Demonstrators in Virginia’s capital formed an unlawful assembly at Richmond City Hall early Tuesday morning, police said, prompting warnings that people would be arrested if they didn’t leave the area.The gathering started forming Monday evening after city and state leaders said the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee miles away on Monument Avenue would be indefinitely closed from sunset until sunrise every night, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.Police Halt Attempt to Topple Andrew Jackson Statue Near White House Police carrying shields confronted protesters with batons, pepper spray and pepper bullets Several demonstrators rode bikes or pitched tents in front of city hall, which was dubbed “Reclamation Square.” The protesters were demanding police reforms from city leaders, the newspaper reported.Protests have taken place across the country and worldwide following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.Richmond police tweeted the warnings just after midnight, adding that the demonstration at city hall was unlawful, “due to conditions of activity such as sit-ins, sit-downs, blocking traffic, blocking entrances or exits of buildings that impact public safety or infrastructure.”At the Lee statue, protesters had remained after sunset, and the Times-Dispatch reported that police late Monday stood nearby but were not closing in on the people.Officials said earlier Monday in a statement that the statue would be closed from sunset to sunrise each night for safety reasons, citing an increase in vandalism, trespassing, excessive noise and more.
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Month: June 2020
In France, Drones, Apps and Racial Profiling
In January 2015, a stunned France reeled from the first of multiple terrorist attacks it would endure. The target: the saucy and irreverent Charlie Hebdo newspaper, known for poking fun at religions and just about everything else. Brandishing pencils and banners, millions flooded the streets of Paris, defending the right to free expression. Then came the troop and police patrols. And that November, after another deadly terror strike on the Bataclan theater and other popular nightspots, a tough, months-long emergency law. Rights activists claimed free speech and other basic rights were slowly and enduringly eroding. Five years later – as France weathers another crisis and another state of emergency – they fear that is happening again, under the coronavirus pandemic. “We think it could be durable, and that the COVID crisis is a pretext to push different surveillance technologies,” says Benoit Piedallu of digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net. Critics point to a raft of areas where they believe personal freedoms have been compromised under the health emergency, which saw France imposing one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns. Some – such as reports of racial profiling and police violence during confinement – are not new, but allegedly are heightened with the health crisis. Along with George Floyd’s killing in the United States, they are helping to fuel nationwide protests against police violence. Other COVID-19-fighting measures – including the use of drones to police the lockdown and a new virus-tracing app – are sparking accusations of a creeping French surveillance state. On June 17th, France’s CNIL data protection watchdog warned that new technology, including cameras and thermal scanners, to help track compliance with coronavirus rules, risked citizen fears of surveillance and undermining democracy. The organizations using these tools, including France’s RATP public transport firm and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, say they have taken measures to respect privacy rights. To be sure, similar concerns are being echoed elsewhere around the globe as governments fight the pandemic. But in France – where authorities still promote the country’s revolution-era moniker as the “land of human rights” – activists say the new measures fit a years’-long pattern. “The principle of a state emergency is exceptional restrictions to rights and freedoms to respond to a crisis,” said Anne-Sophie Simpere, spokeswoman for Amnesty France. “But by experience, each time we’ve had a state of emergency, we’ve never returned to the state of ‘before.’” Liberty is the rule, government says French authorities argue otherwise, claiming the health restrictions are exceptional and basic liberties are the norm. Daily death tolls are down to a few dozen at most from an April high of more than 800. “Tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, our actions,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a June 14 address to the nation announcing a further easing of restrictions. With the government’s scientific advisory body claiming the pandemic under control, authorities plan to lift the state of emergency next month, although they warn that some measures may be reinstated if cases rise again. French have sharply criticized the government for underfunded health services and a dearth of masks, yet there is much less opposition to the health restrictions. A May survey by Harris Interactive, released just before France began unwinding lockdown, found nearly that two-thirds of respondents said they endured confinement “easily.” “I didn’t think it was too strict, and I didn’t find my liberties infringed,” said Gilda, a Paris resident catching some sun in a newly opened park. Gilda declined to provide her last name, as did her husband, who said he found some measures a “bit overboard.” “They did it for us to avoid having more deaths,” said 19-year-old student Hanae Violay, who said she strictly followed the lockdown rules. “I think it was a good decision.” Critics say the survey findings are no surprise. Polls showed similar approval for the 2015 emergency law, with two-thirds of French backing it early on. “People want less democracy during these periods, because they are afraid,” said Arie Halimi, lawyer for the French Human Rights League. “And fear is the most important leverage for states.” The 2015 emergency measures – allowing police to conduct raids and impose house arrest without previous judicial green light – were extended several times. That year, Macron’s centrist government replaced them with a tough new anti-terror law, making permanent some of the exceptional powers. Divided opinions: drones and tracing app Rights groups fear a similar situation today. Last month, France’s highest administrative court barred the use of drones to monitor lockdown compliance, after the Rights League and the Quadrature du Net filed a privacy complaint. Authorities previously used drones to surveil yellow-vest protests and migrant movements, among other purposes. The drone ban is not permanent; it is supposed to last only until technological or other ways to address the privacy concerns. “That doesn’t mean they can’t be used in the future,” said Halimi, of the Rights League, asserting that France risks entering an “Orwellian era.” Also controversial is a virus-tracing app released earlier this month, making France the first major European country to use one. Dubbed “StopCovid,” the smart phone application aims to warn users if they have been around someone who later tested positive. Downloading it is voluntary, and the government insists it will be temporary and fully respect privacy rights. “You have to be confident and trust your state,” French Digital Minister Cedric O told The Associated Press. “But we’re in a democratic state; we have checks and balances.”Authorities have claimed early success, with roughly 1.4 million French downloading the app within days after it was rolled out. Still, that amounts to less than 2 percent of the population. Surveys suggest fewer than half of all French plan to use it. That is not enough, many experts say, for it to work effectively. Both data watchdog CNIL and the French parliament greenlighted the technology, but critics still worry about digital creep. An April letter signed by hundreds of academics raised concerns that the data gathered by the app could be repurposed for mass surveillance ends, a fear also raised by rights advocates. “Protecting health rights is also a fundamental right,” said Amnesty’s Simpere. “But today for us, the balance between efficiency of an application like StopCovid and fundamental rights isn’t respected.” Scott Marcus, senior fellow at Brussels think-tank Bruegel, said the French app “looks reasonable,” and appears to reflect government promises to limit sharing health data, although he questions its effectiveness. The more fundamental question, he said, for French and other Europeans to consider, is “How much do you trust your government?” “Essentially the data collection shouldn’t be longer than absolutely necessary, and shouldn’t be retained longer than absolutely necessary,” Marcus said. “The COVID-19 problem could be with us for years. So it’s a genuine worry.”
