A moderate earthquake shook buildings in western Turkey on Tuesday, sending people running into the streets for safety, Turkish media reports said. Authorities said there were no immediate reports of any injury or major damage.
The quake came just four days after a strong earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Friday, toppling buildings and causing 41 deaths. More than 1,600 people were also hurt in the 6.8-magnitude quake.
Turkey’s emergency and disaster management agency, AFAD, said Tuesday’s quake measured 4.8 and was centered near the town of Kirkagac, in Manisa province. It occurred at 2:26 p.m. (1126 GMT) at a depth of 6.99 kilometers (4.34 miles). The Istanbul-based Kandilli seismology center said the quake measured 5.1.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters there were no initial reports of damage or injuries. Turkish media said the quake was felt in Istanbul and Izmir.
In Manisa, people ran out into the streets in panic when they felt the shaking, private NTV television said. An abandoned house collapsed in one village near Kirkagac, the station reported.
Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which sits atop two major fault lines. Manisa was hit by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake on Jan. 22 which caused a few derelict structures to collapse.
Turkey’s worst quake in decades came in 1999, when a pair of strong earthquakes struck northwest Turkey, killing around 18,000 people.
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Month: January 2020
Thai Tourism Industry on Alert to Stop Spread of Coronavirus
Thailand has announced the 10th case of the coronavirus as government authorities say the outbreak is still under control. Meanwhile, Asian airlines such as Chinese Eastern Airline are still taking passengers home to China’s epicenter in Wuhan, despite a ban on outgoing flights from the epicenter. Steve Sandford speaks to Asian tourism workers and government officials about the evolving crisis in southern Thailand in the midst of celebrations of the Chinese New Year.
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Death Toll in China Coronavirus Outbreak Now Over 100
The United States, Japan and other countries are sending planes to evacuate their citizens out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak that has now killed 106 people.Japan is sending a chartered jet to Wuhan Tuesday to evacuate about 200 of the 650 Japanese nationals in the city. The United States is preparing to fly staff from its consulate in Wuhan, along with some American citizens, sometime this week. France and other nations have also announced plans to evacuate their citizens out of Wuhan. Chinese health authorities announced an additional 25 deaths on Tuesday, including the first fatality reported in the capital city of Beijing. The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at well over 4,500. Authorities have imposed a virtual quarantine on Wuhan, banning people from traveling in and out of the city, while several other cities in Hubei province are facing heavy restrictions on movement. Authorities in Wuhan are racing to complete two new field hospitals to treat the growing number of patients. Cases have also been reported in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. The World Health Organization says most of those are people who had a travel history in Wuhan, with several others having contact with someone who traveled there.There have been no reported deaths linked to the virus outside of China.Students line up to sanitize their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning class at a hight school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020.U.S. President Donald Trump has offered China any help needed to combat the deadly coronavirus. In a Monday tweet, Trump said, “We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus,” adding, “We have offered China and President Xi (Jinping) any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!”Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan on Monday to meet with health officials and examine the response to the outbreak. The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, arrived Monday in Beijing, where he is expected to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the outbreak. The agency said there is still a chance to get ahead of the virus if there is strong cooperation.Separately, in an effort to stop the virus from spreading, Mongolia closed its vast border with China, while Hong Kong and Malaysia announced they would ban entry to visitors from Wuhan.Global stock markets plunged Monday as investors feared the economic impact from the coronavirus.The virus hit China just as it was beginning celebrations to mark the Lunar New Year, resulting in the canceling or the scaling back of festivities for tens of millions of Chinese.Chinese officials took an extra step Sunday to extend the Lunar New Year holiday three extra days to cut down on group gatherings.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wearing a mask talks with staff members as he visits the construction site where the new hospital is being built to treat patients of a new coronavirus, on the outskirts of Wuhan, China, January 27, 2020.The head of the respiratory disease office at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nancy Messonnier, said Sunday there were five confirmed cases in the United States, and that all five people had direct contact with others in Wuhan.The patients are isolated in hospitals as doctors and health officials try to learn more about the virus. The CDC says it is investigating about 100 suspected cases in 26 states.Chinese National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday little is known about the virus. But doctors do know it has an incubation period that can range from one to 14 days. Ma said the virus is infectious during the incubation period, when no signs or symptoms of the disease are present.President Xi Jinping said China is facing a “grave situation” and experts and other resources would be concentrated at specific hospitals to treat severe cases.The virus is believed to have emerged late last year at a Wuhan seafood market illegally selling wildlife. Chinese authorities have imposed a temporary ban on the selling of wildlife.Tourist destinations are closed and school closings have been extended in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Public transportation has been severely restricted. Many businesses have closed or asked employees to work from home.The WHO recommends several steps to help protect people against acute respiratory infections. They include avoiding close contact with those already infected, frequent hand-washing and avoiding unprotected contact with farm animals and wild animals.
