Indonesia is seeing its largest protests in two decades, amid a wave of public anger at a proposed overhaul of the country’s criminal code and a controversial move to weaken an anti-corruption body.Tens of thousands have protested this month nationwide, including in the capital, Jakarta, where police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse student protesters outside the parliament building Tuesday.Many are upset at a proposal that would outlaw or strengthen existing restrictions on abortion, sex outside marriage, blasphemy, and insulting the president or other symbols of government.Others are angry at the passage of recent legislation that threatens to diminish the independence of, and strips key powers from the country’s respected Corruption Eradication Commission.Separately, at least 30 people were killed this week during an outbreak of anti-government protests in the eastern region of Papua, where there has long been a low-level insurgency.Students occupy the parliament building in Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia, Sept. 25, 2019. Clashes between protesters and police occurred in several cities as students protested a new law that critics say cripples an anti-corruption agency.Challenge for the presidentThe developments amount to a major challenge for President Joko Widodo, who is set to begin his second five-year term in October after easily winning re-election in April.“It’s very serious,” says Devi Asmarani, Jakarta-based founder and editor of The Magdalene, an online feminist magazine.Widodo has long wanted to revise Indonesia’s criminal code, which was set up by the country’s former Dutch colonial rulers. His past attempts to do so have failed.“The whole purpose was to make the criminal code more Indonesian, because it was a legacy of the Dutch colonial era,” Asmarani says. “But instead we came up with something that criminalizes everything.”Most international headlines have focused on aspects of the bill that would outlaw sex outside marriage, and how that may impact popular international tourist destinations, such as Bali.But the proposal, which contains more than 600 articles, could impact a large section of Indonesian society.Plainclothes police officers arrest a student protester during a rally in Makassar, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, Sept. 26, 2019. Students rallied across the country against a new law that critics say cripples the anti-corruption agency.Women, gender minoritiesHuman Rights Watch called the draft criminal code “disastrous not only for women and religious and gender minorities, but for all Indonesians.”It is likely to disproportionately affect women and criminalize same-sex conduct, something Indonesia has never done, said the rights group’s Indonesia researcher, Andreas Harsono.Under the proposal, couples who have premarital sex could receive up to a year in prison. Unmarried couples who live together face up to six months in jail. Abortions would be outlawed in most circumstances.Lawmakers this week delayed the proposal after Widodo bowed to public pressure, saying more input was needed. But some fear the bill could be passed by the next session of parliament.FILE – Student protesters throw stones to riot police as a toll gate burns during a protest outside the parliament in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 24, 2019.Bill pauses, protests continueProtests have continued even after the bill was paused. In Jakarta this week, hundreds of protesters and dozens of police officers were injured when protesters tried to break into the parliament building, officials said.The protests are the largest Indonesia has seen since 1998 when mass demonstrations led to the resignation of Suharto, the military leader who had ruled the country for three decades.Some protesters now accuse the government of risking a return to Suharto’s oppressive “New Order.”The protester demands have recently widened to include an end to what they call “militarism” in Papua, the stoppage of man-made forest fires that have spread a toxic haze throughout Southeast Asia, the release of political prisoners, and other wider democratic reforms.FILE – Former Indonesian dictator Suharto sits in his home in Jakarta, Oct. 24. 2006.Reforms in jeopardySince Suharto’s downfall, Indonesia has undertaken a series of reforms. Observers say those reforms are now threatened by a combination of political polarization and the influence of and response to political Islam.“There is no question Indonesian politics have moved in a more illiberal direction in recent years,” says Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Singapore.“That is partly down to the cynical use of Islamist movements by opposition politicians to stir discontent with (Widodo),” he says. “But it is also because of actions that Jokowi himself and his appointees have taken to suppress dissent,” he said, using a nickname for the president.Widodo is seen by some as being aligned with the political elites from the Suharto era. His attempt to revise the criminal code has also received support from some conservative Muslim groups.It is those dual forces — the old, established bases of power combined with the long-simmering forces of political Islam — that pose a major threat, Asmarani says.“And I think these two forces are even more powerful when they’re married,” as with the current effort to revise the criminal code, she says.
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Month: September 2019
‘Poisoned’ Activist Zimbabwe Doctor Leaves Country for Medical Treatment
The head of Zimbabwe’s Doctors Association has left the country for urgent medical treatment in South Africa after being held captivity, during which his medical team says he was poisoned. Police tried to block his departure even though he had a court order allowing him to leave. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare for VOA News.
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General Joseph Dunford Praised for Strong Legacy as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
General Joseph Dunford, the nation’s top general as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is leaving office next week. As VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, the top military adviser to the president will be remembered for his handling of the ISIS crisis, his tenure during the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and his efforts to strengthen the military amid growing tensions with Russia and China.
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Former President Jacques Chirac Remembered
France is mourning the death of its longtime political leader Jacques Chirac, the country’s president from 1995 to 2007 who has also served as prime minister, interior minister, agriculture minister and mayor of Paris. The conservative leader and great proponent of the European Union, Chirac may be best remembered for his firm opposition to the Iraq War. He died Thursday in Paris at the age of 86. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Yellowstone Gets First Female Chief Ranger
Yellowstone, America’s first national park, has added another first.The National Park Service has named Sarah Davis to be Yellowstone’s first female chief ranger in the park’s more than 100-year history.Davis, whose official title is Chief of Resource and Visitor Protection, will begin her new job in December.The North Carolina native is a 20 year veteran of the National Park Service.Davis will supervise 275 staff members, responsible for everything from collecting park fees to law enforcement and emergency services as well as conducting search and rescue operations.