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For Vietnam’s Poor, Access To Relief Aid Key To Joining Re-Opening Economy
Vietnam has received favorable recognition worldwide for containing the spread of the novel coronavirus and reopening the nation’s economy, but that good news is small comfort for Tran Thi Hien, who collects scrap metal she can resell for cash. After the government announced a pandemic relief fund, she applied two times but says she has yet to hear back. Some suggested the reason for the delay is because she had to apply in her hometown. Others surmise that she was not in the eligible age range. Hien, 43, said the process was “too complicated” but held out hope. “The government’s support package is really a savior for independent workers like me,” she said. Even for a place like Vietnam, which reported zero coronavirus deaths and 349 cases, the pandemic hit the economy hard, with the impact falling hardest on laborers who live on meager subsistence wages. While white-collar employees could work at home or take paid days off in lockdown, those in the informal sector, such as Hien, must show up and do physical work if they’re going to afford food and housing. Supporters of the pandemic relief fund want to prevent a disconnect between the lofty goals of the aid package and the impact on citizens, particularly those in most need. Organizations, from Oxfam in Vietnam to the Pioneer Network for Ethnic Minority Voices, have stepped up with what they call “hotlines.” They compile feedback from people such as Hien and send it to labor and provincial agencies distributing the aid, as authorized in the state regulation, Decision 15/2020-TTg. Nguyen Thu Giang, executive director of Migrant Labor Action Network, or M.net, said she wants to help government agencies so they “can promptly compare, check and respond to people’s opinions, and at the same time make adjustments to policies or implementation methods, ensuring that Decision 15/2020-TTg is implemented, in a transparent and effective way.” The relief fund is worth close to $2.7 billion, though the ruling Communist Party has also tapped sister organizations to mobilize donations and volunteers, from the Youth Union to the Vietnamese Fatherland Front. Authors of a study of Vietnam’s COVID-19 response in Sustainability, a science journal, noted that the prime minister called on citizens to help “combat” the disease. “Responding to this call, one can easily see many images of bank transfer to the Vietnamese Fatherland Front on social media of Vietnamese people to support the government in the combat,” the study said. “On a larger scale, many enterprises, regardless of their size, also contributed to the national combat by donating their products such as masks, rice or milk, by donating their hotels for isolation wards—or most popularly—by donating cash.” Anti-poverty advocates are working to get as much of the aid money as possible to the most vulnerable in society. Oxfam in Vietnam said it is focused on the unemployed and the working poor, such as those who worked without contracts or were put on leave without pay during the pandemic. It also targets migrant workers such as Hien, who moved to the capital, Hanoi, from the nearby province of Nam Dinh. Many rural dwellers relocate to cities for better work opportunities but can’t access social services because they are not registered with local authorities. Oxfam in Vietnam said it set up a hotline for the relief fund so that “no one is left behind.” “This initiative will create more opportunities for people to conveniently and confidently send feedback, from which the local government will have accurate, timely and quality information to provide better services,” Babeth Ngoc Han Lefur, Oxfam in Vietnam director, said.
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Black NASCAR Driver Receives Outpouring of Support After Discovery of Noose in His Garage
A day after a noose was found in the team garage of African-American race car driver Bubba Wallace, his fellow drivers staged a moving show of support for him Monday. Shortly before the start of a NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) race at Talladega Superspeedway in the southern state of Alabama, several drivers pushed Wallace’s number 43 car to the front of pit row, followed by a long procession of other drivers and members of their pit crews. The procession moved past an area on the infield grass with the phrase “#IStandWithBubba” painted on it. An emotional Wallace partially emerged from the car after it came to a stop and broke down in tears. Legendary NASCAR driver Richard Petty, who made the number 43 car a cultural icon and is co-owner of Wallace’s team, walked up to Wallace and put his hands on his shoulders. Wallace is the lone African American driver in NASCAR’s top-level Cup Series. He drew widespread support earlier this month when he successfully urged NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its races in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while in police custody in Minneapolis last month. The flag, which represented the slave-owning southern U.S. states that split from the North during the 1861-65 Civil War, remains a prominent symbol of southern culture, but many African Americans consider the flag a lasting symbol of slavery, racism and white supremacy.Driver Bubba Wallace, left, is overcome with emotion as team owner Richard Petty, comforts him as he arrives at his car in the pits of the Talladega Superspeedway prior to the start of the NASCAR Cup Series, June 22, 2020.Floyd’s death has sparked a backlash against other perceived symbols of white supremacy, including statues of Confederate generals and other historical figures. Some statues have either been defaced or torn down by protesters, or removed by local officials. NASCAR, which also has its roots in southern U.S. culture, said in a statement it will do everything it can to identify who was responsible for the noose “and eliminate them from our sport.” The FBI is also investigating the incident. Wallace finished 14th in the race, which was scheduled to run Sunday but postponed because of rain. Protesters on Saturday and Sunday drove cars and trucks flying the Confederate flag on roads near the track. Wallace said after the race that the incident “was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life,” but called the support he received afterwards as “incredible.”
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Man Drives Car into Gate of Chinese Embassy in Argentina
A man accused of ramming his car into the front gate of the Chinese Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday night is under arrest. The incident, which attracted a heavy police response, is under investigation in the Argentine capital. Police said no-one was hurt, including the 24-year-old Argentine driver. The Chinese ambassador to Argentina was not at the embassy at the time of the incident. There are reports the driver was seen on social media saying that he “knows the truth about COVID-19” and needed “help from the Chinese Embassy.”A source at the Foreign Ministry told the French News Agency, AFP, the man drove into the closed gate after he was refused permission speak to officials inside the embassy. The Buenos Aires Times says unconfirmed reports in local outlets claimed the driver was allegedly looking for political asylum at the Chinese Embassy.