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Some Students, Ex-Pats Remain in Wuhan With Little Help
Nations around the world are evacuating their students and other citizens from coronavirus-stricken China, while other countries are choosing to leave their citizens in Wuhan, the university city where the virus reportedly started.Around 500 Bangladeshi students are among the stranded in Wuhan. They have called for help on social media, while the Chinese and Bangladesh governments negotiate a strategy. “Through the social [media] site WeChat, students got informed of the mystery infectious virus that was spreading fast,” Mazharul Islam, a freshman in the School of Electrical Engineering at Wuhan University, told VOA. “However, we were told that there is nothing to get worried about and the virus is under control. Later through WeChat we were advised to use masks when stepping out of the dormitory.”Islam said there were 30 Bangladeshi students on his campus. Through Chinese social media WeChat, he said, he and others learned there were 500 Bangladeshi students in Wuhan. He said the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing “would notify us if there were any emergency evacuation taking place.” He said they have been provided with masks and preventive medicines from the university.Masudur Rahman, the deputy chief of mission at the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing, said of the 3,000 More than 60 Afghan students are among foreigners stranded in Wuhan. The Afghan government has asked China to keep the students in Wuhan and not send them back to Afghanistan, much to the disappointment of their families in Afghanistan.“Universities are locked-down, and students are stranded at their rooms and are not allowed to leave their campuses,” said Ahmad Jawed Beheshti, an Afghan student at Sichuan University in China. “Just yesterday, they closed off our university.”Javed Ahmad Qaem, Afghan ambassador to China, told VOA the students have not been forgotten.”They are nervous, but Chinese authorities are acting responsibly,” he said. “They have a focal point for each embassy. If and when relocation is allowed inside China or outside China, we will also be at the forefront. So far relocation is not allowed. They are isolated and we are monitoring the situation closely.”The president of the Indonesian Student Association (PPI) of Chinape, Nur Musyafak, in Wuhan said Indonesian citizens — including students — want to get out of the city. Foreign Ministry data show there are 428 Indonesian citizens studying in Wuhan. Most of those students returned to Indonesia for winter break.But those remaining in China need a recommendation letter from the Indonesian Republic Embassy if they want to leave.”We’re gathering all the passport numbers of these 98” Indonesians who remain in Wuhan. “Once we have the data, we will request a letter from the Indonesian Embassy,” Nur told VOA.The dorm is 20 kilometers from the Huanan Seafood Market, where the coronavirus is suspected of emanating. Campuses in Wuhan have distributed masks, liquid soap, and free thermometers to students, Nur said. The universities have instructed students not to leave their room too often.Authorities in Myanmar said they had cancelled a planned evacuation of 60 students from Mandalay who were studying in Wuhan. Kyaw Yin Myint, a spokesman for the Mandalay municipal government, told Reuters that a “final decision” had been made to send them back after 14 days, once the virus’ incubation period had passed.In Russia, direct flights from Wuhan to Moscow were suspended last week. At least 140 Russians, 75 of them students, are known to be in Wuhan and Hubei, the Russian embassy in China said on Monday, Reuters reported from the TASS news agency.The United States said it would evacuate personnel and citizens in China, several news outlets reported. The U.S. State Department said it will evacuate personnel from its Wuhan consulate to the United States and offer a limited number of seats to private U.S. citizens on a flight. Some private citizens will be able to board the “single flight” leaving Wuhan on Jan. 28 for San Francisco, it said.Sayed Hasib Mawdoodi of VOA’s Afghan Service in Kabul, Sanjana Feroz and KabirUddin Sarkar of the Bangla Service in Washington, and Rio Tuasikal of the Indonesian Service in Bandung, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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NTSB: Pilot of Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Climbed to Avoid Cloud Layer
The pilot of the helicopter that crashed and killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant apparently climbed to avoid a cloud layer just before slamming into a hillside, federal investigators say.Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday the copter was about 700 meters off the ground before it plunged more than 300 meters into the hills north of Los Angeles.Air traffic say the pilot’s message that he had to climb to avoid the clouds was the last thing they heard from the copter.Homendy says the debris field is “extensive.””A piece of the tail is down the hill, the fuselage is on the other side of that hill and the main rotor is about 91 meters beyond that,” she said, adding that everything is looked at during the investigation — the pilot, the aircraft, and the environment.Federal rules do not require helicopters to carry black boxes.People gather at a memorial for Kobe Bryant near Staples Center Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in Los Angeles.Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine killed in Sunday’s crash that stunned the sports world and left fans and his fellow athletes speechless.The pilot also died along with Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli. The helicopter was heading to a youth basketball tournament in which Gianna Bryant was scheduled to play.Kobe Bryant was 41 years-old and will be remembered as one of the greatest professional basketball players ever to step onto the court. He played 20 years in the NBA, nearly all of it with the Los Angeles Lakers — wining five NBA championships and the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2008. He is the fourth all-time leading scorer. LeBron James passed him for number three on the list just one day before the crash.Some of Bryant’s accomplishments include becoming the NBA’s youngest all-star in 1998, when he was only 19 years old; an 81-point game in 2006 – the second-highest of all time; and Olympic Gold medals in 2008 and 2012.
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EU Tells UK It Will ‘Never, Never, Never’ Compromise on Single Market
The European Union will “never, never, never” compromise on the integrity of its single market, its chief Brexit negotiator warned Britain on Monday, saying London must now face reality after underestimating the costs of leaving.Some British politicians have suggested Brussels might be flexible on its rules in order to protect trade flows in talks due to begin in the coming weeks after Britain’s formal exit from the bloc on Friday.But Michel Barnier, speaking in the British region of Northern Ireland widely seen as most at risk from Brexit, warned negative consequences were unavoidable.”There will be no compromise on the single market. Never, never, never,” Barnier told an audience at Queen’s University Belfast, describing the single market as the foundation of EU’s international influence.Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, speaks to the media at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 27, 2020.”Leaving the single market, leaving the customs union will have consequences. And what I saw … in the last year, is that many of these consequences have been underestimated in the UK,” he said. “Now we have to face the reality.”Hard choicesBarnier said that while Brussels was willing to be flexible and pragmatic in trade talks, Britain’s choices have made frictionless trade with the EU impossible.If no trade agreement is reached, Britain still faces the risk of a cliff-edge Brexit in 2021 when an 11-month status quote transition ends, he added.”If we have no agreement, it will not be business as usual and the status quo, we have to face the risk of a cliff edge, in particular for trade,” Barnier said.The EU has repeatedly said the level of access UK products can continue to enjoy will be proportionate to the commitments London makes on EU rules, particularly in relation to state aid.”It is not clear to me whether, when the UK leaves the EU and the Single Market, it will also choose to leave Europe’s societal and regulatory model. That is the key question, and we are waiting for an answer,” Barnier said.Northern IrelandIrish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar earlier Tuesday said there would have to be some checks on goods going from Britain into Northern Ireland, despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s repeated insistence that these will not be needed.Johnson’s willingness to allow some EU regulations to apply in Northern Ireland to prevent the need for a border on the island was the crucial concession he offered last year to obtain a withdrawal deal with the bloc.Barnier was asked repeatedly by journalists in Belfast whether trade talks could avoid the need to have checks, but he would only say the text of the withdrawal agreement that governs it was binding and could not be revisited.”The Withdrawal Agreement must be applied with rigor and discipline by all sides. It cannot be re-opened under the guise of implementation,” Barnier said. Implementation will be crucial in building trust for the trade talks, he added.Varadkar earlier on Monday told Britain’s BBC that the European Union would have the upper hand in trade talks, having the “stronger team” due to its larger population and market. Johnson’s aim of getting a deal by the end of 2020 “will be difficult,” Varadkar added.
