U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has demanded “demonstrable evidence” from the Taliban that it will lower the violence level in Afghanistan before signing a deal that would lead to peace talks and a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.Pompeo told a news conference in Uzbekistan on Monday that a deal was close but that they had been close before and failed because the Taliban was unable to prove it is serious about peace.”We’re working on a peace and reconciliation plan, putting the commas in the right place, getting the sentences right,” Pompeo said.”We got close once before to having an agreement: a piece of paper that we mutually executed and the Taliban were unable to demonstrate either their will or capacity or both to deliver on a reduction in violence.””So, what we are demanding now is demonstrable evidence of their will and capacity to reduce violence, to take down the threat, so the inter-Afghan talks… will have a less violent context,” he said. “We’re hopeful we can achieve that but we’re not there yet, and work certainly remains.”Pompeo’s statement came two days after U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during a visit to Kabul that there had been “no notable progress” in talks with the Taliban.However, Khalilzad said he was hopeful of reaching a deal with the militants on a reduction of violence, without offering any time frame.Khalilzad has held multiple rounds of talks with the Taliban in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar amid efforts to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan.The militant group maintains a political office in Qatar.
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Month: February 2020
4 Turkish Troops, 6 Syrian Soldiers Killed in Idlib Province
Turkey hit targets in northern Syria, responding to shelling by Syrian government forces that killed at least four Turkish soldiers, the Turkish president said Monday. A Syrian war monitor said six Syrian troops were also killed.
The exchange, which came hours after a large Turkish military convoy entered the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, is likely to further increase tensions between the two neighboring countries as such direct clashes have been rare.
Earlier, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said the Turkish forces were sent to Idlib as reinforcement and were attacked there despite prior notification of their coordinates to the local authorities. It said Turkish forces responded to the attack, destroying targets. Along with four killed, nine Turkish troops were wounded.
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish artillery hit some 46 targets. Erdogan said Turkish warplanes were also involved and claimed that there were between 30 and 35 casualties on the Syrian side but offered no evidence.
“Those who test Turkey’s determination with such vile attacks will understand their mistake,” Erdogan said. He said Russia was told that Ankara would not stand for any “situation where we are prevented” from responding to Syrian assaults.
“It is not possible for us to remain silent when our soldiers are being martyred,” Erdogan said.
The Russian military said its air force took control later Monday over the airspace in Idlib’s de-escalation zone, after Turkish troops were attacked. The Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria said in a statement that the airspace “is constantly being monitored by Russia’s air forces.”
Monday’s exchange occurred near the Syrian flashpoint town of Saraqeb, according to the the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group.
It comes amid a Syrian government offensive into the country’s last rebel stronghold, located in Idlib and parts of the nearby Aleppo region. Turkish troops are deployed in some of those rebel-held areas to monitor an earlier cease-fire that was agreed to but that has since collapsed.
Relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated sharply since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. Syria accuses Turkey of undermining its security by allowing thousands of foreign fighters to come battle the Syrian army. Idlib province is currently dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants.
With Russian backing, the Syria government has been on the offensive since December to capture and reopen a strategic highway held by the rebels since 2012. The offensive ignored a cease-fire deal brokered late last year between Russia and Turkey. The deal has since collapsed.
Syrian government forces captured the key Idlib town of Maaret al-Numan from the rebels last Wednesday, and have now set their sights on Saraqeb. The strategic highway passes through both towns.
The province of Idlib is home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria in earlier bouts of violence. The United Nations has estimated that about 390,000 Syrians have been displaced there over the past two months _ 315,000 in December and 75,000 in January.
Turkey already hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, and the current wave of violence in Idlib has raised concerns of a new surge in displaced civilians fleeing toward the Turkish border.
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Kenyan Farmers Hit by Worst Locust Swarms in 70 Years
East Africa is experiencing the worst desert locust invasion in 25 years, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and the worst in Kenya for 70 years. Desert locusts have ravaged at least 11 of Kenya’s 47 counties, leaving a trail of destruction on farmland. Experts say if the locust invasion is not checked, it could pose a serious threat to food security and livelihoods in the region. Rael Ombuor reports from Kitui County, Kenya.
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Philippines Reports First Coronavirus Death Outside China
As the deadly coronavirus continues to spread worldwide, it has killed its first patient outside China. News reports from the Philippines say a Chinese man from Wuhan, in Hubei province where the virus was first detected, died in a hospital in Manila a few days after arriving there. Many countries, including the United States, are denying entry to all foreign visitors who had recently been to China as part of a global effort to stop the spread. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports people returning home from China are being quarantined.
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Child Labor Continues to Rob Millions of Africans of their Childhoods
According to the UN, about 152 million children between 5 and 17 years old are engaged in child labor, 73 million of them are in Africa. The UN has called for an end to child labor, worldwide, by 2025. It’s an ambitious goal for the continent with for the highest rate of child labor in the world. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni takes a deeper look at the issue and the fight to restore the childhoods of millions across Africa.
