The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement on Monday to cooperate on new 5G technology amid growing concerns about Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.Vice President Mike Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the deal in Warsaw, where Pence is filling in for President Donald Trump, who scrapped his trip at the last minute because of Hurricane Dorian.
The signing comes amid a global battle between the U.S. and Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of network infrastructure equipment, over network security.
The agreement endorses the principles developed by cybersecurity officials from dozens of countries at a summit in Prague earlier this year to counter threats and ensure the safety of next generation mobile networks.
“Protecting these next generation communications networks from disruption or manipulation and ensuring the privacy and individual liberties of the citizens of the United States, Poland, and other countries is of vital importance,” the agreement says.
Pence said the agreement would “set a vital example for the rest of Europe.”
The U.S. has been lobbying allies to ban Huawei from 5G networks over concerns China’s government could force the company to give it access to data for cyberespionage. Huawei has denied the allegation.
The U.S. has called for an outright ban on Huawei, but European allies have balked.
A senior Trump administration official told reporters during a briefing ahead of the trip that the agreement would help ensure secure supply chains and networks and protect against unauthorized access or interference by telecommunications suppliers, some of which are controlled by “adversarial governments.”
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Month: September 2019
ICC Judges Order Prosecutor to Review Gaza Flotilla Decision
Appeals judges have ordered the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to reconsider again her refusal to open a formal investigation into the 2010 storming by Israeli forces of an aid flotilla heading to the Gaza strip.Presiding Judge Solomy Bossa on Monday ordered Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to decide whether or not to open a formal probe by Dec. 2. The ruling is the latest step in a long legal battle to bring the case before the court.
Bensouda earlier declined a request by the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros to investigate the May 31, 2010, storming of a vessel in the flotilla, which was sailing under a Comoros flag.Israel is not a member state of the court but its nationals could face charges if Bensouda opens an investigation.
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Separatists Warn Against Reopening Schools in Crisis Zones
The new school year in Cameroon begins this Monday with the government determined to reopen at least 4,500 schools closed in its English-speaking regions as a result of the separatist crisis. But the separatists, who have warned that they will not allow any school to be opened unless their leader, Ayuk Tabe and nine others given life jail sentences by a military tribunal, are freed, have already attacked and wounded at least nine teachers for defying their instructions.Teacher Elmer Tabot, 28, and her two children arrived in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde from the English-speaking south western town of Menji on Monday.She says she is one of the nine teachers who were abducted and beaten by separatist fighters with some of them having their fingers chopped off.”Our house was burned and a business place that we were managing was burned, so even the transport fare to come here was very difficult,” she said. “Things were very hard. People helped us to raise that money that we can reach here. So I have gone through a lot of difficulties.”Tabot says they were accused of defying instructions by separatists for them not to go to school to prepare the opening of the 2019/2020 school year in Cameroon.The separatists had, on social media, vowed that schools will not resume in the English-speaking regions until their leader Ayuk Tabe Julius and nine of his supporters, given life sentences by a military tribunal in Yaounde, are freed. The tribunal said it had found them guilty of secession, terrorism and hostility against the state of Cameroon.Deben Tchoffo, governor of Cameroon’s English-speaking North West region says the population should not be intimidated and should send their children to school. He says all measures have been taken to protect both teachers and school children.”The security services assure the population that all is set for class resumption. I am appealing therefore to the population of the north west region that they should send back their children to school. To those that have attempted to send their children elsewhere, bring them back,” he said.Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.
The government responded with a crackdown that sparked an armed movement for an independent, English-speaking state.The separatists started attacking schools and kidnapping teachers and students vowing to make the regions ungovernable by the central government in Yaounde.Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, Cameroon minister of basic education, Yaounde, Aug. 29, 2019. (Moki Kindzeka/VOA)Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, Cameroon minister of basic education, says the war is completely paralyzing education in the English speaking regions.Etoundi Ngoa says more than 4,482 nursery and primary schools in the English speaking regions have either been closed, transformed as training grounds for separatist fighters or completely destroyed. He says more than 6,000 teachers and 201, 000 school children are today directly affected by the separatist war.Before this Monday’s school reopening, the Cameroon government dispatched English-speaking elite who joined traditional rulers and the clergy to ask the population to send their children to school. One of them Asheri Vivian Kilo from the North West region says local councils have been handed funds to reconstruct some of the damaged schools.Asheri Vivian Kilo from North West Region, in Yaounde, Aug. 29, 2019. (Moki Kindzeka/VOA)”Councils have credits to build and refurbish schools. Of course the military is taking care of getting the separatists out of the school campuses that have been occupied,” said Kilo. “We understand that children have been displaced to Yaounde. They stay with families that were not expecting them and they needed to be assisted.”Tens of thousands of people especially students and teachers have been deserting Cameroon’s conflict prone English-speaking regions following renewed fighting provoked by the life jail sentences given the separatist leaders last August 21.
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Trump Remains Non-committal On Gun Control Despite New Shooting In Texas
U.S. President Donald Trump is praising law enforcement in West Texas where seven people were killed when a gunman opened fire on people after fleeing a traffic stop. Trump on Sunday called the shooting rampage “a very sad situation.” But when asked what legislation might result from the shooting, he did not have a definitive answer. Despite the rising toll from mass shooting in the United States, many politicians are reluctant to call for tougher gun control laws for fear of losing the votes of gun rights supporters and campaign contributions from the gun lobby. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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How Hong Kong’s Most Wanted Bookseller Escaped to Taiwan and What’s Next
Three years ago authorities in China were expecting Lam Wing-kee to get his PC, and then return across the border for the final stages of a criminal investigation. One of five Hong Kong booksellers whose disappearance caused a stir in 2015, Lam was wanted for selling books in Hong Kong that are effectively banned in mainland China.Now the 63-year-old who spent eight months in detention in mainland China lives in Taiwan. He’s free on the democratic, ethnic Chinese island as long as he renews his visa periodically by leaving and coming back. He plans eventually to open a bookstore in Taiwan — and enjoy a lack of restrictions on book content.Beating the extradition lawLam reached Taiwan after defying China’s order to return to the mainland in 2016. He was at first comfortable staying in Hong Kong. Although the world financial center has come under China’s rule since 1997, the territory lacks an agreement with the mainland to extradite criminal suspects. Then, in February, Hong Kong began considering an extradition law. The proposed law set off the wave of mass protests that has kept Hong Kong on edge from June through until the present.“I never thought the Hong Kong government would handle things like this,” he told the VOA over a coffee in Taipei on Saturday. “It’s clear that…Hong Kong is being managed by mainland China.”Eight months of detentionLam had sold politically sensitive books from a physical store in Hong Kong’s densely populated, touristy Causeway Bay district. He was detained at the border with Shenzhen and first taken to a detention center in Ningbo, a city near Shanghai. He lived alone in that room for five months before being moved to a hotel in Shaoguan in Guangdong province.During his time in mainland China, Lam said he was interrogated “viciously” several times a week though never physically abused. “You couldn’t speak of politeness,” he said.His rooms were “clean,” but the one in Ningbo had such small, high windows he couldn’t see much outside.Chinese police ultimately let the bookseller back into Hong Kong to get his computer, which may have contained telltale files, Lam said. “If you take your computer back, then they have extract content from it,” he said.Lam moved into a specific Hong Kong hotel, as agreed upon with Chinese authorities. “I told them that hotel was a good one,” he recalled. “They had never been to Hong Kong.”In June 2016 Lam told a Hong Kong news conference he would not return. But after Hong Kong’s government began in February this year discussing a law that would allow extraditions, he fled to Taiwan. That was in April.Taiwanese read in Chinese and many people on the self-ruled island dislike China. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that the two sides eventually unify.Protests over the proposed extradition law touched off a so far unbroken series of mass street protests in Hong Kong from June 9. Some fear China’s paramilitary police will crack down to stop the protests.Plans for Taipei bookstoreLam must leave Taiwan, which has no asylum law that might otherwise give him a longer-term visa, by October. He plans to visit Germany for a book show and then see about returning to Taiwan for a longer stay. He aims to open a bookstore here after a crowdfunding drive. “I don’t have any money now,” he said. Lam said he won’t necessarily sell the same titles here that got him in trouble with China. He estimated one book had earned more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars (US$3.83 million) across multiple sales channels.Mainland Chinese people had boosted sales by buying the book during their ravels outside the mainland, including in Hong Kong. Taiwanese often feel less interested in the minutiae of China’s government, preferring to read instead about Japan or the West.Lam previously took printed “exposés” about Chinese leaders into mainland China and mailed them to clients, advocacy website ChinaChange.org says.A Taiwan-based bookstore would probably prosper only at the start, said Andy Chang, a China studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “In the short term, there shouldn’t be major difficulties, because of his unique profile, so Taiwanese including some common people will go read the books, but in the mid-term and longer them it’s going to get tougher,” Chang said.Sellers are struggling in Taiwan overall against other types of media, said Yang Lian-fu, a Taiwanese publisher of local history books.“Bookstores aren’t in a boom phase, so sales aren’t going that well,” Yang said. “Book readers are very few. There are too many channels to get information. They can get the internet by computer and need not rely on bookstores, so if he wants to open a store in Taiwan, I don’t think he’s quite going to succeed.”
