At 5:30 p.m. sharp, six days a week, the Pit Stop Community Café rolls up its metal shop door on a quiet street in central Kuala Lumpur and welcomes in some of the Malaysian capital’s most needy for a warm, hearty meal, free of charge.Some of the café’s regulars who count on the soup kitchen to make it through each day, though, earn too much to meet the government’s definition of the poor. A growing number of experts, most recently from the U.N., say that the official numbers miss millions of people who would qualify as poor almost anywhere else, leaving them cut off from critical state benefits and with too few of others to make a difference.Having made only modest adjustments to its official poverty line since the 1970s, the government can claim to have all but routed poverty among its 32 million people, and at 0.4% Malaysia has the lowest self-reported poverty rate of any country for which the World Bank has figures. Neighboring Thailand claims an 8.6% poverty rate.The latest rebuke of Malaysia’s figures came from U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston. After wrapping up an 11-day visit last month, he praised the government for “huge strides” in reducing poverty but called the current poverty line of about $234 a month “ridiculous.” That sum would leave each person in a family of four living on less than $2 a day.A man sleeps on a sidewalk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Z. Peter/VOA)”It can’t be done, except under really dire circumstances,” Alston told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.Many Malaysians above the line “are living in conditions that are extremely difficult, extremely tough, conditions that by any international standard would have them classified as living in poverty,” he added.In a report that followed, Alston said the country’s “highly unrealistic” poverty line has fostered a misunderstanding of who is poor that has left the country’s social safety net underfunded and overstretched. He said the Malaysian government also stood out for its extreme hoarding of household survey data, stifling research that might help solve the problem.A poverty line is meant to mark the minimum a person or household needs to earn to afford the bare essentials of a healthy life, including food and shelter.’Not enough’The Pit Stop is one of dozens of soup kitchens across Malaysia’s capital on the front line of the country’s problem, where the promise of the country’s poverty line meets stark reality.”It’s not enough. It’s very simple; it’s not enough,” Pit Stop cofounder Joycelyn Lee told VOA before closing shop for the night, surrounded by upturned chairs and supplies for the next day’s meals.At the same time, though, she’s not sure raising the poverty line would do much good. Like Alston and others, she says the government’s reluctance to release detailed data makes it hard to know what the consequences might be.One worry she says she has is that raising the poverty line might boost inflation, which would hit everyone, especially the poor. She said that in the past the government has linked the poverty line and minimum wage, so that increasing one increases the other.Pit Stop co-founder Andrea Tan says the issue “is a political hot potato, because we are still a manufacturing country.”FILE – A homeless woman sits with her children outside closed shops in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 17, 2016.Government officials “are very worried that if you increase wages high enough, a lot of factories, a lot of companies will run away to cheaper places like Vietnam,” she said.At the same time, Lee and Tan place the responsibility for the country’s low poverty line and wages as much on foreign companies and consumers as the government.If they rise, Lee said, multinational companies will turn to the government, “and they will threaten to leave.””So it’s a hot seat,” she said, “What are you going to do? Are those companies willing to pay more? Are people that buy the products from these companies willing to pay more?”The ‘B40’Christopher Choong Weng Wai, deputy director of research at Malaysia’s Khazanah Research Institute, favors raising the poverty line, as long as the government uses it to target social assistance more effectively.Because Malaysia’s official poverty rate is so low, the government has shifted its social assistance efforts to the bottom 40% of income earners, referred to here as the B40, the vast majority of whom are officially not poor. “But the problem is that the allocation for subsidies and social assistance for the B40 has not kept up. So it is not so much underinvestment, but rather spreading out subsidies and social assistance to a larger target group. So breadth of coverage improves, but depth of coverage deteriorates,” the research director said.FILE – People eat near a public housing complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 21, 2018.In his report, Alston raised the example of cash transfers to the B40. Because they go to so many, he said, “the payments are so small as to make little difference.” A report UNICEF Malaysia prepared for Alston in June also found that the country’s tax and social protection systems “have virtually no redistributive or poverty reduction impact.”
The question is what Malaysia’s real poverty rate is.Lee, Tan and Choong Weng Wai were all wary of offering ideas without more data and research. Alston also refrained from making his own suggestion.A recent study by economist and former World Bank research department director Martin Ravallion found that, when compared to other countries with a similar average income to Malaysia’s, about 20% of the population — 6.4 million people — should be considered to be in poverty. Research by Khazanah found that setting the poverty line at 60% of the country’s median income would put 22.2% of Malaysians below it.When asked for comment on the barrage of criticism of the poverty line, Malaysia’s Economic Affairs Ministry referred VOA to a statement it issued responding to Alston’s remarks and report.In it, the ministry stands by its numbers. It says it derived them using internationally accepted standards and calls Alston’s accusation of statistical deception “wholly unacceptable and irresponsible.” However, the ministry says it is reviewing the way it sets the poverty line to account for the rising cost of living while also taking into account more than just income.
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Month: September 2019
UN Decries Continuing Violations in East Ukraine, Russian-Occupied Crimea
The United Nations reports human rights violations in both government and separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine continue with impunity. The report, which was examined by the U.N. human rights council this week also documents violations perpetrated by the Russian occupiers of Crimea.While critical of the overall situation in eastern Ukraine, the report injects a note of optimism that the new government, headed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shows promising signs of the country turning a corner. It notes the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine largely continue to respect a cease-fire and have disengaged forces. In addition, it says the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has begun operating. The report urges the newly-appointed prosecutor general and chief military prosecutor to promptly investigate conflict-related and other grave human rights violations on both sides of the contact line, the patch of land that divides the government and separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine.U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore says accountability for past and present human rights violations on both sides of the line have to be addressed. She accused the authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics of denying U.N. monitors access to their territories and detention facilities despite repeated requests.“We nevertheless continue to document human rights concerns in those areas; breaches of human rights through such as arbitrary and incommunicado arrests and the absence of space for people to exercise fundamental freedoms, symptoms of the persistent climate of fear that prevails in those parts of Ukraine’s territory,” she said.Gilmore also condemned violations perpetrated by the Russian Federation as the occupying power in the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in March 2014. Abuses documented in the report include deportations of protected persons, forced conscriptions, restrictions on freedom of expression and an increasing number of house searches and raids, mainly against Crimean Tatars.Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya blasted Russia’s occupation of Crimea and blamed Moscow for the suffering of Ukraine’s citizens who are in the sixth year of war that was instigated by Russia.”Russia, which blatantly disrespects human rights of its own citizens, perpetrates human rights abuses at home and abroad, in essence, commits a moral turpitude amid its desire to infiltrate the body, which has been created to prevent human rights violations and go after perpetrators,” Kyslytsya said.Russia is running for a seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council. The Ukrainian minister said it would be a travesty of justice to elect Russia to the U.N. body, which is the foremost protector and promoter of human rights.
