A report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council denounces the so-called war on drugs by the government of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, which has resulted in the killings of thousands of alleged drug suspects.The United Nations was not allowed to enter the Philippines to conduct its investigation. Therefore, its report is based on information gathered from hundreds of documents, civil society and government sources, as well as interviews with victims and witnesses.The material presents a chilling account of a five-year war against drugs waged by Duterte without regard for due process rights and the rule of law. Official government figures show at least 8,663 people have been killed. However, some estimates put the toll at more than triple that number.U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said the report finds serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and incitement to violence were sanctioned from the highest levels of government. “The report finds that the killings have been widespread and systematic — and they are ongoing. We also found near-total impunity, indicating an unwillingness by the state to hold to account perpetrators of extrajudicial killings. Families of the victims, understandably, feel powerless, with the odds firmly stacked against justice,” she said.Bachelet notes senior government officials acknowledge the draconian campaign has not been effective in reducing the supply of illicit drugs. She calls on the government to conduct independent investigations into the grave violations documented in the report.FILE – Families of victims of alleged extra-judicial killings in the so-called “war on drugs” remove portraits of their slain relatives, July 9, 2019, in Manila, Philippines.Philippines Minister of Justice, Menardo Guevarra said his government, like those of others, faces many problems, including drugs, corruption, criminality and terrorism.Speaking on a video link from Manilla, he told the council his country cherishes its newly won, hard-fought democracy. He said his government is deeply concerned about the inroads made by the drug trade and is committed to fighting this scourge, but always, he added, within the law and in full respect of human rights.“Our president ran and won on a campaign promise of a drug-free Philippines where our people are safe, and their rights protected. The president has discharged this mandate faithfully. After four years, the president and his anti-drug campaign enjoy the strong and widespread support or our people,” he said.Guevarra rejects claims that Philippine officials and security personnel operate within a climate of impunity. He said each case of wrongdoing is brought before authorities with the diligence it deserves. He also rejects calls for an independent investigative mechanism, noting the country’s Commission on Human Rights is a strong independent monitoring body, which serves that function.
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Month: June 2020
Sahel Summit Agrees Need to Intensify Campaign Against Jihadists
International and regional powers agreed at talks on Tuesday to intensify a military campaign against Islamist militants in the West African Sahel region, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying victory over the jihadists was within grasp. Militant attacks in the Sahel have increased over the last two years, especially in the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali known as Liptako-Gourma, where local authorities have been overrun. Mauritania hosted a meeting of the leaders of five Sahel nations plus France and Spain to plot future strategy in the scrubland south of the Sahara where since 2013 thousands of French troops have been helping countries counter insurgencies. “The heads of state stressed the need to intensify the fight on all fronts by national and international forces against terrorist groups,” the final communique said. French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the closing press conference at the G5 Sahel summit on June 30, 2020, in Nouakchott.The so-called G-5 Sahel nations comprise Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad — all former French colonies. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also attended the summit, while other EU leaders joined by video. “We are all convinced that victory is possible in the Sahel. We are finding our way there thanks to the efforts that have been made over the past six months,” Macron said after the summit. Ahead of the summit, a joint statement by the United Nations and a group of aid organizations painted a dark picture of the situation on the ground. “The security situation in the Sahel countries has deteriorated considerably in recent months. Conflicts prevailing in the region are having unprecedented humanitarian consequences,” it said. The joint forces, led by France’s 5,100 troops, have so far targeted the regional affiliate of Islamic State, concentrating military efforts on Liptako-Gourma. French forces said this month that they had killed al Qaeda’s North Africa commander Abdelmalek Droukdel. But the G-5 force has been hampered by a lack of funding, equipment and coordination. France has long called for more help from its European allies for the mission, which it sees as essential to protecting the security of Europe’s southern flank.
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Thousands Demand Justice for Protesters Killed During 2019 Anti-Bashir Protests
Hundreds of thousands marched in Sudan’s capital Tuesday, demanding justice for the people killed by security forces during last year’s street protests. Protest organizers say they need to keep pressure on the transitional government despite the ongoing risk of the COVID-19 pandemic. Demonstrators waved Sudanese flags and held pictures of those killed during the 2019 protests. A similar demonstration took place one year ago today, when hundreds of thousands marched to condemn brutal attacks against pro-democracy protesters that left more than 100 people dead. Musatfa Abdallah was among those in the streets Tuesday, demanding punishment for those who attacked the protesters.By Whatsapp message, Abdallah said despite the health situation, youth are in the streets marching now demanding justice for the victims of the revolution and to correct the path of the transitional government generally. He said the demands are peaceful and legal, at least in terms of justice for the revolution victims. Civilians chant slogans as members of Sudanese pro-democracy protest on the anniversary of a major protest in Khartoum, June 30, 2020.In April 2019, the military ousted Omar al-Bashir after four months of mass protests against his 30-year rule. A military council ruled the country for several months, until army leaders and protest organizations signed a power-sharing agreement that created a Sovereign Council to run the country until elections in 2022. Human rights activist Alzain Othman said protesters want the people responsible for last year’s killings to be prosecuted. Othman said protesters insisted on marching because they feel the government’s reluctance to punish anyone for the killings and the investigations have yet to achieve anything. This year’s protest is different from last year’s, he said, as last year it was against the military rule and this year it’s against even the civilians in the ministers’ council. Sudan’s prime minister addressed the nation Monday on national TV, promising the government will make progress on the justice issue within two weeks. Riot police officers hold their position on June 30, 2020, against protesters near the Parliament buildings in Khartoum.Meanwhile, the Sudanese military is out in force, restricting citizen movement, especially on bridges and in central Khartoum. Hundreds of troops and heavy vehicles are surrounding military headquarters and blocking roads linking Khartoum to other cities. Protest organizations called for this march, but asked that participants abide by restrictions to combat COVID-19, like wearing face masks and social distancing. Sudanese health officials have confirmed more than 7,000 active cases of COVID-19. The government says lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus will end in the first week of July.
