As more extreme weather takes its toll around the world, computer giant IBM says it is making a breakthrough in precision weather forecasting available to everyone.The company said the new high-resolution forecasts bring a level of precision previously available only in major industrialized countries.It is expected to help emergency managers better predict where severe storms will strike, as well as aid airlines planning flight paths and farmers tending crops. Not to mention commuters deciding whether to carry an umbrella.The new system generates forecasts more frequently and with finer details than what’s available outside the United States, Europe and Japan.WATCH: Better Weather Forecasts Coming to the Developing World
Better Weather Forecasts Coming to the Developing World video player.
Embed” />Copy LinkMost forecasts have a resolution of 10 to 15 square kilometers and update every six to 12 hours. IBM’s Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System (GRAF) goes down to 3 square kilometers and updates every hour.“That’s providing a level of detail that we’ve not been able to see in parts of the world such as Southeast Asia, Africa as well as South America,” said Kevin Petty, director of science and forecasting at IBM-owned The Weather Company.That precision can reveal details of where and when extremely heavy rain will fall. That could be useful in emergency situations, as well as more mundane events. It could help farmers decide when to plant, harvest and fertilize, for example.Better forecasts around globe“I think it’s a pretty large achievement,” said University of Oklahoma emeritus meteorology professor Fred Carr, who was not involved with the project.The United States has a similar high-resolution system, “but it’s just for the U.S. because it takes so much computer time,” Carr said. “To do it for the whole globe is a pretty significant achievement.”The Weather Company’s Petty said, “We are just now getting to the point of having the level of computational power to do this.”GRAF runs the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s state-of-the-art open-source weather model on high performance supercomputers.Forecasts are only as good as the observations that go into them, Carr said.Finding, filling the gapsIt’s possible to quickly collect observations from radar, airplanes and surface measurements in the United States, he added, but it’s not apparent how IBM gets data from the other 98% of the globe, especially in areas that currently don’t have extensive weather systems.Carr said he suspects “there’s gonna be gaps, or failures, or problems sometimes in getting those data in. So, sometimes those forecasts aren’t going to be very accurate.”Users will be able to decide for themselves. The system now runs on Weather.com and The Weather Channel smartphone app.In the future, IBM hopes to improve its forecasts by collecting data from atmospheric pressure sensors that are now standard equipment in smartphones.These sensors improve the accuracy of GPS. They can help fitness trackers calculate how many flights of stairs the user has climbed, for example.IBM said it is not currently using this data but plans to offer users the opportunity to opt in.This kind of data collection from tech companies has drawn scrutiny from privacy advocates. The city of Los Angeles is currently suing IBM for improperly using location information from Weather Channel app users.
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Month: November 2019
Michael Bloomberg Launches Democratic Presidential Bid
Michael Bloomberg is running for president of the United States.The former New York City mayor, one of the richest men in the world, formally joined the Democratic presidential field on Sunday. The 77-year-old former Republican announced his plans on a campaign website.He wrote: “I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America.”Bloomberg’s entrance, just 10 weeks before primary voting begins, reflects his concerns that the current slate of candidates is not well-positioned to defeat Trump.Bloomberg’s massive investments in Democratic priorities like climate change and gun control, backed by his extraordinary personal wealth, could make him a force. He’s already reserved more than $30 million in television ads across several states, although he’s bypassing the first four on the primary calendar.
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Congo Plane Crashes in Residential Area
Emergency officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say at least 18 passengers and crew members died when an airplane crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday. The Dornier-228 aircraft, operated by local company Busy Bee, crashed into a residential area near Goma airport.The flight was headed to Beni, 350 kilometers north of Goma.It was not immediately clear if people on the ground were killed or injured in the incident.
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France Says Abu Dhabi to Host HQ for European Naval Mission for the Gulf
A French naval base in Abu Dhabi will serve as the headquarters for a European-led mission to protect Gulf waters that will be operational soon, France’s defense minister said on Sunday.France is the main proponent of a plan to build a European-led maritime force to ensure safe shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after tanker attacks earlier this year that Washington blamed on Iran.Tehran has denied being behind the attacks on tankers and other vessels in major global shipping lanes off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in May and which increased tensions between the United States, Iran and Gulf Arab states.”This morning we formalized that the command post will be based on Emirati territory,” Defense Minister Florence Parly told reporters at a French naval base in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.The command center will host around a dozen officials representing the countries involved, she said. In a speech to French military personnel, she said the next time she visited the base she hoped the mission would be operational and thanked the UAE for supporting it.The UAE has tempered its reaction to the attacks and has called for de-escalation and dialogue with Iran.
On Saturday, Parly said the initiative could start early next year and around 10 European and non-European governments would join, pending parliamentary approval.First announced in July, the plan is independent of a U.S-led maritime initiative which some European countries feared would make U.S.-Iranian tensions worse.Parly said the two missions would coordinate in order to ensure safety of navigation in an already tense area.”We hope … to contribute to a navigation that is as safe as possible in a zone which we know is disputed and where there has already been a certain number of serious incidents,” she said. She also condemned Iran’s latest violations of a 2015 nuclear deal.On Saturday, Parly said Paris was sending Saudi Arabia defense equipment to confront low-altitude attacks after Riyadh requested help following a September assault on the kingdom’s oil facilities which Washington and Riyadh have also blamed on Iran. Tehran has denied involvement.”We have not had an equivalent request from the UAE,” she said on Sunday.
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Measles Epidemic Erupts in Samoa
Twenty-two people have died from measles in Samoa.All the deaths, except one, were of children younger than five years old, according to Reuters.The South Pacific island has declared a state of emergency, with nearly 2,000 cases of measles reported.The government has initiated a mass mandatory vaccination program. Samoa said Saturday that 153 cases had been reported in the last 24 hours. One mother who lost her two-year-old son to the disease told an Australian Broadcasting Company crew that her three oldest sons had been inoculated against the disease, but she was too poor to afford to have her two year old inoculated.
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Porter’s Tough Questioning Earns Attention During Her First Year in Congress
“What do you want government to do for your life?” That’s the question Peggy Huang asks prospective voters at a Starbucks in Yorba Linda, California. Huang is a Republican running against first-term U.S. Representative Katie Porter, who last year became the first Democrat ever elected in California’s conservative 45th district.Since then, Porter has gained national recognition through her sharp questioning of CEOs and government officials during congressional hearings in Washington.“She’s more national,” admits Huang, but says in California, “we know politics and in all things, politics is local.”Republican Challenger Greg Raths meets with his Campaign Manager Blake Allen to plan door-to-door canvassing in California’s 45th District.Greg Raths, a retired United States Marine Corps fighter pilot, is another Republican candidate running against Porter. He says Porter doesn’t “fit the mold” of the area. Raths, the mayor of the largest city in the district, Mission Viejo City, contends it’s a “very conservative” district where “all 10 cities are run by Republican mayors and councils.”Reelection realitiesFor a freshman member of the House of Representatives, it can be a shock having to concentrate on reelection before the first year ends. Already six Republicans and one Democrat have filed election papers to run against her, but one of those Republicans has already dropped out because of lack of funding. According to third-quarter reports from the Federal Election Commission, Porter leads the pack with $2,461,688 raised for her campaign, three times that of her closest competitor.California Rep. Katie Porter is facing a number of challengers. According to third-quarter reports from the Federal Election Commission, Porter leads the pack with $2,461,688 raised for her campaign.Impeachment vs conservative areaDuring her first year, Porter has proved to be a formidable force. In her first interview with VOA at the beginning of this year, she said she wanted to champion “issues of economic opportunity for working families, and for working parents, including thinking about how people can afford homes, build wealth, save for college, and save for retirement.”As she arrived in Congress and was named to the House Financial Services Committee, she carved a niche for herself through tough, blunt questioning, often playing the role of a low- to middle-income American to highlight the witnesses’ inattention to regular citizens. This earned her kudos from the House Democratic leadership and an aspect of fame through regular appearances on cable TV news programs.Porter connected to her constituents by regularly conducting town halls during the first half of the year, but has held them less frequently since then. She told VOA it is a challenge to find “venues that are large enough to accommodate everybody who would like to attend.”WATCH: Rep. Porter Reflects on Successes, Failures of First Year
Rep. Porter Reflects on Successes, Failures of First Year video player.