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US Health Officials to Testify About White House Coronavirus Response
Top U.S. public health officials are set to go before a congressional panel Tuesday as parts of the country grapple with a surge in new confirmed coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Among those scheduled to speak to lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the Trump administration’s response to the crisis are Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration chief Dr. Stephen Hahn, and Adm. Brett Giroir, head of the U.S. Public Health Service. Fauci is among the health experts saying people should not be focused on a second wave of the virus in the United States because the country has not yet emerged from its first wave. Many states are in the process of loosening restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the virus. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Monday that re-imposing restrictions would only be done as a last resort, while saying the virus was spreading at an “unacceptable rate” and declining to impose an order to mandate the use of masks in public. Texas has set daily records for new infections for nearly two weeks as its hospitalization rates climbed. Neighboring Louisiana surpassed 3,000 deaths due to COVID-19, and with a rise in cases there as well Governor John Bel Edwards said he would keep in place the current limitations that were set to expire Friday.FILE – A New Orleans police car is seen on patrol on Bourbon Street amid the outbreak of the coronavirus, in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 25, 2020.Hospitalization rates have also surged in Georgia, while the number of confirmed cases is rising in more than a dozen states. The country now has more than 120,000 deaths and 2.3 million cases. The head of the World Health Organization said Monday the coronavirus pandemic is being politicized and that a lack of global leadership to fight the virus is a bigger threat than the virus itself. “The world is in desperate need of national unity and global solidarity. The politicization of the pandemic has exacerbated it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday during a videoconference for the Dubai-based World Government Summit. “The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself. It’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership,” Tedros added. Tedros did not say who he thought was politicizing the pandemic. U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the WHO for its response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying it acted too slowly and with too much praise for China. He has threatened to end all U.S. funding for the organization. Global infections surpassed 9 million on Monday. Tedros noted that it took over three months for the world to see 1 million virus infections, but the last 1 million cases have come in just eight days. Two of the spots where cases have been surging are Brazil and India. Brazil’s health ministry said Monday the country recorded 21,432 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, along with 654 new deaths. India also reported Monday a record number of cases and 400 new deaths in the past 24 hours. Saudi Arabia said this year’s pilgrimage to Islam’s holy sites, including Mecca, will not be canceled but only “very limited numbers” of people will be allowed at the sites.
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France ‘Won’t Tolerate’ Turkey’s Behavior in Libya, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron says he “won’t tolerate” the role that Turkey is playing in Libya, calling it an obstacle to peace. Turkey has been supplying arms to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, which is fighting a rival administration headed by General Khalifa Haftar. At a news conference in Paris Monday with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Macron accused Turkey of ignoring a U.N. arms embargo against Libya and calls by the European Union for an end to all foreign intervention in Libya. “I already had the opportunity to clearly say it to (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan: I consider today that Turkey plays in Libya a dangerous game and is in breach of all commitments it took during the Berlin conference,” Macron said. Relations between France and Turkey have become increasingly tense since an encounter between French and Turkish warships in the eastern Mediterranean two weeks ago.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participates in a teleconference with European leaders, in Istanbul, Tuesday, March 17, 2020.France claims the Turkish ship flashed radar lights at a French vessel on a NATO mission to investigate whether the Turkish vessel was smuggling arms to Libya. France accused Turkish sailors of taking up light weapons. Turkey called the French charges baseless. Libya has been in turmoil since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011. The country is currently split between the government in Tripoli and Haftar’s eastern-based government, which is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. After more than a year of fierce fighting for control of the capital, which has been largely stalemated, the Tripoli-backed forces appear to have secured control of the city, observers say, but not before sending thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives from the fighting.
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Police in Washington Halt Attempt to Topple Andrew Jackson Statue
Police in Washington forcefully pushed back a group of protesters late Monday who were trying to take down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson in a park across from the White House. The protesters had thrown ropes over the statue and were pulling from two sides as a crowd surrounding the site chanted against Jackson and in support of justice for victims of police violence. Police carrying shields confronted the protesters and used batons, pepper spray and pepper bullets to push the crowd away from the statue in Lafayette Square. The site is the same area where earlier this month police forcefully cleared out protesters a short time before President Donald Trump walked through the area for a photo opportunity at a nearby church.
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For Silicon Valley, a Worker Pipeline Cut Off
Tech executives said Monday they were disappointed in the Trump administration’s decision to temporarily ban an array of work visas, including those used by the technology industry. Some vowed to open up or expand their operations overseas. “Banning all H1B visas means CEOs like me have to open offices and hire more people in countries like Canada that allow immigration,” tweeted Anshu Sharma, chief executive of a data privacy firm in Silicon Valley.Banning all H1B visas means CEOs like me have to open offices and hire more people in countries like Canada that allow immigration. This visa ban is morally wrong, and economically stupid. What happened to being “for legal immigration”? https://t.co/R9O9Q1Ts0j— H1B immigrant Anshu Sharma 🌶 (@anshublog) June 22, 2020“Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today,” Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, said on Twitter. “Disappointed by today’s proclamation.”Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today. Disappointed by today’s proclamation – we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) June 22, 2020The executive order expanded on restrictions the White House rolled out in April. In its statement, the White House cited the current economic hardship in the U.S. where the unemployment rate is more than 13 percent. “President Trump’s efforts will ensure businesses look to American workers first when hiring,” the White House said in a statement. “Many workers have been hurt through no fault of their own due to coronavirus and they should not remain on the sidelines while being replaced by new foreign labor.” Reliance on foreign workers During periods of high growth, the technology industry has relied on the H-1B, a temporary work visa that brings as many as 85,000 skilled workers to the U.S. each year. While tech companies have had layoffs during the pandemic, the labor market is still tight, said Russell Hancock, the chief executive and president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a nonprofit organization that studies the region. “Tech is pretty much working at full employment,” he said. “The pandemic hasn’t hurt tech as it has hurt other sectors.” Silicon Valley’s foreign-born workers mostly hail from India and China. More than 60 percent of those working in computer, mathematics and engineering fields in Silicon Valley are foreign born, according to the 2020 Silicon Valley Index, produced by Joint Venture. Tech companies have argued that they need foreign-born workers – and an expansion of the temporary work visa program — because there are not enough U.S.-born workers with the skills for key roles. Opponents of the temporary visa say that the industry and large tech consultants turn to foreign workers to keep wages down. Cutting off the ability of skilled workers to come to the U.S. will hurt the industry’s ability to stay competitive, Hancock said. “If you talk to anyone, they will tell you we need talent and it’s not coming through our own pipelines,” he said. It’s a point echoed by tech leaders. “In the digital economy, you hire where the talent is,” tweeted Aaron Levie, the chief executive at Box, a tech firm. “When you restrict immigration, the jobs still get created, just somewhere else. And later down the road, when those individuals create the next Google, it won’t be here.” In the digital economy, you hire where the talent is. When you restrict immigration, the jobs still get created, just somewhere else. And later down the road, when those individuals create the next Google, it won’t be here.— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 22, 2020
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US Honeybees Doing Better After Bad Year, Survey Shows
American honeybee colonies have bounced back after a bad year, the annual beekeeping survey finds. Beekeepers lost only 22.2% of their colonies this past winter, from Oct. 1 to March 31, which is lower than the average of 28.6%, according to the Bee Informed Partnership’s annual survey of thousands of beekeepers. It was the second smallest winter loss in the 14 years of surveying done by several different U.S. universities. Last winter’s loss was considerably less than the previous winter of 2018-2019 when a record 37.7% of colonies died off, the scientists found. After that bad winter, the losses continued through the summer of 2019, when beekeepers reported a 32% loss rate. That’s much higher than the average of 21.6% for summer losses. Those summer losses were driven more by hives of commercial beekeepers than backyard hobbyists, said bee partnership scientific coordinator Nathalie Steinhauer. While the summer losses are bad, winter deaths are “really the test of colony health,” so the results overall are good news, Steinhauer said. “It turned out to be a very good year.” Populations tend to be cyclical with good years following bad ones, she said. The scientists surveyed 3,377 commercial beekeepers and backyard enthusiasts in the United States. “One would hope that a lower winter loss means a better 2020 assuming that the weather cooperates and beekeepers don’t end up skimping on colony management,” said University of Montana bee expert Jerry Bromenshenk, who wasn’t part of the study. Beekeepers in the U.S. also may be taking more of their colonies indoors in the winter, helping them survive, said University of Georgia entomologist Keith Delaplane. New U.S. Department of Agriculture research suggests putting bees in “cold storage” helps them survive the winter. For decades scientists have been watching the population of pollinators — crucial to the world’s food supply — shrink. Honeybees, the most easily tracked, are threatened by mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food. Loss rates now being seen “are part of the new normal,” Steinhauer said.
