The FBI says it is investigating more than 2,000 cases tied to groups designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations, a figure that reflects the persistent threat posed by outfits such as al-Qaida and Hezbollah.There are currently 68 individual groups on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, the vast majority jihadi outfits such as al-Qaida. The designation allows the U.S. to freeze the groups’ and their members’ assets and investigate their activities. The FBI’s renewed focus on foreign terrorist organizations and their members partly reflects the quiet resurgence in recent years of al-Qaida, said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. “While the primary focus was ISIS the last few years, al-Qaida used that time to bide their time and build up a network,” Hughes said. “And so, these cases are still out there, and they’re going to have to look at them. It’s not just ISIS — there are al-Qaida, its affiliates, and then you have groups like Hezbollah.”Out of about 5,000 terrorism cases under investigation, approximately 850 are focused on domestic terrorism such as far-right violence, while the rest have a nexus to international terrorism, the FBI said in response to a query from Voice of America. The international terrorism investigations are in turn divided into about 1,000 cases each of so-called homegrown violent extremism and Islamic State. The rest are made up of “thousands of other cases associated with foreign terrorist organizations like al-Qaida and Hezbollah,” the FBI said.An FBI agent gives out information to members of the media outside of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, April 27, 2019, in Poway, Calif. Several people were injured in a shooting at the synagogue. The FBI did not provide historical data on terrorism investigations, making it difficult to assess the aggregate figure. However, the number in several categories, including homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism, has hovered around 1,000 cases in recent years, according to FBI officials.In the post-9/11 era “they’re obligated to open and investigate every plausible threat,” said David Gomez, a former FBI special agent and terrorism investigator.The vast majority of the investigations do not lead to prosecution, Gomez noted, adding that the FBI opens investigations for both intelligence-gathering and prosecution purposes.The FBI’s three largest field offices — in Washington, New York and Los Angeles — are probably responsible for as much as 80% of the investigations, Gomez said.
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Month: October 2019
Trump Accused of Attempting to Interfere in British Election
Accusations of attempted interference in a foreign election are being leveled at U.S. President Donald Trump after he phoned into a British radio station Thursday.During the on-air discussion with Brexit Party head Nigel Farage, Trump praised British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a fantastic man who is “the exact right guy for the times.”Trump urged Farage to cooperate with Johnson, leader of the Conservative Party, ahead of Britain’s Dec. 12 national election, in which Brexit is a core issue.”If you and he get together, it’s, you know, an unstoppable force,” Trump declared on LBC Radio.FILE – Britain’s Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage leaves a TV studio in Westminster, London, Britain, Sept. 25, 2019.Farage, who campaigned for the 2016 referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union, is a candidate in the upcoming snap election as the head of his party.The election campaign in Britain has not officially begun. The latest polling data show Johnson’s Tories with a comfortable lead over the opposition Labour Party, as well as the Liberal Democrats. Farage’s Brexit Party is polling in the single digits and currently has no representation in the British Parliament.Some political analysts, however, view the election outcome as unpredictable, with Farage’s party having the potential to split the Brexit vote and leave the Conservatives without a majority.Critical of Labour leaderThe U.S. president, in Thursday’s interview with Farage, went on to criticize the leader of the Labour Party, saying Jeremy Corbyn would be “so bad for your country” if he became prime minister.Corbyn immediately took to Twitter to accuse Trump of “trying to interfere in U.K. election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected.”A political correspondent of The Guardian newspaper, Andrew Sparrow, also said Trump used the interview with Farage “to intervene in the U.K. election.”BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel tweeted:Incredible statement from FILE – Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gestures after voting at a local polling station in his constituency in London, May 23, 2019.”There has been a long-established norm in British politics that the prime minister does not weigh in on foreign elections, and vice versa, that world leaders should not intervene in United Kingdom votes,” Riley-Smith told VOA.However, Trump’s unconventional support for the sitting prime minister might not benefit Johnson.”Most Britons have a negative view of the U.S. president, according to polls. So being hugged by Mr. Trump during an election cycle will not necessarily result in extra votes,” Riley-Smith said. “Donald Trump is unfit to hold the office of president of the United States,” said Chuka Umunna, the foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democratic Party. “Boris Johnson is unfit to be prime minister of the United Kingdom. This endorsement is yet another example of the cuddly relationship between the two men. As the saying goes, you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep.”‘Background noise’This is not the first time Trump has weighed in on British politics, according to Amanda Sloat, senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.Trump “has previously expressed similar views, including his preference for Boris Johnson, concerns about Jeremy Corbyn and advice on Brexit negotiations,” Sloat told VOA. “Trump’s interventions are largely background noise at this stage, given the current dysfunction of British politics and the president’s well-known view, and have little effect on domestic debates.”FILE – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves the podium after addressing a news conference at an EU summit in Brussels, Oct. 17, 2019.Johnson views the December election as a way around the parliamentary impasse on the British exit from the EU, something voters decided to pursue three years ago.In the radio interview, Trump said Johnson, by aggressively pursuing Brexit, is “willing to do what no one else would do.”Trump also warned that conditions to which London and Brussels might agree following Brexit could make it impossible for a bilateral trade deal between the United States and Britain.”Under certain ways, we would be precluded, which would be ridiculous,” Trump said.The U.S. president also told LBC Radio listeners that during trade negotiations between London and Washington, his administration would not seek to tamper with Britain’s national health system.Corbyn is warning that would not be the case.”It was Trump who said in June the NHS is ‘on the table,’ ” the Labour Party head tweeted. “And he knows if Labour wins, U.S. corporations won’t get their hands on it. Our NHS is not for sale.”Trump spoke with Farage on a day in which his public schedule was blank. The interview was conducted just after the House, controlled by the opposition Democrats, voted to formalize its impeachment inquiry against the president.Trump, in the radio interview, noted that with the 232-196 tally, “I didn’t have one negative Republican vote, which is a very unusual thing.”
