Two people were killed Wednesday evening and another reported missing when gunmen, believed to be al-Shabab militants, attacked a bus in Kenya’s Mandera county, along with the border with Somalia.The bus driver described the ordeal in an exclusive interview with Rael Ombuor for VOA News.Bus driver Anis Abdinoor has plied the route between Nairobi and Mandera for the last seven years. He says he left Nairobi Tuesday night with a bus carrying 59 passengers.It was near the end of the trip, about 5.30 p.m on Wednesday, when he saw a vehicle blocking the narrow road that he was traveling on.“When I tried to slow down the vehicle before getting to where the vehicle was blocked, I heard a gunshot from both sides of the vehicle,” Abdinoor said. “I identified people who were wearing military uniform who were shooting the vehicle, so I started slowing down the vehicle. When I thought of escaping, I saw that the road had been blocked by another vehicle which had been stopped before I reached.”Abdinoor said that the attackers numbered more than 30.He said that after he stopped, the attackers ordered everyone off the bus, and made it clear who they were looking for.“When they reached us, they told us everybody should get out. They told me to get out, they beat me up. So when they were beating me up they were asking me questions. They asked me how many non-locals are you carrying in your vehicle? I told them I am carrying no non-locals in my vehicle,” Abdinoor said. “So they told everybody to alight from the vehicle, from there, they started checking everybody one by one, searching for non-locals … I tried talking to them to tell them these people were not non locals, they said they were looking for non-Muslims.”The ordeal, according to Abdinoor, took about one hour. He believes the attackers stationed themselves in that spot several hours earlier, as they had detonated explosives in the road and hijacked the vehicle that they used to block Abdinoor’s bus.The bodies of two people, suspected to be from the vehicle the attackers used to block the road, were later discovered near the scene of the attack.Nobody on Abdinoor’s bus was killed, but the attackers took away his bus mechanic.Mandera, the town where the attack happened, is located in northeastern Kenya and has seen several attacks from suspected Al-Shabab militants.In the deadliest incident, Shabab gunmen attacked a quarry in Mandera five years ago, killing 14 people.Al-Shabab has been at war with Kenya since 2011, when Kenya sent troops into Somalia to help African Union forces fight the Islamist militant group.
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Month: March 2020
Top US Commander Doubts Afghan Taliban Commitment to Peace
The United States is not ready to abandon its agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the general in charge of U.S. forces in the region says there are signs the deal ultimately may be doomed.U.S. Central Command’s General Kenneth McKenzie said Thursday that despite a pledge to reduce violence, the frequency of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan remained troubling.”I would not consider what the Taliban is doing as consistent with any path to going forward to come to a final end state agreement with the current government of Afghanistan,” McKenzie told U.S. lawmakers.”The attacks are largely generated against Afghanistan outposts, checkpoints and isolated combat units,” he said. “That level of attack by the Taliban is not consistent with an organization that intends to keep its word going forward.”The deal signed by the United States and the Afghan Taliban in Doha in February requires all U.S. and coalition forces to leave Afghanistan in the next 14 months.U.S. military officials said the first American forces began leaving this week, part of an effort to reduce the total number of troops in the country from about 13,000 to 8,600 in the next 135 days.FILE – Defense Secretary Mark Esper testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the budget, March 4, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.’Good faith’ effortStill, U.S. military officials repeatedly have described the initial drawdown as a “good faith” attempt to keep all sides in Afghanistan on the path to peace, warning Washington is ready to change course if necessary.”We can stop that at any moment,” U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters when asked about the drawdown earlier this month. “We can pause it.”CENTCOM’s McKenzie said Thursday that the decision on whether to pause the drawdown would be a political one, though he cautioned it would be a mistake to give up on the agreement too quickly.”My advice was to proceed with it,” he told lawmakers. “The principal reason I supported it was the conditionality that’s inherent in it.”A number of U.S. lawmakers expressed reservations.“I am concerned we are not appropriately leveraging U.S. and coalition military presence to support a settlement that protects U.S. security interests,” the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking member, Democrat Jack Reed, told McKenzie.FILE – Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, speaks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, April 11, 2019.Fallback plan?“Is there a Plan B if the Taliban doesn’t abide by this agreement?” asked indepedent Senator Angus King. “I worry that after 17, 18, 19 years we’re going to end up exactly where we were in 2001, with the Taliban in charge of the country and open season for terrorists,” King added.McKenzie said that while a “bloodless state” in Afghanistan was unlikely, the Taliban needed to exert better control over their forces and to lower the level of violence.”It’s not going to be perfect, but we need to get way below where we are now,” he said.In addition to the sustained violence, the U.S.-Taliban agreement is facing other obstacles.The Taliban on Wednesday rejected an Afghan government order that allowed for the conditional release of thousands of insurgent prisoners, calling Kabul’s move a violation of the U.S.-Taliban accord.“It is clearly stated in the text of the [U.S.-Taliban] agreement that all of our 5,000 prisoners would be freed unconditionally and before the commencement of intra-Afghan peace negotiations,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA. But Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi argued at a news conference in Kabul the prisoner release was conditioned on a reduction in Taliban violence, the opening of intra-Afghan talks and a cease-fire.
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US Warns Iraq Base Attackers They Will Be Held Accountable
U.S. defense leaders said Thursday they know who launched the rockets in Iraq that killed and wounded U.S. and coalition troops and the Shia militia group responsible will be held accountable.Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon that he spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday night and has the authority to do what he needs to do.”We’re going to take this one step at a time, but we’ve got to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Esper said. “You don’t get to shoot at our bases and kill and wound Americans and get away with it.”Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to provide any more information about any impending U.S. retaliation for the attack at Camp Taji north of Baghdad.Two U.S. troops and one British service member were killed and 14 other personnel at the base were wounded when 18 rockets hit the base on Wednesday.