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‘French Spiderman’ Climbs Frankfurt High-Rise, Faces Fine
An urban climber known as the “French Spiderman” has climbed a high-rise building in the German city of Frankfurt and now faces a fine for his effort.It took Alain Robert 20 minutes to scale the 153-meter (502-foot) Skyper building in the heart of Germany’s financial capital early Saturday.Upon his descent from the gleaming glass structure, the 57-year-old was met by German police who escorted him away.Robert has climbed many of the world’s tallest buildings, often without permission.
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Giuliani, Once ‘America’s Mayor,’ Now a Central Figure in Trump Impeachment Inquiry
It’s been a long, strange road for Rudy Giuliani, the hard-nosed prosecutor who gained fame as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership in New York City after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.Once seen as a promising Republican presidential candidate himself, Giuliani is now trying to beat back accusations that he was a key player in an international scandal that has President Donald Trump facing an impeachment inquiry.Over the course of the past two years, Giuliani, 75, has held multiple meetings with officials from Ukraine as part of an effort to persuade that country’s government to open an investigation focused on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma Holdings.At the same time, Giuliani was pushing for a separate investigation into alleged cooperation between Ukrainian officials and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the 2016 election, suggesting that Joe Biden had also played a role in that unproven conspiracy.FILE – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attend a ceremony to unveil a portrait honoring retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 8, 2016.Joe Biden, of course, has long been seen as Trump’s most likely Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential election, and is the opponent that reportedly most concerns the president. Giuliani has taken these actions, he said, in his capacity as the president’s personal lawyer.Whistleblower complaintThe story came to a head this week with the release of a whistleblower complaint, later confirmed by a rough transcript of the phone conversation released by the White House, that claimed Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens in the context of a phone call about military aid.But Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenskiy only took place after FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a meeting with law enforcement officers in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 23, 2019.In fact, the whistleblower complaint also accused Giuliani of complicating U.S. diplomatic efforts in Ukraine and forcing career State Department employees to attempt to “contain the damage.”Speaking to The Washington Post earlier this year, Giuliani estimated that he had met with at least five current and former Ukrainian prosecutors in pressing his case against the Bidens.He was also not shy about sharing his ideas publicly.In May, for example, he demanded on Twitter, “Explain to me why Biden shouldn’t be investigated if his son got millions from a Russian loving crooked Ukrainian oligarch while He was VP and point man for Ukraine.”In June, he again tweeted about Biden, suggesting that there were allegations that the vice president had “bribed” former Ukrainian Prime Minister Petro Poroshenko, though he did not include any evidence of such allegations, and none has since surfaced.Diplomatic freelancingThen-General Prosecutor of Ukraine Viktor Shokin speaks during news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 16, 2015.Specifically, Giuliani has been pushing the theory that Biden, as vice president, took improper actions in 2015 by pressing the government in Kyiv to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was considered corrupt by a wide array of the United States’ European allies.Giuliani’s claim, propounded in tweets, on television and in interviews, is that Joe Biden’s real motive was to quash an ongoing investigation of Burisma in order to benefit his son, who had been named a member of the company’s board, with a reported salary of $50,000 per month.To date, Giuliani has produced no evidence that either of the Bidens took improper action. In fact, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the Palace Hotel on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 26, 2019.The chairmen of three House committees subpoenaed Pompeo on Friday over his failure to produce documents related to reported efforts by Trump and his associates “to improperly pressure the Ukrainian government to assist the President’s bid for re-election.”Pompeo has not publicly discussed Giuliani’s dealings with Ukraine and the State Department.Giuliani’s reaction to the whistleblower complaint has been fierce, with television appearances in which he claimed that he was actually acting at the behest of the State Department and reiterated his accusations against the Bidens.FILE – President-elect Donald Trump calls out to media as he and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani pose for photographs as Giuliani arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J.Trump and Giuliani have been friends at least as far back as 1989, when the developer supported Giuliani’s first bid for mayor of New York.Giuliani, in turn, was one of Trump’s most ardent and aggressive supporters during the 2016 presidential election. His speeches and appearances were sometimes FILE – New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leads New York Gov. George Pataki, left, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on a tour of the site of the World Trade Center disaster, Sept. 12, 2001.As his final term as mayor was coming to an end, the 9/11 attacks put a spotlight on Giuliani, as he led efforts to recover from the shattering terrorist attacks. He won near-unanimous praise for his handling of the attacks’ aftermath, earning the nickname “America’s Mayor,” and soon afterward left public office to launch Giuliani Partners, a security consulting firm.He briefly returned to public view in 2008, with a failed bid to win the Republican presidential nomination. Though he was thought to be considering other races, including for the New York governorship and another presidential run, Giuliani has not been a candidate for office in more than a decade.
