Month: January 2020

US Declares Emergency, New Entry Restrictions Due to Virus

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The Latest:United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is accompanied by health officials as they speak to reporters during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, Jan. 31, 2020.Beginning Sunday, the U.S. will also begin funneling all flights to the U.S. from China to seven major airports where passengers can be screened for illness.The virus has infected almost 10,000 people globally in just two months, a troublesome sign that prompted the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global emergency. The death toll stood at 213, including 43 new fatalities, all in China.Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said the risk to the American public currently is low. He added: “I want to emphasize that this is a significant global situation and it continues to involve.”There are six cases of this virus in the U.S. and 191 individuals are being monitored, Redfield said.Director of National Institutes of Health Infectious Disease Anthony Fauci speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Jan. 31, 2020.Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, said one reason the U.S. stepped up its quarantine measures was an alarming report from Germany that a traveler from China had spread the virus despite showing no symptoms. Fauci contrasted it with the response to recent outbreaks of Ebola, which can’t be spread unless someone is very ill.At the same time, federal health authorities were recognizing that the test they’re using to detect the virus isn’t always dependable. Redfield said when it was used on some of the people currently in isolation, they’d test positive one day and negative another.Of the six U.S. patients so far, airport screening detected only one. “Astute doctors” caught four others, after the people sought care and revealed that they’d traveled to China, Redfield said. And the CDC diagnosed the most recent case, the spouse of one of those earlier cases, who was being closely monitored.Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University expert on public health law, said putting a large number of people under quarantine “is virtually unprecedented in modern American history.””But I think it’s justified,” he said, noting the evacuees had been in a hot zone for the virus for a long time.Travel advisory, suspended flightsThe announcement came hours after the State Department issued a level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory, the highest grade of warning, and told Americans in China to consider departing using commercial means. “Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice,” the advisory said.Hours later, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines announced they were suspending all flights between the U.S. and China, joining several international carriers that have stopped flying to China as the virus outbreak continues to spread.Meanwhile, U.S. health officials issued a two-week quarantine order for the 195 Americans evacuated earlier this week from the Chinese city of Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei province. It was the first time a federal quarantine has been ordered since the 1960s, when one was enacted over concern about the potential spread of smallpox, the CDC said.”We understand this action may seem drastic. We would rather be remembered for over-reacting than under-reacting,” the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier said. None of the Americans being housed at a Southern California military base has shown signs of illness.China counted 9,692 confirmed cases Friday, the vast majority in Hubei province.A clerk wearing a face mask and a plastic bag stands in a pharmacy in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province, Jan. 31, 2020.The National Health Commission reported 171 cases of people who have been “cured and discharged from hospital.” WHO has said most people who got the illness had milder cases, though 20% experienced severe symptoms. Symptoms include fever and cough, and in severe cases, shortness of breath and pneumonia.China has placed more than 50 million people in the region under virtual quarantine, while foreign countries, companies and airlines have cut back severely on travel to China and quarantined those who recently passed through Wuhan. Infected people don’t show symptoms immediately and may be able to pass on the virus before they appear sick.American Airlines said it was halting all flights starting Friday and running through March 27. Delta plans to wait until Feb. 6 to suspend China operations to help travelers in China leave the country. It said the stoppage will continue through April 30.United Airlines announced that it will suspend flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu but continue flights to Hong Kong.The U.S. screening airports are John F. Kennedy International in New York, San Francisco International in California, Seattle-Tacoma International in Washington, O’Hare International in Chicago, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International in Georgia, and Daniel K. Inouye International in Hawaii.Since China informed WHO about the new virus in late December, at least 23 countries have reported cases, as scientists race to understand how exactly the virus is spreading and how severe it is.Human-to-human transmissionExperts say there is significant evidence the virus is spreading among people in China, and WHO noted with its emergency declaration Thursday it was especially concerned that some cases abroad also involved human-to-human transmission. It defines an international emergency as an “extraordinary event” that poses a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response.FILE – Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 30, 2020.”The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. “Our greatest concern is the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”A declaration of a global emergency typically brings greater money and resources, but may also prompt nervous governments to restrict travel and trade to affected countries. The announcement also imposes more disease reporting requirements on countries.On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said it was authorizing the departure of family members and all non-emergency U.S. government employees from Beijing and the consulates in the cities of Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang. Staff from the Wuhan consulate departed earlier this week.The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution related to logistical disruptions stemming from restricted transportation and availability of appropriate health care,” the embassy said.Mike Wester, a businessman in Beijing who has lived in China for 19 years, said he has no plans to leave.”I feel safer self-quarantining myself here at home than I do risking travel,” Wester said.A security personnel checks temperatures of visitors entering the Yuyuantan Park, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Beijing, China, Jan. 31, 2020.He pointed to potential risks from crowds at airports and being required to remove a mask for passport and security checks.Japan and Germany also advised against non-essential travel and Britain did as well, except for Hong Kong and Macao. Popular holiday and shopping destination Singapore barred Chinese from traveling there, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to do so.Tedros said WHO was not recommending limiting travel or trade to China.”There is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade,” he said. He added that Chinese President Xi Jinping had committed to help stop the spread of the virus beyond its borders.Although scientists expect to see limited transmission of the virus between people with close contact, like within families, the instances of spread to people who may have had less exposure to the virus is worrying.In Japan, a tour guide and bus driver became infected after escorting two tour groups from Wuhan. In Germany, five employees of a German auto parts supplier became ill after a Chinese colleague visited, including two who had no direct contact with the woman, who showed no symptoms of the virus until her flight back to China. On Friday, Germany confirmed a sixth case, a child of one of the people already infected.”That’s the kind of transmission chain that we don’t want to see,” said Marion Koopmans, an infectious diseases specialist at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and a member of WHO’s emergency committee.The new virus has now infected more people globally than were sickened during the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, a cousin of the new virus. Both are from the coronavirus family, which also includes those that can cause the common cold.
 
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Trump Curbs Immigration for 6 Nations

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The Trump administration announced Friday that it was curbing legal immigration from six additional countries that officials said did not meet security standards, as part of an election-year push to further restrict immigration.Officials said immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States. But it is not a total travel ban, unlike President Donald Trump’s earlier effort that generated outrage around the world for unfairly targeting Muslims.Trump was expected to sign a proclamation on the restrictions as early as Friday; the restrictions would go into effect Feb. 21.The announcement comes as Trump tries to promote his administration’s crackdown on immigration, highlighting a signature issue that motivated his supporters in 2016 and hoping it has the same affect this November. The administration recently announced a crackdown on birth tourism and is noting the sharp decline in crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border and citing progress on building the border wall.Immigrant visas were restricted for Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea and Nigeria. That type of visa is given to people seeking to live in the U.S. permanently. They include visas for people sponsored by family members or employers as well as the diversity visa program that made up to 55,000 visas available in the most recent lottery. In December, for example, 40,666 immigrant visas were granted worldwide.Sudan and Tanzania have diversity visas suspended. The State Department uses a computer drawing to select people from around the world for up to 55,000 diversity visas. Nigeria is already excluded from the lottery along with other countries that had more than 50,000 natives immigrate to the U.S. in the previous five years.Non-immigrant visas were not affected. Those are given to people traveling to the U.S. for a temporary stay. They include visas for tourists, those doing business or people seeking medical treatment. During December, for example, about 650,760 non-immigrant visas were granted worldwide.Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Homeland Security officials would work with the countries on bolstering their security requirements to help them work to get off the list.”These countries for the most part want to be helpful, they want to do the right thing, they have relationships with the U.S., but for a variety of different reasons failed to meet those minimum requirements,” Wolf said.Rumors swirled for weeks about a potential new ban, and initially Belarus  was considered. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was headed to the Eastern European nation as the restrictions were released and Belarus was not on the list. Wolf said some nations were able to comply with the new standards in time.The current restrictions follow Trump’s travel ban, which the Supreme Court upheld as lawful in 2018. They are significantly softer than Trump’s initial ban, which had suspended travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for 90 days, blocked refugee admissions for 120 days, and suspended travel from Syria. The government suspended most immigrant and non-immigrant visas to applicants from those countries. Exceptions are available for students and those with “significant contacts” in the U.S.Trump has said a travel ban is necessary to protect Americans. But opponents have argued that he seeks to target Muslim countries, pointing to comments he made as a candidate in 2015 calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”The seven countries with considerably more restrictions include nations with little or no diplomatic relationship to the U.S. They include five majority-Muslim nations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.Sudan and Kyrgyzstan are majority-Muslim countries. Nigeria is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims but has the world’s fifth-largest population of Muslims, according to the Pew Research Center.Wolf said immigrant visas were chosen because people with those visa are the most difficult to remove after arriving in the United States.The initial ban was immediately blocked by the courts and led to a months-long process to develop clear standards and federal review processes to try to withstand legal muster.The announcement of new countries banned was expected around the third anniversary of the Jan. 27, 2017, enactment of the first order.Wolf said officials spent about six months working on revised criteria. They examined countries for compliance with minimum standards for identification and information-sharing, and assessed whether countries properly tracked terrorism or public safety risks. Officials looked at whether countries used modern passports, shared information that the U.S. could validate on travelers and identified possible criminal suspects in a way that the U.S. could see before entry. They evaluated responses and ranked nations on where they fell.Government agencies then discussed whether countries had different, but important, contacts with the U.S. and then decided on restrictions.”Really the only way to mitigate the risk is to impose these travel restrictions,” Wolf said.
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Botswana Registers First Suspected Case of Coronavirus 

