President Donald Trump is expected to announce an executive order Wednesday insisting on American-made medical supplies and pharmaceuticals in response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a person familiar with the plan.Word about the planned announcement, from a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, comes amid another tumultuous day in the unfolding crisis. Confirmed cases in the United States are topping 1,000, fluctuations in the financial markets are continuing and Washington is straining to respond.The White House is also considering a host of more aggressive responses, including a declaration of a national disaster, to free up additional federal dollars and to address concerns that the administration’s initial response to the pandemic was insufficient.For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three weeks to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where the virus first exploded, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 58,000 have so far recovered.Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., raised concerns about diversifying the supply chain and reducing the U.S. reliance on imports, including from China, during a private lunch with Trump and GOP senators this week.Trump appeared to agree with the senator’s outlook, said according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private session and spoke on condition of anonymity,Rubio praised the forthcoming announcement.”The coronavirus outbreak has been a wake-up call that we must combat America’s supply chain vulnerabilities and dependence on China in critical sectors of our economy,” Rubio said in a statement. He said the expected order is “a very strong first step toward increasing domestic production by enforcing Buy American requirements for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, as well as fast-tracking approval” by the Food and Drug Administration of “critical products impacted by the coronavirus outbreak’s strain on the supply chain.”China is a key supplier of drug active ingredients, the chemical components that make drugs work, and finished medicines for the U.S. market. Those include the active ingredients for antibiotics and pills to treat common chronic conditions such as heart disease.Many of China’s active ingredients are shipped to India, which makes much of the global supply of generic drugs. India recently restricted all exports of 13 active pharmaceutical ingredients, and finished drugs made from those chemicals, to protect its domestic drug supply.The restricted drugs are mostly antibiotics, antiviral drugs and a fever reducer, all of which are used for supportive care of patients with coronavirus symptoms, because there is no approved medicine to treat the virus. U.S. regulators have stressed that alternative medicines are available to treat patients.Members of Congress and others since last fall have been raising concerns that the U.S. has become much too dependent on medicines made in Asia, as U.S. and European drugmakers increasingly have outsourced much of their manufacturing to Asia, where labor and materials are far cheaper.
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Month: March 2020
Malawi Government Faces Pressure to Release Arrested Activists
Pressure is mounting on Malawi’s government to release three activists detained this week for planning to hold protests aimed at shutting down presidential residences.Two members of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) — vice chairperson Gift Trapence and member Macdonald Sembereka — were arrested Sunday after saying they would organize demonstrations. HRDC chairperson Timothy Mtambo surrendered to police Tuesday.Their aim was to pressure President Peter Mutharika to sign electoral reform bills paving the way for fresh elections after Malawi’s constitutional court nullified last May’s polls. The court cited massive irregularities in the vote, which saw Mutharika reelected.The electoral bills propose a date for fresh elections and procedures to follow in case of runoffs.Police say Mtambo, Trapence and Sembereka will face charges of inciting people to close state residences, under Section 124 of the Penal Code.Rights group criticizes arrestsBut Amnesty International says the arrests are a government attempt to crack down on dissenting views.The international human rights body has asked Malawi authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release the detained activists.”FILE – Malawi President Peter Mutharika addresses his supporters during his swearing-in ceremony in Blantyre, May, 28, 2019. (L. Masina/VOA)”The activists simply stated their intention, which is allowed under freedom of expression,” said Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s campaigner for Southern Africa. “The crime has not been committed. So are you arresting people before the crime has been committed? However, the police should have simply said, ‘According to our laws, this is what the penal code says in relation to what has been proposed.’ It does not warrant an arrest.”The arrests were made just hours after Mutharika denounced the planned protest at a Blantyre political rally and ordered security to stop the group.Chikwanda said in a Whatsapp interview that such statements put the lives of activists at risk.”We all know that Timothy [Mtambo] narrowly escaped petrol bomb attacks the last time at his home, his car was torched the last time. So these are the kind of actions that we end up seeing by those who are overzealous and you put activists’ lives at risk by such threats,” Chikwanda said. Government defends actionsMark Botoman, the Malawi government’s spokesperson, said those condemning the government are ignorant on the country’s laws.”I think you understand that Amnesty International does not live in Malawi,” he said. “They may have connections in Malawi, they may be fed with information from here, but I think the context of the matter is these people have been arrested because they are suspected to have committed a crime. And in our country, whether you are a human rights defender or anyone else, including myself as a minister, if I break the law, the long arm of law can catch up with me.”On Wednesday, a court in Lilongwe denied bail to the three activists.Meanwhile, the opposition Malawi Congress Party called for a nationwide demonstration Thursday, pushing for the release of the activists and for Mutharika to sign the electoral reforms bills.
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Ugandan Poet Taking on Politics with Prose
Ugandan poet Stella Nyanzi was released in February after spending over a year in prison for a post she made on Facebook that insulted President Yoweri Museveni. Defiant, Nyanzi used her time behind bars to write a book and is inspiring others to use poetry to express their political opinions. But as Halima Athumani reports from Kampala, Uganda’s public prosecutor plans to appeal her acquittal.
