The World Bank on Thursday said it is normalizing relations with the Federal Government of Somalia after 30 years.The bank noted the Somali government’s “strong record of fiscal, political, social and economic reforms in recent years” in making the move.“Normalizing relations means that the country is now in good standing with the World Bank,” World Bank Country Manager Hugh Riddell told VOA Somali. “It means that going forward Somalia will be able to access grants, grants financing for poverty reduction.”He said the new grants will help Somalia invest in basic needs of the Somali people.After 30 years, the @WorldBank Group & Somalia took an important step today toward reestablishing financial relations + increasing WBG support for the Somali people.I thank @SomaliPM & @DrBeileh for their good work + important reforms.Read more here: https://t.co/Jn0q8IFX86pic.twitter.com/4ZHvYmPwVt— David Malpass (@DavidMalpassWBG) February 27, 2020News of the World Bank’s move came just a day after the International Monetary Fund announced it had secured “sufficient financing pledges” to provide comprehensive debt relief to Somalia. More than 100 IMF member countries have pledged to provide US$334 million in financing, IMF said..@KGeorgieva: More than 100 countries—including low-income countries—have agreed to contribute the money IMF needs to provide debt relief to #Somalia. https://t.co/nSSsj8UJwFpic.twitter.com/NPIOptt2s2— IMF (@IMFNews) February 26, 2020The African Development Bank and African Development Fund approved a framework for $122.55 million to clear Somalia’s arrears on the same day as the IMF announcement.Somalia owes more than $5 billion to external creditors and hopes to achieve debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.Riddell said the nod from the World Bank does not mean that Somalia will borrow more money. This was in response to concern from Somali observers that the improvement in financial standing by the Somali government could translate into borrowing and taking on more debt.“This does not mean that Somalia will have access to lending, there will be no loans from the World Bank; the financing that will come will be purely grants,” Riddell said.“Somalis need not worry that this will lead to borrowing by the Somali government, and the World Bank money will be purely 100 percent grants,” he added.Riddell says the bank has been working closely with the Somali Ministry of Finance and the central bank since 2012. He praised the reforms made.“Some of the basic reforms that have taken place over the past seven years have been increasing revenue generation, not only Mogadishu port, Mogadishu airport but also increasingly the private sector,” he said. “That means that the government is able to generate its revenues from businesses, and those businesses are happy to pay increasing amounts of tax to the government because of the transparency that is now in the budget system and the oversight of the expenditures that is now carried out by the Ministry of Finance.”He also said that Somalia’s Auditor General has been carrying out annual audits of the budget and is reporting to the parliament. He said laws have been passed that enabled the central bank of Somalia to carry out supervisory functions in the financial sector of remittances, as well supervise the new Somali banks that have been formed.The Somali prime minister has welcomed the move by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and described it as a “landmark milestone.”Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire tweeted: “#WB & #AfDB announce to reengage #Somalia, clear arrears & ultimately relieve the country of the debt burden under the HIPC Initiative, paving the way 4 tremendous foreign direct investment! Our commitment to reform begins to pay dividends. Deeply indebted!”Landmark milestone as #WB & #AfDB announce to reengage #Somalia, clear arrears & ultimately relieve the country of the debt burden under the HIPC Initiative, paving the way 4 tremendous foreign direct investment! Our commitment to reform begins to pay dividends. Deeply indebted!— SomaliPM (@SomaliPM) February 27, 2020
…
Month: February 2020
Coronavirus Emergency Funding to Leap Political Hurdles
U.S .lawmakers are working to quickly pass a bipartisan deal providing billions of dollars in emergency funding to address the worldwide spread of coronavirus. Congressional Democrats have criticized the Trump administration for a poorly coordinated response, calling the $2.5 billion White House proposal insufficient. But as VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, health officials assured lawmakers U.S. efforts are working.
…
Judge Who Sentenced Roger Stone Is Feeling Heat from Trump
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson was under siege and growing impatient.Heading into last week’s highly anticipated sentencing of Roger Stone, President Donald Trump’s longtime confidant, Jackson faced a torrent of withering criticism from Trump and his conservative allies over her handling of a case they belittled as politically motivated.Jackson, 65, a Harvard Law School graduate, had endured many epithets. “Obama judge.” “Corrupt.” “Anti-Trump.”This courtroom sketch shows former campaign adviser for President Trump, Roger Stone talking from the witness stand as Judge Amy Berman Jackson listens during a court hearing at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, Feb. 21, 2019.Trump, concerned that Stone would receive a lengthy prison sentence for lying to Congress and witness tampering, had accused Jackson of bias in a Feb. 11 tweet: “Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!”This wasn’t the first time Trump had lashed out at a federal judge. To critics, it amounted to an attempt to bully a judge into letting a convicted friend of the president’s walk free.By tradition, U.S. judges don’t respond to personal attacks. But as she prepared to sentence Stone to more than four years in prison last week, Jackson delivered from the bench a powerful defense of an independent judiciary against attempts to delegitimize it. “The dismay and the disgust with any attempts to interfere with the efforts of prosecutors and members of the judiciary to fulfill their duty should transcend party,” Jackson said.“Sure, the defense is free to say: ‘So what? Who cares?’ ” she said. “But, I’ll say this: Congress cared. The United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia that prosecuted the case and is still prosecuting the case cared. The jurors who served with integrity under difficult circumstances cared. The American people cared. And I care.”It’s not very often that a federal judge becomes a household name.Not that long ago Jackson was little-known outside a small circle of defense lawyers and prosecutors with cases before the federal court in Washington, D.C.Then the Stone case hit the docket last year, thrusting Jackson into the national spotlight as the presiding judge over one of the most high-profile cases of recent years.Former special counsel Robert Mueller, checks pages in the report as he testifies before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on his report on Russian election interference, on Capitol Hill, July 24, 2019 in Washington.Jackson had already presided over several other cases arising from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. But the yearlong court proceedings against Stone put Jackson smack in the middle of a national story, thanks to Stone’s antics in and outside of the courtroom and Trump’s running commentary in the background.”I think she rose to the occasion,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor and judicial selection expert at the University of Richmond. “I don’t think she invited it. I think she was assigned the case and she did her judicial duty.”Jackson’s career path mirrors those of many successful federal judges. Harvard Law School. Clerk for a federal appellate judge. Six years as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington. Nearly two decades in private practice, during which she represented prominent clients.In the 10 years since she was named to the bench by former President Barack Obama, Jackson has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense but fair-minded jurist with a penchant for delivering a tongue-lashing to unrepentant defendants and their lawyers.In 2013, she sentenced former Democratic Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr., the son of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, to 30 months in prison for misappropriating $750,000 in campaign funds.In 2016, she rejected the Obama administration’s claim of executive privilege to block records from congressional investigators probing a controversial federal sting operation aimed at Mexican drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border.Tobias said judges on the D.C. district court often rule against the president that appointed them.“I think they wear that as a badge of honor and they deserve a lot of respect and credit for doing that,” Tobias said.But in a highly partisan environment where criticism of judges has become fair game, Jackson has had her impartiality called into question.FILE – In this May 23, 2018, file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, leaves the Federal District Court after a hearing in Washington.Trump criticized Jackson after Jackson revoked bail for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and sent him to jail after Manafort tried to influence the testimony of two government witnesses.The case against Stone tested Jackson’s patience and restraint. In February 2019, Jackson imposed a gag order on Stone after Stone posted a picture of Jackson next to a gun’s crosshairs on Instagram. In July, Jackson ordered Stone to stop using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram after she found him in violation of the gag order by posting disparaging comments about the Mueller investigation. “What am I supposed to do with you,” an exasperated Jackson said to him.Yet she stopped short of revoking his bail. And even though she had the discretion to impose a seven- to nine-year sentence, she opted for a shorter term, saying it was just and fair.Jackson delayed imposition of the sentence, pending Stone’s motion for a new trial. But she rejected Stone’s latest motion that she recuse herself from the case, writing that the move “appears to be nothing more than an attempt to use the court’s docket to disseminate a statement for public consumption that has the words ‘judge’ and biased’ in it.”Trump has continued to take jabs at the case, despite an admonition from Attorney General William Barr to stop meddling in pending criminal cases.After Jackson warned Trump during a hearing on Tuesday about attacks on a juror in the case, Trump responded by tweeting that the juror “was totally biased, as is the judge.”