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Iowa Democrats Expect High Turnout for 2020 Presidential Caucus
Democrats are expecting a high turnout for the first presidential selection event in the United States, the Iowa Caucuses, February 3rd. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, while many voters in Iowa are still undecided on the candidate they believe can best challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November general election, they welcome the attention the process brings to their state.
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China Opens New Hospital as Other Nations Impose Travel Bans to Stem Virus
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The Latest:Passengers arrive at LAX from Shanghai, China, after a positive case of the coronavirus was announced in the Orange County suburb of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2020.Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, said that the overall risk to Americans remains low. He added that the new rules could add stress and travel time for some passengers, but “public health and security experts agree these measures are necessary to contain the virus and protect the American people,” he said.President Donald Trump told Fox News that the United States has “shut down” the coronavirus coming in from China, even as officials in San Francisco reported a ninth confirmed U.S. case.”We’ve offered China help but we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see what happens, but we did shut it down.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday “a handful more flights” will be going to China to evacuate Americans from Hubei province. Speaking during a visit to Kazakhstan, Pompeo said the United States “might bring in some medical supplies” as well.He said experts from the U.S. Centers from Disease Control and Prevention already are in Kazakhstan, which shares a long eastern border with China.Indonesia announced Sunday a ban on entry to all foreigners and visitors who visited China, and asked Indonesians not to go there. A temporary halt on flights from China is due to begin Wednesday.China’s acting ambassador to Israel apologized Sunday for comparing the border closures in Israel and elsewhere to restrictions placed on European Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s.Dai Yuming said China was one of the few nations that opened its borders to Jewish refugees during “the darkest days in human history.”The embassy later issued a statement saying there was no intention to compare what is happening today to the Holocaust and apologized to anyone who “understood our message the wrong way.”The outbreak has taken an economic toll on China, with stock markets closing down nearly 8 percent Monday.The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency last week.
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Brexit Brinkmanship As Tensions Simmer Between UK And Brussels
Official negotiations have not yet begun over their future relationship – but tensions are building between Britain and the European Union following the Britain’s official exit from the bloc Friday. Brussels says Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal, but London has insisted it will not do so. As Henry Ridgwell reports, official talks aren’t due to get under way for at least another month, leaving precious little time to negotiate a new deal.
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Brexit Brinkmanship as Tensions Simmer Between UK, Brussels
Within hours of Britain’s official exit from the European Union Jan. 31, tensions simmered between London and Brussels over their future relationship.Britain left the bloc at 11 p.m. London time Friday and immediately entered a transition period, where most rules and regulations remain the same. That period is set to end Dec. 31, and Britain has insisted it will not ask for an extension, leaving just 11 months to negotiate and ratify a free trade agreement. Early indications suggest the talks will be difficult, with big differences in the positions of both sides.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that Britain will have to commit to aligning with EU standards in order to get a free trade deal.Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019.“One thing we feel very strongly in the EU is that if we are going to have tariff-free, quota-free trade with the UK, which is essentially what we have with Canada on almost everything, then that needs to come with a level playing field. We, for example would have very strong views on fair competition and state aid,” Varadkar said in a BBC interview Sunday.British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab insisted the UK will not follow EU regulations.“We are taking back control of our laws,” Raab told Sky News Sunday. “So we’re not going to have high alignment with the EU, legislative alignment with their rules, but we’ll want to co-operate and we expect the EU to follow through on their commitment to a Canada-style free trade agreement.”The EU’s free trade deal with Canada eliminates most tariffs on the buying and selling of goods, but does not cover services, which makes up around 80% of Britain’s GDP.The economic arguments were forgotten Friday evening as hundreds of pro-Brexit supporters gathered in central London. A Brexit “countdown clock” was projected onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence at No. 10 Downing St. Friday. Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party addressed the crowd: “We should celebrate the fact that freed from the constraints of the European Union, we once again will be able to find our place in the world,” Farage told hundreds of supporters gathered in the rain in Parliament Square.Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates during a rally in London, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.Finding that place may not be so simple.“Many people believe that Brexit having gone through 3½ years of debate about what kind of Brexit they have, and whether to have it, (that) it’s all sorted, it’s all done. It isn’t done at all,” said Charlie Ries, international vice president of the RAND Corp. and a former U.S. ambassador. “In fact, the actual dimensions of the new relationship between the UK and the EU is just starting.”Early indications suggest Europe will demand access to British fishing waters and guarantees that Britain won’t undercut the EU’s labor and environmental standards, in return for access to the EU Single Market. Britain has rejected any such deal.The hard line from Westminster is putting the United Kingdom itself under increasing strain, with Scotland, which voted by a margin of 62% to remain in the EU in 2016, demanding a vote on independence so it can try to rejoin the bloc.Across Britain, the divisions wrought by Brexit will not be easily healed. Meanwhile tensions are already building in what looks likely to be stormy year ahead.
