In 2008, the Newseum — a private museum dedicated to exploring modern history as told through the eyes of journalists — opened on prime Washington real estate.Sitting almost equidistant between the White House and the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue, the glass-walled building became instantly recognizable for its multi-story exterior rendition of the First Amendment.Eleven years later that experiment is coming to an end. After years of financial difficulties, the Newseum will close its doors Tuesday.“We’re proud of how we did our storytelling,” said Sonya Gavankar, the outgoing director of public relations. “We changed the model of how museums did their work.”The building was sold for $372.5 million to Johns Hopkins University, which intends to consolidate its scattered Washington-based graduate studies programs under one roof.Gavankar attributed the failure to a “mosaic of factors” but one of them was certainly unfortunate timing. The opening coincided with the 2008 economic recession, which hit newspapers particularly hard and caused mass layoffs and closures across the industry.She also acknowledged that the Newseum’s status as a for-pay private institution was a harder sell in a city full of free museums. A Newseum ticket costs $25 for adults, and the building is right across the street from the National Gallery of Art and within blocks of multiple Smithsonian museums.“Competing with free institutions in Washington was difficult,” Gavankar said.Another problem, organizers said, is that the Newseum struggled to attract local residents, instead depending on a steady diet of tourists and local school groups. Actual Washington-area residents, who do frequent the Smithsonian and elsewhere, mostly came on school trips and rarely returned as adults.Claire Myers fits that profile. The D.C. resident recalls coming to the Newseum in high school in a senior-year class trip. She only returned in late December for a final visit because she heard it was closing at the end of the year.“I do think part of the reason was because it’s a paid museum,” she said. “Why go out of my way to do this when I could just go to any other free museum?”The $25 price tag, Myers said, creates a pressure to set aside the whole day and take in every exhibit, whereas at one of the free Smithsonian museums, she knows she can come back another time to catch whatever she missed. But Myers said she was deeply impressed by the exhibits, particularly the Newseum’s signature gallery of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs.“I do wish it wasn’t going away,” she said.The museum’s focus evolved over the years, showcasing not just journalism and historic events, but all manner of free speech and civil rights issues and some whimsical quirks along the edges. Exhibits during the Newseum’s final days included an exploration of the cultural and political influence of Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show,” a look at the history of the struggle for LGBTQ rights and a display depicting the history of presidential dogs.Gavankar said the Freedom Forum, which originally maintained the Newseum in northern Virginia for years, would continue its mission in different forms. The educational foundation maintains a pair of exhibits on the Berlin Wall in both Reagan and Dulles airports. Next year, those displays will be replaced by exhibits on the women’s suffrage movement. The current Rise Up! exhibit on LGBTQ rights will move to a new long-term home in the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.
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Month: December 2019
Russia Commissions Intercontinental Hypersonic Weapon
Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin that a new hypersonic weapon of intercontinental range became operational Friday following years of tests.Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty, the Defense Ministry said.“I congratulate you on this landmark event for the military and the entire nation,” Shoigu said later during a conference call with the top military brass.Experimental US Hypersonic Weapon Destroyed Seconds After Launch
A hypersonic weapon being developed by the U.S. military was destroyed four seconds after its launch from a test range in Alaska early on Monday after controllers detected a problem with the system, the Pentagon said.
The weapon is part of a program to create a missile that will destroy targets anywhere on Earth within an hour of getting data and permission to launch.
The mission was aborted to ensure public safety, and no one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m.
The Strategic Missile Forces chief, Gen. Sergei Karakayev, said during the call that the Avangard was put on duty with a unit in the Orenburg region in the southern Urals Mountains.Putin unveiled the Avangard among other prospective weapons systems in his state-of-the-nation address in March 2018, noting that its ability to make sharp maneuvers on its way to a target will render missile defense useless.“It heads to target like a meteorite, like a fireball,” he said then.Putin described the Avangard’s creation as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite.The Russian leader noted that Avangard is designed using new composite materials to withstand temperatures of up to 2,000 Celsius (3,632 Fahrenheit) resulting from a flight through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.Putin has charged that Russia had to develop the Avangard and other prospective weapons systems because of the U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system that he claimed could erode Russia’s nuclear deterrent. Moscow has scoffed at the U.S. claims that its missile shield isn’t intended to counter Russia’s massive missile arsenals.Earlier this week, Putin emphasized that Russia is the only country armed with hypersonic weapons. He noted that for the first time in history Russia is now leading the world in developing an entire new class of weapons, unlike in the past when it was catching up with the United States.The military said that the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound.In December 2018, the Avangard was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Urals and successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) away.Russian media reports indicated that the Avangard will first be mounted on Soviet-built RS-18B intercontinental ballistic missiles, code-named SS-19 by NATO. It is expected to be fitted to the prospective Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile after it becomes operational.Russia Tests Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Weapon
Russia has successfully conducted its final test of a hypersonic glider capable of carrying nuclear warheads, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Putin, who oversaw the test Wednesday, said the weapon is impossible to intercept and will ensure Russia’s security for decades to come.
He called it an “excellent New Year’s gift to the nation.”
The weapon, dubbed Avangard, detaches itself from a rocket after being launched and glides back to Earth at speeds faster than the speed of sound.
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The Defense Ministry said last month that it demonstrated the Avangard to a team of U.S. inspectors as part of transparency measures under the New Start nuclear arms treaty with the U.S.The U.S. has mulled new defense strategies to counter hypersonic weapons developed by Russia and China.U.S. officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the hypersonic weapons. The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the U.S. can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.The Pentagon also has been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believes “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the U.S. has one. He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.