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In Rare Move, US Clears Limited Cooperation Between US Firms, Huawei
In a rare twist to Washington’s long-standing restrictions on the Chinese tech giant Huawei, the Commerce Department recently reversed its ban preventing U.S. firms from working with Huawei on developing new technical standards.The move was seen by many in China as an admission by President Donald Trump’s administration that it cannot ignore Huawei’s influential role in developing the technical standards critical for future technologies. “America finally bowed its head” read a headline by Chinese network Phoenix TV.The new rule, announced by the Commerce Department on June 15, amends the Huawei “entity listing,” to allow American companies to collaborate with Huawei on setting standards that will determine the technical rules of the road for 5G and other emerging technologies. “This action is meant to ensure Huawei’s placement on the entity list in May 2019 does not prevent American companies from contributing to important standards-developing activities despite Huawei’s pervasive participation in standards-development organizations,” the department said. The situation with Huawei is no accident. For years, Beijing has focused on joining international standard-setting bodies, such as 3GPP and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which are little-known among the public, but make some of the most consequential decisions in modern telecommunications.
3GPP and the future of your smartphone
Nestled in a quiet industrial park in southern France, a technology consortium with esoteric name, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, or 3GPP, sets the technical standards behind the world’s communication platforms, the fundamental building blocks for product development. As the primary global standard setting organization for the last 20 years, 3GPP helped create technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth as well as today’s 5G high-speed networks.
“Standards are not very sexy but extremely important,” Andrew Polk, partner at Beijing-based research and consultancy firm Trivium China, told VOA. “And it takes sustained long-term effort and attention. While western companies try to set standards, China has a long-term coordinated game plan to influence standards,” he said.FILE – A staff member holds a Huawei ‘Mate20 X 5G’ smartphone at the IFA 2019 tech fair in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 5, 2019.China’s leaders have long seen technology as a key to the country’s economic and military might, and have financially backed companies such as Huawei to become powerful global competitors that will help the country’s political and military goals. Critics say Beijing takes the same approach to setting technical standards.
“Beijing views standards as foundational to its goals to reshaping global governance and expand geostrategic power,” said Dr. J. Ray Bowen, analyst of Pointe Bello, a Washington, D.C.-based strategic intelligence firm.
Even though U.S. companies remain world leaders in most areas of technology, observers such as Dustin Daugherty, head of North America Business Development at Dezan Shira & Associates, a pan-Asia business consulting firm, say China’s strategy means “in the future the U.S. could fall behind a coordinated government effort in standard setting (such as from China).”
China’s long-term plan
As of May, Chinese firms and government research institutes have accounted for the largest number of chairs or vice chairs in 3GPP, holding 16 of the 45 available leadership positions, according to VOA’s count based on the data release by 3GPP. By comparison, U.S. companies hold nine such leadership positions.
That’s up from a year ago, when 3GPP sent VOA a file showing that representatives from Chinese and U.S. companies each held 12 chair and vice chair positions.
While the 3GPP is the primary global group setting 5G standards, another major global organization, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is now led by a formal Chinese government official Zhao Houlin.
Zhao, who began his career in China’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, was first elected as the secretary-general of ITU in 2014. He was reinstated in November 2018 for another four-year term.
Established in 1865, ITU is one of the oldest international organizations in the world and has historically avoided politics. However, Zhao publicly criticized Washington in its dispute with Huawei, the Chinese communications giant that U.S. officials say has deep links to the military. “I would encourage Huawei to be given equal opportunities to bid for business,” Zhao told reporters in Geneva earlier this year. “But if we don’t have anything then to put them on the blacklist – I think this is not fair.”FILE – Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), attends a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, May 28, 2018.Under Zhao’s leadership, another Chinese national, Richard Li, serves as the chairman of a critical group with the ITU called Focus Group Technologies for Network 2030. Li, according to his LinkedIn Page, is still currently employed by Huawei as Chief Scientist and Vice-President of Network Technologies, is in charge of examining the world’s emerging technologies and 5G.