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Trump Impeachment Trial Moves to Closing Arguments
House lawmakers prosecuting the impeachment case against U.S. President Donald Trump and the president’s defense team each have two hours Monday to make their closing arguments.The final outcome of the case seems secure, with Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate and none indicating they plan to vote to remove Trump from office.House Democrats will still argue Monday that Trump abused his power by asking Ukraine to launch investigations that would benefit him politically, and that he obstructed Congress by directing members of his administration to not provide documents and testimony during subsequent probes of his actions.Trump’s lawyers, and the president himself, argue he did nothing wrong and that his actions do not rise to the level of an impeachable offense.Later Monday, members of the Senate will be able to make their own views heard as they give speeches ahead of a planned final vote on Wednesday.Key Republican senators said Trump’s request to Ukraine was wrong, but not significant enough to convict him on the charges brought by the House of Representatives.Trump has for months described as “perfect” his request last July to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of Trump’s top 2020 challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a ceremony to welcome Ukrainian citizens exchanged in a prisoner swap, at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 29, 2019.But both Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said in interviews broadcast Sunday that Trump erred in asking Zelenskiy to “do us a favor” to launch the investigations at the same time he was withholding $391 million in military aid Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.Alexander, who provided a key vote late last week against the Democrats’ effort to call Trump aides as witnesses in the impeachment trial, told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” show that it was “crossing the line” for Trump to ask for the Biden investigations.“I think he shouldn’t have done it. I think it was wrong,” Alexander said.”If the president was upset with what the Bidens were doing in Ukraine, he should’ve called the (U.S.) attorney general,” William Barr, Alexander said. Asked why Trump didn’t then, Alexander said, “Maybe he didn’t know to do it.”But Alexander added, “I think what he did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors,” the U.S. Constitution threshold for an impeachable offense requiring removal from office. “I don’t think it’s the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the Senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a president.”He said voters in next November’s national election, when Trump is running for a second term in the White House, should decide his fate.”You know, it struck me, really for the first time, early last week, that we’re not just being asked to remove the president from office,” Alexander said, “We’re saying, ‘Tell him he can’t run in the 2020 election ….”As the heart of the case against Trump ended Friday, another Republican, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, “Let me be clear, Lamar speaks for lots and lots of us.”Ernst told CNN that Trump’s request to Ukraine for the politically tinged investigations was “not what I would have done. He maybe did it in the wrong manner.””He knows now he needs to go through the proper channels,” such as the U.S. Justice Department, if he sees the need for an overseas investigation.Nonetheless, she concluded, “Does it come to the point of removing a president? I don’t think it does.”The key 51-49 vote against calling witnesses in the trial came Friday over Democratic objections. Democrats wanted to hear testimony from Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, whom Trump ousted from his White House position last September. Bolton says in a new book that Trump told him directly last August that he wanted the Biden investigations before he would release the military aid, a direct contradiction of Trump’s claim there was no reciprocal quid pro quo deal with Ukraine, the defense assistance in exchange for the Biden investigations. Trump denied the claim in the Bolton book, “The Room Where It Happened.”Trump released the aid in September after a 55-day delay without Zelenskiy opening the Biden investigations, proof, Republicans say, he had no quid pro quo deal with Ukraine.Trump has often ridiculed the impeachment effort against him, and did again over the weekend.”The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, don’t want justice when pushing the Impeachment Hoax,” Trump said on Twitter, “they only want to destabilize the Republican Party so they can do better in the 2020 election, & that includes the House & Senate. They are playing with the people by taking it this far!”The Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, don’t want justice when pushing the Impeachment Hoax, they only want to destabilize the Republican Party so they can do better in the 2020 election, & that includes the House & Senate. They are playing with the people by taking it this far!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2020
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Democrats in Last-Minute Scramble for Support in Iowa Caucus
There’s a last-minute scramble for support ahead of Monday’s Iowa’s Democratic presidential caucus — the first big test of voter preference in the November election.It’s a crowded field with 11 contenders all hoping to be the Democrats’ choice to stop U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election in November.Polls going into Monday’s caucus show Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden neck-and-neck with Senator Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg close behind.But many caucus-goers have said they are still undecided and analysts say a few surprises are possible.Unlike primary elections, where actual ballots are cast, voters participate in caucuses by gathering in meetings at schoolhouses, town halls, empty stores, and even people’s homes.They show their preferences by raising their hands or huddling in groups of supporters.WATCH: Related video by VOA’s Kane FarabaughSorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyBackers of any candidate who fails to get at least 15% of the vote are given a chance to throw their support behind another candidate before a final statewide count is made and a winner declared.Despite all the attention it gets, the Iowa caucus has not always been a reliable harbinger of who will win the Democratic Party nomination.Bill Clinton had a notoriously poor showing in the 1992 caucus with less than 3% support and wound up winning the White House that November.Texas Senator Ted Cruz won the 2016 Republican caucus, but Trump was the nominee.Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack says Iowans believe the purpose of the caucus is to narrow the large field of candidates so the rest of the country has few choices but good choices for the primaries.