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Vietnamese Consumers, Like Their Drinks, Grow More Nuanced
To see how much the consumer has changed in Vietnam, look no further than what he drinks: soda or bubble tea.Coca-Cola was one of the first foreign investors in Vietnam, selling in wartime and in a postwar period when many foreign companies stayed away amid a trade embargo.These days it is not an American soft drink brand that has captured the imagination of Vietnamese drinkers, but bubble tea, brought in by a range of Asian companies, from Taiwan to Thailand. Bubble or boba tea, a sugary milk tea known for its tapioca balls, can come in endless flavors, such as strawberry, matcha, or cacao, and combined with balls of tapioca, jelly or sweet beans. The drink is decidedly more complex than soda, and increasingly, so too is the Vietnamese shopper.This goes far beyond drinks. It used to be that foreign companies entered Vietnam to sell the basics: fast moving consumer goods, such as bags of instant noodles or paper towels. But as Vietnam moves toward a more consumption-based society, foreign investors are responding to a desire for a greater variety of products and services.Businesses are working to meet the changing tastes of shoppers in Hue and across the rest of Vietnam. (H. Nguyen/VOA)“[M]ore international brands are entering Vietnam than ever, thanks, in part, to the liberalization of Vietnam’s regulatory and social environment,” Colliers International Research, a real estate services company, wrote in its first quarter analysis of the Vietnam market. “This increase in brands will entice consumers to spend more … with the shift from solely retail-focused to more comprehensive entertainment experiences.”Bubble tea, after all, is not just a drink but a social experience, seen as a more fun, colorful way for people to get together than over the traditional coffee.Other kinds of businesses, like boxing gyms, pet shops and cosmetics stores, are starting to appear, too, and with foreign investor backing. It seems every week there is a new storefront popping up, hoping to cater to the Vietnamese shoppers’ changing tastes. The new businesses are engaging in lines of commerce from Japanese whisky bars to stores for birthday party paraphernalia, that did not exist in the Southeast Asian country even a decade ago.New businesses like exercise centers, from the all-encompassing gym to the boxing or yoga studio, are popping up around Vietnam. (H. Nguyen/VOA)Vietnamese citizens are earning more, and they are ready to spend it. A survey by Nielsen Vietnam, a market research company, indicated consumer confidence rose 7% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the last quarter of 2018.“This significant increase of consumer confidence indicates that consumers continue the positive” sentiment, said Nguyen Huong Quynh, managing director at Nielsen Vietnam.“Manufacturers and retailers need to capture the latest trends in the consumer market and need to act faster to respond to the evolving needs of consumers,” she added.The changing behavior extends past the biggest cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In the central beach town of Da Nang, for example, the changing appetite of consumers is drawing ever more types of business.“A great deal of international retailers are planning to penetrate the local market to introduce their products to tourists and local customers in Da Nang and enhance their brand image in Vietnam,” the Colliers analysis said.
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Leslie Gelb, Son of Impoverished Immigrants Who Rose to Be US Foreign Policy Giant
His was a classic example of the American Dream, a rise from a humble childhood with immigrant parents to prestigious positions within U.S. government institutions and think tanks and a reputation as one of the nation’s most respected foreign policy thinkers.In the weeks since the death last month of Leslie H. Gelb, a number of his friends and former colleagues have shared their recollections about the man and his legacy with VOA , in particular his impact on U.S. foreign policy thinking.Gelb, best known to his friends and colleagues as “Les,” was 82 when he passed away in New York City on Aug. 31.The next day’s obituaries detailed his career highlights, including his Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, his decorated service at the Defense and State departments, his work as an influential columnist at The New York Times and his decade at the helm of one of America’s most prestigious think tanks, the Council on Foreign Relations.Child of immigrantsFewer people knew that he was a child of immigrants, that his parents worked seven days a week to sustain their corner deli, never read newspapers, and counted The Bible as one of the two books they owned.”My parents were immigrants from originally Hungary, but by the time they left it, it was the Czech Republic, today it’s Ukraine,” Gelb once said in an interview about his family’s ancestral hometown. He described the town of Mukachevo as “this little piece of property in the far east part of the Austro-Hungarian empire up against the Carpathian Mountains.”Gelb once said his parents were “essentially uneducated immigrants, fifth-grade education,” who came to America “and worked in a corner grocery store their whole lives.”Asked whether his interest in international politics was inspired by dinner table conversations, he replied that there wasn’t much of a dinner table to speak of, even less of dinnertime conversations revolving around geopolitics.”We ate at the back of the store, one at a time,” he chuckled while answering the question. “My father was interested in politics, but it was not a passion.”Leslie Gelb seen in an undated photo with one of his five grandchildren. (Photo courtesy of Leslie Gelb family)’It was easier’Tufts University, he said, was the only university that accepted him after high school. Years later, he would joke that he majored in politics and government there because “it was easier than doing anything else.” He worked as a parking attendant and a dishwasher to help with college expenses.From there, Gelb went on to obtain a master’s and then a doctorate from Harvard University in the mid-1960s, studying with the likes of Stanley Hoffmann and Henry Kissinger, two of the most distinguished political scientists at the time and, by chance, European immigrants themselves.From Harvard, Gelb came to Washington, where he first worked for Senator Jacob Javits of New York, a liberal Republican who sponsored the War Powers Act to restrict presidential powers after becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam War. Next came stints at the Pentagon and the State Department where his portfolios included negotiations with the then-Soviet Union.At the Pentagon, Gelb was tasked with editing what later became known as the Pentagon Papers — an examination of U.S. involvement in Vietnam up to that point. One of the researchers Gelb hired to work on the project would later leak the classified document to the press, resulting in a public uproar over the policymaking processes it revealed.Winston Lord, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and a longtime friend of Gelb, told VOA that many people assumed Gelb to be “a big dove” because of his role in drafting the Pentagon Papers.”He wasn’t,” Lord said in a telephone interview. “His job was — without being partisan to lay out our record of involvement.”Gelb, he said, “wasn’t one of those who felt that the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese were the good guys, the Americans were the bad guys; just the opposite. He was disgusted with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, but he felt he owed it to the American people to point out the mistakes that were made.”‘Noble dimension’Lord sees a connection between the forthrightness in Gelb’s analysis of foreign policy records and what he describes as a “noble dimension” to Gelb’s conduct as an individual.”Many people in government suck up and fawn and praise their superiors, and then step on and beat up their staff and inferiors. He was just the opposite,” Lord said.Alexander Vershbow, a foreign service officer who worked under Gelb and who would go on to become a U.S. ambassador to Russia and NATO deputy secretary general, described Gelb in an interview as “kind of my first mentor,” and a man who “liked to give people a chance to prove themselves.”Vershbow said Gelb believed in a two-track Russia strategy, including both deterrence and dialogue, that, Vershbow said, he “kept with me throughout my career.”After leaving State, Gelb worked for more than 10 years as a foreign affairs and national security columnist, later an opinion-page editor, for The New York Times. In 1993, he was named as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an institution over which he presided until 2003.Cover of Power Rules, written by Leslie Gelb (VOA/N. Liu)In 2009, Gelb published a book on American foreign policy, “Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy.” He told a University of California at Berkeley audience that year that he wrote the book out of frustration with the field of political science and foreign policymaking, beginning with an ill-defined concept of “power” which he thought was neither a purely intellectual process aimed at persuasion, nor a mere physical show of force.The United States won the Cold War, he believed, because it successfully developed allies “in Western Europe, Germany in particular, and Japan.” Adding these countries’ resources “to our own,” he said, “we would have more than 75% of military, diplomatic and economic power in the world.”Looking forward, he urged America to continue to build strong alliances and be mindful of other countries’ desires and capabilities, all the while having the courage — and wisdom — to “fail alone, succeed together.”