Embed” />Copy LinkIn June, Porter became the first freshman House member from California to announce her support of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Her competitors accused her of sowing seeds of divisiveness with her Twitter announcement. They predict it will cost her the election.Ted Denney owns Synergistic Research, a niche research and technology company that employs 30 and has annual sales of $10 million. He says if Porter wins the district again in 2020, he will move his audio business elsewhere, part because of her support of impeachment.“I don’t want this wall of resistance against the president,” Denney says. “I support his policies. Is he a perfect guy? No, but I don’t care. He’s effective.”In a videotaped message to constituents, Porter acknowledged that launching an impeachment inquiry would be divisive but said she believes it is necessary.“I know deeply what this means for our democracy,” she said. “But when faced with a crisis of this magnitude, I cannot with a clean conscience ignore my duty to defend the [U.S.] Constitution.”Rep. Katie Porter with her guest for the State of the Union speech, constituent Helen Nguyen. Nguyen’s husband Michael — a small businessman in Porter’s district — has been held by the Vietnamese government since June 2018. (Carolyn Presutti / VOA)Courting the young voteHeidi Hu is asking about a clipboard. She’s sitting at an iron table outside a coffee shop in Santa Ana, California, learning about voter registration. She is being trained by Field Team 6, a nationwide group of volunteers, registering new voters for Democrats in 2020.Hu drove an hour south from Los Angeles to sign up college students at the University of California at Irvine. Young voters helped propel Porter to victory in 2018. State figures show voters ages 18 to 24 rose by nearly 20% more than the previous midterm election in 2014.Hu says the key to Porter’s reelection will be again turning out large numbers of college students. “Their values are more aligned with the Orange County of the future,” Hu said.Porter prevailed in Orange County, an historically conservative portion of the 45th Congressional District, but Hu knows that Porter is vulnerable in that area and must build up her Democratic support among college students to offset Republican voters.One of those students is Bryan Pham who will be voting for the first time in 2020. He says even though his family is conservative, “I have certain beliefs of my own and I identify with the Democratic party.”Bills sponsoredIn less than a year, Porter, a former law professor, has sponsored 23 bills in the House. In last year’s congressional session, the average for a first-year representative was 14 and the most introduced was 31, so Porter is well ahead of the curve.One of Porter’s bills has passed the House but has yet to be introduced in the Senate. The “Help America Run Act” would give candidates more freedom to use campaign funds for child care, health care premiums and elder care. Porter, a single mother of three children younger than 12, said the bill would have helped her when she was a candidate. “The goal here is to make our Congress more diverse and to make it possible for any American who’s qualified and wants to serve in the U.S. Congress to have the opportunity to do that,” she said.Porter report cardA number of special interest groups — conservative and liberal — have sharply criticized Katie Porter’s voting record.Nonprofit and special interest groups rate lawmakers’ voting records.For first-year representatives, these are the first grades published during their two-year tenure. For Porter, the first two grades run along party lines. The conservative Heritage Action for America, typically aligned with Republicans, rates members’ votes on key conservative legislation. It gives Porter a zero.Freedom Works, another conservative group, gives her a score of 8 out of 100, based on her votes on issues dealing with economic freedom.The surprise was an “F” given by the group Progressive Punch, based on a formula that compares the voting record of a control group of 33 dominant progressive members of Congress with the representative’s voting record.Most other groups will wait to publish grades at the end of the year.Competitors will typically use the voting record and bills sponsored in their challenge to the incumbent. The incumbent uses the voting record to show how they are supporting the constituent needs in the district.Reflecting on a hectic first year in Congress, Porter said, “I feel like I’m getting my sea legs under me … there is a learning curve to this job. And there should be. This is a big task [legislating] that the American people have trusted us with.”The California primary to determine Katie Porter’s Republican challenger is in early March with the general election in November 2020.
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Massive Turnout in Hong Kong Elections Amid Unrest
Hong Kongers voted in record numbers Sunday in a local election that is widely seen as a de facto referendum on recent pro-democracy protests.Voters formed long lines that snaked around city blocks outside polling stations across the territory, many waiting more than an hour to vote in local elections that are usually viewed as relatively inconsequential.District Council members who are being elected by Hong Kong voters have no power to pass legislation. But the election is the first chance for Hong Kongers to vote since a wave of anti-government protests erupted in June, creating bitter divides in Hong Kong society.A record 4.1 million Hong Kongers registered to vote, and it appears a record number will turn out. By midday Sunday, the number of voters had surpassed that of the previous District Council election in 2015, according to government figures. By 3:30 p.m., nearly 2 million had cast their ballots.Disqualified candidate and pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong stands in line to vote in the district council elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.“This amount of people I’ve never seen. There are so many people,” said Felix, who works in the real estate industry and voted in the central business district.Mr. Ma, a voter in the South Horizons West constituency, said he sees the election as a continuation of the protest movement.“It’s a way to show whether the Hong Kong people support democratic or conservative pro-establishment candidates. Many would like to have a change. So this election is very important,” he said.“The district councils have been dominated by the pro-establishment for years. We want to have more democrats to be elected to the district councils,” said Ms. Kwok, another voter.The territory is on edge following intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters, though the violence has subsided in the past few days.Police promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. But outside many polling stations, there was no visible police presence. At others, teams of riot police stood by in nearby vans.An electoral staff member helps a voter at a polling station during district council local elections in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.Sending a messageHong Kongers are choosing more than 400 members of 18 district councils scattered across the tiny territory. The district councils essentially serve as advisory bodies for local decisions such as building roads or schools.“I think the political message is more important than anything else,” Ma Ngok, a political scientist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. “If the democrats really score a landslide victory, it will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement.”Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests initially took the form of massive demonstrations against a reviled extradition bill, which could have resulted in Hong Kongers being tried in China’s politicized court system.The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters destroying public infrastructure, defacing symbols of state power and clashing with police. Protesters defend the moves as an appropriate reaction to police violence and the government’s refusal to meet their demands.Protesters address the media at the campus of the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019.Despite the protester violence, polls suggest the movement still enjoys widespread public support. Meanwhile, the approval of Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly chief executive, Carrie Lam, has fallen to a record low of about 20%.Quasi-democratic systemUnder Hong Kong’s quasi-democratic system, district councils have little power. But the vote could affect how the territory’s more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future.“That’s a big deal,” said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. “Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you.”FILE – Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau talks to a girl, Aug. 24, 2016, while she campaigns in Hong Kong. After two decades as a pro-democracy lawmaker, Lau expects to step down to give priority on the ballot to the party’s younger faces.The pro-democracy camp has tried to use the protests as a mobilizing force ahead of the vote, and is fielding an unprecedented number of candidates.But they have a lot of ground to make up. Pro-government forces make up the majority in all 18 district councils, with the so-called “pan-democrats” taking up only about 25% of the overall seats, Ma said.Hong Kong has seen a major surge in voter registrations, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year — the most since at least 2003 — according to the South China Morning Post.Many Hong Kongers are concerned about what they see as an erosion of the “one country, two systems” policy that Beijing has used to govern Hong Kong since it was returned by Britain in 1997.
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Romania’s President Hopes for New Term to Boost Rule of Law
Romanians went to the polls Sunday for a presidential election runoff expected to reelect centrist president Klaus Iohannis, who has pledged to restart a judicial reform slowed by successive Social Democrat (PSD) governments.While there have been no recent opinion polls, local bookmakers make Iohannis the short-odds favorite to beat former PSD prime minister Viorica Dancila comfortably in Sunday’s runoff.Under a succession of PSD governments, Romania rolled back anti-corruption measures and weakened the independence of the courts. Along with ex-communist peers Poland and Hungary, it has been heavily criticized by Brussels for its actions.Protector of rule of lawHowever, the 60-year-old Iohannis has been credited by Western allies and the European Union with trying to protect the rule of law, in particular by challenging attempts to limit judges’ independence.”I will vote for a president to represent us, one that is respected both at home and abroad. This is the one we need,” said retired army staff Ioan Banu, while heading to a Bucharest college to cast his ballot, after polls opened at 0500 GMT.The president’s powers are mostly limited to nominating a prime minister on the basis of who can command a majority, challenging laws in the Constitutional Court, and appointing some chief prosecutors.If elected again, Iohannis will have a chance to install anti-graft and anti-mafia prosecutors who are serious about tackling endemic corruption with the backing of Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, who became head of a liberal minority government by winning a parliamentary vote of confidence three weeks ago.Former Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila smiles after exit polls indicate her as the runner-up of the presidential race, with up to 25 percent of the votes in Bucharest, Romania, Nov. 10, 2019.Getting back to normalTeacher Andreea Mihai, 50, said that if Iohannis wins Sunday, “things should slowly return to normality. Both Orban and Iohannis will work together in the same direction.”Dancila’s PSD had increased the burden of proof in corruption cases, reorganized panels of judges and set up a special unit to investigate magistrates for potential abuses, a move widely seen as an instrument of political coercion.
