Two U.S. lawmakers said Thursday they are “outraged” by the dismissals that Michael Pack, the new chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the agency that oversees Voice of America, has ordered.Pack dismissed the heads of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Free Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and the Open Technology Fund.Congresswoman Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and Congressman Eliot L. Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, both Democrats, said in a joint statement, “That Mr. Pack took this drastic measure in his first week on the job is shocking, and we have deep concerns that he takes the helm of a critical agency with the intent to prioritize the Trump administration’s political whims over protecting and promoting independent reporting, which is a pillar of freedom and democracy.”The Associated Press reported that Pack did not give specific reasons for each dismissal, only that he was acting consistent with his authority as the new USAGM CEO.The top two officials at VOA, the director, Amanda Bennett, and deputy, Sandy Sugawara, resigned from their posts on Monday.Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also criticized Pack’s actions, warning the moves could undermine USAGM’s independence.“Mr. Pack has gone on a wholesale firing spree, removing the heads of the networks, dissolving their corporate boards, only to replace them with unqualified political people, fundamentally undermining the mission and work of the organization. It’s now obvious why the White House wanted Pack so badly, so they can transform the agency into their own personal mouthpiece,” Menendez said at the opening of a committee hearing related to COVID-19 on Thursday. “This is a blow from which it may never recover. Once the credibility is gone, no one will ever trust a report from Radio Free Europe, Radio Martí, nor trust the tools of the Open Technology Fund.”Lowey and Engel said Pack replaced the corporate boards “with new boards comprising himself, his chief of staff, Trump Administration appointees, and the senior counsel of an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group.”Alberto Fernandez, who led the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, said he was proud of the work the networks did during his three-year tenure and was honored to have worked with talented journalists in the United States, Dubai, Beirut and elsewhere. He also pointed to the ongoing challenges USAGM agencies face in getting news to the viewers, listeners and readers around the world.“Wish the incoming people at USAGM well,” Fernandez tweeted Wednesday. “I hope they know what they are doing. They have an immediate opportunity to make a difference. Yesterday the Iraqi government shut down Radio Sawa transmitters in Baghdad, Basra and Karbala and threatened to seize USG property.”FILE – Michael Pack, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019. Pack’s nomination was confirmed June 4, 2020.Earlier Wednesday, Pack sent his first communication to VOA employees since being confirmed by the Senate last week, pledging in an email to uphold its mandated role of providing independent worldwide journalism even though it is a U.S. government-funded agency.Pack wrote that he is “fully committed to honoring VOA’s charter … and the independence of our heroic journalists around the world.”He was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead USAGM more than two years ago. But with solid Democratic opposition to his appointment, the Republican-controlled Senate voted only two weeks ago to approve a three-year term for Pack to head USAGM.The vote proceeded even though the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office announced last month that its office is investigating whether Pack illegally moved money from a nonprofit group to his profit-making film company.In recent weeks, Trump has criticized VOA for its news coverage of China during the coronavirus crisis. When asked about the Pack nomination on May 15, Trump said, “Voice of America is run in a terrible manner. They’re not the Voice of America. They’re the opposite of the Voice of America.”Pack made no mention of Trump or the controversy in his email to staff. Nor did he say who he plans to name as VOA’s director.Bennett was a staunch advocate for VOA’s independent journalism, rebuffing Trump’s recent criticism and defending the U.S.-funded news agency’s mission and reporting.“We export the First Amendment to people around the world who have no other access to factual, truthful, believable information,” she said. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech and freedom of the press.“That’s why more than 80% of our 280 million audience in 47 languages in more than 60 countries say they find our work credible,” Bennett said.Some outside watchdogs have voiced fears about Pack’s tenure at USAGM, citing his record as a conservative filmmaker and associate of former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon and suggesting he might not withstand White House pressure for news coverage favorable to Trump.The New York Times said in an editorial Tuesday, “The specter of turning V.O.A. into a propaganda tool of the White House should be frightening to all Americans, regardless of political leanings.” The editorial concluded, “Mr. Trump wants a bullhorn, not a diplomatic instrument, and he insists on loyalty.”As Pack took over as chief executive, the directors of the Broadcasting Board of Governors — which formerly controlled VOA and its sister networks — published their own definition of independent journalism in the Federal Register of government actions.“USAGM-funded networks each enjoy full editorial independence, as that term is defined and understood by best practices of journalism,” the statement said.“Editorial independence includes, but is not limited to, the fact that only individuals within the network may make any decisions with respect to newsgathering or reporting,” the directors said. “USAGM networks and their employees, including the heads of each network, are fully insulated from any political or other external pressures or processes that would be inconsistent with the highest standards of professional journalism.”Pack, in his mid-60s, has held previous executive positions at U.S. government international and public media agencies. But in recent years, he told USAGM employees, he has run a private venture, Manifold Productions, that has produced 15 documentaries that have aired in the U.S. on the Public Broadcasting Service.“These films were also my way of telling America’s story,” he said. “Although making documentaries is very satisfying work, I was eager to return to international broadcasting at this critical juncture in our history.”He said, “America’s adversaries have stepped up their propaganda and disinformation efforts. They are aggressively promoting their very different visions of the world.”Pack said he would seek to improve employee morale at USAGM and “examine some of the problems that have surfaced in the media in recent years.”“Most importantly,” he wrote, “my mission will be to make the agency more effective.”