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US Designates Four Chinese Outlets as Foreign Missions
The United States has designated four more Chinese state-run outlets as “foreign missions,” a move that U.S. officials said will “not prevent them from reporting legitimate news” but to “increase transparency” relating to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and what Washington called Beijing government’s “propaganda activities” in the U.S. This comes as CCP is said to assert “even more direct control” over China’s state-controlled outlets. On Monday, the State Department announced the U.S. operations of China Central Television, China News Service, the People’s Daily and the Global Times are designated as foreign missions. The new designation follows the February 18 designations of Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corporation and Hai Tian Development USA. Those entities are required to report on personnel rosters and real estate holdings on U.S. soil, similar to certain administrative requirements that are applied to all foreign embassies and consulates in the U.S. China has not immediately responded to the additional designation. “This is housekeeping. We’re just cleaning up some broken glass and stuff that we hadn’t paid a lot of attention to in the past,” David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said in a telephone briefing. Stilwell said he did not know the number of Chinese personnel who would be affected under Monday’s designation. “What this is going to identify is that these folks — we’ve allowed them to come into the country as journalists — now acknowledging that they are not,” he said. A State Department statement said the CCP has reorganized China’s state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies and asserted even more direct control over them over the past decade.
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Egypt Wants UN to Avert Unilateral Fill of Dam
Egypt wants the United Nations Security Council to “undertake its responsibilities” and prevent Ethiopia from starting to fill its massive, newly built hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile next month without an agreement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry told The Associated Press on Sunday, accusing Ethiopian officials of stoking antagonism between the countries. Ethiopia announced Friday that it would begin filling the dam’s reservoir in July even after the latest round of talks with Egypt and Sudan failed last week to reach an accord governing how the dam will be filled and operated. Egypt formally asked the Security Council to intervene in a letter the same day. “The responsibility of the Security Council is to address a pertinent threat to international peace and security, and certainly the unilateral actions by Ethiopia in this regard would constitute such a threat,” Shukry said in an interview with the AP. Filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would potentially bring the years-long dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the $4.6 billion mega-project to a critical juncture. Ethiopia said the electricity that will be generated by the dam is a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty. With the start of the rainy season in July bringing more water to the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary, Ethiopia wants to start filling the reservoir.Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90% of its water supplies, fears a devastating impact if the dam is operated without taking its needs into account. Sudan, which also largely depends on the Nile for water, has been caught between the competing interests.The United States earlier this year tried to broker a deal, but Ethiopia did not attend the signing meeting in February and accused the Trump administration of siding with Egypt. Last week, the U.S. National Security Council tweeted that “257 million people in east Africa are relying on Ethiopia to show strong leadership, which means striking a fair deal.” Shukry warned that filling the reservoir without an accord would violate the 2015 declaration of principles governing their talks — and rule out a return to negotiations.”We are not seeking any coercive action by the Security Council,” he said. In a three-page letter to the council, Egypt asked it to call Ethiopia back into talks for a “fair and balanced solution” and to urge it refrain from unilateral acts, warning that filling the dam without a deal “constitutes a clear and present danger to Egypt” with repercussions that “threaten international peace and security.” ‘Declaration of war’Hanging over the dispute has been the fear it could escalate into military conflict, especially as Egypt — facing what it calls an existential threat — repeatedly hits dead ends in its attempt to strike a deal. Commentators in Egypt’s pro-government media have often called for action to stop Ethiopia. One commentator, Moustafa al-Saeed, said in a Facebook post that starting to fill the reservoir would be a “declaration of war” and urged the government to block Ethiopian traffic through the Suez Canal. Shukry underlined that the Egyptian government has not threatened military action, has sought a political solution, and has worked to convince the Egyptian public that Ethiopia has a right to build the dam to meet its development goals. “Egypt has never, never over the past six years even made an indirect reference to such possibilities,” he said of military action. But, he said, if the Security Council cannot bring Ethiopia back into negotiations and filling begins, “we will find ourselves in a situation that we will have to deal with,” he said. “When that time is upon us, we will be very vocal and clear in what action we will take.” He called on the U.S and other Security Council members, along with African nations, to help reach a deal that “takes into account the interests of all three countries.” Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disputes. William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the Security Council taking up the issue likely won’t change Ethiopia’s stance. “The U.S., EU, Gulf powers and African Union should try and convince all parties to make the necessary final compromise to get an agreement over the line,” he said. Failed talksThis month, ministers from the three countries held seven days of negotiations by video conference, but talks ended Wednesday with no deal. No date was set for a return to the table. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew told the AP on Friday that filling the dam would begin with the rainy season in July and dismissed the need for an agreement. He accused Egypt of trying to “dictate and control even future developments on our river.” Egypt’s Shukry on Sunday countered that Ethiopia was backing out of previously agreed-upon points. “We have on many occasions been flexible and been accommodating. But I can’t say that there is a similar political will on the side of Ethiopia,” he said. He called Andargachew’s comments “disappointing,” pointing to “the escalation of antagonism that has been intentionally created.” Starting to fill the reservoir now, he said, would demonstrate “a desire to control the flow of the water and have effective sole determination” of the water that reaches Egypt and Sudan. After the end of talks on Wednesday, Sudan’s irrigation minister said his country and Egypt rejected Ethiopia’s attempts to introduce articles on water sharing in the dam deal. Egypt has received the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under decades-old agreements dating back to the British colonial era. Eighty-five percent of the Nile’s waters originate in Ethiopia from the Blue Nile. Shukry said Egypt maintains that an agreement can be achieved, but that it “has to be negotiated in good faith.” He said any future deal on shares of the Nile’s water should take into account that Ethiopia has other water sources besides the Nile.