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As North Korea Reverts to Self-Reliance, Experts Urge Pressuring Elites
As North Korea returns to self-reliance to maintain its faltering state-run economy, experts said sanctioning the financial lifelines of regime leaders might put added pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.”Washington and its allies should be calibrating sanctions that target the regime/party elites’ financial lifeline,” said Matthew Ha, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “The critical entity that would affect change amongst North Korea’s leadership are banks and financial institutions.”Ever since leader Kim Jong Un said at a party meeting in December that North Korea must cope with sanctions with self-reliance, Pyongyang has been mobilizing to reinforce self-sufficiency.”There is no need to hesitate with any expectation of the U.S. lifting of sanctions,” said Kim. He urged the nation to make a “frontal breakthrough to foil the enemies’ sanctions and blockade by dint of self-reliance.”Self-reliance, or FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released Dec. 31, 2019, by North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).North Korea’s official newspaper FILE – A cargo ship is loaded with coal at the North Korean port of Rajin, July 18, 2014.”When we talk about sanctions pressure, we really need to be targeting where strategic decisions can be made to really adjust the calculus of [the regime’s] leaders,” said Ha. “In a dictatorship, it’s the elites that are going to be more likely to make a change in decision.” Ha said sanctions should target North Korea’s overseas bank accounts that its regime leaders maintain to run overseas operations to bring in foreign revenue.”There are [local overseas] middlemen that are literally pushing the money through for a lot of [North Korean] individuals and the companies that they run to help provide financial revenue for the regime,” said Ha. Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement and Policy Enforcement Act in 2016, said, “Maximum pressure will really be maximum pressure when there are nine-digit penalties against Chinese banks that’s laundering North Korean money.” Targeting financial lifelines of the regime’s elites, comprised of government and military officials, would likely pressure Kim, because he needs their loyalty to stay in power, according to Ha.”He must keep his people happy, especially the elites,” said Ha. “He needs to be able to gain the loyalty of elites. I think if they see their situation compromised, it’ll be a problem.” On Jan. 14, the FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un meet during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Feb. 28, 2019.He added, “So their effort to substitute for imported oil with gasification of coal which they have in abundance [has] been one of the responses” to deal with sanctions. As if to emphasize his regime’s utilization of coal, Kim visited several North Korean factories, including a Experts said even though North Korea tries to sustain its economy through self-reliance, there is little prospect that its efforts will succeed.Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute, said a new mountain resort North Korea opened in Samjiyon County in December has been “a showpiece” to stress that “the regime can be self-reliant domestically.”However, he continued, “Even North Korea has hinted that the human cost has been enormous to complete the project, suggesting that it is far from a sign of success.”Babson said, “The senior leadership has come to understand that without trade and investment, you can’t do that all on your own.”Unenthusiastic publicAnother complication comes from the North Korean people who are unenthusiastic about the return to Juche when many have been earning money in private markets after losing jobs at state-run factories.”People don’t really particularly like being told they have to go back into forced labor, type of a mobilized labor, to get the economy moving, when they’d rather make money on their own,” he said. In this sense, Babson thinks what the 18th-century Scottish philosopher Adam Smith called “the invisible hand,” an unfettered market force and self-interest that help a country reach an optimum level of economic prosperity, has been at play in North Korea. Smith is often called the father of modern economics.”The incentive to create private wealth through private initiative has been growing in North Korea and in that sense, ‘the invisible hand’ is at work,” said Babson. Babson added that the growth of the market and the desire of people to seek their own economic interest have undermined the old concept of self-reliance.”That concept really has been undermined by the growth of the market economy,” said Babson. “People feel that they’re able to pursue individual interest on [seeking] economic benefit even if it doesn’t benefit the whole. So there’s a breakdown in the understanding of what it means to be self-reliant.” However, with recent resurgence toward self-reliance, the regime is seemingly trying to reverse the course of its economy.Stanton said, “With North Korea, the argument is two steps forward and one step backward, or one step forward and two steps back.” Pyongyang is also apparently facing how to reposition self-reliance in a modernized economy.”There is a real dilemma for the government and for public policy about how [to] integrate the concept of self-reliance in the modern and the way the economy and society have developed since the famine [of 1990s] and the breakdown of the old model,” Babson said.This report originated with VOA’s Korean Service.
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US Noncommittal on Keeping Troops in Africa
The United States is refusing to rule out shrinking the size of its military presence in Africa despite warnings that without Washington’s help, critical counterterror efforts could fall apart.French Defense Minister Florence Parly delivered the latest plea for continued U.S. involvement in the counterterror fight Monday during talks with top U.S. military officials at the Pentagon.But following the meeting, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Washington had to take into account other urgent priorities.”We are focused on great power competition, first with China, then Russia,” Esper told reporters. “My aim is to adjust our [military] footprint in many places. No decisions have been made.”French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper speak during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 27, 2020.France currently has about 4,500 troops in Africa, taking a lead role in countering terror groups linked to Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaida across the Sahel region.Earlier this month, in response to the death of 13 French soldiers during a combat mission in Mali late last year, France said it would send another 220 troops to the region.And France is not alone in sounding the alarm about the growth of terror groups on the Sahel.A increasing number of Western diplomats have warned that IS, in particular, is using the region to regroup following the loss of its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.The concern has run so deep, that during an anti-IS coalition meeting hosted this past November in Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that partner nations were already looking to West Africa and the Sahel as “a preferred, initial area of focus” outside of Syria and Iraq.“We agreed at the working level that West FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron visits French troops in Africa’s Sahel region in Gao, northern Mali, May 19, 2017.”There is a lot of collaboration in terms of logistics but also in terms of intelligence,” Niagale Bagayoko, a lead researcher and chair of the African Security Sector Network, told VOA. “That is one of the reasons why the French are presently eager to see the Americans to stay involved in the continent, in particular.”French officials have also emphasized that while they understand Washington’s desire to rebalance its forces across the world to better confront adversaries like China and Russia, they are not asking for a lot.”It’s a classic case of burden sharing where a limited U.S. support leverages an immesnse effort carried out by France and Europe,” Parly said Monday.Yet despite French officials expressing hope that “good sense” would prevail and that Washington would maintain its support for the French-led counterterror operations, U.S. defense officials have increasingly signaled such help may not be forthcoming.”France has reached out to other European allies. I think it’s time for other European allies to assist, as well, in the region,” Esper told reporters Monday. “That could offset whatever changes we make as we consider next steps in Africa.”VOA’s Salem Solomon contributed to this report.