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Women, Minorities Work Harder to Get Good Health Care
Joyce Sasser was born in 1970 with no bones in her thumbs. Her doctors blamed thalidomide, a drug used to treat pregnant women experiencing morning sickness, until it was found to cause congenital abnormalities. Sasser said her mother swore up and down she’d never taken thalidomide; the two risks she felt she’d taken were much, much milder. “She said ‘if two aspirin or half a glass of champagne could have done it, I am responsible, but I didn’t take thalidomide,’” Sasser said. Sasser says despite that denial, doctors continued to believe their theory and implemented treatments accordingly – including one that permanently stunted her arms.It wasn’t until Sasser was 20 and pregnant with her first daughter that doctors found the real reason for her abnormalities: Diamond-Blackfan anemia, a congenital issue in which the bone marrow fails to make enough red blood cells. As her mother had insisted for years, it had nothing to do with thalidomide.Sasser’s mom’s experience – and the medical decisions she allowed, despite her protestations that the doctors had it wrong – are still all too common, even a half-century later. Sasser has learned over time how to manage the multiple medical difficulties that come with her condition, and, informed by her mother’s experience, she has learned to speak her mind about her medical treatment.Empathy gapDoctors hold a revered position in American culture. But studies are showing that excellence of care often can depend on how much a doctor empathizes with his patient, and the medical field in the U.S. is still overwhelmingly dominated by white men.A 2008 study of nearly 1,000 patients in an urban emergency room found that women waited an average of 16 minutes longer than men to get medication when reporting abdominal pain. They were also less likely to receive it. A study published in 2000 by The New England Journal of Medicine found that because women’s cardiac symptoms differ sharply from men’s, women are seven times more likely than men to be misdiagnosed and discharged from the hospital during a heart attack.“I was in the ER with stereotypical heart attack symptoms,” wrote Nicki Coast Schneider, who participates in a Facebook group for female heart attack survivors. “The ER doctor was in disbelief and brushed me off, but took my troponin (protein used in diagnosis of heart attack) level anyway. It came back elevated, he ordered another test. That one came back higher. He said the machine must be damaged so he tested his own troponin level. His came back normal. I was immediately admitted.”Schneider said the doctor later admitted he might have sent her home if the emergency room had been busier. As it was, she said, he ended up thanking her for the lesson. “He was young and I assume right out of med school,” she said.According to a 2014 online survey of more than 2,400 U.S. women with a variety of chronic pain conditions, nearly half had been told that the pain was all in their heads. A full 91% felt that the health-care system discriminates against female patients. A diagnosis of depression or anxiety can further damage credibility. Martha Blodgett is a heart attack survivor. She is also on medication for bipolar disease. “As soon as doctors find out I’m bi-polar, I’m written off,” she said. “I actually had a neurologist walk out on me without saying a word.””They don’t listen,” said Lori McElhaney, whose doctor prescribed her antidepressants for a year, despite a diagnosis of hypothyroidism — a problem that requires an entirely different type of medication. McElhaney recently changed doctors. Her new doctor, a woman, “did more for me in one visit than he [her former doctor] did in over a year,” she said.Hypochondria stereotypeMedical journalist Maya Dusenberg, whose book “Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick” outlines the ways sexism in medicine is destructive to women’s health, said doctors sometimes take women less seriously than men, adhering to a centuries-old stereotype of women as more apt to complain.Looking at studies comparing treatment of men to treatment of women, Dusenberg said, “I didn’t understand why so many women were being treated as hypochondriacs when I didn’t know any women who were hypochondriacs.” She also describes how diseases that are common to women often get less research funding than diseases that affect men – no surprise, given that most decision-makers in medical schools are men. As a result, she says, maladies seen as “women’s diseases” don’t get as much academic attention.Another author, Abby Norman, wrote “Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women’s Pain” of her struggle to get diagnosed and treated for endometriosis – a disease that almost exclusively affects women. Norman’s struggle was particularly rife with difficulties, as her severe problems set in during college and she did not have a supportive family to help her get treatment.As her struggle to manage her illness continues, Norman is deeply aware of the complexities of securing and providing unbiased care. Noting that not just women, but also people of color, children, and the elderly are often forced to settle for subpar medical care because of a doctor’s unconscious bias, Norman speaks of “layers of privilege” that influence how a patient is treated.Of her own medical struggle, she told VOA, “there were certainly people in my peer group who would have had better access [to care], whether it be because they had family members that could support them or . . . were just in a better financial situation. But then there also were people around me who had far, far less access, either because of their race, or their gender identity, or . . . any number of things.”A study done at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in 2007 found that doctors tend to underestimate pain in patients they do not identify closely with – which, in an industry dominated by white men, translates to women, people of color, and children and the elderly. Strikingly, the study found that physicians were twice as likely to underestimate pain in black patients compared to all other ethnicities combined. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says black women are twice as likely to have strokes as white women, and are much less likely to survive them. Patient advocates say the lack of empathy that causes doctors to underestimate pain levels can also result in lower-quality care, allowing for more strokes and fewer good outcomes.Liz Zubritsky, a science writer based in Virginia, says her mother once had to return to a Massachusetts emergency room three times in one night while trying to get care for her own mother (Zubritsky’s grandmother), who had flu-like symptoms and was running a fever of 37 degrees Celcius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) – low by standard levels, but high for Zubritsky’s grandmother. Doctors sent the women home twice, saying the fever was not high enough to warrant admission. Zubritsky says it was not until a male relative, an oral surgeon, called to intervene, that Zubritsky’s grandmother was allowed a bed at the hospital. What was frustrating, Zubritsky said, is that “she felt like she was being dismissed as making too much out of something that was pretty minor . . . . The doctor was not willing to take my mother’s word for it that it was very unusual for her to have a fever of 100 degrees.” Persistence paysWhile writers like Norman and Dusenberg are anxious not to paint medical providers as evil or uncaring, the faults in the medical care system have made it clear that getting good care sometimes takes extra work. Sasser says: “Be your own advocate.” Having survived several types of cancer and other medical conditions related to her Diamond-Blackfan anemia, Sasser has a notebook in which she compiles all information related to her treatment, so she can save time during appointments by showing doctors the appropriate records. Zubritsky says she once researched and compiled a Venn diagram (a series of interlocking shapes) of her father’s medications to prove to a doctor that his discomfort was likely caused by a drug interaction. Norman did her own medical research to convince a doctor her appendix was inflamed, a condition he had missed. The resulting operation relieved her of years of pain.Dusenberg says when seeking medical help, be persistent – even if a doctor tells you it’s all in your head. “Don’t be afraid to seek out a second opinion, or as many as it takes,” she says. “Trust that you know something’s wrong. You know what’s normal for your body.”Lastly, it’s helpful to take a friend or relative along to the doctor – for moral support, asking questions, taking notes, or even just verifying the patient’s experience. Dusenberg notes that it can be helpful to tell a doctor what the illness is preventing the patient from doing, not just how it makes them feel. Dusenberg also notes that while one can get better medical care by being a more assertive patient, the solution to the problem is not for every patient to become a super-patient or resign themselves to subpar care. “So much of what we’re doing is asking individual women to compensate for the failings of the system,” she said. “We shouldn’t rely on that individual self-advocacy. The system should be better for everybody.”