Romania’s judicial reforms have been monitored by Brussels since it joined the EU in 2007; in October, Brussels said the reforms were going backward.Iohannis, a soft-spoken ethnic German and former mayor of Sibiu, became president in 2014.He helped to secure a popular approval in a referendum last May that called for the government to be banned from altering legislation by emergency decree, and advocated a ban on amnesties and pardons for graft-related crimes.
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Johnson to Promise ‘Christmas Present’ Brexit Push
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will promise to bring his Brexit deal back to parliament before Christmas when he launches his manifesto Sunday, the cornerstone of his pitch to voters to “get Brexit done.”Voters face a stark choice at the country’s Dec. 12 election: opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist vision, including widespread nationalization and free public services, or Johnson’s drive to deliver Brexit within months and build a “dynamic market economy.”Opinion polls show Johnson’s Conservative Party commands a sizeable lead over the Labour Party, although large numbers of undecided voters means the outcome is not certain.“My early Christmas present to the nation will be to bring the Brexit bill back before the festive break, and get parliament working for the people,” Johnson will say, according to excerpts of his speech that he will make at an event in the West Midlands region of England.Contrasting with LabourContrasting with Labour’s unabashed tax-and-spend approach, Johnson’s manifesto, titled “Get Brexit Done, Unleash Britain’s Potential,” will pledge to freeze income tax, value-added sales tax and social security payments.Johnson will also announce a 3 billion pounds ($3.85 billion) National Skills Fund to retrain workers and an extra 2 billion pounds to fill pot-holes in roads. He will also pledge to maintain the regulatory cap on energy bills.Labour spokesman Andrew Gwynne said Johnson’s plans were “pathetic.”“This is a no hope manifesto, from a party that has nothing to offer the country, after spending 10 years cutting our public services,” Gwynne said.Think tanks like the Institute for Fiscal Studies have raised questions about the credibility of plans to fund investment from both the Conservatives and Labour.Tired of votingHeld after three years of negotiations to leave the European Union, the December election for the first time will show how far Brexit has torn traditional political allegiances apart and will test an electorate increasingly tired of voting.Amid a heated campaign in which the Conservatives have been criticized for disseminating misleading social media posts, Johnson, 55, will say he will “turn the page from the dither, delay and division” of recent years.Labour has said it will negotiate a better Brexit deal with the EU within six months that it will put to the people in a new referendum — one which will also offer the choice of remaining in the bloc.Corbyn has said he would remain neutral in such a vote.“We now know the country can be carbon (neutral) by 2050 and Corbyn neutral by 2020, as the leader of the opposition has decided to duck the biggest issue facing our country today,” Johnson will say.
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At Nagasaki Ground Zero, Pope Calls for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons
Pope Francis, speaking in one of only two cities hit by atomic bombs in history, appealed Sunday for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying their mere possession was perverse and indefensible.He restated his support for a 2017 treaty to ban nuclear weapons agreed by nearly two-thirds of U.N. members, but opposed by big nuclear powers who say it could undermine nuclear deterrence, which they credit with averting conventional war.“The possession of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction is not the answer (to longings for peace),” Francis said, after having closed his eyes in prayer and lighting a candle in memory of the victims.“Our world is marked by a perverse dichotomy that tries to defend and ensure stability and peace through a false sense of security sustained by a mentality of fear and mistrust,” he said in a somber voice, amid driving rain and strong wind.Pope Francis greets wellwishers at the Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 24, 2019.“Peace and international stability are incompatible with attempts to build upon the fear of mutual destruction or the threat of total annihilation,” he said.Francis, who was speaking at Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park, ground zero of the bomb the United States dropped Aug. 9, 1945, instantly killing 27,000 people, also decried what he called a dismantling of non-proliferation pacts.Nagasaki was the second city hit by an atomic bomb during World War II. Later Sunday, the pope was to visit Hiroshima, site of the first blast, which instantly killed about 78,000 people.About 400,000 more eventually died of radiation illness and injuries caused by the bombs dropped by the United States in an effort to end the war.“Here, in this city, which witnessed the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of a nuclear attack, our attempts to speak out against the arms race will never be enough,” Francis said in his emotional appeal.Better uses for ‘arms race’ moneyResources spent on the “arms race” should be used for development and protection of the environment, instead.“In a world where millions of children and families live in inhumane conditions, the money squandered and the fortunes made through the manufacture, upgrading, maintenance and sale of ever more destructive weapons, are an affront crying out to heaven,” he said.Last August, the United States pulled out of one landmark strategic arms accord, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), citing violations by Russia that Moscow denies.Nuclear experts said it also appeared doubtful that agreement on a full-fledged replacement for the New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States will be in place before it expires in February 2021.Pope Francis places a wreath during his visit to the Martyrs’ Monument at Nishizaka Hill, in Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 24, 2019.Collective memoryThe bombing is seared in the collective memory of the people of the green and hilly harbor city of Nagasaki and has been passed on through the generations.“We can’t have any more atomic bombings. It’d be great if that message would get across to the world. I’d like it if nuclear weapons were eliminated and there wasn’t any more war,” said Chizuko Hisamatsu, 66, a housewife. “I think I may cry.”The pope delivered his appeal standing near a large print of a famous photograph taken by an American soldier shortly after the blast, showing a Japanese boy taking his dead younger brother to be cremated.Monument to faithfulAfter his address, Francis spoke at a monument to faithful martyred during the 250 years in which Christianity was banned in Japan, forcing believers to go underground or face death.“Hidden Christians” blended Christianity with Buddhism and native Shinto beliefs to survive, and Francis may meet several members of the aging, dwindling population later.Jesuits brought Christianity to Japan in 1549, but it was banned in 1614. Missionaries were expelled and the faithful were forced to choose between martyrdom or hiding their religion. The ban was lifted in 1873.