…
Australian Bank to Compensate Cambodian Farmers for Lost Land
In a landmark decision for the rights of smallholders, a leading Australian bank has agreed to pay more than 1,000 Cambodian families displaced by a sugar company it granted a loan to in 2011, even though the loan violated the bank’s stated human rights standards. ANZ Australia will pay the families with interest earned by the $40 million loan to Phnom Penh Sugar (PPS), a company owned by a conglomerate headed by Cambodian lawmaker and tycoon Ly Yong Phat, who is affiliated with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). At the time ANZ granted the loan through its Cambodian joint venture, ANZ Royal Bank, PPS had FILE – A land eviction protester shouts during a rally near the prime minister’s residence in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 22, 2019.FILE – Workers collect chopped sugar cane on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 3, 2016.In a statement by the three parties that was attached to the ANCP resolution, ANZ “acknowledges that its due diligence on the project funded by its loan was inadequate and recognizes the hardships faced by the affected communities.” “We congratulate Shayne Elliott and ANZ for doing the right thing by returning the revenue earned from the loan to affected families in Kampong Speu,” said Eang Vuthy, EC’s executive director. “This is an important recognition of the ongoing hardships that the communities have suffered all these years, and it will make a big difference for them. But this does not in any way replace Phnom Penh Sugar’s responsibility to fully compensate the communities for their damages.” ANCP praised the agreement in an accompanying statement: “Where a company has gained revenue in a manner inconsistent with the OECD guidelines, and that has resulted in parties being impacted, the payment of the revenues to those parties may be one way a company can comply with the requirements of the OECD guidelines.” ‘Appalling record’Pred pointed out, “This is only the second time out of more than 300 cases concluded in the 20-year history of the National Contact Point system when a complaint process has resulted in a concrete financial remedy for complainants. That’s an appalling record.” He continued, “We hope this outcome will help inspire a brighter future for corporate accountability, where the victims of corporate misconduct can expect legitimate complaints to result in effective remedies.” As part of the resolution, ANZ also agreed to review and strengthen its human rights policies, including its customer social and environmental screening processes and grievance mechanism. “We look forward to working with ANZ to establish an accessible and effective grievance mechanism for affected communities, and we urge other banks to follow suit,” Pred said. Last year, Friends of the Earth Australia issued a report finding Australia’s largest banks, including ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac, had funded directly or indirectly companies accused of improperly acquiring land from local people, child labor violations and land clearing, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.Phong Sokit of Kampong Speu province told VOA Khmer that the sugar company had seized about 25 hectares of land he had owned since 1996 in the Oral district. He said he had not heard about the compensation plan. Today, each hectare is worth about $10,000, he said. “I don’t know how they will solve how much to pay people,” Phong Sokit said. “Some have five hectares, some have 10 hectares that were bulldozed and grabbed. Some people have two or three hectares. … If the plan is to pay each an equal amount, I cannot accept it. Those who have more hectares of land can’t accept it.” Phong Sokit added, “It’s not clear yet what’s going to happen because the representatives who went to the meetings have not come back to tell the communities.”
…
Hunt for Russian Black Ops Specialist Ranges From Spain to Bulgaria
An international manhunt for a Russian spy chief accused of plotting assassinations and coups in several countries is shedding light on how Russia’s covert activities have been increasing throughout Europe, according to Western intelligence analysts. A general of Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU), Denis Sergeev, who is under investigation in Spain for his possible role in supporting Catalonia’s independence drive, also has been accused of masterminding a murder attempt in Bulgaria, according to information sent by Bulgaria’s public prosecutor’s office to Spanish police last week. FILE – Military forces work on a van in Winterslow, England, March 12, 2018, as investigations continue into the nerve agent poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England, on March 4, 2018.British counterintelligence services have long suspected Sergeev of involvement in a similar attempt to poison a high-level Russian defector in Britain, Sergei Skripal. Authorities in the Balkan state of Montenegro, meanwhile, accuse him of hatching plans for a coup to block their country’s recent entry into NATO. The Kremlin has strongly denied the charges. But Spanish defense analyst Felix Arteaga of Madrid’s Elcano Royal Institute says Sergeev’s activities “fit within the pattern of Russian activity in Europe,” which he said shows signs of “widening.” “They have moved from covert actions to others that are more for the aim of displaying influence,” Arteaga told the newspaper El Pais. Part of elite unitAccording to European intelligence officials, Sergeev is a senior operative of the GRU’s elite 29155 unit charged with conducting sensitive foreign missions for the Kremlin. His alleged role in recent “black operations” has been traced through records of his air travels, hotel stays and personal contacts with other suspected GRU officers at locations and times that coincide with a series of attacks. According to Bulgarian authorities, Sergeev, accompanied by another undercover GRU officer, landed in the capital, Sofia, four days before arms dealer Emilian Gebrev, his son and another executive in their company were poisoned with a lethal chemical agent in April 2015. Bulgarian press reports said the GRU may have wanted to kill Gebrev because he was supplying arms to Georgia, which had a brief war with Russia in 2008. At least eight Russians were involved in the assassination attempt, according to Bulgarian investigators who have told Spanish police that at least one of them has been identified through an FBI laboratory analysis of images caught on the security camera of an underground parking garage on April 28, 2015. The images show a man in gloves sprinkling powder on the door handle of Gebrev’s car. Sergeev left Bulgaria two days later, flying back to Russia via Istanbul. He made two trips to Britain in 2018 on dates that coincide with an attempt to assassinate Skripal using methods similar to those employed against Gebrev. FILE – Demonstrators wave independence flags in Barcelona, Spain, April 15, 2018, during a protest in support of Catalonian politicians who have been jailed on charges of sedition.Trips to BarcelonaA false passport that Sergeev used to enter Britain under the assumed name of Sergey Fedotov also has been traced to two trips he made to Barcelona, which Spanish investigators suspect may have involved efforts to penetrate Catalonia’s independence movement. His two-week stay in Barcelona between September 29 and October 9, 2017, coincided with the October 1 regional referendum on independence, which Spain’s central government considered illegal. Spanish police investigators say they have no specific evidence of Sergeev’s contacts with separatist groups. But officials of Spain’s defense ministry and other European intelligence agencies have said Russia boosted the independence cause with a propaganda campaign involving hundreds of thousands of social media messages placed by hackers operating from locations in Russia and Venezuela. Targeting NATO, EUHans Georg Maassen, who at the time was Germany’s counterintelligence chief, told an international security conference in 2018 it was “very feasible” that Moscow launched “disinformation” efforts to distort events in Catalonia as part of a larger strategy to weaken NATO and the European Union. While Sergeev was in Catalonia, the newly formed Republic of South Ossetia — propped up by Moscow in territory forcibly seized from Georgia — opened a consulate in Barcelona that may have been used as a front for Russian activities, according to Spanish intelligence analysts. During sometimes violent pro-independence demonstrations in November, Spanish police arrested a Russian national in Catalonia carrying a Russian made M-75 grenade in his Belarus-registered car. Spanish press reports quoted police as saying he was being investigated in connection with the Sergeev espionage ring.