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Montenegro Adopts Law on Religious Rights Amid Protests by pro-Serbs
Montenegro’s parliament adopted a contested law on religious rights early Friday after chaotic scenes in the assembly that resulted in the detention of all pro-Serb opposition lawmakers.The vote followed a day of nationwide protests by supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church who say the law will strip the church of its property, including medieval monasteries and churches. The government has denied that.Trying to prevent the vote, the pro-Serb lawmakers hurled what appeared to be a tear gas canister, or a firecracker, and tried to destroy microphones in the parliament hall. Plainclothes police wearing gas masks intervened, detaining 24 people, including 18 opposition lawmakers.“We are ready to die for our church and that’s what we are demonstrating tonight,” opposition leader Andrija Mandic said shortly after midnight during the tumultuous session.Police officers carry a pro-Serb opposition lawmaker in the parliament building in Podgorica, Montenegro, Dec. 27, 2019.Law passesThe law, approved by 45 ruling coalition lawmakers, says religious communities would need to produce evidence of ownership of their property from before 1918, when Montenegro joined a Balkan kingdom and lost its independence.The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro described the law as “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”The church Friday accused the Montenegrin authorities of “inciting divisions and hatred,” and leading Montenegro “into a situation that cannot bring any good to anyone.”“Thanks to this, the Orthodox Christian faithful in Montenegro are facing one of the saddest Christmases in recent history,” a church statement said. Serbian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Jan. 7.Montenegro’s population of around 620,000 is predominantly Orthodox Christian and the main church is the Serbian Orthodox Church. A separate Montenegrin Orthodox Church isn’t recognized by other Orthodox Christian churches.Torn over SerbiaMontenegro’s pro-Western president has accused the Serbian Orthodox Church of promoting pro-Serb policies and seeking to undermine the country’s statehood since it split from much larger Serbia in 2006.Montenegrins remain divided over whether the small Adriatic state should foster close ties with Serbia. About 30 percent of Montenegro’s population identify as Serbs and were mostly against the split from Serbia.Hundreds of pro-Serb opposition supporters Thursday staged an all-day protest against the law, blocking roads and entrances to the capital. Dozens of riot officers used metal barriers to prevent crowds, including Orthodox priests, from reaching the parliament building where lawmakers debated the bill.The Montenegrin prime minister said the country has the power to prevent more rioting.“I believe in peace in Montenegro,” Dusko Markovic said.
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Australia’s Wildfires Threaten Sydney Water Supplies
Australian authorities said Friday they are focused on protecting water plants, pumping stations, pipes and other infrastructure from intense bushfires surrounding Sydney, the country’s largest city.Firefighters battling the blazes for weeks received a reprieve of slightly cooler, damper conditions over Christmas, but the respite is not expected to last long.Temperatures in New South Wales (NSW) state are forecast to head back toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) early next week, fueling fires near Warragamba Dam, which provides water to about 80% of Sydney’s 5 million residents.“In recent days up to the cool change, the fires had been a potential threat to supply and assets, particularly in Warragamba and in the Blue Mountains,” a spokesman for the state’s water authority, WaterNSW, told Reuters. “With the coming very hot conditions the fire situation may escalate in both those fronts and possibly elsewhere.”Warragamba Dam is 65km (40 miles) west of Sydney, catching water flowing from the mountains.FILE – Dick Pearson from the Sydney Catchment Authority stands in front of Sydney’s Warragamba Dam to show the lowest level the dam has ever been.It is at 44.8% capacity, down from almost being full less than three years ago, as a prolonged drought ravages the continent’s east.40 New South Wales damsDespite the widespread destruction, the state’s water infrastructure network has not been damaged, the spokesman said.With more than 40 dams across the state, WaterNSW supplies two-thirds of untreated water to the state’s water utilities, which then treat and clean the resource to provide drinking water to cities and regional towns.Large quantities of ash and burned material could pose a threat to the quality of water in the dams if the fires are followed by heavy rain.However, there is no significant rain forecast for NSW in the short-term and WaterNSW has put containment barriers to catch potential debris run-off, the water authority said.Members of the Horsley Park RFS honor volunteer firefighters Andrew O’Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton, who died when their firetruck was struck by a falling tree as it traveled through the front line of a fire, in Horsley Park, NSW, Dec. 20, 2019.Volunteer firefightersAustralia’s reliance on a large volunteer firefighting force has been tested during this fire season that potentially has months to run through the southern hemisphere summer.While conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously said compensation for volunteers was not a priority, he said Tuesday that government workers could receive additional paid leave for volunteering.A senior government minister said Friday the government was now looking into providing wider relief.“The prime minister is looking at this issue further on how we can provide targeted support in these extreme circumstances so that our volunteers get the support they need to keep volunteering,” Defense Minister Linda Reynolds told media in Perth.While there are different rules across Australia’s states, volunteers tend to negotiate time off directly with their employer.Morrison has been under intense political pressure after it was revealed he was holidaying in Hawaii shortly before Christmas while the country grappled with an emergency and two volunteers near the fire frontlines had been killed. Eight deaths, including the two volunteer firefighters, have been linked to the blazes since they flared in spring.Fires destroy millions of hectaresFires are traveling immense distances through bushland before hitting towns and containment lines where volunteer firefighters concentrate their resources.The bushfires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) across the country, dwarfing the terrain burnt by fierce fires in California during 2019.