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Botswana has registered its first suspected case of the deadly coronavirus. A person arriving from China aboard Ethiopian Airways showed symptoms consistent with the virus.  Botswana’s Ministry of Health said a man was detained at a local clinic soon after his flight from China landed at Gaborone’s Sir Seretse Khama Airport on Thursday. The ministry said the unnamed male displayed symptoms consistent with the coronavirus but did not say what those symptoms were. The country’s director of health services, Malaki Tshipayagae, said the patient has been isolated at a clinic in the capital as an investigation continues. Meanwhile, the government has urged Botswana nationals to take precautions in order to avoid contracting the virus. NervousnessMpho Marumo, a Gaborone resident, said there is panic after the first suspected case. “We are doing all we can to take the necessary precautions,” Marumo said. “Our fear is that the virus might have spread already, as many people arrive from China, some undetected.” The suspected case came as some Botswana nationals were holed up in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak. Botswana has an estimated 500 nationals studying or working in China. A student who spoke on condition of anonymity said it had been a very difficult few days. “I was supposed to leave to Botswana but my ticket was canceled,” the student said. “Following that, we are not allowed to go anywhere.” The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency as the death toll from the virus rose above 200 this week. 
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France’s Ethnic Chinese Community, Other Asians Complain of Coronavirus-Linked Discrimination

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France announced its sixth case of the new coronavirus this week and repatriated a planeload of its citizens from the virus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan. But back at home, Chinese and others in the wider East Asian community there say they are becoming targets for discrimination.Just as fast as the coronavirus is spreading, so too seems to be prejudice. In Japan, South Korea and Italy — and now France. This week the French hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus — I Am Not A Virus — was trending on Twitter.  One Chinese man interviewed on France’s BFMTV — his face hidden so he wouldn’t be recognized — described walking out of a Paris gym and being accosted by teenagers, who laughed and said, “There’s coronavirus coming.”  Ethnic Chinese aren’t the only ones being targeted. One account on social media describes a Vietnamese woman being shunned by those around her. Other East Asians say fellow passengers on public transport move away from them, or put scarves in front of their faces.French passengers on buses leave a military air base in Istres, southern France, Jan.31, 2020, after arriving by plane from the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.In a television interview, Laetitia Chhiv, head of the Association of Young Chinese in France, said coronavirus was giving expression to latent racism.  It hasn’t helped that a French newspaper, Le Courrier Picard, published the headline “Yellow Alert” on its cover last Sunday, and titled an editorial “A New Yellow Peril.” The newspaper quickly apologized, saying the move was unintentional, but the damage was done.  Interviewed by a colleague, journalist Linh-Lan Dao said she couldn’t believe the Courrier Picard’s title. “We’re in the 21st century,” she said.  All this comes after France reported a surge in racist and xenophobic acts in 2019 — up 130 percent from the previous year. While much of the focus has been on Jews and Muslims, ethnic Chinese have also been targeted in recent years. The government’s line is zero tolerance to discrimination.In 2016, thousands of Chinese staged protests after a Chinese man was killed outside Paris by three men trying to rob his companion’s bag. It wasn’t the first attack — and Chinese anti-violence activist Tamara Lui says it hasn’t been the last.  Lui says the same prejudice behind these past attacks on the Chinese community — because they’re stigmatized as rich and hardworking and therefore good targets to rob — is being seen with coronavirus today.
 
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Delta, American Become First US Airlines to Cancel US-China Flights

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Delta and American Airlines announced Friday they will suspend flights to China after the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled the coronavirus pandemic as a global public-health emergency.  American Airlines (AAL) said in a statement that it is suspending flights to and from mainland China until March 27. However, it will continue flights to and from Hong Kong. This decision comes after a lawsuit by the union representing airline’s pilots sued the company to immediately stop its US-China service due to possible health threats posed by the coronavirus.  Delta Air Lines was the first to announce its suspension of flights, which will begin Feb. 6 and are scheduled to continue through April 30. The last flight will leave the U.S. on Feb. 3, and the last flight to return to the U.S. will be Feb 5.Shortly after saying it will only reduce service to mainland China, United Airlines also announced Friday it will suspend flights from Feb. 6 through March 28. The airline said in a statement it will ”operate select flights to help ensure our U.S.-based employees, as well as customers, have options to return home.” It said, though, it will continue to service one flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong.For all three airlines, these suspensions follow travel advisories issued by the State Department and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The State Department issued a Level 4-Do Not Travel advisory on Thursday and recommended that all Americans leave mainland China. The CDC issued a Level 3 notice advising Americans to avoid nonessential travel to China.Several international airlines also have also planned to suspend or reduce service to and from mainland China. British Airways, Air Asia, Cathay Pacific, Air India, IndiGo, Lufthansa and Finnair have announced plans to reduce or suspend flights this week. RwandAir and Kenya Airways canceled all flights to and from Guangzhou until further notice. LOT Polish Airlines has suspended flights to China until Feb. 9, according to a deputy prime minister. Iran also suspended all flights to and from China.
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Climate Activists From African Nations Make Urgent Appeal

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Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate and peers from other African nations on Friday made an urgent appeal for the world to pay more attention to the continent that stands to suffer the most from global warming despite contributing to it the least.The Fridays For Future movement and activist Greta Thunberg held a news conference with the activists to spotlight the marginalization of African voices a week after The Associated Press cropped Nakate out of a photo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Nakate, Makenna Muigai of Kenya, Ayakha Melithafa of South Africa and climate scientist Ndoni Mcunu of South Africa pointed out the various challenges both in combating climate change on the booming continent of some 1.2 billion people and in inspiring the world’s response.“African activists are doing so much,” Nakate said. “It gets so frustrating when no one really cares about them.”The AP has apologized and acknowledged mistakes in sending out the cropped photo on Jan. 24 and in how the news organization initially reacted. The AP has said that it will expand diversity training worldwide as a result.Nakate said Friday she was very sad the photo incident occurred but added that “I’m actually very optimistic about this” as it has drawn global attention to climate activists in Africa and the various crises there.Muigai pointed to a recent locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years, which threatens food security for millions of people in countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia and is moving toward South Sudan and Uganda.Challenges include everything from deforestation to bad energy policies, Muigai said. They also include changes in storm intensity that brought two devastating cyclones to Mozambique a year ago, Mcunu said. And they include the recent drought crisis in South Africa’s Cape Town region, Melithafa said.“The narrative we have is Africans can adapt to this. That is actually not true,” Mcunu said.The warnings have been stark for Africa. No continent will be struck more severely by climate change, the U.N. Environment Program has said.Africa has 15% of the world’s population, yet is likely to “shoulder nearly 50% of the estimated global climate change adaptation costs,” the African Development Bank has said, noting that seven of the 10 countries considered most vulnerable to climate change are in Africa: Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.And yet “to date, energy-related CO₂ emissions in Africa represented around 2% of cumulative global emissions,” the International Energy Agency said last year.In some cases it is difficult to persuade people to care more about climate change because there are so many other pressing everyday issues such as poverty, unemployment and gender-based violence, Melithafa said. “That’s hard for the global north to understand.”Instead people should work to hold more developed countries accountable for producing the bulk of emissions that contribute to global warming, the activists said.“Every individual is needed in the fight against the climate crisis,” Nakate said. “Because climate change is not specific about the kinds of people it affects.”For her part, Thunberg firmly returned the spotlight to the activists from African countries.“I’m not the reason why we’re here,” she said, later adding: “We are fighting for the exact same cause.” And she noted that while whatever she says gets turned into a headline, that is not the case for many others.“The African perspective is always so under-reported,” Thunberg said.Nakate urged the audience to make 2020 the year of action on climate change after young activists in 2019 put the issue squarely at the center of global discussions.It won’t be easy, she noted: “It is the uncomfortable things that will help to save our planet.”
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Italy Stops Planes To and From China Over Coronavirus