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Reporter’s Notebook: Italians Deal With ‘Non Toccare’ – No Touching
“Lemon trees, like Italians, seem to be happiest when they are touching one another,” wrote British novelist D.H. Lawrence in his travelogue, “Sea and Sardinia.” The lemon trees are still touching, but now the unspoken rule for people is non toccare (no touching).This month, many Italians started pulling off mesh and plastic covers from their lemon trees, no longer worried that they need insulation from frost — a collective unveiling marking the end of winter and traditionally preluding warm sun and glorious Mediterranean summer days ahead.But other traditions have been banished by the coronavirus, and the Italian government’s desperate bid to counter its spread, from no touching to no hugging and absolutely no demonstrative light cheek kissing, otherwise known as il bacetto.Another unusual sight is to see Italians taking their place orderly in line. To enter food stores Italians are standing the required one meter apart, and all this standing in line is without the usual feints and excuses to jump ahead.’Stay at home’When Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced Monday his restrictive “stay-at-home” measures to halt the transmission of the virus, an Italian neighbor confided to me her doubts that it would work as “unfortunately the Italians are very unruly and indisciplined.”That so far has turned out not to be the case.A caregiver (R) keeps her distance from an elderly woman whom she looks after, on the balcony of the woman’s home in Rome, March 11, 2020.When the virus first started to appear last month, many Italians in the center and south of the country deemed the threat far enough away to cause them little alarm. Many looked at what was unfolding in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto as though they were observing a distant planet through a telescope.But as the numbers mounted and the death rate surged, the attitude altered, the mood darkened and the panic shopping started, in spurts at first, depending on the latest case numbers announced each evening by the top officials of the country’s Civil Protection Agency. Their nightly announcement is now the most watched program on Italian television.Prior to Prime Minister Conte locking down the country, many of the young dismissed the threat as overblown, and continued with carefree lives, going out at night and heading to bars and clubs. Their parents and elders, though, were already taking note, and starting to maintain social distance by reducing their sorties from their homes, except to shop and for the daily run of going to and from work.But now, even the young are cautious about venturing out — and not only because of the government decree, summed up by Conte as “I stay at home.””People are staying in because there’s so much fear,” says Michela Bianchi, a university student studying journalism in the Lazio town of Viterbo, north of Rome. “An atmosphere has been created that goes beyond the fear of contagion. We hope everything will pass quickly, but in the meantime it is right to observe all the provisions they have given us,” she added.A woman wearing a protective mask stands in front of a notice recommending to keep the social distance of 1 meter between people, at the Leonardo da Vinci international airport, in Rome, March 12, 2020.Past lessonsNo one wants to catch Coronavirus or to be accused of spreading it — inadvertently or otherwise. The lessons of the past are being remembered — lessons about contagion taught them in the books that were required reading at school.One of the most cited now is Alessandro Manzoni’s 1840 novel “The Betrothed” (“I Promessi Sposi”), which is set against the backdrop of an awful plague that struck the villages around Milan and then advanced into the city itself in 1630. Manzoni outlines the mistakes that allowed the pestilence to spread, from the outlying villages of the contadini [peasants] to the Milanese.He notes that when news of the sickness reached the city “anyone might suppose that there would be a general stir of disquiet, a clamor for precautions of some kind [whatever their real value] to be taken … But one of the few points about which all the memoirs of the time agree is that there was nothing of the kind … Anyone who mentioned the danger of the pestilence, whether in the streets, the shops or in private houses — anyone who even mentioned the word ‘plague’ — was greeted with incredulous mockery or angry contempt.”Fatally, the city’s governor allowed public festivities and mass gatherings to continue, a mistake Conte has not made, who on Wednesday tightened his measures, ordering the shuttering of all shops, except for food stores and pharmacists, and the closure of bars and restaurants.A waiter stands by empty tables outside a restaurant at St Mark’s Square, which is usually full of tourists, after Italy’s government adopted a decree with new emergency measures to contain the coronavirus, in Venice, Italy, March 5, 2020.Al frescoSo, Italy’s streets are unpeopled — a contradiction of how life is lived in Italy, which, aside from the worst of the winter months, is pursued outside, on terraces with neighbors, and in the piazzas with friends. Now if you dawdle on the streets of Rome or Milan, police demand to see your travel papers and hurry you on, telling you to move quickly as though lingering will invite a viral bombardment.Conte has tired to keep up the spirits of Italians, while warning them results of the unprecedented lock-down of the country will take at least two weeks to start bearing fruit.Midweek, he told them in a nation-wide address: “At this moment the whole world is looking at us: they certainly look at us for the numbers of the infection, they see a country that is in difficulty but they also appreciate us because we are showing great rigor, great resistance and I have a deep conviction, I would like to share it, not only will they look at us again and admire us, they will take us as a positive example of a country that, thanks to its sense of community, has managed to win its battle against this pandemic.”Other countries have followed the Italian model — Denmark shut down this week, Ireland closed all schools and universities Thursday. Most European countries have, or are, moving quickly from a strategy focused on containment and trying to keep the virus from their borders, to one of delay and mitigation in a bid to “flatten the curve” of confirmed cases. Passengers sit at distance from each others on a tram in Milan, Italy, March 12, 2020.Wired worldThey hope this approach will avoid large spikes that risk overwhelming hard-pressed hospitals so that doctors have to make shocking life-and-death decisions about who gets critical-care treatment and who doesn’t. Italian doctors say containment is a thing of the past — “the tsunami is coming,” one tells me, “and it will hit America, too, where there’s already evidence of people being infected who never traveled or had contact with anyone who did. Get ready, get prepared,” he says.The upending of the rhythms of Italian life at least are mellowed by the internet.“I’m working from home,” a friend said on her Facebook page. “In the end, thanks to that progress that often scares us, you can do everything or almost everything with a click — video calls, conference calls, meetings, shopping, news, pastimes,” mother-of-two Patrizia Miano wrote.She added: “But the quarantine has just started and I already feel suffocated. We are not used to the limitations. Only now do we understand the value of saying, ‘I am going to the sea,’ or ‘I am go skiing,’ or I am going for a walk.’ I want to smell the grass. I hope this experience really serves to make us human again, to stop believing that we are omnipotent and that nothing can touch us.”
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Uganda Mulls Using Disinfectant Spray on Visitors to Stop Coronovirus
Uganda’s Health Minister Ruth Aceng has announced new measures aimed at preventing the coronavirus from entering the country. She says authorities may soon start using disinfectant spray on all visitors who come through the country’s airports.Aceng says even though Uganda has no confirmed cases of the virus, a total of 1,600 international travelers, including Ugandans, have been identified as high risk and are being monitored.Aceng says officials are considering using a chemical approved by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to disinfect travelers at the country’s airports.”The Ministry of Health, working with the Civil Aviation Authority, is considering spraying all travelers who arrive into the country as they disembark from the aircraft with a disinfectant spray,” she said.Ugandan officials have yet to say which spray will be used. International airlines are currently using Viraclean, a hospital-grade disinfectant that kills a range of bacteria, and MD-125, used to kill hundreds of bacteria and viruses.Allan Muruta, commissioner of Uganda’s Public Health Emergency Department, say he supports the measure.”And these chemicals are used world over, in other international airports. You see what’s happening in China, or Italy, or other countries and that’s what we shall be using. So you spray the whole person all over and then you’re able to really reduce and kill the virus. We want to take the most stringent measures in terms of prevention, because that’s the most available option that we can have for our country,” Muruta said.