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Britain’s Decision on Huawei Tests Special Relationship with US
This week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to London as British officials weigh whether or not to allow Chinese telecom giant Huawei to take part in the country’s buildout of its 5G network.The British government is expected to make the decision Tuesday. FILE – Signage is seen at the Huawei offices in Reading, Britain, May 2, 2019.A senior U.S. official said the two nations are having “very close” and “very vigorous conversations.” Another official said Britain has not told the U.S. about the final decision. The U.S. says Huawei could provide China a “back door” for spying, a claim that Huawei rejects. In a Friday phone call with Johnson, U.S. President Donald Trump told the British Prime Minister that giving Huawei the go-ahead would cause a major rift in transatlantic relations and jeopardize intelligence-sharing between Washington and London.U.S. officials have also voiced frustration with decisions by some European nations to grant Huawei some access in the roll-out of their 5G network.“They announced a toolkit that many of us consider to be inadequate,” a senior U.S. official said, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “no-spy” pact from Huawei as she decided to allow the Chinese telecom company to take part in Germany’s 5G roll-out.Under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, the U.S. Defense Secretary should brief Congressional defense committees by March 15 on the implementation of a plan for fifth generation information and communications technologies, including steps to work with U.S. allies and partners to protect critical networks and supply chains.
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Health Workers in Wuhan Under Growing Risk as Medical Supplies Run Low
Hospitals in and around the center of China’s coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan say they are running so low on medical supplies that doctors and nurses have been asked to wear substandard masks or diapers so that they wouldn’t have to change protective suits so frequently.That has put the health of many of the country’s frontline medical care providers at great risk.”Due to undersupply of protective suits, many of our doctors here have to share one suit. Some of them even have to wear diapers so that they don’t have to change the suits so frequently for fear of running out of them,” a staff surnamed Xiao at Wuhan Puren Hospital told VOA on Monday.”We face a terrible shortage of protective suits,” she added. Shortage of medical suppliesThe hospital in Hubei province is in desperate need of 5,000 protective goggles, 20,000 N95 masks and as many protective suits as possible as it consumes 1,000 goggles and up to 3,000 masks a day, according to Xiao.It is one of some 24 hospitals which have formally asked for donations of medical supplies from the general public including N95 and surgical masks, protective suits and hand sanitizers.FILE – People wait as medical staff, seen in back, wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, Jan. 24, 2020.But results in the past few days have been far from satisfying since most of those private donations are of little use as they fail to live up to medical standards, many of the hospitals said.”Alas, we are running short of lots of supplies. If you can donate. … But the problem is that most [of the general public’s] donated supplies are not helpful. They do not live up to our higher medical standards,” a staff, also surnamed Xiao, from Wuhan No.1 Hospital told VOA.”We’re trying all other possible avenues to replenish our supplies,” she added. Pop-up hospitalsWhile tackling a shortage of medical supplies, authorities in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, are also rushing to build two emergency hospitals, one of which is planned to contain 1,000 beds and be up and running by Feb. 3.According to state media reports, the city’s second such ‘pop-up’ hospital will offer an additional 1,300 beds in two weeks in order to treat more patients suspected of contracting the deadly pneumonia-like virus.The move appears to signal an uphill battle for China to contain the spread of the virus.A city health official pledged to include more hospitals to join the fight if the number of patients rise, state media reported.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, wearing a mask, talks with staff members as he visits the construction site where a hospital is being built to treat patients of a new coronavirus, following the outbreak, on the outskirts of Wuhan, China, Jan. 27, 2020.The death toll for China’s worst public health crisis since SARS in 2003 has risen to 81 people, including a 9-month-old baby, with more than 3,000 confirmed cases worldwide.Emotional breakdownsUnder tremendous pressure, some medical providers working at the frontline have experienced emotional breakdowns.A video clip circulating online showed a Chinese doctor crying over concerns of lack of hospital resources to treat patients while, in another video clip, a nurse said that she hasn’t called her loved ones during the New Year holidays for fear of bursting into tears. More importantly, she said she doesn’t want her family to worry about her safety.Medical staff, exposed to the patients but given insufficient protection, say they are growing uneasy after the first Chinese doctor reportedly died of exposure to patients on Saturday.A staff member at Wuhan Jinyintang Hospital told VOA on Monday that the hospital has run short of surgical masks, and that some of their nurses can do nothing but hope that wearing multiple non-surgical facial masks can provide them enough protection while caring for the highly contagious patients. Thanks to campaigns via GoFundMe, Weibo and WeChat, medical supplies reportedly are being sent to Hubei province, although almost all are directed to Wuhan.A hospital at the neighboring city of Huanggang said it is hoping its pressure of being equally under-resourced can be relieved when donated supplies arrive later.”Because those masks and protective suits are for one-time use, we’ve recently begun to ask for donated supplies. We’ve only received a very small portion of the delivery, most of which is probably still on the way. We are not sure how many more supplies we will have,” said a staff member surnamed Yang from the Huanggang Central Hospital.
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Kenyan Football Team Emerges from Slum to Rise to Top
In the year 2000, a football team was founded in a slum of Nairobi plagued by crime. The football team would later be named Kariobangi Sharks, Kariobangi being the name of the informal settlement the team members hailed from.The team became a source of hope, an escape for talented youth with an interest in football, some who might otherwise be involved in criminal activities. In the last two decades, the team has risen to the top of Kenya’s football league, nurturing talent and giving hope to a new generation of players. Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyWhen Eric Juma was 11 years old, he spotted a group of young boys training at a football pitch near his house in one of Nairobi’s many poor informal settlements: Kariobangi.This particular team stood out for Juma because it seemed organized.He would join the team soon after. Juma was then 11 years old. Now he’s 25 and captain of the team.“Football has really helped me as an individual,” Juma said. “First it kept me busy. We never had enough money for my further education, so I had to join football. Football has made me who I am today because it kept me busy and maybe I stayed away from other things that I could have done like other people in Kariobangi that ended up maybe in jail or dying.”Right side of the lawKariobangi is plagued by unemployment and crime, and Juma said many of his childhood friends ended up in gangs. Most of those friends, he said, are now dead, killed by police.The Sharks kept Juma on the right side the law, but being a team from a poor settlement brought its own challenges, he said.“We never had money way back. We used to go to Mombasa, Kisumu all those times. We didn’t even have enough money to buy mineral water, so we used to carry water from Nairobi to Mombasa,” Juma said. “Those are some of the challenges we faced as a team and as a player individually, sometimes you don’t have football shoes, you have to borrow from another player when they are not playing.”In 2019, Juma had one of his greatest days, as the Sharks defeated British football team Everton, winning the game 4-3 on post-match penalties.It is not clear who organized the young boys who founded the Kariobangi Sharks.Residents says the group of young players organized themselves, then received donations and began competing in tournaments.Such donations they say came from well-wishers,who included the current Kenya football federation chairman Nick Mwendwa, who is credited as the founder of the club. In any case, the Kariobangi Sharks have gained a huge fan base in Kenya, competing in the Kenya’s Premier League with more than two dozen other teams.The football club has a youth team for boys below the age of 20, and teams for younger ages.Lives transformedBenard Kawinzi trains the Kariobangi under-20 team. He says he has seen his players’ lives transformed.“As a club, we are an influence to them, but in the right way,” Kawinzi said. “Basically whenever the society sees a Kariobangi Sharks football player or an official, it acts as a security to the society, how? Because he provides more virtues than vices.”Juma’s dream is to lead his team to play in the Africa Cup. He hopes that the youth in Kariobangi will find some hope when they look up to the players, and that the club will continue churning out hope out of despair.