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Analysts See Pitfalls for Ukraine in Coming Peace Talks
Ukrainian officials are warily watching the U.S. impeachment inquiry as they prepare for a crucial four-way negotiation with Russia, France and Germany next month.The meeting of the so-called Normandy Contact Group, set for Dec. 9 in Paris, is aimed at easing the conflict in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists. More than 13,000 people have died in the fighting, which began in April 2014.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has outlined four issues he wants to raise at the meeting — an exchange of prisoners, a ceasefire, a restoration of Ukraine’s control over the Ukraine-Russia border, and holding local elections in rebel-held territories. Ukraine and the separatists have already withdrawn their forces at three sites in Donbas as a precondition for the meeting.Analysts contacted by Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service say the novice leader who came to power promising to bring peace to his country will be hard-pressed to emerge with a deal that doesn’t leave the nation weaker than it is now.FILE – 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.Trump ‘doesn’t care’ about UkraineThe impeachment probe undermines Ukraine’s position because it exposes Trump’s lack of commitment to defending Ukraine, said Mark Simakovsky, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Atlantic Council. U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland has been quoted in testimony to the inquiry saying that Trump “doesn’t care” about Ukraine.“I think the casualty of this relationship between Trump and Zelenskiy will be that there’ll always be questions about how far the United States and this president are willing to go to support Ukraine,” Simakovsky said.The analyst noted that several U.S. officials with leading roles on Ukraine policy have provided testimony that is embarrassing to the administration and are no doubt being “looked at skeptically” by the president. That will make it hard for them to “have the confidence of the White House” as they seek to implement U.S. policy.David Kramer, a former high-ranking State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said the Republican-led defense of the president in the impeachment probe has hurt Ukraine even further.Ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., left, confers with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, during a break in the testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Nov. 13, 2019, during its impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.“The Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee continue to peddle disproven conspiracy theories that paint a very negative picture of Ukraine,” he said.Kramer added that Kyiv will “be under greater pressure from France and Germany to resolve the conflict” in eastern Ukraine, and that the recent resignation of U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker has made the United States less effective in the region.“So, should [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy try to make the best of a bad situation with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or hold out until all Russian forces leave Ukrainian territory? Cutting deals with Putin is likely to be a riskier proposition,” he said.Simakovsky agreed that France and Germany appear to be looking for an excuse to ease sanctions on Russia.“The challenge I think is Ukrainian people being convinced and frustrated with the lack of support from the West. If they are going to be left alone, then they need to accelerate the path toward peace because they have to make some sort of [accommodation] with Russia,” Simakovsly said.Members of the Emergencies Ministry of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic remove mines from the area near the settlement of Petrovskoye (Petrivske) in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 19, 2019.A win for RussiaNataliya Bugayova, a Russia team lead at the Institute for the Study of War, said Russia is taking advantage of the West’s eagerness to see the war ended.“Russia is exploiting the narrative of both urgency to deliver on peace internally in Ukraine and in Europe,” she said. “Russia is also attempting to use the upcoming Normandy talks to cast itself as a mediator in the conflict where it is a belligerent.”Russia has made no meaningful concessions leading to the summit, Bugayova added.“There is no indication of Russia’s intent to give up control of its forces in Ukraine. In fact, we have seen Russia’s efforts to further integrate its proxies over the past few months,” she said.Michael Carpenter, managing director at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and a former high-ranking Pentagon official in the Obama administration, said there is a risk that the Paris meeting will allow Russia to transfer some responsibility for the conflict to its separatist proxies.The details of any agreement reached in Paris on elections and a special status for the disputed regions will have to be worked out by a Trilateral Contact Group, which is comprised of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics will also be involved.Carpenter said Russia has similarly manipulated an international forum on Georgia, allowing it to “normalize” its relations with that country without making any meaningful progress on the status of the disputed territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.“If the same thing happens in Ukraine, it will set the stage for an unwinnable negotiation with Russia’s proxies that lasts years or even decades,” he said.Elections a sticking pointThe proposal for local elections in eastern Ukraine will be a major sticking point in the Paris talks. Zelenskiy has said elections will be held only after Ukraine regains control over the disputed territory and its border with Russia.There is little chance that Moscow will agree to that, but Bugayova said Zelenskiy cannot afford to give in on the point.“If elections take place under Russia’s influence, whether it’s direct military pressure or the absolute information control that Russia has over the territories, that means that the proxies and somewhat intervention will be legitimized,” she said.“The biggest risk … is that if Russian proxies are legitimized, there is no going back. This is a non-reversible process that can open opportunities for Russia to regain control over Ukraine’s decision-making in the long term.”Kramer is also dubious about possibility of holding successful elections in the east.“How can one conduct an election when more than 1.5 million have been displaced, when Ukraine doesn’t control the territory, and when Russian forces continue to occupy the territory?” he asked.A former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, said he is skeptical that the Paris talks will produce any settlement that leads to a restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty.“For more than five years, the Kremlin has used a simmering conflict in Donbas to put pressure on Kyiv. The big question is whether Mr. Putin is ready now to change course and seek a mutually acceptable settlement of the conflict that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine.”
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Ginsburg Hospitalized for Treatment of Chills, Fever
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after experiencing chills and fever, the court said Saturday. In a statement, the court’s public information office said Ginsburg was admitted Friday night to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington before being transferred to Johns Hopkins for further evaluation and treatment of any possible infection. With intravenous antibiotics and fluids, her symptoms abated and she expected to be released from the hospital as early as Sunday morning, the statement said. Earlier this month Ginsburg, 86, suffered what the court described as a stomach bug. She was absent from arguments on November 13 but returned for the court’s next public meeting, on November 18. She has been treated for cancer twice in the past year and two other times since 1999. Over the summer she received radiation for a tumor on her pancreas. Last winter she underwent surgery for lung cancer.
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5 States Drag Feet on Creation of Panels to Promote Census
With billions in federal aid and seats in Congress at stake, some states are dragging their feet in carrying out one of the Census Bureau’s chief recommendations for making sure everyone is counted during the 2020 census. Five states — Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas — have not set up “complete count committees” that would create public awareness campaigns to encourage people to fill out the questionnaires. In some of those states, politicians argued that a statewide body would be unnecessary, since local committees, cities and nonprofit organizations are already working to publicize the census. In others, state leaders didn’t see any urgency to act. The once-a-decade count of the U.S. population starts in January in a remote area of Alaska. The rest of the nation takes part starting in the spring. ‘The clock is ticking’“We are encouraging others to join in,” Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham said this month. “The clock is ticking, and the time to join is now.” Six states — Iowa, Maine, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin — only got on board in the past several weeks. Officials say the committees can separate census winners from losers. “Complete count committees are extremely effective,” said Albert Fontenot, an associate director at the Census Bureau. “It’s in the states’ interests in that they get a funding flow and congressional seats.” Of the holdout states, all but Louisiana have Republican governors. In Texas, a measure to create a committee died in the GOP-dominated Legislature earlier this year, even though the second most populous state has the most to gain from the census — up to three congressional seats. Some Texas lawmakers were worried about losing their seats during redistricting if population surges favoring Democrats were found in urban and suburban areas, said Luis Figueroa, legislative and policy director at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. Also, at the time, the Trump administration was pushing to add a citizenship question to the form, and some lawmakers didn’t want to take a stand on the issue by promoting the census, he said. The U.S. Supreme Court later blocked the question. Spending variesTwenty-six state governments are appropriating nearly $350 million to reach people and get them to respond to the census. The amounts range from California’s record $187 million to Montana’s $100,000, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. New York City is committing $40 million. States led by Democrats have spent more per capita. Of the 11 states spending at least $1 per resident, all but North Dakota have Democratic governors, according to an Associated Press analysis. California, which stands to lose a seat in Congress, is spending $4.73 per person, using the money to target certain ethnic communities, provide educational materials to schools and identify community leaders who can personally encourage participation in the most populous state. Spending on outreach offers a great return on investment, said Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete Count-Census 2020 Office. “You have to look at how many programs will suffer and how much money we will lose,” Katague said. In 2000, when California spent $24 million, 76 percent of residents returned the questionnaires by mail, outstripping the national average. In 2010, in the aftermath of the recession and budget cuts, California spent only $2 million, and the mail response rate dropped to 73 percent, below the national average. Florida bills failedIn Florida, the third most populous state, bills establishing a statewide committee died in the GOP-controlled legislature. With an influx from such places as Puerto Rico and Venezuela, Florida has gained about 2.5 million people since 2010 and could pick up two more congressional seats. A spokeswoman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he is still reviewing what action should be taken to help get a full head count. “The governor takes the census seriously,” spokeswoman Helen Ferre said. In Nebraska, Republican Governor Pete Ricketts vetoed a bill to create a complete count committee, saying that local committees are already doing the work and that the legislation would have given a University of Nebraska program authority to create the panel without guidance from the state. The number of congressional seats for Nebraska is expected to remain unchanged. Still, “ultimately I think this will be a loss for Nebraska, especially in terms of receiving federal funds,” said state Senator Matt Hansen, a Democrat from Lincoln who sponsored the legislation. “Specifically, I am concerned children, racial and ethnic minority populations, homeless persons, and those who live in rural and isolated areas will be undercounted.”