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US Calls Out Iran, China and Venezuela on Human Rights Abuses
The United States is accusing authoritarian governments around the world of suppressing people with severe human rights “violations and abuses” to control any activities that might threaten their power.”Experience teaches that government officials who oppress, abuse, and tolerate the denial of the human rights of their own people are also responsible for creating social environments that are ripe for both economic and humanitarian crises, and that encourage corruption, violent conflict, and terrorism,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement Wednesday unveiling the 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks on the release of the 2019 Human Rights Report at the Department of State in Washington, March 11, 2020.IranOn Iran, the U.S. report highlighted the widespread protests that began last November after a fuel price increase. The Tehran government “blocked almost all international and local internet connections for most of a week, and security forces used lethal force to end the protests, killing approximately 1,500 persons and detaining 8,600, according to international media reports. There was no indication government entities were pursuing independent or impartial investigations into protester deaths,” said the State Department.The U.S. report detailed a grim picture in Iran, citing significant human rights abuses including executions for crimes not meeting the international legal standard and without fair trials of individuals.The State Department also said Iranian government officials materially contributed to human rights abuses in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, through military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and pro-Iran militia groups. ChinaOn China, the State Department’s human rights report focused on Chinese Communist Party officials’ intensified campaign of mass detention of members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang).FILE – Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.”In China, the Chinese Communist Party uses high-tech surveillance systems to monitor potential dissidents. It’s imprisoning religious minorities in internment camps, part of its historic antipathy to religious believers,” Pompeo told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing.The State Department report says Chinese authorities reportedly have “arbitrarily detained more than one million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in extrajudicial internment camps designed to erase religious and ethnic identities.”The report said official repression of the freedoms of speech, religion, movement, association and assembly of predominantly Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang, and Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), was more severe than in other areas of the country.Washington also notes that in China, human rights issues include arbitrary or unlawful killings, forced disappearances, and arbitrary detention by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention conditions; physical attacks on and criminal prosecution of journalists, lawyers, writers, bloggers, dissidents, petitioners, and others as well as their family members; and the forcible return of asylum-seekers to North Korea.Saudi ArabiaOn Saudi Arabia, while the U.S. rights report expressed concerns about the transparency and accountability of the Saudi government regarding the October 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, it did not specifically mention the observations of U.S. embassy personnel attending the suspects’ trial.FILE – A Turkish police officer walks past a picture of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi prior to a ceremony, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the one-year anniversary of his death, Oct. 2, 2019.”Even though there may be high-profile trials in various countries, we tend not to report on them unless they’re emblematic of what’s going on,” said Robert Destro, an assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor affairs.”The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was an unacceptable crime. We have spoken with the Saudi leadership from the king down about our concerns. The position that we have taken hasn’t changed,” he added.The U.S. report said the Saudi government, in several cases, did not punish officials accused of committing human rights abuses, contributing to an environment of impunity. For example, following the killing of Khashoggi, a court sentenced five officials to death and three officials to prison on Dec. 23, 2019. The court ruled that guilt could not be established in the case of three other defendants.VenezuelaOn Venezuela, the report cited restrictions on political participation and the stifling of free expression.FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro delivers his annual state of the nation speech during a special session of the National Constituent Assembly, in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 14, 2020.”For more than a decade, political power has been concentrated in a single party with an authoritarian executive exercising significant control over the judicial, citizens’ power, and electoral branches of government,” said the State Department, citing the reelection of Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president is “neither free nor fair” and deeply flawed.The State Department report also pointed to issues including unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings by security forces of the Maduro regime; forced disappearances; torture by security forces; arbitrary detention by security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; unlawful interference with privacy; and lack of judicial independence.The U.S. report said the Maduro government restricts freedom of expression and press by routinely blocking signals and interfering with the operations of, or shutting down, privately owned television, radio and other media outlets.
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Burundi Election Could Be Compromised, UN Warns
U.N. investigators warn Burundi’s coming elections could be compromised by increasing repression of political opponents, economic and social instability and growing criminality. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Burundi has submitted its report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.The U.N. commission is appealing to the international community, especially to Burundi’s neighboring states, to persuade the government to hold free and transparent elections; but, the three-member panel indicates there are few signs that will happen.Burundi’s presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections will be held May 20. Senegalese jurist and commission president Doudou Diene said the vote is taking place within a widespread climate of impunity for serious human rights violations.Diene said witnesses have given damaging accounts of actions by members of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure. Witnesses accuse them of carrying out killings, rape, extortion of goods and funds, and forced recruitment into the party, known as the CNDD-FDD.Diene also voices concern about the clampdown on freedom of speech, noting an increase in media censorship. He spoke through an interpreter.“The government has continued to use the judicial system to silence civil society and the media. Human rights defenders remain arbitrarily detained…We are very concerned by the increase in hate speech with a political and/or ethnic dimension. This is circulating unrestricted on social media. We also note the silence of the Burundian authorities on this matter,” he said.Party members attend the congress of the opposition Congres National pour la Liberte (National Freedom Council) party, in the capital Bujumbura, Burundi, Feb. 16, 2020.Diene calls the political intolerance in all the provinces of the country deplorable. He said the commission has documented numerous human rights violations, mainly targeting political opponents, including several members of the National Congress for Liberty.“They have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for participating in their party’s activities, and some were also victims of violence and torture while many others were killed. Their family members, especially women, have also been targeted and were victims of serious violations, including sexual violence,” he said.Burundi’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Renovat Tabu, said the report is politicized and that it is regrettable. Tabu said his government is used to what he calls the commission’s smear campaigns. Since it was established in 2016, he said the commission’s reports have been full of lies, defamatory and insulting allegations.He said Burundi is an open and peaceful society, noting that 10 candidates already have registered for the elections.
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Watchdog: Press Freedom in Russia, Iran Under Attack From ‘Digital Predators’
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has included pro-Kremlin social-media users, Russia’s communications regulator, and an Iranian state body tackling cybercrime on its list of press freedom’s 20 “worst digital predators” that it says represent a “clear danger for freedom of opinion and expression.”The Paris-based media freedom watchdog unveiled the list ahead of the World Day Against Cybercensorship to be marked on March 12.This list, which RSF says is not exhaustive, includes “state offshoots” and government agencies in authoritarian countries. It also covers private-sector companies specializing in targeted cyberespionage that are based in Western countries such as the United States and Britain.
“The authoritarian strongmen behind predatory activity against press freedom are extending their tentacles into the digital world with the help of armies of accomplices, subordinates, and henchmen who are organized and determined digital predators,” RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.