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‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Dorian Hits Bahamas
The center of Hurricane Dorian is making its way across Grand Bahama Island with a life-threatening storm surge, drenching rains and what forecasters called “catastrophic” winds.Dorian presents extra danger to the island because of its slow speed, moving westward at only 9 kilometers per hour early Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm could drop 30 to 60 centimeters of rain across the northwestern Bahamas, with 75 centimeters in isolated areas.Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said Sunday was “the worst day of my life” as the storm pummeled the islands with top sustained winds of 295 kilometers per hour.”Many had not heeded the warning. Many have remained behind and still there are individuals within the West End area who still refuse to leave,” he said at a Nassau news conference. “I can only say to them that I hope this is not the last time they will hear my voice.”Bahamas’s Prime Minister Hubert Minnis gives a speech during Americas Economics Summit in Lima, Peru, Friday, April 13, 2018.Officials in states along the southeastern U.S. coast have issued their own warnings and ordered people to evacuate the most vulnerable areas. Evacuation orders go into effect Monday in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.”Hurricane Dorian is the strongest storm to ever threaten the state of Florida on the East Coast,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz. “No matter what path this storm takes, our state will be impacted. We will continue to work around the clock to prepare.”The NHC expects the storm to take a turn to the northeast in the coming days, but how much it turns and how quickly will determine the extent of Dorian’s effects. For now, forecasters have put hurricane warnings in place for about half of Florida’s coast with the storm expected to bring hurricane conditions there by late Monday through Tuesday.U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a trip to Poland to stay home to monitor the storm. He visited Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters Sunday, urging everyone in “Hurricane Dorian’s path to heed all warnings and evacuation orders from local authorities.”Forecasters predict Dorian will affect much of the Atlantic Coast throughout the week, from Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. Areas as far north as the tip of New Jersey could experience heavy rain and tropical force winds by Friday.
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US Stock Futures Fall as New Tariffs Darken Global Outlook
Wall Street stock futures weakened in early trade on Monday, setting a dour tone for Asian markets after tit-for-tat tariffs between the United States and China took effect, reinforcing investors’ gloomy expectations for global growth prospects.The E-mini futures for U.S. S&P500 ESc1 fell as much as 1.06% in early trade and last stood down 0.68% at 2,905 while Chicago-traded Nikkei futures NIYcm1 suggest Japan’s Nikkei .N225 is on course to fall 0.7%.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS, which lost 4.7% last month, is likely to stay under pressure.The United States slapped 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods on Sunday – including footwear, smart watches and flat-panel televisions – while China imposed new duties on U.S. crude, the latest escalation in a bruising trade war.A variety of studies suggest the tariffs will cost U.S. households up to $1,000 a year and the latest round will hit a significant number of U.S. consumer goods.In retaliation, China started to impose additional tariffs on some of the U.S. goods on a $75 billion target list. Beijing did not specify the value of the goods that face higher tariffs from Sunday.Many market players say the market’s reaction was likely exaggerated by algorithm-driven players’ flows in thin trading conditions at start of Asian trade on Monday.Liquidity could be even more limited than usual because of a U.S. market holiday on Monday.“(The market move) goes to show you how many data mining algos are involved with equity linked compared to forex-linked. Was anyone surprised by these tariffs that took effect yesterday?” said Takeo Kamai, head of execution at CLSA in Tokyo.Despite the volatility, the moves lower reflect investors’ underlying worries about increasing costs of Sino-U.S. trade war on the global economy.An official survey published on Saturday showed factory activity in China shrank in August for the fourth month in a row, further evidence of hit to the world’s second-largest economy from trade war.Tension is also running high in Hong Kong, with police and protesters clashing in some of the most intense violence since unrest erupted more than three months ago over concerns Beijing is undermining democratic freedoms in the territory.Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public transport links to Hong Kong airport and police made several arrests after demonstrators smashed CCTV cameras and lamps with metal poles and dismantled station turnstiles.China, eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, has accused foreign powers, particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting the unrest.Oil prices also fell in early Monday trade.Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 0.68% to $58.85 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 lost 0.54% to $54.80 per barrel.The currency market was calmer for now, with the dollar down slightly against the yen at 106.12 yen JPY=, down 0.13% from late U.S. levels.The euro stood almost flat at $1.09905 EUR=, not far from two-year low of $1.0963 hit in U.S. trade on Friday.
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Start of WW II Marked in Poland with German Remorse
Germany’s president bowed his head and asked for forgiveness for the suffering his nation inflicted on Poland and the rest of Europe during World War II.”This war was a German crime,” President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Poland’s leaders, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others Sunday at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.”I bow in mourning to the suffering of the victims,” Steinmeier said. “I ask for forgiveness for Germany’s historical debt. I affirm our lasting responsibility.”The ceremony, which was also attended by President Andrzej Duda of Poland, was held at 4.37a.m. local time, exactly 80 years after the air strikes that started the Second World War.“Here began the trail of violence and destruction which was to go through Poland and Europe for six years. We call it war, because we are at a loss to express the horror of those years,” Steinmeier said.
U.S. President Donald Trump had originally been scheduled to attend the event, but canceled as Hurricane Dorian barreled toward the U.S.Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t invited to attend the ceremony but that didn’t stop Russia officials from marking the role Soviet Union played in ending the war. “One may have varying opinions on Soviet policy during the initial period of World War II, but it is impossible to deny the fact that it was the Soviet Union that routed Nazism, liberated Europe and saved European democracy,” the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted Sunday.