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‘Slipper Revolution’ Shakes Belarus
Half-a-year ago Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron Soviet-style fist for a quarter of century, looked to be unassailable. But the former collective farm manager, whose aides and supporters like to dub him “father,” is now being widely labeled a “cockroach” — and his opponents are vowing to “squash the pest” come August when he faces a presidential election.
In the past, Lukashenko has managed elections in much the same way as Russian leader Vladimir Putin – disqualify serious opponents from running, fiddle the tallies and silence independent media, according to international election monitors. During the last poll in 2015, many Belarusians observed the upheaval in neighboring Ukraine and took fright, deciding they preferred the leaden, if impoverishing, stability of Lukashenko over unpredictable and possibly ruinous change, say analysts.
But this time, Lukashenko is threatened not by a so-called “color revolution” but with a “slipper uprising,” thanks to popular blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested at a rally last month after an alleged assault on a police officer.
Tikhanovsky was behind the labeling of Lukashenko as a “cockroach,” saying he resembled the insect in a popular children’s poem called “The Mighty Cockroach.” He had taken to driving around Belarus campaigning with a giant slipper tied to the roof of his car — a signal of his intention to flatten Lukashenko.FILE – Blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky speaks during a rally of supporters of opposition politicians amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2020. Charged with public disorder and accused of being a foreign agent after the security services claimed to have unearthed $900,000 in cash during a subsequent search of his home, Tikhanovsky is blocked from running. His 38-year-old wife, Svetlana, has stepped up as a substitute to challenge Lukashenko.
And she has become, on paper, the incumbent Lukashenko’s biggest threat, following the detention on Friday of another challenger, Viktor Babaryko, a 56-year-old former banker, who was arrested for alleged financial crimes, along with his campaign manager, his son. “Babaryko is detained because he was the organizer and leader of illegal activities,” Ivan Tertel, head of the state control committee, told AFP news agency.
Tertel also accused Babaryko of conspiring with Russian “puppeteers.”
The arrests of Tikhanovsky, Babaryko and other Lukashenko critics— which have triggered street protests in the streets of Minsk, the Belarus capital, and earned a rebuke from the European Union — puts Svetlana Tikhanovskaya even more in the spotlight.
Even before Babaryko’s detention, 16% of Belarusians backed her candidacy, according to an unofficial poll run by the news site Tut.by. Police have told the website not to publish any more polls. And the signs are that she is unnerving the idiosyncratic authoritarian leader unaccustomed to challenge. Midweek she told reporters an anonymous caller told her to pull out of the election, warning the Tikhanovskys’ ten-year-old son and four-year-old daughter could be taken away from them if she refused.FILE – Supporters of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya collect signatures in support of her nomination as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, in Minsk, Belarus, May 24, 2020.She says she had considered backing down, but has decided to continue, determined to be a champion for Belarusians, many of whom “don’t know that in Europe you can say what you think without fear.” She added, “I’ve never wanted to be a politician, let alone the president. This is just how things have turned out.”
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has become an unlikely revolutionary figurehead. She describes herself as just a stay-at-home mother and wife. One of the couple’s children has special needs. But the enthusiasm for change is clear. Towns across the landlocked country of nine million have seen protests and crowds appear to support her candidacy and the campaigns of other opposition candidates. She acknowledges “people at these rallies are supporting Sergei, not me.”
Her husband, who has been compared to Alexei Navalny, the blogger turned opposition leader in neighboring Russia, says he is playing “the main role in my wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s election campaign; her role will be only a nominal one.” He has in the campaign team other popular bloggers.
Despite last week’s arrests people in Minsk are lining up again to sign the nomination papers of candidates opposing Lukashenko, according to Belarusian journalist Hanna Liubakova. She tweeted Sunday: “3 leading #Lukashenko’s rivals collected more than 730,000 signatures in less than a month. If you count 3 other alternative candidates, it is more than a million. This campaign has already shown that the level of activism and political engagement is incredibly high.”
Candidates have to gather at least 100,000 signatures to be qualified to stand. FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko chairs a meeting with officials in Minsk, Belarus, June 19, 2020.The opposition to Lukashenko is being fueled by an increasingly parlous economic situation, a coronavirus crisis, which the president downplayed from the start and cheerily told Belarusians to take saunas and drink vodka to avoid falling ill, and just a weariness with his rule and stagnation, analysts say. Younger Belarusians seem impervious to Lukashenko’s warnings of chaos, if he’s not reelected to his sixth term. And they are immune seemingly to the Soviet-like stability their elders favor.
Lukashenko is not being helped in his political struggle by neighboring Russia. His relationship with Vladimir Putin has long been a fitful one with the two falling out frequently and then circling back for convenience sake. A senior Russian diplomat based in Minsk described to VOA once the “shouting match” he overheard during a phone conversation between the pair.
Analysts say Putin’s major objective towards Belarus is to ensure — much as his goal is with Ukraine — that it doesn’t end up as a pro-Western enclave on Russia’s borders, say analysts. The Belarusian leader has long played the West against Russia and vice versa. He observed a neutral stance over Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and hosted peace talks in Minsk to try to find a solution to the war in eastern Ukraine.
But he has relied on Russia financially for help — and that has been less forthcoming with subsidies and oil supplies in recent months, punishment, analysts and diplomats say, for Lukashenko’s resistance to Putin’s efforts to draw Minsk deeper into the Russian orbit.
Few analysts predict that anyone other than Lukashenko will be allowed to win the Aug. 9 poll — and they warn that Belarus could quickly be plunged into a Maidan-like uprising that saw the 2014 ouster of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.
Protests are spreading across Belarus as opposition to Lukashenko grows, local media and human rights organizations report. On Friday, more than 10 cities across the former Soviet republic saw protests with dozens of activists arrested by the security forces. The independent human rights group Viasna says least 120 people were detained.