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White House Phone Call Memo Puts Kyiv on Damage Control in Brussels, Berlin
This story originated in FILE – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend the welcome ceremony in Berlin, Germany, June 18, 2019.He was referring to Zelenskiy’s response to a remark by Trump, who had criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders for failing to provide Ukraine with adequate financial support for its fight against Russian-backed separatists.“Yes, you are absolutely right, not just 100%, but 1,000%,” Zelenskiy agreed.“I talked to Angela Merkel and met her,” Zelenskiy added. “I also met and talked to [French President Emmanuel] Macron and told them that they were not doing enough about sanctions. They do not impose sanctions. They are not acting as they should for Ukraine. “Yelisieiev, who represented Ukraine in Brussels from 2010 to 2015, before serving as diplomatic adviser to former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, wrote that “Berlin — and, first and foremost, Merkel personally — along with Paris, have played a key role in the sustenance of a powerful EU economy and targeted sanctions against Russia.”Impending Normandy Format peace negotiations to end Ukraine’s war with Russia, which directly involve the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia, Yelisieiev wrote, will be “a moment of truth and a test for EU unity and solidarity with Ukraine.”British political scientist James Sherr, who now works at the Estonian Institute for International Policy, called Zelenskiy’s references to his German and French counterparts “harmful,” and “especially unfair, in this case, to Germany.”FILE – U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles are displayed in Tripoli, Libya, after being captured from the self-styled Libyan National Army, June 29, 2019.A tough spotSome observers, however, say top officials in Berlin, Brussels and Paris may be understanding of the unusually difficult circumstances Zelenskiy faced during the July 25 phone call.According to a summary of the conversation, when Zelenskiy expressed interest in buying Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States with funding from an annually allocated U.S. military aid package, Trump said, “I would like you to do us a favor though,” before asking Zelenskiy to investigate whether Biden, when he was vice president, had shut down a probe into the Ukrainian company his son worked for.Trump did not explicitly link a probe of Biden with the U.S. aid package. He had, however, ordered that the aid be placed on hold a week before the phone call, according to page 9 of the Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump face reporters during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.“It was interesting watching the press conference after the meeting in New York,” he told VOA’s Russian Service, referring to Trump’s meeting with Zelenskiy at this week’s United Nations General Assembly. “It seemed to me that President Zelenskiy was probably aware of this, because he walked a very fine line and he maintained a very neutral position about how far he was going to get into or get pulled into American politics. I think he needs to maintain that course. Otherwise, it could undo this broad political support there is in the United States for Ukraine.”European responseIn response to Trump’s allegations that EU members states have failed to provide Ukraine with adequate military aid and other forms of financial support, EU representatives pointed to official figures documenting their contributions.In statement to the Poynter Institute’s Politifact web site, EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic called the bloc’s financial support for Ukraine “the largest support package in the history of the European Union,” including more than $2.1 billion in grants, nearly $54 million to monitor the truce in Ukraine’s war-torn east, and roughly $3.8 billion in loans to develop and rebuild Ukraine’s banking, agriculture, and transit sectors.According to the figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), since 2014, Germany has been the third largest donor to Ukraine after the European Union as a whole and the United States.According to Germany’s foreign ministry, Berlin has footed roughly $1.3 billion in bilateral financial aid to Ukraine, including $595 million in development, $120 million in humanitarian aid, $546 million in loans, and an estimated $27 million in truce monitoring.Germany’s foreign ministry has also allocated an additional $218 million to Ukraine via EU aid packages.The United States says it has provided $1.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. That assistance has expanded since Trump took office, including weaponry like Javelin missiles.According to the Associated Press, the State Department has prepared $141 million in funding, of which roughly $115 million will support systems and equipment contained in the Pentagon aid package, along with $10 million for equipment and training directed at maritime security, and $16.5 million for maritime security in the Black Sea.
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Relations With US ‘Reset,’ Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Says
Pakistan’s foreign minister said Thursday that relations between Islamabad and Washington were improving and he was hopeful progress could be made on critical regional issues.
“I think the last year since this government came into office, there has been somewhat of a reset and things have improved,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said of the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was sworn in in August. “There has been more interaction at the highest level; we’ve had two very good meetings with President Trump.”
Khan met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. They had met previously at the White House in July.
“I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Khan,” Trump told reporters before their Monday meeting. He added that he trusted him and that he felt “in a positive way” about Pakistan. Previous criticismHe didn’t always express such a rosy opinion. He slammed the previous government on Twitter in January 2018, saying it had given the U.S. “nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.” He cut hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid to the country last year, saying Islamabad was not doing enough to fight militants in border areas near Afghanistan.
“We’ve been working closely with them, pushing forward the peace process in Afghanistan,” Qureshi told VOA, referring to the Trump administration. Another area where there is potential for cooperation is trade, “and trade, I think, maybe is one of the most important,” Trump said Monday. “We’re going to increase trade with Pakistan by a tremendous margin.”
As for the lost financial assistance, Qureshi was cautiously optimistic.
“We haven’t really spoken about it, but I’m sure as a better understanding takes place, this will be resolved,” he said. FILE – Imran Khan, prime minister of Pakistan, speaks to reporters during a news conference at United Nations headquarters, Sept. 24, 2019.Khan is also spreading his diplomatic wings, offering himself as an interlocutor for the United States in de-escalating tensions with Iran and its dealings with the Taliban.
Khan met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this week. “The message was that we need to find a way forward,” Qureshi said of what his boss communicated to Rouhani.
As for the talks between the U.S. and the Taliban that collapsed earlier this month, the Pakistani minister said it was disappointing.