“These accomplices sometimes act from or within democratic countries,” Deloire said, adding that “opposition to despotic regimes also means ensuring that the weapons for suppressing journalism are not delivered to them from abroad.”In Russia and Iran, the “Kremlin’s troll army,” Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor, and the Iranian Cyberspace Supreme Council use digital technology to “spy on and harass” journalists and thereby “jeopardize” people’s ability to get news and information, according to RSF.It said pro-Kremlin actors use social media to spread “false” reports and videos, publish personal information, and attack the reputation of journalists.One of their targets includes Finnish investigative journalist Jessikka Aro, who in a recently published book “shed light on the propaganda they spread about those who denounce their activities.”For instance, Russian journalist Igor Yakovenko and the Moscow-based foreign reporters Isabelle Mandraud and Shaun Walker are “often targeted by this troll army,” according to RSF.Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor has “blocked more than 490,000 websites without warning and without respecting legal procedure and has a secret blacklist of banned sites,” the group said.The government agency’s targets have included Ferghana and other news agencies, investigative sites such as Listok and Grani.ru, and political magazines including ej.ru and mbk.news.Roskomnadzor also “blocks platforms and apps that refuse to store their data on servers in Russia or provide the Russian authorities with keys to decrypt messages,” RSF said, citing the example of the encrypted messaging service ProtonMail, which was partially blocked earlier this year.RSF said the Iranian Cyberspace Supreme Council uses “online selective access and control,” and blocks news websites, platforms, and apps such as Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter to enforce state censorship.Created in 2012 and consisting of senior military and political figures, the council “is constructing a firewall using Internet filtering techniques,” the watchdog said.
“Internet shutdowns are increasingly used to contain and suppress waves of street protests, and to restrict the transmission and circulation of independent information regarded as ‘counter-revolutionary’ or ‘subversive’ in nature,” it added.
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Scottish Court to Hear Posthumous Appeal of Libyan Lockerbie Bomber
The conviction of the only man ever found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing has been referred for an appeal to Scotland’s High Court, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said on Wednesday.Pam Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 en route from London to New York, an attack that killed 270 people, mostly Americans on their way home for Christmas.In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life after being found guilty of carrying out the attack. He died in Libya in 2012 after being released three years earlier by Scotland’s government on compassionate grounds following a diagnosis of terminal cancer.Chairman of the Commission Bill Matthews said it was the second time they had reviewed Megrahi’s conviction. “We note that since our last review further information has become available, including within the public domain, which the Commission has now been able to consider and assess,” he said in a statement.”I am satisfied that the matter is now returning to the appropriate forum – the appeal court – to consider fully all of the issues raised in our statement of reasons.”
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Province at China Virus’s Center lets Some Companies Reopen
The province at the center of China’s virus outbreak began allowing factories and some other businesses to reopen Wednesday in a show of confidence that Beijing is gaining control over the disease that devastated its economy.Chinese leaders are trying to revive business after the most sweeping anti-disease controls ever imposed shut down manufacturing, travel and other industries in late January, sending shock waves through the global economy.On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus emerged in December, in a sign China believes its crisis might be passing even as the United States and European governments tighten anti-disease controls.Manufacturers, food processors and other businesses in Wuhan that are essential to the national economy or providing daily necessities can resume operation, the Hubei provincial government announced. The city of 11 million people, about 700 kilometers (450 miles) west of Shanghai, is the manufacturing hub of central China.The changes are meant to “accelerate establishment of economic and social operation order, compatible with the epidemic prevention,” said a government statement. Companies that reopen are required to make “epidemic control” plans, inspect employees for signs of disease and keep workplaces disinfected.The statement said controls that have kept most people in Wuhan and surrounding cities in their homes for seven weeks will be eased to allow employees to go to work but movement will be tightly controlled.Companies in and around Wuhan that are reopening include makers of electric car batteries, pharmaceuticals, telecom components and Chinese-style liquor, according to news reports.Controls have been eased in other areas of China that are considered at low disease risk, but travel and other curbs still are in place. Factories are reopening, but automakers and other industries aren’t expected to return to normal production until at least mid-April due to disruption to supplies of components.A foreign ministry spokesman expressed confidence the impact on China’s economy is “temporary and limited.” He rejected suggestions companies should move operations out of the country or find foreign suppliers of components and raw materials to reduce the risk of future disruptions.“Factors and conditions that support the high-quality development of the Chinese economy have not changed,” said the spokesman, Geng Shuang.“With the recent progress China has made in domestic epidemic prevention and control, key industries including foreign-funded enterprises and leading enterprises have resumed work,” Geng said. “It is neither realistic nor wise to artificially cut off the global supply chain, nor even tout ‘transfer’ and ‘decoupling’ of the supply chain.”Also Wednesday, officials at a Cabinet meeting led by Premier Li Keqiang, China’s No. 2 leader, promised easier credit and other aid to help companies reopen, according to a statement read on the state TV evening news.The officials promised “relief policies will be equally enjoyed by domestic and foreign enterprises,” the statement said.More than 80,000 people in China have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. More than 61,000 have recovered.For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people who already have health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Most people recover in about two weeks, though those with more severe illness may take up to six weeks to recover.Most access to Wuhan was suspended on Jan. 23 in a dramatic effort to contain the outbreak. Residents were ordered to stay in their homes.Restrictions spread to cities with a total of 60 million people. The Lunar New Year holiday was extended to keep factories and offices closed. The government canceled group tours and closed shopping malls, restaurants and cinemas nationwide.That jolted global auto, smartphone and other brands that look to China as a manufacturing center and a major market.In high-risk areas of Hubei outside Wuhan, businesses that supply food and daily necessities, freight handling and some other services will be allowed to resume, the statement said. It did not say when restrictions on other industries might end.Even in low-risk areas, businesses such as cinemas, hair salons and karaoke bars “will not resume until the epidemic situation is resolved,” the statement said.In high-risk areas including Wuhan, people who are free of infection may use “point to point” transportation provided by the government or employers, the provincial government statement said.Public buses and subways will resume operating in low and medium-risk areas but Wuhan’s transit system will remain shut down, it said.Wuhan and nearby areas of Hubei are home to factories for global automakers and suppliers of components for electronics, smartphones and other industries. The province accounts for about 6% of China’s auto production.Groupe Renault, one of a number of global auto brands that operate factories in Wuhan with Chinese partners, said it tentatively plans to restart production on March 20 but is awaiting a final government decision.