Last week, Uganda asked people from seven countries affected by coronavirus to postpone visits to Uganda. Now Aceng says the list has increased to 16 countries, including the United States, and people residing in these countries should consider postponing non-essential travel to Uganda.Uganda joins the Democratic Republic of Congo on the list of countries enforcing a quarantine for certain travelers.WHO Country Representative Yonas Woldemariam says there’s a need for Uganda to strengthen its checks at the border points.”The case is in Kinshasa, it’s not in Beni or close to our borders. Although we should be strict enough in our borders to screen all possible cases.”Eritrea has also announced that similar measures are to be implemented. According to the WHO, 118 countries are currently affected by the virus.The best measure for preventing COVID-19, doctors say, is for everyone in affected countries to stay put, limit physical contact, and wait for the virus to stop spreading.
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Philippine President Imposes Travel Limits, Quarantines
The Philippine president has suspended domestic travel to and from the Manila area for a month and authorized sweeping quarantines in the region to fight the new coronavirus.President Rodrigo Duterte also banned large gatherings in the metropolis, suspended most government work and extended the suspension of classes by a month in new restrictions announced Thursday in a nationwide TV address.He warned that violators and officials who refuse to enforce the restrictions would face possible imprisonment.“This is not martial law. It’s not even something extraordinary,” Duterte said, stressing that the restrictions are only aimed at fighting the virus.Duterte announced the steps after a meeting of an inter-agency task force on the outbreak.Health officials have confirmed 52 cases of the virus, and two people, a Chinese and a Filipino, have died.Duterte self-quarantinedPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte was tested for the new coronavirus on Thursday after meeting with Cabinet officials who were exposed to infected people and have now been self-quarantined, an official said.Duterte has no symptoms of COVID-19 but wanted to make sure he is healthy and can continue to engage with the public, said Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, a former presidential aide who still accompanies Duterte to official functions.“Considering that some Cabinet members we engage with regularly have been exposed to individuals who were tested positive for COVID-19 … it is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” Go said.Go, who was elected to the Senate last year, told reporters the result of the test on Duterte was expected in 48 hours.At least nine Cabinet members, including Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, have said they were exposed separately to COVID-19 patients and decided to self-quarantine. Several mayors and senators have also gone on home quarantine after coming into contact with patients.Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said some finance officials who had been with Dominguez later held a news conference at a presidential palace briefing room. The press area was later disinfected, along with a media working area and presidential conference halls.“Some members of the Malacañang press corps who covered the economic briefing also deemed it best to undergo self-quarantine,” Andanar said, referring to journalists covering presidential palace events.Duterte’s elite presidential guards announced early this week that they will enforce a “no touch policy” for Duterte to protect him from the virus and screen politicians and dignitaries who get near him. But Duterte played down the restrictions and suggested that he was not intimidated by the disease.“That protocol is foolish. I will shake hands,” Duterte said. “If God calls me now, I’ll go. I’m done. I’m the president now, the highest post anybody could reach.”Duterte was leading an inter-agency task force on the outbreak on Thursday and was expected to announce new steps to fight the disease.Health officials have confirmed 52 cases of the virus, and two people, a Chinese and a Filipino, have died.The illness causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people but can be severe in the elderly and people with other health problems.Duterte, 74, who took time off from work due to illness several times last year, postponed a trip to Boracay island on Thursday due to concerns over the virus, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said. He had planned to travel to the beach resort to promote domestic tourism amid a slump in arrivals of foreign tourists because of the pandemic.Concerns over the outbreak have been complicated by fears that a water shortage in the Manila metropolis could worsen as the scorching summer season sets in.“How will we wash our hands if there’s no water?” opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked.
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German Intel Deems Part of far-Right AfD Party ‘Extremist’
German authorities are formally placing parts of the far-right Alternative for Germany party under surveillance after classifying it as extremist, the country’s domestic intelligence agency said Thursday.Thomas Haldenwang, head of the BfV intelligence agency, said that after more than a year of examination his office has concluded that a radical faction within Alternative for Germany, known as “The Wing,” meets the definition of a “right-wing extremist movement.”“This is a warning to all enemies of democracy,” said Haldenwang, noting that it was his agency’s duty to prevent growing far-right extremism from overthrowing the country’s democratic order the way the Nazis did in the 1930s.Alternative for Germany immediately criticized the move, which allows authorities to use covert methods to observe The Wing and its estimated 7,000 supporters. They make up about 20% of the party’s overall membership but hold significant sway over its direction, according to former party members including its one-time leader Frauke Petry.The Wing is led by AfD’s regional chiefs in the eastern states of Thuringia and Brandenburg, Bjoern Hoecke and Andreas Kalbitz.Haldenwang described Hoecke and Kalbitz as “right-wing extremists,” noting Hoecke’s historical revisionism, his anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric and his close ties to other known extremists outside of the party. Hoecke has described Berlin’s memorial to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust a “monument of shame” and called for a “180-degree turn” in the way Germany remembers its Nazi past.“We mustn’t just keep an eye on violent extremists but also watch those who use words to spark fires,” said Haldenwang, adding that anti-Semitism, hatred of Islam and racism spread online or in political arenas provides the “breeding ground” for violence.Germany has been shaken by a series of far-right killings over the past year, including the slaying of a regional politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the attack on a synagogue in Halle and a deadly mass shooting targeting people with migrant backgrounds in Hanau.“Right-wing extremism and terrorism are currently the biggest threats to democracy in Germany,” Haldenwang told reporters, adding that more than 200 people have been killed by right-wing extremists in the country since 1990.Kalbitz, the AfD leader in Brandenburg, called the intelligence agency’s decision “factually unfounded and completely politically motivated.”Putting The Wing under increased surveillance could strengthen calls for it to be banned. Germany’s top court rejected a bid to outlaw the far-right NPD party in 2017, deeming it too insignificant in part because it had no presence in parliament. Alternative for Germany, by contrast, has seats in all 16 state assemblies and the federal parliament.Intelligence scrutiny of the The Wing could also have consequences for any supporters who are civil servants or state employees. “They will get into trouble” with their superiors in the future because the AfD faction’s aims run counter to the German Constitution they swore to uphold, Haldenwang said.