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Prince Andrew Called Uncooperative in Jeffrey Epstein Probe
Britain’s Prince Andrew has provided “zero cooperation” to the American investigators who want to interview him as part of their sex trafficking probe into Jeffrey Epstein, a U.S. prosecutor said Monday.Speaking at a news conference outside Epstein’s New York mansion, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Andrew’s lawyers and asked to interview him.”To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” said Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.The Associated Press has asked Buckingham Palace for comment.Andrew announced last year that he was withdrawing from his royal duties amid renewed public attention on a woman’s claim that she had several sexual encounters with the prince at Epstein’s behest, starting when she was 17.FILE – A combination photo of the front-pages of British newspapers on Nov. 21, 2019, headlining the scandal surrounding Britain’s Prince Andrew.Virginia Roberts Giuffre says that after meeting Epstein in Florida in 2000, the millionaire flew her around the world and pressured her into having sex with numerous older men, including Andrew, two senior U.S. politicians, a noted academic, wealthy financiers and the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who is now part of President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team.All of those men have denied the allegations. Epstein killed himself in his jail cell last summer while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.Giuffre has said she had sex with Andrew three times, including once in London in 2001 at the home of Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.Andrew and Maxwell have both denied any knowledge that Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls. In a TV interview last fall, Andrew insisted he was out having pizza with his children on the night Giuffre says they were together in London.U.S. Attorney General William Barr has vowed to aggressively investigate and bring charges against anyone who may have helped Epstein.Andrew, in the statement he released in November announcing his intention to “step back from public duties,” said he regretted his “ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.””Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required,” he wrote.Berman made his remarks about the case during a joint appearance with members of Safe Horizon, a nonprofit victim services agency, to discuss a new New York law that made it easier for people to sue over childhood sexual abuse.He wouldn’t discuss the Epstein investigation in detail but reiterated that the case didn’t end with his death.”Jeffrey Epstein couldn’t have done what he did without the assistance of others, and I can assure you that the investigation is moving forward,” Berman said.Numerous women who said they were sexually abused by Epstein as teenagers have claimed in lawsuits and interviews that he got help recruiting young girls from both Maxwell and several assistants.Giuffre’s lawyers have, for months, been calling on Andrew to agree to be interviewed both by investigators and by the lawyers helping the women with those civil lawsuits.Two guards who were supposed to be monitoring Epstein the night he was found dead have been charged with falsifying the jail’s log books to indicate they were performing checks on prisoners, when they were actually sleeping or browsing the internet.
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Kenyan Football Team Emerges from Slum to Rise to the Top
In the year 2000, a football team was founded in a slum of Nairobi plagued by crime. The football team would later be named Kariobangi Sharks, Kariobangi being the name of the informal settlement the team members hailed from. The team became a source of hope, an escape for talented youth with an interest in football, some of might otherwise be involved in criminal activities. In the last two decades, the team has risen to the top of Kenya’s football league, nurturing talent and giving hope to a new generation of players. Rael Ombuor reports from Nairobi.
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Greece Rebuffs Turkish Demands to Demilitarize Aegean Islands
Greece is pushing back against Turkish demands that it demilitarize 16 Aegean islands. The Turkish government maintains it is defending Turkey’s rights and remains committed to negotiation, but analysts warn Turkey’s increasingly “robust diplomacy” threatens to isolate Ankara and escalate regional tensions. “Greece does not provoke, does not violate the sovereign rights of others, but it doesn’t like to see its own rights violated,” said Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos Saturday.FILE – In this June 26, 2019 file photo, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, center left, arrives to NATO headquarters in Brussels.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Wednesday accused Greece of keeping troops on the islands in violation of the 1936 Treaty of Lausanne, which governs the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. The dispute dates to 1974 when Athens started to militarize the islands off the Turkish coast in response to Turkey’s invasion of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus after a pro-Greek coup.Akar’s focus on the dispute is widely seen as part of a broader policy. “Turkey is asking today for the islands’ demilitarization, when there [is] an incredible historical increase of Turkish jets violating Greek airspace,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar of the University of Athens.”It’s a message Turkey is an aggressive force in the eastern Mediterranean, and Turkey gives the impression it wants a hot conflict with its neighbor, Greece.”Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party’s legislators, in Ankara, Jan. 14, 2020.Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan further ratcheted up tensions, announcing that Turkish research ships will be deployed in contested Cypriot waters to search for hydrocarbons. The discovery of large natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean by Israel and Cyprus has unleashed a scramble by regional countries for the fossil fuel. Ankara accuses Greece and other regional countries of seeking to shut it out of the believed bounty of vast energy reserves.”We won’t let anyone violate our rights in any way. This is not a threat,” said Akar Wednesday, adding, “It’s not a weakness to say that we want good relations with our neighbor.””The strategy that Turkey is following is it should protect its legitimate rights in the Mediterranean,” said former Turkish Ambassador Mithat Rende. “The strategy is to have an equitable solution to the matter. And Turkey has made it clear it’s ready to talk.”The policy of diplomacy, backed by strength, however, appears to be backfiring. Athens is looking to its European Union partners to push back against Ankara.Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, delivers a speech during a parliament session in Athens, Dec. 18, 2019.