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Manna House Gives Breakfast and More to Baltimore’s Homeless, Underprivileged
For many homeless people, finding shelter sometimes isn’t nearly as important as finding a meal. Providing food is the main mission of Manna House, a charity organization, where homeless and underprivileged people get breakfast and other services for free. Nilofar Mughal is giving a view from the inside of Manna House located in Baltimore in the state of Maryland.
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French Queue to Remember Chirac Ahead of National Mourning
Mourners gathered at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday to pay their respects to former President Jacques Chirac, whose death unleashed a flood of tributes to a charismatic but complex giant of French politics.
Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, died Thursday at age 86 after years of deteriorating health since suffering a stroke in 2005.
Ahead of a national day of mourning announced for Monday, the French presidency threw open the doors of the Elysee Palace for people wanting to sign a book of condolences.
“I express my admiration and tenderness for the last of the great presidents,” read one tribute. “Thank you for fighting, thank you for this freedom and good spirits.”
In a televised address Thursday night, President Emmanuel Macron praised “a man whom we loved as much as he loved us.”
Chirac is also to be given the honor of a public memorial ceremony on Sunday as well as a mass on Monday, which will be attended by Macron and foreign dignitaries including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
A minute of silence will also be observed Monday at public institutions, schools and football matches.
Schools have also been urged to dedicate class time on Monday “to evoke the former head of state’s memory,” with the education ministry saying it will propose potential discussion themes for teachers.
And the Quai Branly museum of indigenous art founded by Chirac, who had a deep appreciation of Asian cultures, said it would offer free admission until Oct. 11.
French newspapers splashed his portrait across their front pages and dedicated most of their editions to the former president’s life — Le Parisien had an exhaustive 35 pages plus a 12-page special insert. People line up to sign a condolence book for the late French President Jacques Chirac, Sept. 27, 2019, in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris.Everyman charm Even Chirac’s opponents hailed his charm and qualities as a political fighter, as well as how he stood up to Washington in 2003 by opposing the Iraq War.
He was also lauded for acknowledging France’s responsibility for the wartime deportation of Jews, slashing road deaths with the introduction of speed cameras, and standing up to the increasingly popular far right under Jean-Marie Le Pen.
But some questioned how much he had actually achieved during a long period in office — his career shadowed by a graft conviction while mayor of Paris, from 1977 to 1995.
He contested the ruling but did not appeal it, saying the French people “know who I am: an honest man” who worked only for “the grandeur of France and for peace.”
And it hardly dented the popularity of the beer- and saucisse-loving charmer, whose extramarital affairs were an open secret.
He had barely been seen in public in recent years, after suffering a stroke in 2005 and undergoing kidney surgery in December 2013.
He will be buried at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris next to his daughter Laurence, who died in 2016 after a lifelong battle with anorexia.
He is survived by Bernadette, his wife of more than six decades; his daughter Claude, who served as his confidante and adviser; and a grandson, Martin. People gather to pay tribute to the late former French President Jacques Chirac in Nice, France, Sept. 27, 2019.‘Embodied’ France
The centre-right Chirac succeeded his longtime political rival, Socialist Francois Mitterrand, in 1995 after two previously unsuccessful bids to secure the Elysee.
“As a leader who was able to represent the nation in its diversity and complexity … President Chirac embodied a certain idea of France,” Macron said Thursday.
His death garnered an outpouring of tributes from world leaders, the latest from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who lauded “an old friend of the Chinese people.”
Lebanon has also declared a day of mourning Monday, noting the close ties between Chirac and the family of former Premier Rafiq Hariri — whose family provided Chirac and his wife with a sumptuous Paris apartment for several years after he left office.
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North Macedonian PM: Extortion Probe Will Be Resolved Before EU Talks
Prime Minister of North Macedonia Zoran Zaev says he is optimistic that an extortion investigation of the country’s former chief special prosecutor will be resolved ahead of upcoming European Union accession talks.”I expect that once I return (from New York), there will be something prepared by the working groups, the negotiators on both sides,” Zaev told VOA’s Macedonian Service at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.Zaev, who refused to divulge details of a pending agreement for fear of disrupting negotiations, said he expects a deal before a European Council meeting on Oct. 17, when ministers from the 28 EU member states will decide whether to let North Macedonia and Albania start the accession process.”The solution itself will send another message about our political and democratic maturity,” he said, referring to EU accession criteria.FILE – Public prosecutor Katica Janeva, right, takes an oath in Skopje, Macedonia, Sept. 16, 2015.This summer, North Macedonia’s former chief Special Prosecutor, Katica Janeva, unexpectedly tendered her resignation amid allegations that she masterminded a scheme to extort millions from an indicted businessman in exchange for a reduced sentence.Janeva’s Special Prosecution Office (SPO), an organized-crime-busting outfit also tasked with addressing high-level corruption, has long been emblematic of the former Yugoslav republic’s transatlantic aspirations. By spearheading investigations of the now-ousted authoritarian regime of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, Janeva’s office was largely mandated to restore rule of law.The country changed its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia in a historic 2018 Prespa accord, ending a more than two-decade dispute with Greece over its name, and removing an obstacle to EU and NATO membership.Last month, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Skopje needs to reform its judiciary to ensure it can handle high-level crime and corruption cases before the EU accession talks begin.Zaev met with his Greek counterpart, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in New York, where the two discussed ways to build on the Prespa agreement.From border crossings to trade deals and economic cooperation, Zaev said, “These are the ways to enhance the friendship that we have already established through the Prespa agreement,” adding that he was “pleased with this first encounter.”Mitsotakis, who took office in July, told Zaev he would never have signed the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the Palace Hotel on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 26, 2019.On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he plans to visit North Macedonia on an upcoming swing through Italy, Greece and the Western Balkans during the first week of October.Pompeo “will attend the U.S.-Holy See Symposium on Partnering with Faith-Based Organizations, where he will deliver keynote remarks,” read a Friday statement from the State Department. “He will have a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francis, and meet with Secretary of State Cardinal [Pietro] Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop [Paul] Gallagher.”Pompeo will then meet with Italian leaders before meeting with Zaev and his top officials in the capital of North Macedonia, along with the leaders of Montenegro and Greece.This story originated in VOA’s Macedonian Service.