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Death Toll Reaches 28 as Philippines Recovers from Christmas Typhoon
The death toll from a Christmas typhoon that tore through the central Philippines rose to 28 Friday, with 12 people missing, the disaster agency said, as authorities moved to restore power and residents tried to repair damaged homes.Typhoon Phanfone hit late Tuesday with winds of up to 120 kph (75 mph) and gusts of 150 kph, dumping sheets of uninterrupted rain on a string of islands, damaging hundreds of homes and causing flooding in eight areas.It was the seventh typhoon to strike the Philippines this year and came as millions of people in the predominantly Catholic country were heading home to celebrate Christmas with families.Devastating stormAbout 43,000 people were in temporary shelters Friday, among the 185,000 affected by the typhoon, which destroyed 49 homes and partially damaged 2,000.There was widespread travel disruption with 115 flights canceled and thousands of people stranded by the suspension of ferries because of storm surges.It was unclear how the deaths occurred, but officials said some victims were hit by trees, electrocuted or drowned.”People did not expect that the storm would be that devastating,” said disaster agency spokesman Mark Timbal.Poorest areas hitThough less powerful than other typhoons this year, Phanfone made landfall in some of the country’s poorest and least-developed islands.Among them was the island of Samar, which bore the brunt of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the Philippines’ most powerful and deadliest storm on record. It killed more than 6,300 people.Residents there were clearing debris, with wooden pillars and sheets of corrugated iron roof that were once homes, scattered across the ground. Men pulled tried to recover fishing boats with tangled or damaged outriggers.Samar resident Virgilo Catayas, whose sibling was among those killed by Haiyan, said he lost another to hypertension when Phanfone hit.”We can’t really do much if that’s what happened, we’ll have to accept it,” he told broadcaster ABS-CBN. “The important thing is to stay strong,” he said, sitting next to a casket.Blue sky and destructionTelevision showed minor damage to the airport at Kalibo, an alternative gateway to the holiday island of Boracay, while the disaster agency said 55 schools had suffered some damage.The agriculture department estimated initial damages of 569 million pesos ($11.17 million) mostly to fish farms.Images on social media showed government workers clearing trees from roads, with a clear blue sky after the storm moved out over the South China Sea late on Wednesday.
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Japan’s NHK Sends Erroneous Alert of North Korean ‘Christmas Gift’
Japanese public broadcaster NHK Friday sent a news bulletin that incorrectly reported North Korea had launched a missile that fell into waters east of the Japanese archipelago, issuing an apology hours later explaining it was a media training alert.The news alert came as the United States and its East Asian allies have been on tenterhooks after Pyongyang’s warning this month of a possible “Christmas gift” for Washington in what experts took to mean a possible long-range missile test.The NHK bulletin, sent out 22 minutes after midnight on its website, read: “North Korean missile seen as having fallen into seas about 2,000 km east of Hokkaido’s Cape Erimo,” suggesting a flight path over Japanese territory.At 2:28 a.m., NHK issued an apology on its website, explaining that the text was meant for training purposes and was “not true.”“We apologize to our viewers and the public,” NHK said.Warning citizens about disasters and security threats is one of the mandates for the publicly funded broadcaster, whose newscasters regularly and frequently hold drills for earthquakes and other disaster coverage.When North Korea did launch missiles that flew over Cape Erimo in Japan’s far north in 2017, warnings spread through sirens and government-issued “J-alerts” on millions of cell phones throughout Japan, jolting some out of sleep.NHK had also sent an erroneous news alert about a North Korean missile in January of last year. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had given the United States until the end of the year to propose new concessions in talks over his country’s nuclear arsenal and reducing tensions between the adversaries.Its last test of an intercontinental ballistic missile was in November 2017 when it fired a Hwasong-15, the largest missile it has ever tested. Pyongyang said the missile was capable of reaching all of the United States.
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Japan to Send Warship, Aircraft to Middle East to Protect Vessels
Japan will send a warship and patrol planes to protect Japanese ships in the Middle East as the situation in the region, from which it sources nearly 90% of its crude oil imports, remains volatile, a document approved by the cabinet showed Friday.Under the plan, a helicopter-equipped destroyer and two P-3C patrol planes will be dispatched for information-gathering aimed at ensuring safe passage for Japanese vessels through the region.If there are any emergencies, a special order would be issued by the Japanese defense minister to allow the forces to use weapons to protect ships in danger.Friction between Iran and the United States has increased since last year, when U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed sanctions on it, crippling its economy.In May and June, there were several attacks on international merchant vessels, including the Japanese-owned tanker Kokuka Courageous, in the region, which the United States blamed on Iran. Tehran denies the accusations.FILE – A hole the U.S. Navy says was made by a limpet mine is seen on the damaged Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned oil tanker Kokuka Courageous, anchored off Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, June 19, 2019.Japan, a U.S. ally that has maintained friendly ties with Iran, has opted to launch its own operation rather than join a U.S.-led mission to protect shipping in the region.Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe briefed visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tokyo’s plan to send naval forces to the Gulf.The planned operation is set to cover high seas in the Gulf of Oman, the northern Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but not the Strait of Hormuz, the cabinet-approved document showed.The Japanese government aims to start the operation of the patrol planes next month, while the destroyer will likely begin activities in the region in February, a defense ministry official said.A European operation to ensure safe shipping in the Gulf will also get under way next month, when a French warship starts patrolling there.
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UN Rebuffs Russia Accusation That US Visa Delays Being Ignored
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly expressed concern to Washington over U.S. visa delays for officials from Russia and other countries, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday after Moscow accused Guterres of turning a blind eye.Moscow says Washington has deliberately delayed issuing visas to Russian officials traveling to the U.N. headquarters in New York, a move Russia has said could further damage strained relations.The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Guterres of ignoring the U.S. visa delays.”For many months, the Secretary-General and the United Nations Legal Counsel have repeatedly conveyed their concerns and the legal position of the Organization to senior representatives of the host country,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.Dujarric said Guterres and his team continued to follow the matter closely.The latest report from the U.N. committee on relations with the United States — as host of U.N. headquarters in New York — noted that other countries including China, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Cuba had also complained about U.S. visa delays.According to the report, the United States said it takes its responsibilities as U.N. host country seriously but added that Washington “reserved the right to exclude individuals in certain limited cases where there was clear and convincing evidence that the individual was traveling to the host country primarily for purposes that were outside the scope of United Nations business and were prejudicial to the host country’s national security.”