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Iconic Singer Hopes to Help African Women Get Credit
The insect-eaten money fluttered in pieces to the floor. For global music star Angelique Kidjo, that image of her grandmother having to use a closet as a bank is driving her desire to see African women leap the many obstacles to obtaining credit — and respect.The Benin-born singer, one of Africa’s iconic artists and a collaborator with Philip Glass and others, is the voice of a new project aimed in part at rewriting laws across the continent that prevent millions of women from becoming a more powerful economic force.In an interview with The Associated Press, Kidjo described what she has seen over decades of travel in Africa during which women in vibrant marketplaces wished they had the means to do more.“Why do banks give more loans to men versus women? That’s the question I have,” she said. “Millions of women entrepreneurs in Africa, they lack loans versus the men. Once again, we come back to this patriarchy. And we know men pay less back than women.”Women invest 90%Every time credit is refused to African women, who invest some 90% of what they earn in educating their children and supporting families and communities as opposed to about 40% for men, it’s a disaster, Kidjo said. “We’re taking up reducing the poverty rate in Africa to the smallest number ever. That’s my passion. That’s why I’m here,” she added.She will help the African Development Bank next week launch AFAWA, or Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa. Already the G-7 group of the world’s major democracies has committed $250 million, and the bank is providing $1 billion for the project that will be deployed across all 54 countries.The goal is to raise $5 billion for efforts that include helping to guarantee loans, training women on financial matters and eliminating laws and regulations that make accessing credit more difficult. African women face a $42 billion financing gap even though 1 in 4 starts or manages a business, the highest percentage in the world, the bank says.In some African countries, women can’t open a bank account without their husband or father, or inheritance laws leave them with little or nothing. That means no collateral.Reforms taking holdBut reforms are catching on. In the World Bank’s latest Women, Business and Law report in 2018, 32% of reforms tracked in sub-Saharan African countries addressed equal treatment for women and men in accessing credit and financial services. Angola, Congo and Zambia joined others in prohibiting gender-based credit discrimination, it said.With the new fund for financing African women “we will be able to go as low as a few hundred dollars’ loan … for people who need it the most,” said Vanessa Moungar, the African Development Bank’s Chadian-French director of gender, women and civil society.She was not ready to announce further pledges but said talks are continuing with potential donor countries, including African ones. With the continent’s 1.2 billion population expected to double by 2050, the pressure for growth is huge.“Look, women are one of the most powerful forces of nature on this continent,” Moungar said. “If they can be economically empowered, transformation will be fast-tracked like we’ve never seen.”Launching along with the new financing project is an index to assess how commercial banks are performing.“When they come to us for more (loans) we’ll say, ‘What have you done for women?’” Moungar said.The project is also turning accountability on itself, with Kidjo and other ambassadors meant to speak up if they think the project isn’t moving quickly or effectively enough.“I’m not a very patient person,” Kidjo said. “Those women, they don’t have time to waste. Their livelihood is in danger. I’m gonna be very strict.”FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron, right, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, left, and UNICEF ambassador Angelique Kidjo during the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Aug. 25, 2019.Women want a chance, not charityWomen across Africa have told her they don’t want charity, the singer said. They know how to make money but aren’t given the chance to try.She recalled women in Ghana who resorted to digging a hole in the ground to stash their earnings because they didn’t have bank accounts. And during a visit to Benin last month, one woman told her that to obtain a loan of 5,000 CFA ($8) she had to show a property deed and hand over 100,000 CFA as collateral.Such experiences have helped to inspire another new program, the $100 million U.S.-run Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative fund with projects in 22 countries in Africa and elsewhere. They include Morocco, where women are benefiting from new laws that allow them to own land.The Africa-focused AFAWA, with vocal backing from French President Emmanuel Macron, will launch this month in Rwanda at the Global Gender Summit, which gathers multilateral development banks from around the world.When that East African nation changed its laws to give women access to land, their financial inclusion jumped from 36% to 63% in just four years, Moungar said“Can you imagine?” she said. “I want all the women out there to know that’s what’s really driving us and our hearts. We are working for them and nothing else.”
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On Edge From Violence, Hong Kong Holds Local Elections
Hong Kongers are voting Sunday in a local election widely seen as a de facto referendum on pro-democracy protests that have recently taken a more aggressive turn. The territory is on edge following days of intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters, though the violence has subsided in the past few days. Though the district council members being chosen Sunday have little power, pro-democracy forces still hope for a big win that will confirm public support for the protests. Police have promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. Public broadcaster RTHK reports officers will be stationed inside and outside polling stations in riot gear. “If there’s any violence, we will deal with it immediately, without hesitation,” Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s police commissioner, said. A riot policeman stands as voters line up outside a polling place in Hong Kong, Nov. 24, 2019. Voting was underway Sunday in Hong Kong elections that have become a barometer of public support for anti-government protests.District councilsHong Kongers are choosing more than 400 members of 18 district councils scattered across the tiny territory. The district councils essentially serve as advisory bodies for local matters such as building roads or schools. “I think the political message is more important than anything else,” Ma Ngok, a political scientist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. “If the democrats really score a landslide victory, it will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement.” Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests initially took the form of massive demonstrations against a reviled extradition bill, which could have resulted in Hong Kongers being tried in China’s politicized court system. The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters destroying public infrastructure, defacing symbols of state power and clashing with police. Protesters defend the moves as an appropriate reaction to police violence and the government’s refusal to meet their demands. Despite the protester violence, polls suggest the movement still enjoys widespread public support. Meanwhile, the approval of Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly chief executive, Carrie Lam, has fallen to a record low of about 20%. Quasi-democratic system Under Hong Kong’s quasi-democratic system, district councils have no power to pass legislation. But the vote could affect how the territory’s more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future. “That’s a big deal,” said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. “Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you.” The pro-democracy camp has tried to use the protests as a mobilizing force ahead of the vote and is fielding an unprecedented number of candidates. A volunteer medic searches for protesters inside a building on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where dozens of pro-democracy protesters remain holed up, in the Hung Hom district of Hong Kong, Nov. 23, 2019.But they have a lot of ground to make up. Pro-government forces make up the majority in all 18 district councils, with the so-called “pan-democrats” taking up only about 25% of the overall seats, Ma said. Hong Kong has seen a major surge in voter registration, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year, the most since at least 2003, according to the South China Morning Post. Voter sentiment mixed At a recent pro-democracy rally in central Hong Kong, many protesters said they plan to vote, but they were divided on whether the election will lead to real change. “I’m not excited,” said Ip, giving only her first name. “I think voting is one of our ways to express our voice, but I doubt the results will be very good.” Another demonstrator, who gave the name Ms. Chan, said she also intends to send a message by voting. “The government needs to listen to the people,” she said. “They do many wrong things, so I think many people will go out and vote.”
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US Security Adviser Decries World Silence on China Camps
President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser is criticizing what he says is silence from the rest of the world about China’s confinement of more than 1 million Muslims in re-education camps, linking the lack of a global outcry to China’s economic clout.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien also questioned whether international leaders will stand up if Beijing carries out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
O’Brien met with journalists and was interviewed by a moderator at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. Speak up
“Where is the world? We have over a million people in concentration camps,” O’Brien said. “I’ve been to the genocide museum in Rwanda. You hear `never again, never again is this going to happen,’ and yet there are re-education camps with over a million people in them.”
O’Brien said the lack of criticism is especially surprising from Islamic states.
China is estimated to have detained up to 1 million minority Muslim Uighurs in prisonlike detention centers. The detentions come on top of harsh travel restrictions and a massive state surveillance network equipped with facial recognition technology. FILE – An imam calls Uighur Muslims for afternoon prayer in China’s Xinjiang region, in 2012.China has denied committing abuses in the centers and has described them as schools aimed at providing employable skills and combating extremism.
China and the U.S. are locked in a trade war, and the Trump administration has alternated between blasting the country’s leadership and reaching out to it. Trump imposed tariffs last year on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese exports to the U.S., seeking to ramp up pressure for changes in Chinese trade and investment policies. China has retaliated with tariff hikes of its own.
O’Brien said that an initial trade agreement with China is still possible by year’s end, but that the U.S. won’t take a bad deal and won’t ignore what happens in Hong Kong.
O’Brien also said U.S. allies should think hard before allowing Chinese technology giant Huawei into their next generation of telecommunication networks, citing surveillance concerns.
“What the Chinese are doing makes Facebook and Google look like child’s play as far as collecting information on folks. Once they know the full profile of every man, woman and child in your country, how are they going to use that?” he asked.
Huawei spokespeople did not immediately return an email seeking comment Saturday.
Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said at Saturday’s conference that Trump himself has not addressed the camps publicly. Isa said his mother recently died in one of the camps.Pompeo statementsO’Brien responded that the administration has spoken out about it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is among the Trump officials who have raised China’s mistreatment of the Muslim Uighur minority, including citing it as a violation of religious freedom in a speech last month.
O’Brien declined to say what the U.S. would do if there was a crackdown in Hong Kong that rivaled the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. More than 100,000 Americans and over 300,000 Canadians live in Hong Kong.
“I don’t want to get into tools or what the U.S. might or might not do,” he said. “But much of the world and many or our allies, and many of the countries represented at this conference, have been willing to forget Tiananmen Square and are heavily engaged in business with China.”