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The Italian government declared a state of emergency Friday and closed all air traffic to and from China. The move came after confirmation that two Chinese tourists tested positive for the coronavirus. The couple are being treated in isolation in a Rome hospital specializing in infectious diseases. A special cabinet meeting held by the Italian government Friday declared a six-month state of emergency and allocated $5.5 million to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Further meetings were planned between the country’s health authorities and the civil defense department to decide what additional measures were needed.Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte confirmed Thursday that a Chinese couple from Wuhan that had been staying in Rome’s Palatino hotel, near the Colosseum, had been admitted to Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital after showing symptoms of coronavirus.  A man passes through the main gate of the Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital, the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, in Rome, Jan. 31, 2020.The prime minister said there is no reason to panic, adding that all measures have been adopted to try to prevent the spread of the disease.  The director of the Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Professor Giuseppe Ippolito, said the Chinese couple were placed in isolation and are “in reasonable condition.”  Health minister Roberto Speranza said the state of emergency status gives the government more powers to deal to deal with the infection, but does not change life for Italians.Speranza also said efforts are being made to retrace the places the Chinese couple visited since arriving in Milan on January 23. The other 18 tourists and the driver who traveled with them on a bus also are being tested and remain under observation.The Palatino Grand Hotel is seen in Rome, Jan. 31, 2020.At the hotel where the couple were staying, their room was immediately sealed off and decontamination was carried out. The hotel has had cancellations, even though the director declared there is no danger for the staff or guests.  Additionally, the Italian government is organizing a special plane to bring back some 80 Italians in Wuhan. It is likely they will be flown back Monday, then will spend two weeks in quarantine.
 
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US-Brokers Nile Dam Deal Still Deadlocked

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The latest round of talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in Washington has stretched into its fourth day as the parties struggle to reach a comprehensive agreement on the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), a massive hydropower dam project on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile River.
 
The White House released a statement saying President Donald Trump spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday, and he “expressed optimism that an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was near and would benefit all parties involved.”
 
The tripartite meeting hosted by the U.S. Treasury is the parties’ last-ditch attempt to resolve the question of the operation of the dam, particularly the filling of its reservoir, an issue that has triggered concerns of a “water war” between Egypt and Ethiopia.
 
The meeting was scheduled for January 28-29 but has continued until January 31 without an agreement on the numbers for filling of the reservoir.
 
Ethiopia and Egypt have been negotiating for years, but several technical sticking points remain, including the duration and rate at which Ethiopia will draw water out of the Nile and the quantity of water that will be retained. Cairo fears Ethiopia’s plans to rapidly fill the reservoir could threaten Egypt’s source of fresh water.      
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The technical details of how, when, and where the water will flow are a life-and-death matter for each party,” said Bronwyn Bruton, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. Bruton added that the situation is complicated by “international organizations and mediating third party countries, which all come with their own interests and agendas.”
 
With the Trump administration’s urging, last November the parties agreed to hold four technical governmental meetings at the level of water ministers with the World Bank and the United States attending as observers. They agreed to a deadline of January 15, 2020, for reaching an accord. When they failed to reach an agreement, the parties agreed to another round of talks this week.
 
The main issue has been a lack of consensus, said Mirette Mabrouk, director of the Egypt Program at the Middle East Institute. “Ethiopia’s priority has been to complete the dam and Egypt’s priority has been to ensure that its near sole source of water is not decimated,” Mabrouk said.
 A flexible treaty
 
In previous statements, the ministers have recognized that flexibility in trans-boundary water management is essential considering the constantly changing levels of the Nile.
 
They have agreed that guidelines for the filling and operation of the GERD “may be adjusted by the three countries, in accordance with the hydrological conditions in the given year.”
 
However, competing hydrological and political interests have hindered negotiations.
 
The director of the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, Aaron Salzberg said that parties are striving for an agreement that is “easily codified in terms of numbers” –how fast you can fill, how much water is released.”   At the same time, he says, the agreement must establish a joint decision-making process that allows flexibility in responding to changing conditions, but not one that may be “too open to interpretation and set the stage for conflict down the line.”
 
This is not something that should be forced, Salzberg added.   “The parties themselves must drive the process. This is an agreement that will need to last multiple lifetimes,” he said.
 
 Sileshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s Minister for Water and Energy, speaks to the media after the end of the fourth and final round of talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on Ethiopia’s construction of a controversial dam on the Nile River.Mediation?
 
On their first Washington meeting on November 6, the foreign ministers agreed that if a deal is not reached by January 15, 2020, Article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles will be invoked.
 
Article 10 of the declaration, signed in Khartoum, addresses the peaceful settlement of disputes. It states that “if the parties involved do not succeed in solving the dispute through talks or negotiations, they can ask for mediation or refer the matter to their heads of states or prime ministers.”
 
Egypt has long-sought external mediation, while Ethiopia wants to keep the negotiations on a tripartite level. But earlier this month Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed said he has asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene. Ramaphosa has accepted the task.
 
Under the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan, signed before Egypt began constructing the Aswan High Dam, Egypt can take up to 55.5 billion cubic meters of water from the Nile each year, and Sudan can take up to 18.5 billion. Ethiopia was not part of that agreement.   
 US involvement
 
U.S. involvement in the dam issue came about after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi last year requested that President Trump help mediate the conflict. A senior Trump administration official confirmed that the president had offered “the good offices of Mnuchin” to lead the effort and the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has played the role of host and observer in negotiations since last November.
 
Trump appears to have sustained his interest on the negotiations and has even gone so far as inviting the ministers to impromptu meetings at the Oval Office on November 6 and January 14.Just had a meeting with top representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to help solve their long running dispute on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, one of the largest in the world, currently being built. The meeting went well and discussions will continue during the day! pic.twitter.com/MsWuEBgZxK— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2019 
After the last meeting, the White House released a statement that Trump emphasized to the foreign and water resources ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan that the United States “wants to see all of these countries thrive and expressed hope that each country will take this opportunity to work together so that future generations may succeed and benefit from critical water resources.”
 
The U.S. Treasury has not released a statement on the latest round of negotiations and it is unclear what the next steps would be for the parties.  
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Delaney, Longest-Running Democratic Candidate, Ends 2020 Bid

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John Delaney, the longest-running Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential race, is ending his campaign after pouring millions of his own money into an effort that failed to resonate with voters.
    
The announcement, made Friday morning, further winnowed down a primary field that had once stood at more than two dozen.
    
“At this moment in time, this is not the purpose God has for me,” Delaney said, in an interview with CNN. “We’ve clearly shaped the debate in a very positive way.”
    
The former Maryland congressman has been running for president since July 2017, though Delaney’s early start did little to give him an advantage in the race or raise his name recognition with Democratic primary voters.
    
In a field dominated by well-known candidates from the liberal wing of the party, Delaney, 56, called for a moderate approach with “real solutions, not impossible promises” and dubbed the progressive goal of”`Medicare for All” to be “political suicide.”
    
Delaney last appeared on the Democratic debate stage in July 2019 but continued to campaign even as his presidential effort largely failed to gain traction. Delaney joins other candidates like Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper who unsuccessfully tried to woo moderate voters before ending their respective campaigns.
    
Campaign finance reports showed Delaney’s campaign was more than $10 million in debt largely because of loans Delaney made to his campaign. At the end of September, months after he had last been on a debate stage, the former lawmaker had just over $548,000 in cash on hand.
    
Before billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg entered the presidential race and used their substantial wealth to gain attention, Delaney tried a similar approach. Back in March, he promised to donate $2 to charity for every new donor who donated on his website. Then in October, Delaney dangled “two club-leve” World Series tickets, with hotel and airfare included, as a prize for those that donated to his campaign.
    
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts were frequent targets of Delaney as he warned during the July debate that the “free everything” policy approach would alienate independents and ensure President Donald Trump’s reelection. He compared the two senators to failed Democratic standard-bearers of the past, including George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.
    
Delaney renewed that criticism on his way out of the race, saying the true hope for the party lay in moderates like former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
    
“People like Bernie Sanders who are running on throwing the whole U.S. economy out the window and starting from scratch.I just think that makes our job so much harder, in terms of beating Trump,” Delaney said Friday morning. “I also think that’s not real governing. That’s not responsible leadership because those things aren’t going to happen.”
    