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Shanghai Composite Index Plunges 8.7% as Market Reopens
China’s Shanghai Composite index plunged 8.7% as financial markets reopened Monday amid news the outbreak of a deadly virus has spread further.Other markets also fell sharply, with Taiwan’s benchmark down 2.8%. The declines followed a day of bloodletting on Wall Street.Chinese authorities reported the number of people infected by the virus first found in Wuhan has risen above 17,000 as of Sunday night. The virus has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China.China’s central bank announced plans Sunday to inject 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) into the economy to cushion the shock to financial markets from the outbreak of a new virus when trading resumed. The Lunar New Year holiday, usually a week long, was prolonged by three days as a precaution.The People’s Bank of China announced several measures over the weekend aimed at stabilizing the economy as the impact of the virus spreads with cancelled flights, stepped up quarantines and other controls.Worries over the potential harm to businesses and trade from the outbreak have triggered wide swings in share prices around the globe.The central bank statement issued Sunday said the open market operation was aimed at ensuring sufficient liquidity.In a separate statement Saturday, the PBOC said that while markets would reopen, financial institutions should follow local quarantine regulations and try to minimize gatherings to reduce risks of spreading the virus. That includes allowing rotating shifts, working online from home and other strategies, it said.Regulators have also urged banks and other financial institutions to boost lending and avoid calling in debts in areas severely affected by the pandemic.Some cities, particularly the central Chinese city Wuhan where the disease first surfaced, and nearby cities, are still in lockdown. Shanghai authorities extended the Lunar New Year holiday until Feb. 9. Universities remain closed for now.Mainland China’s main share benchmark, the Shanghai Composite sank 2.8% to 2,976.53 on Jan. 23, its last day of trading before the Lunar New Year.Chinese authorities have massive resources for intervening to staunch panic selling of shares and have deployed them in past times of crisis.A large share of the 1.2 trillion yuan to be injected into markets will go to meeting payment obligations falling due on Monday, analysts said.But it’s still a massive amount of funding.“This is well beyond the band-aid fix, and if this deluge doesn’t hold risk-off at bay, we are in for a colossal beat down,” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp. said in a client note Sunday.He noted that any major drop shortly after the markets reopen would be a “catch up.”“It’s not the earthquake at the open but rather the aftershocks that will drive risk sentiment on Monday,” he said.
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London Police Treating Sunday Stabbing as Terror-Related
British police shot and killed a man they say wore a fake explosive device and stabbed two people in London Sunday.Lucy D’Orsi, police deputy assistant commissioner, said police responded quickly to what they said was a “terrorist incident” and they believe it is tied to Islamic extremism, but she gave no other details. Bell Reberio-Addy, a member of Parliament who represents Streatham, said the attacker had been under surveillance “for some time.”A male stabbing victim suffered what is described as life-threatening wounds while the second victim, a woman, was also injured. A third person was slightly injured, apparently by flying glass. D’Orsi said there was no further danger to the public.Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his thoughts are with the injured as he thanked police and emergency workers. Johnson also said that in light of this attack and one in December, the government would introduce “fundamental changes” to how people convicted of terrorism are treated.London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life. Here in London, we will never let them succeed.”Sunday’s incident took place on a busy street in south London’s Streatham neighborhood.Witnesses report seeing police chasing a suspect down the neighborhood’s main shopping district, yelling for him to stop. They opened fire and shot him three times when he ignored them. Police determined that the explosive device he wore was a fake.Police have not yet publicly identified him or spoke of an exact motive other than saying it was terrorism.