Lukashenko appears to be preparing for the likelihood of a violent reaction to his seemingly inevitable electoral win, claiming on Friday that by arresting Babaryko and dozens of political activists he had foiled a Ukraine-style revolutionary plot hatched by foreign conspirators from “both the West and from the East,” who are intent on fomenting unrest in Belarus.
Former aide Alexander Feduta, now a political analyst, has warned that Lukashenko is ready to use force to stay in power. The arrests are an indication of that, he says.
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Poll: Politics Drive Divergent Views of US Economy
Americans’ outlook on the national economy has improved somewhat from its lowest points during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, but a new poll suggests Democrats and Republicans are living in alternate economic realities amid the sharpest recession in the nation’s history. Eighty-five percent of Democrats call economic conditions “poor,” while 65% of Republicans describe them as “good” in a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This divide reflects the deep polarization ahead of the 2020 presidential election, as well as a series of indicators that point toward a weakened but recovering U.S. economy. “The economy is in terrible shape and improving rapidly,” said Harvard University professor Jason Furman, formerly the top economist in the Obama White House. “Depending on which of the two halves you’re looking at, you’re going to have a very different interpretation of where we are.” FILE – Diners are seated in an outdoor dining area on a sidewalk at Limey’s Pub, in Norwood, Mass., June 18, 2020.Americans can see reasons for hope as well as doubt. They face a host of uncertainties about the path of COVID-19, the fate of small businesses with fewer customers and the status of additional government aid. Overall, 63% of the country says the economy is in poor shape, down somewhat from the 70% who felt that way in May. The change was driven by increasingly optimistic Republicans, only 43% of whom described the economy as good a month ago. Two-thirds of Republicans, but just 29% of Democrats, expect improvement over the next year. Thelma Ross, 78, of Granby, Missouri, believes the economy will recover if President Donald Trump can defeat Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the former vice president. “I think it’s going to come back, stronger than ever, if we get the right president in,” Ross said. “President Trump is a businessman.” Yet she is concerned by the protests after George Floyd, an African American, died in police custody in Minneapolis and the calls to remove statues that celebrate the Confederacy and Christopher Columbus. Ross views division as harmful for any economic recovery. Ross said of Trump: “I pray for divine revelation and divine guidance for that man because he needs that right now.” Job lossThe survey finds that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than white Americans to say someone in their household has lost a job or other income. That inequality has added to the broader reckoning with structural racism amid nationwide protests over police brutality following Floyd’s death. Overall, 66% of Hispanic Americans and 53% of black Americans say they’ve experienced some form of household income loss, including layoffs, unpaid time off and cuts in hours or pay. Forty-two percent of white Americans say the same. Thirty-four percent of Hispanics, 29% of African Americans and 20% of white Americans said someone in their household has been laid off. The poll finds signs that some of those layoffs are becoming permanent. Among all those who experienced a layoff in their household, 55% say the job definitely or probably will return — and 8% say it already has. Still, 36% said the job will most likely not come back, which is significantly higher than the 20% who said that in April. The economy cratered in March and April as people sheltered in place in hopes of stopping the pandemic, and the unemployment rate spiked to at least 14.7%. Responses to government surveys suggested the true jobless rate may have been even higher. But it showed signs of reviving in May. Retail sales surged 17.7%, and 2.5 million jobs were added. The unemployment rate improved to 13.3%, a number that is still the second highest reading in records going back to 1948. Leah Avery, 54, lost her job driving a school bus in suburban Dallas. She said she checks her email daily to find out how schools will reopen. She applied for unemployment benefits a month ago, but the request has been under review. “It’s a struggle day by day for us to pay our bills, and I know others are going through the same thing,” she said. The job loss has only added to her stress. Her aunt died from COVID-19, and she needs to take care of her elderly mother and her husband, who has dialysis appointments three days a week. It’s a full-time job with no pay, she said. “I just have these moments where it makes me cry,” she said. “You don’t know this day from the next day what is going to happen.” Federal aidThe nearly $3 trillion in approved federal aid has shielded many people from the pain of the downturn. About two-thirds of Americans still call their personal financial situations good. A bipartisan group of economists proposed an additional $1 trillion to $2 trillion of aid to sustain any recovery, including targeted funds for state and local governments, subsidized loans for small businesses, more generous unemployment benefits and aid for low-wage workers. “It should be thought of as an investment in the economy,” said Melissa Kearney, a University of Maryland economics professor who helped lead the effort. The proposals are based on ideas shown to boost growth and provide traction for a recovery that is still in its early and fragile stages.
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Kenyan Women Report More Abuse During COVID-19
The coronavirus curfew and restrictions on movement in Kenya have led to an increase in violence against women, say health workers. Kenya’s LVCT group, which works on HIV prevention and reproductive health issues, says economic insecurity is putting stress on families that often explodes in abusive men beating their wives. Mohammed Yusuf reports from Nairobi.Camera: Mohammed YusufProduced by: Jason Godman
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Ugandan Top Runners Struggle to Train for Tokyo Olympics During Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has some top-flight athletes struggling to stay sharp for next year’s Tokyo Olympics after training facilities were shut down and competitions cancelled. Ugandan runner Halimah Nakaayi, the gold medalist in the 800 meters at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, is doing her best to prepare under the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. With the games postponed and Uganda’s gyms and stadiums closed since March to curb the spread of COVID-19, her only option is Kampala’s open roads. But the 25-year-old runner said training at home is the least of her worries. “Around January, February, we’d got an opportunity to participate in the indoor games (World Athletics indoor, Nanjing), of which the main target was Tokyo. So, due to COVID, all the races were cancelled. And the worry mostly, being a lady, my time in sports is so short. So, I have to use my body — if it’s in position — to deliver good results.” Stuck in Uganda and without international competitions, Nakaayi trains with other runners who are also preparing for the Tokyo Games. They are only allowed to train in small groups to abide by measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo reacts after her women’s 800m heat at Carrara Stadium during the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, April 12, 2018.Another Ugandan runner, Winnie Nanyondo, said the lockdown and delayed Olympics has also been mentally challenging.“We have to focus; we have to remain in training. Because, next year is (the) Olympics,” Nanyondo said. “This year, there’s nothing. Just only diamond leagues. And the other year is world championships.” The Diamond League is a series of top-tier athletic competitions for elite athletes. Most of the competitions have been canceled, although there is hope one might take place in Monaco this August. Uganda’s National Council of Sports admits the pandemic has posed challenges for athletes to stay fit and motivated. Ismail Dhakaba is the National Council of Sports spokesperson. “It’s been very challenging. Because in an Olympic year is when the athletes are most fit,” Dhakaba said. “I’ve got to say, that’s when their bodies, their minds, are in the best shapes of their lives. Because they are trying to do everything to win Olympic gold or to raise their status. Now, without the Diamond League happening, it’s a very unfortunate situation, for one reason, that, that’s where they make most of their money.” These Ugandan athletes hope that restrictions on international competitions can be lifted as soon as possible. Nakaaayi wants to race at the Diamond League in Monaco in August, assuming that COVID-19 is by then under control.