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FBI: Gunman in Texas Shooting Acted Alone
The FBI says the gunman who killed seven and wounded 22 in Odessa, Texas Saturday acted alone and likely had no ties to any global or domestic terror group.The shooter hijacked a mail truck and fired at other cars as he sped along a highway before police killed him.The dead include a teenager. Three officers are among the wounded. A 17 month-girl was also struck, losing several teeth and leaving her with holes in her tongue and lip.”There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point,” Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said Sunday. But we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone.”Gerke refused to reveal the shooter’s name during a news conference Sunday, saying he did not want to give him any notoriety.But police officials have identified him as 36-year-old Saen Ator.Saturday’s carnage began when Texas state troopers pulled over gunman for failing to signal for a left turn on a highway. He fired a rifle at the rear window of his car, wounding one officer.The shooter ran off and stole a mail truck, firing at other cars at random before being cornered and gunned down in a movie theater parking lot. Police say he might have run into the theater leaving behind more bloodshed if he has not been killed outside.This latest shooting comes weeks after double mass shootings on the same day at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas and a nightlife district in Dayton, Ohio, left 31 dead.President Trump praised officers for their quick response Saturday, calling it “a very tough and sad situation!””I think Congress has got a lot of thinking to do frankly,” Trump said. “They’ve been doing a lot of work. I think you’re going to see some interesting things coming along.”But he said he does not believe increased background checks for gun buyers which many lawmakers are demanding would have stopped any of the shootings. Texas Governor Greg Abbott talked about the numerous shootings he has had to deal with since becoming governor in 2015.”I have been to too many of these events,” he said Sunday. I’m heartbroken by the crying of the people of the state of Texas. I’m tired of the dying of the people of the state of Texas…the status quo in Texas is unacceptable and action is needed.”
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Surfer Launches Dakar’s First Zero-Waste Restaurant
Plastic bags, bottles, cigarette butts and other debris lap against the shore of Virage Beach in northwest Dakar, Senegal. Workers from beachside restaurants and surf shops rake the sand to try to capture the waste, but the garbage always returns.A lack of infrastructure and education surrounding proper waste disposal in the Senegalese capital has resulted in piles of litter inundating the city’s streets and beaches. Babacar Thiaw, owner of Copacabana Surf Village, a surf shop and restaurant on Virage Beach that was opened in 1970 by Thiaw’s father, is taking matters into his own hands by turning his restaurant into a waste-free haven. It’s the first of its kind in the region.Hordes of trash sully a canal near a beach in Dakar. (A. Hammerschlag/VOA)”Growing up here, I see all these problems that the environment is facing with the trash,” Thiaw said. “People are just throwing, throwing, throwing, throwing.”Thiaw has spent the past year working with local conservation groups to transition his business into a zero-waste restaurant. He hopes other beachside restaurants will follow suit. But it’s a radical idea in a country where the typical person uses multiple plastic cups throughout the day to drink tea a treasured ritual and consumes water in small plastic sachets.Despite having a relatively small population of 15 million, Senegal is one of the world’s largest contributors to plastic pollution. A 2010 study by the journal Science estimated the country produced more than 254,000 tons of mismanaged plastic waste that year, making it 21st in the world in annual plastic mismanagement. The United States, which has a vastly larger population and economy, ranked 20th.Copacabana Surf Village set up pacards to explain how the restaurant has reduced its waste. (A. Hammerschlag/VOA)At the official launch of Thiaw’s newly transitioned restaurant, attendees could read any of the roughly dozen plaques that described the steps Copacabana has taken to reduce waste.Plastic straws were abandoned in favor of those made from metal and bamboo, and a refillable water jug had replaced the 100 bottles customers used to consume each week.The restaurant also switched from disposable napkins to reusable fabric, and instead of cleaning with harmful chemicals, they use natural soaps and vinegar. Leftover food is composted.Babacar Thiaw sets up reusable containers containing sugar, salt and pepper and metal straws. Thiaw has spent the last year transitioning his restaurant to a zero waste haven. (A. Hammerschlag/VOA)Copacabana also eliminated its single-use pods to make coffee.”I feel like it’s our duty to do that. If you don’t do it, no one will do it for us,” Thiaw said. “The government is here, they’re always talking, talking, talking, talking. We’ve never seen something done. No one’s going to save us if we’re not doing it by ourselves.”Senegal banned plastic bags in 2015, but the law was never put into effect.Claire Stragier is a project manager for MakeSense, an organization that works with governments and businesses around the world to help them lower their environmental footprint. The group helped Thiaw create an action plan for his transition to zero-waste.Stragier said the waste problem in Dakar is primarily due to a lack of infrastructure. There are almost no public garbage cans, and the few that exist are never emptied.Secondly, she said, is a lack of awareness among residents.”There’s clearly a lack of education among Senegalese people in that they don’t know the impact of throwing plastic on the ground,” she said. “They don’t know that that plastic will stay there for more than 40 or 50 years and that it will have a very negative impact on the environment.”On the other end of Virage Beach sits the restaurant Chez Paco. Astou Bodian, who helps manage the business, said she appreciates Thiaw’s initiative and hopes her restaurant will make similar changes.Discarded plastic lies on Virage Beach in Dakar, Senegal. Local business owners clean the beach each morning but he trash begins to accumulate shortly after. (A.Hammerschlag/VOA)”It inspires me because it can make beachgoers more aware that it’s forbidden to throw their trash everywhere,” she said. “It’s good, I think it’s a good thing.”While Virage beach struggles with plastic pollution, it’s in much better shape than many other beaches in Dakar. About 5 kilometers west is the fishermen’s neighborhood of Yoff where Thiaw grew up surfing. The beach there is so badly littered with plastic that surfers often paddle through hordes of it in order to reach the waves.Thiaw refuses to surf there anymore.”This is a big pity, you know, because people don’t realize it, or they realize it but it’s just something normal for them,” he said. “If we keep doing this, in 10 or 20 years, we’re going to have a trash ocean.”
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What Is Labor Day?
Why do Americans celebrate Labor Day?Labor Day is a national holiday, created to honor U.S. workers and their contribution to the economy. Many Americans use the day to celebrate the end of summer and would be surprised to know the day has its roots in the labor movement of the late 1800s.How did the holiday begin?During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was at its peak, and many Americans worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in harsh conditions for low pay. Even young children worked in factories. Virtually no employers provided their workers with sick days, paid vacation days or health benefits.As workers became more organized into labor unions they began protesting poor and unsafe working conditions and lobbying for more benefits from employers. The move to recognize workers with a holiday began in state governments, which, one by one, passed legislation to honor the common worker. The U.S. Congress created the federal holiday on June 28, 1894, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.What is the difference between Labor Day and May Day?Both Labor Day and International Workers’ Day, or May Day, honor the common worker. May Day, which is celebrated in most industrialized countries in the world, got its start because of events in the United States.In May 1886, a worker demonstration was held in Chicago’s Haymarket Square to push for an eight-hour workday. A bomb went off at the protest killing seven police officers and four civilians. The episode made headlines internationally and the day became an annual occasion for worker protests around the world.Why don’t Americans celebrate May Day?Following the Haymarket affair, a strong anti-union movement arose in the United States. Over the years, May Day became more associated with the political far left, while Labor Day, held in September, was recognized by a growing number of municipalities and states. When the United States began to seriously consider creating a national holiday for workers, U.S. President Grover Cleveland did not want to choose the May date because of its association with the Haymaker bombing, so instead picked the alternative day in September.What do Americans do on Labor Day?The Labor Day holiday signifies the end of the summer and many Americans use the three-day weekend to try to get in one last summer vacation with trips to parks and beaches, or to spend time at backyard cookouts with family and friends. The weekend also is a big shoppers’ weekend with sales on home items, mattresses, clothes and school supplies.Do all Americans get the holiday off?Federal workers in the United States get the day off work, as do most corporate jobs. Many workers, however, especially those in retail, transportation and the restaurant industry still have to go to work, with some working longer hours than on a normal business day.Labor movement todayThe labor movement, which began in the 1800s, led to significant changes in the conditions in which Americans work, as well as worker benefits that are commonplace today, including the eight-hour work day, five-day work weeks, health care insurance and paid vacation days.In recent years, U.S. labor unions have seen their membership decline as the globalization of the world economy has led to a shift in the types of jobs common in the United States. Now, many union members work for local, state and federal governments in white-collar jobs, rather than in the blue-collar jobs that were common 100 years ago.