…
UN OKs Sending Anti-Virus Supplies to North Korea
Doctors without Borders, the international medical aid group, can now send medical supplies to North Korea where the government is on high alert in an attempt to remain free of the coronavirus, despite its proximity to China and South Korea.
The U.N. Sanctions Committee on North Korea approved Doctors without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), to send supplies to North Korea, according to the committee’s website.The approval letter signed by Christoph Heusgen, the chair of the committee and the German ambassador to the U.N., allows the aid group to “engage in humanitarian activities” in North Korea by providing the country’s Ministry of Public Health “with essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and diagnostic items.”Approved items include goggles, thermometers, and stethoscopes, and kits to diagnose whether people with flu-like symptoms of COVID-19 have actually contracted the virus. The exemption is in effect from February 20 to August 20. Kee Park, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School who has worked on medical projects in North Korea many times, welcomed the exemptions at a time of a global health emergency.
“This is a good sign,” said Park. “They’re speeding things up as quickly as possible. It’s within days that the approval comes through the Sanctions Committee. And nongovernment organizations [NGOs] can go ahead and start making arrangements to send the supplies in.” Members from an emergency anti-epidemic headquarters in Mangyongdae District, disinfect a tramcar of Songsan Tram Station to prevent new coronavirus infection in Pyongyang, North Korea, Feb. 26, 2020.North Korea is maintaining an elevated level of alert, ordering the public to follow guidance from the state’s central public health authorities with “absolute obedience.”We should bear in mind any moment of complacency could result in irreversible catastrophic consequences and should maintain a high state of alert,” said North Korea’s official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday.
“[All] should show absolute obedience to unified guidance by the makeshift central public health committee and state measures.” Fear of the virus spreading into North Korea from neighboring China, where the epidemic began in the city of Wuhan, has prompted Pyongyang to act quickly. It sealed off the border it shares with China and suspended all transportation links to China in early February.Under normal conditions, many North Koreans and Chinese cross the border each day, making North Korea susceptible to the coronavirus. China has the highest number of confirmed cases, 76,190, and deaths, 2,800 according to WHO as of Wednesday.In North Korea’s neighbor of South Korea, officials reported 169 new virus cases Wednesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections there to 1,261. Just last week, that number was only 30. Twelve coronavirus patients in South Korea have died.North Korea, with a poor medical system, is considered to be lacking in supplies needed to diagnose and treat patients if they contracted the virus.The committee granted another exemption to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) this week to help North Korea fight the virus. International aid organizations are required to obtain exemptions from the committee because sanctions placed on North Korea since 2016 ban and restrict goods from freely entering and exiting the country to bar its exports and imports from aiding its nuclear weapons program.Harvard’s Park, who last worked in North Korea in November, 2019 and has been calling for a temporary waiver of sanctions, said such a process of seeking an exemption could be frustrating, especially under the exigencies of a global health threat like the coronavirus.
“These are not security threatening supplies. These are not going toward the nuclear weapons program or missile program,” said Park. “These are medical diagnostic kits, personal protective equipment.” According to Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement and Policy Enforcement Act in 2016, the committee wants to be cautious about sending supplies because North Korea has a history of misusing them.
“The U.N. and U.S. sanctions contain multiple humanitarian exemptions for medicines and medical supplies,” said Stanton. “But Pyongyang’s long and well-known history of corruption, diversion, and misuse of humanitarian aid forces us to be careful about what aid we provide and how it is distributed.”Stanton thinks U.N. and U.S. sanctions administrators should designate a “whitelist” of safe items and “graylist” of potential dual-use items. “U.N. and U.S. sanctions administrators should expand a “whitelist” of items that are not restricted by sanctions, that can help control the epidemic, and that do not pose dual-use risks of being turned against us as weapons,” said Stanton. He continued, “We can also create a ‘graylist’ of potential dual-use items that we should be willing to provide if we can verify that they are only used for humanitarian purposes.”Stanton added, “I hope and expect that the U.S. and U.N. will act quickly to approve all appropriate exemptions.”Park expects there should be “an increase in humanitarian goods [sent] overall over time” to North Korea as aid organizations obtain sanction exemptions. Once the supplies including diagnostic kits arrive in North Korea, Park said North Korean medical care professionals should have the skills to run “confirmatory testing for viral infections” on machines that he believes they already have.
“I think constant communication is vital, coordination of efforts to bring things in and speed things up,” Park added. Christy Lee contributed to this report from VOA’s Korean Service.
…
Tokyo Olympics Organizers, Government Take Offensive on Virus Threat
Tokyo Olympics organizers and the Japanese government went on the offensive Wednesday after a senior IOC member said the 2020 Games were being threatened by the spread of a viral outbreak, with their fate probably decided in the next three months.
Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto abruptly called a news conference late Wednesday afternoon to address comments from former International Olympic Committee vice president Dick Pound in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Our basic thoughts are that we will go ahead with the Olympic and Paralympic Games as scheduled,” Muto said, speaking in Japanese. “For the time being, the situation of the coronavirus infection is, admittedly, difficult to predict, but we will take measures such that we’ll have a safe Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 80,000 people and killed more than 2,700 globally. China has reported 2,715 deaths among 78,064 cases on the mainland. Five deaths in Japan have been attributed to the virus.
Pound has been a member of the IOC since 1978, serving two terms as vice president, and was the founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He has served 13 years longer than IOC president Thomas Bach. He also represented Canada as a swimmer at the Olympics.
“You could certainly go to two months out if you had to,” Pound told the AP in a telephone interview from his home in Montreal. “By and large you’re looking at a cancellation. This is the new war, and you have to face it. In and around there folks are going to have to say: `Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident of going to Tokyo or not?’”
Pound was speaking as a rank-and-file member and not part of the IOC’s present leadership, but his opinions are often sought in IOC circles.
“That the end of May is the time-limit, we have never thought of this or heard of such a comment,” Muto said. “So when we asked about this we received a response saying that is not the position of the IOC.”
The IOC has repeatedly said the Tokyo Games will go ahead and has said it is following the advice of the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency.
Japanese virologist Dr. Hitoshi Oshitani, who formerly worked for the WHO, said last week he could not forecast what the situation would be in five months.
The Olympics open on July 24 with 11,000 athletes, followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 25 with 4,400 athletes.
Australian IOC member John Coates, who heads the inspection team for Tokyo, pointed out that the IOC has an emergency fund of about $1 billion to operate if any Olympics are called off.
“The games aren’t being canceled,” Coates was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. “But if the games were canceled then the IOC is in the position to continue to fund the member sports and NOCs (national Olympic committees). But there is no plans to cancel the games.”
He added: “We have canceled the games in the past at war time … It’s just a matter of monitoring how this plays out.”
At a government task force meeting Wednesday on the virus outbreak, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was asking organizers to cancel or postpone major sports or cultural events over the next two weeks.