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Month: June 2020
Report: State Dept. Official Quits Over Trump Race Response
A State Department official resigned Thursday over President Donald Trump’s response to racial tensions sweeping the country over the deaths of black people in police custody, The Washington Post reported.Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, said in her resignation letter that Trump’s actions “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.” At 30, Taylor was the youngest person to hold her position, and she was also the first black woman in the job, according to the Post.“The President’s comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” Taylor said in her resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which was obtained by the Post. “I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.”Taylor’s resignation follows weeks of turmoil sweeping the United States following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Protesters demanding justice for Floyd and others, along with reforms to address police brutality, have taken to the streets, and the president has struggled to meet the moment.He has referred to protesters as “thugs,” and his administration forcefully pushed aside peaceful protesters near the White House so he could go to a nearby church and pose holding a Bible.The State Department declined to comment in response to a question from The Associated Press.“We do not comment on personnel matters,” the State Department said in an emailed response to a request for information about Taylor’s resignation. There was no immediate explanation for why State Department officials, including Pompeo and other top aides, had chosen to comment extensively on the decision to fire the department’s Inspector General Steve Linick in May.In her role in the Trump administration, Taylor helped guide more than 400 presidential appointments through the Senate, including those of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and CIA director Gina Haspel, the Post reported.
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Australia Says it Has Been Target of ‘State-Based’ Cyberattacks
A “sophisticated state-based cyber actor” has been attempting to hack a wide range of Australian organizations for months and had stepped up its efforts recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.The attacks have targeted all levels of the government, political organizations, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure, Morrison said in a news briefing in Canberra.”We know it is a sophisticated state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting,” he said.Morrison said there were not a lot of state actors that could launch this sort of attack, but Australia will not identify which country was responsible.Australia’s Defense Minister Linda Reynolds said advice showed no large-scale personal data breaches from the attack, as she urged businesses and organizations to ensure any web or email servers are fully updated with the latest software and the use of multifactor authentication.An Australian government source said Morrison’s public declaration was an attempt to raise the issue with those who could be targeted.Australia’s chief cyber intelligence agency said its investigations have so far found no evidence that the actor attempted to be “disruptive or destructive” once within the host’s network.Morrison said he spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday about the issue, while briefings to other allies have also been conducted.The revelation comes after Reuters reported Canberra had determined in March last year that China was responsible for a hacking attack on Australia’s parliament. Australia never publicly identified that source of the attack, and China denied it was responsible.A U.S. security ally, Australia strained ties with its largest trading partner, China, by pushing for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the new coronavirus that first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
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$6.9 Billion US Military Initiative Would Benefit Taiwan, Vietnam
A $6.9 billion U.S. military initiative that’s moving through the Senate would aid beleaguered Taiwan and Vietnam by thwarting major threats from their rival China, analysts say.Senators are working on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative with a budget of $1.4 billion in the initiative’s first year for U.S. military activity in Asia and $5.5 billion in its second year. The bill is seen as an outgrowth of the FILE – A man rides a motorcycle past a poster promoting Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea of the South China Sea, on Phu Quoc island, Sept. 11, 2014.”Obviously, China will certainly have very negative and very antagonistic attitudes toward this kind of consolidation of the military cooperation,” said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank in Taiwan.The Pacific Deterrence Initiative sends a “strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that America is deeply committed to defending our interests in the Indo-Pacific,” the Senate Armed Services Committee said in its 2021 budget act.Specifically, the initiative would “focus resources on key military capability gaps,” reassure U.S. allies, and improve the “credibility” of American deterrence, the committee said. U.S. forces should look at building runways, adding theater missile defenses and improving command, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense Randy Schriver wrote in a March 10 commentary.The 2018 act calls for supporting a close security relationship with Taiwan and encourages visits to Taiwan by high-level U.S. officials. That act, which followed a period of confusion in Southeast Asia about U.S. President Donald Trump’s strategy for the region, further directs the U.S. government to deepen “security cooperation” with Vietnam.For the initiative being formulated now, “I think the overall direction is that ‘well, since we have identified China as a near peer military competitor, what are we doing about it, and when are we going to strengthen in order to effectively compete with China?'” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center, a research organization in Washington.Vietnam is due this year to receive a second U.S. Coast Guard cutter for its own coastal defense. The U.S. Navy has sent warships seven times this year to date through the strait separating China from Taiwan, comforting Taiwanese people and angering Beijing.A Chinese researcher cited by China Global Television Network sees the latest U.S. plan as an extension of policy to weaken Chinese influence in Asia by working alongside third countries.The initiative would “attract some countries to plan to establish bilateral or multilateral security cooperation mechanisms to contain China’s maritime activities,” wrote Lan Shunzheng, a research fellow at the Beijing-based think tank Charhar Institute.’High-end’ deterrence Extra funding from Washington would allow “high-end” deterrence against China, said Euan Graham, senior fellow with the Singapore-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. But U.S. forces will still find it hard to overcome China’s long-term hold over Asian waters, he said.”U.S. can deter high-end aggression from China against Taiwan much more easily I think than it can this kind of (Chinese) strangulation exercise, which is much more a persistence, stamina game, and the problem with the U.S. is it can’t deploy indefinitely,” Graham said.Beijing uses its navy, coast guard, fishing fleets and economic incentives to occupy disputed islets in the South China Sea.U.S. allies Malaysia and the Philippines also contest Chinese claims to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea but get along better with Beijing diplomatically than Vietnam does.