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Digital Taxation Troubles Tech Businesses in African Countries
More and more African countries are taxing digital platforms and mobile money transfers to fund economic development.Nigeria is the latest country to join the trend, with a new 5% tax on items bought online. It wants banks to deduct the tax from online transactions for the government. Segun Abiona is the founder of Nicole and Giovanni, a Nigerian company that sells men’s accessories. He says more taxes will reduce the gains he has made. “It’s a form of double taxation on us because if you tax every transaction that comes online we still end up paying taxes, which is 5% VAT (value-added tax), 5% of every sale we make in terms of VAT,” Abiona said. “It is going to discourage internet purchases knowing we are fully grown in terms of online space. We are still trying to encourage more people to shop online and at the same time eradicate the fear of people being get scammed online.”According to some business analysts, at least 100 million people on the continent use mobile financial services. A Kenya Airways flight attendant uses her cell phone as they gather at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport near Nairobi, Kenya, March 6, 2019.Abiona fears for the future of his business if the government implements the 5% tax for online sales.”A lot of businesses will have to close down small-scale businesses, they are practically online, almost everybody is online,” Abiona said. “So if at any point in time you have most them having to pay double taxes on top of transactions they are doing, it doesn’t make any good sense.”Technology companies in Africa already face infrastructure challenges and the Internet in some places is slow and expensive.A year ago, the Ugandan government imposed heavy taxes on social media use, forcing millions to abandon some platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp. Ugandan authorities say they introduced the tax to curb idle talk, but some government critics viewed it as an effort to stop dissent.In neighboring Kenya, the government has been increasing taxes on mobile money transfers. And this month the Kenya Revenue Authority said it will start taxing many applications developed and downloaded in the country.The head of Kenya’s Institute of Economic Affairs, Kwame Owino, says people will find ways to avoid paying taxes for using digital platforms. “So people may decide if you are going to tax too much [the] transfer of money from one person to another, then people may go back using the informal methods,” Owino said. “So part of it is that transactions will go back down to [lower] levels, it may also affect savings in the formal sector area in the sense that if you have to transfer money and all that, they may decide to do mattress banking as they always did. People feel the government is using [taxes] for social control and surveillance, that’s the biggest risk.”With more countries taxing the use of technology, many economists and digital users fear business growth could take a big hit.
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Pence: United States Will Continue to Support Ukraine
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the United States will continue to support Ukraine in the country’s conflict with Russia and its right to full territorial integrity.Washington “stands with the people of Ukraine and most especially since 2014, we have stood strongly for the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Pence said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Warsaw on Sunday.”And I can assure you that we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine on your security, on territorial integrity, including Ukraine’s rightful claim to Crimea,” Pence said.The United States is an important ally for Kyiv, having imposed sanctions on Russia for annexing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backing pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine’s east.Pence and Zelenskiy were in Warsaw for commemorations to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton said on a recent visit to Kyiv that President Donald Trump could meet Zelenskiy in Warsaw this weekend.However, Trump cancelled his plans to attend the event in Poland, citing Hurricane Dorian, which is set to make landfall in Florida this weekend.
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Zimbabwean Woman Honored with Statue in New York
Marvelous Nyahuye contributed to this report from New York.WASHINGTON – Tererai Trent appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2009 and inspired the world with her story of overcoming enormous odds to pursue her dreams of education. This week, she finds herself immortalized alongside Winfrey with a bronze statue in New York City. She is the only African woman to have received this honor.The Zimbabwean educator and humanitarian is one of 10 “Statues For Equality” created by sculptors Gillie and Marc Schattner. Trent’s statue depicts her with her arms aloft, surrounded by the flame lily, the country’s national flower.“It comes without saying that, by projecting these women into larger-than-life-size sculptures, it will help change our society — a change that will elevate the lives of women all around the world. A change that can trigger gender equality in careers, industries and the home,” Gillie Schattner said at the ceremony.“I come from a very poor place, and I grew up very poor. I had four babies before I was even 18 years of age, and to think that because of the power of believing in a dream and today I am being celebrated,” Trent said. “And to think I have a statue in New York, the most celebrated city in the world? It’s just unbelievable. Even my own grandmother and my mother never dreamt of that.”Trent grew up in a village and was denied an education because she was a girl, like her mother and grandmother before her. She secretly learned to read by using her brother’s books but was married to an abusive husband when she was 11.But Trent did not let her dreams die. She moved to the U.S. and pursued a graduate degree, ultimately earning a Ph.D., after 20 years of effort. She taught global health at Drexel University and currently runs the Tererai Trent International Foundation, which focuses on providing education to children in rural Zimbabwe. She is a sought-after public speaker and author.“When one woman is silenced, there is a part within all of us women that get silenced,” Trent said. “But when women are awakened and recognized in public places, all of us, we get the true joy of knowing that we are all equal with men.”Anesu Munengwa, the program manager of the Tererai Trent Foundation in Zimbabwe, said Trent isn’t distracted by fame. “She does whatever she does quietly … we have to remind people of the work she is doing and how it is impacting the community she comes from.”Trent’s story has inspired people around the world. Winfrey announced she would donate $1.5 million to assist Trent in building schools. To date, they have built 12 schools in rural Zimbabwe and helped 38,000 children get an education. Some of them are now going to universities.Beatrice Nyamweda, Trent’s friend of more than 35 years, traveled from Zimbabwe to attend the unveiling of the statue. She said Trent’s impact is felt back home in communities where there is an opportunity gap.“There are 10 children who went to her school and started studying at the university currently. She has changed the lives of these children who are bright but lack resources. I am proud of her for that,” Nyamweda said, speaking in her native Shona. During the unveiling of the statue, Trent said her greatest joy is passing along opportunities she received to others. She said she made a conscious decision to end a cycle of poverty and oppression that had stifled the women in her family for generations.“My grandmother used to say that when you think about your great grandmother when she was born she was born holding this baton. I’m calling it the baton of poverty, the baton of early marriage,” Trent said. “So as women and as individuals, we have the choice to say do I want to carry on and pass on this ugly baton or do I want to pose in my own life to reflect and say what baton do I want to pass on? I’m deciding to pass on the baton of education.”