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Clashes in CAR Capital Leave at Least 30 Dead
At least 30 people were killed in fighting between militiamen and traders in a restive district of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, a security official and a local imam said Thursday.”Thirty bodies have been brought to the mosque,” said Awad Al Karim, the imam of the Ali Babolo mosque in a district called PK5 that became a haven for many Bangui Muslims at the peak of Christian-Muslim clashes in the country.A security official, who asked to remain anonymous, also put the number of dead at at least 30, without providing any further details.The fighting began after traders in the district took up arms to oppose taxes levied by militia groups, the imam said.Bursts of automatic fire and explosions were heard Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, according to an AFP journalist who was in a neighboring district.A man stands in front of a burnt-down house in the PK5 district in Bangui, Dec. 26, 2019The head of the African Red Cross, Antoine Mbaobogo, said the toll “stood at 23 at 4:00 p.m. but could now be 33,” adding that there were still bodies near the market.Neither the U.N. peacekeeping force MINUSCA nor the CAR authorities have been able to assert control over the PK5 district.And MINUSCA did not provide any exact toll from the fighting, saying only there had been “dozens of victims.”MINUSCA spokesman Bili Aminou Alao said a rapid response force had been sent to the area.”Part of the market and some vehicles have been burned,” he said.”Between 40 and 50 shops have been burned down, as well as four or five houses,” said Patrick Bidilou Niabode, head of the CAR’s civil protection service.Voluntary firefighters put out two fires which had been spreading in the market but were unable to tackle a blaze at two houses because of heavy gunfire, he added.Years of fightingThe CAR is one of the world’s poorest and most volatile countries.It has been gripped by sporadic violence since 2014, after then-president Francois Bozize was ousted in a coup.Fierce fighting then erupted between predominantly Christian and Muslim militia, prompting the intervention of former colonial power France, under a U.N. mandate.Attempts to broker a lasting peace have repeatedly broken down and most the country lies in the hands of armed groups, who often fight over the country’s mineral resources.The PK5 district is a powder keg. In April 2018, MINUSCA, responding to appeals by local traders, launched an anti-militia operation named Sukula (“Clean-up” in the CAR language of Sango).The operation ended bloodily with the death of about 30 people and a hundred wounded, sparking a wave of anger among local people.The CAR’s long conflict has forced nearly a quarter of the country’s 4.7 million people to flee their homes.The United Nations estimated in September that two-thirds of the population depends on humanitarian aid to survive.The country is ranked next-to-last after Niger on the 2018 UNDP’s Human Development Index, which compares longevity, education, and income per capita. Life expectancy is just 52.9 years.
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300 Migrants Rescued off Spain over Two-day Christmas Period
Around 100 migrants were rescued off the coast of Spain on Thursday, adding to around another 200 plucked off makeshift boats on Christmas Day, Spain’s maritime rescue service said.More than half of them were found off the Costa Blanca on Spain’s southeastern coast, with 10 people rescued just before dawn, among them eight men, a woman and a child.Later in the morning, rescuers saved 16 men off a boat near Torrevieja, while another 12 men were rescued from a dinghy off Xabia, some 45 kilometres (27 miles) up the coast from Benidorm.And on Spain’s southern coast, 17 men were found in waters off Cabo de Gata near Almeria while another man was found floating on what rescuers described as “an inflatable toy boat” in the Motril area, with his friend feared drowned.Another 39 people reached the shore at Punta Jandia on the southwestern tip of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, the spokesman said.There was no immediate information on the nationalities of those rescued.Some 200 others were rescued on Christmas Day in a number of separate operations off the coast of Spain and Morocco.About 120 of them were picked up around the Zaffarin islands off Morocco and the tiny islet of Alboran, Spain’s coastguard said.Several other dinghies were found off the southeastern coast of Spain, off Gibraltar and near the Canary Islands.So far this year, at least 1,250 men, women and children have died attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement correct to Dec. 20.