Despite the criticisms, Delaney pledged to “campaign incredibly hard”  for whoever won the Democratic nomination.
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China Reports Nearly 10,000 Coronavirus Cases

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China says it has nearly 10,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. The virus has caused 213 deaths in China where it emerged late last year.The World Health Organization says the  worldwide spread of the virus is  a global health emergency, as well as an “extraordinary event” requiring a coordinated international response.The Trump administration is warning Americans not to travel to China.The State Department issued what it calls a Britain reported its first confirmed cases Friday.  “We can confirm that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus,” said Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England.   He said the two are receiving “specialist” care from the country’s National Health Service.   India and Philippines have also confirmed their first cases, joining a growing list that includes Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, The United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.According to a BBC report, the infection is difficult to spot and stop because only an estimated one in five cases will result in “severe symptoms” which means people can spread the infection without having any symptoms or without knowing they have the infection.Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control said they symptoms of a cold or the flu and the coronavirus are the same, but the risk factors are having visited China’s Hubei province or having close contact with those who have been there.The virus emerged in Wuhan in Hubei province.  Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak and it has been shuttered.  People have been instructed to stay home and public transportation has been shut down.Mi Feng, China’s National Health commission spokesperson said Friday, “The Chinese government has attached great importance to the epidemic control and we have already adopted the most stringent control measures . . . We hope to cooperate with other countries to safeguard regional and global health and public safety.”
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New US Envoy Tells Russia to ‘End nightmare’ for Jailed Ex-Marine

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The United States’ new ambassador to Russia urged Moscow on Thursday to release a former U.S. Marine accused of spying, and said Russian investigators had failed to present credible evidence to back up their case.Days after starting as U.S. ambassador, John Sullivan accused Russian authorities of “shameful treatment” of Paul Whelan, who was detained by security agents in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28, 2018 and accused of espionage.Whelan, 49, denies the charges against him and holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports. At court hearings over the past year, he has said he is being ill treated.The case, in which Whelan be jailed for 20 years if he is found guilty, has strained U.S.-Russian ties that are already under pressure from an array of issues including the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and election-meddling allegations.On Thursday, Sullivan visited Whelan in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. It was one of the ambassador’s first public appearances since he presented his credentials at Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Jan. 21.”It’s time for this nightmare to end, and for Paul to go home,” Sullivan said in comments published by the U.S. embassy on social media.”The case has gone on far too long. Investigators have  shown no evidence – zero. Russian authorities show no credible justification for isolating Paul, and refuse to allow Paul to get proper medical attention. This is shameful treatment.”Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed Whelan’s allegations of ill-treatment and accused him of trying to stir up noise around his case.Moscow says Whelan was caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan says he was set up in a sting operation and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.Previous efforts to secure Whelan’s release, including an appeal in December, have been ignored.
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Pompeo Pledges Ongoing Support for Ukraine During Kyiv Visit

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Friday that the Trump administration would not waver in its support for Ukraine and denied charges at the heart of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Pompeo met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and denied allegations that vital military aid and a White House visit were conditioned on a probe into former Vice President Joe Biden’s family.
“It’s just simply not the case. We will find the right time, we will find the appropriate opportunity (for the visit),” Pompeo said at a press conference after a meeting with Zelenskiy.
Pompeo is the highest-ranking American official to visit Ukraine since the impeachment process began last year. That process started with revelations about a July 25 phone call between Zelenskiy and Trump.
Zelenskiy said the impeachment had not had a negative effect on U.S.-Ukraine relations and thanked the Trump administration for its financial and military support that impeachment prosecutors say the president withheld in order to extract a personal favor from Ukraine.
Pompeo’s meetings in Kyiv come as t he GOP-majority Senate prepared to vote  on whether to hear witnesses who could shed further light on Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. The vote appeared likely to fail, however, as a key Republican said he would vote against allowing new testimony, boosting odds the Senate will vote to acquit in a matter of days.
A senior U.S. official in the meeting said Pompeo and Zelenskiy mainly discussed investment and infrastructure and that there was no talk of impeachment or corruption investigations. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
At a press conference after the meeting, Pompeo assured Zelenskiy of Washington’s unwavering support.
“The United States understands that Ukraine is an important country. It’s not just the geographic heart of Europe, it’s a bulwark between freedom and authoritarianism in eastern Europe. It’s fields feed the European continent and its pipelines keep Europe warm in the winter,” he said.
Zelenskiy, in turn, expressed hope that the U.S. would more actively participate in resolving a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 14,000 people in the past five years. Zelenskiy also said he still wanted to meet Trump in DC as long it would be productive. “I am ready to go tomorrow,” he said.
In addition to Zelenskiy, Pompeo is meeting Ukraine’s prime, foreign and defense ministers as well as civic leaders, and touring several Ukrainian Orthodox churches.
Trump is accused of obstructing Congress and abuse of office for withholding a White House meeting with Zelenskiy and critical military aid to the country in exchange for an investigation into Biden, a political rival, and his son, Hunter.
Ukraine has been an unwilling star in the impeachment proceedings, eager for good relations with Trump as it depends heavily on U.S. support to defend itself from Russian-backed separatists. Trump, who has still not granted Zelenskiy the White House meeting he craves, has offered that support to some degree. Although the military assistance was put on hold, it was eventually released after a whistleblower complaint brought the July 25 call to light. The Trump administration has also supplied Ukraine with lethal defense equipment, including Javelin anti-tank weapons.
Pompeo has stressed the importance of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, a sentiment long shared by Republicans and Democrats who see the former Soviet republic as a bulwark against Russian ambitions. But it’s a view that now has partisan overtones, with Democrats arguing that withholding aid from such a critical ally for political purposes is an impeachable offense.
The Senate is to vote on hearing impeachment witnesses later Friday. Democrats want to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, whose forthcoming book reportedly says that Trump withheld the aid in exchange for a public pledge of a probe into the Bidens. That would back witnesses who testified before the House impeachment inquiry.
Ukraine has been a delicate subject for Pompeo, who last weekend  lashed out at a National Public Radio reporter for asking why he has not publicly defended the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. She was removed from her post after unsubstantiated allegations were made against her by Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani.
Pompeo has been criticized for not publicly supporting Yovanovitch, her now-departed successor as chief of the Kyiv embassy, William Taylor, and other diplomats who testified before House impeachment investigators. Yovanovitch and Taylor have been attacked by Trump supporters and, in some cases, have been accused of disloyalty.
In the NPR interview, Pompeo took umbrage when asked if he owed Yovanovitch an apology, and maintained that he had defended all of his employees. In an angry encounter after the interview, he also questioned if Americans actually cared about Ukraine, according to NPR.
That comment prompted Taylor and Pompeo’s former special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who also testified to the impeachment panel, to write opinion pieces discussing the importance of the country to U.S. national security and why Pompeo should be explaining its role to Americans as their top diplomat.
Pompeo brushed aside his reported comment, telling reporters aboard his plane that “of course, the American people care about the people of Ukraine” and said his message to American diplomats in Ukraine would be the same he gives to those at other embassies.
“The message is very similar to every embassy that I get a chance to talk to when I travel,” he said. “I almost always meet with the team and tell them how much we love them, appreciate them, appreciate their family members and their sacrifice.”
He said he would “talk about the important work that the United States and Ukraine will continue to do together to fight corruption inside of that country and to ensure that America provides the support that the Ukrainian people need to ensure that they have a free and independent nation.”
Pompeo twice postponed earlier planned trips to Ukraine, most recently in early January when developments with Iran forced him to cancel. Pompeo said he plans to discuss the issue of corruption but demurred when asked if he would specifically raise the Bidens or the energy company Burisma, for which Hunter Biden worked.
“I don’t want to talk about particular individuals. It’s not worth it,” he told reporters. “It’s a long list in Ukraine of corrupt individuals and a long history there. And President Zelenskiy has told us he’s committed to it. The actions he’s taken so far demonstrate that, and I look forward to having a conversation about that with him as well.”
Pompeo traveled to Kyiv  from London, which was the first stop on a trip to Europe and Central Asia that will also take him to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. 
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Tight Security Promised for Super Bowl 54 in Miami

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Florida and federal law enforcement agencies preparing for the Super Bowl this Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens say they are ready for anything, including a detonated bomb or massive food poisoning, but haven’t identified any threats.
    
Events for the 54th Super Bowl, between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, kicked off Monday around South Florida, with an interactive Super Bowl Experience in Miami Beach and Super Bowl Live at Miami’s Bayfront Park. It’s a lot of mileage to patrol, but officials say they are well prepared. They had been planning for months and running drills.
    