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UN, AU Chiefs Welcome Progress From Sudan’s Transitional Authorities
At the United Nations, the news is not often good. But Friday was different, and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres expressed what many at a high-level meeting on Sudan’s transition toward democracy after 30 years of dictatorship were feeling.
“This is clearly the happiest moment I have in this high-level week,” the secretary-general said. “If one year ago we were forecasting the possibility of this meeting, I think no one would believe. But the fact is we are here celebrating a new Sudan.”
Guterres reaffirmed U.N. support for Sudan and noted that the transition was not the destination, but the beginning of its journey.
Both he and AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat urged the lifting of all economic sanctions on Sudan, as well as its removal from the United States’ State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Crucial step
Transitional Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok told the meeting that de-listing was vital.
“This is key to anything we can touch and do,” Hamdok said. “It is linked to the economy, it is linked to debt, to investment, but opening the country at large. We have to get understanding, and fast, from our American friends in de-listing Sudan. Sudan that is upholding good human rights, good governance, rule of law is not a threat to anybody.” He said his top priority was peace.
“Our number one and top priority: stopping the war and building solid ground for sustainable peace,” Hamdok said. “I think the time of achieving peace is now. And I think we are moving in the right direction to achieve precisely that.”
Earlier this week, Sudan’s foreign minister signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to open offices in the capital, Khartoum, and in four conflict-affected areas of the country.
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UN Rapporteur Calls for Dialogue in Zimbabwe to Clear ‘Toxic Environment’
U.N. Special Rapporteur Clement Voule, who returned Friday from a 10-day visit to Zimbabwe, called for dialogue to clear a “toxic environment” in the southern African country.Voule’s trip was the first official visit by an independent human rights expert to Zimbabwe, where for years, rights groups have accused government security forces and ruling party thugs of beating, torturing and killing opponents. “The toxic environment, I raised this many times in my meetings with government officials,” Voule told VOA, adding that there was a “general fear” and “lack of trust” regarding freedom of peaceful assembly. “In many of my discussions with victims of use of excessive force by police, those victims related that they were targeted because they belonged to the opposition,” he said.The Togolese national called for a dialogue between political leaders and civil society, which he said would result in the “peace, human dignity and economic recovery” of Zimbabwe. Tatenda Mombeyarara, 37, says he is recovering after being assaulted while detained in August for helping to organize anti-government protests, in Harare, Sept. 27, 2019. (C. Mavhunga/VOA)He also said authorities should investigate the spate of kidnappings and disappearances of activists. The opposition blames state security forces for the abductions, though the government denies involvement.Dr. Peter Magombeyi, the leader of an ongoing doctors strike, was flown to South Africa on Thursday for medical treatment, after allegedly being poisoned during a five-day abduction last week.Tatenda Mombeyarara, 37, who says he was assaulted while detained in August for helping to organize anti-government protests, welcomes Voule’s call for a dialogue, saying it will “help build trust to strengthen institutions.”Voule’s reportOn Friday, Zimbabwe’s justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, told VOA that he had not seen Voule’s report. Voule will present his final report in June 2020 to the U.N. Human Rights Council.”I understand the political situation which Zimbabwe is going through,” he said. “Yes, political competition is important, but the well-being of our community [is] more important. Political leaders need to be brave enough to really sit around the table and discuss … the future of this country, and I believe that we will have [a] new Zimbabwe which respects human rights.”It remains to be seen how President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government will react to the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report, in which Voule asked for Harare to loosen its grip on anti-government protests, among other things.
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UNHCR: Attacks in NW Nigeria Send Thousands Fleeing to Niger
A surge in brutal attacks by armed groups in northwest Nigeria is sending thousands of refugees fleeing to Niger, the United Nations refugee agency says.More than 40,000 Nigerians have fled to Niger over the last 10 months, creating a new humanitarian emergency along the two countries’ border, the UNHCR reports. It added that on Sept. 11 alone, more than 2,500 civilians targeted by armed groups in Nigeria fled for their lives.The agency says it has received frequent reports of kidnappings, torture, extortion, murder, sexual violence, and destruction of houses and property.UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch tells VOA the armed groups responsible for the violence are not linked to the Islamic mlitant group Boko Haram.”[Refugees] tell us, these groups are really well organized and well armed, and they kind of operate at will,” Baloch said. “They go from house to house, villages to villages, killing people, destroying property and then getting away with these horrible acts.” While the identity of the armed groups is unknown, Baloch says they include bandits and other criminal elements. He says some attackers have taken people hostage, holding them for ransom.Media reports suggest ethnic conflict between Fulani traditional herders and Hausa farmers plays a role in the violence. The conflict has caused the deaths of more than 4,000 people since 2011, and Nigerian security experts report the Fulani-Hausa conflict is expected to claim more lives this year than Boko Haram aggression.Aid is being rushed to the Niger border and emergency staff is responding to the humanitarian needs, Baloch says, adding that the UNHCR is working with local authorities to relocate refugees from the border to safer places inland.
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US Mulls Delisting Chinese Companies From American Exchanges, Report Says
The Trump administration is reportedly considering delisting Chinese companies from American stock exchanges as a way to limit U.S. investment in China.The move, first reported by Bloomberg News, would further escalate the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Delisting the companies is part of a broader administration plan to limit U.S. investment in China, according to the report, which cited a U.S. government official.Administration officials are also exploring how the U.S. could place limits on the Chinese firms that are included in U.S. stock indexes, the report said.The mechanisms for how to execute delisting the companies has yet to be determined and any plan that is developed must be approved by U.S. President Donald Trump.The report surfaced as trade talks between the U.S. and China are set to resume in Washington October 10.Both countries have already imposed billions of dollars of tariffs on each other’s goods.There was no immediate comment from the White House.