The president, immediately after the House vote, declared on Twitter that the impeachment inquiry was “The Greatest Witch Hunt in American History.”
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Quelling Robberies and Jihadists: The Vigilance Committee of Senegal
In the Senegalese border town of Moudery, a committee initially created to protect residents from robberies has taken on a new purpose in the wake of jihadist violence in neighboring Mali. In 2010, when Moudery inaugurated its “Committee of Vigilance,” the goal was mostly to identify unknown people who might rob homes in the wealthy Senegalese river town. Zakaria Ndiaye, one of the committee’s founding members, said robberies had decreased since the committee was set up, because members perform nightly patrols and criminals are aware of the committee’s presence on the ground.
Fousseynou Diallo, now the mayor of Moudery, served in the army for more than 30 years before moving back and helping in the founding of the committee. He said because Moudery is uniquely positioned along the river that separates Senegal from Mauritania, criminals can flee from one side of the border to the other without being prosecuted. This position, along with its proximity to Mali, has made the town sensitive to criminal activity.
The system for reducing crime in the village worked so well that members of the U.N.’s migration organization identified the program as a model for more border towns to secure their communities against the threat of jihadist violence.
Six years after the committee was founded, officials of the International Organization for Migration reached out to Diallo and explained how they thought his committee could serve to identify potential jihadists entering the country. Not a militia
The committee is also registered with Senegal’s interior ministry, partially to keep it accountable. Diallo was firm that his committee is not law enforcement or a militia and that his members simply keep an eye on the town and ask any suspicious people for identification.
But as ethnic tensions and jihadist violence in nearby Mali worsen, the city is also welcoming immigrants. After VOA interviewed the mayor, he left for a meeting with the Malians of Moudery to discuss a recent festival honoring that country’s independence day.
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Hong Kong Protests Raise Concerns for Gay Community
Anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, now in the fifth consecutive month of demonstrations, say they are seeking greater rights and freedoms amid what they perceive as growing repression by Beijing. That’s a call that resonates with the city’s sexual minorities, who are looking across the South China Sea to Taiwan, a self-governing Chinese territory that has challenged China’s strict legal — and social — views prohibiting gay marriage. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Hong Kong.
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Nigeria Non-profits Take Cancer Awareness to the Streets
Nigeria accounts for the highest cancer mortality rate in Africa according to the World Health Organization. Low awareness, late detection and high cost of treatment are major factors contributing to increasing cancer mortality in the west African nation. But in October, also world cancer awareness month, several non-profits in Nigeria are taking information about the disease to the streets and sponsoring underprivileged patients for treatments. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Putin was ‘Conscientious and Disciplined’ Spy: KGB Documents
Declassified KGB documents on display in Russia describe future President Vladimir Putin as a “conscientious and disciplined” spy at the start of his career.”Comrade Putin… is constantly raising his ideological, political and professional level,” said the one-page document released to Russian media, written while the intelligence agent turned politician was in his 20s.Now 67, Putin worked for the secret service from the mid-1970s and was posted in Dresden, then East Germany, from 1985 to 1990, as Soviet power was crumbling.In the Kremlin he has surrounded himself with many former employees of the secret service and the FSB, the successor to the KGB, remains a powerful agency.The KGB profile is part of an exhibition at the Central Archive of Historical and Political Documents in Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg, featuring other declassified files.The young Putin also received “congratulations from his seniors” in the organization “for his well organized work and results,” the document said.In 2016, Putin, who has been in power as president or prime minister for two decades, revealed he had kept his USSR Communist Party membership card for sentimental reasons.
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Facebook Moves to Curb Russian Interference in African Politics
This week’s takedown of Facebook and Instagram accounts that were used to interfere with African political affairs has provided new insight into the extent to which a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is engaged in the continent, analysts say.Facebook announced Wednesday that, after a weeks-long investigation, it was FILE – Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin gestures on the sidelines of a meeting at the Konstantin palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia, Aug. 9, 2016. “We believe that this is consistent with Russian commercial-linked activities, and to some extent with Russian state political interests as well,” Grossman told VOA in an interview this week.Prigozhin, commonly called “Putin’s chef” in Russia media, was A screenshot shows a Facebook page found to be part of a Russian disinformation campaign. (Courtesy – Stanford Internet Observatory researchers)For example, in Mozambique, sites supported Frelimo, the country’s longtime ruling party, in advance of elections. In Sudan, Facebook pages initially supported former dictator Omar al-Bashir and then switched to the Transitional Military Council following his ouster.In Libya, the pages supported both rogue General Khalifa Haftar and his potential political rival, Saif al-Islam, son of autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, killed in 2011 during Arab Spring uprisings. “These pages were interesting in part because many of them posted a lot of Moammar Gadhafi nostalgia content,” Grossman said. “So trying to get Libyans to think about the positive parts of living under Gadhafi’s rule and then throwing in posts that were supportive of his son.”Often the pages are linked to activity conducted by the Wagner Group, Prigozhin’s military arm, which supplies contractors in several African countries. Wagner is A screenshot shows a Facebook post found to be part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Pictured is Saif al-Islam, son of the late Libyan autocrat Moammar Gadhafi. (Courtesy – Stanford Internet Observatory researchers)“Russia is willing to do business with a lot of unsavory actors,” he told VOA. “It is willing to do business with regimes that are seeking to hold onto power through unconstitutional methods. It is willing to do business with military governments, governments that Western democracies might not be so quick to embrace. Russia sees itself as having an advantage in going after those markets.”Hudson said Russia’s aim is to make its presence felt in the same way it did during the Cold War, but with a much smaller investment.“Russia doesn’t have the political clout, it doesn’t have the ideological clout and it certainly doesn’t have the financial backing to play the role that it played during the Cold War, where it was a heavy investor in development projects in Africa — where ideologically it was bringing African leaders to study the communist model,” he said.The country believes cyber interference in the affairs of other countries gives it the most bang for its buck, according to Hudson.“So how does it have its influence felt? Well, it can do it through things like social media and online influence, which is a relatively low-cost way to have the impact on the world stage that they’re looking to have,” he said. “Anything that they can do to undermine the free press, democratic institutions and to sow doubt in the minds of those of populations, I think, probably plays into their broader vision.”