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European Central Bank Deploys Stimulus to Ease Virus Damage
The European Central Bank deploying new stimulus measures to cushion the economic pain inflicted by the virus outbreak, but avoided cutting interest rates in a situation where economists say monetary policy can do little more than limit the damage.The central bank for the 19 countries that use the euro decided Thursday to buy up to 120 billion euros ($132 billion) more in bonds this year.The money is newly created and injected into the financial system. It comes on top of purchases worth 20 billion euros a month it is already carrying out, and would be aimed at corporate bonds, which should help keep credit available to companies.The ECB is also providing additional cheap, long-term loans to banks to make sure they have the liquidity they need. And the ECB will temporarily ease some capital requirements for banks to help them keep lending.It’s all aimed at helping businesses get the financing they need and stimulating activity to offset the downturn from all the closings and restrictions due to the virus outbreak.The central bank did not cut interest rates as many analysts had expected. Rates are already low and economists have said deeper cuts might not help much.Thursday’s steps “will do no more than cushion the blow to the economy from the coronavirus,” said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at Capital Economics. “Monetary policy is powerless to prevent a deep downturn and, unlike in the U.S. and China, it has little scope to support the recovery afterwards.”The move comes as the eurozone is forecast to slide into recession and financial markets keep falling over concerns about the virus outbreak’s hit to the economy. Concerns deepened after the U.S. decided to halt travel from 26 European countries.The bank’s policy meeting was held without several members of the 25-seat governing council physically present and participating by remote conferencing. Italian central bank head Ignazio Visco is among them since his country, so far the hardest hit in Europe by the virus outbreak, has restricted movement. The central bank governors of Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are also taking part by remote.Economists are saying that the impact of the virus outbreak is difficult to address with monetary policy, since it first and foremost deals a shock to the supply of goods and services. Monetary policy is better equipped to stimulate demand, not supply, by making credit more widely available.Central bank action is aimed at limiting the damage from knock-on effects of business interruption. More abundant and targeted credit could help businesses get through a period of interruption without going out of business.The Bank of England cut its key benchmark to 0.25% from 0.75% on Wednesday; the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its benchmark by a half-percentage point to 1.0-1.25% on March 3.Meanwhile governments are developing plans for targeted stimulus through tax breaks or labor market assistance programs.Italy is earmarking 25 billion euros ($28 billion) in new spending and Britain said it would make 30 billion pounds ($39 billion) available.The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided to ease eligibility requirements for a program in which the government helps pay workers who are put on shorter hours by their companies. That could help companies rebound quickly after the outbreak passes because they will have avoided layoffs and would not need to reassemble a trained workforce.Yet European rules limiting debt and deficits for members of the euro currency may restrict what governments can do. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the maximum flexibility available in the rules will be applied.The commission has started a longer-term review of the rules themselves, but economist Rosie Colthorpe at Oxford Economics said any changes would not come before 2021. “This leaves the eurozone ill-prepared to deliver a forceful and coordinated fiscal response to the looming coronavirus-related downturn.”“There is a chance that a serious recession would trigger meaningful reform, but for now the onus will remain on the ECB, despite its increasingly depleted arsenal,” Colthorpe said.
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Nigeria Aims to Silence Dissent With Charges Against Prominent Journalist, Advocates Say
After months in prison and a prolonged legal fight, a prominent Nigerian journalist and activist is now facing charges of treason.
Omoyele Sowore, founder of the news website Sahara Reporters, appeared before the High Court in Abuja Wednesday and was given a date for a hearing in April. He was initially arrested last August by Nigeria’s Department of State Services, the country’s counterintelligence and counterterror force.
The arrest came after Sowore organized an event, Revolution Now, to protest corruption and allegedly unfair elections. He was released Dec. 5, rearrested the following day and released again Dec. 24, at the direction of Nigeria’s attorney general.
‘Spoken truth to power’
Sowore’s wife told VOA he is being punished for expressing dissent.
“Yele is currently in the situation that he is in because he has spoken truth to power. So as a result, he has been charged with treason,” Opeyemi Sowore told VOA.
She said Nigeria’s constitution protects freedom of assembly and peaceful protests, and she believes the charges against her husband are unfounded and intended to intimidate him and others who protest against the government.
“No evidence has been produced to support the case of treason. Again, the case is based on the fact that he organized a peaceful protest, which is not illegal in Nigeria,” she said. “So others who actually attended the protest were charged with unlawful gathering, and many of them are free at the moment.”FILE – Supporters of the organizer of “Revolution Now,” Omoyele Sowore, hold placards during a protest outside the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2020.’Delay tactic’
The new charges come as Nigeria’s senate considers a controversial “Social Media Bill” that would criminalize spreading false information online and allow the government to block access to social media sites such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. Critics say the tool will be used to silence critics.
Wade McMullen, senior vice president of programs and legal strategy at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the Nigerian government is intentionally dragging out the legal process against Sowore. Initial charges of money laundering and cyberbullying that were brought against him have been dropped, and court dates have been postponed, leaving him in legal limbo.
“What we’re seeing now is an intentional delay tactic by the Nigerian government. Again and again, not to proceed with the case because they have no evidence — the charges are baseless and everybody knows that,” McMullen told VOA.
He believes the objective is to intimidate and silence other dissenting voices in the country.
“They’re drawing out this prosecution to set an example and to silence other Nigerians who wish to gather around him and express their peaceful dissent in similar ways,” McMullen said.
Meanwhile, Sowore’s wife and two children, who live in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens, wait desperately to be reunited with him.
“It’s hard. I have had to explain to them why their father was in prison. And second why their father can’t come home. My son has had nightmares,” Opeyemi Sowore told VOA. “And honestly it’s just been really hard for them. The great thing is that children are resilient. And I pray that beyond this they are going to grow and live wonderful lives and be strong. But this has taken its toll on them. It’s taking its toll on our family.”
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What It’s Like to be a Female Construction Worker in US
Construction work has traditionally been a male-dominated field in the U.S. But today more and more women are choosing to build their career in the business. Karina Bafradzhian met with some inspiring women who work in construction to find out what attracts them to this tough business.
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Pompeo Challenges China’s Dominance in Africa
When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited three African countries recently, he brought a message that the U.S. sees the continent as a place of opportunity for American investors but also warned about the drawbacks of doing business with authoritarian nations. While not mentioning China directly, Pompeo’s meaning was clear as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Philippine President to be Tested for Coronavirus, Palace Cleaned
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is being tested for the new coronavirus after meeting with Cabinet officials who were exposed to infected people and have now been self-quarantined, an official said Thursday.
Duterte has no symptoms of COVID-19 but wanted to make sure he is healthy and can continue to engage with the public, said Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, a former presidential aide who still accompanies Duterte to official functions.