O’Brien is the fourth person in two years to hold the job of national security adviser. He previously served as Trump’s chief hostage negotiator. O’Brien made headlines in July when he was dispatched to Sweden to monitor the assault trial of American rapper A$AP Rocky.
As the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, O’Brien worked closely with the families of American hostages and advised administration officials on hostage issues.
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Dozens of Migrants Rescued Off Italy; Up to 20 Feared Missing
Italian coast guards on Saturday said they had rescued 143 migrants off the island of Lampedusa, although around 20 others were apparently missing, according to the survivors.
“The crews of four patrols rescued 143 people who had fallen into the sea” from a 10-meter boat, the coast guard said in a statement.
Two men, an Eritrean and a Libyan, said they had been unable to locate their wives following the rescue.
A search for those missing continued Saturday evening with two planes from Frontex — the border and coast guard agency for the EU’s Schengen area — and the Italian navy flying over the area.
Police were also searching the Lampedusa coast to see if any of the migrants had swum ashore.
Those rescued were taken to Lampedusa, where they disembarked.
Meanwhile, Italy, Germany, France and Malta jointly asked the European Commission to activate a migrant-relocation scheme for 213 migrants on board the Ocean Viking rescue ship, the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry said.
The ministry said “this is the first time this has happened” since the four nations in September signed a pre-agreement for the automatic distribution of rescued migrants in the Mediterranean.
The Ocean Viking, chartered by SOS Mediterranee with Doctors Without Borders, has rescued 215 people in three operations in recent days. One injured man and a pregnant woman had already been taken off the boat.
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Navy Secretary Says He Did Not Threaten to Resign in Dispute With Trump
The U.S. Navy secretary said Saturday that he did not threaten to resign amid a disagreement with President Donald Trump over whether a Navy SEAL convicted of battlefield misconduct should face a board of peers who may oust him from the elite force.
“There seem to be rumors out there that I threatened to resign. I have not threatened to resign,” Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters at a security conference in Halifax. The New York Times reported earlier on Saturday that Spencer had threatened to quit if Trump subverted the process.
Spencer said Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher should face a board of peers because “the process matters for good order and discipline,” Reuters reported on Friday.
On Saturday, Spencer said “good order and discipline is also obeying orders from the president of the United States,” and he said that he hopes “to contribute going forward” in his role.
Last week, Trump intervened in the case, ordering the Navy to restore Gallagher’s rank and pay, and clearing the way for him to retire on a full pension.
A military jury in July convicted Gallagher of illegally posing for pictures with the corpse of an Islamic State fighter but acquitted him of murder in the detainee’s death. Gallagher also was cleared of charges that he deliberately fired on unarmed civilians.
Although spared a prison sentence, he was demoted in rank and pay grade for his conviction, which stemmed from a 2017 deployment in Iraq. Review set December 2
But the Navy notified Gallagher, 40, on Tuesday that a five-member panel of fellow Navy commandos would convene on December 2 to review his case and recommend whether he is fit to remain in the SEALs.
A decision as to whether Gallagher is ejected from the SEALs, stripping him of his special warfare Trident Pin, ultimately rests with the Navy’s personnel command in Washington.
On Thursday, Trump lashed out at the proceedings, declaring on Twitter: “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin. This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!” Spencer said that a tweet did not constitute an official order.
“I need a formal order to act,” Spencer said. “I do not interpret [tweets] as a formal order.”
The trident review hearings for Gallagher and his immediate superiors were ordered by the commander of Naval Special Warfare, Rear Admiral Collin Green, whom the Times also reported had threatened to resign. Spencer also said Green has not threatened to quit.
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Harvard-Yale Game Delayed at Halftime by Student Protest
Protesters wearing the colors of both Harvard and Yale on Saturday staged a sit-in at midfield of the Yale Bowl during halftime of the 136th edition of the annual football rivalry known as The Game. Most left after about an hour when they were escorted off by police; about two dozen who remained were told by police they were under arrest. A few dozen protesters initially trickled onto the field as the Yale band finished performing its halftime routine. Some held up banners asking the schools’ presidents to divest from the fossil fuel industry, while other signs raised issues of Puerto Rican debt and the treatment of the Uighurs. Largely of college age but with a few older protesters mixed in, the group chanted: Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!'' One banner read,This is an emergency.” Defense of free expressionIn a statement distributed to reporters in the press box during the fourth quarter, Yale said it stands firmly for the right to free expression.'' While I respect the rights of Harvard and Yale students to protest, their efforts should not impact their fellow students’ ability to pursue their passions as athletes on the field of play, and those who support them,” Yale athletic director Vicky Chun said. We are proud of our student-athletes and coaches for their resilience today in an extremely difficult situation.'' Harvard coach Tim Murphy, second from right, speaks with officials as demonstrators stage a protest on the field at the Yale Bowl, disrupting the start of the second half of a Harvard-Yale football game, Nov. 23, in New Haven, Conn.Police in yellow vests lined up alongside the sit-in but did not intervene. When the 15-minute halftime expired and the protest continued, hundreds more fans streamed onto the field to join in. Fans remaining in the stands began to boo, but only briefly. Players tried to remain warm on the sidelines in the mid-40 temperatures, but then returned to their locker rooms. Harvard coach Tim Murphy was given an update from the game officials and public safety officers as the protest continued. 'The game must resume'The public address announcer implored the group to leave, repeating,As a courtesy to both teams, the game must resume.” Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins spoke to the protesters over a megaphone, trying to convince them that they had made their point, but it would be lost if the situation escalated. After about an hour, police formed a line and moved forward, from the Yale sideline toward the Harvard sideline. A protest leader encouraged all internationals'' to leave. An agreement was reached to escort the remainders off, with one police officer to every two protesters. Those who did not leave then were informed by Higgins that they would be arrested. Asked how many people were taken into custody, Higgins referred questions to the police public information officer. Messages left with Yale and New Haven police were not immediately returned. Between 20 and 30 protesters were arrested, according to organizers of the event. Rachel Sadoff, a junior at Harvard, said about 150 students from the two universities planned to participate in the protest. She said about 100 more students who had been sitting in the stands joined in. Our goal was to spread the word,” Sadoff said. “If more people speak up, our colleges will have to listen.” She said those arrested were released and given a court date.
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Paris Throng Protests Violence Against Women
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Paris on Saturday to demand a national wake-up call and more government investment to prevent deadly domestic violence against women, a problem that President Emmanuel Macron calls France's shame.'' A wave of purple flags and signs snaked from the Place de l'Opera through eastern Paris amid an unprecedented public campaign to decry violence against women — and to honor the 130 women that activists say have been killed in France this year by current or former partners. That's about one every two or three days. While France has a progressive reputation and pushes for women's rights around the world, it has among the highest rates in Europe of domestic violence, in part because of poor police response to reports of abuse. Many of the women killed this year had previously sought help from police. 'Femicide'At Saturday's march — one of the biggest demonstrations this year in Paris — French film and TV stars joined abuse victims and activists calling for an end tofemicide.” Many held banners reading Sick of Rape.'' The protest came on the U.N.'s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and was aimed at pressuring the French government before it unveils new measures Monday to tackle the problem. The measures are expected to include seizing firearms from people suspected of domestic violence and prioritizing police training so they won't brush off women's complaints as a private affair. We live in a culture that finds excuses for assailants,” Alyssa Ahrabare, spokeswoman for activist group Osez le Feminisme (Try feminism), told The Associated Press. She called for better training for people in police stations and hospitals who encounter victims of domestic violence, and more shelters for abused women. Some of Saturday’s marchers want 1 billion euros in government investment, though the funding is expected to fall far short of that. French activists have stepped up efforts this year to call attention to the problem, with an unusual campaign of gluing posters around Paris and other cities every time another woman is killed. The posters honor the women and call for action. Activists also hold protests, lying down on the pavement to represent the slain women. A woman raises her fist as she and thousands of others protest against domestic violence, in Paris, Nov, 23, 2019.A 2014 EU survey of 42,000 women across all 28 member states found that 26% of French respondents said they been abused by a partner since age 15, either physically or sexually. That’s below the global average of 30%, according to UN Women. But it’s above the EU average and the sixth highest among EU countries. Half that number reported experiencing such abuse in Spain, which implemented a series of legal and educational measures in 2004 that slashed its domestic violence rates. Conversations about domestic violence have also ratcheted up in neighboring Germany, where activists are demanding that the term femicide be used to describe such killings. In France, lawyers and victims’ advocates say they’re encouraged by the new national conversation, which they say marks a departure from decades of denial. Women aren’t the only victims of domestic violence, but French officials say they make up the vast majority. ‘This has to stop’Beatrice Donnard, 54, activist with the group NousToutes (All of Us), noted that killings often occur when a couple separates, saying, It's an entire system that needs to be taken down.'' Each woman you talk to — you could ask your mother or your sister — has a story of sexual violence in one way or another. This has to stop. I think men understand that, and there are many of them here with us — welcome!”