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Washington, DC Commemorates Women’s Suffrage Centennial
The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution’s 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote . Museums in the Washington DC area are celebrating with exhibitions that tell the story of how women fought for voting rights. Maxim Moskalkov has more from the National Museum of American History
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Banned Thai Opposition Figure Faces New Criminal Charges
Thailand’s Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday said it would file criminal charges of breaching electoral law against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the now-defunct Future Forward Party, in the latest action against the former anti-junta politician.”This is criminal case where the EC is the complainant. The legal process will be handled by the police,” Sawang Boonmee, deputy secretary-general of Election Commission, told Reuters.The complaint comes less than month after the Constitutional Court dissolved the Future Forward Party and banned 16 of its top officials, including its leader, from politics for 10 years over what the court ruled was an illegal loan from its founder.The legal moves, which sparked protests by students and were condemned by pro-democracy activists, strengthened the position in parliament of a coalition led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former junta leader who first took power in a 2014 coup.Thanathorn, a charismatic billionaire who founded the party, already faces two criminal charges, one for computer crimes over a speech he posted on Facebook criticizing the junta and another for sedition for allegedly aiding anti-junta protesters in 2015.The Election Commission said in a statement it would file criminal charges against the former party leader for breaching an electoral law that says he applied to be a candidate for member of parliament knowing he was not qualified, which carries a jail term of one to 10 years, a fine of up to 200,000 baht ($6,370) and a 20-year ban from politics.The complaint follows the Constitutional Court’s decision last year to disqualify him as member of parliament for holding shares in a media company on the date his election candidacy was registered.Thanathorn has previously denied breaching electoral law, saying he sold his shares in the media company prior to registering as a candidate.Future Forward came in third in last year’s election and emerged as a major adversary to the government. Prayuth’s pro-army party came first in the March 2019 election, but opposition parties say electoral laws written by the junta were designed to give the military establishment control over politics.The remaining 55 members of parliament of the disbanded party will be officially joining an existing party called Move Forward Party.Thanathorn, heir to an auto-parts fortune, has vowed to continue fighting for democracy and work alongside his former colleagues.
He could not immediately be reached for comment.($1 = 31.4100 baht)
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Japan Marks 9th Anniversary of 2011 Disaster with Muted Observances
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led the country in a moment of silence Tuesday on the ninth anniversary of the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed at least 18,000 people.Abe and his Cabinet ministers gathered in his office in Tokyo and held a silent prayer at the exact moment a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011.FILE – An aerial view shows the No. 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, July 18, 2013.The quake triggered a massive tsunami that swept over the region and swamped the Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaging the plant’s cooling system and causing a meltdown of its three reactors, making it the world’s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. More than 160,000 people were forced to to flee their homes, many of whom have never returned.The observance in Abe’s office was held after the prime minister canceled the annual official public observance due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which has sickened at least 1,200 people and killed at least 12.But hundreds of people gathered at Tokyo’s Hibiya Park Wednesday for a solemn observance of the anniversary, many of them wearing protective face masks.The Japanese government partially lifted an evacuation order last week for the town of Futaba, one of the many towns emptied during the Fukushima disaster. The decision came after organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics announced that Futaba has been added to the route of the traditional Olympic torch relay, which begins on March 26.
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Loughlin, Giannulli Lawyer is Prosecutors ‘Worst Nightmare’
After winning guilty verdicts against top Enron executives in one of the most high-profile cases of corporate fraud, the lead prosecutor declared: “No matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules.”
More than a decade later, that same lawyer, Sean Berkowitz, is fighting to clear “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, of charges that they used their wealth and privilege to skirt the rules in the college admissions process.
And he will be a formidable foe for prosecutors looking to put the famous couple behind bars, former colleagues say.
“Sean is a prosecutor’s worst nightmare,” said Jeffrey Cramer, who was in the U.S. attorney’s office with him in Chicago. “If Sean has anything to work with at trial, he can show reasonable doubt.”
Berkowitz and the couple’s other high-powered attorneys are hoping to help Loughlin and Giannulli avoid the same fate as other prominent parents who’ve landed in prison for participating in a college admissions cheating scheme that has rocked the world of higher education.
A Chicago-area native who led the special Justice Department task force that investigated the Enron scandal, Berkowitz has a reputation for being fearless yet cool-headed and a master at navigating complex cases. Lawyers who’ve worked with him say he’s meticulous and unflappable with a Midwestern charm that makes him persuasive to juries.
“He’s very comfortable in the courtroom,” said David Hoffman, who worked as a federal prosecutor alongside him and remains a close friend.
“He’s very genuine, he’s very relaxed … and that I think comes across to everyone who’s with him,” said Hoffman, now a white collar lawyer in Chicago.
Berkowitz, 52, now a partner at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press.
Loughlin and Giannulli hired him quickly after they were arrested last March on charges that they paid $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as fake crew recruits.
Other prominent attorneys on their defense team include BJ Trach, also from at Latham & Watkins, who previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Boston and now has other big-name clients such as General Electric and tobacco giant Philip Morris. Trach, 42, is known as a savvy young lawyer who’s friendly with the prosecutors at the Boston courthouse, where Loughlin and Giannulli are scheduled to stand trial alongside six other parents in October.
The defense team has their work cut out for them.
Nearly two dozen other parents, including fellow actress Felicity Huffman, have already admitted to paying bribes in the scheme, and several have been sentenced to prison.
Prosecutors have emails and recorded phone calls between Loughlin and Giannulli and the admitted mastermind of the bribery scheme, Rick Singer. Documents that prosecutors have revealed include a bogus resume presented to USC that falsely claims their younger daughter, Olivia Jade, rowed in such prestigious competitions as the Head of the Charles. Singer and the former coach authorities say Singer paid to create the fake athletic profile for Olivia Jade are cooperating with investigators and will likely testify against the couple at trial.
But Loughlin and Giannulli say they believed the checks they wrote were legitimate donations that would support Singer’s charity or go directly to USC as a fundraising gift. Their lawyers have accused prosecutors of withholding information that could support the couple’s claims of innocence, including notes from Singer’s iPhone in which he says the FBI told him to lie and say that he told parents that the payments were bribes.
Berkowitz says that information is exonerating, and Cramer said the defense attorney is an expert at turning any problem with a case into a big advantage.