“The next one-to-two weeks is extremely important for the prevention of the escalation of the infection,” Abe ‘said. “We ask organizers to cancel, postpone or scale down the size of such events.”
He did not name specific events but said he was speaking about nationwide events that attract large crowds.
The three-month window also goes for sponsors and television broadcasters who need to firm up planning. Not to mention travelers, athletes and fans with 7.8 million tickets available for the Olympics and 2.3 million for the Paralympics.
As the games draw near, Pound said: A lot of things have to start happening. You've got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels. The media folks will be in their building their studios.''I don’t think I can talk based on presumptions over what might happen months ahead,” Muto said.
Muto declined to speculate about the future condition of the virus.
The Prime Minister has announced measures to be taken over the next two weeks and so we, too, are taking that into consideration. The biggest problem would be if this novel coronavirus infections spreads far and wide, so the most important thing to do is to take measures to prevent that from happening.
He also said the torch relay would go ahead. It is to start in Japan on March 26 in Fukushima prefecture, located 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
We absolutely do not think of canceling (the torch relay), Muto said. We'd like to think about how to implement it while preventing the spread of infection, including scaling down, or other ways.''we believe it is necessary to make a worst case scenario in order to improve our operation to achieve success.”
Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, speaking in parliament on Wednesday, said
She added plans were being made “so that we can safely hold the Tokyo Olympics.”
Also Wednesday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that the Colombian Olympic Committee has decided not to participate in pre-Olympic training camps in southern Japan.
…
Africa Braces for Coronavirus as Delay Offers Time to Prepare
Africa is braced for a potential Coronavirus pandemic as experts warn health systems on the continent could be overwhelmed. Beyond its source in China, outbreaks have hit South Korea, Iran and Italy – with cases detected in dozens of other countries. However, experts say the apparent delay in the virus reaching Africa on a large scale has given precious time to prepare, as Henry Ridgwell reports.
…
Adviser: Sanders Presidency Could Start with $300 Billion US Jobs Program
A Bernie Sanders presidency could begin modestly with a roughly $300 billion federal jobs guarantee before pushing for trillions of dollars in new spending on health care, the environment and infrastructure, says a key adviser to the U.S. Democratic front-runner.Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist, has promised a sweeping transformation of the U.S. economy if he wrests the keys to the White House from President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.A jobs guarantee, which would see the federal government ensure employment for anyone who wanted to work, would be a logical first step for the would-be president, said Stephanie Kelton, who has been Sanders’ senior economic adviser since his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.”I like very much the idea of getting a safeguard in place right away because, like most people, I worry about what happens when the next downturn comes,” Kelton, an economics professor at Stony Brook University in New York state, said to journalists this week on the sidelines of a National Association for Business Economics meeting.Kelton estimates the jobs guarantee would increase the federal deficit by about 1.5% of gross domestic product while ensuring the elusive goal of full employment. The U.S. deficit currently stands at 4.5% of GDP.Such a proposal is not a novel idea in U.S. history or even the current presidential race. Government employment programs were used to ease the sting of the Great Depression, and have been more recently proposed by Democratic presidential candidates including Senator Elizabeth Warren.But Sanders has made it a centerpiece of his agenda.It would, Kelton said, form an ultimate economic backstop that ensured full employment even in a recession and expanded federal spending just as private sector incomes ebbed.With that first proposal in place, Sanders could turn his attention to cancelling the $1.7 trillion in federal student debt, Kelton said, a step she argues would boost economic growth.Trillions would then be allocated to pay for ambitious parts of the Sanders agenda such as the Medicare For All proposal to provide health insurance for all Americans based on the existing government-run program for those 65 and older, a climate-friendly Green New Deal or an infrastructure building program.Those programs would need to be rolled out more deliberately and designed by teams of experts across federal agencies to match what the economy can “absorb” in any given year without causing a worrying jump in inflation, she said.FILE – Economics and Public Policy professor Stephanie Kelton, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Setauket, Long Island, New York, June 11, 2019.While Kelton’s role in a possible Sanders White House is uncertain, her advocacy of the controversial Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) brand of economics could help shape the implementation of his economic agenda.The Sanders campaign had no comment when asked about Kelton’s possible future role. The campaign’s website promises “a stable job that pays a living wage” to everyone in America who can work, highlighting health care, infrastructure, and childhood education jobs.MMT hinges on the belief that nations like the United States that issue their own currencies and do not borrow in foreign denominations need not limit government spending based on tax revenues or annual budget deficits, but rather by whether the spending produces inflation.Sanders does not overtly advocate MMT, and some aspects of it clash with his progressive rhetoric. As an intellectual notion, for example, higher deficits could be just as easily used to underwrite tax cuts as a Green New Deal, a fact Kelton has said makes Trump seem perhaps an unwitting adherent.Critics, including Republicans as well as moderate Democrats, view MMT as a pie-in-the-sky set of ideas that would require huge tax hikes and ultimately lead to higher interest rates that would damage the economy.It is likely Republicans, who currently control the U.S. Senate, would reject most if not all of such an agenda.
In the wake of Sanders’ recent victories in the New Hampshire and Nevada nominating contests and strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, some Democrats have voiced concerns that independents and moderateRepublicans will be scared by the prospect of a sharp left turn, jeopardizing Democrats’ control of the U.S. House of Representatives as well as their White House hopes.Sanders, who has vowed to make the wealthy and corporations assume a greater financial burden, has acknowledged that taxes will go up to pay for his proposals, but he so far has refused to say by how much.Some of his rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have criticized Sanders for failing to lay out the costs and brandished his proposals as a gift to Republicans in November.”I can tell you exactly how it all adds up. It adds up to four more years of Donald Trump,” Buttigieg said during a Democratic candidates debate on Wednesday. The next state nominating contest takes place on Saturday in South Carolina.Technocratic revolutionIn her appearance at the National Association for Business Economics this week, Kelton outlined what would amount to a technocratic revolution in which lawmakers and officials would closely calibrate federal budgets to spend as much as possible while keeping inflation at bay, attack bottlenecks in specific markets if needed, and use interventions more akin to wartime to engineer the economy away from fossil fuels.Kelton envisions key changes to the budgeting for government programs so lawmakers no longer fight one battle over how much to spend on a program and another over how to fund it.”Budgets should be aimed at solving problems,” she said, summing up how an MMT approach could be put into practice. “Write a budget with the intent of improving public well-being.”For more ambitious programs, “operationalizing” MMT would involve analyzing how large amounts of spending could be rolled out to avoid unwanted inflation, she said.MMT does not worry about government deficits. But it does see inflation as a constraint, if money is spent so fast in an economy or market that it drives up prices.Kelton acknowledged the need for a dose of caution on that front, given the low level of U.S. unemployment, currently at 3.6%.She cited the estimates of other economists that show there still might be perhaps $500 billion of immediate “fiscal space” available.But if the aim is to spend “a couple of trillion on a Green New Deal or infrastructure, somebody better be getting this right, especially when the margin of error is not big,” she said.
…
Rains Bring Relief as Water Again Flows Through Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls
After a long and unsettling dry spell, the water at Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls is flowing again, fed by rains upstream in Angola and Namibia. But as Columbus Mavhunga reports from Victoria Falls, experts and environmentalists say global warming is having a huge impact across Africa, and the continent needs to take immediate action to help reverse the trend.