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Trump: US Has ‘Shut Down’ Coronavirus Coming in From China
President Donald Trump says the United States has “shut down” the coronavirus coming in from China even as officials in San Francisco report the ninth confirmed U.S. case.”We’ve offered China help but we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus,” Trump told Fox News in a special Super Bowl pregame interview. “So we’re going to see what happens, but we did shut it down.”National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told CBS’s Face the Nation that the administration has offered China help — specifically sending experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But China has yet to accept the U.S. offer.”So far, the Chinese have been more transparent certainly than in past crises and we appreciate that,” O’Brian said. “We’ve got tremendous expertise. This is a worldwide concern. We want to help our Chinese colleagues if we can.”CDC experts are on the ground in Kazakhstan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Kazakhstan shares a long eastern border with China. Pompeo was in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan Sunday.FILE – A man stands in front of a screen showing that multiple departure flights have been cancelled following the outbreak of the coronavirus, at an airport in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, Jan. 23, 2020. (cnsphoto via Reuters)Meanwhile, officials in San Francisco say a woman who arrived from Wuhan, China, late last month has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, making her the ninth confirmed case in the United States.Starting Sunday, U.S. citizens who have traveled to China in the last 14 days will be flown to one of eight U.S. airports for extra screening. U.S. citizens who have been in Hubei province, where the outbreak began, will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Experts say the incubation period for the coronavirus is 14 days.Most non-U.S. Citizens who have traveled to China within the last two weeks will not be allowed to enter the U.S., except for immediate family members of U.S. citizens, permanent residents and flight crews.The eight airports are: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Chicago O’Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Los Angeles International Airport in California; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.Starting Monday, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Airport will be added to the list.FILE – A woman, who declined to give her name, wears a mask, in New York City, Jan. 30, 2020. She works in a doctor’s office and said she wears the mask “partly” out of concern over the coronavirus.Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, said that the overall risk to Americans remains low. He added that the new rules could add stress and travel time for some passengers, but “public health and security experts agree these measures are necessary to contain the virus and protect the American people,” he said.Some countries, including the U.S., have closed their borders to foreign nationals who have traveled from China, prompting complains from Chinese officials.China’s acting ambassador to Israel apologized Sunday for comparing the border closures in Israel and elsewhere to restrictions placed on European Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s.Dai Yuming said China was one of the few nations that opened its borders to Jewish refugees during “the darkest days in human history.”The embassy later issued a statement saying there was no intention to compare what is happening today to the Holocaust and apologized to anyone who “understood our message the wrong way.”The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China appears to grow by the day. As of Monday morning, Chinese health officials report 17,205 cases and 361 deaths.A man in the Philippines died of the coronavirus Sunday, marking the first death from the virus outside of China.The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency last week.
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UK’s Johnson to Detail Tough Stance in EU Trade Talks
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday outline a hardline stance in post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union, arguing Britain does not need to follow various EU rules to strike a trade deal.In a keynote speech detailing his vision for the country’s future, days after its historic departure from the bloc following nearly half a century of membership, Johnson is to say he will seek a “pragmatic agreement.”The British premier will note London has been told in earlier divorce talks with Brussels that it has the option of an ambitious trade deal, “which opens up markets and avoids the full panoply of EU regulation.””There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment, or anything similar,” Johnson is set to say, according to excerpts of the address released by his Downing Street office.”The UK will maintain the highest standards in these areas — better, in many respects, than those of the EU — without the compulsion of a treaty and it is vital to stress this now,” he will add.Johnson also insists that if that type of agreement, similar to one the EU recently struck with Canada, is not possible then Britain would opt for a less comprehensive trade deal.”The choice is emphatically not ‘deal or no-deal,'” he will say.But in a sign of the potentially fraught nature of the high-stakes talks, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged London on Sunday to “tone down” what he called “nationalistic rhetoric”.Britain should avoid repeating the past mistake of insisting on “rigid red lines” which “makes it hard to come to an agreement,” he said.’Infuriated’Late on Friday, Britain ended almost half a century of often reluctant membership of the European Union, an organization set up to forge unity among nations after the horrors of World War II.Upon leaving, the UK immediately entered an 11-month transition period agreed as part of the divorce, during which there will be little change in practical terms.Britons will be able to work in the EU and trade freely — and vice versa — until Dec. 31, although the UK will no longer be represented in the bloc’s institutions.Legally however, Britain is out, and attention is now turning to what may prove to be grueling talks with Brussels this year to hammer out all aspects of the future partnership.Johnson, a polarizing figure accused of glossing over the complexity of leaving the EU, is in a rush to seal an agreement.He has vowed not to extend the transition phase, giving himself just 11 months to find consensus on everything from fishing to finance — not enough time, according to his critics.EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who will set out the bloc’s negotiating positions also in a speech in Brussels on Monday, has warned that some items will have to be a priority.He wants handshakes on fisheries, internal and external security and, above all, trade in goods.France reminded Britain on Sunday that the UK exports most of its fish production to European Union countries, highlighting a potential bargaining chip in coming post-Brexit talks about fishing rights that promise to be thorny.But the bloc is also said to fear being undercut on their own doorstep if Britain’s does not commit to following its regulatory framework.’New era’British newspapers reported Sunday that the government is readying for a bruising battle, and unwilling to offer many of the compromises set to be demanded by the EU.The euroskeptic Sunday Telegraph said Johnson was “privately infuriated” at perceived EU attempts “to frustrate a comprehensive free trade deal”.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged there was “a bit of frustration” in London that “commitments” seen as already agreed in the initial Brexit divorce deal were not being “lived up to.”London is also now free to strike trade agreements around the world, including with the United States, whose President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic Brexit supporter.One of his top envoys on Friday hailed an “exciting new era.”At a special Brexit day ministers’ meeting in northeast England, Johnson discussed an aim to get 80 percent of Britain’s commerce covered by trade agreements within three years, a spokesman said.Raab said Sunday that he would embark on a tour of Asia and Australia next week, a trip encompassing Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.The Foreign Office declined to release further details.The Sunday Telegraph reported that a trade deal is earmarked to be agreed with Japan by Christmas, followed by more agreements with Australia and New Zealand in mid-2021.