“According to all sides, the deal had been struck. The agreement was there. It was initialed. Both sides had even agreed to a date when a deal was to be signed. Then the next phase of the intra-Afghan dialogue was to start in Oslo,” he recounted. “We still feel there is no other way but to resume the dialogue, because there is no military solution to the Afghan problem. The only way forward is a negotiated political solution.” Jammu and Kashmir
Friday, Khan will address the General Assembly and he is likely to focus on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
India’s Aug. 5 decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has led to a security crackdown and communications blackout in the territory and a dangerous escalation between nuclear neighbors Pakistan and India.
“He expects the international community to respond in time before there is a catastrophe,” Qureshi said of his prime minister.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address the assembly on Friday.
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Suicide Rate in Active Duty US Service Members Rises Significantly
The rate of suicide among active duty service members has increased significantly over the past five years, according to a Pentagon report released on Thursday.The report comes after three U.S. sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush died by apparent suicide last week, incidents the Navy has said are separate and unrelated.The Pentagon’s first annual suicide report said that the rate of suicide deaths among active duty service members was 24.8 per 100,000 service members, up from just under 20 per 100,000 in 2013. In 2018, 541 service members died by suicide, the report said, adding that the most common method of suicide was with firearms.”We are not going in the right direction,” Elizabeth Van Winkle, director of the office of force resiliency, told reporters.During the briefing, the Pentagon took the unusual step of advising reporters on how to cover suicides, such as not calling it a “growing problem” or “skyrocketing” because it could cause contagion.U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that the military was caught up in “what some call a national epidemic of suicide among our youth.””I wish I could tell you we have an answer to prevent further, future suicides in the Armed Services,” Esper said. “We don’t.”
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Sierra Leone Leader: Add Africa to UN Security Council Now
The leader of Sierra Leone demanded Thursday that the U.N. Security Council reconfigure itself to add permanent representation for Africa, saying the continent’s patience is being tested'' by its long-standing exclusion. Africa’s patience is being tested,” he said.
Julius Maada Bio, president of the West African nation, used blunt words in his annual U.N. General Assembly speech to amplify calls by African countries that they have a more robust voice on the body that represents the most powerful political and global-security authority of the United Nations.
Bio, who also advocated for two additional nonpermanent seats to be held by Africans, was anything but indirect.
For decades, there have been calls to expand the U.N.’s most powerful body. It has 10 members elected for two-year terms and five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Competing national and regional interests have prevented council reform so far.
Africa has no permanent seat on the council, and three nonpermanent seats are allocated for the continent of more than 1.2 billion people. ‘Urgent action’That’s not acceptable to Bio, who oversees a nation still recovering from a brutal civil war that ended in 2002 and only now beginning to maintain enduring peacetime institutions.
The legitimacy and effectiveness of the Security Council's decisions, as well as the relevance of the United Nations, will continue to be questioned if urgent action is not taken to make the council more broadly representative,'' Bio said. Africa’s demand for two permanent seats with all the rights and prerogatives of current members, including the right of veto, and two additional nonpermanent seats is a matter of common justice and the right to have an equal say in decision-making on issues pertaining to international peace and security,” Bio said.
This long-standing injustice ... ought to be addressed.'' We continue to witness an historic, unjust underrepresentation of Africa, which was still ruled by colonial powers when the U.N. came into existence and the Security Council established,” said Michael D. Higgins, Ireland’s president.
There's little doubt that Africa's more than 50 nations would benefit from a permanent voice on the council. They have long struggled in global forums as they try to commandeer resources and attention in the face of behemoth nations whose economic and political dramas suck the oxygen out of the room at meetings like the General Assembly.
Still, the voices for Africa's increased representation have increased over time — and not all of them are African.
Africans must be allowed to have a fair say in council decisions affecting their own continent,'' Higgins said Wednesday. Ireland is running for a 2021-22 council seat itself. Different approachesWe reiterate the need to increase the number of permanent members of the Security Council, including in particular Africa and South America,” Angolan President Joao Lourenco said in his speech.
African nations have taken different approaches to increased Security Council representation. Some, like Kenya, vie for an upcoming nonpermanent seat. Others are more keyed toward establishing a permanent seat for the continent and its nations and interests.
The current composition, he said, which was largely built around the winning powers after World War II, does no longer reflect the need for a fairer global geostrategic balance.'' Time has come for the Security Council to be representative, democratic and accountable to all member states, irrespective of status,” Edgar Lungu said.
Zambia's president echoed those sentiments.
Given that Africa constitutes the second-largest bloc of the U.N. membership,'' he said,proposals to reform the Security Council should heed Africa’s call.”
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Pompeo: No US-North Korea Talks Possible by End of September
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday the United States has not been able to arrange working-level meetings with North Korea in September, but Washington is ready to meet and believes it is important to do so.Negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have stalled since a failed second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February.”We have see these public statements that we were hopeful that there would be working level meetings by the end of this month … we’ve not been able to make those happen and we don’t have a date yet when we will be able to get together,” Pompeo said at a news conference in New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly this week.North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is not attending the annual gathering of world leaders, having done so for the past three years.”Our team is prepared to meet with them, I think it’s important that we do,” Pompeo said.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they meet at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019.There were opportunities to advance the objectives set out in first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in June 2018, he said. “We hope the phone rings and that we get that call and we get that chance to find a place and a time that work for the North Koreans and that we can deliver on the commitments that Charman Kim and President Trump made.”North Korea said this month it was willing to restart nuclear talks with the United States in late September but warned that dealings between the sides could end unless Washington adopted a fresh approach.The talks have yet to resume despite Trump’s decision to fire his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, who upset North Korea by demanding that it should unilaterally hand over all of its nuclear weapons.The concessions the United States has so far offered North Korea publicly have fallen far short of its expectations. In particular, Washington has given no indication of any willingness to accede to Pyongyang’s main demand for an easing of punishing sanctions.