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is due to meet Wednesday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and then travel to Brussels for talks with European Council President Charles Michel in a bid to build support against Ankara.A regional gas forum of Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories is fast developing into a more formal relationship based on security. Analysts suggest the move is a reaction to Turkey’s more assertive policy in the region.In January, Israeli media reported the country’s annual military intelligence report for the first time designated Erdogan as a “challenge.” Underling Turkey’s regional isolation, Ankara does not have ambassadors in Tel Aviv or Cairo.Some experts, though, argue that Turkish foreign policy needs to be viewed through the prism of domestic politics.”Yes, all the regional countries are against Turkey, but it proves government rhetoric that Turkey is threatened, it’s under siege,” said Turkish political analyst Aydin Sezer. “This consolidates Turkey and within the [ruling] AKP party itself,” he adds. “It delays divisions within the party. There are two new parties developing from the party. But such outside threats consolidate the party.”Ankara is also likely to be calculating that it will be able to contain any threat of financial sanctions by the EU, which are being threatened over Turkey’s stance toward Cyprus and Greece. Turkey’s EU migration agreement ended a significant exodus into Europe. Brussels is wary of Erdogan’s threats to open Turkish borders to the more than 3 million refugees in Turkey.In the last year, the number of migrants entering Greece from Turkey has markedly increased despite the migration agreement causing concern among European politicians. “That [migrants entering Greece] has unmistakably to do with the fact that Turkey is no longer consistently preventing landings,” Thorsten Frei, deputy parliamentary group leader of Germany’s ruling CDU/CSU, told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.FILE – German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 18, 2019.On Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks in Istanbul with Erdogan in a bid to shore up Turkey’s commitment to the migrant deal.Given the EU’s limited ability to rein in Turkey, which has the largest navy and air force in the region, analysts predict further muscle-flexing.”When you enter a policy of confrontation, you can’t step back; you are trapped; otherwise, you look weak,” said Aktar.But the Turkish government could well be calculating, that whatever the outcome of its policy, it will be a win.”I don’t think there will be a military clash,” said Sezer. “But, it’s a risk. It’s a dangerous situation, the longer it goes on. But this would be an opportunity for the government because it will prove to the people all those countries in the region are real threats to Turkey,” he added.
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Trump Offers China ‘Any Help’ to Fight Coronavirus
U.S. President Donald Trump has offered China any help needed to combat a deadly outbreak of a coronavirus that has killed 81 people.In a Monday tweet, Trump said, “We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus,” adding, “We have offered China and President Xi (Jinping) any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!”Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan on Monday to meet with health officials and examine the response to the outbreak. Wuhan is the center of the outbreak and people there and in several other cities face strict restrictions on movement as the government tries to prevent the virus from spreading.The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, arrived Monday in Beijing, where he is expected to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the outbreak. The agency said there is still a chance to get ahead of the virus if there is strong cooperation.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, wearing a mask and protective suit, speaks to medical workers as he visits the Jinyintan hospital where the patients of the new coronavirus are being treated, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Jan. 27, 2020.Beijing authorities also reported the capital’s first death from the virus.Separately, in an effort to stop the virus from spreading, Mongolia closed its vast border with China, while Hong Kong and Malaysia announced they would ban entry to visitors from Wuhan.Global stock markets plunged Monday as investors feared the economic impact from the coronavirus.Chinese officials took an extra step Sunday to extend the Lunar New Year holiday three extra days to cut down on group gatherings.Global spreadThe latest figures reported by Chinese health officials include more than 2,700 cases of people being sickened by the virus.Cases have also been reported in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. The World Health Organization says most of those are people had a travel history in Wuhan, with several others having contact with someone who traveled there.People queue up to purchase face masks outside a shop in Hong Kong, Jan. 27, 2020.There have been no reported deaths linked to the virus outside of China.The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s respiratory disease office, Nancy Messonnier, said Sunday there were five confirmed cases in the United States, and that all five people had direct contact with others in Wuhan.The patients are isolated in hospitals as doctors and health officials try to learn more about the virus. The CDC says it is investigating about 100 suspected cases in 26 states.Chinese National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday little is known about the virus. But doctors do know it has an incubation period that can range from one to 14 days. Ma said the virus is infectious during the incubation period, when no signs or symptoms of the disease are present.’Grave situation’President Xi Jinping said China is facing a “grave situation” and experts and other resources would be concentrated at specific hospitals to treat severe cases.The virus is believed to have emerged late last year at a Wuhan seafood market illegally selling wildlife. Chinese authorities have imposed a temporary ban on the selling of wildlife. Wuhan is the capital of China’s Hubei province.Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Jan. 27, 2020.The virus hit China just as it was beginning celebrations to mark the Lunar New Year, resulting in the canceling or the scaling back of festivities for tens of millions of Chinese. Tourist destinations are closed and school closings have been extended in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Public transportation has been severely restricted. Many businesses have closed or asked employees to work from home.The WHO recommends several steps to help protect people against acute respiratory infections. They include avoiding close contact with those already infected, frequent hand-washing, and avoiding unprotected contact with farm animals and wild animals.VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Supreme Court Justices Allow Enforcement of New Green Card Rule
A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to put in place a policy connecting the use of public benefits with whether immigrants could become permanent residents.
The new policy can be used to deny green cards to immigrants over their use of public benefits including Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers, as well as other factors.
The justices’ order came by a 5-4 vote and reversed a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that had kept in a place a nationwide hold on the policy following lawsuits that have been filed against it.
The court’s four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, would have prevented the policy from taking effect.
Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and Richmond, Virginia, had previously overturned trial court rulings against the policy. An injunction in Illinois remains in effect, but applies only to that state.
The lawsuits will continue, but immigrants applying for permanent residency must now show they wouldn’t be public charges, or burdens to the country.
The new policy significantly expands what factors would be considered to make that determination, and if it is decided that immigrants could potentially become public charges at any point in the future, that legal residency could be denied.
Roughly 544,000 people apply for green cards annually. According to the government, 382,000 are in categories that would make them subject to the new review.
Immigrants make up a small portion of those getting public benefits, since many are ineligible to get them because of their immigration status.
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Weinstein Accuser Says He Was ‘Offended’ by Her Rebuff
Harvey Weinstein “got offended” when his repeated advances were rebuffed, Mimi Haleyi testified Monday when she took the witness stand as one of the key accusers whose allegations of sexual assault led to charges and the trial of the former movie mogul.