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Dozens Killed in Kenya as Heavy Rains Trigger Flooding, Mudslides
At least 34 people were killed Saturday in Kenya due to heavy rains in East Africa that have triggered flooding and mudslides.Interior Minister Fred Matiangi said mudslides claimed the lives of 29 people in the western Kenyan villages of Takmal, Parua and Tapach.Five others were killed between the towns of Kitale and Lodwar when their car was swept away when two rivers overflowed their banks, West Pokot County Commissioner Apollo Okello said.Twelve bodies recovered, and seven were children, Okello said. He added that another two children were pulled out alive and “rushed to the hospital.”Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he had deployed emergency personnel from various government agencies to prevent the “further loss of lives.”Rescue efforts, however, have been hampered because roads have been transformed into rivers and bridges have been washed away.Interior Minister Matiangi said the scope of the disaster remains unclear.“While rescue and recovery efforts remain the priority, a full assessment into the extent of damage caused continues to be a challenge due to harsh weather conditions.”More than 1 million people in East Africa have been adversely affected recently by higher-than-normal rainfall.Torrential rains are uncommon in the region this time of year, but experts point to changing weather patterns — including an unusually powerful phenomenon in the Indian Ocean.Saturday’s deaths raise to 72 the number of people who have died in Kenya due to flood-related issues in the last month-and-a-half.Aid group said earlier this month that heavy rains and flooding had killed 50 people in East Africa and forced hundreds of thousands of others to evacuate their homes.
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‘Why Not Just Try:’ Hong Kong Protesters Share What Drives Them
When he left the house last week, Joseph, a 19-year-old Hong Kong college student, told his parents he was going to hang out with friends. That was only partly true.In reality, Joseph was headed for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he and a group of hundreds of other young people barricaded themselves on campus, blocked a major highway, and stockpiled homemade weapons in preparation to battle police.Night after night last week, the urban campus become a battlefield, as police rained tear gas and rubber bullets on students, who responded with Molotov cocktails, bricks, and whatever else they could find.Though Hong Kong has seen five months of protests, this kind of violence is new. The pro-democracy movement that had been marked by massive street rallies now risks being overtaken by a smaller group of hardcore students who have shown they are willing to go beyond peaceful demonstrations and engage in prolonged battles with police in their push for democratic reforms.“I would definitely admit that we’re using a certain level of violence,” says Joseph, who spoke via an encrypted messaging app. “But in order to protect the innocent protesters and create pressure on the government, a certain level of violence and power to fight back is necessary.”
In the minds of frontline protesters like Joseph, the violence is a last-ditch effort to preserve what is left of Hong Kong’s freedoms before the semi-autonomous territory is fully taken over by China in 2047. Hong Kong authorities accuse the protesters of engaging in violence that is incompatible with democracy.Protesters walk inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong, Nov. 23, 2019.VOA spoke with about 10 young protesters, all of whom were at Polytechnic University over the past week. Though the standoff is largely over, a couple dozen holdouts remain on campus. Most have either surrendered to police or escaped. Some of the protesters face possible riot-related charges that could land them in jail for 10 years. VOA has used pseudonyms to protect their identity.‘We tried peaceful demonstrations’“We tried peaceful demonstrations, but the government didn’t listen,” says Crystal, a Polytechnic student protester who has been on the run since leaving campus. She says she hasn’t been able to sleep a full night in more than a week.”I’m scared, really scared,” she says.Crystal wants to someday be an elementary school teacher, but for now she considers herself a revolutionary.“Radical, I think, is a positive word for me, for us,” she says. “And most revolutions have violence.”At this point, she’s unsure of whether to stay in Hong Kong and fight, or seek political asylum in another country.“This is my place. This is my home. I need to protect it,” she says. “And I know that in 2047, I will become an old woman. But what about the next generation? And the next generation? What they will become? Brainwashed? Everything fake, like China?”Debris and graffiti are seen inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus, in Hong Kong, Nov. 22, 2019.OutmatchedMost of the frontline students that fought at Polytechnic are in their teens or twenties. Some are new protesters. Others are veterans of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, a student-led protest that unsuccessfully pushed for universal suffrage.When it comes to brute strength, the students are outmatched, not only by the weapons of the Hong Kong police, but even more so by those of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest military. The PLA has thousands of troops in Hong Kong and many more just across the border, though they have not yet left their barracks to confront the protesters.“We deeply understand we are not able to win in hand to hand fighting,” says Joseph. “But still, we shouldn’t be silent in the face of injustices.”That is a common sentiment among frontline protesters, many of whom resent local and mainland Chinese media that accuse them of being naive children who are being pushed to the frontline by irresponsible adults. In reality, many of the more extreme protesters seem frequently self-aware, expressing a potentially dangerous mix of fatalism and determination.In other words: they know they’ll likely lose, but they’re willing to fight anyway.“We both know that it’s impossible to win, but only persistence can bring hope. If we never try, we know how this ends. We can’t just say no no, impossible. Why not just try?” says Crystal.Another student on campus, who carried a bow and arrow, and donned a military-style camouflage helmet, acknowledged that his weapons are no match for the forces he is up against.A Lennon wall is seen on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong, Nov. 23, 2019.“All the protesters are scared—because maybe we will die,” he said, speaking in front of a pile of mangled classroom desks that had been stacked up to form a barricade against police. “But we think if we don’t stand up this day, [then] all the freedom in Hong Kong will lose. There is no way for us to go back now.”“All of us here know what we are doing,” said another frontline protester at Polytechnic, who spoke through a black gas mask that distorted his voice. “Because our demands are not being addressed, that’s why we are having to escalate and upgrade our actions so as to get the results from the government,” he said.Five demandsThe latest round of protests erupted in June in opposition to an extradition bill. The proposal could have seen Hong Kongers tried in mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party and reports of torture and forced confessions are common.Though authorities eventually abandoned the extradition bill, by then the protests had morphed into wider calls for democracy and opposition to the expanding influence of Beijing.The protesters have adopted a list of five demands, including an investigation into police brutality, amnesty for arrested protesters, and direct elections for both the legislature and top executive.But besides scrapping the extradition bill, Hong Kong authorities have refused to make concessions. Instead, as they have from the beginning, authorities dismiss the protests as riots.“The rioters’ actions have far exceeded the call for democracy. They are now the enemy of the people,” Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly Chief Executive Carrie Lam said earlier this month.A place where Molotov cocktails were made is seen on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong, Nov. 23, 2019.‘Off the rails’Though the protesters appear to still have the support of a large segment of the Hong Kong public, some are worried about the direction of the protests.“This movement has come off the rails and is really out of control,” says Steve Vickers, the former head of the Royal Hong Kong Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau. “The violent element, the sharp end of it, is really destroying the message that the rest of them had established through large demonstrations, which were peaceful.”Vickers points to instances where protesters have vandalized public infrastructure, such as subway stations and highway toll booths. In other cases, pro-Beijing individuals or businesses have been attacked or set on fire.“Demanding five things or we will burn down your railway stations on a regular basis is not going to end happily anywhere in the world,” says Vickers, who heads the SVA Risk Consultancy.In recent weeks, there have also been several attacks on pro-democracy figures, including one politician who had his ear partially bitten off by a knife-wielding man outside a shopping mall.Election a referendum?Sunday’s local elections could serve as a de facto referendum on the protest movement. Authorities had considered postponing the vote because of the violence, but they decided to move ahead, with a large police presence expected at polling stations.“If the democrats really score a landslide victory, that will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement, despite recent violence,” says Ma Ngok, a political scientist with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “This will, I think … [create] much more pressure for the Hong Kong government to respond to the demands of the protesters.”Polls suggest a generational divide between younger Hong Kongers, who are resentful of increasing Chinese influence, and older Hong Kongers, who prefer stability even if it means a lesser degree of freedom.For frontline protester Joseph, whose father is pro-Beijing, that means sneaking out of the house to attend violent protests.“We’ve had a few strong arguments, but I’m pretty sure there are many families struggling with that,” he says.Although Joseph says he has no plans to stop protesting, he doesn’t expect the violence to get much worse, for now.“Keeping pressure on the government,” he says. “That is our first priority at the moment.”