“Considering that some Cabinet members we engage with regularly have been exposed to individuals who were tested positive for COVID-19 … it is just prudent for us to take precautionary measures in compliance with the advice of our health officials,” Go said.
Go, who was elected to the Senate last year, told reporters he and Duterte planned to be tested but did not elaborate.
At least six Cabinet members, including Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, have said they were exposed separately to COVID-19 patients and decided to self-quarantine. Several mayors and senators have also gone on home quarantine after coming into contact with patients.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said some finance officials who had been with Dominguez later held a news conference at a presidential palace briefing room. The press area was later disinfected, along with a media working area and presidential conference halls.
“Some members of the Malacanang press corps who covered the economic briefing also deemed it best to undergo self-quarantine,” Andanar said, referring to journalists covering presidential palace events.
Duterte’s elite presidential guards announced early this week that they will enforce a “no touch policy” for Duterte to protect him from the virus and screen politicians and dignitaries who get near him. But Duterte played down the restrictions and suggested that he was not intimidated by the disease.
“That protocol is foolish. I will shake hands,” Duterte said. “If God calls me now, I’ll go. I’m done. I’m the president now, the highest post anybody could reach.”
Duterte was to lead an inter-agency task force on the outbreak on Thursday and then announce possible new steps to fight the disease.
Health officials have confirmed 52 cases of the virus, and two people, a Chinese and a Filipino, have died.
The illness causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people but can be severe in the elderly and people with other health problems.
Duterte, 74, who took time off from work due to illness several times last year, postponed a trip to Boracay island on Thursday due to concerns over the virus, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said. He had planned to travel to the beach resort to promote domestic tourism amid a slump in arrivals of foreign tourists because of the pandemic.
Concerns over the outbreak have been complicated by fears that a water shortage in the Manila metropolis could worsen as the scorching summer season sets in.
“How will we wash our hands if there’s no water?” opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked.
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Myanmar Repatriates Suspected Remains of US WWII Servicemen
The U.S. military on Thursday repatriated what may be the remains of service personnel who were lost in action in Myanmar during World War II.The remains from Myanmar’s central Sagaing region were repatriated at a ceremony at Mandalay International Airport after being recovered in a mission carried out by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Embassy said.
“Over 75 years ago, brave Americans gave their lives on a river bank in Sagaing, fighting for peace, justice and freedom far from home,” the U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission George Sibley said at the ceremony. “Today we recommit to those noble values as we repatriate the possible remains of those U.S. citizens and honor their service and their sacrifices.”
The remains will be flown to the agency’s laboratory in Hawaii for analysis and potential identification.
There are 505 U.S. service members still unaccounted in Myanmar, which was known as Burma during World War II. The remains of 23 have been identified after three recovery missions carried out in 2003 and 2004 and nine since 2013.
The remains repatriated Thursday are thought to be related to a B-25G bomber with a crew of seven that was lost in February 1944. Myanmar was then a British colony occupied by Japan’s armed forces.
The plane’s wreckage was located in 1946 and some possible remains were recovered last year in the same region, but have not yet resulted in an identification.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than 72,000 Americans in all remain unaccounted for from World War II, more than 7,800 from the Korean War, and 1,585 from the conflict in Vietnam.
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Worst is Yet to Come WHO Warns, After Declaring Coronavirus Outbreak a Pandemic
The World Health Organization Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, with 114 countries confirming cases, while the United States announced a European travel ban and the National Basketball Association said its games are on hold for now.“In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquarters, March 11, 2020, in Geneva.Tedros warned that the worst is yet to come with the WHO “deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.“In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries to climb even higher,” he said.Tedros said his organization has “rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” and that countries “can still change the course of this pandemic.”Trump announces new measures U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office Wednesday night, declaring “the virus will not have a chance against us,” and announcing a 30-day suspension of all travel from Europe to the United States, starting Friday. Travel from the United Kingdom is exempt, as are U.S. citizens, legal residents and their immediate families.Trump also announced financial relief for people and businesses affected by the virus.The U.S. State Department issued updated guidance Wednesday advising Americans to “reconsider travel abroad” because of the coronavirus outbreak.Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a House committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 11, 2020.There are more than 1,200 confirmed cases in the United States. When there were just 15 cases last month, Trump said that number would soon drop to zero. It has since spread to about 40 of the 50 U.S. states. Thirty-eight people have died.The first confirmed case in Capitol Hill offices was reported Wednesday with a staffer in Senator Maria Cantwell’s office testing positive.“Bottom line, it’s going to get worse,” the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, said Wednesday.Fauci says how much worse depends on the U.S. government’s ability to control the number of travelers coming into the U.S. and local efforts to contain the virus.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $728 million package to fight the virus, much of which will be used to develop a vaccine.Medical staff checks a passenger in a car for the novel coronavirus at the border crossing with Italy in Vrtojba, Slovenia, March 11 , 2020.Europe takes more drastic measures
Some European nations are taking more drastic steps. Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit country, is under a nationwide lockdown.All museums and schools in Spain are closed. Denmark has also shuttered schools and Britain announced a multibillion-dollar package to boost the country’s health care system and to also help businesses taking an economic hit.Festivals and any kind of event that attracts large crowds and brings people close together have been canceled across much of Europe.Impact on sports players and events
The NBA announced late Wednesday it is suspending its season until further notice after a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus.That followed a decision earlier by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to play its popular annual “March Madness” basketball tournaments without fans.As of late Wednesday, there were more than 126,000 coronavirus cases in 114 countries and more than 4,600 deaths.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
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Supercomputer Helps Fight East Africa Locust Outbreak
A supercomputer is boosting efforts in East Africa to control a locust outbreak that raises what the U.N. food agency calls “an unprecedented threat” to the region’s food security.The computer, a donation from Britain, uses satellite data to track locust swarms and predict their next destination. Quickly sharing the information of the locusts’ movements with regional authorities is key to controlling the outbreak, as even a small swarm of locusts in a single day can move nearly 100 miles and consume the amount of crops that would otherwise feed 35,000 people.Based in a regional climate center in Kenya, where the insects have been particularly destructive, the supercomputer system “produces extensive weather forecasts to predict the high winds, rainfall, and humidity that provide ideal breeding conditions for locusts so climate experts can predict their next destination,” the U.K.’s Department for International Development said in a statement. “By improving early warning systems we are helping charities and African governments to take rapid action to protect vulnerable communities.”Abubakr Salih Babiker, a climate scientist at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s Climate Prediction and Applications Center, shows server racks containing a supercomputer in Nairobi, Kenya, March 5, 2020.Kenya, Somalia and Uganda have been battling the worst locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years. Swarms have also been sighted in Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Congo and South Sudan, a country where roughly half the population already faces hunger after years of civil war.The threat from the locusts “remains extremely alarming” in the Horn of Africa, where “widespread breeding is in progress and new swarms are starting to form, representing an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods at the beginning of the upcoming cropping season,” according to a warning issued this month by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.Locust swarms, sometimes as large as some cities, can destroy crops and devastate pasture for animals. Aerial spraying is generally considered the only effective control method. In Uganda, where the locust infestation has recently spread to more than 20 districts in the country’s north and northeast, soldiers have been battling swarms using hand-held spray pumps because of difficulties in getting aircraft as well as the recommended pesticide.Officials in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where the supercomputer is based, said the technology will boost their efforts in tracking locust swarms.FILE – A swarm of desert locusts fly over a grazing land in Nakwamuru village, Samburu County, Kenya, Jan. 16, 2020.“The forecast is quite useful because it helps them to focus their efforts in the areas that are most likely to be affected by the desert locust in the coming say, 10 days,” said Abubakr Salih Babiker, a climate scientist at Nairobi’s regional climate center. “In this way they are more efficient in allocating their resources, allocating the financial capacity to control the desert locust. It is a very innovative and new way of using technology to solve a real-life problem like the desert locust.”Kenneth Mwangi, a satellite information analyst at the center, said the team can run better prediction models in an outbreak where the spread of locusts “has been very rapid.”The U.N. recently raised its aid appeal relating to locusts to $138 million, up from $76 million, saying the need for more help is urgent. Experts have warned that if the number of locusts is unchecked they could grow 500 times by June, when drier weather is expected in East Africa.