…
Belgian Envoy Sees ‘Dynamic’ Energy Driving US Economy
What do Belgium and the U.S. state of Arkansas have in common? The answer is a fondness for bicycling, according to Belgian Ambassador to Washington Dirk Wouters. In a recent interview, Wouters cited the Southern state’s ambitious bid to host an international cycling event next year as an example of the “dynamic” energy he has witnessed almost everywhere he has traveled in the United States. “It comes with business. That’s the interesting part about it,” Wouters said, explaining that the cycling pitch includes plans to market bicycles, jerseys, beer, tourism and a range of other products and services. “There’s also a lot of symbolism involved,” he added, noting that biking is part of the Belgian DNA. “It’s a rather simple sport — two wheels, accessible to everyone.” Given Belgium’s size, “you can cover the whole country from one end to the other all by bike. I think that has a lot to do with it.” Impressed by PittsburghWouters said he experienced the same entrepreneurial energy on a visit to Pittsburgh, a Northeastern city that once based its prosperity on the steel industry but has had to reinvent itself in recent decades as its old steel mills became unprofitable and closed. Pittsburgh’s luster could have faded with the steel mills, he said, “but it didn’t.” “You can still see the old city and these wonderful steel bridges, and the old industry, but at the same time, they have developed so many new activities,” Wouters said. Describing the city’s Carnegie Mellon University as “a powerhouse,” he said, “On robotics, they’re world leaders, as simple as that.” Turning to his own country, the ambassador argued that Belgium should be seen as much more than its capital, Brussels, which is recognized internationally as host to the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. “That would be as if you say the United States is Washington. Doesn’t make sense, right?” Wouters stressed that while Belgium is small geographically – about the size of the American state of Maryland – it’s the ninth-largest source of foreign investment into the United States, “ahead of China, Mexico, South Korea, India, you name it.” “Fourteen or 15 of our biggest companies have invested in the South and Southeastern parts of the United States,” Wouters said, citing Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina as among the top destinations of Belgian investment. “And of course New York state and Texas.” Energy and moreEnergy accounted for the “first and biggest” part of Belgium’s trade relationship with Texas, he said, driven by the heavy oil tanker traffic between Houston and the Belgian port of Antwerp, a major transit point for goods heading deeper into Europe. But, he said, “the time that Texas did only oil and gas is long past!” The relationship today increasingly involves health and life sciences, cybersecurity and renewable energy, among other things. Wouters has also noticed something else about Texas: “There, they say first they’re Texan before they say they’re American.” Similarly, Wouters has learned in his travels that “each state has its own microcosms, its characteristics and specificities.” And several of the larger states pack an economic clout comparable to those of major countries, he said, suggesting that if Texas, New York state and California were to become independent nations, the G-20 group of major economic powers would have to be reconfigured. Vying for investmentBut the ambassador said he has also seen qualities that are shared by all regions of the United States, including a widespread commitment to free trade and a competition to attract foreign investment that at times can reach a “nuclear level.” That drive is understandable, he said. “If a governor can say, ‘I don’t have unemployment in my state. This year I created several thousand new jobs. We have comparative advantage compared to other states in certain sectors,’ that’s very powerful. “And governors can make a difference. I’ve seen that,” Wouters said.
…
Over 100 Guests Cleared to Leave Tenerife Hotel on Coronavirus Lockdown
None of the remaining 700-plus guests at a hotel in Spain’s Canary Islands on lockdown
over the coronavirus have shown any symptoms of the virus and 130 of them have been cleared to leave, a spokesman for the regional government said on Thursday.”All these tourists, clients, guests present no symptoms … and a decision has been made that frees the hotel from the presence of 130 people,” he said in televised comments. “At the same time, there is the possibility that the remaining ones … could be leaving the hotel as soon as a similar situation is verified,” he added.The guests and staff in Tenerife’s H10 Costa Adeje Palace Hotel have spent three days in isolation after the coronavirus was detected there in four Italian tourists.Spain’s total number of active coronavirus cases rose to 15 on Thursday from 11, with the bulk of them linked to Italy, hit by the worst outbreak of the disease yet seen in Europe, with 528 cases and 14 deaths. The four infected people in the hotel were all Italians.
…
About 40% of US Adults Are Obese, Government Survey Finds
About 4 in 10 American adults are obese, and nearly 1 in 10 is severely so, government researchers said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings come from a 2017-18 health survey that measures height and weight. More than 5,000 U.S. adults took part.
The survey found that the obesity rate was 42%, higher than the 40% found in a similar 2015-16 study. The severe obesity rate was more than 9% in the new survey, up from the 8% figure in the previous one.
Those increases aren’t considered statistically significant: The survey numbers are small enough that there’s a mathematical chance the rates didn’t truly rise.
But it’s clear that adult obesity rates are trending up, said the CDC’s Cynthia Ogden, one of the report’s authors.
A half-century ago, about 1 in 100 American adults were severely obese. Now it’s 10 times more common.
The obesity rate has risen about 40% in the last two decades.
The findings suggest that more Americans will get diabetes, heart disease and cancer, said Dr. William Dietz, a George Washington University obesity expert.
It also will be increasingly difficult for doctors to care for so many severely obese people, Dietz said. He has estimated that on average, every primary care doctor treating adults has about 100 severely obese patients.
“How’s a provider going to do that? Severe obesity really requires very intensive therapy,” he said.
The CDC did not report new obesity numbers for kids and teens. That may come out later this year, Ogden said. In 2015-16, 18.5% of kids and teens were obese and just under 6% were severely obese.
Dietz faulted the government for not pushing for more measures to promote physical activity and better eating. Building more sidewalks and passing a national tax on sugary beverages could make a big difference, he said.
Obesity, which means not merely overweight, but seriously overweight, is considered one of the nation’s leading public health problems.
It is measured by the body mass index, or BMI, a figure calculated from a person’s weight and height. A BMI of 25 or greater is considered overweight, a BMI of 30 and above is obese, and a BMI of 40 or above is severely obese.
A person who is 5-foot-4, the average height for U.S. women, is considered obese at a weight of 174 pounds and severely obese above 232 pounds. A person who is 5-foot-9, about the average height for men, is deemed obese at 203 pounds and severely obese at 270.
…
US Senate Majority Leader McConnell Hopes to See Coronavirus Funding Bill Within 2 Weeks
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that he expects Senate
appropriators to produce funding legislation within the next two weeks to fight the spread of coronavirus in the United States.
McConnell, speaking on the Senate floor, said he has faith that bipartisan discussions on the Senate Appropriations
Committee would agree on “the right sum … at this time to ensure our nation’s needs are fully funded.”
“I hope they can work expeditiously so the full Senate would be able to take up the legislation within the next two weeks,” the Kentucky Republican said.