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California Couple Helping Migrants Survive Desert Heat
John and Laura Hunter live in southern California and over the past few years they’ve been heading out into the desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to make sure people making the trek to the U.S. from South and Central America have what it takes to stay alive during their passage. But not everyone agrees with the help the migrants are getting. Genia Dulot has the story.
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State of the Union Address, Final Impeachment Votes on Agenda This Week
Senators will hear closing arguments Monday in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, a day before he delivers his State of the Union address from the U.S. Capitol. Wednesday, senators cast their final votes in what is widely expected to be the president’s acquittal on charges that he abused the power of the presidency and obstructed Congress’ efforts to investigate his actions. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi looks at the week ahead in Washington.
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Report: Al-Qaida Branch Claims December US Naval Base Shooting
Al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility Sunday for an attack on a U.S. Naval Base which left three soldiers dead in December, the Site intelligence group reported.”Alshamrani carried out his martyrdom operation on one of the dens of evil…the US Naval Air Station Pensacola,” the group’s leader said in a video message posted Sunday, referring to Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force training at Naval Air Station Pensacola who carried out the attack late last year.NEW: #AQAP claims December 2019 attack on @NASPCOLA in speech by leader Qassim al-Rimi”[#KSA Air Force 2nd Lt Mohammed] Alshamrani carried out his martyrdom operation on one of the dens of evil…the US Naval Air Station Pensacola”via @siteintelgrouphttps://t.co/TjMz6KjoQl— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 2, 2020AQAP leader Qassim al-Rimi said in the video that Alshamrani moved around U.S. bases “for several years” to assess a target.Alshamrani killed three U.S. servicemen and injured eight others in a classroom on the base Dec. 6. At the time, investigators found no evidence that Alshamrani was affiliated with a terrorist group, but they learned that the cadet had posted anti-American and anti-Israel content on social media in the lead up to the shooting, including a message posted Sept. 11 that said “the countdown has begun.”Twenty-one Saudi military trainees were sent back to Saudi Arabia following a probe in the wake of the attack.
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London: Man Shot Dead by Police After Stabbing Incident
A man was shot and killed by police in London Sunday after a stabbing incident that authorities said could be terrorism related.”A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related,” the London Metropolitan police wrote on Twitter Sunday.#INCIDENT A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed. The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related. Please follow @metpoliceuk for updates— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 2, 2020Police confirmed that the man had been killed and currently “believe” that there are two injured victims.London mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed in a statement that he was in touch with police and following the situation closely.”Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life – here in London we will never let them succeed,” he wrote.My statement on today’s incident in Streatham. pic.twitter.com/x7rWASs1Xs— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) February 2, 2020In November, Usman Khan stabbed five people on the London Bridge before he was shot dead by police. Two of the victims later died of their wounds. The stabbing was declared a terrorist incident.
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Somalia Declares National Emergency over Locust Upsurge
The Somali government has declared a national emergency over a locust upsurge which is spreading in the East Africa region.The Somali Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Said Hussein Iid said the desert locust poses a “major threat” to the country’s already fragile food security situation.The first wave of locust swarms in Somalia last December destroyed about 100,000 hectares of farmland and pastures in Somalia, says Iid. He warns that an upcoming second wave will be even more destructive.“The threat is very real,” Iid told VOA Somali.The emergency national declaration was made in a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation on Saturday, and says the swarms are uncommonly large and consume huge amounts of crops and forage.Iid says satellite information shows new swarms of locusts have arrived the country from the Gulf.Iid says the biggest threat is from locally grown, locally matured locusts that could have a long effect on farming and pasture. The previous locusts that entered Somalia originated Yemen and were immature, Iid said.“When it got matured inside Somalia they migrated to neighboring countries, but newly locally grown locust will be much dangerous compared to the migrated locust,” he said. “That is why we are calling this state of emergency, to be prepared to combat before its gets the maximum damage.”He said millions of eggs were left behind by the previous wave and will likely emerge when the spring rainy season known locally as Gu’ starts in April.”We are afraid there will be new generation of a swarm in Somalia which can cause severe damage both to pasture and the farms, and that will definitely affect the food security situation of the country,” Iid said.Millions of Somalis are already relying on humanitarian support and officials warn that a second wave of locust will bring a bigger destruction.The Somali government and international partners just last month appealed for more than $1 billion for humanitarian support to 3 million Somalis this year. The aid will include a monthly food assistance to 2.1 million people according to the humanitarian response plan.Iid says the Somali government has trained several people in each district to conduct local awareness and “very slow means of controlling the immature swarm” but says these measures are not enough.”The scale of the locust which comes to Somalia is well, well beyond our means of controlling,” Iid said. “That is why we are calling the international partners and the regional government to act together to fight this, to have common strategy to fight the pest.”The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization says it requires an initial $3 million initial response to fighting the locusts.