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Last Victim Pulled from Rubble of China Quarantine Hotel
The death toll from the collapse of a coronavirus quarantine facility in east China rose to 29 Thursday as the final victim was recovered from the rubble, authorities said.Dozens of people were pulled alive from the wreckage of the six-story Xinjian hotel in the coastal city of Quanzhou, which collapsed Saturday night.More than 40 were injured in the accident, with 27 found dead in the rubble and two dying later from their injuries, according to state media.China’s emergency management ministry said the body of the final victim was recovered Thursday morning.The State Council has set up an investigation into the collapse, the ministry said.The building had been repurposed to house people who recently had contact with patients confirmed with COVID-19, the state-run People’s Daily newspaper reported.The hotel collapsed on Saturday night, with footage published by local media appearing to show the building’s facade crumbling to the ground in seconds, exposing the structure’s steel frame.A preliminary investigation found serious problems with its construction, the People’s Daily reported Wednesday, citing the deputy mayor of Quanzhou, Hong Ziqiang.The Associated Press reported that several people have been taken into custody as part of the investigation.
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WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak a Pandemic
The World Health Organization Wednesday declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, with 114 countries confirming cases, while the United States announced a European travel ban and the National Basketball Association said its games are on hold for now.“In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquarters, March 11, 2020, in Geneva.Tedros warned that the worst is yet to come with the WHO “deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.“In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries to climb even higher,” he said.Tedros said his organization has “rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” and that countries “can still change the course of this pandemic.”U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office Wednesday night, declaring “the virus will not have a chance against us,” and announcing a 30-day suspension of all travel from Europe to the United States, starting Friday. Travel from the United Kingdom is exempt, as are U.S. citizens, legal residents and their immediate families.Trump also announced financial relief for people and businesses affected by the virus.The U.S. State Department issued updated guidance Wednesday advising Americans to “reconsider travel abroad” because of the coronavirus outbreak.Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a House committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 11, 2020.There are more than 1,200 confirmed cases in the United States. When there were just 15 cases last month, Trump said that number would soon drop to zero. It has since spread to about 40 of the 50 U.S. states. Thirty-eight people have died.The first confirmed case in Capitol Hill offices was reported Wednesday with a staffer in Senator Maria Cantwell’s office testing positive.“Bottom line, it’s going to get worse,” the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, said Wednesday.Fauci says how much worse depends on the U.S. government’s ability to control the number of travelers coming into the U.S. and local efforts to contain the virus.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $728 million package to fight the virus, much of which will be used to develop a vaccine.Medical staff checks a passenger in a car for the novel coronavirus at the border crossing with Italy in Vrtojba, Slovenia, March 11 , 2020.Some European nations are taking more drastic steps. Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit country, is under a nationwide lockdown.All museums and schools in Spain are closed. Denmark has also shuttered schools and Britain announced a multibillion-dollar package to boost the country’s health care system and to also help businesses taking an economic hit.Festivals and any kind of event that attracts large crowds and brings people close together have been canceled across much of Europe.The NBA announced late Wednesday it is suspending its season until further notice after a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus.That followed a decision earlier by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to play its popular annual “March Madness” basketball tournaments without fans.As of late Wednesday, there were more than 126,000 coronavirus cases in 114 countries and more than 4,600 deaths.
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Sanders Vows to Press on Despite Biden Primary Victories
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders vowed Wednesday to stay in the Democratic primary race for president despite Joe Biden’s big wins in Michigan and three other states Tuesday. The two men will meet in another Democratic debate Sunday before competing in more primaries next Tuesday. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more on the state of the Democratic race from Washington.
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Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson Test Positive for Coronavirus in Australia
Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, have both tested positive for coronavirus in Australia, the actor said via Twitter.Hanks said that he and Wilson, who are both 63, were tested in Australia, where he is working on a film, after they felt tired and achy with slight fevers.“To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus and were found to be positive,” Hanks said in the tweet.The film star said that he and Wilson would be “tested, observed and isolated” for as long as required. The couple are the first major U.S. celebrities known to have contracted COVID-19, which has infected more than 1,000 people in the United States.“Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated,” Hanks said in the twitter post.Hanks had traveled to Australia to begin filming an upcoming movie about Elvis Presley. He is set to play Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, in the Warner Bros. production.“The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and we are taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world,” Warner Bros., owned by AT&T Inc, said in a written statement.It was not immediately clear if filming on the project would be postponed because of the actor’s illness.Hanks won best actor Academy Awards for his role in 1994’s “Philadelphia,” in which he plays a man stricken with AIDS, and “Forrest Gump” the following year. Wilson has appeared in such films as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Runaway Bride.”More than 121,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in 118 countries and more than 4,300 people have died of the virus, according to a Reuters tally. In the United States at least 37 people have died from the respiratory illness.