…
African Union says Preparing 3,000-Troop Deployment to Sahel
The African Union confirmed Thursday that it expected to send a temporary deployment of 3,000 troops to West Africa’s Sahel region, where regional forces are struggling to respond to a nearly eight-year-old onslaught by armed Islamists.The decision was made at the AU summit earlier this month, Smail Chergui, head of the AU’s Peace and Security Commission, said at a press conference.”On the decision of the summit to work on deploying a force of 3,000 troops to help the Sahel countries degrade terrorist groups, I think this is a decision that we’ll be working on together with the G5 Sahel and ECOWAS,” Chergui said.”I think this decision has been taken because as we see, as you can recognise yourself, the threat is expanding, it’s becoming more complex.”FILE – Leaders of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania pose for a photo at the G5 Sahel summit in Niamey, Dec. 15, 2019.G5 Sahel is a 5,000-member joint force already on the ground in the Sahel, and ECOWAS is the West African regional bloc.A localized revolt that began in northern Mali in 2012 has spread to the centre of the country and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.Around 4,000 people died in the three countries last year, a fivefold increase over 2016, according to U.N. figures.The bloodshed has escalated despite the presence of a 13,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali, and rattled coastal countries to the south of the Sahel.Final decisions from the AU summit have yet to be published, but diplomats have confirmed details of the proposed Sahel deployment.”The summit decided to deploy about 3,000 troops for a period of six months to work with the countries of the Sahel to deal with the menace that they are facing,” Edward Xolisa Makaya, South Africa’s ambassador to the AU, told AFP. “It’s just a sign or a show of solidarity with the people of the Sahel.”South Africa took over as AU chair at the summit and plans to host an extraordinary summit of the body on security issues in May.Makaya said he hoped the Sahel deployment would take place “during the course of the year”.But many details of the possible deployment have yet to be worked out.Makaya said no countries had come forward to volunteer troops, and it was also unclear how the deployment would be financed.
…
Kenyan Police Seek Civilian Help Against al-Shabab
Kenyan police are calling on residents of the country’s northeast, along the border with Somalia, to do more to help them combat al-Shabab militants. The danger of attacks in the region has grown to the point that the agency which recruits Kenyan teachers is vowing not to put them in counties along the border.The debate on the future of education in northeastern Kenya has entered the corridors of parliament, as teachers seek transfers to areas outside the region.The Teachers Service Commission, an agency tasked with training, hiring and placing instructors across the country, said 42 teachers have been killed since 2014 at the hands of Somali militant group al-Shabab.The head of the commission, Nancy Macharia, defended the withdrawal of teachers from the terror-hit areas in the northeast.“It’s true the children need education. But also the teachers are entitled to life. Life is sacrosanct,” she said.In 2018 five teachers were killed in Wajir and Mandera counties.Children look at a damaged telecommunications mast after an attack by al-Shabab extremists in the settlement of Kamuthe in Garissa county, Kenya, Jan. 13, 2020.In January, three teachers were killed when al-Shabab attacked Kamuthe primary school in Garissa county.Responding to questions from parliament members, the inspector general of police, Hillary Mutyambai, said residents of Kamuthe village were aware of the attack in advance.“Even the attack of those teachers, it is only the non-local teachers who were not aware about that attack. The students themselves and the other teachers during the material time of the attack they were absent. We have argued the local component is very important to compliment a security operation,” she said.Mutyambai called on the local leaders to talk to their people and to encourage them to work with security forces to fight al-Shabab.George Musamali, director of the Center for Risk Management in Africa, blames security agencies for some of the problems in the area.“The locals are looking at who is the lesser evil, because if you see the way we operate when we are in that area, especially the government security agencies, they go in that area and use brutal force against the locals. As much as we are saying they are cooperating with al-Shabab, there is a high possibility they are not cooperating, what they are doing is turning a blind eye to the al-Shabab activities, not reporting them, not sharing intelligence with the national government,” he said.Mohamed Dahiye is a lawmaker from northeastern Kenya. He said authorities must find a way to keep the schools open.“When you give up to them, to their demands and you close schools basically or when you end deploying teachers out from that area you have left those children and those people to whims al-Shabab and we feel this is extremely unfortunate and totally unacceptable,” he said.The education of some 10,000 school children in the northeast hangs in the balance as the local and national leaders search for solutions.
…
UN: Myanmar’s Rohingya Subject to Increased Prejudice, Violence
The United Nations says Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar are experiencing an upsurge in violations and abuse fueled by prejudice and hate speech. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted a report on the root causes of abuse in Myanmar to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.Introducing the report, U.N. rights chief Michele Bachelet said laws and policies promoting discrimination and exclusion against religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar have existed for more than half a century.“They have contributed to and perpetuated violence, extreme poverty, exploitation and dispossession. Notably, the 1982 citizenship law rendered stateless a significant proportion of the Rohingya and other Muslims, compounding their vulnerability,” Bachelet said.Oppression of the stateless Muslim minority peaked in August 2017. That was when violence and persecution, reported killings and rapes by the Myanmar military triggered a mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh.Bachelet said other ethnic and religious minorities across Myanmar also suffer serious human rights violations at the hands of the military. She said its counter-insurgency policies and tactics at times have deliberately targeted civilians.“The recent upsurge of xenophobia and violence can also be partly attributed to the stresses and uncertainties of Myanmar’s current transition from decades of authoritarian rule. The dramatic expansion of public access to social media has enabled extremist and ultra-nationalist movements to propagate messages inciting hatred and violence, fueling communal tensions,” the U.N. rights chief said.Rohingya refugees wait after their boat capsized near the Saint Martin’s island in the Bay of Bengal, in Teknaf, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVESBachelet urged Myanmar’s government to de-escalate xenophobic, discriminatory practices and to promote inter-faith and inter-ethnic tolerance.Myanmar’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Kyaw Moe Tun, said his government’s efforts to achieve national reconciliation and peace with ethnic armed groups are advancing. But he added that transforming the country from authoritarian rule into a democratic federal union takes time. He said his government is concerned about the conflict in Rakhine state and those affected by it, but disclaimed responsibility for the events that triggered the exodus of the Rohingya. He blamed the mass displacement and current humanitarian situation of the Rohingya on terrorist attacks by ARSA, a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine state.
…
Multinational Companies in China Seek Tax Relief to Offset Coronavirus Woes
Multinationals in China are seeing a “significant” revenue loss from the coronavirus outbreak, with most American and European companies expecting revenue to decrease this year if business cannot resume soon. They are urging China’s government to provide tax relief while putting a priority on transparency and consistent policies in its fight against the disease.An American Chamber of Commerce in China survey released Thursday found that nearly half of 169 company executives expect this year’s revenue to drop if their business operation does not return to usual by the end of April.Massive revenue dropNearly one-fifth of them forecast a massive 50% drop or more in 2020 revenue if the outbreak continues through the end of August, while 10% are already reporting a daily loss of about $70,000 (500,000 yuan), the organization said in a press statement.Another joint survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the German Chamber of Commerce in China also found that nearly half of their 577 member companies expect a double-digit revenue drop for the first half of this year, while a quarter of them forecast a drop of more than 20%, according to their press statement.“There is, in the short term, a clear and significant negative impact to member company operations, through travel disruptions, reduced staff productivity, increased costs, significant drops in revenue and more,” said AmCham China chairman Greg Gilligan in the statement, referring to major challenges currently facing American companies there.Workers are seen at an entrance to a Walmart store in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Hubei province, China, Feb.25, 2020.Some 44% of surveyed American companies also say that uncertainty around the epidemic has harmed their outlook about the U.S.-China relationship in the next two years, while one-third express pessimistic views toward China’s prospects for cost, profits and economic growth.Inconsistent rulesMeanwhile, half of surveyed European companies say that they face unpredictable and inconsistent rules applied across different jurisdictions and levels of government in China, which can change frequently on a short notice.For example, deliveries are subject to multiple onerous restrictions when passing through different areas, the statement said.Other major challenges facing foreign businesses also include highly restrictive quarantine demands and extensive pre-conditions to restart business operations.“The patchwork of conflicting rules that emerged from the fight against COVID-19 has produced hundreds of fiefdoms, making it next to impossible to move goods or people across China,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European chamber in China in the statement.“While virus containment is the most important task, standardizing measures across larger jurisdictions should also prioritized to get the real economy back on its feet,” he added. While performing a balancing act between containing the outbreak and restarting the economy, China is required “to release supporting measures for those most affected – especially small- and medium-sized enterprises – until operations normalize,” said Stephan Woellenstein, chairman of the German Chamber.Tax alleviation neededIn addition to transparency and consistent policies, American companies urge the Chinese government to help foreign business weather the difficult time by offering tax relief.Moreover, a majority of them also urge the U.S. government to relax travel restrictions into the U.S. and provide further information both on the implementation of the U.S.-China phase one trade deal and clarity of its coronavirus-related business policies.Meanwhile, Taiwanese electronic and chipmakers operating in worst-hit Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, are hoping restart their operations after March 10.With any further delay, the impact on their future performance prospects will be huge, said Yen Shu-chiu, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association in Taipei.Supply chain disruptionsAn employee wearing a face mask is seen at a workshop of computed tomography (CT) scanners of medical device firm Siemens Healthineers in Shanghai, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Feb. 24, 2020.Major difficulties facing China’s electronics sector include disrupted supply of both raw materials and workforce.Due to quarantine measures, a worker shortage caused by “migrant workers failing to return back to work has posed a negative impact on their business operations,” Yen said.”Another major impact comes from the disrupted supply of raw materials. Many companies have nearly used up their stockpile of raw materials. If the supply chain [of raw materials] remains shut, it will create a major headache,” she added.She said that the first quarter is traditionally a slow season for the electronics sector. However, the sector will see drops in full-year revenue if the disrupted supply of workforce and raw materials extends through March.Fortunately, hundreds of Taiwanese factories operating in Dongguan in Guangdong province and Kunshan in Jiangsu province have already resume 90% of their production capacity, although uncertainty remains regarding their future orders, according to Yen.While it is still too early to say how big an impact the outbreak will have on long-term business prospects, some local governments there have rolled out tax relief, rent cuts and financing to help improve the business conduction and sustainability for foreign businesses operating in China, although more help is needed, she added.