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‘Poisoned’ Zimbabwe Doctor Leaves Country for Treatment
A doctor in Zimbabwe who was abducted and allegedly tortured for leading a doctors strike left the country late Thursday for what his medical team calls “urgent” treatment in South Africa.Dr. Peter Magombeyi, acting president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, had been receiving care in Harare for a week since his release from captivity. Friends and colleagues suspect he was poisoned during his five-day abduction and now has liver damage.Kingstone Magombeyi, the father of Dr. Peter Magombeyi, acting president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, speaks in Harare, Sept. 26, 2019. (C. Mavhunga/VOA)His father, Kingstone Magombeyi, had been staying with him at the hospital since his release last Thursday.”I am very happy for that step taken by the medical practitioners, am very happy on that one, because there are some areas whereby l feel he needs further medication,” Kingstone Magombeyi said.Peter Magombeyi’s departure for South Africa only came after the head of the High Court, George Chiweshe, chastised police who had defied a court order and blocked the doctor from leaving. Monica Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe’s Information Minister, maintains police interfered with Magombeyi’s departure for safety and health reasons.Monica Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe’s Information Minister, addresses the media in Harare, Sept. 25, 2019. (C. Mavhunga/VOA)”The police are keen to apprehend the alleged abductors so as to bring them to justice and protect the public,” Mutsvangwa said. “They therefore need the court’s assistance in delaying Dr. Magombeyi’s departure to South Africa, before him giving the vital leads they need to advance their investigations. It is the duty of the police to protect the safety of all its citizens.”While Magombeyi has left Zimbabwe for medical treatment, his association says doctors are not calling off their three-week strike.His colleagues say the outspoken doctor was abducted for calling the strike on Sept. 3 to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to raise doctors’ salaries, currently equal to less than $200 per month.
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Sudan Closes Borders With Libya, Central African Republic
Sudan’s transitional government ordered the immediate closure of the nation’s borders with Libya and Central African Republic on Thursday, citing unspecified security and economic “dangers”.A statement by the Sovereign Transitional Council said vehicles had been illegally crossing the borders with the two nations, which have both been mired in violence. The council did not give further details about what the “dangers” were.The announcement followed a meeting between the council and the government of South Darfur State, part of Sudan’s western Darfur region that has suffered from violence since 2003 when a conflict erupted between mainly non-Arab tribes and the Arab-led national government of ousted President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Sudan has often complained about arms trafficked through its borders with Libya and Central African Republic. Conflicts in both nations have left their governments with little or no control of security over swathes of their territory.The statement did not mention Chad, which has a long border with Sudan’s Darfur region. Chad and Sudan have security pacts in place and joint forces patrol the boundary.
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US Vaping Illness Count Jumps to 805, Deaths Rise to 12
Hundreds more Americans have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 12, health officials said Thursday.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 805 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, up 52% from the 530 reported a week ago. At this point, illnesses have occurred in almost every state.The confirmed deaths include two in California, two in Kansas, and one each in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Oregon. The Mississippi death was announced by officials in that state Thursday.Over the summer, health officials in a few states began noticing reports of people developing severe breathing illnesses, with the lungs apparently reacting to a caustic substance. The only common factor in the illnesses was that the patients had all recently vaped.As a national investigation started and broadened, reports have increased dramatically.It’s not clear how many of the 275 added cases occurred in the last week, and how many are being logged long after they happened. The CDC has not released details on when symptoms began in each case.The agency’s count includes only illnesses that have met certain criteria. Other illnesses are also being investigated.Most patients have said they vaped products containing THC, the ingredient that produces a high in marijuana. The investigation has been increasingly focused on products containing THC, with some attention on ingredients added to marijuana oil.But some patients have said they vaped only nicotine. Currently, health officials are advising people not to use any vaping product until the cause is better understood.
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New Spanish Poll Points to Another Election Stalemate
Spain’s second election this year is unlikely to break the stalemate between the main right and left-wing parties, with acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party falling even shorter of a full majority than in the first, a poll showed on Thursday.Sanchez set the election for Nov. 10 — the country’s fourth in four years — after failing to reach a deal with the far-left Unidas Podemos.
The survey by GAD3 for ABC newspaper put the Socialists on 27.2%, down from 28.7% in the previous parliamentary election in April, which would give them 121 seats in the 350-seat house, two fewer than before. Podemos also fell in the poll.
Spain has not had a stable government for years, with mainstream parties and newcomers that have appeared over the past five years struggling to strike deals.
A separate poll by state-run CIS pollster showed that almost half of those surveyed consider politicians to be one of the biggest problems in the election-weary country, which has not been ruled by more than one party at a time since the return of democracy in the late 1970s.
According to the poll, a majority of Spaniards want politicians to create a “culture of agreements and deals” to avoid stalemates, while a third would like to change the constitution for that purpose.
In the GED3 survey, the main opposition People’s Party rose to 21.4% of voting intentions and was projected to win 97 seats, after getting just 16.7% of the vote in April, but that came mostly at the expense of center-right Ciudadanos, which fell to 11.3% from 15.9%.
The right, including the far-right Vox, which remained relatively stable on 9.6%, would get 150 seats altogether, three more than in April, but behind the combined three left-wing parties, which would have 164 seats including a new splinter party, Mas Pais (More Country).
Mas Pais would get 5.9%, or nine seats, according to GED3. Podemos would lose eight seats, having fallen to 12.4% of voting intentions from 14.3% in the April election.