Doug Barry, the spokesperson for The US-China Business Council (USCBC), a private organization with the mission of promoting trade between the two countries, said there are companies that are concerned about the abuse of leadership positions by China, but so far he has not heard any examples of this happening in practice.
“Most international standards setting bodies have strong due process which makes it difficult for stakeholders to abuse leadership positions to force proposals through or block proposals,” said Barry.
Daugherty said because Chinese companies are among the most important international players in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, their presence in industry groups and standard setting bodies is logical. But he said there is an important difference between them and their counterparts from democratic countries.
“Chinese companies (and by extension possibly their individual representatives on such bodies) may ultimately need to answer to Beijing’s priorities for strategically important issues,” said Daugherty.
In an interview with VOA, he said the politicization of such international bodies could conceivably lead to a decrease in legitimacy in international standard setting. “The damage could be immense,” he said.
Flooded with proposals
Holding leadership positions is one part of Beijing’s strategy. Another part involves massive investments in submitting technical proposals to the international groups.
In a rare disclosure last September, Huawei said for one particular technical area alone, the company submitted 18,000 5G New Radio proposals. “If printed on A4 paper and piled up high, would stand a staggering 10 meters tall,” it said proudly on its official twitter account.FILE – A 5G logo is displayed on a screen outside the showroom at Huawei campus in Shenzhen city, in China’s Guangdong province, March 6, 2019.The U.S.-China Business Council said last February this is an issue of concern. “Some companies and experts complained that Chinese stakeholders submit large numbers of proposals that are low-quality or irrelevant to market needs in some industries, including for products that China does not actually produce.”
The report titled “China in International Standards Setting” said this takes valuable time and resources away from considering serious proposals.
China also sends more people to attend international meetings that discuss, vote and make decisions on standards.
According to a report release last November by German intellectual property research firm Iplytics, Huawei dispatched over 3,000 engineers to participate in the 5G standard-setting process. American chipmaker Qualcomm sent 1,701 engineers to attend 3GPP meetings.
Dr. Melanie Hart, director for China Policy Center for American Progress, said the Chinese government is channeling state financial support to help Huawei and other Chinese firms send personnel to attend 3GPP meetings and flood the process with Chinese technical contributions.
“It is difficult for private companies from other nations to match that level of activity because sending engineers overseas to participate in 3GPP meetings and devoting R&D resources to develop 3GPP technical contributions are costly activities,” she testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission last March.
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Former US Fighter Pilot Wins Kentucky Democratic Senate Primary
Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath won the Senate Democratic nomination in the U.S. state of Kentucky Tuesday, setting up a November contest against one of the most powerful political figures in the country, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
A week after voting ended and with the extended vote count nearly completed, McGrath defeated state lawmaker Charles Booker by a margin of about 45% to 43%, with other minor candidates splitting the remainder of the ballots.
McGrath, who lost a bid for a House of Representatives seat in 2018, faces an uphill fight against McConnell, a long-standing political fixture in the mid-South state and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda in Washington. But numerous national Democratic leaders, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, are supporting her.
McGrath raised millions of dollars more than Booker, an African American, in campaign funds. But he drew close in the final weeks before the June 23 vote after national progressive Democratic politicians endorsed him in the wake of national protests against police abuse of minorities.
McGrath and Booker had traded small leads since election day as local jurisdictions turned in their results from mail-in voting.
Kentucky received requests for nearly 900,000 such ballots, an unusually high number that came in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with voters opting to not risk their health by going to polling places.
Some election experts are already saying that the extended vote counts in party primaries that have turned Election Nights into Election Weeks in the U.S. are a harbinger of what could happen in the Nov. 3 national election, when Trump is seeking reelection against his presumptive Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Other slow vote counts because of mail-in ballots in the June 23 Democratic congressional primaries in New York have left the political fate of two longtime House members in doubt.
Before counting the mail-in votes, former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, who had never run for office before, held a lead of 61% to 36% over Congressman Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, held a slight lead over lawyer and activist Suraj Patel before the mail-in ballots were counted in their race.
Results in both of the New York races could be announced later Tuesday.
Voters are headed to the polls in three other states Tuesday, with party primary elections in Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma.