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Egyptian Leader’s Son Heads to Moscow
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, dubbed by critics “Putin on the Nile,” is set to boost his burgeoning relationship with Russia by dispatching his son, Mahmoud, to Moscow as a military attache, independent regional media outlets are reporting.Russian officials say they welcome the prospect of Mahmoud el-Sissi being based in Moscow. The reassignment would coincide with an open rupture between Cairo and Washington over Egyptian plans to buy advanced Russian warplanes.In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official Thursday threatened the Cairo government with sanctions if Egypt goes ahead with a $2 billion agreement to purchase more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets, a deal the relocated Mahmoud el-Sissi would likely oversee as military attache.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the Trump administration was still discussing how to address its defense needs with Egypt adding that U.S. officials “have also been very transparent with them in that if they are to acquire a significant Russian platform like the Sukhoi-35 or the Su-35, that puts them at risk towards sanctions.”The United States has provided billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt, a longtime ally, whose military has been operating the U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter. Moving his son to Moscow is seen by Western diplomats here as a signal to Washington by el-Sissi of his intent to go ahead with buying the Su-35s.“He’s playing hardball with Washington,” said a Western diplomat based here, who asked not to identified for this article.According to independent media, Mahmoud el-Sissi’s reassignment, planned for next year, has the added benefit for Egypt’s president of moving his son out of the spotlight in Cairo. His role as a top official in the country’s domestic and foreign intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Service, has prompted turmoil within that agency, as well as growing public criticism of his father for not curbing his son, who has also been drawing allegations of corruption.General Intelligence Service sources told Mada Masr, an Egyptian online newspaper, the reassignment to Moscow is “based on the perception within the president’s inner circle that Mahmoud el-Sissi has failed to properly handle a number of his responsibilities and that his increasingly visible influence in the upper decision-making levels of government is having a negative impact on his father’s image.”Russian President Vladimir Putin has been intensifying his engagement with Middle Eastern and North African leaders, and seeking to rebuild Russian influence in the region, clout that was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to analysts. Some analysts see the re-engagement as an effort to safeguard established strategic interests. They cite as an example Russian intervention in Syria, where Moscow has its only Mediterranean naval base and needed to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted to ensure its continuance.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi pose for a photo prior to talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Oct. 23, 2019.Others say Russia’s renewed assertiveness is being overblown.“Putin’s apparent victories in spreading Russian influence are mirages, some of which have come at a great cost,” according to Rajan Menon, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. “Putin’s gambit in Syria had more to do with safeguarding a long-standing strategic investment that appeared imperiled than with outmaneuvering the United States,” he said in a Foreign Policy magazine commentary.Nonetheless the dispatch of Mahmoud el-Sissi to Moscow is coming at a time of heightened disagreement between Washington and Cairo. Washington has told Cairo that buying the Russian warplanes would place U.S. and NATO military cooperation at risk. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote jointly to the Egyptian leader urging him to reverse the decision to buy Russian jets.Ties between el-Sissi and Putin began warming in 2014, when the Obama administration curtailed military aid to Egypt after the Egyptian army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Cairo’s generals, smarting at Washington’s criticism of the coup that brought el-Sissi to power, talked openly of forging a “strategic realignment” with the Kremlin, evoking Egypt’s Nasser-era alliance with the Soviets.Putin was quick to endorse el-Sissi as Egypt’s president, telling him during a 2014 visit to Moscow, “I wish you luck both from myself personally and from the Russian people.”Putin also gave el-Sissi a black jacket with a red star on it, which el-Sissi wore during the Russian trip. Both men have much in common, coming from modest backgrounds and having gravitated toward the most powerful institutions in their closed societies, the KGB and the Egyptian army. They each rose cautiously up the bureaucratic ladder.Last month, el-Sissi and Putin co-hosted the first Russia-Africa Summit, held at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. It was the third meeting between the two presidents this year. In October the Egyptian air force’s tactical training center near Cairo hosted joint Russian-Egyptian military exercises dubbed Arrow of Friendship-1. The two countries have held several joint naval and airborne counterterrorism exercises since 2015.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a visit to Cairo this month, “When we are in Egypt we always feel like at home.” The Russian military, he said, “is ready to assist in strengthening Egyptian military forces and defense capabilities.”Shoigu’s delegation included top officials from Russia’s trade ministry, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms exporter, and the deputy director of the Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation, prompting speculation among military analysts that Moscow and Cairo may be discussing arms deals other than the Su-35s and weapons systems co-production arrangements.
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Immigrants Played Vital Role in Trump Impeachment Hearings
A week of back-to-back impeachment hearings in Washington may have been marred by bickering between Democrats and Republicans and thus unpleasant to watch, but at least in one aspect, they inspired confidence in the American experiment.
As Americans watched the House of Representatives conduct contentious public hearings — steps toward the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump — viewers got a reminder of the important role that immigrants have played in the nation’s development and the opportunities the country has afforded them.Four key figures in the impeachment hearings are naturalized citizens, two of them children of refugees. Of the four, two earned positions in the White House itself, working on the ultra-sensitive National Security Council. A third worked her way up to the top of the country’s diplomatic corps. A fourth was seated on the dais, as an elected congressman and a member of the House Committee on Intelligence.Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is the child of immigrants who fled first from the Soviet Union, and then from the Nazi occupation of Europe. Born in Canada, she grew up in Connecticut and became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she turned 18. She went on to graduate from Princeton University and the National Defense University, and to serve out a distinguished career in the State Department including three ambassadorships.National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is sworn in to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 19, 2019.Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was born in Ukraine, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. His family fled to the U.S. when he was a small child. Like both of his brothers, Vindman joined the U.S. Army, earning numerous commendations including a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat in Iraq. He is now Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council.Fiona Hill, who until recently served in a senior position on the NSC, where she was Vindman’s functional superior, opened her testimony by describing herself as “American by choice.” Born in a hardscrabble coal mining town in Northern England, she came to the U.S. as an adult, attended Harvard University, and became a citizen in 2002.Each of the three, at some point, found themselves being questioned by a fellow immigrant. Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic member of the intelligence committee, was born in New Delhi, India, and came to the U.S. as an infant. He went on to earn degrees from Princeton and Harvard universities, and was elected to Congress in 2017.Former White House national security aide Fiona Hill arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 21, 2019.Lieutenant Colonel Vindman’s family came to the U.S. in 1973, with the help of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees. Melanie Nezer, the senior vice president for public affairs at HIAS, said that watching immigrants and refugees who have assumed high-ranking positions in the federal government “just shows you the benefits that refugees bring to this country.”“It shows the talent, the dedication, the patriotism — all of those things that are contributions that refugees make,” she said. “It’s not just in later generations, but even in the first generation, when they arrive. You see how grateful they are for the opportunity to start new lives in this country and how dedicated they are to giving back.”To be sure, participating in the public sphere also comes with its own dangers.Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, questions a witness during a House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Nov. 20, 2019.Yovanovitch was personally singled out by President Trump for attacks on Twitter, and was the focus of a concerted effort by supporters of the president to force her from her post as ambassador to Ukraine. Vindman found himself the target of online abuse so severe that the Army reportedly considered moving him and his family to safe housing on a military base.Nevertheless, both appeared before Congress eager to express their dedication and gratitude to the country that took their families in.“My service is an expression of gratitude for all that this country has given my family and me,” Yovanovitch testified. “My late parents did not have the good fortune to come of age in a free society. My father fled the Soviets before ultimately finding refuge in the United States. My mother’s family escaped the USSR after the Bolshevik revolution, and she grew up stateless in Nazi Germany, before eventually making her way to the United States. Their personal histories—my personal history—gave me both deep gratitude towards the United States and great empathy for others.”Vindman, wearing his dress military uniform, used his testimony to hit many of the same notes. “Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees,” he said. “When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives.”“His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service,” he added. “All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.”
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