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Trump Bashes Bloomberg; Dem’s Campaign Calls Trump a ‘Liar’
While much of the political world focused on Iowa and its caucuses Monday that kick off the election season, President Donald Trump has his mind on a Democratic candidate who’s skipping the early-voting state.Trump used a Super Bowl pregame interview with Fox New Channel’s Sean Hannity to make a false claim about Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who has been blanketing the airwaves with anti-Trump ads. The Republican president and Bloomberg are running dueling, multi-million dollar ads during Sunday night’s game, the biggest sports event of the year.Trump accused Bloomberg, who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, of making a special request for a box to stand on if he qualifies for future presidential debates.
“Why he should he get a box to stand on?” Trump asked, according to an excerpt released by Fox. “Why should he be entitled to that, really? Then does that mean everyone else gets a box?”
Trump is “lying,” Bloomberg campaign spokeswoman Julie Wood said.
“He is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, and his spray-on tan,” she said.
The full interview was scheduled to air Sunday afternoon.
Trump had already fired off a series of early Sunday anti-Bloomberg tweets, calling the billionaire “part of the Fake News” and insisting he “is going nowhere” and “just wasting his money,” despite rising in the polls.
Bloomberg responded with his own aside: “Looks like our ads are keeping you up at night. We’ve got one in particular you should watch today.” Bloomberg’s 60-second spot will focus on the impact of gun violence.
Trump was spending his weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has been golfing and mingling with guests at his dues-paying Mar-a-Lago club. On Saturday night, he made an appearance at an event there hosted by the “Trumpettes” fan club.
“We just had our best poll numbers that we’ve ever had,” Trump said in his remarks, according to video posted on social media. He also praised singer Lee Greenwood, whose song “Proud to be an American” is played every time Trump takes the stage at his rallies. Also in attendance, per photographs, were actor Stephen Baldwin and Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
The president was expected to host his annual Super Bowl watch party in Florida before returning to Washington late Sunday.
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First Coronavirus Death Reported Outside of China
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The Latest: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.Reports, including some from Wuhan residents, indicate that early information about the outbreak was covered up, and many people, including doctors, speaking about the virus in December were threatened by the government or even detained.”These rumors were already flying around the Chinese internet,” Flora Fauna, an American Wuhan resident who asked to be referred to by her pseudonym, told VOA Mandarin about the beginning of the outbreak in December.”So, in response, the city governments dispatched the police to arrest people who were spreading this information,” she said.Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus, at the United Nations’ European Headquarters, in Geneva, Jan. 29, 2020.The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Thursday, fearing the virus could spread to poorer countries that would have great difficulty containing it. The WHO has said it does not recommend that countries initiate any travel or trade restrictions with China. The virus has been detected in at least 27 countries, the majority of cases involving those who visited China.
The continuing spread of the coronavirus led U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to also declare a public health emergency on Friday and deny entry into the country to any foreign national who has recently traveled to China, except for those travelers whose immediate family members are U.S. citizens.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed eight cases of coronavirus in the United States. Health officials say the latest patient is a man in Massachusetts, who became ill after traveling to China.Taiwan said it will prohibit Chinese citizens from China’s southeastern coastal province of Guangdong from entering the country beginning Sunday, Taiwan state media reported Saturday. Travelers who visited the Guangdong area recently will be quarantined for 14 days. The U.S. State Department raised the coronavirus Saturday in criticizing China for banning Twitter messages that reference Taiwan. “Blocking Twitter users who make reference to Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, particularly given the global response to the coronavirus crisis, is outrageous, unacceptable, and not befitting of a U.N. organization,” said an official statement released Saturday.Also Saturday, two groups of stranded Hubei residents returned to China on chartered planes sent to Thailand and Malaysia by the Chinese government. The 199 Chinese nationals had been left without a way home when their return flights were canceled amid the virus scare. The state-owned Xinhua news agency reported the retrieved passengers were screened for fever and anyone who displayed symptoms of the coronavirus would be “quarantined immediately.”Members of a Hong Kong union for medical workers voted Saturday to go on strike Monday after the government dismissed their demand to close all entry points from China. The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said more than 9,000 of its members vowed to participate in a 5-day strike.