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Turkey to Send Troops to Libya at Tripoli’s Request, Erdogan Says
Turkey will send troops to Libya at the request of Tripoli as soon as next month, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, putting the North African country’s conflict at the center of wider regional frictions.Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has been struggling to fend off General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, which have been supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan.An official in Tripoli confirmed a formal request had been made for Turkish military support in the air, on the ground and at sea.The official, who asked not to be named, spoke after the GNA’s interior minister, Fathi Bashagha, suggested in comments to reporters in Tunis that no such request had yet been made.Haftar’s forces, which are based in eastern Libya, could not be reached for comment.Haftar’s fighters have failed to reach the center of Tripoli but have made small gains in recent weeks in some southern suburbs of the capital with the help of Russian and Sudanese fighters, as well as drones shipped by the UAE, diplomats say.A military vehicle carrying an unmanned aerial vehicle travels past Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of People’s Republic of China in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2019.The Chinese-made drones have given Haftar “local air superiority” as they can carry over eight times the weight of explosives than the drones given to the GNA by Turkey and can also cover the whole of Libya, a U.N. report said in November.Last month, Ankara signed two separate accords with the GNA, led by Fayez al-Serraj, one on security and military cooperation and another on maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean. The maritime deal ends Turkey’s isolation in the East Mediterranean as it ramps up offshore energy exploration that has alarmed Greece and some other neighbors. The military deal would preserve its lone ally in the region, Tripoli.”Since there is an invitation (from Libya) right now, we will accept it,” Erdogan told members of his AK Party in a speech. “We will put the bill on sending troops to Libya on the agenda as soon as parliament opens.”The legislation would pass around Jan. 8-9, he said, opening the door to deployment.Tension with RussiaFor weeks Ankara has flagged the possibility of a military mission in Libya, which would further stretch its armed forces less than three months after it launched an incursion into northeastern Syria against a Kurdish militia.Turkey has already sent military supplies to the GNA despite a United Nations arms embargo, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters last month. Erdogan visited Tunisia on Wednesday to discuss cooperation for a possible ceasefire in neighboring Libya and said on Thursday that Turkey and Tunisia had agreed to support the GNA.Tunisia’s presidency said on Thursday the country would never join any alliance or coalition and it would maintain sovereignty over all its territory, in an apparent response to Erdogan’s comments.Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2019. REUTERS/Evgenia NovozheninaMoscow has voiced concerns over any Turkish deployment in support of the GNA. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday and they agreed the crisis must be resolved peacefully, the Kremlin said.Erdogan, however, has said Turkey will not stay silent over mercenaries from the Kremlin-linked Wagner group supporting Haftar.”Russia is there with 2,000 Wagner (fighters),” Erdogan said on Thursday, also referring to some 5,000 fighters from Sudan in Libya. “Is the official government inviting them? No.””They are all helping a war baron (Haftar), whereas we are accepting an invitation from the legitimate government of the country. That is our difference,” he said.FILE – Libyan militia commander General Khalifa Haftar, top center, listens to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, bottom center, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 14, 2017.Haftar’s Libyan National Army has been trying since April to take Tripoli from the GNA, which was set up in 2016 following a U.N.-brokered deal. The UAE, Egypt and Jordan have for years provided military support for Haftar’s forces, U.N. reports have said. None of the countries has confirmed this.Russian mercenaries have put more pressure on the GNA and “accelerated this quid pro quo between Tripoli and Ankara,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and chairman of the think-tank Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies.”So the troop deployment must happen right away, but the risk is that Turkey is being sucked into a military game where the only path is more engagement and escalation,” he said. Turkish and Russian officials held talks in Moscow this week to seek a compromise on the issues of both Libya and Syria, where Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad.In the Mediterranean, Turkey is at loggerheads with Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel over rights to resources off the coast of the divided island of Cyprus. Athens says Ankara’s maritime deal with Tripoli violates international law.
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Ivory Coast Says Presidential Candidate Soro Plotted Coup
Guillaume Soro, a former rebel leader in Ivory Coast and a candidate in next year’s presidential election, could face life in prison over an alleged coup plot that involved amassing weapons, the country’s public prosecutor said Thursday.The Ivorian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Soro on Monday, prompting him to call off a planned homecoming after months overseas.The warrant is likely to increase tensions ahead of an October 2020 election that is seen as a test of Ivory Coast’s stability after two civil wars since the turn of the century.During a news conference, Prosecutor Richard Adou played a recording made by the Ivorian intelligence services in which Soro could allegedly be heard planning a coup.”The penalty for attempting a plot against state security is a life sentence,” Adou said, adding that the investigation was ongoing.Soro’s lawyer and spokeswoman Affoussy Bamba Lamine did not deny the authenticity of the recording presented by prosecutors but said it was from 2017 and incomplete. She said in a video posted on Facebook on Thursday that Soro’s team would release a full version of the audio soon.Soro is believed to be in Europe, although his exact whereabouts are unclear. He has denounced the case against him as being politically motivated.”It is only in a dictatorship that an arrest warrant is issued against an electoral candidate,” he said Wednesday on Twitter.Other arrestsSo far, more than 15 people have been arrested in connection with the investigation, which includes charges of money-laundering and amassing illegal weapons, the prosecutor said.”Searches of homes of the accused parties, including Soro, uncovered arms such as anti-tank missiles, RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), Kalashnikovs, and ammunition.”Soro, 47, led the rebels who failed to oust then-president Laurent Gbagbo in 2002. Soro’s forces installed President Alassane Ouattara during a civil war that followed the 2010 election, in which both Gbagbo and Ouattara claimed victory.Ouattara won re-election in 2015 but has given mixed signals about whether he will seek a third term, adding to uncertainty about the vote in Francophone West Africa’s largest economy.Soro retains the loyalty of many former rebel commanders who hold senior positions in the army. He served for several years as speaker of the National Assembly but has since fallen out with Ouattara.