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Trump: New Location for US-China Trade Deal Signing to be ‘Announced Soon’
President Donald Trump said Thursday that an alternative location for his signing of a US-China trade deal with President Xi Jinping will be “announced soon,” following cancellation of an APEC summit in Chile.The partial trade deal, known as phase one, had been due for signing on the sidelines of the regional APEC summit which Chile cancelled on Wednesday due to violent unrest in the capital Santiago.”China and the USA are working on selecting a new site for signing,” Trump tweeted. “The new location will be announced soon. President Xi and President Trump will do signing!”Beijing also remains positive about the phase one deal, which would signal a big deescalation in the two economic giants’ so far 18-month trade war.”Negotiating teams on the Chinese and US sides have continued to maintain close communication, and negotiations are currently making smooth progress,” the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement Thursday.”The two sides will continue to push forward negotiations and other work according to the original plan,” the ministry said, adding that leaders from both sides will hold another call Friday, a week after senior officials last spoke over the phone.
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US House Votes to Formally Open Impeachment Inquiry Targeting Trump
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to authorize a public impeachment inquiry targeting President Donald Trump after weeks of testimony behind closed doors about his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate his political opponents.The vote was along party lines, 232-196 for the impeachment inquiry, with all Republicans against the resolution and two Democratic defectors joining them.Immediately after the vote, Trump called the impeachment inquiry, “The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!” in a tweet.The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2019White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement saying the president “has done nothing wrong” and calling the process “unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American.””Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people,” she said.
House Speaker Pelosi had long opposed opening an impeachment inquiry, but has turned sharply against Trump and called for passage of the impeachment rules. As debate opened Thursday, she said “nobody” comes to Congress to impeach a president, “unless his actions are jeopardizing us honoring our oath of office.””Sadly, this is not any cause for any glee or comfort,” she said. “This is something that is very solemn.”Republicans had for weeks demanded that the majority Democrats hold a vote to authorize the impeachment probe against the Republican president, but as the vote neared they attacked it as an attempt to justify what they contend are sham hearings that have already been held.House members vote on the House resolution to move forward with procedures for the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 31, 2019.Whistleblower
One of the president’s staunchest supporters, Congressman Jim Jordan, called the inquiry “an unfair partisan process,” and assailed the fact that the name of the intelligence community whistleblower who touched off the impeachment push against Trump has not been disclosed.The whistleblower has been described by news organizations as a Central Intelligence Agency employee who once worked in the White House. He was the first official to voice concerns that Trump in a late July phone call had pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open investigations about one of Trump’s chief 2020 Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and any links the eastern European country might have had to try to defeat Trump in the 2016 election.The phone call came at a time when Trump was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid to Ukraine that it wanted to help in its fight against Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.Trump has denied any quid pro quo deal with Zelenskiy, although several White House national security officials and career diplomats have told the impeachment investigators that Trump wanted the Ukraine investigations to help him politically.Soliciting and receiving foreign contributions in an election is illegal under U.S. campaign finance law.Trump, who last month released a rough transcript of his call with Zelenskiy, has described the call as “perfect” and claimed that the whistleblower misrepresented it. But much of what the whistleblower alleged about Trump looking for “a favor” from Zelenskiy — the investigations — has been borne out in subsequent testimony from other officials familiar with Trump’s call and his relations with Ukraine.”READ THE TRANSCRIPT!” Trump said Thursday on Twitter.READ THE TRANSCRIPT!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2019In setting up Thursday’s vote, Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues, “We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.”Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the resolution “falls way short” of bringing fairness and due process to the inquiry.”I understand that many House Democrats made up their minds on impeachment years ago,” McConnell said. “But our basic norms of justice do not evaporate just because Washington Democrats have already made up their minds.”Impeachment trial
If the full House, on a simple majority vote, eventually impeaches Trump, his trial would be held in the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote to convict him to remove him from office would be required. With the votes of at least 20 Republicans needed to convict Trump, his removal from office remains unlikely.Thus far, the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees have heard closed-door testimony from diplomats and other officials as they probe whether Trump should be impeached for urging a foreign country, Ukraine, to dig up dirt on a political rival with the aim of helping his re-election bid.The resolution calls for moving to public hearings with the House Intelligence committee eventually issuing a report on its findings and recommendations to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then be responsible for deciding whether to recommend that the full House impeach Trump.Former top national security adviser to President Donald Trump, Tim Morrison, arrives for a closed door meeting to testify as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 31, 2019.The committees are scheduled