Maj. Ed Caneva, the Miami-Dade Police Department operations commander for the NFL title game, said they identify a raft of different scenarios.
    
“We have been training and addressing anything,” Caneva said.
    
The Super Bowl has long been considered a potential target for terrorists or other violent extremists, and this year the game will be played amid rising tensions with Iran. But none of the games has ever been attacked. Anthony Salisbury, chief of the Homeland Security Investigations office in Miami, said law enforcement agencies nonetheless must be prepared.
    
“It’s all hands on deck,” Salisbury said. “This is a high-profile event. It’s the same with every Super Bowl. Nothing is being taken for granted.”
    
Several thousand federal, state and local law enforcement officials are involved in the game and the events leading up to it. Brian Swain, chief of the Miami Secret Service office and lead federal coordinator for the event, said there’s no intelligence thus far indicating any kind of threat.
    
“There is no specific credible threat right now,” Swain said. “I’m confident in our security plan.”
    
Streets will be blocked off. There will be scores of uniformed police officers and others in plainclothes roaming the stadium to ensure safety. Bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol, and fans must go through metal detectors.
    
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed flight restrictions over Hard Rock Stadium and around some of the other events. The FAA has even produced a video called “No Drone Zone,” intended to curb the devices around game activities.
    
‘Enjoy the Super Bowl. Leave your drone at home,” the video says.
    
Commercial flights at Miami International Airport are unaffected.
    
There has been one potential close call in a past Super Bowl: Five years ago, federal authorities said they encountered a plot in Phoenix by a man who wanted to attack the Super Bowl and an adjacent mall and entertainment district in Glendale, Arizona, with pipe bombs. They said the man, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, was unable to obtain the explosives, and the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks was not hit.
    
Kareem later was convicted of conspiring to provide the guns used in an attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas in which two heavily armed associates were killed by local police officers. He also was convicted of providing support to the Islamic State group. His lawyers asked a judge to grant him a new trial or throw out his convictions.
    
This year’s Super Bowl will be the Miami area’s 11th, the most ever. Hard Rock Stadium is home to the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes and hosts concerts for major acts including The Rolling Stones. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said he’s confident the area is ready for this game as well.
    
“We know how to do it,” Gimenez said. “We’ve done this before, and we’re pretty good at it.” 
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Malaysia’s Palm Oil Sector Pays for Prime Minister’s Tough Talk on India

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India’s boycott of Malaysian palm oil over Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s rebuke of New Delhi’s handling of Kashmir and Muslim migrants may deal a heavy blow to Malaysia’s economy this year, the more so if it expands to other key commodities.But some economists say the nominally punitive move may have as much to do with India’s growing fixation with correcting its bilateral trade deficits in an Asian echo of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” push.India is by far the largest importer of palm oil from Malaysia, the world’s second largest producer after Indonesia. The versatile fruit extract is used in everything from pizza dough to soap and biofuels.In October India’s top vegetable oil trade body, the Solvent Extractors Association, urged its members to stop buying Malaysian palm oil over Mahathir’s “unprovoked pronouncement” and “in solidarity with our nation.” To New Delhi’s consternation, the prime minister of Muslim-majority Malaysia had reproached India for stripping statehood from its portion of Kashmir, which also has a Muslim majority, and later over legislative amendments that appear to deny Indian citizenship to Muslim migrants from some countries.FILE – Kashmiri Muslims offer prayer inside Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Dec. 18, 2019.Earlier this month, Mahathir’s media adviser, A. Kadir Jasin, said Malaysia should respond with its own boycott of Indian exports and by tightening restrictions on Indian migrants. But Mahathir soon dismissed the idea, conceding that Malaysia was too small to retaliate against India, a country of 1.35 billion people to Malaysia’s 31.5 million.Yu Leng Khor, a political economist and principal of Segi Enam Advisors, a consulting firm that studies the region’s trade in palm oil and other commodities, said Malaysia needed India far more than vice versa and would wield little leverage in a reciprocal trade war.Malaysia exported about $8.53 billion worth of goods to India between January and November of last year while importing only $5.35 billion from the country over the same period, according to the latest figures from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, a state enterprise.Malaysia’s palm oil industry, a pillar of the national economy, has tied its fortunes to India in particular in recent years. Nearly 1 in every 4 tons of palm oil Malaysia exported in 2019 landed in India.“In the last couple of years, it is the biggest market for Malaysia, and it delivered a huge increase in volume and traded value in 2019, and this [boycott] is a big slap-down now,” Khor said.Though New Delhi publicly denies reports by Reuters news agency that it has told Indian importers to shun Malaysian palm oil, it has moved refined palm oil imports to the “restricted” list, forcing traders to jump through cumbersome new hoops. Khor said that alone could cost Malaysia up to $1.4 billion, though it could try to make up some of the loss by selling India more crude palm oil and moving quickly to boost refined palm oil exports to other countries.And if chatter in India’s press of expanding the boycott to electronics and other Malaysian import comes true, she added, the impact on Malaysia’s economy could be “quite major.”FILE – Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during the signing ceremony for Bandar Malaysia in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Dec. 17, 2019.Though Mahathir has stood by his rankling remarks, Khor said he will want to contain the damage.Shankaran Nambiar, a senior fellow at the Malaysia Institute of Economic Research, agreed.“It would be Malaysia’s turn to retaliate. But it appears that Malaysia is making reconciliatory moves, which implies that Malaysia doesn’t want relations to deteriorate. So at worst we have a standoff,” he said.Last week Malaysia’s top sugar refiner, MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad, an arm of state-owned palm oil producer FGV Holdings, announced a hefty hike in its raw sugar imports from India in what many see as a move to placate New Delhi.That would suggest that the row is about more than pummeled pride.Nambiar said India’s trade deficit with Malaysia may have been the tinder to which Mahathir’s reproof was the spark.He noted that India’s new restrictions on refined palm oil imports apply to all countries, “Malaysia among them, although it … seems that vessels carrying refined palm oil from Malaysia have been stuck at ports.”Khor likened India’s moves to Trump’s own take on America’s trade deficits with other countries.“I think it’s part of this overall thing that we’re seeing globally, right? That there’s this pullback and big questioning of trade relationships. … Should there be an imbalance? Shouldn’t we all have a more equal trade balance?” she said.“And I think in a global trade environment where trade relationships [are] being really looked at very carefully now — and with … geopolitical and political sensitivities — I think, sadly, Malaysia played straight into it.”
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Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Woo Iowa Voters Ahead of 2020 Caucus

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Democrats in Iowa are grappling with many issues as they weigh who to support in the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucuses, meetings where party voters choose their preferred candidate. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, it’s the first test for Democratic presidential hopefuls seeking to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in the November election, and comes during a time of low unemployment and a strong economy.
 
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Frustration in South Korea as Cost-Sharing Talks With US Drag on