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US Officials Concerned About Rising Violence in Africa’s Sahel
The security situation in the Sahel region of Africa is rapidly deteriorating, U.S. officials warned this week.Terror attacks claimed by Islamist militants against civilians and military targets have particularly risen in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.The Sahel is a semiarid region that encompasses an area south of the Sahara Desert, spanning 10 countries from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the east. In 2019, violence in the area left more than 2,000 civilians dead.Since the beginning of 2020, in Burkina Faso alone, violence has displaced 4,000 people a day, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.“It would be a mistake to attribute all of this violence to extremism or inter-religious conflict,” Mark Green, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said during a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday. “But it would be just as wrong not to recognize that conditions like unresponsive governance, lack of economic opportunity and increasingly limited natural resources, if left unaddressed, will make the region even more vulnerable to extremists, their ideology and method of recruitment.”FILE – Burkina Faso soldiers patrol on a road in the Sahel area of Burkina Faso, March 3, 2019.Green said dangerous groups, including criminal gangs, arms dealers and extremist groups that seek to expand their power, bring their own violent tendencies to the region, making the situation “even more combustible.”“There are at least five major violent extremist groups active in the Sahel, and dozens of smaller, loosely affiliated ones,” the U.S. official said.The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, an IS affiliate, is active in the region. Other extremist groups, including Ansar al-Islam in Burkina Faso, the Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) in Mali, and other al-Qaida and IS-linked groups also have carried out terrorist attacks in the region in recent years.US remains engagedDavid Hale, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, told the Senate panel that the Trump administration recognizes that instability in Africa, particularly in the Sahel, threatens U.S. national security interests.”American engagement is crucial,” said Hale, who recently returned from the region. “During my trip, I made clear that we are not abandoning the region. To the contrary, we are bolstering our diplomatic engagement.”Africa’s Sahel regionThe United States has between 6,000 and 7,000 troops in Africa, mainly in West Africa, and is considering a reduction. The possible reduction is reportedly part of a worldwide review by the Department of Defense, which is looking for ways to tighten its focus on China and Russia. These plans have alarmed African governments that rely on U.S. support for combating extremism.“I assured African leaders that as the Department of Defense conducts its combat and command reviews, we will not undertake any hasty or destabilizing adjustments to our military posture,” Hale added.Last week, the U.S. State Department appointed J. Peter Pham as the first U.S. special envoy for the Sahel region.Pham will “maximize U.S. diplomatic efforts in support of security and stability in the Sahel,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a tweet.Countering violent extremismU.S. officials said that in addition to providing humanitarian assistance, the U.S. also has been involved in countering violent extremism in the Sahel. “We work with governments to enhance their countering violent extremism response strategies, as well as responsiveness to basic citizen needs,” Green noted.Last year, USAID launched a development partnership in the Sahel, an expansion of the agency’s programming approach for the region.The partnership “will focus first on Burkina Faso and Niger, but we’re expanding elsewhere. It aims to address the intertwining nature of recurrent social, political and environmental crises,” Green said.
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Pentagon Deploying More Ships, Forces to Latin America
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) plans to increase U.S. military presence in the Western Hemisphere while taking on funding cuts to partner security programs that help Latin American partners counter drug cartels.In written testimony Wednesday, SOUTHCOM commander Admiral Craig Faller said the U.S. “only enabled the successful interdiction of about 9% of known drug movement” recently in Latin America and the Caribbean.Faller told the House Armed Services Committee that he’d need significant assets to drastically improve that number, including dozens of ships.“Recognizing these complex challenges in our neighborhood, we will see an increase in U.S. military presence in the hemisphere,” Faller said, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon after the briefing.Partners vitalThe increase, which is coinciding with a Pentagon review of the command, will include more ships, aircraft and forces, said Faller, who declined to discuss numbers.But the increase will not be enough to fully counter the threats, which is “why it’s so important to get partners in the game,” Faller added.Last year, half of U.S. drug interdictions in the region were enabled by local partner forces, according to SOUTHCOM.The need for more partner nation participation comes as the latest Pentagon budget slashes SOUTHCOM’s partner security program funds by about 20%.”That reduction will mean we’ll have to make some choices and have to defund some programs … that have increased our partners’ ability to do things like counternarcotics,” Faller said Wednesday.He added that the increased military presence would help the U.S. offset short-term losses to security cooperation program funding. But he acknowledged that “there might be some areas where we’ll take risks as we look in the future.”Georgian scolds administrationThe Pentagon’s failure to prioritize the geographic command responsible for counternarcotics operations south of the United States has hurt Americans, Republican Representative Austin Scott of Georgia said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on national security challenges in the Western Hemisphere.”All of the additional money we’ve given [to defense] has been transferred to other priorities and not to the priority that is resulting in more deaths than any other area,” Scott said, adding that the U.S. saw tens of thousands die last year from drug overdoses.Scott scolded administration officials for giving the command “what’s left over” in intelligence and surveillance abilities after fulfilling other regions’ needs.SOUTHCOM’s budget for this year is $1.2 billion, which is 1/14th of what was spent in Afghanistan alone.
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Trump to Address Nation on Coronavirus
As the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, and U.S. stocks plunged into a bear market, President Donald Trump said he would address the nation Wednesday evening. During a White House meeting with the chiefs of top U.S. banks, Trump did not comment on speculation that he will declare a national emergency and impose further restrictions on international travel.”I’ll be making a statement later tonight as to what I’ve decided to do,” he said, adding that the address would be at “9:00 P.M. (Eastern) from the Oval Office.””We are going to get the problem solved,” the president stated during the Cabinet Room meeting with the bankers, who pledged the readiness of their institutions to mitigate the economic pain from the spread of COVID-19.As Trump and the bankers met, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed more than 1,400 points lower, a drop of nearly 5.9%, ending the 11-year bull run for Wall Street — its longest streak in history.A board above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, in New York City, March 11, 2020.Despite that, the country is not facing a financial crisis, Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said in the meeting.”The banks and the financial system are in strong shape, and we are here to help,” he said.”We are talking about various forms of stimulus,” Trump said.”I would say that stimulus is appropriate,” responded Kelly King, chief executive officer of Trust Financial.”I think the payroll tax” holiday proposal “would be great,” suggested the president.”We’ve catalogued for the president all of his executive authorities, which are quite significant,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.Prior to the meeting, Trump had tweeted: “I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus.”Bank CEOs Brian Moynihan (L) and Rebeca Romero Rainey (R) listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with banking industry executives about the coronavirus, at the White House, March 11, 2020, in Washington.Just before journalists were ushered from the room, CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta asked Trump, “What do you say to Americans who are concerned that you’re not taking this seriously enough and that some of your statements don’t match what your health experts are saying?”