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Japanese Warship Heads For Gulf Of Oman to Help Ensure Energy Supplies
Japan has dispatched a warship to help safeguard the country’s oil supplies through the tense-but-vital waterways in the Middle East.The helicopter destroyer Takanami on February 2 left its port near Tokyo on an assignment to protect merchant ships and oil tankers passing through the Gulf of Oman, through which flows some 90 percent of Japan’s oil.The destroyer and its 200-member crew will operate with two P-3C maritime patrol aircraft to guard ships heading for Japanese ports, officials said.The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was prepared to authorize force to protect ships in danger.The action remains controversial given Japan’s war-renouncing constitution written after World War II that forbids the use of military force to settle international disputes.The mission will remain independent of other international deployments in the region, including one led by the United States and another by European countries.Japan and other U.S. allies are attempting to balance efforts to show support for U.S. President Donald Trump while looking to minimizing risks of getting drawn into a larger conflict with Iran as tensions flare between Tehran and Washington.In October, Japan announced it would not join a U.S.-led coalition to protect shipping in vital commerce lanes in the Middle East but would send its own vessels to ensure safe delivery of oil to Japan.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at the time said Tokyo would still cooperate closely with Washington in efforts to protect oil tankers amid a series of attacks the West and Arab allies blamed on Iran.”We won’t join the United States, but will cooperate closely with them,” Suga told a news conference. “Self-Defense Force assets will ensure the safety of vessels related to Japan.””Peace and stability in the Middle East is extremely important for the international society, including Japan,” he added. “After we studied comprehensively what measures can be most effective, we have decided to pursue our own measures separately.”Several incidents in and around the Gulf of Oman, which sees around one-fifth of international oil shipments, raised tensions last year. Tehran denied any involvement in attacks on tankers.Trump accused Iran of carrying out June 13 attacks against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, including a Japanese vessel. No one was hurt in the attack, but the ships suffered damages.Japan, which is heavily reliant on the import of oil products, has maintained relatively good relations with Tehran and expressed reluctance to join the U.S.-led force.
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Malawi Police Closes Roads During Election Case Verdict
Police in Malawi have announced the closure Monday of roads leading to the High Court in the capital, Lilongwe, where judges of the country’s Constitutional Court are expected to deliver the verdict in a case challenging a vote last year that reelected incumbent President Peter Mutharika.Saulos Chilima, leader of the opposition United Transformation Movement party, and Lazarus Chakwera, leader of Malawi Congress Party, are seeking nullification of the May presidential vote. They say the elections were fraught with irregularities that saw Malawi Electoral Commission rig the vote in Mutharika’s favor. Some residents feel the closing the roads infringes on their rights.Police say the roads will be closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.FILE – President Peter Mutharika addresses Malawi Parliament, June 21, 2019. (Lameck Masina/VOA)The aim is to facilitate smooth delivery of the judgment by the Constitutional Court, expected to start at 9 a.m.James Kadadzera, spokesperson for the Malawi National Police, told VOA that no uncleared person will be allowed within 150 meters of the High Court premises.“We are also informing those that have been accredited by the high court to carry their IDs, their accreditation cards. And all those that haven’t been accredited, we are asking them to listen to the judgment in their respective homes as well as their respective offices,” he said.However, some, like Chipiliro Phiri, said the arrangement will make it hard to get to work.“My God, it’s so frustrating. I didn’t expect this from the police. They say it’s not a public holiday tomorrow. So how are we supposed to get to work? This is not the way to go. They were just supposed to just tightening the security, not just closing the roads,” said Phiri.Political analyst Sherriff Kaisi, a political science lecturer at Blantyre International University, supports the police action.“It’s very, very justifiable because you know when you are arranging security, all the security arms, they do that basing on the situation. Probably violence can erupt from those who can be defeated and even by those who have won. So this is why we see security is very tight,” said Kaisi.Malawi has seen series of post-election demonstrations since the announcement of the election results in June.Human Rights Defenders Coalition has been leading protests that turned violent at times, with looting, damage to property, and injuries.Malawi Electoral Commission Chair Jane Ansha has long been saying that the elections were not rigged and resisted calls to resign until the court verdict is passed. (Lameck Masina/VOA)The nationwide demonstrations were aimed at forcing the resignation of the head of the Malawi Electoral Commission, Jane Ansah, for allegedly presiding over a flawed electoral process fraught with irregularities.However, Ansah maintained that she could only resign after the court verdict.The Monday verdict would come a few days after Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested and charged businessman Thom Mpinganjira in Blantyre for attempting to bribe five judges working on the verdict.According to Anti-Corruption Bureau documents, Mpinganjira, who runs a bank, offered the judges more than $130,000 to rule in favor of Mutharika and the Malawi Electoral Commission, the defendants in the case.Human Rights Defenders Coalition representatives told reporters Saturday in Lilongwe that their trust is now in the judiciary, and they asked Malawians to observe the rule of law after the verdict.Luke Tembo represents the Human Rights Defenders Coalition.“As HRDC we have a lot of confidence and trust in our judicial system. And believe that our honorable judges will deliver a just verdict on this watershed case,” he said.This week, leaders of the opposition political parties and ruling party signed a pact to ensure peace during and after the verdict.Several international organizations, including United Nations and the Southern African Development Community, have also issued statements calling on Malawians to maintain peace after the Monday court verdict.
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