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Drive-up US Citizenship Eases Backlog, But New Threat Looms
A 60-year-old U.K. citizen drove into a Detroit parking garage on a recent afternoon, lowered the window of her SUV to swear an oath, and left as a newly minted American. It took less than 30 minutes. Anita Rosenberger is among thousands of people around the country who have taken the final step to citizenship this month under COVID-19 social-distancing rules that have turned what has long been a patriotic rite of passage into something more like a visit to a fast-food restaurant. “It was a nice experience in spite of the fact that I was in the car by myself with a mask on,” said Rosenberger, a sales manager for an electronics component company from suburban Detroit. “And I will say that I will remember this.” Similar drive-thru ceremonies are being held around the country, but perhaps for not much longer. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says a budget crisis could force the agency to furlough nearly three-quarters of its workforce, severely curtailing operations as tens of thousands of people wait to become citizens. That could have potential political consequences, especially in states such as Michigan and Florida where the number of newly naturalized Americans already exceeds the narrow margin of victory for President Donald Trump in 2016. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you have several hundred thousand people who are not in a position to vote in this election but would have been if business had been progressing normally at USCIS,” said Randy Capps of the Migration Policy Institute. “That’s been everyone’s concern.” In this June 26, 2020 photo, Vida Kazemi is sworn in as a U.S. citizen by Allen Chrysler, immigration services officer, during a drive-up naturalization ceremony in Laguna Niguel, Calif.The citizenship agency has not detailed publicly how it will operate if it doesn’t get $1.2 billion in emergency funding from Congress before Aug. 3. It said in a written response to questions that “all USCIS operations will be impacted by a furlough” that covers more than 13,000 workers. USCIS derives nearly all its $4.8 billion budget from fees it charges to people who apply to live or work in the country. Revenue was already in decline under Trump, whose administration has imposed a number of immigration restrictions. The agency says COVID-19 caused it to drop by half. “The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are long reaching and pervasive, leaving few unscathed in its wake,” Acting Director Joseph Edlow said. In written responses to questions, the agency says it would pay back the money it receives from Congress with a 10% surcharge on fees. While the agency cites the pandemic for its budget woes, immigration experts and a USCIS employee union say other factors include administration policies of devoting more resources to vetting applications and searching for fraud. The administration has also halted a number of programs — including a recent freeze on H-1B visas for skilled workers — that provide an important source of revenue for USCIS. “The agency has really moved away from its mission and become more of an enforcement agency that carries out the agenda of the Trump administration,” said Diego Iñiguez-Lopez, policy and campaigns manager for the National Partnership for New Americans, an immigrant advocacy organization. USCIS typically swears in 15,000 new citizens per week. The agency said there were about 110,000 people waiting to take the oath when they shut down in-person operations in March because of the virus. It said it expects to work through the backlog by the end of July, thanks in part to ceremonies like the one held at the federal building in Detroit or similar ones outside a minor league baseball stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, and a community recreation center near San Diego. Some in Congress have pushed to allow virtual swearing-in ceremonies, but the agency has refused. Behind those waiting for the ceremony are a long line of some 700,000 people who have submitted applications for naturalization, facing an average time to process that has risen to 10 months from six months in the last year of the Obama administration. That backlog has a number of causes, including a surge in interest due to the election of a president who has made restricting immigration a centerpiece of his administration and the increased scrutiny of applications, said Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute. Acting Deputy Department of Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli presided over a naturalization ceremony Monday in Washington for 20 people, including an Afghan interpreter credited with saving five U.S. soldiers. “Welcome to you and your country from a grateful nation,” he said later on Twitter. In this June 26, 2020 photo, U.S. District Judge Laurie Michelson, left, administers the Oath of Citizenship to Hala Baqtar during a drive-thru naturalization service in Detroit.Others who are sworn in are as varied as the country. Rosenberger, whose father brought her to the U.S. in 1968 so he could work for an electronics manufacturer, put off applying for citizenship for years in part because she liked having a U.K. passport. Then, when she did attempt it, her paperwork was lost. She re-applied in November. “I thought, the way this country is going I better get my citizenship now.” Others are more recent arrivals. Mulugeta Turuneh came to the United States as a refugee from Eritrea in 2011 and settled in Iowa City, where he works as a truck driver. He took the oath Friday in Des Moines after a delay of several months because of the outbreak. “God bless America,” Turuneh said afterward. “I’m so happy here. Everything is nice. Everything is cool.” Iris Lapipan, who came to the U.S. from the Philippines as a child in the 1990s, was among those naturalizing at a recreation center in El Cajon, California. She said she is looking forward to being able to travel outside the United States and participate in the election. She said she was leaning toward former Vice President Joe Biden. “I’m excited that I can vote, especially with what is going on now,” she said. Rosenberger is leaning the other way, saying she is generally conservative and would most likely support Trump. “Now that I’m a citizen I’m very excited about voting,” she said. “You have the right now, so use it.”
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Bullet Sent to Reporter for Slovak Website Aktuality
Police in Slovakia are investigating after Peter Sabo, a reporter for the news outlet Aktuality, found a bullet in his mailbox.The threat against Sabo comes just over two years after the February 2018 murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak, who worked for the same outlet.Sabo joined Aktuality a few months after the killing, to help continue Kuciak’s investigations. Sabo had recently reported on international tax fraud and drug crimes. The outlet condemned the threat in an People gather at Slovak National Uprising square for a rally against corruption and to pay tribute to murdered Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, March 9, 2018, in Bratislava, Slovakia.Police said an investigation is under way, the International Federation of Journalists reported. The Slovak Minister of the Interior Roman Mikulec and President of Police Milan Lučansk were informed of the threat, Bárdy told the International Press Institute (IPI). “This kind of intimidation must be taken seriously,” IPI deputy director Scott Griffen said in a FILE – Suspects in the 2018 slaying of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, are escorted by armed police officers from a courtroom in Pezinok, Slovakia, December 19, 2019.Kuciak had been investigating tax fraud of several businessmen who had connections to Slovak politicians and Kočner. He was shot dead along with his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, in their home in Velka Maca, a village east of the Slovak capital Bratislava.In the weeks after the murder, protests over corruption and the murder led to a series of high-profile resignations including of the prime minister. Earlier this year, a court sentenced two people for the murder. Kočner is currently on trial accused of ordering the killing. He denies the charge. In a show of solidarity after the murder, Kuciak’s colleagues helped finish his unfinished work, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) founded the “Kocner Library” – an electronic archive made up of files police collected in their investigation into the businessman that journalists can use to further report on corruption.