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Vietnam Wants to Be Next Singapore
As the only Southeast Asian nations in what was once called the TPP trade agreement, Vietnam and Singapore seem far apart. One has the lowest income per capita among agreement members, the other has the highest. One relies on physical manufacturing and commodities, the other on financial and trading services. One is populated by close to 100 million people, the other is an island of not even 6 million people. However, Vietnam would like to think the two are closer than that as it labors to become the next Singapore. FILE Tran Quoc Khanh, Vietnam’s deputy trade minister, left, talks with Singaporean counterpart Chan Chun Sing during a meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, in Santiago, Chile, May 16, 2019.Both are linked in joining what is now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement. More generally, Vietnam thinks of Singapore as a reachable example of an open and attractive economy, yet one that has been largely controlled by the same political party for decades. “Vietnamese enterprises are using Singapore as a hub to reach out to the international market, and Singaporean companies are investing in Vietnam to expand their business,” said Tao Thi Thanh Huong, Vietnam’s ambassador to Singapore. She said she was happy to see “the cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore as strategic partners.” Vietnam is not the only one with its eyes on Singapore. Numerous developing nations want to mimic its economic development. Developed nations wonder whether to copy its decreased taxes to please corporations. As Britain prepares for Brexit, its departure from the European Union, some bankers want a “Singapore-on-Thames” of decreased taxes and regulation to favor their industry. State capitalism For Vietnam, the goal combines economics and politics. Author Parag Khanna argues controversially that nations no longer prefer liberal democracy, but economic growth with stable politics, more along the lines of Chinese state capitalism. Singapore and Vietnam have the longest-ruling parties in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. How is Vietnam studying Singapore? Students go there literally to study. Officials from both governments conduct informational exchanges. Corporations go to Singapore to incorporate and raise money from global investors. FILE – Laborers work at the Ford Vietnam car factory in Hai Duong, Vietnam, April 12, 2019.”Vietnamese issuers and investors have found the Singapore capital markets to be of great interest, and we have the privilege of being the preferred listing venue for bond issuers from Vietnam,” said Loh Boon Chye, chief executive officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Singapore is also the largest investor in Ho Chi Minh City and the third largest in Vietnam. However, the figures are likely inflated because corporations incorporate in Singapore while actually originating elsewhere. It is similar to the trend of foreign investors officially coming from the Virgin Islands but not likely to have actual operations there. However, there is Singaporean influence in Vietnam. There are two Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks close to Ho Chi Minh City. Singaporean corporations invest in Vietnamese real estate and banking, as well as join the Singapore Business Group of Vietnam. “Today over 40 stocks listed on SGX, across a range of industries such as pharmaceutical, energy and consumer business, have business relations with Vietnam,” Loh said in a speech welcoming Huong, Vietnam’s first female ambassador to Singapore, to SGX this month.
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14 Troops Killed in Ambush in Western Niger
Fourteen troops were killed when “heavily-armed terrorists” ambushed a convoy in the western Niger region of Tillaberi, the interior ministry said Thursday.”After a fierce battle … seven police and seven national guards were killed” Wednesday, it said in a statement.”A guard has been listed as missing,” the ministry said, adding, “the enemy suffered many losses.” It did not give details.The security forces had been escorting a team to carry out voter registration in the district of Sanam ahead of presidential and legislative elections due in late 2020, it added.The team was “secured and returned to Sanam safe and sound,” the statement said.Niger, a poor, landlocked country in the heart of the Sahel, is on the front line of a jihadist insurgency.Its troops are fighting Boko Haram militants on the southeast border with Nigeria and jihadists allied with the Islamic State group in the west near Mali.On Dec. 10, 71 soldiers were killed in Tillaberi when hundreds of jihadists attacked a military camp with shelling and mortars.It was the worst single toll since jihadist violence spread from Mali in 2015.Niger is part of a five-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Chad.Burkina Faso on Thursday was observing its second day of mourning after a wave of jihadist attacks in the north of the country left 42 dead, also its worst one-day casualties since 2015.
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Trump Calls for End to Killing in Syria Rebel Bastion
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called for the governments in Moscow, Damascus and Tehran to stop the violence in Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib.”Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands” of civilians in the northwestern province, Trump tweeted, adding: “Don’t do it!”Heightened regime and Russian bombardment has hit jihadist-held Idlib — the country’s last major opposition bastion — since mid-December, as regime forces make steady advances on the ground despite an August ceasefire and U.N. calls for a de-escalation.Nearly 80 civilians have been killed by airstrikes and artillery attacks over the same period, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which estimates that more than 40,000 people have been displaced in recent weeks.Turkey called Tuesday for the attacks to “come to an end immediately,” after sending a delegation to Moscow to discuss the flare-up.Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara was pressing for a new ceasefire to replace the August agreement.Trump on Thursday praised Turkey’s efforts, tweeting that Ankara “is working hard to stop this carnage.”
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Court Rules Turkey Violated Freedoms by Banning Wikipedia
Turkey’s highest court on Thursday ruled in favor of Wikipedia, saying the Turkish government’s two-year ban on the online encyclopedia constitutes a violation of freedom of expression, the state-run news agency reported.
Turkey blocked Wikipedia in April 2017, accusing it of being part of a “smear campaign” against the country, after the website refused to remove content that allegedly portrayed Turkey as supporting the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations.
Access to Wikipedia and all its language editions was blocked under a law that allows the government to ban websites it deems pose a national security threat.
Wikipedia declined to remove content from the community-generated site, citing its opposition to censorship. It petitioned the Constitutional Court in May 2017 after talks with Turkish officials and a challenge in lower courts failed.
The Anadolu Agency reported that the Constitutional Court decided the ban amounted to a violation of freedom of expression. The justices voted 10-6 in favor of Wikipedia, the agency said.
There was no immediate comment from the government and it was not immediately clear when access to the website would be restored.
Many Turks have found ways to circumvent the ban on Wikipedia and other blocked websites.
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2019 – A Year of Ups and Downs for US-China Relations
From a trade war to disagreements on Hong Kong and human rights, the ties between the United States and China were seriously tested in 2019. And despite the recent agreement on phase one of the trade pact that averts the imposition of further tariffs against each other, some analysts say Washington’s issues with Beijing are more intractable. State Department correspondent Nike Ching has the story
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Thousands in Asia Marvel at ‘Ring of Fire’ Solar Eclipse
People along a swath of southern Asia gazed at the sky in marvel on Thursday at a “ring of fire” solar eclipse.