GAD3 surveyed 1,207 people between Set. 23 and 25 and the poll’s margin of error is 2.8%.
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UK Royals Give ‘Boaty McBoatface’ Polar Ship its Official Name
Prince William and his wife Kate formally named a new British polar research ship Sir David Attenborough on Thursday, a more dignified title than the public’s choice of Boaty McBoatface.The humorous moniker was the most popular suggestion in an
online poll that went viral in 2016, but the government opted to
honor the naturalist and broadcaster Attenborough, who has
become a campaigner on climate issues in his 10th decade.
As a consolation prize, the name Boaty McBoatface was
instead given to a small, yellow autonomous underwater vehicle,
capable of traveling long distances under the sea ice to
collect data, which forms part of the ship’s research equipment.Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Sir David Attenborough during the naming ceremony for the new polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, Sept. 26, 2019.The ceremony to formally name the Sir David Attenborough took place at a shipyard in Birkenhead, northwest England, where
the giant ice-breaker was built.
Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, pressed a yellow button to
activate a lever that smashed a bottle of champagne on the
ship’s hull, in accordance with maritime tradition.
Her husband Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth,
said in a speech that the state-of-the-art vessel would help
expand global knowledge of the polar oceans and the impact of
climate change on them.
“As last week’s climate protests the world over, and yesterday’s report on our oceans and frozen regions demonstrated, there has never been a more important moment for this ship to get to work,” he said.
Ushering Attenborough to speak just after him, William made
clear his preference for the official name.
“It is my immense privilege and relief to welcome Sir David
Attenborough, rather than Boaty McBoatface, to speak,” he said.
The 93-year-old naturalist said it was the greatest possible
honour to have the ship named after him.
“Great problems require great research and facts to solve
them, and that’s what this astonishing ship will be here to do,”
he said.
Operated by the publicly funded British Antarctic Survey,
the Sir David Attenborough is 129 meters long and can break ice
up to one meter thick at three knots (5.6 km per hour). It
requires a crew of about 30, and can carry up to 60 scientists
and support staff.
It will conduct ice trials in the northern hemisphere from
March 2020, and is scheduled to enter full service from October
next year.
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Pelosi Alleges Trump Tried to Cover up Effort to Pressure Ukraine
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday charged that President Donald Trump had engaged in an effort to cover up an attempt he made to pressure Ukraine into investigating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.Pelosi, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, also said an impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats would focus narrowly on the Ukraine episode and that other instances in which Trump may have abused the power of his office would be considered later.
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How House Impeachment Inquiry Could Sorely Undermine Trump’s Trade Agenda
The announcement this week that U.S. President Donald Trump will face an impeachment inquiry led by House Democrats will greatly complicate Trump’s efforts to rewrite global trade agreements, experts say, as both his foreign counterparts and domestic political allies assess his chances of political survival.“This is a giant cloud over the administration’s ability both to conduct foreign affairs and to get legislation passed,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.An impeachment proceeding will likely dominate the attention of lawmakers in Washington, experts say, making it difficult to see how the administration’s trade initiatives that require congressional approval will get passed.It will also set foreign governments — most notably China, which has another round of trade talks with the U.S. scheduled for next month — scrambling to assess the president’s chances of finishing out his current term, much less winning reelection in 2020.FILE – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and other U.S. officials meet with China’s Vice Premier Liu He and other Chinese officials in Washington, Feb. 21, 2019.How the situation will ultimately resolve itself remains so unclear that most experts contacted by VOA were unwilling to speculate.Lester Ross, the partner-in-charge of the WilmerHale law firm’s offices in Beijing, said only, “Political vulnerability of the leader of any government is likely to weaken such leader and country’s diplomatic and negotiating leverage.”Another trade attorney, asked what he thought the impact of an impeachment inquiry would be on the president’s multiple ongoing trade initiatives, responded by emailing a Trump pushes trade agendaThe uproar didn’t stop Trump from trying to make progress on his trade agenda. On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, he and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed an agreement that would lower Japanese agricultural tariffs and U.S. industrial tariffs, and establish new rules for digital trade between the two countries.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump pose with a joint statement the two leaders made during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.Speaking to reporters, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer characterized the agreement as “hugely important, particularly for American agriculture and for digital farmers,” and said it vindicates the president’s approach of negotiating trade deals bilaterally, rather than joining multi-nation pacts.The limited nature of the agreement, which was negotiated as a precursor to a larger deal, meant that it could take place without the approval of Congress. However, the impeachment proceeding makes the prospect of a larger deal, which would require lawmakers’ assent, less likely.The looming impeachment inquiry might mean that the deal Trump inked with Abe is his last trade success for the foreseeable future.His attempt to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took the form of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, has been hung up in the House of Representatives for months.Lighthizer said failure to pass the bill would be a “catastrophe” for the U.S. economy, and expressed confidence that it would be enacted.“On the merits, this is demonstrably good for the people of the United States. And I think, for that reason, it will pass,” he said. “I believe in the system, and I think we’re going to have a bilateral win. And I think it’s going to be good for the economy, for the American people, for Republicans, but also good for the Democrats.”But its approval by Congress, already FILE – Magazines featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on the trade war are on sale at a roadside bookstand in Hong Kong, July 4, 2019.In a speech to the U.N. on Tuesday, Trump did not moderate his position, describing Chinese trade practices in harsh language. He said that since being admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001, “Not only has China declined to adopt promised reforms, it has embraced an economic model dependent on massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation, product dumping, forced technology transfers, and the theft of intellectual property and also trade secrets on a grand scale.”Trump’s strategy in imposing an escalating series of tariffs has been to force China to the negotiating table in a weakened position, hoping to wring concessions from Beijing. But the specter of impeachment, experts said, will force Chinese leaders to reassess both Trump’s ability to follow through on future threats and the viability of any deals struck with a leader who may not be in office much longer.With Republicans in control of the Senate, the prospects of Trump actually being ousted in an impeachment trial are highly unlikely. Yet there is no way of knowing how an impeachment proceeding will impact the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.“Their question will be, ‘If we do a deal with Trump, will the new administration led by a Democrat — if a Democrat is elected — then just want to come back to the table with more demands?’” Hufbauer said. “And if that’s going to be the prospect, why not just hold off the big concessions until 2021?”Lighthizer, while expressing optimism Wednesday about upcoming talks with China, seemed to concede that continuation of the status quo is both a possibility and an outcome that the administration wouldn’t regret.“My instructions are, ‘If you can get a great deal for the American people, do it. If you can’t, we have a perfectly adequate situation,’” he said.FILE – China Shipping Company containers are stacked at the Virginia International’s terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia, May 10, 2019.Hufbauer, who recently traveled to China and will be returning there next month, said that he believes Chinese officials were already “resigned” to the idea that there would be no settlement of the trade fight in the near term.