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Chinese Scientists Discover New H1N1 Virus Strain That Could Infect Humans
Scientists in China have identified a new strain of a flu virus in pigs that has the potential to infect humans and lead to a new pandemic.
In a paper published in the U.S.-based journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists say the new “G4” strain was discovered during a surveillance program of pig farms and slaughterhouses across 10 provinces between 2011 and 2018.
The new virus is a variation of the H1N1 swine flu virus that killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world in 2009.
The scientists discovered the G4 virus has already infected workers at various farms and slaughterhouses throughout China. The new H1N1 strain can grow and quickly multiply in the cells that line the airways of humans, although there is no current evidence the illness can spread through human-to-human contact.
But the researchers also found that although G4 is derived from H1N1, current flu vaccines do not provide any immunity from the new virus.
The research paper said that G4 have all the “essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus.” The scientists urged pig farmers to control the spread of the virus among pigs, and to closely monitor people who work with the animals.
The study’s release comes as the world is in the grips of COVID-19 pandemic which has sickened over 10.2 million people worldwide and killed over 500,000 since it was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.
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Belgian King Expresses Regret for Colonial Abuses in Congo on Country’s Independence Day
Belgium’s King Philippe expressed regret Tuesday for 75 years of his country’s exploitative rule in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The king spoke on the African country’s 60th anniversary of independence. “I want to express my deepest regret for these past injuries, the pain of which is regularly revived by the discrimination that is still all too present in our societies,” Philippe wrote in a letter to Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi. FILE – Belgium’s King Philippe, wearing a face mask, walks down a main shopping street in Brussels, May 10, 2020.The statement is the closest a reigning Belgian monarch has come to an apology. The Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 after 52 years as a colony and 23 years of brutal private ownership under Leopold II. Millions of Congolese died under Belgian rule, which exploited land and people for rubber, copper, diamonds, gold and other natural resources.
In a statement to the Agence France-Presse news agency, Congo Foreign Minister Marie Ntumba Nzeza said the king’s letter was “balm to the heart of the Congolese people. This is a step forward that will boost friendly relations between our nations.”
A spokesman for Tshisekedi had no comment on the letter. But in a TV address on the eve of independence day, the president said Philippe was “searching, just like me, to strengthen the ties between our two countries without denying our common past, but with the goal of preparing a bright and harmonious future.”
Other Congolese activists and scholars said Philippe’s letter, which did not include an explicit apology or mention Leopold II by name, did not go far enough. “It’s not enough to say, ‘I feel regret,'” Lambert Mende, a spokesman for former Congo President Joseph Kabila, told AFP. “People should be willing to repair the damage in terms of investment and compensation with interest. That’s what we expect from our Belgian partners.”
Some have also called for Belgium to return Congolese artifacts, double down on investigations of colonial violence and issue reparations for 75 years of bloody rule. A bust of Belgium’s King Leopold II is hoisted off of its plinth by a crane as it’s removed from a park in Ghent, Belgium, June 30, 2020.The Belgium city of Ghent took a statue of Leopold II off public display Tuesday, just hours after Philippe’s letter. The city of Antwerp removed another statue of the ruler earlier this month to repair it after anti-racism protesters defaced it with paint, though a spokesman for the city’s mayor said it probably would not be put back.
Burundi and Rwanda, also former Belgian colonies, will celebrate their independence on July 1.Leslie Bonilla contributed to this report.
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У жителей путляндии все меньше свободных денег
У жителей путляндии все меньше свободных денег.
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Пока власти путляндии обнуляют опущенного карлика пукина, финансовое благосостояние или точнее положение верноподданного населения продолжает скатываться на дно, даже несмотря на подачки от паханата
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Три основні причини падіння рейтингу зеленого карлика. Чому українці перестають довіряти президенту?
Три основні причини падіння рейтингу зеленого карлика. Чому українці перестають довіряти президенту?
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Пояснюю, чому у зеленого карлика стрімко падають рейтинги та хто в цьому винен.