The president responded, “That’s CNN. Fake news.”
Globally, there are more than 124,000 identified cases of COVID-19, which has killed nearly 4,600 people worldwide.In the United States, there have been 30 reported deaths (25 just in the state of Washington) and more than 1,100 known infections.Asked in a congressional hearing Wednesday if the worst is yet come to come, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, replied: “Yes, it is.”As the hours progressed, more major U.S. businesses announced they would be requesting most employees telework, while a growing number of universities and other schools canceled classes, moving instruction online, in reaction to the virus.
“We’re still not completely sure how infectious it is, how easily it is spread. And I think that it’s wise to take these precautions,” Shelley Payne, interim director at the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease at the University of Texas at Austin, told VOA.In Washington, D.C., local officials recommended that “nonessential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions,” be postponed or canceled.The recommendation from the District of Columbia is to be in effect through March 31.”Mass gatherings are defined as events where 1,000 or more people congregate in a specific location,” the city said in its health advisory.
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France, Spain Honor Hundreds of Terrorism Victims, Vow Unity
The president of France and the king of Spain paid homage Wednesday to victims of terrorism in a special ceremony prompted by attacks that hit both their countries and changed Europe’s security posture.France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia led a ceremony on Trocadero plaza overlooking the Eiffel Tower with survivors of terrorist attacks and families of victims.The European Union chose March 11 as a day of continent-wide commemoration of terrorism victims after the Madrid train bombing on March 11, 2004 that killed nearly 200 people and woke Europe up to 21st century threats of Islamic extremism.Macron paid tribute to the victims of a string of attacks in France, starting with shootings in 2012 that killed children at a Jewish school, a rabbi and paratroopers in the Toulouse region.Extremists claiming links to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaida hit France repeatedly in 2015 and 2016. Among their victims: cartoonists at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, shoppers at a kosher market, concert-goers at the Bataclan, diners in Paris cafes, an elderly priest at the altar, holiday revelers on the seaside of Nice, and several police officers.
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More Children Face US Immigration Judges Through Video Screens
Seven children stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a Texas immigration facility. Their image was beamed 1,000 miles away to Atlanta, where a judge sat in a largely empty courtroom and contended with glitchy audio.At multiple points, a woman’s voice broke through the audio into the Atlanta courtroom, translating the testimony of an asylum seeker in a separate hearing.The Trump administration this week expanded the use of video hearings for immigrant children, having dozens of them held in Houston appear before a judge based in Atlanta. Advocates believe the effort could portend a nationwide expansion of video courts to process the immigration claims of children in U.S. government custody.While the government would not confirm its plans, advocates warned of a greater burden being placed on detained immigrant children, many of whom are not yet teenagers and don’t have guaranteed access to an attorney.Technical difficulties caused delays and snarled the launch of the hearings in Houston, one of the busiest immigration courts in the nation.Video court hearings already occur for some children held in facilities that are hours away from an immigration court — in parts of Texas, Virginia, New York and Tennessee.But Houston has one of the nation’s largest immigration courts, with hundreds of cases heard weekly and children often appearing before a judge in person.Neither the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, nor the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has custody over 3,650 immigrant children, would answer why the Houston-to-Atlanta pilot was necessary. EOIR spokeswoman Kathryn Mattingly said that using video in general “reduces costs, increases hearing flexibility for backlogged dockets, and generally reduces processing or waiting times for decisions in administrative proceedings, without affecting the integrity of the proceedings.”There were 25,351 immigration court hearings held by video conference in the first 17 days of January, roughly a quarter of the 95,492 for all of 2019, according to government figures obtained by immigration attorney Andrew Free.Most of the children in government custody crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone. Some children in ORR’s custody were sent across the border by their parents in border camps, while others may have been separated from a parent or adult relative due to suspected fraud or neglect.On Monday, the first day of the change, Judge Sirce Owen in Atlanta saw dozens of children via video conference. They included a confused 7-year-old boy with no lawyer, a teenage mother trying to calm her toddler daughter, and a group of kids all dressed in the same green sweaters.In the Atlanta courtroom, against the din of fuzzy audio, the judge pressed on with the group of seven children from a government-run facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, telling them why they were there and explaining their rights.As the audio interference worsened, Owen narrowed her eyes at the screen and said, “We’re hearing some feedback on the microphone.”The audio problems continued as the judge finished with the kids, resetting their hearings for April 20 to give them time to find attorneys.As Owen waited for another group of children to file into the room in Corpus Christi, a female interpreter’s voice came over the speakers in the courtroom, “…and they pointed a gun at me…” before fading to garble.Outside observers are typically prevented from sitting in on asylum testimony to protect the privacy of the person applying. Owen ultimately cut off the video and delayed court for more than an hour so the problem could be fixed.Eventually, Owen got to the children waiting in Houston. One by one, she called up about a dozen children from a facility wearing matching forest-green zip-up sweaters. The children sat at a table next to an attorney from Catholic Charities.Owen’s face was shown on a flat-screen television to the left of the table. But the children instead looked forward at a Spanish-language interpreter.In the courtroom gallery, a teenager waiting for her hearing tried to calm her 2-year-old daughter as the delays mounted. The toddler tapped a toy against the bench and ran up and down the line, gently hitting the knees of other children waiting for their hearings.A 7-year-old boy named Justin appearing from a government-run facility seemed confused when the judge asked him about whether he understood his right to an attorney. Owen explained again slowly and the boy told her he did want more time to find one.Owen saw more than 40 children Monday. She reset some cases to allow the children to find attorneys or to give their attorneys time to prepare. She granted a handful of voluntary departure requests. And she transferred some to the adult docket because they would turn 18 before their next hearing.“Kids are being railroaded through the proceedings,” said Zenobia Lai, vice president of immigration legal services for the Catholic Charities chapter in Houston.“If it’s in person, the judge would be able to catch body language,” she said. “Here, I don’t know if the judge was looking at them at all. I don’t know what she sees.”Judges have been urged to decide children’s cases more quickly and children’s attorneys learned that government-contracted facilities would no longer take children to law offices for meetings, making these cases more difficult to prepare, said Jennifer Podkul of immigrant advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense.Gladis Molina, child advocate program director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, notes that video has been used for children at government-contracted facilities in recent years. In a previous pilot program in Phoenix, children participated in their hearings from the facility while the judge and government attorney were in court about five minutes away, she said.“It almost felt in the courtroom what was happening was the processing of file after file because the kids weren’t there,” she said. “They were just images on a screen as opposed to children whose lives were being impacted by the decision that was being made in court.”
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