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New US, China Tariffs Take Effect on Each Other’s Exports
The U.S. and China imposed new tariffs on each other’s exported goods on Sunday, the latest skirmish in the lengthy and contentious trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.U.S. President Donald Trump levied 15% taxes on about $112 billion worth of Chinese exported products headed to the United States, with the tariffs likely resulting in higher prices paid by U.S. shoppers on some foods, sports equipment, sportswear, musical instruments and furniture.Meanwhile, Beijing started adding 5% and 10% tariffs on some of the $75 billion worth of U.S. exports being sent to China that it has said it will tax in the tit-for-tat tariff war with Washington. Initially, China said the American export of frozen sweet corn, pork liver, marble and bicycle tires were among the more the 1,700 products it would tax.Trump on Friday ruled out any delay in the new tariffs on the imported Chinese goods, saying, “They’re on.”As they took effect Sunday, Trump declared, “We can’t allow China to rip us off anymore.”China’s official Xinhua news agency said, “The United States should learn how to behave like a responsible global power and stop acting as a ‘school bully.’ As the world’s only superpower, it needs to shoulder its due responsibility, and join other countries in making this world a better and more prosperous place. Only then can America become great again.”FILE – Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, sits with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, second from left, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, before the start of talks at the Xijiao Conference Center in Shanghai, July 31, 2019.Negotiators for the two countries are planning on resuming their trade talks in Washington later this month, although there is no indication the two sides are close to an agreement after months of off-and-on discussions and periodic announcements of more tariff increases.”We’re having conversations with China,” Trump said Friday. “Meetings are scheduled. Calls are being made. I guess the meeting in September continues to be on. It hasn’t been canceled. We’ll see what happens.”Trump had announced plans to add the 15% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, but delayed the levy on many of the products until Dec. 15, so as not to hit U.S. consumers with higher prices during the Christmas shopping season at the end of the year. Trump has wrongly claimed that China is paying for the tariffs he has imposed, but his delay of the new tax was a tacit admission that American businesses who pay the tariffs often pass on their higher costs to consumers.Hundreds of U.S. companies and trade groups have complained to Trump about the increased tariffs on Chinese imports, but he said that those complaining are partly to blame.”Badly run and weak companies are smartly blaming these small Tariffs instead of themselves for bad management,” he said on Twitter. “…and who can really blame them for doing that? Excuses!”On Oct. 1, Trump is also boosting — from 25% to 30% — the tariff on $250 billion worth of additional Chinese imports. In all, if the December tariff hikes are imposed, virtually all of the $550 billion in Chinese goods entering the U.S. would be taxed.Sunday’s immediate tariff hike affects a wide range of Chinese goods, including such foodstuffs as ketchup, butchered meat, pork sausage, fruits, vegetables, milk and cheese, along with such sports gear as golf clubs, surf boards and bicycles. With the tariff increase, 87% of textiles and clothing the United States buys from China and 52% of shoes are subject to import taxes.Trump appears determined to change the course of U.S. trade with China, to cut into the chronic wide trade surplus China has enjoyed over the U.S. In 2018, American firms bought $419 billion more in Chinese goods than China did of U.S. products.The U.S. is also trying to end forced technology transfers from American firms and large subsidies given to Chinese enterprises. Trump says his tariffs are sharply impacting Chinese companies and pushing some foreign companies with Chinese operations to relocate to other nations in southeast Asia whose exports the U.S. does not tax.But the continuing trade war could affect both the U.S. economy, the world’s largest over second-place China, and, according to the International Monetary Fund, spark a global downturn.Even before Sunday’s tariff hike, U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase said Trump’s levies would cost the typical U.S. household $1,000 a year, which for many Americans would erase the lower federal taxes they are paying under legislation advanced by Trump earlier in his presidency.The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 2% in the April-to-June period, down from a 3.1% rate in the first three months of the year. Some independent economists, but not Trump’s White House economic advisers, are predicting a U.S. economic recession in the coming year.
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Hong Kong Protesters Block Roads Near the Airport Sunday
VOA’s Fern Robinson contributed to this report.Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong blocked roads near the city’s international airport as part of another day of demonstrations Sunday.Some flights were canceled and authorities had suspended the express train service to the airport. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters are gathering at the airport bus station to mount another day of rallies.Riot police walk inside the airport as anti-extradition bill protesters gather outside, in Hong Kong, China September 1, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuAs Hong Kong surveyed a night of damage caused by government opponents, officials defended police actions as the city became a smoky battleground, stoked by young people battling for democratic change.Police answered Molotov cocktails, bonfires, hurled bricks and roadblocks with water cannons, tear gas, beatings and, at one point, live gun fire.But it was the riot officers’ decision to storm two subway stations and beat passengers that outraged most residents in the city. Videos were shared widely of police in helmets and gas masks lashing pedestrians and riders inside a train in Prince Edward station, and then soaking four cowering people who pleaded and wept.Elsewhere, posted video showed a riot officer standing guard over three detained medical volunteers in yellow vests emblazoned with red crosses. They were forced to stand separately, their faces to walls. Another clip showed a first aider pleading to enter a MTR station that had been closed and gated. “I want to help the injured!” he sobbed. “You can beat me to death later!”A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 31, 2019.Police: Force appropriateA police spokeswoman told reporters that police had used appropriate force when protesters had resisted. She admitted that the situation was chaotic and it was difficult to distinguish between protesters and the public as police moved against the crowd at the Prince Edward station.“Police will continue to take resolute enforcement actions so as to safeguard the city’s public safety and bring all lawbreakers to justice” the force said in a news release.Government officials said police were justified in their actions.“The behaviors of the radical protesters gravely breach the public peace and pose a serious threat to the safety of police officers on duty and members of the public at the scene,” according to a news release issued Sunday.Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration, condemned the protesters’ decision to use violence and said it would be irresponsible for residents to engage in a general strike planned for Monday.A demonstrator prepares to throw a brick at police during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 31, 2019.Fewer protestersThe number of participants was far smaller than most protest weekends, in part because police banned a proposed rally and march by a civil rights organization that had organized previous gatherings of as many as 2 million participants. The participants made up for their smaller numbers by using far more violence than previous nights.Near the government center in Admiralty, a few thousand protesters occupied Harcourt Road, a major east-west highway. Police accused “radical protesters” of attempting to storm the Central Government Offices, Legislative Council Complex and police headquarters. Protesters hurled petrol bombs and bricks toward lines of riot police. Police coated the crowds with giant plumes of blue-dyed water shot from cannons as military helicopters hovered overhead. The rhythmic beating of rotary blades and tear gas rifle fire gave the day in an ominous warlike soundtrack.Support for protestersAs he watched protesters dig up bricks from a construction site and set up barricades in Wanchai, Howard Lau, 62, a merchandiser, said he supported the young people at the front.“Their target is mainly the police. That is acceptable,” Lau said. “The police have more painful equipment. … I support their action, to show the government we won’t easily give up.”In Victoria Park, officers said they were attacked by a mob and fired live rounds into the air, according to the South China Morning Post.Protestors demonstrate in front of the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong, China September 1, 2019. REUTERS/Danish SiddiquiA police spokeswoman said undercover officers dressed as protesters fired their sidearms after up to 40 people attacked them with sticks and bricks.Pan Mak, 25, who goes to the front to support those who clash with police, said protesters were convinced they must counter the bullets with more violent measures as arrests thin their ranks.“They will use any means from stopping us from coming out,” he said. “We finally face the government to show how dirty they are”
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Where’s the Pope? Stuck in Vatican Elevator until Rescue
Where’s the pope? He’s stuck in a Vatican elevator.Thousands of people who were gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the traditional Sunday on-the-dot-of-noon appearance by Pope Francis were watching for the window of the Apostolic Palace to be thrown open so they could listen to the pope’s remarks and receive his blessing. But after seven minutes, people were looking at each other quizzically: no pope?Then Francis popped out and answered their question: “First of all I must excuse myself for being late. I was blocked in an elevator for 25 minutes.”Apparently referring to electrical power, Francis explained that there was a “drop in tension,” causing the elevator to get stuck.”Thank God the firefighters intervened,” Francis said, referring to tiny Vatican City State’s own fire department.He then asked for a round of applause for his rescuers, and went ahead with his regular remarks and blessings, concluding with an announcement that he has chosen 13 churchmen to become the Church’s newest cardinals.The Vatican didn’t say if the pope was alone in the elevator or accompanied by any of his aides.