to hear testimony Thursday from Timothy Morrison, who was Trump’s top Russian and European affairs adviser on the National Security Council until he resigned Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.House Democrats said Wednesday they want to hear from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and asked that he testify next week.Several other witnesses have testified that Bolton was deeply disturbed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working behind the scenes to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats and 2020 presidential candidate Biden for alleged corruption — evidence of which has never surfaced.Giuliani was apparently running what critics call a “shadow foreign policy” behind the back of the State Department. Bolton was said to have called Giuliani’s work a “drug deal” and that he wanted nothing to do with it.Trump fired Bolton last month after they clashed on several fronts, including Ukraine.A lawyer for Bolton says he is “not willing to appear voluntarily,” which means the House committees would have to issue a subpoena if they want to him to appear.One of witnesses in Wednesday’s testimony, Foreign Service officer and Ukraine expert Christopher Anderson, said Bolton cautioned him about dealing with Giuliani, warning that Giuliani could complicate diplomatic efforts to improve ties between Washington and Kyiv.Another Foreign Service officer, Catherine Croft, told the House committees she had received a number of telephone calls from former Republican congressman turned lobbyist Robert Livingston, telling her that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch should be fired.She said Livingston described Yovanovitch as an “Obama holdover” and “associated with George Soros,” a longtime supporter of liberal causes.”It was not clear to me at the time, or now, at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” Croft said.Trump fired Yovanovitch in May. She testified that she was replaced because of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”Meanwhile in the Senate, Trump’s nominee to become the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said at his confirmation hearing he knew Giuliani was involved in efforts to fire Yovanovitch.When asked whether a president should ask a foreign power to investigate his political opponents, Sullivan replied, “I don’t think that would be in accord with our values.”*/
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[X]Explore the timeline of the impeachment inquiry.Explore the timeline of the impeachment inquiry
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2 New California Fires Burn Homes, Send Residents Fleeing
Strong winds fanned new fires in Southern California on Thursday, burning homes and forcing residents to flee in a repeat of a frightening scenario already faced by tens of thousands across the state.The latest blazes erupted in the heavily populated inland region east of Los Angeles as strong, seasonal Santa Ana winds continued to blow with gusts of up to 60 mph (96 kph) predicted to last until the evening before they fade away.A fast-moving fire spread into the northern neighborhoods of the city of San Bernardino, forcing the evacuation of 490 homes _ approximately 1,300 people, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said. Aerial video from a news helicopter showed at least four home burning as the fire grew to 200 acres (80 hectares).In neighboring Riverside County, evacuation orders were issued for homes around a 75-acre (30-hectare) fire in the city of Jurupa Valley. Three residences and two outbuildings were confirmed destroyed, the county’s fire department said.That fire came after another fire Wednesday in Jurupa Valley forced the evacuation of two mobile home parks and a psychiatric nursing care facility, where elderly people wearing face masks and wrapped in blankets were taken out in wheelchairs and gurneys as smoke swirled overhead. The blaze grew to 200 acres (80 hectares) in size before its spread was stopped.“There was one moment when I could see nothing but dark smoke and I was like, `We’re going to die,”’ said Qiana McCracken, assistant director of nursing for the Riverside Heights Healthcare Center.The Santa Anas winds that help create California’s most destructive wildfires prompted a brushfire to quickly explode in size after it broke out before dawn Wednesday near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library between the cities of Simi Valley and Moorpark northwest of Los Angeles.Officials ordered about 30,000 people to evacuate, although some were being allowed back home Wednesday night as fire crews began to get a handle on the blaze.Crews remained at the scene through the night to make sure embers would not rekindle more fires after an army of firefighters helped protect the hilltop Reagan museum, which sat like an island in a soot-black sea. There was no damage, library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said.Nearby residents had little time to heed evacuation orders as the flames approached.Elena Mishkanian was able to gather only some basics. Her son, Troy, 13, netted six pet fish from a tank and put them in pots.“Fish have feelings!” he said when his sister Megan teased him about it.Frightened horses screamed in a nearby barn as Beth Rivera used a garden hose to water down the edges of her home to keep embers from igniting dry grass and trees. Friends helped evacuate 11 horses.Charred remains of the Soda Rock Winery are framed by the building’s stone facade in the aftermath of the Kincade Fire near Healdsburg, California, Oct. 30, 2019.Southern California Edison said its safety power cuts still affected about 215,000 people by late Wednesday night and warned that outages were under consideration for about 800,000 people.The days of windstorms are not unusual for the fall season, which has seen vicious gusts propel a series of deadly and destructive California wildfires in recent years.But at least in the short term, there was good news from forecasters.“This is the last event in our near future. We are not expecting any Santa Anas next week,” weather service meteorologist Kristen Stewart said.But she noted the forecast only extends out seven days.“Once we get past that, all bets are off,” she said.
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Focus on Systems, Not Only Victims, Vietnam Labor Group Says
The International Labor Organization in Vietnam has called for improved conditions for migrants — not just those who were among the 39 dead in a British truck container this month, but also migrants crossing the Mediterranean and in the Americas.