“I think their goal is to keep it from getting worse,” he said.Trump’s moves on trade have been unpredictable in the past, and it’s far from clear whether he will see more benefit in further disrupting trade relations with China or in easing them.Hufbauer said he sees at least the possibility that circumstances will lead both Trump and China to see benefit in some sort of de-escalation.“Some gestures in October are certainly possible, but they would be modest gestures,” he said. “I would not rule out that he, in this October meeting, pulls out some olive branches, and that the Chinese pull out some olive branches.”
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Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia to Jointly Launch Anti-Islamophobia TV
Leaders of Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia have decided to jointly launch an English language television channel dedicated to confronting Islamophobia and removing “misperceptions” about Islam.Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the decision Thursday after his trilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.The three-nation channel would offer Muslims a dedicated media presence to help in “setting the record straight” on Islam and fighting the phenomenon of Islamophobia internationally.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waits to address the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2019.Skeptics, however, questioned whether a dedicated TV outlet can help defuse instances of Islamophobic tendencies in the West, noting many Islamic television channels already exist and are responding to anti-Muslim propaganda and hate.”The issue is much deeper, and merely a TV channel cannot be sufficient,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, the director of Islamabad-based independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). “Without a robust intellectual foundation, a TV channel would have no worth, except a reactionary propaganda tool.”On Wednesday, Pakistan and Turkey also cohosted a high-level roundtable discussion at the U.N. on countering hate speech.Khan and Erdogan, while addressing the event, underscored the need for putting in place effective measures against incidents of religion-based discrimination, especially facing Muslims in Western countries.”Muslims living in Western countries are now increasingly subjected to Islamophobia which is going to have consequences unless it is addressed because we all know that marginalization of any community leads to radicalization,” Khan told the group.The Pakistani prime minister insisted neither Islam nor any other religion has anything to do with terrorism. But he lamented that Muslims, especially in Western societies, are being subjected to Islamophobia because some leaders in those countries routinely associate terrorism with Islam.”How is a man in the street in New York suppose to tell who is a radical Muslim and who is a moderate Muslim? How can anyone tell? So, all Muslims are branded [terrorists]?” Khan asked. He said all societies, be it Muslim or Christian or Jewish, have religious fanatics.Erdogan, while addressing the roundtable, noted that Muslims are subjected to hate speech, saying Islam is a religion of peace and linking it with terror is an “immoral slander.”
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Hong Kong Leader Holds Town Hall as Protesters Chant Slogans
Scores of protesters chanted slogans outside a stadium in Hong Kong where embattled city leader Carrie Lam held a town hall session on Thursday aimed at cooling down months of demonstrations for greater democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.The community dialogue with 150 participants, selected randomly from over 20,000 applicants, was the first since massive protests began in June sparked by an extradition bill that the government has now promised to withdraw.Protesters have refused to stop demonstrating until other demands including direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability are met.Riot police carried equipment including shields, pepper spray and tear gas canisters into Queen Elizabeth Stadium in the Wan Chai area. Authorities also set up X-ray machines and metal detectors to ensure participants did not bring banned items inside such as umbrellas, helmets and gas masks — gear used by protesters.Protesters gather outside Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong, Sept. 26, 2019, chanting slogans outside the venue as embattled leader Carrie Lam began a town hall session aimed at cooling down months of pro-democracy demonstrations.The security measures came as hundreds of students and others formed human chains at roads near the stadium, chanting slogans expressing their demands. Some protesters later marched outside the stadium and continued chanting slogans as the dialogue began.In her opening remarks, Lam expressed hope that the two-hour dialogue would help bring change for a better Hong Kong. The session, broadcast live, was the first in a series of dialogues toward reconciliation, she said.Critics called the dialogue a political show to appease protesters before major rallies planned this weekend ahead of China’s National Day celebrations on Oct. 1.“This is not just a PR show but aimed to bring change” so Hong Kong can be a better country, Lam said. She said the dialogue was to identify deep-seated economic and social problems that contributed to the protests, now entering a fourth month.The protests have turned increasingly violent in recent weeks as demonstrators lobbed gasoline bombs at government buildings, vandalized public facilities and set street fires, prompting police to respond with tear gas and water cannons. More than 1,500 people, including children as young as 12, have been detained.The extradition bill, which would have allowed some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, is viewed by many as an example of growing Chinese interference in the city’s autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework introduced when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center on the stage, attends a community dialogue at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong, Sept. 26, 2019.Many protesters say the dialogue is meaningless if the government refuses to accept their remaining demands.“To Hong Kong people, it’s a joke,” said Bonnie Leung of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized several massive rallies. “If she really wants to communicate with Hong Kong people, all she has to do is to open her door, we are right outside.”The Front has received police approval for a rally on Saturday and has applied for another major march on Oct. 1. Police banned the last two rallies planned by the group, but protesters turned up anyway and the peaceful gatherings later degenerated into chaos.China has accused the U.S. and other foreign powers of being behind the riots.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang warned on Thursday warned the U.S. Congress to halt work on a bill that proposes economic sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials found to have suppressed democracy in Hong Kong.The foreign affairs committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the Hong Kong Human Rights Acts on Wednesday, setting the stage for votes in both chambers.Geng said at a daily briefing in Beijing that the move was an endorsement of Hong Kong’s radical forces, and accused Washington of seeking to “mess up Hong Kong and contain China’s development.”“We will forcefully fight back against any U.S. attempt to harm China’s interests,” he said.