Former production assistant Mimi Haleyi testified that before the alleged assault, Weinstein showed up at her apartment and begged her to join him on a trip to Paris for a fashion show. She said he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“At one point, because I just didn’t know how to shut it down so to speak. …So I said, You know you have a terrible reputation with women, I've heard,' " Haleyi said.What have you heard?”’
The then-revered Hollywood honcho "got offended,'' she said. "He stepped back and said,
Asked by prosecutor Meghan Hast if she had any romantic or sexual interest in Weinstein, Haleyi firmly answered: “Not at all, no.”
Weinstein, 67, is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on Haleyi in his New York City apartment in 2006 and raping another woman, an aspiring actress, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. He insists any sexual encounters were consensual.
The 42-year-old Haleyi, whose legal name is Miriam Haley, is the first of the two women whose accusations are at the heart of the charges against Weinstein to take the stand at the closely watched #MeToo-era trial, which is in its fourth day of testimony.
Last week, “Sopranos’”actress Annabella Sciorra testified that Weinstein overpowered and raped her after barging into her apartment in the mid-1990s. While outside the statute of limitations for criminal charges, Sciorra’s allegations could be a factor as prosecutors look to prove Weinstein has engaged in a pattern of predatory behavior.
Haleyi went public with her allegations at an October 2017 news conference, appearing in front of cameras alongside lawyer Gloria Allred, who also represents Sciorra and other Weinstein accusers.
Haleyi, born in England and raised in Sweden, said she met Weinstein while in her 20s at the 2004 London premiere of the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Aviator.” They crossed paths again at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and, when she expressed interest in working on one of his productions; he invited her to his hotel room and asked for a massage. She declined, saying she was “extremely humiliated.”
“I felt stupid because I was so excited to go see him and he treated me that way,” she testified.
More meetings followed, and Weinstein secured Haleyi a job helping on the set of “Project Runway,” the reality competition show he produced. Later, she said, he invited her to attend a fashion show in Paris, but she declined by bringing up his sketchy reputation.
The alleged assault occurred at Weinstein’s Soho apartment after he sent a car to pick Haleyi up for what she thought was a friendly meeting about her career, she said at the 2017 news conference.
Instead, she said, Weinstein pushed her onto a bed and forced his mouth onto her genitals. She said she tried to get him to stop, even telling him she was menstruating, but he wouldn’t relent.” I was mortified. I was in disbelief and disgusted,” she said.
In opening statements, Hast said there was a subsequent hotel room encounter that Haleyi didn’t reveal in 2017. Hast said that though Haleyi didn’t want to have intercourse with Weinstein, she kept still and “let him degrade her.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they agree to be named as Haleyi and Sciorra have.
In testifying, Haleyi will have to deal with a defense team that said it plans to confront Weinstein’s accusers with their own words, messages they exchanged with Weinstein well after the alleged assaults. Weinstein’s lawyers argue the positive-sounding emails and texts call into question the accusers’ accounts.
The jury of seven men and five women also heard testimony from Dr. Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist who said that most sex assault victims continue to have contact with their attackers, often under threat of retaliation if the victims tell anyone what happened.
Some of Haleyi’s messages were made public last year when Weinstein’s lawyers sought to get his case dismissed. One sent to Weinstein’s phone in 2007 reads: “Hi! Just wondering if u have any news on whether Harvey will have time to see me before he leaves? X Miriam.”
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Growing Outcry in Ethiopia Over Abducted University Students
Ethiopians are expressing anger and frustration over several university students, most of them female, who remain missing after their kidnapping two months ago.A growing social media campaign echoes the (hash)BringBackOurGirls activism in Nigeria over the mass kidnapping there of scores of schoolgirls in 2014. Ethiopians are pressuring the government for answers in the abduction in the Oromia region.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has been praised for appointing women to prominent positions “but with regard to the abducted girls, in its silence, it is violating a tremendous number of their human rights,” Yared Hailemariam, director of the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, said in a statement Monday. “Ethiopian authorities have failed to protect the victims of the abduction and to take necessary measures to bring them back.”
It is not clear how many of the students remain captive. The prime minister’s press secretary, Nigussu Tilahun, disclosed on Jan. 11 that 21 students from Dembi Dollo University were released while six remained captive.
But family members say they haven’t heard from their loved ones.
“The last time I heard from my daughter was a month ago. She said youths from the local area took them to the forest. I don’t know what happened to her since,” Yeneneh Adugna, who lives in Central Gondar in the Amhara region, told The Associated Press. “We are living in an anguish every day. We are crying every day. We want to know whether they are alive or dead. No one is giving us any information.”
The Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia says 18 university students, 14 of them female, were seized while returning home from university.
No one has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but Oromia regional officials have blamed the armed Oromo Liberation Army, which is clashing with government forces in the Western Oromia region. The armed group has denied the accusation and said the government itself was to blame for the kidnapping.
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Cambodia Confirms First Coronavirus Case
The Cambodian Ministry of Health confirmed Monday evening the first case of the novel coronavirus in the country’s coastal province of Preah Sihanouk. One male member of a Chinese family, which had flown into Sihanoukville from Wuhan, China, was confirmed infected with the virus, said Health Minister Mam Bunheng. Three other members of his family are currently under observation at the Preah Sihanouk Referral Hospital. The family arrived in Cambodia on January 23 and the 60-year-old Chinese national Jia Jinhua started to show flu-like symptoms on January 25, while staying at a hotel in Sihanoukville, said the health minister.”After Jia Jinhua was swimming at the pool [at the hotel] he had a fever,” said Mam Bunheng.Mam Bunheng added that the family had stayed at two different hotels for three nights in the coastal town. On the 26th, local health officials tested the man for the coronavirus, which was confirmed at 3 p.m. Monday afternoon.
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Turkey Ends Rescue Efforts After Earthquake Toll Reaches 41
ELAZIG, TURKEY — Turkey called off rescue operations on Monday in eastern areas hit by Friday’s earthquake after emergency workers recovered the body of a final person they were searching for in a collapsed building, bringing the death toll to 41, authorities said.The magnitude 6.8 quake caused 37 deaths in Elazig province, about 550 km (340 miles) east of Ankara, and four in neighboring Malatya. More than 1,600 others were hurt, including 86 still being treated in hospitals, though none were in serious condition, the government said.Forty-five people had been rescued from under ruined buildings, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD) said.Authorities have warned residents not to enter damaged buildings because of the danger of collapse and further aftershocks, leaving many without a home in a region where temperatures fell to -6C (21F) on Monday morning.Addressing reporters in Elazig, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the government would provide financial support to those whose homes were damaged. Some 1,000 temporary homes would be built, and some schools and mosques were now being used as shelters, he added.Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said authorities had started demolishing 22 damaged buildings in Elazig. Construction of some 2,000 new houses in the province was expected to be completed by year end, he added.Turkey has a history of powerful earthquakes. More than 17,000 people were killed in August 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500.