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Nearly a month after the expiration of the agreement on how to split the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea, there is growing frustration among South Korean civilians who will soon be temporarily suspended from their jobs on U.S. bases if a deal isn’t reached.The U.S. military this week sent furlough notices to its Korean national employees, around 9,000 of whom may be forced to take unpaid time off starting April 1, without an agreement. Some have begun looking for other work.“Of course, everyone feels unstable and distressed,” said Son Gi-o, the national secretary general for the USFK Korean Employees Union, “It is our livelihood, after all.” Like other Korean base employees who spoke to VOA, Son hoped an agreement will be reached but said he feels insulted and that the contribution of his Korean colleagues is being undervalued.A South Korean national who works at Camp Humphreys, the sprawling U.S. base about an hour south of Seoul, said he was optimistic a deal would be reached but said, nevertheless, “we can’t focus at work.” He was not authorized to speak to the media and would not provide a name.FILE – Fake bank notes showing images of U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed as protesters oppose the United States’ demand for raising the defense costs for stationing U.S. troops in South Korea, near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, Oct. 22, 2019.No new agreementFor the second consecutive year, the U.S. and South Korea failed to strike a new cost-sharing deal before the old agreement expired. During initial rounds of negotiations, the U.S. reportedly demanded Seoul increase its contribution by five times.U.S. President Donald Trump has long insisted that South Korea pay much more for the cost of about 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.However, many analysts and officials in both the U.S. and South Korea fear those demands are now creating distrust among South Koreans and structural instability that could hurt the alliance in the long term.Money running outSince the latest deal expired, U.S. officials say “residual funds” have been used for the salaries of Korean civilian employees, who work in areas such as food service, logistics, and administration, but that money will soon run out. “It isn’t right to hold hostage the salaries of Korean employees,” Song Young-gil, a prominent lawmaker in South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, said. “President Trump’s unreasonable demand is weakening the alliance.”Although opinion polls suggest South Koreans overwhelmingly oppose the U.S. cost-sharing demands, support for the overall alliance remains strong. There are few signs of a major rift other than angry newspaper columns and scattered protests.Alliance strainedMany U.S. and South Korean officials, however, worry about the effect of such prickly negotiations every year.“It could be a three-year deal, or five years. But a one-year agreement is not right,” Song said, “It is just too much to have to repeat this every single year.”The U.S. and South Korea were unable to reach a deal last year until early February. Seoul eventually agreed to pay $925 million, 8% more than the previous year.  The deal, though, only covered a single year rather than five, as in the previous arrangement, virtually ensuring the two sides are in an almost constant state of tense negotiations.“I think a one-year agreement creates a considerable amount of turbulence in the support structure for the U.S. forces,” said retired Army General Vincent Brooks, who until November 2018 served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea.An annual deal is not sufficient to plan for local employment needs and South Korean-funded construction projects, Brooks told the VOA Korean Service. “It’s very disruptive to have a one-year cycle. I think a minimum of three and an optimum of five is the right way to go,” he said.FILE – Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood, speaks during a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, at the Pentagon, Feb. 2, 2018.Interagency friction?Even current U.S. military officials have expressed concerns about the cost-sharing dispute.John Rood, a senior Defense Department official, told a U.S. House hearing this week that the Pentagon is trying to convey the importance of the alliance to his State Department counterparts leading the negotiations.“This is part of our message to our State Department colleagues: that as you’re approaching these negotiations — and everyone wants equitable burden-sharing — some consideration just needs to be given about the maintaining of the health of that alliance as we go forward,” Rood said.Those comments suggest a degree of “interagency friction,” according to David Maxwell, who specializes in the U.S.-South Korea military relationship at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The Department of Defense pointing the finger at the Department of State is unusual,” Maxwell said.However, State Department cost-sharing demands seem to originate with Trump — not the State Department — and U.S. officials have little choice but to implement the president’s directive, as Maxwell points out.“I have heard none express a personal opinion that goes against the president, despite my belief they must be biting their tongues because they know, as I believe, this demand by the president is unrealistic, damages the alliance, and is just plain wrong,” he added.FILE – Retired Adm. Harry Harris, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, attends a ceremony to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2019 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, earlier this month denied that the negotiations are hurting the alliance, saying the U.S. is only “asking for a more equitable distribution.”Specifically, the U.S. wants South Korea to contribute toward a wider range of costs, including the rotations of American troops to the peninsula.Meanwhile, it is the local Korean employees who may be the hardest hit as the talks drag on.“All employees are essential for accomplishing the mission,” Son, the labor union employee. “So why do we have to be the ones to suffer?”
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Trump Impeachment Trial Heads Toward Critical Vote

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Friday will be a crucial day in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.The trial in the Republican-majority U.S. Senate could end Friday with Trump’s expected acquittal on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.Or four Republicans could join 47 Democrats and independents in voting to allow witnesses to testify, including former National Security Adviser John Bolton, extending the trial for at least another week and maybe longer.But if the vote to hear witnesses ends in a 50-50 tie, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the presiding judge, could cast a deciding vote. But that would be unprecedented in an impeachment trial, so no one is sure what will happen.The lead House impeachment manager, Democrat Adam Schiff, proposed hearing witnesses behind closed doors for no more than a week, saying that would let senators return to regular business.Republicans have indicated they do not want any witnesses subpoenaed, believing that would drag out the trial and that more evidence could hurt their case.Senators Susan Collins of Maine talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Jan. 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Will Senate call witnesses?Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded earlier this week that he may not have the votes to prevent witnesses from being called. Several moderate Republicans have said they may be interested in hearing what Bolton has to say.One of them, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said Thursday evening she would vote to allow witnesses. But Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, in a statement released shortly after Collins’ announcement, that there was “no need for more evidence.” In a yet-to-be-published book, Bolton said Trump told him he was withholding $391 million in military aid to Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly announced an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential political rival of Trump’s in the 2020 presidential election.Democrats said reaching out to a foreign power to interfere in an election is an impeachable offense.White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin answers a question during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30 2020.Trump’s defenseTrump’s lawyers say the president had the right to hold up the aid over concern for corruption in Ukraine and a demand that Europe do more to help Ukraine fight Russian-backed separatists.Trump’s defense team and the impeachment managers Thursday spent their second day answering questions from the senators, which were read by Roberts.Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Jan. 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.Roberts refused to ask a question handed in by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul because it reportedly would have identified the whistleblower, whose concern about Trump’s July phone call in which he asked Zelenskiy for a favor led to the president’s impeachment. Paul denied the question would have outed the whistleblower.Trump’s attorneys continued to argue that nothing the president did concerning Ukraine is impeachable.White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Democrats are trying to get rid of a president they don’t like, saying it is up to voters to decide whom they want.When Patrick Philbin, a Trump attorney, said the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was only “a source of information” and not carrying out foreign policy in Ukraine, Schiff called that statement “breathtaking.”Schiff said the attorneys blew up their whole case by seeming to admit that Giuliani was in Ukraine on a personal political errand for Trump.Witnesses during the impeachment hearing testified that Giuliani was in Ukraine to pressure officials to investigate Biden for corruption even when no evidence against the former vice president ever surfaced.
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Russia Pardons US-Israeli National Jailed on Drug Charges

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Russian authorities Thursday pardoned and released an American-Israeli citizen jailed on drug charges, in a gesture timed with a visit by embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow intended to focus on a new U.S.-backed peace plan for the Middle East.Naama Issachar, 27, a native of New Jersey who had moved to Israel, was serving 7½ years in prison for drug possession after border guards found 9 grams of hash in her bag during a changeover at a Moscow airport on her way from India to Israel.While the case instantly became a cause celebre in Israel — widely seen as an overly harsh sentence for a minor crime — it was only recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled her release was imminent.“Everything will be OK,” Putin told Issachar’s mother, Yaffa, during a sideline meeting in Israel last week to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of a key Nazi death camp in World War II.Yet the timing of Putin’s decision to grant a pardon was riven with political implications.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, walk with Naama Issachar and her mother, Yaffa, after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Naama a pardon, at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Jan. 30, 2020.Netanyahu visitIssachar’s release comes as Netanyahu is locked in a bitter yearlong struggle to maintain his hold on power while facing charges of criminal corruption. The Israeli leader was formally charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust by prosecutors this week.It also follows the White House’s unveiling of a new peace plan for the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict that U.S. President Donald Trump has controversially billed as “the deal of the century.”Israel’s Netanyahu has enthusiastically endorsed the proposal. The Palestinian leadership has rejected the deal outright.While Putin has yet to personally weigh in on the American proposal, initial reactions in Moscow underscored how the Kremlin is eager to build on its recent rise as a key power broker in Mideast regional politics.“We confirm our readiness to further constructive work towards the collective strengthening of efforts towards a complete resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in underscoring Russia’ delicate balance of alliances throughout the region.Situational leverageFrom the beginning, Issachar was seen as a bargaining chip in a larger political game involving Washington, Moscow and Tel Aviv.Her initial arrest came as Russia was seeking extradition of Aleksei Burkov, an alleged Russian hacker accused of computer fraud by the U.S. government.Israel ultimately chose to turn over Burkov to U.S. authorities last November — a decision that seemed to have soured any chance of Issachar’s early release.Indeed, even among the celebrations of Issachar’s freedom Thursday, questions lingered: What might have prompted the exchange now? What changed? And what had Putin gained?For it was undoubtedly a boon to Netanyahu’s latest reelection bid, with Israelis headed to the polls again March 2 after three previous votes that ended in stalemate.Netanyahu thanked Putin for a “swift” decision to free Issachar. Further underlining the political timing of the pardon, Issachar joined Netanyahu on his government plane back to Israel.“We’re excited to see you. Now we go back home,” Netanyahu told the former prisoner, in a video posted to his official Twitter account.❤️🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/58UZwWaje3— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) January 30, 2020Back in Israel, media pundits suggested Netanyahu had secured Issachar’s release by granting Russia ownership of a Jerusalem site of importance to the Russian Orthodox Church, a key base of support for the Russian president.Fueling curiosity, the Kremlin released a statement in which Putin suggested the lead Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem had played a role, passing along a letter from Issachar’s mother.Meanwhile, in Russia, attention focused on the Kremlin leader’s other justifications for Issachar’s release.“She hadn’t even crossed the Russian border,” said Putin, a reference to the fact the small amount of hashish had been discovered while she was in an International airport transit zone.Despite the Kremlin insisting Issachar admit her guilt to gain pardon, the Russian leader seemed to back her lawyers view that no crime had actually been committed.“And so, was it a violation of the law or no?” political commentator Arkady Dubnov asked in a post to Facebook. К вопросу о милосердии президента РФ

https://echo.msk.ru/blog/dubnov/2579662-echo/

Пресс-служба Кремля опубликовала…Posted by Аркадий Дубнов on Thursday, January 30, 2020Meanwhile, there remained little clarity over Putin’s views on President Trump’s grand bargain aimed at settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — the supposed reason for the trip.“In the end, who cares about this small stuff,” joked Matvei Ganapolsky, a commentator on the Echo of Moscow radio.He then stated the obvious.“Issachar needed to be freed, because she had become a drag on Russian-Israeli relations,” Ganapolsky said.
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First Votes in 2020 US Presidential Campaign About to be Cast

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The first votes of the 2020 U.S. presidential election will be cast Monday, February 3, when the state of Iowa holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses. For the last 50 years, America’s political parties have used a series of caucuses and primary elections to determine their presidential nominee. VOA’s Steve Redisch explains the process.
 