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What Is DACA?
The Obama administration in June 2012 issued the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order after the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act did not pass in Congress several times. The young people affected by DACA and the DREAM Act are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
The executive order allowed some illegal and undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to be exempted from deportation and to obtain renewable two-year work permits.
Eligible persons must have lived continuously in the United States since 2007.
They must be enrolled in school, have completed high school or the equivalent, or have been honorably discharged from military service.They must not have been convicted of a felony or a serious misdemeanor, or otherwise pose a threat to national security.
In November 2014, DACA was expanded to include illegal immigrants who entered the country before 2010, and it eliminated the requirement that applicants be younger than 31.
The Trump administration rescinded the DACA program in September 2017.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 18 that the Trump administration cannot rescind the DACA program, which has protected at least 650,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from being deported to their native countries.
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Dame Vera Lynn, Britain’s World War Two ‘Forces’ Sweetheart,’ Dies at 103
Dame Vera Lynn, the woman whose voice boosted British spirits during the darkest days of World War Two, has died at 103.Her family did not give a cause of death when it announced her passing Thursday in East Sussex.Along with Winston Churchill’s, Lynn’s was the most recognized and renowned British voice of World War Two.She was known as the “Forces’ Sweetheart,” serenading Allied soldiers and the British people with such sentimental but optimistic ballads as “We’ll Meet Again,” “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”FILE – Singing star Vera Lynn tries on a lampshade in London, Nov. 30, 1961.She also hosted “Sincerely Yours,” a hugely popular BBC radio show during the war that included messages to British soldiers and sailors overseas and songs she sang at their request.Lynn also toured army camps, entertaining British troops in person.”What they needed was a contact from home,” she said. “I entertained audiences from 2,000 to 6,000. And the boys would just come out of the jungle and sit there for hours waiting until we arrived and then slip back in once we’d left.”Her popularity endured after the war.A decade before the Beatles, her 1952 recording of “Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart” made her the first British singer to top the American record charts.She also found renewed fame when director Stanley Kubrick played her vintage recording of “We’ll Meet Again” near the end of his 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove.”Long after she retired, a 2009 compilation album, “We’ll Meet Again — The Very Best of Vera Lynn,” was a top-selling recording in Britain.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said her “charm and magical voice entranced and uplifted our country in some of our darkest hours. Her voice will live on to lift the hearts of generations to come.”Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth plans to send a personal note of condolence to Lynn’s family. Sir Paul McCartney tweeted that he is “so sad to hear of her passing but at the same time so glad to have met her and experienced first-hand her warm, fun-loving personality. Her voice will sing in my heart forever.”Sir Cliff Richard recalled performing with Lynn on the 50th anniversary of VE Day in 1995, calling her “a great singer, a patriotic woman and a genuine icon.”