…
Top Nominee Polanski to Skip French Oscars After Rape Claim
Filmmaker Roman Polanski is skipping the awards ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars – where his latest movie leads this year’s nominations – because of protests prompted by a new rape accusation against him.Women’s rights activists have called for a boycott of Friday’s Cesars ceremony in Paris, and plastered anti-Polanski banners and graffiti at the event venue and the Cesar academy headquarters.The entire male-dominated leadership of the Cesars stepped down recently amid a spat over its byzantine decision-making structure and over how to deal with the Polanski problem.In a statement Thursday provided to The Associated Press, the Paris-based Polanski said the ceremony was turning into a “public lynching.” Addressing the new accusation against him, he said, “Fantasies of unhealthy minds are now treated as proven facts.”“We know ahead of time how this evening will play out,” Polanski wrote in his statement.Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977 and then fled.Last year, a Frenchwoman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975. Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation.But the accusation put the director under fresh scrutiny in France, where he has long been revered as one of the country’s premier filmmakers despite the outstanding rape charge in the U.S.Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy,” which addresses anti-Semitic persecution of French army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus in the 1890s, is up for multiple Cesars on Friday.Polanski, who survived the Holocaust in Poland as a child, said this years’ awards “have no place for a film whose subject is defending truth and fighting injustice, blind hate and anti-Semitism.”Polanski said he decided not to attend the ceremony to protect his colleagues and his wife and children.
…
Pope Cancels Visit with Rome Priests for ‘Slight’ Illness
Pope Francis is sick and he skipped a planned Mass with Rome clergy across town on Thursday, officials said.The Vatican said the 83-year-old pontiff had a “slight indisposition” and would proceed with the rest of his planned work on Thursday. But Francis “preferred to stay near Santa Marta,” the Vatican hotel where he lives.There was no word from the Vatican about the nature of his illness, but the pope was seen coughing and blowing his nose during the Ash Wednesday Mass. It comes amid an outbreak of the coronavirus in Italy that has sickened more than 400 people, almost all of them in the north. Rome had three cases, but all three were cured.Francis had been scheduled to go to the St. John Lateran basilica across town to meet with Rome clergy and celebrate a penitential Mass at the start of Lent. Francis is bishop of Rome, but delegates the day-to-day running of the archdiocese to a vicar.The Argentine pope has generally enjoyed good health. He lost part of one lung as a young man because of a respiratory illness, and suffers from sciatica, which makes walking difficult.Francis has had a busy schedule lately, including his public general audience on Wednesday and the Ash Wednesday service later in the day in a Roman basilica.
…
Moscow Ships its Trash to its Neighbors, and They’re Fighting Back
Contemporary Moscow can often seem a glittery city of dreams — the Russian capital arguably more efficient, clean and well-run than many of its Western counterparts. But behind the glamour lies an uncomfortable truth: Russia’s largest city is choking on garbage. The city’s 12 million residents produce more than 7 million tons of waste per year — 20% of Russia’s entire output — according to government figures. Industrial waste raises that number even higher, and only a fraction of that amount is currently recycled. For now, most ends up in places like Alexandrov, a picturesque historic town just a few hours’ drive from the capital that’s home to one of several dozen landfills that surround Moscow. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – In this photo taken April 20, 2018, garbage trucks unload the trash at the Volovichi landfill near Kolomna, Russia.Whichever way the wind blows really mattersA sudden shift in the wind in Alexandrov and suddenly, the acrid odor is inescapable.Residents told VOA that “like radiation,” Alexandrov’s landfill is ultimately something most residents see more than feel. “You can smell the landfill from miles way. You can’t breathe at all, ” said Alexander Kuyum, a father of two young boys who recalls growing up in an area that once looked like a 19th century pastoral painting.“The worst thing is, they’ve shipped all this garbage, and now want to ship even more,” he said. Growing concerns over the landfill’s risks to public health led to the largest protest in recent memory in Alexandrov last December. About 5,000 people filled the local square and demanded the site be closed. Similar scenes are playing out in dozens of towns across the country, as Russia confronts a trash crisis that has yet to develop effective garbage and recycling programs. Yet public ire has focused on Moscow, in particular, for imposing its will — and waste — on poorer communities that are finally saying, enough.“I don’t want to leave,” Julia Gribnova, a young mother, said in an interview with VOA. “I’m not saying Moscow should have to live in squalor. I’m just saying that I don’t want them to ship it here.”Local activists fighting the landfill say they’re pegged as troublemakers, harassed by police and smeared on social media for merely wanting clean air in their own backyard.““I don’t want to run and join some protest movement,” said Vitaly Katasov, a young designer and father who joined in the movement. “But I’m not sure there are other options left. The authorities here don’t listen to us.”The lesson of ShestunOne need only look at FILE – A man throws a garbage bag into a trash box in a courtyard in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg, Feb. 20, 2013.Reduce, recycle, reform The Kremlin is under growing pressure over the trash wars. Putin introduced new waste and recycling reforms this year, acknowledging widespread dissatisfaction with an issue that has been a constant feature of the Kremlin’s often stage-managed interactions with Russian voters. How serious the reforms, and Putin’s intentions, remain a point of debate. New government measures call for more incineration rather than recycling — a quick but pollutant-heavy solution criticized by environmentalists. Moreover, the measures exempt major waste-producing cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg for now. Trucks bearing urban waste continue to run to neighboring towns and municipalities. Blue binsYet Moscow is, in its own way, pitching in. The city recently unveiled new blue recycling bins at standard waste collection points near apartment buildings around the city. As with much in the new Moscow, locals acknowledge the bins are stylish, but questioned their practicality.“I watch people recycling, but without sorting out anything,” said Natalya, a Moscow resident. “And I am not at all sure that my recyclables will go where they’re supposed to.”“The bins are there, but the labels aren’t exactly informative,” noted Ivan, another resident. For now, Sobirator, a volunteer recycling center in one of Moscow’s industrial zones, is one of the few places where Muscovites can learn to recycle responsibly.“The problem we face is that there’s no trust from the residents that one can really put the recyclables there, and they’ll go where they’re supposed to,” explained Tatyana Vasilyeva of Sobirator.“The first time I came here, it was such a feeling of relief to know that this garbage won’t occupy someplace, somewhere in the ground, but will be recycled,” added Elena, a local photographer. Back in Alexandrov, a few rare businesses like Brigantina see commerce in manufacturing products from recycled plastics and bottles.“I could employ 20 times the people if the government gave us support,” said Vladimir Nizamov, the company’s owner.Until then, Moscow’s trash mountains continue to grow, dragging Russians to the frontline of a fight it seems everyone wishes they could wipe away.