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Avalanche Hits Japan Ski Resort; 1 Feared Dead, 7 Survive

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An avalanche at a ski resort on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday hit a group of eight foreign skiers, likely killing at least one.The avalanche occurred when the group was skiing outside of a designated course near the Tomamu ski resort in central Hokkaido, according to the nearby Shimukappu village office.One skier who escaped from the snow called police asking for help, said village official Atsushi Tada. The caller said one of them, a Frenchman in his 40s, was feared dead, but six others survived, though further details of their conditions were not available.Rescuers from the Hokkaido police were expected to head to the site for their rescue, although the operation may be hampered by risks of another avalanche.Tada said nationalities and other details of the seven survivors were not known.
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With a Shrug and Some Sorrow, Europeans Bid Farewell to EU Member Britain

Posted on by SeeEU

An hour’s train ride from the European Union’s headquarters, where the bloc’s British lawmakers and staffers packed up to leave, businesswoman Meriela Masson pondered Brexit during a quick smoke outside her Paris office.Parisian businesswoman Meriela Masson says she hasn’t had time to think of Brexit. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”Unfortunately, I don’t have time to think of it,” Masson said of Britain’s departure from the EU, which becomes reality at midnight Friday in Brussels. “I don’t follow the news regarding Brexit, so I have no clue what to think about it.”If Britain’s departure from the EU amounts to a political earthquake in Brussels, the aftershock is less intense in other European capitals.Europeans feel sadness, but they are also watching Brexit unfold with “a sort of fatigue,” said analyst Elvire Fabry of the Jacques Delores Institute, a Paris research group.”It was more perceived as a deep political crisis within the U.K., than a real negotiation between the U.K. and EU,” she said, as the protracted talks wound out.  Now, as Europe moves from saying goodbye to Britain to carving out a new and potentially rocky post-Brexit relationship, ordinary Europeans face many unknowns.   Student Adolphine Nsimba exits a Paris M&S food store, one of Britain’s many marks on Europe. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Will fishermen and farmers lose out on a lucrative British market? Will drivers and passengers be stuck in unending customs lines?”I hope it won’t penalize France,” said student Adolphine Nsimba, 25, as she exited an M&S food market in Paris — another sign of Britain’s imprint on Europe, along with craft beer and afternoon tea. “I have friends and family in England, and I don’t want to apply for a visa to go there.”Outside the Gare du Nord station, where London-bound Eurostar trains depart every 30 minutes, truck driver Pierre Weillart voiced similar fears. He spends many workdays moving refrigerated goods by road through the Channel Tunnel to Britain.”We’re worried about customs,” he said. “It could lose a lot of time.”Soul-searchingBrexit is also sparking soul-searching among some Europeans about what is broken in a political and economic union born from the ashes of World War II.”We European decision-makers must realize that if an increasing number of our fellow citizens have turned their back on the European project, it’s for a reason,” said Philippe Lamberts, an EU Greens Party lawmaker from Belgium. “It’s because many believe that too often, policies adopted at the European level have served the few rather than the many.”A Paris kiosok bears a magazine cover bidding farewell to Britain. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Lamberts’ remarks came as the European Parliament voted to formally approve Brexit on Wednesday. As many lamented Britain’s departure from the bloc, euroskeptic parties cheered it on. “Brexit is the victory of the common people against multinational corporations, special interests and other elites,” populist Finns Party lawmaker Laura Huhtasaari said. “The 2020s is the decade where the national state makes the ultimate comeback in Europe.”Euroskeptic parties gained ground during last year’s European Parliament elections. In France, the far-right National Rally party led the overall vote with 23%, ahead of the ruling Centrist Party of President Emmanuel Macron.  A comeback for Europe?Pro-EU parties still won the majority of votes, and overall turnout hit a record high of more than 50%. Promises of a French-style Frexit or Italexit in Italy have faded.Analyst Elvire Fabry of the Jacques Delors Institute, named after a former European Commission president whose photo is to her left, says there is a feeling of fatigue regarding Brexit. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”All the parties that are really critical toward the EU have changed their strategy a little,” Fabry said. “Instead of calling for a similar move out of the EU, they now want to change the EU from the inside.”Recent polls also show an uptick in citizen support. A 2019 Eurobarometer survey found Europeans view the bloc in a more positive light than at any other point in the last decade.”Brexit is a failure of Britain, not the European Union,” former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.  Others see it as a failure of both.  Fabry, for one, disagrees. She believes Brexit has delivered a powerful and positive message that might prove useful for other tricky negotiations, including with China and the United States.”We happened to see a new kind of cohesion among the Europeans,” she said, describing the unity in Brexit negotiations that member states have not found on issues like immigration and defense. “We were expecting divisions and increasing criticism of the EU — but on the contrary.”
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Irish Border Residents Watch for Brexit Fallout

Posted on by SeeEU

The border was drawn in 1921, splitting communities and sometimes property, as the British government sought to create a home for the majority Protestant population of Northern Ireland at a time when the largely Catholic Republic of Ireland won its independence.Today, that 310-mile (500-kilometer) frontier is largely invisible. The only way motorists know they have crossed into Northern Ireland is from the speed limit signs, which use miles per hour measurements, rather than the metric system used in the south. Keen observers might notice a slight change in the pavement as well.As Brexit takes effect Friday, residents on both sides of the border are concerned about protecting the relative peace and prosperity after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. That accord helped end three decades of sectarian violence between paramilitary groups that wanted to reunify Ireland and those who insisted the six counties of Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK.FILE – Lisa Partridge, 28, who grew up with the Protestant Loyal Orange Institution, is reflected in a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II at the Orange Hall, in Portadown, Northern Ireland, Dec. 19, 2019.Lisa Partridge, a 28-year-old tour operator raised in a British military family, remembers how it was “completely normal to check under the family car for a bomb every morning before you went to school.””Nobody would want to go back to that life,” she said.Central to the deal was the fact that both the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland were EU members, which allowed authorities to tear down hated border posts that had slowed the passage of people and goods as police and soldiers tried to halt the flow of arms and militants. With the end of onerous border controls, trade flowed freely between north and south spurring economic development in both communities.The British and Irish governments have promised to preserve those gains, but people on both sides of the border are concerned that Brexit may re-ignite tensions.”Who’s to know what way it’s going to go?” said Gary Ferguson, 27, as he milked the cows on his father’s farm. “It’ll make us or break us.”Signs of the conflict, known here as “The Troubles,” are still evident, even if rust and moss have softened their hard edges.In the village of Belcoo in Northern Ireland, an old railway bridge blown up by the British army sits partially submerged in the river that separates Northern Ireland from the town of Blacklion in the Irish Republic. An old customs post splits the small village of Pettigo between north and south. In Belfast, “peace walls” still seek to prevent violence by separating Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods.FILE – An old railway bridge blown up by the British Army in the 1970s is partially submerged in the Belcoo River that separates Northern Ireland from the town of Blacklion, Republic of Ireland, Dec. 23, 2019.To ensure there would be no hard border between north and south, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to different rules for trade between Northern Ireland and the EU than those that apply to the rest of the UK.Unionists see this as weakening the ties between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., raising concerns that the reunification of Ireland is now more likely.In Portadown, the Protestant Orange Order still holds weekly protests to assert its British identity.”This is Britain. (It) says so on the map,” said David Reid, 33, walking in Belfast with his 1-year-old son in the shadow of a peace wall that separates his Protestant community from a Catholic one. “Me personally, it just doesn’t feel like it. It feels like you’re down in Ireland.”On the other side of the border in Castlefinn, in Ireland’s County Donegal, Tom Murray runs three pharmacies and says his primary goal is to protect the economic gains of the last two decades.FILE – Pharmacist Tom Murray, 46, stocks shelves at his pharmacy in Castlefinn, Ireland, just over the border from Northern Ireland, Dec. 23, 2019.”I think Ireland should always be a united country and should be free of the shackles of Britain,” said Murray, 46. “But at the same time, we have to accept that there’s 1 million people living a mile away who identify as British. I think we have to protect their identity, their culture, their Britishness every bit as much as we have to protect my Irishness. Otherwise it just won’t work.”Gerry Storey, 83, of the Holy Family Boxing Club in Belfast has been working to bridge the divide by bringing Protestant and Catholic youths together in the boxing ring.”When you come in here, you don’t talk politics. You don’t swear. And there’s no football jerseys,” Storey said. “In here everybody is treated fairly and squarely. And it doesn’t care who or what you are.”Ferguson, a fifth-generation Protestant dairy farmer in Stewartstown, Northern Ireland, agrees: “Irish, British, it doesn’t matter.””As long as the farming stays OK, that’s all,” he said. “And no wars start.”
 