The organization called on officials to ensure there are safe and regular channels for migration rather than putting the burden on migrants. It did not refer to the deaths in Britain, now being investigated as possible manslaughter and human trafficking, but it joins the voices expressing concern about the dangerous conditions and the structural problems that could have allowed the deaths to happen.In Vietnam’s less-developed towns, like Da Lat, brokers post signs offering to take locals abroad to find work. (Ha Nguyen/VOA) While globalization has fostered the flow of companies and capital across borders, it has not done so for workers, pushing them toward trafficking. The ILO said it is up to governments, employers, recruitment agencies and trade unions to change policies and practices. Its recommendations include coordination between countries of origin and destination, shifting the costs of migration from workers to employers, and making legal immigration less expensive and complex so migrants don’t resort to being trafficked.Coordination would increase the odds that a country would receive migrants with the skills it needs. Aging Japan, for example, works with other Asian countries that have large work forces, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, to train workers on their way to Japan or looking for jobs there before they get to Japan. The idea is to match countries with labor surpluses with those that have labor shortages.The ILO suggested it is not helpful to focus on individuals, but on systemic change. For instance, researchers found that when the United States and Europe restricted migration, they did not stop migrants, but merely pushed them toward more dangerous channels.Vietnamese were surprised to hear their compatriots had gone abroad to find work, since the country has become much richer in recent years, featuring new attractions from hotel resorts, to luxury boutiques. (Ha Nguyen/VOA)“Irregular labor migration increases migrant workers’ vulnerability to exploitation, and limits the channels available to them to seek assistance and justice while abroad, as well as rendering them vulnerable to punishment by fines and other sanctions in Vietnam,” Chang-Hee Lee, the ILO country director in Hanoi, said Tuesday.His statement came nearly a week after police discovered the bodies outside London. The discovery has led to a manhunt in Northern Ireland, with one man being criminally charged, and confirmation that at least some of the 39 people in the truck were from Vietnam. Their deaths have put a spotlight on human trafficking and the kinds of people the ILO said “should be protected from abusive and fraudulent recruitment practices.”Vietnamese and British officials are working to identify those found in the container truck. Among Asian migrants, Vietnamese pay the highest costs to brokers, and the number of migrants is rising, according to the ILO. Its joint study with the International Organization of Migration found that roughly 75% of migrant Vietnamese “reported experiencing labor rights abuses while working abroad.”The ILO’s recommendations didn’t focus on criminalization. Instead the ILO also recommended authorities ensure migrants have access to the judicial system; many migrants, lacking documentation, are wary of reporting abuses to the authorities.
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Hong Kong Protesters to Challenge New Face Mask Ban in Halloween March
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are planning a unique demonstration Thursday in defiance of the city’s recent emergency law banning face coverings.The protesters will mark Halloween with a march on the city’s Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district wearing masks depicting Carrie Lam, the city’s embattled chief executive, Chinese President Xi Jinping or other government officials.Hong Kong police say they will deploy extra officers to the district, which is expected to be filled with costumed party-goers. They will demand anyone suspected of being a protester to remove their masks or face paint. But Halloween masks are not covered under the ban, which will make it difficult for police to tell the difference between a protester and an ordinary reveler.Thousands of masked demonstrators have marched through Hong Kong’s streets since June, sparked by anger over a controversial extradition bill that evolved into demands for full democracy for the Chinese-controlled city. The protesters have hidden their identities out of fear of retribution from local authorities, or concerns they could be shared with mainland China.Hong Kong earlier this month banned people from wearing masks at public protests by invoking a British colonial-era emergency powers act that was last used to quell riots in in 1967. The current ban was invoked in response to increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters. The turmoil, coupled with the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, has taken a toll on the financial hub, with the government announcing Thursday that the city is in a technical recession for the first time in a decade.
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Ivanka Trump to Promote Women’s Prosperity in Morocco
Ivanka Trump is getting ready to promote her women’s economic development program on an upcoming trip to Morocco.It will be her third overseas trip this year to promote the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative , which was launched in February to benefit women in developing countries.President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser will visit the North African country in early November, the White House said. Specific dates for her travel were not released.In a statement to The Associated Press, Ivanka Trump said the kingdom of Morocco is a valued U.S. ally that has “taken strides” under King Mohammed VI to promote gender equality.In August, she tweeted her support to the Moroccan government after it began the process of amending its inheritance laws, which say women should receive half as much as men.Ivanka Trump will travel with Sean Cairncross, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corp., an independent U.S. foreign aid agency that provides grants to developing countries to help promote economic growth, reduce poverty and strengthen institutions.They will meet with government officials and local leaders in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, and in Casablanca to discuss how to help women in the region gain a measure of economic independence.The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative has a goal of helping 50 million women in developing nations advance economically over the next six years.It’s a U.S. government-wide effort that involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies. It aims to coordinate existing programs and develop new ones to help women in areas such as job training, financial support and legal or regulatory reforms.Ivanka Trump traveled to Ethiopia and Ivory Coast , in sub-Saharan Africa, in April and to Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay , in South America, in September to promote the initiative.
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Rights Envoy Urges Greece to Transfer Migrants to Mainland
A European top official says the situation in Greece’s migrant camps is “explosive” and is urging the country’s authorities to transfer asylum-seekers from islands to the mainland.
The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said Thursday that “the situation of migrants, including asylum-seekers, in the Greek Aegean islands has dramatically worsened over the past 12 months.”Greek authorities are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in the number of arrivals over the summer months on Lesbos and other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea where European Union-funded camps are suffering severe overcrowding and outbreaks of violence.Mijatovic, who visited camps in Lesbos, Samos and Corinth, added that Greece should implement urgent measures “to address the desperate conditions in which thousands of human beings are living.