The so-called annular eclipse, in which a thin outer ring of the sun is still visible, could be seen along a path stretching from India and Pakistan to Thailand and Indonesia.
Authorities in Indonesia provided telescopes and hundreds of special glasses to protect viewers’ eyes. Thousands of people gazed at the sky and cheered and clapped as the sun transformed into a dark orb for more than two minutes, briefly plunging the sky into darkness. Hundreds of others prayed at nearby mosques.
“How amazing to see the ring of fire when the sun disappeared slowly,” said Firman Syahrizal, a resident of Sinabang in Indonesia’s Banda Aceh province who witnessed the eclipse with his family.
The previous annular solar eclipse in February 2017 was also visible over a slice of Indonesia.
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Russia, Iran, China Hold Joint Naval Drills
China, Iran, and Russia will hold joint naval drills, amid tensions between Tehran and Washington.The military exercises will take place in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman from December 27 to 30, officials in Beijing and Tehran announced.China will send the Xining, a guided-missile destroyer, to the drills, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters on December 26. He did not give details on how many personnel or ships would take part overall.In Tehran, senior armed-forces spokesman Aboldazl Shekarchi said the drills would “stabilize security” in the region. He said the drill’s purpose was to bolster “international commerce security in the region” and “fighting terrorism and piracy.”The drills are coming at a time of tensions between the United States and Iran.Washington has proposed a U.S.-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf, following a string of attacks in gulf waters that the United States and its allies blamed on Iran. Tehran denies the accusations.Friction has increased since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in May 2018 and reimposed crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.
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Huge Numbers of Cameroonians Fleeing Separatist Crisis Return Home
Large numbers of English-speaking Cameroonians who fled the separatist crisis that has killed more than 3,000 people in three years have been returning to their homes to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays. Their return however is limited to major English-speaking towns as their villages remain battle grounds for separatist fighters and the military.About 300 Christians sing Christmas carols at the Roman Catholic Church in the English-speaking southwestern town of Kumba during this year’s holiday. It is the first time in three years that the church has seen such a crowd of worshipers. Last year barely 70 attended the Christmas day church service here.Among the Christians who have just returned to the town is 50-year-old business man Divine Ekale. Ekale escaped to the nearby French-speaking town of Douala with his wife and four children in December 2017, when clashes between the military and separatist fighters killed 13 people. He said he has decided to return because he and his family can not continue to rely on gifts from well-wishes for survival when they can return to Kumba and run their family jewelry shop business.”The effects of the crisis have been devastating. It is time to rise and turn our backs on the crisis. Our Division [administrative area] needs to move ahead, our children need to go to school,” he said.Ekale said he was abducted in December 2017 by the fighters who accused him of collaborating with the military by revealing information on the separatists hideouts. His family paid a ransom of more than $2000 before he was released.Clergy is seen at the Catholic Church Bamenda in Bamenda, northwestern Cameroon, Dec. 25, 2019. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Anthony Yuh, pastor of Divine Ministries, a Kumba-based church that also welcomed returnees on Christmas day, says he and his clergy peers decided to preach on reconciliation and forgiveness.”We need peace, we need love and we need forgiveness and so Jesus Christ being the prince of peace, has come with that peace so that we may experience life in abundance,” he said.Cameroon’s Ministry of Transport reported that large numbers of people were traveling to the English-speaking regions this December, but that they were ending only in major towns like Bamenda, Kumbo, Ndop and Nkambe in the Northwest region and Limbe, Buea, Kumba, Mamfe, Mutengene and Tiko in the Southwest region. It did not give details on how many people had returned.Peter Njume, a lawmaker from the English-speaking Southwest region, says most people are refusing to go to villages occupied by separatist fighters. He said civilians fear being caught in fighting between the military and the separatists. Njume said some civilians who have been very vocal in the media advocating for separatists to drop their guns and surrender can not return to their villages where they may be attacked by the fighters.”I am a target. I would not want the military to come to my compound and be living there while the other people are staying without the security that I would have,” said Njume.Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English speaking southwest region speaks to reporters in Buea, Dec. 25, 2019. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of Cameroon’s English- speaking Southwest region said people are returning because they are tired of the crisis, which has lasted close to three years. He said the military has also made huge gains in restoring peace to most affected towns and villages. Bilai said people should not be afraid of going to any parts of the English-speaking regions.”Everything is ready to welcome them. They should not be afraid. Many stake holders, the politicians, the elite, the religious leaders, welcome them and with the support of the government, the security measures is reinforced by the entire population. The population has said enough is enough,” he said.But most of the villages are either completely razed by the fighting or abandoned and need to be rehabilitated. Others host separatists who have fled from townsSeparatists launched attacks on government troops in 2017 stating that they wanted to create an English-speaking state in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. They complained of an overbearing influence of the French-speaking majority.The government organized what it called a grand national dialogue from September 30 to October 4 to solve the crisis.Bilai claimed the massive return of civilians was because they were happy with the outcome of the dialogue that proposed a special status for the two English-speaking regions with elected presidents and vice presidents and additional powers to mayors.Separatists rejected the proposed special status, saying they want nothing but an independent state.The United Nations reports the crisis has killed at least 3, 000 people and displaced more than 500,000 others, with about 50,000 as refugees in the neighboring Nigeria.