“With every case there are problems, and this case is no exception,” said Cramer, now executive director of the Berkeley Research Group consulting firm. “And if there are problems in a case, and you have a defense lawyer who is as good as Sean, those little gaps in cases sometimes can become big holes for you to run through.”
Federal prosecutors say calling the payments donations instead of bribes doesn’t make them legal.
Outside the courtroom, Berkowitz is an avid runner who used to be a part owner of a now-shuttered rock club on Chicago’s northwest side. He’s married to journalist Bethany McLean, who co-authored The Smartest Guys in the Room, about Enron’s corruption and downfall.
Berkowitz was tapped in 2005 to be director of the Enron Task Force and was the lead prosecutor in the trial against founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling for actions that led to the energy company’s extraordinary meltdown.
His prosecuting partner at the Enron trial, John Hueston, is now defending another high-profile parent in the college admissions case: William McGlashan, who co-founded an investment fund with U2 Singer Bono. McGlashan denies participating in the scheme and is scheduled to go on trial in January.
During the monthslong trial in Houston, Berkowitz impressed even his adversaries with his ability to present the complicated case in a way jurors could grasp. “He was remarkable in his ability to maintain a simple message for the jury,” said Chip Lewis, one of the attorneys for Lay. “It would have been very easy to lose the jury in all those details.”
In his final pitch to jurors, Berkowitz showed them a poster with the words “Truth” and “Lies” written in black and white. “You get to decide whether they told the truth, or they told lies,” he said.
“Don’t go back and let the defendants, with their high-paid experts and their lawyers, buy their way out of this,” he told them. “You can’t buy justice. You have to earn it.”
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Italy Remains Locked Down as US Coronavirus Cases Top 1,000
Governments around the world are trying to take steps to address the ever-changing outbreak of a new coronavirus, which since December has infected more than 118,000 people and killed about 4,300 in 114 countries.The virus, known officially as COVID-19, first emerged in China, where health officials Wednesday reported 24 new cases.People wait in a queue to get temperature check before entering a bank in Beijing, March 11, 2020.While the increase represents a sustained decline from the height of the outbreak in China, the country where the government puts cities on lockdown to prevent inter-community spread is now dealing with an increase in the number of cases arriving from other nations.That prompted officials in Beijing to order anyone arriving to go into a 14-day quarantine.Italy follows China’s playbook Italy has followed China’s playbook after becoming a secondary center of the outbreak with more than 10,000 reported cases so far and cases in numerous other countries linked to people who traveled from Italy. Italians were under a second day of a nationwide lockdown Wednesday with people only able to move around for urgent health and work reasons.Officials in the United States are showing increased concern as the number of cases there surpassed 1,000. Medics transport a patient through heavy rain into an ambulance at Life Care Center of Kirkland, the long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases in the state, in Kirkland, Washington, March 7, 2020.US outbreak pockets
There are pockets of outbreaks in the western state of Washington, where the governor is expected to announce a ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, and across the country in New York where that state’s governor is instituting an isolation zone around a community with more than 100 reported cases.Most people who contract the new coronavirus experience mild or moderate symptoms, but some, mainly older people and those with existing health problems, are at risk for more serious illness.The World Health Organization recommends people wash their hands, avoid touching their face, maintain distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing, and stay home if they feel ill.Recommendations to avoid large gatherings of people have led to numerous event cancellations around the globe.Police officers wearing masks patrol an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, March 11, 2020.Vatican live-streams mass
Pope Francis gave a live-streamed mass from inside the Vatican on Wednesday, and the Vatican’s representative in East Timor said the pope would not be making an expected trip there later this year.A Premier League match between British football clubs Manchester City and Arsenal set for Wednesday night was postponed after several Arsenal players and staff members went into self-quarantine linked to contact with the owner of another club who tested positive for the virus.Popular Coachella festival canceled
In the United States, organizers of the Coachella music festival moved the April event to October. And a Sunday debate between Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders will go on without anyone in attendance.
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Australia’s High Court Hears Appeal of Cardinal Convicted of Child Sexual Abuse
Australia’s High Court opened a two-day hearing Wednesday on Cardinal George Pell’s last-ditch appeal of his convictions on sexually assaulting two teenage choirboys.The 78-year-old Pell was convicted in December 2018 on charges that he molested the boys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick Cathedral in 1996 while serving as archbishop of the Melbourne diocese. He was sentenced exactly one year ago this month to six years in prison. Pell’s lawyers went to the High Court after the Victoria Court of Appeals rejected his appeal last August by a vote of 2-1 vote. Defense attorney Bret Walker is arguing that it was implausible that the alleged assault even happened because it supposedly took place in a busy area of the crowded cathedral, unlike other sexual assault cases. Walker is also arguing that the Victoria appeals court incorrectly put the burden of proof on Pell to prove his innocence, rather than place it on the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.The seven-member High Court could decide to either accept or reject Pell’s appeal, or send it back down to the Victoria Court of Appeals. Pell is the the highest-ranking Catholic official convicted in connection with the global child sexual abuse scandal that has embroiled the church for three decades. At the time of his conviction, he had taken a leave of absence as a member of the Vatican’s Council of Cardinals, who serve as Pope Francis’s cabinet and inner circle of advisers. He had also served as the Vatican’s treasurer and economic minister. Only one of the alleged victims came forward to tell authorities what happened; the other died in 2014 of a drug overdose having never spoken of the alleged assault. A lawyer for the father of the late choirboy says if the High Court rules in Pell’s favor and allows him “to walk free from jail, our client says he will lose all faith in our legal system.”