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1st Wave of Migrants Evacuated from Libya Heads to Rwanda
The first evacuation flight of refugees and asylum-seekers is set to arrive in Rwanda in the latest effort to divert and care for thousands of Africans whose efforts to reach Europe fail.The East African nation’s agreement to take in 500 people who have been trapped in crowded Libyan detention centers has raised questions and concerns. It is not clear how long they will be held in Rwanda, whether they will be offered refugee status and what happens if no other country agrees to take them permanently.The United Nations refugee agency says the first group of 75 people is arriving later Thursday.
The Rwanda option emerged after various European Union-funded efforts to stem the dramatically slowing tide of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
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Kurz Favored to Return as Chancellor in Austria Election
Austrians vote Sunday in an election meant to restore political normality after a scandal that brought down ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party in May.The 33-year-old conservative is strongly favored to return to power, but it is unclear whether Kurz would revive the same coalition with the nationalists whose troubles finished off his previous government or tack leftward to seek an alliance with new partners.The country of 8.8 million people in the heart of Europe has been run by a non-partisan interim administration under Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, a former head of its top court, since the drama in spring. The election offers a test of the far-right party’s recovery from the scandal that forced out its leader of the past 14 years, Heinz-Christian Strache.FILE – Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, center, addresses the media during press conference at the sport ministry in Vienna, Austria, May 18, 2019.Strache resigned following the publication of a video in which he appeared to offer favors to a purported Russian investor. The video prompted Kurz to end his governing coalition, in which Strache was vice chancellor. Other parties then ganged up in parliament to remove Kurz in a no-confidence vote.Four months later, polls show a big lead for Kurz’s center-right People’s Party. The Freedom Party is vying for second place with the center-left Social Democrats, which led many of post-World War II Austria’s governing coalitions but are struggling under leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner.
A parliamentary majority for a realistic coalition led by anyone but Kurz appears unlikely. Though he may be able to choose between two or more potential coalitions, he could find they all have drawbacks.Recent pollsKurz, who rose to power in 2017 after focusing heavily on restricting migration, has kept his intentions vague in a campaign that has centered firmly on him personally and lacked major policy discussions. He insists that he expects a narrower outcome than polls predict and told supporters at a recent rally in Baden, near Vienna, that “being No. 1 is not enough” in this election.FILE – Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, of the Austrian People’s Party, OEVP, addresses the media during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, May 20, 2019.”I guarantee you: when there is a majority against us then this majority will be used,” he said.That may help rally supporters, but doesn’t change his position as the overwhelming favorite. The Social Democrats under Rendi-Wagner “never managed to really enter the race for the position of chancellor,” said Thomas Hofer, a leading political analyst.”If the polls are even halfway correct then there will be a big gap between first and second place, maybe even the biggest gap in the history of the republic,” he said. In this campaign, “if there’s an issue, then it’s not really a factual matter but the question who should govern with whom.”Recent polls put support for Kurz’s party at 33% or 34%, with the Social Democrats and Freedom Party at between 20% and 23% each. They show the Greens set to return to parliament with 11-13% after losing their seats in the last election two years ago, and the broadly liberal but pro-business Neos at around 8%.Kurz’s People’s Party won the 2017 election with 31.5% of the vote, with the Social Democrats taking 26.9% and the Freedom Party 26%. The latter appears to have lost some voters with this year’s scandal but kept a very substantial core of support.Coalition options The Freedom Party is angling to return to government with Kurz. A recent election ad even showed new leader Norbert Hofer undergoing relationship counseling with an actor portraying Kurz and declaring that “often it just takes a little shove to carry on together.”FILE – Austrian Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl, of the right-wing Freedom Party, addresses the media during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, May 20, 2019.Kurz speaks well of Hofer, who is relatively moderate at least in tone. But those ambitions could be complicated by animosity between Kurz’s party and Herbert Kickl, the Freedom Party’s hard-line parliamentary caucus leader and Kurz’s former interior minister — a favorite with grassroots members.Kurz told ORF television last weekend that “as good as the substantive work was” in the last coalition with the Freedom Party, “at the same time it was difficult with rat poems and other individual cases.” That was an allusion to an incident this year in which a local Freedom Party official published a poem comparing migrants with rats, and various other incidents involving party members.In addition, Strache now faces an investigation for suspected breach of trust over the alleged billing of private expenses to his party. He denies any wrongdoing.On election night, Kurz could face “the choice between pestilence, cholera and Ebola,” said Thomas Hofer, the analyst. A new alliance with the Freedom Party would be feasible in terms of policies but would be unstable, he said, as would a potential three-way alliance with the Greens and Neos.Then there would be the option of a “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats — a familiar combination that governed Austria for much of its post-war history. Kurz helped end a Social Democrat-led “grand coalition” in 2017, and forming a new one would force him “to write off his story of change, which made him popular in the first place,” Hofer said.Kurz has kept his options open, telling ORF that “every democratically elected party can potentially be in a government.”