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Ukraine’s Leader Vows More Weapons Pullbacks in the Works
Ukrainian troops will begin a weapons pullback in a second location in war-torn eastern Ukraine next week if a cease-fire there persists, the country’s leader said Thursday.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke in Kyiv, the capital, at the end of talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who reaffirmed NATO’s support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia-backed separatists in the east. Stoltenberg arrived at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa on Wednesday where he toured four NATO vessels that had stopped by during their Black Sea patrol.Stoltenberg’s visit comes just a few days after Ukraine and the separatists began pulling back weaponry from the front line in the east. The disengagement in two locations along the front line is seen as the final hurdle before much-anticipated peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany that aim to end to the deadly conflict.The weaponry pullback finally began Tuesday after Zelenskiy, who won the presidential election in April on a pledge to end the war, visited an area around the eastern village of Zolote and confronted armed veterans who came there to try to hamper the weapons pullback.Zelenskiy told reporters on Thursday that if a cease-fire in the second location where the weapons pullback is planned persists, Ukraine will withdraw its weaponry on Monday.
The armed conflict in Ukraine’s former industrial heartland has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014 and left large swathes of land, including two regional capitals, in the hands of separatist rebels. It began after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he was open to the four-way summit on eastern Ukraine but he would wait for the weapons pullback to be completed.Moscow has been propping up separatists in eastern Ukraine with funds, weapons and sometimes by sending in troops across the border. The Kremlin, however, denies this despite overwhelming evidence.
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George W. Bush’s ‘Courage’ Portraits Exhibited in Kennedy Center
Washington’s Kennedy Center opened an unusual exhibition within the walls of its new art space, a collection of paintings by former president George W. Bush. The total of 66 oil paintings of military veterans will be displayed in the center this fall. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.
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US House Expected to Pass Resolution on Impeachment Process
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a resolution Thursday formally setting out the process by which committees will continue carrying out the inquiry into whether President Donald Trump should face impeachment.The vote is likely to show the divide in the House between the majority Democrats whose leaders have argued there was no need to bring forth such a resolution to make the process legitimate and the minority Republicans who have thus far opposed the inquiry as too closed of a process and not giving them an equal part.“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, walks to the podium with Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Oct. 29, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the resolution “falls way short” of bringing fairness and due process into the inquiry.“I understand that many House Democrats made up their minds on impeachment years ago. But our basic norms of justice do not evaporate just because Washington Democrats have already made up their minds,” McConnell said.Closed-door meetingsThus far, the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees have heard closed-door testimony from diplomats and other officials as they probe whether Trump should be impeached for urging a foreign country, Ukraine, to dig up dirt on a political rival with the aim of helping his re-election bid.The resolution calls for moving to public hearings with the House Intelligence committee eventually issuing a report on its findings and recommendations to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then be responsible for deciding whether to recommend the full House impeach Trump.The committees are scheduled to hear testimony Thursday from Timothy Morrison, who was Trump’s top Russian and European affairs adviser on the National Security Council until he resigned Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.House Democrats said Wednesday they want to hear from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and asked that he testify next week.Several other witnesses have testified that Bolton was deeply disturbed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working behind the scenes to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats and 2020 presidential candidate Biden for alleged corruption — evidence of which has never surfaced.Giuliani was apparently running what critics call a “shadow foreign policy” behind the back of the State Department. Bolton was said to have called Giuliani’s work a “drug deal” and that he wanted nothing to do with it.FILE – Former National Security Adviser John Bolton gestures while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Sept. 30, 2019.Subpoena for BoltonTrump fired Bolton last month after they clashed on several fronts, including Ukraine.Bolton has laid low since he left the White House. A lawyer for Bolton says he is “not willing to appear voluntarily,” which means the House committees would have to issue a subpoena if they want to him to appear.One of witnesses in Wednesday’s testimony, Foreign Service officer and Ukraine expert Christopher Anderson, said Bolton cautioned him about dealing with Giuliani, warning that Giuliani could complicate diplomatic efforts to improve ties between Washington and Kyiv.Another Foreign Service officer, Catherine Croft, told the House committees she had received a number of telephone calls from former Republican congressman turned lobbyist Robert Livingston, telling her that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch should be fired.FILE – Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, center, leaves Capitol Hill, Oct. 11, 2019, in Washington, after testifying before congressional lawmakers.She said Livingston described Yovanovitch as an “Obama holdover” and “associated with George Soros,” a longtime supporter of liberal causes.“It was not clear to me at the time, or now, at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” Croft said.Trump fired Yovanovitch in May. She testified that she was replaced because of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”Meanwhile in the Senate, Trump’s nominee to become the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said at his confirmation hearing he knew Giuliani was involved in efforts to fire Yovanovitch.When asked whether a president should ask a foreign power to investigate his political opponents, Sullivan replied “I don’t think that would be in accord with our values.”Trump has called the impeachment inquiry a witch hunt and a hoax. He described his July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during which he is said to have asked for the investigations, as “perfect.” The White House released a rough transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy call.*/
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[X]Explore the timeline of the impeachment inquiry.Explore the timeline of the impeachment inquiry
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Southern Philippines Struck by Third Deadly October Earthquake
At least five people are dead in the southern Philippines after it was struck by a powerful earthquake Thursday, the third one to hit the region this month.The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.5 magnitude quake struck about 1 kilometer south of the town of Kisante on Mindanao island. The death toll included a local official killed when a village hall collapsed.At least eight residents of a five-story condominium in Davao city, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, had to be rescued when the building collapsed.Duterte was in Davao at the time of the quake, but his spokesman says the president is safe.The region was struggling to recover from a 6.6 magnitude quake that killed at least eight people Tuesday, and a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck on October 16 that left at least five people dead. Hundreds of people were injured and scores of buildings were destroyed or damaged in the two quakes.The Philippine archipelago sits along the so-called “Ring of Fire,” a series of underground fault lines and volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean Basin, where most of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
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North Korea Launches Two Projectiles; 12th Launch This Year
North Korea has fired two unknown projectiles toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea reported Thursday, the 12th such launch by North Korea this year.The launch comes as North Korea ramps up pressure ahead of its end-of-year deadline for the United States to change its approach to stalled nuclear talks. Last week, North Korea warned the U.S. it was “seriously mistaken” if it ignores the deadline.Little is known about the North’s latest launch. South Korea’s military says the projectiles were fired from South Pyongan province, adding that it will remain on alert for additional launches.Japanese officials say they detected the launch of at least one projectile — likely a ballistic missile — and that the object landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.North Korea has now tested 12 rounds of missiles since early May, after having refrained from such launches for a year and a half. The launches appear designed at least in part to boost Pyongyang’s negotiating leverage.North Korea earlier this month walked away from working-level negotiations with the United States in Stockholm, blaming the U.S. for failing to bring any new proposals.Pyongyang has since warned it could soon resume long-range missile or nuclear tests.