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Social Media Companies Battle Evolving Threat Ahead of 2020 Election
Top social media companies Google, Facebook and Twitter told U.S. lawmakers Thursday that foreign interference on their platforms has evolved significantly since the 2016 presidential election.The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence heard how these companies are adapting their approaches to combating disinformation as COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests and the upcoming 2020 presidential election present opportunities for the exploitation of partisan political differences in the United States.FILE – Nick Pickles, public policy director for Twitter, speaks during a full committee hearing, in Washington, Sept. 18, 2019.To date, Twitter has not seen signs of foreign actors attempting to exploit U.S. racial divides or differences of opinion on the coronavirus, Nick Pickles, Twitter’s director of global public policy strategy and development, told lawmakers.”We haven’t found evidence of concerted platform manipulation by foreign actors in either of those areas,” Pickles said.Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said his company has yet to see “coordinated inauthentic behavior on the part of foreign governments, particularly targeting voting systems or how to vote in the United States.”But in his opening statement, Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said that while social media companies have made efforts since the 2016 election to address concerns about manipulation of their platforms by foreign entities, “I can’t say that I am confident that the 2020 election will be free of interference by malicious actors, foreign or domestic, who aspire to weaponize your platforms to divide Americans, pit us against one another and weaken our democracy.”Representatives from Google, Facebook and Twitter told the panel they are seeing an evolution by many foreign actors, who are returning to methods last seen from the 1960s through the 1980s to disseminate misinformation and evade controls the companies put into place in response to concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election. FILE – Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 22, 2019.”So far this year, we’ve taken down 18 coordinated networks seeking to manipulate public debate, including three networks originating from Russia, two from Iran and two based here in the United States,” Gleicher told lawmakers.A Pew Research survey found that 44% of Americans used social media platforms as a news source during the 2016 election. Lawmakers noted contentious discussions on social media do much of the work for malicious foreign actors.”I’m pretty convinced that when this republic dies, it doesn’t happen because the Russians broke into Ohio voting machines or they managed to buy ads on Facebook or Twitter. It happens because our politics become so toxic, so polarized, we don’t recognize each other anymore as Americans,” said Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat. “All it takes is a match from Russia, from Iran or from North Korea, or from China to set off a conflagration.”The House Intelligence Committee is holding virtual hearings because of continuing concerns about the threat of COVID-19. Committee Republicans have chosen not to participate in these virtual hearings this week.The committee hearing marked the second time social media companies had briefed lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee about the security threat posed by bad actors on their platforms. In 2017, the committee released dozens of Russian-linked ads that circulated on Facebook ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
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A Nurse With a Mission
In Istanbul, a 36-year-old woman is a one-person traveling medical unit treating some of Turkey’s most vulnerable refugees at a time when, for many people, hospitals are not an option. Some refugees do not have their papers in order. Others cannot afford care or fear getting the coronavirus at a hospital. In Istanbul, VOA’s Heather Murdock reports about one woman’s mission to do good.Camera: Heather Murdock Contributor: Shadi Turk
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Business Reopens Between Southern Cameroon and Nigeria
Cameroon’s military says it has restored security on an important trade road between western Cameroon and Nigeria. The military this week said it had killed at least 13 separatist fighters who blocked the Bamenda-Enugu Road for two months and were demanding illegal tolls. The rebels denied it was their fighters and blamed other armed groups. General Valere Nka, commander of Cameroonian forces fighting separatists in the English-speaking North West region, said his troops had destroyed several camps along the road linking the Cameroonian town of Bamenda to Enugu in Nigeria. Nka said the four-day battle ended Wednesday night. He spoke via a messaging application from Bamenda.Nka said after battles that lasted four days, at least 13 rebels were dead and many locally made guns, explosive devices, pistols, vehicles, motorcycles, hard drugs and a machine gun that was seized from the Cameroonian military by rebels a year ago had been taken from the separatists. He said he appreciated the professionalism of his troops, even though one of them was killed and another wounded.Nka said Cameroon and Nigerian traders had complained to him a month ago that they were no longer safe on the road. After this week’s attacks on rebel camps, Nka assured civilians that security had been restored and advised traders and travelers to report any suspicious movements and cooperate with the military.Jude Chukudi, a 42-year-old trader who buys motor parts and electronics in Nigeria to sell in Cameroon, said despite Nka’s assurance, he was still reluctant to use the road. Speaking via a messaging application from Bamenda, he said on May 17 he was abducted by armed men on the road in the town of Bafut, and his goods, worth an estimated $30,000, were taken and have not been found.”They were asking for a ransom of 5 million francs [$8,600]. I had to plead, plead and finally I called my relations and they raised 500,000 francs and then they [the fighters] took it. It was a very traumatizing experience and as I speak right now, I feel very unsafe. You do not know if some of them can trail you right up to the urban centers, but they can still trace you out,” he said.Chukudi said he was afraid the armed men might still be hunting for him because he reported them to the military.Eric Tataw, a U.S-based spokesman for the separatists, said armed groups that have arisen from the crisis in the English-speaking regions may have been responsible for the interruption of trade between Cameroon and Nigeria on the road. He said separatist fighters called Ambazonia fighters have been professional in their fight to create an English-speaking state separate from majority French-speaking Cameroon. He spoke via a messaging application from Washington.”It [the attack on traders] is a very ugly and unacceptable thing which I have always condemned. But to say that Ambazonian fighters have been responsible, I will say it is entirely false. It is not Ambazonians. True Amba fighters are well-schooled on the ethics of war,” said Tataw,Cameroon’s military has maintained that it had killed at least 13 separatist fighters who were blocking the road and collecting illegal tolls, abducting travelers and stealing their goods. Cameroon said several hundred trucks from both countries ply that road daily.Cameroon’s 25 million people depend on Nigeria for 70% of their basic commodities, and Nigeria’s 160 million people count on Cameroon for rice, corn, tubers, plantain, cocoa, tomatoes and other farm produce.