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Storms, Droughts, Disease Alarm Italy’s Olive Farmers
After the 24-hour storm dumped more rain on his olive trees than 55-year-old Gianluca can recall having seen in a September, the part-time farmer shook his head as he inspected his forlorn crop. “This is the third year I have not seen much to harvest,” he lamented. “Last year was even worse, mind you. But look at this,” he said, pointing to trees with few olives and many threadbare branches. FILE – Damaged olives hang in a grove in Nerola, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Rome, Nov. 13, 2014.In the distance, Lago di Bolsena shimmered and the Italian countryside just north of Rome seemed picture perfect. The sun had returned after Monday’s extreme storm and with it warm autumnal temperatures. But for all the surrounding bucolic beauty, farmers and smallholders in northern Lazio, as in much of rural Italy, are becoming alarmed at the increasingly fickle weather with erratic rainfall, spring frost, tempestuous wind and summer drought.Farmers say the change in climate patterns across Italy is causing poor olive harvests, which are leaving in their wake predictions that the country could become dependent on olive oil imports.That’s a remarkable turnaround for a country that many see as synonymous with olive oil — although olive trees weren’t natural to Italy and first arrived in Italy from Greece, thanks to Greeks who settled in Sicily.By early in the first century AD, the Roman historian Pliny could brag that Italians produced more olives than the Greeks and the quality was superior.FILE – Olive oil comes out of a tap in an oil mill in the Tuscan village of Montepuclciano, Oct. 6, 2007.Last year, Italy saw a 57 percent plunge in the country’s olive harvest, sparking protests by thousands of Italian farmers who descended on Rome wearing orange vests, calling for climate action. According to Riccardo Valentini, a professor in forest ecology at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo, the development of olive trees can suffer greatly when there are sudden extremes in weather.”Three or four days of 40 (degree Celsius) temperatures in summer, or 10 days without rain in spring — even two days of freezing temperatures in spring — are important,” he said in a recent interview with Italian media. “The alarm bell is ringing loud and clear: If we do not limit emissions and pollution levels, the land that we all know is in great danger.”Climate change, disease and insects are reducing Italy’s production of homegrown olive oil, say scientists and farmers. Last year’s unusual weather patterns inflicted an estimated $1 billion worth of damage on the olive-oil sector, according to the national farmers’ association Coldiretti. The sharp drop in production was the worst the country has witnessed in a quarter-century. Insects, diseaseThe weather is also hurting the trees by helping insect infestations — especially of a species of fly that lays eggs in the trees after burrowing into them.FILE – Olive trees infected with a disease called Xylella fastidiosa are seen near Gallipoli in the Salento peninsula, in Apuglia, southern Italy, June 20, 2019.Of even greater threat is a bacteria called Xylella fastidiosa, thought to have come from Costa Rica and spread by the meadow spittlebug. The bacteria starts in the leaves, turning them a rusty brown color, then proceeds into the trunks, disrupting arteries that allow the tree to absorb water. The disease first broke out around 2013 in the southern region of Puglia, in the heel of the Italian boot. Until recently, Puglia was responsible for more than half of Italy’s olive oil production but it has slipped as a result of hundreds of thousands of olive trees dying. Last year, the region’s production plunged by 65 percent. Altogether, an estimated one million Italian trees have died as a result of the disease, and farmers in Lazio are fearful that they will soon see what they dub “tree cemeteries.” While climate change isn’t being held responsible for the appearance of the bacteria in Italy, it is thought to have helped its quick spread. The EU has called on Italy to create a buffer zone by cutting down diseased trees, but the work has been patchy and trees elsewhere — in Lazio and Tuscany — are showing early signs of the disease.
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Trump Demands Key Lawmaker Step Down Over Whistleblower Case
The whistleblower controversy involving U.S. President Donald Trump continued to evolve Friday with the president calling for the resignation of a key lawmaker, who allegedly misrepresented him during a congressional hearing, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that Attorney General William Barr has “gone rogue.”The developments are in response to a complaint from a whistleblower who alleges that Trump, in a July 25 phone call, sought help from the new president of Ukraine in digging up incriminating information, about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, that would hurt Biden’s prospects of winning the Democratic presidential nomination and challenging Trump in 2020.Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, speaks during testimony by Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire before the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 26, 2019.Trump called Friday for the resignation of Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, for allegedly misrepresenting him during a hearing Thursday on the administration’s delay in submitting the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress.“He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it…sound horrible, and me sound guilty,” Trump tweeted.“Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public,” Trump said. “I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!”…sound horrible, and me sound guilty. HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT. Adam Schiff therefore lied to Congress and attempted to defraud the American Public. He has been doing this for two years. I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 26, 2019.In an interview Friday with MSNBC, Pelosi said Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement official, “had gone rogue” in his handling of the complaint.A public readout of the July conversation disclosed by the White House this week shows Trump urged President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to work with Barr and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate Biden and his son.Pelosi accused Barr of being part of a White House “cover-up” of the phone call. “I think where they’re going is a cover-up of a cover-up.”The whistleblower’s complaint also said the White House tried to “lock down” the information to prevent its public disclosure. Efforts to hide the information allegedly included the removal of the transcript of the call from the computer system that is typically used for such records of calls with foreign leaders and loading it into a separate electronic system that is used only for classified information that is of an “especially sensitive nature.”FILE – U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, July 15, 2019.The complaint noted that a White House official described that as an abuse of the secure system because there was nothing “remotely sensitive” on the phone call from a national security perspective.The whistleblower noted that White House officials said this was “not the first time” the Trump administration placed a presidential transcript into this “codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive, rather than national security sensitive information.”On Thursday, before leaving New York where he attended the U.N. General Assembly, Trump told a crowd of staff from the United States Mission to the U.N. that he wants to know who provided information to the whistleblower. He said that whomever did so was “close to a spy” and that “in the old days,” spies were dealt with differently,” according to The New York Times newspaper.