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Doctors Without Borders Quits a DRC Ebola Operation
Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says it has stopped Ebola prevention operations and other services in a town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s taking the action because of the presence of armed government forces inside several health facilities. Operations are scheduled to stop in the town of Biakato in Ituri province, just north of North Kivu. Both provinces are struggling to control the epidemic.MSF, known as Doctors Without Borders, says it had no choice. The group says it had to leave Biakato because the presence of military troops inside its health facilities goes against its principles of neutrality and impartiality.The deputy program manager for Emergencies Programs, Trish Newport, tells VOA the problem surfaced at the end of November following attacks by armed groups. Three Ebola responders were killed, and many others were injured.In the wake of the violence, she says the government in Kinshasa sent security forces to the area to protect the Ebola operation. Newport says she understands the need to protect civilians and medical personnel. But, she notes the presence of the armed government forces discourages people from seeking medical care.“There are people that would not go to a health care facility because they are afraid of armed forces, because they have a different history with armed forces…and we have always said that health care facilities should not be armed,” said Newport. “There should not be armed people within them. And, people should be able to have access to health care facilities that are neutral.” Doctors Without Borders has been working in Biakato since 2016, supporting the Ministry of Health. Initially, its activities were focused on assisting victims of sexual violence. Since the start of the Ebola epidemic, it has expanded its operations to manage suspected and confirmed cases of the deadly disease.Over the past three years, Newport says Doctors Without Borders has built a strong, trusting relationship with the community. So, the decision to close the operation was very difficult to make.“Biakato was really a place where we worked very closely with the community. We were not just focusing on Ebola,” said Newport. “We really listened to the community, asking them what their priorities were. For instance, the community said at one point, we do not understand why you just respond to Ebola. We do not even have access to water here. And, so we worked with the community to build wells in the community, so that they did have access…What we were also doing was providing primary health care, providing pediatric, hospital care.” Newport says MSF’s departure is permanent. She says the organization’s 18-bed Ebola treatment center and all other health activities will continue to be run by the health ministry.
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Protesters Express Discontent Around the World
The past year has seen a series of protests from Hong Kong to Chile and from Sudan to Iran. In more than a dozen countries, citizens have taken to the streets to air grievances and many have gotten results. VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer looks at a year of discontent.
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Trump Lashes Out Against Democratic Lawmakers over Impeachment
U.S. President Donald Trump continued to lash out at Democratic lawmakers over his impeachment Thursday as a legislative standoff continues over a Senate impeachment trial.”The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats said they wanted to RUSH everything through to the Senate because ‘President Trump is a threat to National Security’ (they are vicious, will say anything!), but now they don’t want to go fast anymore, they want to go very slowly. Liars!,” Trump write on Twitter.The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats said they wanted to RUSH everything through to the Senate because “President Trump is a threat to National Security” (they are vicious, will say anything!), but now they don’t want to go fast anymore, they want to go very slowly. Liars!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 19, 2019.On Monday, however, McConnell softened his position, saying Republicans have not ruled out calling witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial.”We haven’t ruled out witnesses,” McConnell told “Fox & Friends.” on Monday. “We’ve said, ‘Let’s handle this case just like we did with President Clinton.’ Fair is fair.”In addition to testimony from key witnesses, Schumer said Monday he also wants relevant emails and other documents that “will shed additional light on the administration’s decision-making regarding the delay in security funding to Ukraine.””It’s hard to imagine a trial not having documents and witnesses,” Schumer said, “If it does’nt have documents and witnesses, it’s going to seem to most of the American people that it is a sham trial. Not to get at the facts.”Trump’s impeachment stems from a July call with Ukraine’s president in which Trump asked for an investigation into Joe Biden, a former vice president and a leading Democratic rival to Trump in the 2020 presidential election.Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong in his push to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s lucrative work for a Ukrainian natural gas company. Trump had also called for a probe into a debunked theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election.Trump made the appeal for the Biden investigations at a time when he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.The U.S. president eventually released the money in September without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations, proof, Republicans have said, that Trump had not engaged in a reciprocal quid pro quo deal, the military aid in exchange for the Biden probe.Trump has on countless occasions described his late July call with Zelenskiy as “perfect,” when he asked him to “do us a favor,” to investigate the Bidens and Ukraine’s purported role in the 2016 election. As the impeachment controversy mounted, Trump has subsequently claimed the “us” in his request to Zelenskiy referred not to him personally but to the United States.
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China Slams US Defense Act Over Trade Restrictions
Beijing on Thursday said it “firmly opposes” trade restrictions included in a new U.S. defense act, having already admonished the bill for interfering in China’s internal affairs.The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — signed into law last week — bars the use of federal funds to buy railcars and buses from China, and slows the lifting of sanctions on tech giant Huawei.It comes as Beijing and Washington have agreed to a temporary truce in their bruising nearly two-year trade war, with a “phase-one” deal that has rolled back tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods.”We have noted that the U.S. defense authorization act… contains a number of adverse provisions against Chinese enterprises, which China firmly opposes,” Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a regular briefing.The act is expected to dent the bottom lines of two Chinese companies: state-owned railcar maker CRRC Corp. and BYD Motors, which sells electric buses in the US.New restrictions contained in the bill prevent Washington from taking Huawei off a U.S. Commerce Department list that bans American firms from working with the company without specific exemptions.U.S. intelligence chiefs claim Huawei’s equipment is a threat to national security as the United States and other nations introduce next-generation mobile networks.”China will pay close attention to the impact on Chinese enterprises during the implementation of the bill, and take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” Gao said, without offering details of the possible countermeasures.U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer had said China had agreed to purchase $200 billion worth of American goods over the next two years as part of the mini-deal, but the Chinese side is yet to confirm the details.”At present, China and the United States are carrying out the necessary procedures of legal review, translation and proofreading, and are in close communication on the subsequent steps toward signing the agreement,” Gao said.The NDAA also calls for strengthening Washington’s ties with Taiwan and support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protestors — measures which on Saturday Beijing said “blatantly interfered” in its internal affairs.
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