, including the wives and children of the foreign fighters. There are no official estimates for how many of the IS prisoners were U.S. citizens or residents. But in comments to VOA this past June, Kurdish officials suggested more Americans were in custody. “It’s up to the U.S. government whether it wants to take back more of its citizens held by our forces,” said Kamal Akif, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria. Independent research by The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism has identified 80 U.S. citizens or residents who traveled to Syria or Iraq to join extremist groups since 2011, 75% of whom aligned themselves with IS. In all, the U.S. has repatriated six U.S. citizens from Syria and Iraq to face charges for joining IS. Four other U.S. citizens — three men and one woman — who left the country to join IS have also been brought back to face charges. Mohamad Jamal Khweis of Alexandria, Virginia, who was brought back from Iraq in June 2017, has been convicted. Additionally, two women and their six children were repatriated to the U.S. this past June, though they have not been charged with any crimes. U.S. officials have said they continue to work to verify the U.S. citizenship of those individuals in the conflict zone on a case-by-case basis. RepatriationU.S officials have repeatedly pleaded with countries involved in the fight against IS to repatriate their citizens and prosecute them, with varying degrees of success. U.S. counterterrorism officials estimate that more than 45,000 foreign fighters flocked to Syria and Iraq following the start of the Syrian civil war, including 8,000 from Western countries. An independent estimate by researchers at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, just published by the Combating Terrorism Center’s CTC Sentinel, estimates IS still counts almost 53,000 foreigners among its ranks in Syria and Iraq, including more than 6,900 foreign women and up to 6,600 foreign children.
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Huawei Accuses US of Cyberattacks, Coercing Employees
Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei accused U.S. authorities on Wednesday of attempting to break into its information systems and of trying to coerce its employees to gather information on the company.
Huawei, which faces mounting American pressure including possible loss of access to U.S. technology over accusations the company is a security risk, said in a statement that Washington has used “unscrupulous means” in recent months to disrupt its business.
American officials have given no evidence to support claims Huawei might aid Chinese spying, accusations the company denies. The United States, Australia, Japan and some other governments have imposed restrictions on use of Huawei technology.Huawei Technologies Ltd. is the No. 2 global smartphone brand and the biggest maker of network gear for phone companies.Export controls announced by the Trump administration in May would limit Huawei’s access to U.S. technology. Implementation has been postponed to mid-November.Washington is lobbying European governments to exclude Huawei from next-generation telecom networks. Germany, France and Ireland say they have no plans to ban any supplier.Huawei, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, gave no evidence to support its accusations. A company spokesman said he had no additional details.
The accusations were included in a statement about an unrelated patent dispute in the United States.The White House in Washington and the American Embassy in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.AllegationsThe statement said American authorities launched cyberattacks “to infiltrate Huawei’s intranet and internal information systems” but gave no indication what information they targeted or whether they succeeded.Huawei also said FBI agents pressured its employees to collect information on the company.The Reuters news agency cited a Huawei document it said reported eight employees, all mid- to high-level executives, including several U.S. citizens, were involved in the incidents. It said the latest occurred Aug. 28 when an employee informed Huawei the FBI asked the person to be an informant.The company said U.S. authorities have disrupted Huawei’s business by delaying shipments, denying visas and unspecified intimidation.China’s government has accused Washington of improperly using national security arguments to hurt Chinese commercial competitors.”This kind of behavior is neither glorious nor moral,” a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Wednesday. He called on Washington to “stop deliberately smearing” Chinese companies and to “provide a level playing field” for them.
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Swedish Lawyer Won’t Appeal A$AP Rocky’s Assault Verdict
The lawyer for American rapper A$AP Rocky says his client won’t appeal his assault conviction for a June 30 street brawl in Stockholm.Slobodan Jovicic told Sweden’s TT news agency Wednesday that the rapper doesn’t have the energy to appeal.
A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, had pleaded self-defense and said he had tried to avoid a confrontation with two men who he said were persistently following his entourage. One of them picked a fight with a bodyguard, Mayers said during his trial.
On Aug. 14, Mayers and the bodyguards were given “conditional sentences” for the assault convictions, meaning they won’t serve prison time unless they commit a similar offense in Sweden again.
Last month, the prosecutor said he wouldn’t appeal the verdict either.
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Hong Kong Leader Withdraws Extradition Bill
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam says the government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that that sparked three months of growing and often violent pro-democracy protests.In a videotaped message released Wednesday by her office, Lam said she was withrawing the bill, which would have would have permitted criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the ruling Communist Party, “to fully allay public concerns.”Thousands of students gather during a strike on the first day of school at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, Sept. 2, 2019.Lam suspended the bill as the demonstrations escalated during the first month, but ignored calls to fully withdraw the measure. In making Wednesday’s surprise decision, Lam acceded to one of five demands made by the protesters, which include an independent probe into allegations of police brutality and the long-stated goal for greater democracy for the Chinese-controlled territory. The demonstrations have brought everyday life in the Asian financial hub to a near halt, with protesters disrupting activities at the city’s subway system and airport. Hundreds, if not thousands of protesters have been arrested after clashes with police wielding batons and firing tear gas and water cannons.But veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong told reporters after Lam’s address that the decision to pull the legislation was “too little, too late.”Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam reacts during a press conference in Hong Kong, Sept. 3, 2019.Wednesday’s announcement comes just days after Lam was heard in an audio recording obtained by Reuters telling Hong Kong business leaders that she had caused “a huge havoc” when she introduced a controversial extradition bill that sparked the protests. In the recording, which is available online, she tells the group, “If I have a choice, the first thing is to quit, having made a deep apology, is to step down.”Protest leaders took the remarks to mean that officials in Beijing would not permit her to resign. But Lam told reporters Tuesday she “had not even contemplated” discussing a resignation with Chinese leaders. When asked specifically if Beijing was stopping her from resigning, Lam said she has “never tendered a resignation to the central people’s government.”She said she doesn’t know how long it will take to end the civil disobedience, but that she remains confident of restoring law and order. She dismissed speculation that Beijing is anxious to resolve the crisis by Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
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French Government Announces Measures to Tackle Domestic Violence
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has unveiled measures to tackle domestic violence, following a spate of murders of women that have sparked public outrage. More than 100 women have been killed so far this year in France by their spouses, partners or ex-partners. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports domestic violence and murder of women is a worldwide problem, but many governments choose to ignore it.
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Restaurant in Cape Town Serves Insect – Only Menu
Farming them is much kinder to the environment than raising cattle or pigs. They require less land, less water, and emit fewer greenhouse gases. So far so good… that is, if eating gourmet dishes featuring a variety of creeply-crawlies (crawling insects) doesn’t bug you (cause distress). If you are eating right now, you may want to put down your fork until after VOA’s Arash Arabasadi digs into the story.
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US Border Agents Scramble as Migrants Face Deadly Perils
As migrants and asylum-seekers have crossed America’s southern border in record numbers this year, U.S. Border Patrol has scrambled to adapt. In one Texas sector, a near 1,200% increase in the number of migrant family apprehensions has forced the agency to shift personnel and alter emergency procedures geared to save lives. VOA’s Ramon Taylor and Victoria Macchi report on the natural hazards border crossers face, in what is projected to be one of the deadliest years for migrants in the region.
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