Блог про українську політику та актуальні події в нашій країні
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Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
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Как в путляндии рисуют победу на голосовании за поправки
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Обнуление опущенного карлика пукина идет уже несколько дней и пока мы наблюдаем и фиксируем нарушения, нас уверяют, что проголосовало уже 40 млн россиян. Хотя это не удивительно, ведь по всей стране, не то что в каждом дворе, они ходят даже по квартирам тех, кто не подавал заявку на надомное голосование. Ведь им нужна ваша подпись, что вы приняли в этом участие, только и всего, а как этот голос посчитают – это уже совсем другая история
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Гражданин никто. Обнуление Михаила Ефремова
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Михаил Ефремов назвал опущенного карлика пукина кормильцем, а себя клоуном, которы читал стихи с критикой власти исключительно ради финансовой выгоды
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Украинский броневик КОЗАК-5 показал себя и готов протистоять гибридным силам армии путляндии !
Украинский броневик КОЗАК-5 показал себя и готов протистоять гибридным силам армии путляндии !
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Russia Votes on Constitutional Changes to Extend Putin’s Rule
In Russia, a second effort is underway to hold a weeklong national vote to change the country’s constitution. The Kremlin was forced to scuttle an earlier April vote amid the outbreak of the coronavirus. From Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricardo Marquina
PRODUCER: Henry Hernandez
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Britain’s PM Discusses Post-COVID-19 Economy
Saying it is not too soon to begin planning for the post-COVID-19 economy, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday pledged to invest more than $17 billion in the country’s education system and $6.13 billion for infrastructure investment. Speaking at Dudley College of Technology in central Britain, Johnson acknowledged it might seem premature to discuss a post-COVID future in light of recent surges of the virus in the nation and elsewhere in the world. But he maintained that Britons cannot continue to be “prisoners of this crisis.” Comparing his plan to former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” programs of the 1930’s designed to lift the United States out of the Great Depression, Johnson pledged to “build, build, build” and speed up government plans for new schools, hospitals and road repair. Johnson renewed a campaign pledge to build 40 new hospitals in Britain, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock releasing the list of new buildings in the next few days. He also pledged to continue and step up funding for the National Health Service and “fix the problems of social care that every government has flunked for the past 30 years.” Noting the economic downturn driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson said, “We must work fast, because we know that people are worried about their jobs and their businesses.” As Johnson spoke of the post-COVID economy, the reality of the pandemic was evident in the British city of Leicester, where a spike in coronavirus infections prompted the government to reinstate a lockdown. All the city’s schools and non-essential shops were forced to close, fewer than two weeks after they had been allowed to reopen.
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Nigeria Reopens Secondary Schools, Airports for Domestic Flights
Nigeria is reopening schools for the graduating class on the advice of a task force that students get help in preparing for examinations. The chairman of the presidential task force on COVID-19 Boss Mustapha said, the federal government also lifted the ban on interstate movement outside curfew hours and reopened airports for domestic flights. Mustapha also said, President Muhammadu Bihari approved the extension of the phased lockdown for four weeks, meaning the 10 pm – 4 am nationwide curfew, restrictions on mass gatherings and sporting activities will continue. Nigeria’s mandate for face masks in public places remains in effect. So far, Nigeria has confirmed more than 25,100 COVID-19 cases and more than 570 deaths.
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Taliban Attempts to Reassure Pompeo Amid Russia ‘Bounty’ Controversy
The Taliban said Tuesday its political chief in a video call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reassured him the Islamist insurgency does not allow anyone to use Afghanistan to plot attacks against other nations.
Pompeo’s contact with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, came as President Donald Trump faces growing pressure from U.S. lawmakers to investigate news reports that Russia had offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
“It is not true. We have already rejected that,” Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA from the Qatari capital of Doha when asked whether Pompeo raised the issue of alleged Russia-Taliban collaboration.
“Baradar once again reiterated that the Taliban are committed not to allow anyone to use Afghan soil (to launch attacks) against any country,” Shaheen said.
FILE – Members of a Taliban delegation, led by chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, center, leave after peace talks with Afghan senior politicians in Moscow, May 30, 2019.U.S. officials have not yet commented on the Pompeo-Baradar contact.
In an exclusive story published last week, the New York Times, while citing anonymous officials, reported that Trump had been told about the alleged Russian bounties but did nothing in response.
Trump has denied getting any such briefing.
“Intelligence is verified before it reaches the president of the United States. And in this case, it was not verified,’’ White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday when reporters asked why the president was not informed.
Shaheen said that Baradar also reaffirmed his group’s commitment to a peace-building agreement with Washington, which requires all U.S. and coalition forces to withdraw from Afghanistan by July 2021 in return for Taliban counterterrorism guarantees.
The pact, signed in Doha on Feb. 29, also binds the insurgents to seek political reconciliation with other Afghan groups through direct negotiations to bring an end to decades of hostilities in the country.
However, increasing battlefield violence and a controversial slow-moving prisoner swap between the Afghan government and the Taliban have delayed long-awaited intra-Afghan negotiations that were originally scheduled for March 10.
Shaheen said Baradar told Pompeo the delay in intra-Afghan talks was because the Kabul government did not release all 5,000 Taliban prisoners as stipulated in the accord.
Afghan officials say they have released about 4,000 insurgent prisoners so far while Shaheen said his group has also freed 717 out of the promised 1,000 Afghan forces being held by the Taliban.