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Environment, Poverty, Corruption on Agenda for Pope’s Africa Trip
Pope Francis leaves on Wednesday for Africa, where poverty, the environment, foreign exploitation of resources and corruption are expected to be high on his agenda as he visits the continent where Catholicism is growing fast.He will spend most of the Sept. 4-10 trip in Mozambique and Madagascar and briefly visit Mauritius at the end.Fires in the Amazon have given new urgency to the pope’s calls to protect the environment, tackle climate change and promote sustainable development.Aides say the trip, his second trip to sub-Saharan Africa, is a key opportunity to renew appeals enshrined in his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” on environmental protection.Rampant deforestation has plagued Mozambique and Madagascar.Deforestation, along with soil erosion, made Mozambique more vulnerable when two cyclones hit the country this year.According to the World Bank, Mozambique has lost 8 million hectares of forest, about the size of Portugal, since the 1970s.”Here in Mozambique we like to say that not even our wood is ours because the Chinese are taking it all away, said Costantino Bogaio, head of the Comboni religious order in Mozambique. “The earth is ours and we have to protect it more.”As Asian supplies of valuable hardwoods like rosewood used to make luxury furniture have been depleted, Chinese importers have shifted to Africa. Mozambique is currently the 10th-largest supplier of rosewood to China, according to Chinese customs data cited by U.S.-based non-profit group Forest Trends.In Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island, about 44% of forests have disappeared over the past 60 years, according to the French agricultural research center CIRAD. The environmental danger there is aggravated because 80% of its plant and animal species are not found anywhere else.Poverty, war and corruption will also loom large during the trip.According to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), 80% of Mozambique’s population of about 30 million cannot afford the minimum costs for an adequate diet.The WFP says more than 90% of Madagascar’s population of 26 million live on less than $2.00 a day and chronic child malnutrition is widespread.A great divideFrancis has called for a fairer distribution of wealth between prosperous and developing countries and defended the right of countries to control their mineral resources.”We must invest in Africa, but invest in an orderly way and create employment, not go there to exploit it,” the pope told Reuters in an interview last year.”When a country grants independence to an African country it is from the ground up – but the subsoil is not independent. And then people (outside Africa) complain about hungry Africans coming here. There are injustices there!” he said.Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, emerged from 15 years of civil war in 1992 but it was only last month that President Filipe Nyusi of the ruling Frelimo party and the leader of the Renamo opposition, Ossufo Momade, signed a permanent cease-fire.”I think he is going to give a forceful message to the country’s leaders about their responsibility to bring about peace and reconciliation, but also about addressing the root cases of the conflict,” said Erica Dahl-Bredine, Mozambique country representative for Catholic Relief Services.She said unequal sharing of wealth from extraction industries could spark new conflict.
Francis has called corruption “one of the most decimating plagues” in society.Mozambique and Madagascar rank in the lowest quarter of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.”Corruption is huge. Many Mozambicans have lost faith completely in their political leaders,” said Dahl-Bredine.Catholicism in Africa grew by 238% between 1980 and 2015, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. This continuing growth gives the Church increasing influence.Francis makes an eight-hour stop in Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean that is rich compared Madagascar and Mozambique.But anti-poverty campaigners say Mauritius’ tax treaties and financial services industry facilitates tax avoidance, draining desperately-needed revenues from poor countries.Francis will pay tribute to Jacques-Dèsirè Laval, a 19th century French priest who helped former slaves on what was then a British colony.
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Poland Marks 80th Anniversary of Start of World War II
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence joined local leaders on Sunday to commemorate 80 years since the start of World War II in Poland, where the conflict is still a live political issue.Few places saw death and destruction on the scale of Poland. It lost about a fifth of its population, including the vast majority of its 3 million Jewish citizens.
After the war, its shattered capital of Warsaw had to rise again from ruins and Poland remained under Soviet domination until 1989.
Ceremonies began at 4:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in the small town of Wielun, site of one of the first bombings of the war on Sept.1, 1939, with speeches by Polish President Andrzej Duda and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.Parallel events, attended by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission deputy chief Frans Timmermans, were held in the coastal city of Gdansk, site of oneof the first battles of the war.Morawiecki spoke of the huge material, spiritual, economic and financial losses Poland suffered in the war.”We need to talk about those losses, we need to remember, we need to demand truth and demand compensation,” Morawiecki said.For Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, the memory of the war is a major plank of its “historical politics”, aiming to counteract what it calls the West’s lack of appreciation for Polish suffering and bravery under Nazi occupation.
PiS politicians have also repeatedly called for war reparations from Germany, one of Poland’s biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO. Berlin says all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled.Critics say the party’s ambition is to fan nationalism among voters at a time when populists around the world are tapping into historical revisionism. PiS says the country’s standing on the global stage and national security are at stake.Articles paid for by a foundation funded by state companies, showing Poland’s experience in the war, appeared in major newspapers across Europe and the United States over the weekend.The Polish National Foundation also paid for supplements in some papers consisting of a copy of their front pages from Sept. 2, 1939, that highlighted the German army’s attack on Poland.Apportioning blame, cost Wartime remembrance has become a campaign theme ahead of a national election due on Oct. 13, with PiS accusing the opposition of failing to protect Poland’s image.”Often, we are faced with substantial ignorance when it comes to historical policy … or simply ill will,” Jaroslaw Sellin, deputy culture minister, told Reuters.
Merkel and Pence, who arrived on Sunday after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a planned trip due to a hurricane, called it an honor to participate in events later in the day in Warsaw.”We look forward to celebrating the extraordinary character and courage and resilience and dedication to freedom of the Polish people and it will be my great honor to be able to speak to them,” Pence said.
The cancellation of Trump’s visit is a disappointment to the PiS government, which is seen as one of Washington’s closest allies in Europe. Polish and U.S. officials have said another visit could be scheduled in the near future.
For PiS, a high-profile visit by Trump would serve as a counterargument to critics who say the country is increasingly isolated under its rule because of accusations by Western EU members that it is breaching democratic norms.
Opinion polls show PiS is likely to win the October ballot.The party’s ambition is to galvanize voters and disprove critics by winning a majority that would allow it to change the constitution.
PiS agrees with the Trump administration on a range of issues including migration, energy and abortion.
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Floating Laboratory Monitors Potomac River Water Quality
A new floating laboratory onboard a boat on the Potomac River is keeping tabs on the water quality that flows through the nation’s capital and surrounding area. A local environmental group, the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, is collecting water samples at several sites to measure the amount of bacteria that cause pollution. As VOA’s Deborah Block reports, the data will be used to help clean up polluted areas in the future and is already informing the public when it is safe to swim in the river.