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Barr Names New US Attorney in DC

Posted on by SeeUS

Attorney General William Barr on Thursday named Timothy Shea, one of his closest advisers, to be the next top prosecutor in the nation’s capital.Shea will lead the largest U.S. attorney’s office in the country, which has been historically responsible for some of the most significant and politically sensitive cases the Justice Department brings in the U.S.He is a senior counselor to the attorney general and was Barr’s right-hand man helping institute reforms at the federal Bureau of Prisons after Jeffrey Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.As the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, Shea would oversee some of the lingering cases from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, along with a number of politically charged investigations. The office is also generally responsible for handling potential prosecutions if Congress finds a witness in contempt.FILE – Attorney General William Barr speaks to reporters at the Justice Department in Washington, Jan. 13, 2020.”Tim brings to this role extensive knowledge and expertise in law enforcement matters as well as an unwavering dedication to public service, reflected in his long and distinguished career in state and federal government,” Barr said in a statement. “His reputation as a fair prosecutor, skillful litigator, and excellent manager is second-to-none, and his commitment to fighting violent crime and the drug epidemic will greatly benefit the city of Washington.”Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office had been investigating former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, and the prospect of charges seemed likely in the fall after his lawyers failed to persuade senior Justice Department officials that he didn’t intentionally lie to internal investigators. Little has been said about the case in recent months.The position generally requires Senate confirmation, but the law also allows federal judges to vote to appoint a U.S. attorney after a 120-day window. That was the case with Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.Career highlightsShea, a Boston-area native who comes from a family of first responders, is widely seen as being able to bridge a gap between law enforcement officials and the community, especially in Washington. The office is unique because its 300 or so prosecutors have jurisdiction to prosecute both local and federal crimes in the nation’s capital.”He’s the definitive public servant,” said Jim Pasco, the executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. “He has a real reverence for the law and a real dedication to making communities safer.”Shea has served in a variety of roles in the Justice Department from working as a line prosecutor to being associate deputy attorney general. As an assistant U.S. attorney, he prosecuted violent crimes, fraud, public corruption and drug trafficking cases and he’s also led a task force that was responsible for investigating and prosecuting prison crimes and had also worked as a congressional staffer in the House and Senate.He was the chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which was chaired at the time by Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and also worked on the staff of the House Appropriations Committee.Collins said in a statement that Shea “did an outstanding job leading in-depth investigations into issues ranging from consumer protection to government waste, fraud, and abuse.””With his decades of legal experience in both the private and public sectors, Tim has a wealth of knowledge that will serve him well in his new role,” she added.In the wake of Epstein’s death, Barr and Shea worked hand-in-hand to manage the crisis and investigation into the circumstances surrounding the wealthy financier’s death. Shea visited the jail days after Epstein’s suicide and helped advise the attorney general as Barr shook up the agency’s leadership, removing its acting director.FILE – Jessie Liu, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Dec. 15, 2017.Predecessor Jessie LiuShea, who begins his new role on Feb. 3, replaces Jessie Liu, who has been nominated to become the undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes at the Treasury Department, as the Trump administration imposes economic sanctions as a national security tool. The attorney general said Liu had “served with distinction” as U.S. attorney.Barr had nominated Liu to become the associate attorney general, the third-highest job in the department, overseeing civil litigation, but she withdrew from consideration after encountering opposition on the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee because of her past membership in a lawyers’ group that has supported abortion rights.Liu would be first U.S. attorney to assume the role at Treasury. When she was U.S. attorney, her office brought several sanctions-related cases and issued a warrant to seize an Iranian supertanker caught in a diplomatic standoff because of violations of U.S. sanctions, money laundering and terrorism statutes.
 
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US Military Chief in Africa Argues for Vital US Presence

Posted on by SeeUS

The head of U.S. military forces in Africa argued Thursday against troop cuts on the vast and booming continent, saying strategic partnerships in combating a growing extremist threat and assertive Chinese and Russian influence cannot be sacrificed. A secure and stable Africa remains an enduring American interest,'' General Stephen J. Townsend told the Senate Armed Services Committee.In the past, maybe we’ve been able to pay less attention to Africa and be OK in America. I don’t believe that’s the case for the future.” It is not clear when Defense Secretary Mark Esper will decide on possible military cuts as part of a global review with the goal of tightening the focus on China and Russia. Esper on Thursday said that we are not going to totally withdraw forces from Africa'' and acknowledged the concerns that have included a rare bipartisan outcry in Congress. The prospect of U.S. military cuts worries allies such as France, especially in the arid Sahel region of West Africa as fighters affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group move into more populated areas. And in East Africa, three Americans were killed this month in the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab's first attack against U.S. forces in Kenya, with several U.S. aircraft destroyed. FILE - An image distributed by al-Shabab after the attack on a military base in Kenya shows the militant group's flag at Manda Bay Airfield in Manda, Lamu, Kenya, Jan. 5, 2020.It'sobvious we were not as prepared there at Manda Bay as we needed to be,he said of the airfield that was attacked. We cannot take pressure off major terrorist groups like al-Qaida and ISIS,” Townsend added. These groups and many others remain an inconvenient reality in Africa.'' Some of the groups threaten the U.S. homeland, the U.S. Africa Command chief warned, including the Somalia-based al-Shabab. The U.S. military has about 6,000 personnel across Africa, with about 4,000 located at the only U.S. permanent military base on the continent in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti — a short distance from China's first overseas military base. Another nearly 1,300 U.S. personnel are in the Sahel, the vast region just south of the Sahara Desert. Call for more European involvementFrance's military is leading efforts in the Sahel and recently committed another 220 troops to its existing force of 4,500. While France is pressing the U.S. not to reduce its presence in Africa, Townsend again called on other European nations to step up. That’s something they can and should do,” he said, saying European countries could take on some of the current U.S. support efforts such as airlifts and air refueling for French fighter aircraft. But he said not a lot of the countries have the exquisite'' level of technological intelligence available to U.S. forces. Townsend warned, however, thatif we were to withdraw our support from the French precipitously, then that would not go in a good direction.” He also stressed that U.S. interest in Africa goes beyond the fight against extremism, highlighting the continent’s economic potential, burgeoning population, vast amount of natural resources, including rare minerals, and its strategic position overlooking a global crossroads.'' FILE - Victor Tokmakov, first secretary of the Russian Embassy, presents diplomas to graduating recruits in Berengo, Central African Republic, Aug. 4, 2018. Russian military consultants set up training for the Central African armed forces.Africa is key terrain for competition with China and Russiawho are aggressively using economic and military means to expand their access and influence,Townsend said. He also pointed out thefirst visible sign of cooperation we’ve seen” in Africa between the militaries of China and Russia, who participated in a joint naval exercise off the coast of South Africa last year. China and Russia are seeking to counter the strategic access that we need for American security and American prosperity,'' he said. Pursuit of resourcesRussia has been pursuing extractive ventures in the continent's rich mineral resources, while China is offering African countriessmart cities” technology equipped with facial recognition technology. Of course we know they are reporting back to China first, before the country where it's established,'' Townsend asserted. He also acknowledged the worries of African countries as the possible U.S. troop cuts are considered in Washington. The thing they always are looking for is: Can we count on you as a partner?” he said. 
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