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Russia Lifts Ban on Telegram Messaging App
The Russian government has lifted a ban on Telegram two years after it announced attempts to restrict access to the encrypted instant-messaging app, the country’s communications regulator said Thursday.“As agreed with the Prosecutor General’s office, Roskomnadzor withdraws the demand to restrict access to the Telegram messenger,” the federal communications watchdog said in a statement.Roskomnadzor began blocking the popular app in accordance with a 2018 court order that demanded the messaging service be restricted because of its alleged use by Islamic State terrorists.Pavel Durov, the app’s Russian-born founder, was ordered to hand over the app’s encryption codes but refused, citing violations of user privacy.But even top-tier officials such as Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov continued using the app after its developers adjusted the code to slip past Roskomnadzor’s cybersecurity barriers.Its widespread use has continued, and even coronavirus task force operations in many Russian regions use Telegram for daily updates.Roskomnadzor on Thursday said it was prepared to lift restrictions because Durov, who has been living in self-imposed exile since 2014, was prepared to cooperate with Russian government counterterrorism efforts to combat extremism on the platform.Islamic State terrorists behind the November 2015 Paris attacks, which claimed 130 lives, used the app’s public channels to spread propaganda and other related content. The app shut the channels down after the attack.Telegram’s developers say that they have since increased their ability to spot and delete extremist content on the app without compromising user privacy.The Kremlin took note of Roskomnadzor’s decision and the reasoning for it, the Tass news agency reported, quoting Kremlin spokesman Peskov.Founded in 2013, Telegram now has an estimated 30 million users in Russia — nearly 20% of the population.Some information for this report came from AP and Reuters.
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Kenya Wins UN Security Council Seat by 2 Votes
Kenya narrowly won an election for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat Thursday, in a vote impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway all won their bids in first-round voting on Wednesday, but neither Kenya nor Djibouti attained the two-thirds majority needed in the U.N. General Assembly to take a seat designated for Africa on the powerful 15-nation council.
In a second round on Thursday, Kenya achieved the slimmest of victories, obtaining 129 votes, one more than needed to win the seat. Djibouti fell well short with 62.Amb. Lazarus Amayo casting his vote #KenyaReadytoServe#Kenya4UNSCpic.twitter.com/MyoKcUTXaO— Kenya Mission to the UN (@KenyaMissionUN) June 17, 2020
Djibouti’s foreign minister congratulated Kenya after the vote.Le Kenya vient d’être élu . Nous leur disons félicitations et leur souhaitons plein succès pour la suite . Je félicite tous nos ministres , diplomates et hauts responsables pour leur dévouement à cette cause mais ce n’est que partie remise .— Mahmoud Ali youssouf (@ymahmoudali) June 18, 2020In the first round of voting on Wednesday, Ireland and Norway also had a tight race with Canada over two available seats for their regional group. Mexico and India ran unopposed. Seats are allocated by regional blocs and groups often agree on a common candidate among themselves to put up uncontested.
The five winners will join the council on January 1, 2021, for a 2-year term.Many Congratulations Kenya @ForeignOfficeKE on being elected as non-permanent member of @UN Security Council for 2021-2022. We look forward to working together.@IndiaUNNewYork@StateHouseKenya@AbabuNamwamba@EliudKipchoge@AmbMKamau@amolosango@TSTirumurti— India in Kenya (@IndiainKenya) June 18, 2020The elections were held in a sparsely populated General Assembly Hall, where all coronavirus protocols were observed, including face coverings, social distancing and staggered voting.
In mid-March, the United Nations essentially shut down its New York headquarters as the coronavirus spread across the metropolis. The city began its very limited first phase of reopening June 8 but that does not include large gatherings like the hundreds of diplomats who would normally flock to the building to cast their votes.
The newly elected countries will replace exiting council members Belgium, Dominican Republic, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa. They will join current non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam, and permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
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House Speaker Wants Confederate Portraits Removed From US Capitol
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the portraits of four former House speakers who served in the Confederacy removed from the U.S. Capitol. Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference Thursday that the portraits would be removed Friday, June 19, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The day is known as Juneteenth. “There is no room in the hallowed halls of Congress or in any place of honor for memorializing men who embody the violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy,” Pelosi wrote. The former speakers are Robert Hunter of Virginia, Howell Cobb and Charles Crisp of Georgia and James Orr of South Carolina. According to Pelosi, Orr “swore on the House floor to ‘preserve and perpetuate’ slavery in order to ‘enjoy our property in peace, quiet and security.” Hunter served at “nearly every level of the Confederacy, including in the Confederate Provincial Congress, as Confederate Secretary of State, in the Confederate Senate and in the Confederate Army,” she wrote in her letter. Pelosi’s action is the latest of several taken to remove public commemoration of the Confederacy and its supporters. Last week, she joined top military officials in requesting that bases associated with racism or the Confederacy undergo name changes and asked that statues of Confederate soldiers in the Capitol building be removed. The NASCAR professional automobile racing association recently banned the Confederate flag at its races. In recent weeks, several statues of Confederate leaders have been torn down or vandalized by protesters across the United States.