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China’s Virus Tracking Technology Sparks Privacy Concerns
While battling a new cluster of COVID-19 infections, authorities in Beijing have been quick to make use of geo-spatial information, collected through mobile tracking devices in people’s smartphones to identify and isolate potential virus carriers.
The technology, enabled by the device’s built-in global positioning system, has helped officials locate hundreds of thousands of people who might have been to the Xinfadi wholesale food market after late May — the possible ground zero of the latest coronavirus outbreak.
As of Sunday, authorities have confirmed a total of 236 new COVID-19 patients and 22 asymptomatic patients, many of whom are related to the market, Beijing’s health commission said in a press statement Monday.
Prior to the latest outbreak, China had accumulated more than 83,000 confirmed cases countrywide in the past six months, government statistics showed.
Geo-spatial data
Thanks to the location data, more than 700,000 people at risk of alleged exposure to the market were said to have been notified, given or arranged to be given tests just days after the Xinfadi market was closed on June 13, local media reported.FILE – A man holds up his smartphone to share health app data as a government worker notes down his phone number at a checkpoint in Beijing, China, April 29, 2020.That shows how aggressive Beijing has been in containing the diseases although it also raises concerns about privacy, says Charles Mok, a lawmaker and tech entrepreneur in Hong Kong.
Some observers have long expressed worries that China’s virus tracking practices and apps, including an existent “QR code,” may outlast its outbreak.
The health QR code, which is widely used by Chinese citizens with smartphones, has since February doubled as digital entry passes in and out of residential compounds or public places after having integrated one’s travel history.
“The problem is also with privacy concerns because the biggest worry is that once this [latest practice of using spatial data] is in place, it is very difficult to take away,” Mok told VOA in a phone interview Monday.
Privacy concerns
As thorough as it can be, Beijing’s virus tracking policy in the past week appears to have gone overboard since those who weren’t in direct contact with potential virus carriers from the market also got swept up, Mok said.
The lawmaker suspected that the Chinese authorities may be conducting a social experiment to see what they can do with the data.FILE – People who had their cars’ license plates recorded near Xinfadi market, a new coronavirus cluster, wait in line for swab tests for the coronavirus, at a testing center in Beijing, China, June 17, 2020.On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social microblogging site, many residents in Beijing complained that they only passed by the market by car or by public transportation instead of setting foot into the market, but they still received text messages from the city government, which asked them to fill out a digital questionnaire before tests for virus were arranged.
Local media reported on Sunday that the city government in Beijing had completed testing of more than 2.3 million citizens, or around 10% of its population of 21 million.
Many say that they felt they had to comply with the city government’s instructions in order to ease their own minds as well.
‘Completely naked’
“Needless to say, we civilians are completely naked in front of the telecom operators,” one Weibo user commented, responding to other netizens’ complaints about a lack of privacy as a result of the government’s expansive virus tracking policy.
Another user wrote, “you’ve given up right to privacy when you started using the mobile phone. Shall [telecom operators] make illegal use of your privacy [data], they can be prosecuted. However, when personal safety is at stake, it becomes a way to control [the outbreak],” he added.FILE – Police and security personnel direct a photographer to refrain from taking pictures at a a cordon isolating a residential area near Xinfadi market, a new coronavirus hotspot in Beijing, China, June 20, 2020.That comment, Mok said, showed that Chinese people were becoming more and more tolerant of the government’s digital measures in stemming the epidemic.
It worries him, he said, because the Chinese government can easily find excuses in the future to extend its tracking policy for political reasons, and keep tabs on political dissidents.
No surprise
It comes as no surprise that China would find the technology useful in tracking potential virus carriers, as the government has long used technology to impose online censorship or block keywords on the Internet, said a tech professor from Taiwan, who specializes in mining geo-spatial data for commercial use.
Combining the use of facial recognition and geo-spatial data, China has been successful in tracking citizens whose online comments were found to be critical of the government, the professor told VOA on the condition of anonymity given the matter’s sensitivity.
He said that many governments, including Taiwan’s, are using similar technology to help control the virus. He added some have erected a virtual “electronic fence” to track the whereabouts of those under home quarantine.
But most governments are not as aggressive and invasive as China, which he said has shown little respect for individual’s privacy while accessing personal data, he added.
In lieu of regulations protecting personal information in China, telecom operators there also have little power in rejecting the government’s demand for personal information or exposing its misuse of private data, especially when the top management of many companies is politically connected, the professor added.
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COVID Diary: Learning About My Natural Surroundings During Lockdown
Where I grew up, only five kilometers from where I normally work at the Voice of America headquarters in Washington, there was a woodland in my back yard that continued for hectares. I now live in Reston, Virginia, with its magnificent trees. Songbirds spend the day with me, whether I work in my outdoor office on the side of the house, or in my indoor office in the kitchen. Indoors, Orange, my grandson’s goldfish, keeps me company. He swims to the top of the tank when he sees me holding his can of fish food. Before spending so much time with Orange, I didn’t know that goldfish can be taught to swim through hoops and can perform other tricks; I now also know that goldfish can live up to 10 years. Since I began working at home, I’ve had the challenge of learning to use new software, which doesn’t come naturally and is sometimes frustrating. But on the plus side, I can spend more time in the woods where I walk Mini, our family dog. In the woods, and in my yard, oak trees soar some 30 meters from the ground, and the tulip poplars can be just as tall. The poplars have tulip-shaped leaves and green and yellow flowers that bloom in late spring. These trees provide food and shelter for many native birds, insects and animals. Oaks can host more than 500 different kinds of caterpillars — an amazing factoid that I just looked up. Their acorns feed bluejays, deer and other mammals. Four of my oak trees died this year. It will take a couple of years to burn through the firewood from just one of them. I plan to plant more native trees and bushes in their place. Swaths of the North American forests are being bulldozed to make room for highways and homes and businesses, and since I started telecommuting, I’ve learned that instead of replacing them with native plants, landscape architects are pushing non-natives that are inedible or even deadly for animals and insects in this part of the world. There are regulations requiring people to maintain their lawns in most of the neighborhoods in Reston, yet the turf grass that makes up these lawns originated in Europe. It’s all lovely, but if people replace turf grass with native trees and plants, and even native grasses, we can help prevent songbirds, bees and butterflies from disappearing. Two of my neighbors have already done it. This year I’ve decided to make that choice. It’s a movement supported by native American plant societies, and one that I hope will gain ground across the U.S. What I’ve been sharing with you is so far removed from the devastation the coronavirus has caused. That devastation literally keeps me up at night. I read and write about it during the day and even at night. But the solace I get from being outdoors reminds me that there is hope. Hope for a cure. Hope for a vaccine. Hope that we can end this pandemic and learn from it, so we can move on together to help heal one another, and this beautiful world where we live.