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Countries Evacuating Nationals From China Virus Areas
Countries around the world are planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and private citizens from Chinese areas hit by the new coronavirus, which is spreading quickly.Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in the Chinese province of Hubei, is the epicentre of the outbreak. Wuhan is in virtual lockdown and much of Hubei, home to nearly 60 million people, is
under some kind of travel curb.
Following are some countries’ evacuation plans, and how they are planning to manage the health risk from those who are returning.
* France expects to repatriate up to a few hundred of its 800 citizens living in the Wuhan area. Evacuees will have to spend 14 days in quarantine to avoid spreading the virus in France.
* Japan is expected to arrange charter flights as early as Tuesday for any of its citizens who wish to return from Wuhan, two sources familiar with the matter said. Foreign Minister
Toshimitsu Motegi said about 430 Japanese nationals have been confirmed to be in Hubei province.
* Spain’s government is working with China and the European Union to repatriate Spanish nationals from the Wuhan area, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said.
* The U.S. State Department said it will evacuate personnel from its Wuhan consulate to the United States and will offer a limited number of seats to private U.S. citizens on a flight.
Some private citizens will be able to board the “single flight” leaving Wuhan on Jan. 28 bound for San Francisco, it said.
* Britain is talking to international partners to find solutions to help British and other foreign nationals leave Wuhan, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
* Russia has been in talks with China about evacuating its nationals from Wuhan and Hubei province, Russia’s Embassy in China said.
* The Dutch government is assessing ways to evacuate 20 Dutch citizens from Wuhan, press agency ANP reported.
* Authorities in Myanmar said they had cancelled a planned evacuation of 60 students from Mandalay who were studying in Wuhan. Kyaw Yin Myint, a spokesman for the Mandalay municipal government, told Reuters that a “final decision” had been made to send them back after 14 days, once the virus’ incubation period had passed.
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France Urges US to Stay in Fight Against Islamists in Africa’s Sahel
France hopes “good sense” will prevail and the United States will not slash support for French military operations in West Africa, where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are expanding their foothold.Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made the appeal as Defense Minister Florence Parly was due to meet U.S. counterparts on Monday to discuss the crisis in the Sahel, a band of scrubland south of the Sahara.
The Pentagon announced plans last year to withdraw hundreds of military personnel from Africa as it redirects resources to address challenges from China and Russia after two decades focused on counter-terrorism operations. Those cuts could deepen following an ongoing global troop review spearheaded by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
The possibility has alarmed France, which relies on U.S. intelligence and logistics for its 4,500-strong mission in the Sahel. The deaths of 13 French soldiers in a helicopter crash during a combat mission in Mali in November increased France’s determination to secure more support in the zone.
France believes it is time to increase, not ease, pressure on militants to prevent “Islamic State from rebuilding in the Sahel,” a senior French Defense Ministry official told Reuters.
Parly will put her case on Monday to Esper and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
“I hope they will be rational to keep this partnership … and that good sense will prevail,” le Drian told reporters.
The U.S. currently has 6,000 military personnel in Africa.
Although some experts say a repositioning of forces is overdue, many U.S. officials share French concerns about relieving pressure on militants in Africa.
“Any withdrawal or reduction would likely result in a surge in violent extremist attacks on the continent and beyond,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chris Coons wrote in a letter to Esper this month.
Former colonial power France intervened in 2013 to drive back militants who had seized northern Mali the previous year.
Fighters have since regrouped and spread. Over the past year, militants have stepped up attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Although groups in the Sahel are believed to have the intent to carry out attacks against the United States, they are not currently believed to have the capacity to do so, officials say.Scrambling drones
General Francois Lecointre, chief of staff of the French armed forces, told Reuters that the loss of U.S. intelligence from intercepted communications would be the “biggest setback.”
“I’m doing my utmost to prevent this from happening,” he said, adding that French drone-based spying systems would not be operational until year-end.
France said this month it would deploy 220 additional troops to the region, despite rising anti-French sentiment in some countries and criticism at home that its forces are bogged down.
Parly recently visited the Sahel with counterparts from Portugal, Sweden and Estonia to press European allies to do more, especially by contributing special forces to a new French-led unit due to be set up this year.
One of the main aims of the outfit, officials said, is to improve coordination between regional troops and French planes able to carry out air strikes.
So far, take-up has been limited with only Estonia committing 40 troops, while discussions continue with eight nations. Germany has refused to take part.
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Bryant Hailed as ‘True Olympic Champion’ by IOC President
Kobe Bryant was as “an outstanding and true Olympic champion,” IOC President Thomas Bach said Monday.
The basketball great, who was killed in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles on Sunday, helped the United States win Olympic gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games.
Bryant also worked with the Olympic hosting bid for Los Angeles, the city where he won five NBA titles with the Lakers. When Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympics, men’s basketball will be played at the Staples Center, where Bryant played with the Lakers.
“He embraced the power of sport to change people’s lives,” Bach said in a statement published by the International Olympic Committee. “After retiring from the game he loved so much, he continued to support the Olympic Movement and was an inspiration for the Olympic Games LA 2028.”
Bryant narrated the final filmed segment of the L.A. bid team’s presentation in July 2017. He was a member of the bid’s board of directors.
“There are so many different cultures represented here, so many different ethnicities represented here,” he said of Los Angeles in the video,” It’s an opportunity to learn no matter where you look.”
The 41-year-old Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people who died in the crash in Calabasas in foggy weather conditions Sunday morning.
“We will all miss his energy and his humble nature,” Bach said. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends and all the other victims.”
International basketball federation secretary general Andreas Zagklis described Bryant as a “sun in the basketball universe, shining on and off the court.”
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Expert: Second-Generation Coronavirus Could be More Deadly
An expert in China warns that the new strain of virus originating from the Chinese city of Wuhan could be gaining strength and increasing its ability to transfer from one person to another. The coronavirus that is causing respiratory problems similar to pneumonia has sickened close to 3,000 people worldwide and killed at least 56 in China, prompting governments to come up with measures to protect their citizens. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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