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Japan’s Former Justice Minister, Wife Arrested on Allegations of Vote-buying
Prosecutors in Tokyo say former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai, and his wife, Anri Kawai, were arrested Thursday over allegations they engaged in vote buying during last year’s election. In a statement, Tokyo prosecutors said the couple paid about $15,900 to five people last year to get her elected in the 2019 upper house election, in which she won a seat.Katsuyuki Kawai, a close political ally of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, served as justice minister for only a month last year, resigning in October when vote buying allegations first surfaced. He had previously served as a foreign policy adviser to Abe. Both Kawaiis have denied the allegations to Japanese media.At a news conference Thursday, Abe offered an apology regarding the arrests, saying “it is very regrettable that the incumbent lawmakers (ex-Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife Anri Kawai), who used to belong to our party, were arrested today. I’m keenly aware of my responsibility as I once appointed him (Katsuyuki Kawai) Justice Minister. “Observers see the arrests as blow for Abe as his support among voters was already declining because of what is seen as his clumsy handling of the COVID pandemic, among other domestic issues.
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US Troop Withdrawal Plan Overshadows NATO War Games
Thousands of U.S. troops are taking part in NATO military exercises in eastern Europe. Part of the training is taking place in Poland, just 350 kilometers from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, while maritime exercises are also taking place in the Baltic Sea. But the show of force has been overshadowed by Washington’s announcement that it plans to withdraw thousands of troops from Germany – where the U.S. has operated permanent bases since the Second World War. Henry Ridgwell reports.Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Henry Hernandez
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Arrests, Suspension of Vietnam Media Signal Crackdown
A wave of arrests and a one-month publishing ban on a news site over its investigations into environmental damage signal that Vietnam is suppressing criticism ahead of the country’s Party Congress, press freedom groups said.
On June 12, authorities charged Le Huu Minh Tuan, from the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, with “opposing the state.” Le is the fourth member of the association to be arrested since the group’s founder, Pham Chi Dung, was detained in November. Vietnamese journalist Pham Chi Dung is seen in an undated photo from his Facebook page.Pham, a contributor to various news outlets including Voice of America, helped found the association in 2014. Just before his arrest, Pham appeared in a video message broadcast at a conference focused on human rights and the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement.
Last month, Hanoi authorities arrested the association’s vice-president, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, a blogger who reports for Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Pham Chi Thanh, a blogger who recently published a book on the Communist Party’s general-secretary, according to the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
VOA and RFA are independent U.S. government-funded news outlets.
Aside from the arrests, the Ministry of Information and Communications on May 28 issued a one-month publishing ban on the website of Phu nu Online over its series alleging a construction company was damaging the environment.
John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, said the arrests and suspension could be a sign that authorities are preparing for the 13th National Party Congress due to take place next year.
“The media is under assault,” Sifton told VOA, adding that the harassment of activists and critics, even months ahead of the congress, was typical.
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said the arrests appeared to be “confirmation of the nervousness within the Vietnamese Communist Party’s current leadership six months ahead of its” congress.
“By silencing those who speak out, the Communist Party’s leaders are behaving like a ruling class that just seeks to protect its privileges,” Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said in a June 15 statement.
Vietnam is a one-party state. The Communist Party elects up to 19 members of the country’s Politburo, including secretary general, president, prime minister, chair of national assembly, and about 200 members of the central party committee, at the congress.
Sifton said authorities regularly harass members of the Independent Journalists Association, put them under surveillance or hold them under house arrest. The journalists arrested recently all “are charged with anti-state propaganda, an over-broad provision that basically means if you say anything critical, you’ll be in trouble,” Sifton said.
The Ministry of Communications did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.
In the case of Phu nu Online, Nguyen Thanh Lam, director of the Authority of Press under Vietnam’s Ministry of Communications and Information, said the website “reported false information causing serious impacts” in a 2019 series about Sun Group, a real estate developer, constructor and travel operator in Da Nang City.A screenshot of the front page of the newspaper Phu nu Online shows a headline critical of the Sun Group. For its reporting, the outlet is not allowed to publish for one month. (Source – Nguyen Thu Trang Facebook page)In articles published between September and November of 2019, Phu nu Online alleged that Sun Group was destroying the environment at the Ba Na-Nui Chua nature reserve in Da Nang and in Tam Dao national park in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.
The Sun Group and Da Nang’s Department of Information and Communication sent a complaint that included 255 pages of documents to the Ministry of Information and Communication, according to local media.
The Sun Group did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.
The news site was asked to correct the false information and was fined 55 million in Vietnamese currency ($2,358) for journalism and publishing violations. The suspension did not affect its print version or Facebook page.
Vietnam has previously taken action against news outlets or bloggers who report on allegations of environmental damage, and its press is restricted. The Communist Party controls the media and under the 2016 Press Law, news outlets must serve as the voice of the party and state agencies, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Sifton described the publishing ban as “another setback for press freedom.” He added that the government was particularly sensitive to criticism on anything related to construction, issues that could impact fisheries and the 2016 Formosa steel plant toxic spill.