Sheen noted that Pompeo called for all Afghan warring sides to do more to reduce violence, claiming the chief U.S. diplomat acknowledged that the insurgent group has “lowered the war graph by not attacking cities and major military bases.”
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Confederate Flag Losing Prominence 155 Years After Civil War
Long a symbol of pride to some and hatred to others, the Confederate battle flag is losing its place of official prominence 155 years after rebellious Southern states lost a war to perpetuate slavery.
Mississippi’s Republican-controlled Legislature voted Sunday to remove the Civil War emblem from the state flag, a move that was both years in the making and notable for its swiftness amid a national debate over racial inequality following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Mississippi’s was the last state flag to include the design.
NASCAR, born in the South and still popular in the region, banned the rebel banner from races earlier this month, and some Southern localities have removed memorials and statues dedicated to the Confederate cause. A similar round of Confederate flag and memorial removals was prompted five years ago by the slaying of nine Black people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. A white supremacist was convicted of the shooting.
Make no mistake: The Confederate flag isn’t anywhere close to being gone from the South. Just drive along highways where Sons of Confederate Veterans members have erected gigantic battle flags or stop by Dixie General Store, where Bob Castello makes a living selling hundreds of rebel-themed shirts, hats, car accessories and more in an east Alabama county named for a Confederate officer, Gen. Patrick Cleburne.
“Business is very good right now,” Castello said Monday.
But even Castello is surprised by how demonstrations over police brutality became a wave that seems to be washing over generations of adoration for the Confederate battle flag by some. He wonders what might happen next.
“This could go on and on,” he said. “There’s just no limit to where they could go with it.”
The Confederacy was founded in Montgomery in 1861 with a Constitution that prohibited laws “denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves.” The South lost, slavery ended, and Confederate sympathizers almost ever since have argued the war wasn’t just about slavery, instead advocating the “lost cause” version centered around state’s rights, Southern nobility and honor.
To some, the Confederate battle flag — with its red background, blue X and white stars — is a down-home symbol of Southern heritage and pride. The band Alabama, one of the top-selling country music groups ever, included the banner on five album covers in the 1980s and ’90s while at the height of its popularity.
Patty Howard, who was visiting a huge carving of Confederate Civil War generals at Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park with her husband, Toby, on Monday, said they aren’t offended by the flag, but they also don’t fly it at their home in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
“I don’t see it as related to slavery,” said Howard, 71. “To us, it just represents being from the South.”
But the flag has a dark side. It has been waved for decades by the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who oppose equal rights. The banner’s use by such groups, combined with a widening sense that it is time to retire the symbol of a defeated nation once and for all, has led to change.
“The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said of the state’s current flag, which was adopted by lawmakers at a time when white supremacists were actively squelching political power that African Americans had gained after the Civil War.
Georgia — which added the battle emblem to its state flag in 1956 in response to U.S. Supreme Court decisions to desegregate public schools — adopted a flag without a rebel banner in 2003.
Alabama flew the battle flag atop its state Capitol until 1993, when it was removed following protests by Black legislators. Additional Confederate flags were removed from around a massive Confederate memorial just outside the building in 2015, when South Carolina also removed its battle flag from the state Capitol grounds after the shooting.
It has taken longer in Mississippi. Not long after the Charleston shooting, House Speaker Philip Gunn became the state’s first prominent Republican to say the Confederate symbol on the state flag was morally offensive and must be changed. People posted signs with the slogan, “Keep the Flag. Change the speaker,” but Gunn was easily reelected twice.
During the past month, Gunn and Mississippi’s first-year lieutenant governor, Republican Delbert Hosemann, persuaded a diverse, bipartisan coalition of legislators that changing the flag was inevitable and they should be part of it.
Hosemann is the great-grandson of a Confederate soldier, Lt. Rhett Miles, who was captured at Vicksburg and requested a pardon after the war ended in 1865.
“After he had fought a war for four years, he admitted his transgressions and asked for full citizenship,” Hosemann said during the debate. “If he were here today, he’d be proud of us.”
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Asian Markets Rebound Tuesday on Good Economic News from China and US
Better-than-expected economic numbers from China Tuesday helped Asian markets rebound from Monday’s staggering losses. Tokyo’s Nikkei index gained 1.3% Tuesday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.5% and the Shanghai’s Composite index finished 0.7% higher. The S&P/ASX index in Sydney earned 1.4%, with Seoul’s KOSPI index up 0.7% and the TSEC in Taiwan up 0.6%. Mumbai’s Sensex was trading 0.5% in late afternoon trading. China’s monthly survey of factory managers, the purchasing managers index, was 50.9 for June, just above the mark that separates expansion and contraction. Investors also reacted positively to Monday’s report of a stronger-than-expected U.S. housing market in the face of a rising number of COVID-19 cases across the United States, which led to a strong closing for Wall Street. But the situation is much different in Europe, with the FTSE index in London down one percent, the CAC-40 in Paris down 0.5%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt is trading 0.3% lower. In oil markets, U.S. crude is selling at $39.32 per barrel, down 0.9% per barrel, while the international standard, Brent crude, is selling at $41.52 per barrel, down 0.4%. And the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all trending negatively, indicating a slow opening on Wall Street Tuesday.