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Western Embassies Warn of Possible Attacks in Myanmar
Canada, Australia and Britain on Friday joined the United States in advising their citizens about possible violent attacks in Myanmar.An initial warning Wednesday by the U.S. Embassy in Yangon said Myanmar’s security forces are “investigating reports of potential attacks” in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw, on Sept. 26, Oct. 16 and Oct. 26. It said the possibility of attacks extended to coming months in Naypyitaw, Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s three biggest cities.There was no explanation of why there might be attacks on those specific dates and no other details were provided. There were no reports that any attack took place Thursday.The Canadian and British advisories specified that the potential attacks could be bombings.“The Myanmar government has not corroborated this information. No specific measures are recommended at this time,” said the statement issued by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.“When traveling anywhere in Myanmar, you should monitor the latest developments, continue to remain vigilant, take sensible precautions, avoid large demonstrations or gatherings, and follow the advice of the local security forces,” it advised.Several armed ethnic groups are battling Myanmar’s government for more autonomy, but the fighting usually takes place in their home regions in border areas.In August, the authorities were caught by surprise by coordinated attacks staged by an ethnic rebel alliance in five locations, including a military academy outside normal combat areas, where a civilian was killed and a soldier wounded.The Northern Alliance, a coalition of armed groups from the Kokang, Rakhine and Ta-ang, or Palaung, minorities, claimed responsibility for the attacks in Mandalay region, where the Defense Services Technology Academy is located, and in Northern Shan state, where 14 people were reported killed.Combat in Northern Shan State is not unusual, but attacks in Mandalay region, the country’s heartland, are virtually unprecedented.The rebel alliance said it launched the attacks in self-defense because the Myanmar military didn’t stop offensive operations in areas where the minorities live.Since obtaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has been wracked by fighting with minority groups in border areas seeking greater autonomy from the central government.In the past three decades, the government has reached various cease-fire arrangements with many groups, but it is striving for a comprehensive, more permanent political solution. Most of the groups have so far rejected the government’s attempts at a settlement, and combat is ongoing in northern and western areas of the country.The rebel alliance comprises the Kokang minority’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army), and the Arakan Army. The Arakan Army has also been engaged in fierce attacks against government forces in its home ground in Rakhine state.
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Roadmap for Puerto Rico’s Exit From Bankruptcy Filed in US Court
Puerto Rico would reduce its core government debt by more than 60% under a restructuring proposal the bankrupt U.S. commonwealth’s federally-created financial oversight board filed in court Friday.The so-called plan of adjustment covering $35 billion of bonds and claims and more than $50 billion of pension liabilities would allow Puerto Rico to exit a form of bankruptcy that commenced in May 2017 if approved in U.S. District Court.”Today we have taken a big step to put bankruptcy behind us and start envisioning what Puerto Rico’s future looks like under fiscal stability and economic sustainability,” the oversight board’s chairman, Jose Carrion, said in a statement.Owners of bonds issued by Puerto Rico, its Public Buildings Authority and Employees Retirement System would face haircuts on their initial investments ranging from 28% to 87%.The board, meanwhile, is trying to void over $6 billion of general obligation bonds sold in 2012 and 2014 on the basis they were issued in violation of Puerto Rico’s constitutional debt limit. The plan includes a settlement mechanism for challenged bonds.Annual debt service would be reduced to 9% of government revenue from 28%, according to the board.The plan creates an independent reserve trust for Puerto Rico’s pay-as-you-go public sector retirement system. Monthly pension payments totaling over $1,200 would be cut by 8.5%, affecting about 40% of retirees.So far, Puerto Rico has won court approval for debt restructurings for its Government Development Bank and Sales Tax Financing Corporation known as COFINA. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority moved closer to exiting bankruptcy earlier this month when two holdout bond insurers joined a deal to restructure its debt.
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BBC Faces Backlash After Censuring Anchor for Trump Remarks
The BBC is facing a backlash after finding one of its presenters in breach of its editorial guidelines on impartiality for comments that were critical of U.S. President Donald Trump.Journalists and celebrities are demanding Friday that the BBC overturn its decision and expressed support for BBC Breakfast anchor Naga Munchetty, who was discussing Trump’s remark on July 17 that four female American lawmakers should return to the “broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”Co-anchor, Dan Walker, asked Munchetty for her opinion, and she responded: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of color, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.”Questioned further, she says she was “absolutely furious a man in that position thinks it’s OK to skirt the lines by using language like that.”
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Ex-Indonesia Cabinet Minister Arrested for Alleged Graft
Indonesia’s anti-graft commission on Friday arrested a former sports minister accused of stealing public money, as students across the country protested a new law that critics say will cripple the commission.Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi faces graft charges related to a National Sports Committee grant which he allegedly used for himself. He faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment if found guilty.Nahrawi resigned last week after the Corruption Eradication Commission announced that he was suspected of personally using the 26.5 billion rupiah ($1.8 million) grant.”I am ready to undergo my destiny,” Nahrawi told reporters before entering a car to be taken to a holding cell after being questioned by investigators. “Please pray for me in facing this destiny.”Commissioner Alexander Marwata earlier said Nahrawi is suspected of receiving about $1 million in bribes through his personal assistant, Miftahul Ulum, who was also named a suspect, between 2014 and 2018. He said Nahrawi allegedly asked for an additional $830,000 between 2016 and 2018.FILE – Plain-clothed police officers arrest a student protester during a rally in Makassar, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, Sept. 26, 2019.His arrest came during a week of violent demonstrations by thousands of students across the country against the new law. At least three people, including two students, died and several hundred others were injured.The demonstrators are enraged that Parliament passed the law reducing the authority of the corruption commission, a key body fighting endemic graft in the country.The death of the students sparked a national outcry, prompting President Joko Widodo to express his deep condolences and order the National Police chief to conduct a thorough investigation.Clashes between protesters and police continued Friday in various cities, including in Makassar and Medan, as calm largely returned to Jakarta after three straight days of violent protests.The anti-graft commission, one of the few effective institutions in the country of nearly 270 million people, is frequently under attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.Previous casesNahrawi is the second minister in Widodo’s Cabinet to be arrested for alleged graft after former social affairs minister Idrus Marham, who was sentenced to five years in prison for involvement in a bribery case related to a coal-fired power plant project on Sumatra island.Nahrawi is also the second sports and youth minister to resign after being accused of corruption after Andi Mallarangeng, who served under former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.Mallarangeng was sentenced in 2014 to four years in jail and fined $17,000 for accepting $720,000 from a contractor for a $122 million sports complex in the West Java village of Hambalang.The cases, which underline Indonesia’s challenge in reducing graft, have threatened the credibility of Widodo, who recently won reelection after campaigning for clean governance.