In June last year, a shrimp farmer was sentenced to six years for criticizing the government on Facebook about environmental policies. And in October, filmmaker Thinh Nguyen was briefly detained in what a colleague said was retribution for a film on the arrests of environmental activists.
On May 29, Phu Nu gave details on its Facebook page about the discussions with the Authority of Press and explained why it had published the articles on the Sun Group.
“What we [tried to do] was provide additional information to enable authorities to check, supervise and clarify evaluation and approval procedures to determine the environmental impacts of projects in forest and sea areas that need to be preserved for future generations,” the outlet said.
Nguyen Thu Trang, head of the Phu Nu newspaper in Hanoi, and one of Vietnam’s 100 most powerful women in 2019 as listed by Forbes magazine, wrote on her personal Facebook page on May 28: “Most of Sun Group’s projects and constructions are occupied in sensitive areas such as mountains, primeval forests, islands and borders. ”
Nguyen said journalists who worked on the articles were monitored, pressured and intimidated. “We have submitted a report to the Criminal Department of the Ministry of Public Security. But the only response is silence, silence, and silence,” she wrote.
Nguyen Tien Trung, a rights activist in Ho Chi Minh City, told VOA, “Sun Group, a colossal real estate company in Vietnam, has always kept silent about Phụ nu Online newspaper’s accusations.”
“This act made me believe that Sun Group had ordered the authorities to punish Phu nu newspapers for exposing Sun Group’s environmental crimes,” Nguyen said. “It also turns all the calls to protect the environment from the government, all the protecting-environment taxes imposed by the authorities to hypocritical clichés.”
Readers have expressed support for the newspaper and praised its bravery in fighting deforestation.
“If no newspapers dare to tell the bare truths, expose the interests of the group, this society will be covered by all lies and lies. Thank you – the mighty warriors of just cause,” one reader posted on the Phu Nu Facebook page.VOA Press Freedom editor Jessica Jerreat contributed to this report
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Supreme Court Rejects End to Protections for Young Immigrants
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign. The outcome seems certain to elevate the issue in Trump’s campaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of his first presidential run in 2016 and immigration restrictions his administration has imposed since then. The justices rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA.
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Minnesota Father Ignites Skateboarding Passion in Daughter
A one-time competitive skateboarder is rediscovering his passion by sharing it with his young daughter. Monique Pederson was just two years old when dad Steve stood her on a skateboard for the first time. Today, it’s how the two spend quality father-daughter time together.
Camera: John Kaul Producer: Dora Mekouar
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China’s New Outbreak Wanes as US Calls For Answers On Virus
A new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing saw a decline in daily cases Thursday while the United States increased pressure on China’s leaders to reveal what they know about the pandemic.
The outbreak first detected at a wholesale market in the capital last week has infected at least 158 people in China’s biggest resurgence since the initial outbreak was brought under control in March. The city reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, down from 31 on Wednesday.
City officials said close contacts of market workers, visitors and other connections were being traced to locate all possible cases as quickly as possible, with testing and prevention measures being taken.
At a meeting in Hawaii with a top Chinese diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged China to reveal all it knows about the pandemic.
Pompeo “stressed the need for full transparency and information sharing to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future outbreaks,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement about his meeting with the Communist Party’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi.
Pompeo has joined President Donald Trump in criticizing China’s response to the outbreak, including giving credence to a theory that the virus may have emerged from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
The World Health Organization last month bowed to calls from most of its member states to investigate how it managed the response to the virus, but the evaluation would stop short of looking into the origins of the virus. China maintains that controlling the virus’s spread should be given priority.
China is also being called on to relieve the virus’ financial consequences in Africa.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed Chinese leader Xi Jinping during an online China-Africa summit. He reminded China that African nations are seeking significant debt relief as they battle the pandemic.
African nations have called for a two-year suspension of debt payments and other relief that would allow them to focus resources on the health crisis. But China, Africa’s biggest creditor, has not indicated it will offer a sweeping solution and experts say it will focus instead on bilateral arrangements with countries.
Ramaphosa urged China to offer more relief or propose alternatives, warning that “the worst is still to come” for Africa in the pandemic.
Xi in his speech said he hopes the international community, “especially developed countries and multilateral financial institutions, will act more forcefully on debt relief and suspension for Africa.”
The virus has infected more than 8.3 million people since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. More than 448,000 people have died from COVID-19, according to a Johns Hopkins tally of official data. Both numbers are believed to be deeply undercounted due to limited testing and other factors.
The United States has the most cases and deaths by far, with 2.1 million people infected and more than 117,000 dead. Americans have wrestled with deep emotional divides between those who support lockdowns and restrictions like wearing masks to stop the spread of the virus and those who believe such measures infringe on personal freedoms.
Other countries were confronting politicized debates and growing infections.