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Trump Coronavirus Response Divides Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to reassure nervous Americans Tuesday as cases of the coronavirus rose into the hundreds across the nation. But the administration is at odds with congressional Democrats who say Trump’s plans to lessen the economic fallout of the crisis won’t help the hardest-hit American workers. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from increasingly concerned lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
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Russia’s Putin Hints at New Path to Staying in Power
Russian leader Vladimir Putin threw his weight behind proposals to amend Russia’s current constitutional cap on presidential term limits — a move that opens the door to Putin, 67, staying in power far beyond the end of his current and, in theory, final term in 2024.Under the proposed changes, which Putin insisted would need backing by an upcoming nationwide referendum, as well as the approval of Russia’s Constitutional Court, the Russian leader would be eligible to run for two more terms in office, possibly extending his 20-year Kremlin rule through 2036.“The proposal to remove restrictions for any person, including the incumbent president … would be possible, but on one condition: if the Constitutional Court gives an official ruling that such an amendment would not contradict the principles and norms of the constitution,” Putin said in addressing the proposal before lawmakers in the Duma on Tuesday.Putin framed the move as injecting stability into Russia’s uncertain political future — in effect, suggesting that by staying in power, he could lead Russia toward a day when change in power through elections would be possible.”I am certain that a time would come when the supreme presidential power in Russia would not be so personified, will not be tied to a certain single person,” Putin said.“We are done with revolutions in Russia,” he added.A legendary cosmonaut, a new mission?The proposed constitutional reforms were the latest in a series of moves that appear to provide Putin with options as he confronts the end of his fourth and final term in office.Indeed, the announcement came as lawmakers in the Duma debated additional constitutional reforms first proposed by Putin amid a surprise government shakeup last January. Those proposals included a newly empowered parliament, prime minister’s post and Security Council — all measures that suggested Putin was envisioning a possible new role from which to wield influence beyond the end of his presidency.Yet today’s announcement signaled that at least some in the Kremlin had united around a simpler plan: Putin would stay right where he is.The roll out was highly choreographed.First, lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova, a legendary Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space, took to the Duma lectern, to say that lawmakers’ recent constitutional debates had failed to take into account Russians’ true wishes: that Putin remain in power.Moreover, Tereshkova said impending new changes to the constitution afforded the president the right to “reset to zero” the number of terms already served.Next, Vyachaslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma, informed journalists that Putin had heard the news and was on his way to the Duma to address the idea.Soon, Putin was before lawmakers agreeing that the “return to zero” option was indeed possible, provided it passed muster during a national vote scheduled for an April 22 referendum and received the subsequent backing of the Constitutional Court.The Duma quickly approved the measure.Opposition replyKremlin critics had few, if any, illusions of the road ahead.“The fact that Putin was never going to leave — we’ve always known. That he didn’t make any clever moves, and instead stupidly just took another term — now that’s a bit of a surprise,” Leonid Volkov, chief strategist of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, wrote in a post to Facebook.“The current constitution guarantees that I can definitely participate in presidential elections, and that Putin definitely cannot,” Navalny said in a tweet, noting the Kremlin had banned him from participating in elections despite rulings to the contrary by the European Court for Human Rights.Как интересно получается.Действующая конституция гарантирует, что я точно могу участвовать в президентских выборах, а Путин – точно не может.На практике же, я выиграл два суда в ЕСПЧ и всё равно не могу.А Путин был у власти 20 лет, но всё равно пойдёт на первый срок.— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) March 10, 2020″Yet Putin has been in power for 20 years and all the same is headed for his first term,” Navalny said, in taking a swipe at the “return to zero” argument.While members of the opposition pushed for supporters to protest the move, the calls were immediately hamstrung by another crisis: the coronavirus.Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that all public gatherings of more than 5,000 people were banned until at least April 10 over fears of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Yet government critics were quick to question the timing of the decision, with many noting that tens of thousands had taken to the streets in 2012, when Putin stretched constitutional norms to return to the Kremlin for a third term in office.For the time being, critics were left to take part in smaller protests against Putin’s new power move, with a reported 100 people taking part in rotating single-picket demonstrations in order to not run afoul of Russia’s punitive freedom of assembly laws.Cue the jokes onlineSocial media churned with grim jokes on the news, parodying a week that, in addition to Putin’s announcement and concerns over coronavirus, saw the ruble collapse amid an oil pricing war with Saudi Arabia.“You read the news about the government coup, and in fear you want to hug somebody,” wrote one Facebook user. “Then you remember about coronavirus. And you think, better instead to head to see a therapist. And then you remember about the value of the ruble.”“Due to the quarantine, they’ve forbidden Putin to leave his post,” photojournalist Dave Frenkel jokes in a post on Twitter.Из-за карантина Путину запретят покидать президентский пост— Dave Frenkel (@merr1k) March 10, 2020“Putin said that he’s not against zeroing out his presidential terms,” Russian blogger Ruslan Usachev wrote in another tweet. “Now, all those who were born under President Putin, have a chance to die under President Putin.”Indeed, should Putin remain healthy and retain public support, Russians faced the prospect of Putin remaining in power well into his 80s.Yet the Russian leader said his country’s ultimate goal was to get to a place where “people in power can be changed regularly,” an argument that some political observers suspected was tightly bound to Putin’s own political reign.“I hope that by 2036, (Putin) will somehow convince the population that democracy is better than a dictatorship,” Vladimir Inozemtsev, director of the Center for Post-Industrial Society Studies, in a blog post dripping with sarcasm.“Learning quicker, it seems, is unlikely to happen,” Inozemtsev said.
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Trump Briefs Senators on Stimulus Plan, But Details Slim
U.S. President Donald Trump briefed Senate Republicans Tuesday on his proposed economic stimulus package in response to the coronavirus outbreak. It included a payroll tax cut, an idea that has drawn opposition from some Republicans and Democrats.White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who sat in on the president’s meeting with Senate Republican lawmakers, declined to specify the dollar amount for the package, but did say that Trump prefers it include a payroll tax “holiday” through the end of this year.The president has also mentioned loans for small businesses and said he wants help for hourly wage workers so that they’re “not going to miss a paycheck” and “don’t get penalized for something that’s not their fault.”The final stimulus package will originate in the House, and the president tapped Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Mnuchin later called their meeting productive and said they’d “work together on a bipartisan basis to figure out how we can get things done quickly.”President Donald Trump, joined by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, speaks to reporters after meeting with Republican senators, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.Pelosi said her team will have its package ready in the next day or so.Later Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence, at the White House’s coronavirus task force’s evening briefing, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish within the next 24 hours recommendations for hard-hit states such as California, Florida, New York and Washington, to help them control the spread of COVID-19.The Trump’s administration’s former Homeland Security adviser, Thomas Bossert, has called for sweeping action to be taken immediately, such as closing schools even in communities where there is not widespread infection.“Everything is on the table,” responded Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, when asked about Bossert’s statement.Fauci, added however, that it is not appropriate to say all schools should be closed “in the entire country tonight.”Also, U.S. health insurance companies will cover costs for coronavirus testing, Pence said at a White House meeting with company executives.”All of the insurance companies here today or before today have agreed to waive all co-pays on coronavirus testing and extend coverage for coronavirus treatment in all of their benefit plans,” the vice president said.Pence said the companies will also pay the costs to provide telemedicine care to patients so that they do not have to leave home.