…
Virus Scare Halts North Korea Talks
North Korean authorities have sealed their borders and imposed strict quarantine measures, declaring coronavirus prevention measures a matter of “national survival.”On the southern side of the peninsula, the United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed joint military drills because of a surge in coronavirus cases, including on military bases.Authorities in both Koreas are scrambling to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus, shifting attention from North Korea nuclear negotiations, which were stalled.Depending on how long the outbreak lasts, it could mean that nuclear talks will remain held up throughout U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term.“I think [the North Koreans] are absorbed by this health scare and the management of it,” a Seoul-based European diplomat told VOA. “Trickier and more long-term, complicated issues are by definition secondary right now,” the diplomat added.Members from an emergency anti-epidemic headquarters in Mangyongdae District, disinfect a tramcar of Songsan Tram Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Feb. 26, 2020. Uncertainly remained over how best to stem the spread of the illness.Talks ‘completely dormant’Prospects for the nuclear talks were already grim. North Korean officials have for months shunned the negotiations, accusing the United States of not offering enough in exchange for steps to begin dismantling its nuclear program. In early January, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned he no longer felt bound by his moratorium on long-range missile or nuclear tests and vowed to unveil a “new strategic weapon.” Since the outbreak, though, North Korean officials have refrained from major provocative statements.The North Korean nuclear talks have now gone completely dormant, according to a senior South Korean diplomat. “Their priorities are now elsewhere,” he said. “It’s compounded by the fact that [North Korean diplomats] can’t travel,” added the European diplomat. Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters. A helicopter prepares to take off at a U.S. army base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Feb. 27, 2020.Tensions eased?Some say the coronavirus-imposed freeze may not be a bad thing for the talks. North Korea has not yet responded to the Thursday postponement of U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises. Pyongyang has long viewed the drills as unacceptable and often conducts weapons tests and other provocations in response.The absence of drills, combined with North Korea’s all-out efforts to keep out the coronavirus, could mean that military tensions will not escalate in the first part of the year, as many had expected, according to some analysts.“That can give us some time. Then the U.S. and South Korea can come up with some kind of workable formula to persuade North Korea to come back to dialogue,” said Moon Chung-in, a scholar and special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.Moon, the presidential adviser, who spoke to VOA in his personal capacity, pointed to the possibility of the United States providing direct or indirect coronavirus-related aid to North Korea, which is in dire need of medical supplies. The U.S. State Department earlier this month said it is “deeply concerned” North Koreans are susceptible to the virus and that it supports the efforts of international aid organizations that are trying to deliver emergency assistance to North Korea. Others are less optimistic that the coronavirus worries will lead to a breakthrough in talks.“The longer there’s a period without tensions, the better. But absent any other impetus to try again, I don’t think this will be enough. North Korea likely won’t come back to talks in a weakened state,” said Andray Abrahamian, who focuses on North Korea as an adjunct senior fellow at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum.“But if this absorbs them for the next few months, it’s a nice excuse to just wait a few more and see who wins the next [U.S.] election before making a move,” he added.President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he walks offstage after speaking at a campaign rally, Feb. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas.Elections impact Upcoming elections in both the United States and South Korea could influence the nuclear talks. In South Korea, President Moon faces a crucial legislative election in April that could help determine the direction of the second half of his five-year term. Moon has prioritized engagement with North Korea, even as Pyongyang abandoned talks, resumed missile tests, and hurled a flurry of insults toward Seoul. The election could serve as a de facto referendum on Moon’s approach to North Korea, as well as his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has angered many of his conservative critics. In the United States, Trump’s reelection is far from certain, and some of his Democratic challengers have hinted they may roll back portions of Trump’s personal outreach to Kim. North Korea still interested?When the coronavirus recedes, where will things stand with the talks?If Trump is reelected, some believe that talks could resume relatively quickly, citing North Korea’s less-aggressive stance toward the U.S. in recent months.“From the North Korean perspective, it’s likely that they would be interested in resuming talks, because then they have another four years with someone they already know, and there is no period where you have to get to know each other,” the European diplomat said.“If they were to do a major provocation — a space launch or an ICBM — what would they have to gain from that right now?” he added. FILE – Alex Wong, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, delivers a speech during the 2018 Hsieh Nien Fan of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, Taiwan, March 21, 2018.US waits for first moveThe U.S.-North Korea talks broke down in early October following a brief round of working-level discussions in Stockholm. The U.S. has since given new titles to some of the negotiators involved in the North Korea talks. Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, was promoted to deputy secretary of state in December. Earlier this month, the White House announced it intends to nominate Alex Wong, the deputy special envoy, to an ambassador-level post at the United Nations.At an event Wednesday in Washington, Wong said it was up to North Korea to re-enter negotiations. “When they’re ready to set in motion the necessary talks, when they’re ready to seize the opportunities that we have before us, our team will be ready as well,” he said.
…
Survey: Majority of Americans Satisfied With US Position in World
A new Gallup survey released Thursday shows that 53% of respondents, led by those who identified as Republicans, are satisfied with the position of the United States in the world.That figure is up 8 percentage points from last year and is the highest since 2003.Gallup reported a sharp partisan divide, but one the agency said is common in the past two decades depending on which party controls the White House.GOP satisfactionWith Republican Donald Trump in office, 85% of Republicans said they were satisfied with the U.S. position, while just 19% percent of Democrats agreed.Republicans also helped elevate the number of those who said the United States is seen favorably “in the eyes of the world.”Gallup’s poll found 16% of those surveyed rated perception of the U.S. as very favorable, while another 44% said it was somewhat favorable. And 83% of Republican respondents picked one of those two positive options.World’s respectAnd while Trump did reach his highest level in Gallup polling on the question of whether other world leaders respect him, that score was just 37% of people saying foreign leaders respect Trump, compared with 61% saying the leaders do not.Gallup said Trump’s score is similar to that of Republican President George W. Bush at the same time in his presidency, but far behind the 51% of Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Barack Obama.
…
Russian Towns Fight Moscow’s Garbage, Putting Pressure on Kremlin
The Russian government is facing a mounting trash crisis as dozens of Russian towns are increasingly angry over shipments of garbage from Moscow and other urban centers to surrounding landfills. With the Kremlin facing growing public pressure over the issue, the government has introduced a novel idea: recycling. Charles Maynes reports from Moscow.
…