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Two US Pro Basketball Stars Test Positive for COVID-19
A month before the National Basketball Association is set to resume its novel coronavirus-shortened season, two key members of the league’s Brooklyn Nets franchise have tested positive for the disease caused by the virus. The team said DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Dinwiddie tested positive for COVID-19 since returning to the New York City borough last week for workouts at the team’s practice facility. Jordan issued a Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaks during a news conference on the CDC’s ongoing response to the coronavirus outbreak at the National Press Club in Washington, Feb. 11, 2020.The United States is expected to be on the European Union’s list of countries whose citizens are barred from traveling there because of COVID-19. Diplomats say Brazil, India and Russia are also expected to be on the list because of their high number of cases. “This is not an exercise to be nice or unfriendly to other countries, this is an exercise of self-responsibility,” Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, told Spanish radio. EU diplomats say the list will be revised every 14 days. President Donald Trump suspended most European travelers from entering the United States in March. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the worst of the coronavirus outbreak is over in Canada but urged citizens to stay alert. “After a very challenging spring things are continuing to move in the right direction,” Trudeau said Monday. “What the situation we’re seeing in the United States and elsewhere highlights for us is that even as our economy is reopening, we need to make sure we are continuing to remain vigilant.” Non-essential border crossings between the United States and Canada are set to expire on July 21. But it is unclear how Canada will react if the surge in cases in the U.S. continues. Across the Atlantic, authorities in Britain have reimposed a series of lockdowns in the central city of Leicester due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Monday that schools and all non-essential businesses will be shut down in the city of 350,000 this week, while urging people to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of Leicester. The lockdown of Leicester comes as Britain slowly begins to reopen its economy from the peak of its outbreak. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her country will host next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit by means of digital platforms, scrapping plans to physically host the 21-member bloc in Auckland. New Zealand has become an international success story in its response to the pandemic, imposing strict lockdowns at the outset that have resulted in fewer than 1,200 confirmed infections and 22 deaths out of five million citizens. Ardern says calls by some politicians to reopen the Pacific nation’s borders to international travel with the number of infections rising around the world are “frankly dangerous.”
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Chinese Legislature Approves Security Law for Hong Kong
China’s legislature has passed a controversial national security law for Hong Kong that the United States and pro-democracy activists believe will further erode the semi-autonomous city’s freedoms. The new law, approved Tuesday in Beijing by the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, generally calls for the central government in Beijing to establish a national security office in Hong Kong aimed at confronting subversion of state power, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces. The exact details of the new law have yet to be released. The new law caps Chinese President Xi Jinping’s aggressive efforts to tighten control over the financial hub over the past few years, which has led to massive street protests by pro-democracy activists seeking greater freedoms for Hong Kong. The city was rocked during the second half of 2019 by angry and often violent demonstrations sparked by a controversial extradition bill that was eventually withdrawn.Buildings are seen above Hong Kong and Chinese flags, as pro-China supporters celebration after China’s parliament passes national security law for Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, June 30,2020.The action by the Chinese legislature bypasses Hong Kong’s legislature, which has the authority to pass any security laws under the Basic Law, the city’s constitution. Hong Kong lawmakers have been pressured by Beijing in the past to approve a national security law, but were met by heavy protests. The law was approved Tuesday on the eve of the anniversary of Britain’s 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China. City authorities have banned the annual rally marking the anniversary of the handover, citing risks of the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration has taken a series of steps after China announced its intentions to approve the national security law back in May. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced earlier this month that the United States no longer considers Hong Kong autonomous from China, and on Monday ended exports of defense equipment and dual-use technologies that originate in the U.S. to Hong Kong, citing national security purposes. Last Friday, the United States announced visa restrictions on current and former Chinese Communist Party officials deemed responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry told reporters Monday in Beijing it would impose similar visa restrictions on certain U.S. individuals.
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US Lawmakers Call for More Information on Afghanistan Russian Bounties
US lawmakers called for an immediate investigation Monday into news reports that Russia had offered bounties to Taliban-backed militants for the deaths of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The White House denied reports U.S. President Donald Trump had been briefed on those bounties, saying they had not been fully verified by the U.S. intelligence community. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more on the fallout in Washington.
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Venezuelan President Expels EU Ambassador
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has given the European Union’s ambassador in Caracas 72 hours to leave the country. Maduro’s order on Monday came not long after the EU slapped sanctions on officials close to the socialist leader. Maduro was also apparently angered EU leaders backed Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. Maduro said the European Union is bending to whims of U.S President Donald Trump, who like the EU support a democratic transition in Venezuela that does not include Maduro. Despite dozens of countries backing Guaido as Venezuela’s leader, Maduro remains in charge with control over the military and international support from allies including China, Russia, Iran and Cuba. The European Union’s sanctions on dozens of Venezuelans also includes a travel ban and it freezes assets.
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