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US Urges Release of Canadians Detained in China
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is urging the immediate release of two Canadians detained by China on allegations of espionage. In a statement released Monday, Pompeo said the United States was “extremely concerned” about their safety. “These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless,” said Pompeo. Full U.S. statement on FILE – People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, Canada.The two were arrested shortly after Canada detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. China has said that the two incidents are unrelated but some experts believe Kovrig and Spavor are being used as pressure against Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the arrests of the two men “arbitrary.” Secretary of State Pompeo on Monday also echoed what he said was Canada’s call for immediate consular access to its two citizens, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. “China has prohibited such access for almost six months, and the world has no knowledge of the two Canadians’ condition,” said Pompeo.
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Drones, Apps and Racial Profiling: French Rights Advocates Fear Temporary COVID Measures May Endure
France has weathered multiple crises in recent years: terrorism, yellow protests, and now, coronavirus. Successive governments champion the country’s revolution-era moniker as the land of human rights – but critics say they don’t always live by it. That includes the response to COVID-19. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.
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South Africa Marks 25 Years of AIDS Treatment, in Midst of Global Pandemic
The AIDS pandemic cut a deadly path through South Africa, leaving the nation with the world’s highest burden of the disease. But 25 years ago, new, promising medications — which later made their way to South Africa – first emerged, providing hope in the fight against the HIV virus. VOA’s Anita Powell speaks to those who have been part of South Africa’s struggle against AIDS.Camera: Zaheer Cassim
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Minibus Drivers in South Africa Strike Over Coronavirus Funding
Drivers of minibus taxis in South Africa’s financial hub Gauteng went on strike on Monday to demand more financial support from government, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
Dozens of taxis blocked busy roads in Johannesburg and Pretoria, confronting police and soldiers. Many people were stuck at taxi ranks, while others walked to work or piled onto buses.
Since a coronavirus shutdown began in late March, taxis have been permitted to operate at only 70% capacity under strict social distancing measures, a difficult situation as the industry depends on maximum passenger loads at low prices.
The loss of income from smaller loads and lower volumes due the shutdown, which saw most workplaces completely closed, has caused unhappiness in the industry, with operators threatening price increases of more 100% in some areas to cover losses.
The lockdown has been gradually eased and most of the workforce are now allowed to go to work.
On Friday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced a 1.1 billion one-off payment to registered taxi operators, amounting to about 5,000 rand ($287) per driver. He said this was not compensation for loss of revenue due to coronavirus restrictions but rather assistance from the government.
Taxi operators rejected the relief and the conditions linked to government’s plan to formalize the industry.
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Museum to Remove Roosevelt Statue Decried as White Supremacy
The American Museum of Natural History will remove a prominent statue of Theodore Roosevelt from its entrance after years of objections that it symbolizes colonial expansion and racial discrimination, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday.The bronze statue that has stood at the museum’s Central Park West entrance since 1940 depicts Roosevelt on horseback with a Native American man and an African man standing next to the horse.”The American Museum of Natural History has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior,” de Blasio said in a written statement. “The City supports the Museum’s request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue.”Taking to Twitter, President Donald Trump objected to the statue’s removal.”Ridiculous, don’t do it!” he tweeted.The museum’s president, Ellen Futter, told the New York Times that the museum’s “community has been profoundly moved by the ever-widening movement for racial justice that has emerged after the killing of George Floyd.””We have watched as the attention of the world and the country has increasingly turned to statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism,” Futter told the Times.Officials said it hasn’t been determined when the Roosevelt statue will be removed and where it will go.”The composition of the Equestrian Statue does not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy,” Theodore Roosevelt IV, a great-grandson of the president, said in a statement to the Times. “It is time to move the statue and move forward.”Futter said the museum objects to the statue but not to Roosevelt, a pioneering conservationist whose father was a founding member of the institution and who served as New York’s governor before becoming the 26th president. She said the museum is naming its Hall of Biodiversity for Roosevelt “in recognition of his conservation legacy.”In 2017, protesters splashed red liquid on the statue’s base to represent blood and published a statement calling for its removal as an emblem of “patriarchy, white supremacy and settler-colonialism.”
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Afghan Security Forces Suffer Bloodiest Week in 19 Years
Afghanistan’s security forces have suffered their bloodiest week so far in the 19-year-old Afghan war. The Afghanistan’s National Security Council said 291 members of Afghan National and Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) were killed and 550 others wounded in multiple Taliban attacks last week. “Taliban carried out 422 attacks in 32 provinces, martyring 291 ANDSF members and wounding 550 others. Taliban’s commitment to reduce violence is meaningless, and their actions inconsistent with their rhetoric on peace,” tweeted Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the NSC. The NSC statement also said that at least 42 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 105 others were wounded in the violence Taliban committed across 18 provinces in the past week. The statement comes at a time when hopes are high for the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, a term used for negotiations between the Taliban and a representative group of other Afghans including the government, political factions, and civil society activists. FILE – Afghan National Army soldiers keep watch at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2020.“We haven’t seen the reduction in violence that we expect and that we think is necessary to really underpin the peace efforts, but we call on the Taliban to reduce violence. We call of course on Taliban to, in a constructive way, engage in intra-Afghan negotiations,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last week, following a meeting with NATO defense ministers. On Sunday, the head of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, met Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban political team in Doha. “The UN envoy for #Afghanistan highlighted the need for a just peace that was inclusive of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities,” a Tweet from the official UNAMA account said. .FILE – Members of a Taliban negotiating team enter the venue hosting U.S.-Taliban talks in the Qatari capital Doha, Aug. 29, 2019.The international community’s efforts to resolve both issues seems to be bearing fruit. The first round of the negotiation is expected at the end of this month in Doha, although the coronavirus pandemic has created another logistical hurdle.
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