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Nationals Top Astros to Win 1st World Series Title
Almost out of contention in May, champs in October.Howie Kendrick, Anthony Rendon and the Washington Nationals completed their amazing comeback journey — fittingly with one last late rally on the road.In Game 7 of the World Series, no less.Kendrick and Rendon homered in the seventh inning as the Nationals overcame a two-run deficit, rocking the Houston Astros 6-2 Wednesday night to win the first title in franchise history.With all eyes on Max Scherzer and his remarkable recovery after a painkilling injection, these Nationals truly embraced their shot in the first Series when the road team won every game.Even more against the odds: Juan Soto and Washington rallied from behind to win five elimination games this postseason, an unprecedented feat.“What a story,” said Ryan Zimmerman, the Nationals’ first draft pick back in 2005. “I hope D.C.’s ready for us to come home!”World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, new lefty Patrick Corbin and the Nats brought the first World Series championship to the nation’s capital since ol’ Walter Johnson delivered the crown for the Senators in 1924.This franchise started out as the Montreal Expos in 1969. They moved to D.C. in 2005, ending Washington’s three-decade-plus wait for big league baseball after the Senators left town to become the Texas Rangers.But the incredible path these wild-card Nationals with the curly W logo took, well, no one could have imagined.“Resilient, relentless bunch of guys,” manager Dave Martinez said. “They fought all year long.”Having lost star slugger Bryce Harper to free agency and beset by bullpen woes, Washington plummeted to 19-31 in late May. It got so bad there was talk around town the Nationals might fire Martinez and trade away Scherzer.Instead, they stuck with the mantra that sprung up on T-shirts — Stay In The Fight.“That was our motto,” Scherzer said.And months later they finished it, indeed.
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Fundraiser Posts $3 million Bond on Campaign Finance Charges
A prolific fundraiser charged with funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions to American political candidates surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles on Wednesday and was released on $3 million bond.The court appearance came about a week after prosecutors announced charges against Imaad Zuberi, a venture capitalist who raised millions of dollars for both Democratic and Republican political candidates and committees, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump.Zuberi has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion, violating campaign finance laws and concealing his work as a foreign agent as he lobbied high-level U.S. government officials. He faces up to 15 years in prison.Zuberi’s defense attorney declined to comment.Zuberi, 49, is accused of soliciting donations from foreign nationals and companies and giving the money to several political campaigns, violating a federal law that forbids foreign contributions. He claimed he could use his influence to change foreign policy and create business opportunities for clients and himself.Prosecutors have not alleged any campaign that received money from Zuberi was aware of his scheme or that any foreign nationals were aware of wrongdoing, and they did not identify the campaigns or foreign nationals in court papers.But The Associated Press reported this week that a Saudi tycoon and his business associate sent hundreds of thousands of dollars through Zuberi to help pay for President Barack Obama’s second inaugural celebration.Zuberi signed a plea agreement admitting he received $850,000 from Sheikh Mohammed Al Rahbani but delivered just $97,500 of that money to the Obama inaugural committee, skimming the rest for himself.Rahbani is not named in the plea agreement, but The AP identified him in part by matching the timing and amounts of donations mentioned in the court filing to publicly available campaign finance records.Rahbani initially declined to comment. But his attorney sent a letter to The AP on Wednesday saying that Rahbani and his wife, Kate Rahbani, had been unwitting victims of Zuberi’s crimes. The attorney, Martin Auerbach, suggested Rahbani’s name had been attached to political contributions without his consent.”They have fully cooperated with the government in its investigation of Zuberi and have not been charged with any wrongdoing,” Auerbach wrote in the letter, referring to Rahbani and his wife.Auerbach also said Kate Rahbani, an American citizen, made the donations to Obama’s inauguration and not her husband.That account differed from charges outlined in Zuberi’s charging documents, which say the money Zuberi used to pay Obama’s inaugural committee was wired to him by Mohammed Al Rahbani and an associate through a company based in Saudi Arabia and another based in Kuwait. Prosecutors also say in the court filings that Zuberi spoke with Mohammed Al Rahbani about donating additional money to the inaugural fund in exchange for appearing in a photograph with Obama at an event.Zuberi also admitted violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by submitting false statements in which he concealed a multi-million-dollar contract he signed in 2014 with the Sri Lankan government to help improve that country’s image in the United States.Prosecutors said he directed millions of dollars from that deal to himself and his wife for personal purposes, shortchanging lobbyists, public relations and law firms, and certain subcontractors who were part of the lobbying effort.Prosecutors also recently charged a former college classmate and business associate of Zuberi’s accused of participating in the Sri Lankan scheme. Mark Adam Skarulis was charged in September with one misdemeanor count of failing to file a tax return.A message was sent to Skarulis’ defense attorney seeking comment.Zuberi’s donations have also been separately scrutinized by federal prosecutors in New York after he gave $900,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. That donation was not part of his federal criminal case in Los Angeles.