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US Disease Expert: Coronavirus Threat Means Lifestyle Changes
One of the United States’ top disease experts says Americans and Europeans should be prepared not to do the things they could do just a few months ago before the coronavirus outbreak.”It doesn’t matter if you’re in a state that has no cases or one case. You’ve got to start taking seriously what you can do now that if and when the infections will come,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci said Tuesday. “And they will come, sorry to say, sad to say.”Fauci used hockey great Wayne Grtetzky as a metaphor for how to deal with an infectious disease — Gretzky doesn’t go where the puck is going, he goes where the puck is going to be.”We want to be where the infection is going to be as well as where it is,” Fauci said.He said it is “no surprise” that the coronavirus outbreak appears to be subsiding in Asia while it grows in the United States and Europe, saying this has been the history of outbreaks of infectious diseases.The number of confirmed cases in the United States skyrocketed Tuesday to 975 — up 400 in just one day. At least 30 have died.The coronavirus outbreak is affecting two major global institutions headquartered in the United States.National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci steps away from the podium during a news conference on the coronavirus in the press briefing room at the White House, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Washington.The Untied Nations headquarters has closed its doors to the public — a move likely to disappoint millions of tourists who visit New York City.In Washington, The World Bank and International Monetary Fund will hold what it calls a “virtual format” for its annual Spring meeting next month.In a normal year, about 10,000 people convene at World Bank headquarters for the talks, just blocks from the White House.The bank is also restricting access to its headquarters from anyone who has been to China, Iran, or Italy in the past two weeks as well as those with a cold, fever, or showing flu-like symptoms.Also Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission became the first federal agency to ask its Washington employees to work from home after a staffer was treated for the coronavirus.In Iran, the spread of the virus to all of the country’s provinces has caused more hardship for an economy in recession since 2018 thanks to toughening U.S. sanctions and government mismanagement.A VOA Persian TV viewer in Iran who called in to the Tuesday edition of the network’s Straight Talk show and said he was in Tehran described the local economy as bleak. “Restaurants, coffeeshops, ice creameries, kabob houses and barber shops are closed, and places like theaters and malls with high volumes of visitors are empty,” the man said. “People are scared of getting infected and dying.”VOA could not independently verify the caller’s exact location.Meanwhile, Burkina Faso, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Turkey all reported their first coronavirus cases and Germany reported its first death Tuesday.A British junior health minister, Nadine Dorries, became the first lawmaker in the U.K. to be diagnosed.As of late Tuesday, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide was nearly 119,000 with more than 4000 deaths.The World Health Organization says 110 countries report at least one confirmed case.VOA Persian’s Shahram Bahraminejad contributed to this report.
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Streets Empty as Italian PM Extends Lockdown Nationwide
Italian streets are empty after the government extends a clampdown across the entire country in a bid to slow Europe’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus. Elsewhere, Lebanon records its first casualty from the virus while guests at a Canary Islands hotel celebrate the end of a two-week lockdown. VOA’s Mariama Diallo has more.
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American Professor Pleads Guilty in Connection with China Work
A former West Virginia University physics professor has pleaded guilty to a fraud charge in connection with his work for one of China’s premier foreign talent recruitment programs, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. James Patrick Lewis, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of federal program fraud. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.Lewis was tenured at the university from 2006 to 2019. In 2017, he signed a contract with the Chinese Academy of Sciences through its Thousand Talents Plan, agreeing to serve as a professor for three years in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.In order to take the job, Lewis put in a fraudulent paternity request to administrators at West Virginia University, asking to be released from his teaching duties in the fall of 2018 in order to serve as the primary caregiver for a child he and his wife were expecting, according to the Justice Department.”Rather than caring for his newborn child, Lewis planned to work in China during the fall 2018 semester as part of his agreement with the Thousand Talents Plan,” the Justice Department said. “Based on the false justification Lewis offered, WVUI granted his request.”The scheme allowed Lewis to bilk more than $20,000 from the publicly funded university. The Justice Department did not indicate when Lewis ended his work with the Chinese government or how much he received for his services.”Lewis defrauded a public university into giving him leave so that he could satisfy his competing obligations to a Chinese institution, which he hid from the school,” assistant attorney general John Demers said in a statement.The Thousand Talents Plan lures overseas Chinese and foreign experts with competitive salaries, state-of-the-art research facilities and honorific titles, according to the FBI. The experts are expected to bring their knowledge and experience to China, “even if that means stealing proprietary information or violating export controls to do so.”In recent years, the FBI has stepped up its investigations of Chinese talent recruitment programs, concerned that the Chinese government uses them as part of its economic espionage activities.Other investigationsLaw enforcement officials said last month that the FBI is conducting roughly 1,000 investigations into suspected Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property, with many expected to result in criminal charges against individuals and companies later in the year.FILE – Harvard University professor Charles Lieber is surrounded by reporters as he leaves the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Jan. 30, 2020.In January, Charles Lieber, head of Harvard University’s chemistry department, and a world leader in nanoscience, was indicted on charges of lying about receiving funding from Chinese research agencies.Lieber was simultaneously receiving research funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. The arrests shed light on relationships between U.S. brainpower, the Chinese government and funding between the two that involves intellectual property theft.Last year, a University of Kansas researcher was charged with collecting federal grant money while working full time for a Chinese university. A Chinese government employee was arrested in a visa fraud scheme that the Justice Department says was aimed at recruiting U.S. research talent. A university professor in Texas was accused in a trade secret case involving circuit board technology.The National Institutes of Health announced last year that it is investigating whether a dozen researchers there failed to report taking funding from foreign governments, specifically China.