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Third US Strike in Libya Targets Islamic State Terror Group
A U.S. airstrike in Libya has killed at least 10 Islamic State fighters, an official has told VOA.It is the third U.S. strike this month against the terror group in the southwestern Libyan town of Murzuq. An airstrike Tuesday killed 11 IS militants, and another last week killed eight, according to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The strikes were carried out in coordination with the Libyan Government of National Accord to “deny them the ability to conduct attacks on the Libyan people,” William Gayler, director of operations at AFRICOM, said earlier this week.The deteriorating security situation in Libya has allowed militants affiliated with IS to expand their presence in ungoverned spaces of the desert in the country’s south.Troops affiliated with the Government of National Accord have been fighting forces led by strongman Khalifa Haftar, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army. The fighting has left hundreds of people dead in Tripoli and in nearby cities and towns. In recent months, IS has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks against Libyan civilians and military personnel. But as IS has become more emboldened by the current political chaos in Libya, U.S. officials tell VOA they have also made themselves an easier target.Some reports say that between 500 and 750 IS fighters are currently active in Libya, but experts think the number is higher than what has been reported.“I would say at least 2,000 (IS) fighters operate throughout Libya,” said Mahmoud Masrati, a Libyan journalist who closely follows militant groups in the conflict-ridden country.“With the war on (IS) in Syria nearly over, many of the surviving terrorists there have managed to reach Libya. So, their number is growing significantly,” he told VOA.
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South Africans March Again in Outcry Over Rapes, Murders
Hundreds of South African government employees have rallied in the capital in the latest outcry against the country’s high rates of rape and murder of women and children.People have marched in the thousands several times in recent weeks after the rape and murder of a university student sparked an online campaign called #AmINext.More than 100 rapes are reported every day in South Africa, and President Cyril Ramaphosa has called the country “one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman.”One government worker at Friday’s march in Pretoria, Zinhle Zungu, says that “we’re also urging the men to influence other men within their societies, to say this is not how women are meant to be treated.”A torch was lit in remembrance of victims.
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Cambodian Court Charges Exiled Politicians With Rebellion
A Cambodian court has charged seven top opposition politicians with plotting armed rebellion for planning to return from self-imposed exile to seek a government change through mass peaceful protests.The Phnom Penh Municipal Court also warned that anyone who supported the plans of the Cambodia National Rescue Party to oust the government would also be risking a long prison term.The court’s announcement is the latest salvo in a political battle that has heated up after opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced plans to return from more than three years of exile on Nov. 9 to seek a “restoration of democracy.”The opposition party was dissolved by the courts ahead of last year’s general election, ensuring that an increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen continued his four decades in power.
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Russia Detains Hundreds of North Korean Fishermen
Russia said Friday it had detained more than 260 North Korean fishermen. The fishermen, who were on several vessels, were detained for poaching.Russia took the men and their vessels to Russia’s Far East port of Nakhodka. Russia says about 30,000 pounds of squid were also seized during the arrest. Last week Russia detained other North Korean fishermen on vessels in the Sea of Japan in territory that Russia claims. The fishermen clashed with Russian forces, injuring a Korean who later died from his wounds. Russia summoned a North Korean diplomat after the Sea of Japan incident to state its “serious concern” about the event.
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Hong Kong Leader’s Town Hall Fails to Persuade Protesters
Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader Carrie Lam faced her public with humility, but she may not get the response she hoped for.In a face-off with an antagonistic audience, Lam quietly took blow after blow as citizens at a town hall session Thursday vented anger at her refusal to give more concessions to end more than three months of anti-government protests that have rocked the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.After the dialogue ended, Lam remained in the building for another four hours to avoid confrontation with angry protesters outside and left only after most of them dispersed.But analysts say Lam’s hope of using the community engagement to buy some goodwill that will diffuse tensions ahead of rallies planned this weekend in the lead-up to Oct. 1 celebrations of China’s National Day is unlikely to succeed.“Carrie Lam showed some sincerity,” said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Center for China Studies at Hong Kong’s Chinese University who is not related to the Hong Kong leader. “She sat through more than two hours of humiliation and demonstrated at least willingness to hear radically different views. She has the guts to face opposition but still it’s not good enough.”Anti-government protesters gather outside the venue of the first community dialogue held by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Hong Kong, Sept. 26, 2019.Proposed law sparked protestsThe protests began in June in opposition to a proposed law that would have allowed some criminal suspects to be sent for trial on the mainland, but have since widened into an anti-China protest spurred by widespread concern that Beijing has been eroding the autonomy Hong Kong was promised when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.During the town hall, Lam vowed to work to regain public trust and shouldered the responsibility for causing political havoc with the extradition bill. Yet she offered no concrete actions she will take apart from promises to listen and address deep-seated societal woes such as a lack of affordable housing that the government believes has contributed to the protests.Lam stood her ground against demands for an independent inquiry into accusations of police brutality against protesters and the unconditional release of more than 1,500 people detained since the protests began in June. She also sidestepped calls for direct elections of the city’s leaders.“It was a good occasion for people to reduce pent-up anger, but it will not cool down emotions because there was no concrete reconciliatory moves,” Willy Lam said.Nevertheless, he said it was a good sign that the tightly guarded event proceeded without disruption and opens the possibility that future planned dialogue with the community could be more in-depth or even show results.So far the only concession the Hong Kong leader has made was a promise to completely withdraw the extradition bill, a move that may have eased tensions had it been made in June but did little to calm things when announced in September. Huge protests have continued on most weekends, as have the clashes with police that often break out after nightfall.Saturday rallyAnother major rally organized by the Civil Human Rights Front is set Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Umbrella Revolution, when protesters occupied key thoroughfares in the city for 79 days in 2014 to demand universal suffrage. That movement ended without any government concession.Protesters are also organizing “anti-totalitarianism” rallies in Hong and many cities worldwide on Sunday against what they denounced as China’s tyranny.The Front is also planning a big march Oct. 1, sparking fears of a bloody showdown that will embarrass China’s ruling Communist Party as it marks its 70th year in power with grand festivities in Beijing. The Hong Kong government has scaled down National Day celebrations by calling off an annual firework display and moving a reception indoors.Lam’s government has insisted that it can handle the conflict on its own, amid fears of Chinese military intervention. Despite the bashing Thursday, Lam vowed to continue talks with various communities, including protesters, to hear their grievances.
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