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Malaysian Financier to Give Up Claims to Millions of Dollars
A fugitive financier will give up claims to hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury goods prosecutors say were purchased with money stolen from a Malaysian investment fund, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.Under the settlement with U.S. prosecutors, the financier, Jho Low, relinquishes claims to assets that were seized by U.S. officials beginning in 2016, the person said. The settlement would also allow millions of dollars in fees to be paid to Low’s legal team.The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.The settlement comes about three years after the Justice Department moved to recover more than $1 billion that it said had been stolen. It had filed a civil complaint that sought the forfeiture of property, including a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a luxury jet and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.The Justice Department confirmed the settlement late Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said: “The message in this case is simple: the United States is not a safe haven for pilfered funds. Our strict anti-money laundering controls are effective, and we will seize assets used by criminals to conceal ill-gotten gains.”Low issued a statement calling the settlement the result of good faith discussions between the parties.''Low was charged last year by federal prosecutors in New York. They accused him of being involved in a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from the Malaysian investment fund. It was the first criminal prosecutions in the U.S. arising from the corruption scandal at the state investment fund known as 1MDB.The indictment against Low, who is also known as Low Taek Jho, accuses him of misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials, to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the United States and to help finance Hollywood movies, includingThe Wolf of Wall Street.”The fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was set up in 2009 by then-Prime Minister Najib Razak to promote economic development. It relied primarily on debt to fund investment and economic development projects and was overseen by senior Malaysian government officials, according to court records.Najib set up 1MDB when he took office in 2009, but it accumulated billions in debts, and U.S. investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates.Public anger over the corruption allegations contributed to the shocking election defeat of Najib’s long-ruling coalition in May 2018.
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Fire Burns Down Structures at Historic Japanese Castle
A fire has spread among structures at Shuri Castle on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, nearly destroying the UNESCO World Heritage site.Firefighters were still battling the blaze a few hours after it started early Thursday, and nearby residents were evacuated to safer areas, Okinawa police spokesman Ryo Kochi said.The fire in Naha, the prefectural capital of Okinawa, started from the castle’s main structure. The main Seiden temple and a Hokuden structure, or north temple, have burned down. A third structure, Nanden, or south temple, was nearly destroyed, Kochi said.Nobody injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.Footage on NHK television showed the castle engulfed in flames.The ancient castle is a symbol of Okinawa’s cultural heritage from the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom that existed from 1429 until 1879, when the island was annexed by Japan.The castle is also a symbol of Okinawa’s struggle and effort to recover from World War II. Shuri Castle burned down in 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa near the war’s end, in which about 200,000 lives were lost on the island, many of them civilians.The castle was largely restored in 1992 as a national park and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.Okinawa was under the U.S. occupation until 1972, two decades after the rest of Japan regained full independence.
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Nairobi Startup Pushes Cleaner Home Cooking Fuel
NAIROBI, KENYA — Catherine Mutua she has always used charcoal and gas to cook for her young family.But, the source of energy she grew up with was becoming too expensive. She found out that she can also cook with another kind of fuel, ethanol.”Before I was using the gas and charcoal,” Mutua said. “I shifted after I was educated how the fuel is cheap, safe for the kids, for the environment.”Mutua gets the ethanol from a filling station set up by the Koko Networks, a Nairobi-based start-up. The company also sells ethanol stoves that cost a customer about $70.Regina Anyango, owner of small food kiosk in Nairobi, uses ethanol fuel to prepare meals for customers. Her kitchen is free of fumes and smoke from charcoal use. (Mohammed Yusuf/VOA)Regina Anyango runs a food kiosk in Kangemi neighborhood in Nairobi. She says she no longer battles black fumes spewed out of her charcoal stove.”So far it has been very economical, no fume faster to use when you are cooking, Anyango said. “And it’s easy to control.”According to health experts, fumes from charcoal and kerosene contribute to respiratory diseases. They also produce carbon emissions that are heating up Earth’s atmosphere.Ethanol, by contrast, is made from food sources like sugar or corn, and is considered carbon-neutral.Some officials believe this kind alternative source energy can help reduce the number of trees cut down for the use of charcoal or firewood.The Koko network of tanks are serviced at least once a week with each station carries 300 liters of fuel. (Mohammed Yusuf/VOA)Michael Wakoli is the fuel supply manager for the Koko Networks. He told VOA ethanol is a more practical and convenient fuel to use.”Typically traditionally what will happen because of the nature of fuel that we used to cook — kerosene, charcoal — you will be forced to cook outside because of the harmful fumes that we have,” Wakoli said. “But we are giving you an in-house solution, which is 200-300 meters away, you can get for a very small bundle.”Wakoli said the filling stations are in parts of Nairobi with huge populations that are usually neglected.”So we have typically targeted dense market — Kawangware, Kibera, Kitengela area, Embakasi, Kahawa West — where we can reach many people as possible and because knowing the need of people and being near to them.” Koko Networks says its customer base has been growing and now serves up to 3,000 people.
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