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Islamic State, Al-Qaida ‘On the March’ in Africa
Western-backed efforts to counter terror groups across Africa are falling short, increasing the chances one or more affiliates of Islamic State or al-Qaida could try to carve out their own caliphate on the continent, according to the latest assessment by a top U.S. commander.The stark warning, shared with lawmakers Tuesday, builds on previous intelligence showing Africa-based groups have been growing more ambitious and more capable, with some increasingly bent on targeting the West.”Western and international and African efforts there are not getting the job done,” Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told lawmakers regarding developments in West Africa and the Sahel.FILE – U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend watches during a tour north of Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 8, 2017.”ISIS and al-Qaida are on the march,” he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. “If ISIS can carve out a new caliphate, or al-Qaida can, they will do it.”U.S. officials warn that many of the IS and al-Qaida affiliates have already grown so strong that Africa Command has been forced to shift its strategy to trying to contain the groups rather than to degrade their capabilities.Much of the attention has focused on the IS affiliates, buoyed by publicity from a steady stream of attacks on Nigerian government forces and others in the region.”We’re seeing increased activity by ISIS affiliates in West Africa, East Africa,” State Department counterterrorism coordinator, Ambassador Nathan Sales, said late last month. “The ISIS brand lives on.”But military officials warn it is the increased activity by al-Qaida affiliates in West Africa that is their biggest cause for concern.”They want to eventually establish a caliphate,” “The (al-Shabab) threat has been higher in the last few months than it was eight months ago when I first got to AFRICOM,” Townsend told reporters Tuesday after the hearing. “They aspire to attack Americans wherever they find us, to include the homeland.” However, some U.S. allies are pushing back, agreeing that while the long-term concerns are real, the immediate threat is overstated.”In the short term, the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa are unlikely to replace the Middle East and Afghanistan as regions from which the main threat to Europe emanates,” one European Union security official recently told VOA.That type of sentiment may be making it more difficult for the U.S. to persuade some European partners to put more resources into the counterterror fight at a time when the Pentagon is looking at reducing its military footprint.The U.S. has about 6,000 troops in Africa, but officials are in the middle of a review that could reduce that number by perhaps 10% or more over the next few years.”The Sahel is principally a CT (counterterror) mission,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said during a trip to Europe last month. “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight.”Instead, the U.S. and France, which has been leading the counterterror fight in West Africa with about 5,100 troops, have been pressuring other European countries to increase their military contributions.”We’re not a lead partner in any of that. We’re a supporting player,” Townsend told reporters. “We, the world, need to do something about that.”VOA’s Carla Babb and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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US Scales Down Military Exercises in Africa Due to Coronavirus
One of the U.S. military’s largest exercises in Africa has been significantly scaled down due to the threat of the coronavirus.
The massive, U.S.-led African Lion exercises in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal were supposed to involve 9,300 troops from eight nations. The troops would use the exercises to improve military readiness and integration, while preparing to combat transregional threats. But there was one threat African Lion organizers weren’t prepared for: the coronavirus.
Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, first told VOA and The Wall Street Journal about the change after testifying Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
“African Lion has been significantly reduced in scale and scope based on concerns that we all have about the safety of our troops and those of our partners,” he said.
Exercises with troops being housed in close quarters have been cut. Townsend says the change mostly effects the Army component of the exercises, because the soldiers’ drills involve close contact.
“We’re going to continue on with some training events that require less interaction between large troop formations like air activity, naval activity, and maybe some special operations activity,” he said.
Some of the U.S. troops who had deployed ahead of the official March 23 start date will be able to finish their tasks, including the academic portion of the drills which had already started. But many African Lion organizers are shifting their focus to the next set of drills in 2021.
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Amid Stalemate Over Greece-Turkey Border Crisis, EU Takes In Migrant Children
As thousands of migrants continue to mass on the Turkey-Greece border, there were few signs of a breakthrough in emergency talks between Turkey and the European Union Monday. Meanwhile five EU member states, Germany, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Portugal, agreed to take in unaccompanied migrant children who are stuck in Greece, though the numbers are unclear.Ankara encouraged migrants to head to the Greek border last week, accusing the EU of failing to keep to the promises it made in a 2016 deal struck at the height of the European refugee crisis. Turkey is hosting around 4 million migrants, many of them escaping the war in Syria. However, critics say most of those trying to cross into Greece are not from Syria and accuse Turkey of weaponizing migrants to blackmail Europe. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A child walks next to tents in a migrant camp set up near the Turkish-Greek border in Pazarkule, Edirne region, Turkey, March 10, 2020.For migrants stuck on the border, including thousands of children, the misery continues. Many are sleeping in the open or in makeshift camps. Greece has stepped up security across the land and sea borders and anyone caught trying to breach the frontier is turned back. A few do manage to get through and are quickly arrested. It’s not yet clear if they will be returned to Turkey or be allowed to remain on Greek soil, after Athens announced it will not accept any asylum applications for at least the next month. Back home, Turkey’s president continues to ramp up the rhetoric for his domestic audience.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, in Brussels, Belgium, March 9, 2020.“Aren’t women and their children suffering the most among the refugees swarming to land and sea borders, hoping to go to Europe?” President Erdogan told supporters at a rally Sunday in Istanbul. “And what is the West doing about this? Is the West’s heart breaking over all of this? No. Is it raising its voice? No.”Meanwhile the United Nations has voiced concern over the vulnerability of the migrant population to the COVID-19 virus outbreak. A team from the U.N. refugee agency is visiting camps along the Greek border to advise on hygiene and transmission prevention.
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Amid Stalemate Over Greece-Turkey Border Crisis, EU Takes in Some Migrant Children
As thousands of migrants continue to mass on the Turkey-Greece border, there were few signs of a breakthrough in emergency talks between Ankara and Brussels Monday. Turkey is hosting around four million migrants, many of them escaping the war in Syria. But critics say accuse Turkey of weaponizing the migrants to blackmail Europe. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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