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Departing Dutch Ambassador Reflects on US Physical, Political Landscapes
Dutch Ambassador to Washington Hendrik Jan Jurriaan Schuwer has had ample opportunities to indulge his U.S.-acquired fondness for American country and western music, thanks at least in part to the election of President Donald Trump.It’s “no secret” that Trump’s election surprised most European governments, Schuwer explains in an interview reflecting on his four-year tenure in the U.S. capital, which ended this month. And in an effort to better understand the social dynamic behind that election, he has traveled more widely in the Southern and Western U.S. states where both Trump and country music are most popular.Schuwer says he would listen to the car radio during those travels, ranging from the Smoky Mountains of the U.S. Southeast to the mountainous northwestern state of Idaho, as well as to Nashville, Tennessee, the country music recording capital.“For some reason I was really taken by country and western music,” he says, beginning with his first assignment in the United States at the Dutch consulate in Los Angeles 20 years ago. “Country and western music tells a story; it’s a ballad, and I like story-telling.”Netherlands Ambassador to the U.S. Hendrik Jan Jurriaan Schuwer speaks during the forum “Is NATO Still Relevant in the 21st Century?” in Washington, March 8, 2016.San Francisco and AmsterdamElsewhere on his travels, the ambassador says, he found San Francisco to be more like Europe than other American cities, and reminiscent of Amsterdam’s “artsy, slightly anarchistic” atmosphere.“We have a saying in Holland that there’s a free state of Amsterdam; these guys have their own ideas and it’s often difficult for the government to get Amsterdam to toe the line; I think San Francisco has that,” he said.Chicago, meanwhile, reminds him of the port city of Rotterdam — “hard-working, a bit more rough, sort of blue collar, which is typical Rotterdam.”Charleston, he says, invokes the “romantic part” of America, and Schuwer takes pride in the bond his embassy has built with the South Carolina coastal city through the sharing of water management experiences.A shuttle bus carrying tourists makes its way along the park road with North America’s tallest peak, Denali, in the background, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, Aug. 26, 2016.Alaska saved for lastIt was only near the end of his American sojourn that Schuwer traveled to America’s largest and least developed state — Alaska.“We knew we would be leaving, so we looked at the map and asked ourselves: Where haven’t we been yet?” he said.“Luckily we went, because it was overwhelmingly beautiful,” its natural state virtually “untouched,” in contrast to his densely populated and “totally flat” homeland.In Alaska, he says, “there are these huge snow-capped mountains, these valleys are that 30, 40, 50 miles wide and there’s nobody on the road … you see moose, bear, or caribou over there … and the thought occurs to you that this might not have changed for the past 1,000 years. Let’s hope we’re wise enough to keep it like this, and preserve it for the next generation,” he said.Schuwer was happy to share his observations not only on America’s physical features, but also on its political landscape, beginning with its two-party system in which almost all power is divided between the Republican and Democratic parties.U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the White House in Washington, July 18, 2019.In comparison, “I think we have 64 political parties” in the Netherlands, he says, with no single party commanding a majority in parliament since sometime in the 19th century. The current ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, contains four political parties while a total of 13 parties hold seats in parliament.That might sound hopelessly confusing to an American, but Schuwer sees it as a virtue, saying the parties are forced to make compromises that foster a social consensus.In the American system, Schuwer observes, “you have in the Democratic Party now people very much to the left, people who are in the middle, and the same goes for the Republican Party — you have people who are very much to the right and people who look for the middle ground.”What truly sets American politics apart, the ambassador says, is a campaign process that stretches for almost two years in the case of presidential elections and requires vast sums of money.“In Holland, the political campaigns are limited to four weeks, right before the elections,” he says. “How much money can you spend in four weeks?”Despite the differences, Schuwer believes he is leaving his post in Washington with relations between the United States and the Netherlands as strong as they have ever been.He says recent highlights of the relationship include Prime Minister Rutte’s second meeting with Trump earlier this year and the recently concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit jointly sponsored by the two governments.
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Hong Kong Protesters Target Airport Sunday
VOA’s Fern Robinson contributed to this report. HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters are gathering at the airport bus station to mount another day of rallies.Authorities, meanwhile, have closed the express train service to the airport. The train service from the airport, however, remains operational.Riot police walk inside the airport as anti-extradition bill protesters gather outside, in Hong Kong, China September 1, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuAs Hong Kong surveyed a night of damage caused by government opponents, officials defended police actions as the city became a smoky battleground, stoked by young people battling for democratic change.Police answered Molotov cocktails, bonfires, hurled bricks and roadblocks with water cannons, tear gas, beatings and, at one point, live gun fire.But it was the riot officers’ decision to storm two subway stations and beat passengers that outraged most residents in the city. Videos were shared widely of police in helmets and gas masks lashing pedestrians and riders inside a train in Prince Edward station, and then soaking four cowering people who pleaded and wept.Another posted video showed a riot officer standing guard over three detained medical volunteers in yellow vests emblazoned with red crosses. They were forced to stand separately, their faces to walls. Another clip showed a first aider pleading to enter a MTR station that had been closed and gated. “I want to help the injured!” he sobbed. “You can beat me to death later!”A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 31, 2019.Police: Force appropriateA police spokeswoman told reporters that police had used appropriate force when protesters had resisted. She admitted that the situation was chaotic and it was difficult to distinguish between protesters and the public as police moved against the crowd at the Prince Edward station.“Police will continue to take resolute enforcement actions so as to safeguard the city’s public safety and bring all lawbreakers to justice” the force said in a news release.Government officials said police were justified in their actions.“The behaviors of the radical protesters gravely breach the public peace and pose a serious threat to the safety of police officers on duty and members of the public at the scene,” according to a news release issued Sunday.Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration, condemned the protesters’ decision to use violence and said it would be irresponsible for residents to engage in a general strike planned for Monday.A demonstrator prepares to throw a brick at police during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 31, 2019.Fewer protestersThe number of participants was far smaller than most protest weekends, in part because police banned a proposed rally and march by a civil rights organization that had organized previous gatherings of as many as 2 million participants. The participants made up for their smaller numbers by using far more violence than previous nights.Near the government center in Admiralty, a few thousand protesters occupied Harcourt Road, a major east-west highway. Police accused “radical protesters” of attempting to storm the Central Government Offices, Legislative Council Complex and police headquarters. Protesters hurled petrol bombs and bricks toward lines of riot police. Police coated the crowds with giant plumes of blue-dyed water shot from cannons as military helicopters hovered overhead. The rhythmic beating of rotary blades and tear gas rifle fire gave the day in an ominous warlike soundtrack.Support for protestersAs he watched protesters dig up bricks from a construction site and set up barricades in Wanchai, Howard Lau, 62, a merchandiser, said he supported the young people at the front.“Their target is mainly the police. That is acceptable,” Lau said. “The police have more painful equipment. … I support their action, to show the government we won’t easily give up.”In Victoria Park, officers said they were attacked by a mob and fired live rounds into the air, according to the South China Morning Post.Protestors demonstrate in front of the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong, China September 1, 2019. REUTERS/Danish SiddiquiA police spokeswoman said undercover officers dressed as protesters fired their sidearms after up to 40 people attacked them with sticks and bricks.Pan Mak, 25, who goes to the front to support those who clash with police, said protesters were convinced they must counter the bullets with more violent measures as arrests thin their ranks.“They will use any means from stopping us from coming out,” he said. “We finally face the government to show how dirty they are”
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Dozens Arrested in Indonesia in Papua Protests
Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people in the easternmost region of Papua following protests last week in which buildings were set ablaze, a police spokesman said Sunday.The area has been racked by civil unrest for two weeks over perceived racial and ethnic discrimination. Some protesters are also demanding an independence vote, although authorities have ruled out such a possibility.
Reports of Racism by Indonesian Police Spark Riots in West Papua video player.
Embed” />CopyWATCH: Reports of Racism by Indonesian Police Spark Riots in West PapuaIn the provincial capital of Jayapura, 28 people have been arrested and named as suspects, and more face investigation, Papuan police spokesman Ahmad Kamal said by telephone.”Twenty-eight people are suspects in cases of damaging and burning properties, violence, provocation, and looting,” Kamal said, adding that all had been arrested after a protest in Jayapura Thursday.The rioters set cars and buildings ablaze, including a local parliament office and a building housing the offices of the state-controlled telco firm, during the protest.Kamal said the situation in Papua was now calmer.In Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, two students suspected of crimes against state security have been arrested, police said in a statement Saturday.The evidence against them included their mobile telephones, and a shirt and a shawl emblazoned with the Morning Star flag pattern, a banned symbol of Papuan nationhood.Jakarta Legal Aid lawyer Michael Himan said the two were arrested from a Papuan dormitory in Depok, in a southern part of the capital, late Friday. They were charged with treasonous intent against the unity of the nation, Himan told Reuters Sunday.In a statement, Jakarta Legal Aid said the police also arrested several other Papuan students and an activist in Jakarta Saturday.Himan said the reason for the arrest of the rest was still unclear. Spokesmen for national police and Jakarta police were not immediately available to comment.
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