“My favorite option is to form a coalition that does good work for Austria, in which we can continue along the path of change, we can carry out the necessary reforms, in which we don’t argue and work for the country,” he said.And if a stable coalition isn’t possible, “a minority government is also an option.”
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Surge in Migration Throws Greek Islands Back Into Crisis
There’s no room left at Europe’s largest refugee camp.New arrivals on the Greek island of Lesbos have to fend for themselves outside its barbed wire perimeter in a maze of tents, each sprayed with a number in black paint.Afghan migrant Ismutallah Heideri lives in the “800s section,” reached by zig-zagging through washing lines, power cords precariously fanning out from a circuit box, and children playing barefoot on the stony ground.He has spent the last 30 nights curled up inside a small tent kept immaculately tidy with his wife, 4-year-old daughter, and two sons, who are 1 and 13.“Nothing makes sense here,” he said in a voice that shook at times. “We are all suffering.”As Heideri reached Lesbos in late August, the rate of arrivals hit the highest level since a European Union crackdown on migration three years ago.Lesbos and other Greek islands facing Turkey’s mainland were used as a physical barrier to Europe’s mainland _ set up with camps, international coast guard patrols, and new restrictive travel rules.A year ago, Greece quietly relaxed those rules to ease severe camp overcrowding and calm tempers among islanders hurt by the crisis’s impact on tourism. Thousands of asylum-seekers were ferried to the mainland where the state-run camp network was expanded.But conditions on the islands have steadily worsened and patrols are still unable to stop migrants fleeing war and poverty.Moria refugee camp on Lesbos was built to house 3,000 people but currently hosts a record 12,000 with 7,000 on the hillside sprawl where pre-winter conditions are becoming increasingly desperate.“For every meal, for every official paper, for everything here, we have to stand in line. For the showers, to use the toilets, to get food, I have to stand in line for eight hours every day,” said Heideri, a 40-year-old construction worker who initially fled to Iran but couldn’t enroll his children in school there.“It doesn’t matter where we end up. I just want to live somewhere legally, be safe, and see my kids go to school.”The spike in arrivals has added strain in ties between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, which are already at odds over natural gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean and other long-standing disputes.Lesbos, Greece’s third-largest island, is a magnet for migrant traffickers along the Turkish coast who aim dinghies at the island’s flat northern coastline or at the seafront lights of its international airport.At the height of the crisis in 2015, as wars raged in Syria and Iraq, 211,000 made the 12.5- kilometer (eight-mile) crossing in a single month.NATO deployed ships in the eastern Aegean Sea the following year and the number of monthly arrivals on Lesbos fell sharply to 3,080 by September 2016 and has remained fairly stable since, according to data provided by the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.That rate jumped this summer, with September arrivals at 7,712. Lesbos has again become the busiest entry point in Europe.Afghans make up the largest group of new arrivals, followed by migrants from Syria, Congo, and Iraq.Moria was officially closed to new arrivals over the weekend, and the government has promised it would move thousands more to the mainland and use military resources to support coast guard patrols.But local officials are pressing for a more ambitious shift in policy.“About one in every six people on this island got here by illegal means and the situation has become untenable,” Constantinos Moutzouris, regional governor for the North Aegean islands, told The Associated Press.“We are asking for the evacuation of the islands and for a number to remain that is proportionate to the population (of Lesbos),” he said.“The people who come here are under intense strain, having crossed continents, traveled with young children, and covered large distances on foot. They cannot be massed together on a small area of land. Winter is coming and that always makes conditions worse.”In response to a question from the AP, European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said the EU would consider any request by Athens for additional support.“I’m not aware of any change in policy on the Greek side,” she said. “We’ve noted with concern that a large number of arrivals have been reported in Lesbos over the past week, which is undoubtedly putting additional pressure on a system that is already under great strain.”
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China Demands US Drop Latest Sanctions Over Iran Oil
China has demanded that Washington drop sanctions imposed on Chinese companies and executives for transporting Iranian oil.
The foreign ministry on Thursday criticized the use of U.S. laws against Chinese companies and called on the Trump administration to “immediately correct the wrong approach.”A ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said China’s dealings with Iran are in line with international law “and must be respected.”The penalties announced Wednesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo apply to six Chinese companies and their chief executives. They include units of major Chinese state-owned companies.Geng said Washington “disregards the legitimate rights and interests of all parties and wields the stick of sanctions at will. It tramples on the basic norms governing international relations.”
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US Dating Sites Sued, Accused of Luring Subscribers With Fake Interests
The Federal Trade Commission is suing the parent company behind dating sites Match.com, Tinder, PlentyOfFish and OKCupid for fraudulently enticing people to subscribe to its service.The FTC says Match Group allowed consumers who had created a profile for the sites but had not yet subscribed to receive emails expressing interest that Match Group knew were likely from fake accounts.The emails told the reader that someone was interested in their profile and allowed them access to a link that led them to a subscription page.”We believe that Match.com conned people into paying for subscriptions via messages the company knew were from scammers,” said Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.Nearly 500,000 people subscribed to Match.com after receiving fake messages between June 2016 and May 2018, the FTC complaint said.It also accused the company of making it hard for consumers to cancel their subscriptions or dispute charges.Match Group disputed the FTC’s charges.”The FTC has misrepresented internal emails and relied on cherry-picked data to make outrageous claims,” the company said.
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