India recorded its highest one-day increase of 12,281 cases, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi rejected imposing a new lockdown, saying the country has to think about further unlocking the economy.
Turkish authorities made masks mandatory in three major cities following an uptick in cases since the country allowed the reopening of many businesses.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia as the country struggles under the pandemic’s strain and cases rise sharply in the capital. Mexico’s cases continued to increase at near-record levels with few signs of a decrease, even as the economy starts reopening.
More than a week after New Zealand declared itself virus-free, the country has confirmed three new cases. The South Pacific country appears to have eliminated community transmission of the virus, but officials confirmed a man arriving from Pakistan tested positive after earlier confirming cases in two women returning from Britain.
While air travel is a concern about transmission of the virus as economies reopen, two Australian universities are planning a charter flight for likely the first foreign students to return to Australian campuses.
Australian National University and Canberra University expect to fly 350 students from Singapore in late July. The students would go into hotel quarantine on arrival.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison supported the universities’ plan, which would be a pilot program for reopening Australia’s lucrative education sector.
“I’m looking to get our economy as close as back to normal as we possibly can and to push the envelope in every possible area,” Morrison told reporters.
But China, which is Australia’s largest source of foreign students, providing 200,000 last year, has warned its citizens to stay away from the country because of the risk of pandemic-related racism. China opposes Australia’s calls for an independent investigation into the origins of and responses to the pandemic.
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Kim Jong Un Keeps Quiet as North Korea Turns Up Heat
As North Korea ramps up military pressure on South Korea, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has been conspicuously absent from public view.Kim, who has made very few public appearances this year, instead seems to have delegated his increasingly powerful sister to oversee Pyongyang’s cycle of provocations against Seoul.Once seen mainly as an aide to her brother, Kim Yo Jong began issuing her own public statements in March. She has since become the public face of North Korea’s more aggressive stance toward the South.Last week, North Korea announced it would cut all official channels of communication with the South. On Tuesday, North Korea used controlled explosives to blow up the de facto inter-Korean embassy just north of the border. A day later, the North announced it would redeploy troops and resume military exercises near the border.North Korea has a long history of periodically ramping up tensions in order to extract economic and other concessions from the South. Currently, Pyongyang is frustrated that Seoul has been unwilling to push ahead with improving inter-Korean ties.Kim Yo Jong’s role in overseeing the provocations underscores a possible new power dynamic in North Korea’s leadership hierarchy, with her seemingly now occupying the No. 2 position.“Until now there had been no third person between the military and Kim Jong Un, but now there is Kim Yo Jong,” said former senior North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho.The provocations also highlight a “new command structure in which the whole of North Korea rapidly responds as soon as Kim Yo Jong utters a single word,” said Thae, now a South Korean lawmaker, in a Facebook post.It’s unclear why North Korea decided now is the moment to boost Kim Yo Jong’s public profile. Her ascendancy, though, coincides with unconfirmed rumors about Kim Jong Un’s health that emerged during a three-week absence in late April and early May.Health concernsThe 36-year-old North Korean leader, who has gained much weight in recent years, skipped a significant public ceremony in April honoring his late grandfather, the country’s founding leader. A wave of media speculation followed, including unconfirmed reports he had undergone a heart procedure.The rumors led to worries about the stability of the Kim dynasty, which has ruled the country since its founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un, the third member of his family to rule the country, does not appear to have appointed a successor.Health concerns and succession issues are one of many possible explanations for Kim Yo Jung’s expanded leadership role, said Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, which produces the influential NK News website.“I think it makes a lot of sense,” O’Carroll said. “Otherwise, why not have someone else put forward these messages?”However, as O’Carroll and others point out, there are many explanations not related to Kim’s health or the stability of the regime.More flexibilityOne possibility is that by allowing his sister to be the public face of aggression toward South Korea, Kim may be preserving his future flexibility.”He wouldn’t be tainted by the escalation directly, so to speak,” Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea specialist at King’s College London, said.In 2018, Kim held three summits with his South Korean counterpart, President Moon Jae-in.“If there is to be another summit, it makes sense for Kim Jong Un not to be the one leading escalation,” Pacheco Pardo said.Tasked with inter-Korean tiesAnother reason Kim Yo Jong currently has the megaphone is that inter-Korean relations seems to be her main job.During the 2018 period of improved relations, she served as a special envoy, becoming the first member of the Kim dynasty to head south of the border since the 1950s Korean War.Now, she seems to be serving as a wrecking ball, overseeing the destruction of many of the inter-Korean achievements reached during that period.This month, she has repeatedly slammed the South Korean government for allowing activists to float anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. She has called the defectors who send such materials “riffraff,” “hooligans,” and “human scum.”When South Korea this week offered to send envoys to defuse tensions, Kim Yo Jong rejected the proposal as “unrealistic,” “disrespectful,” “tactless,” “reckless,” “sinister,” and “a petty farce.”Meanwhile, Kim Jong Un hasn’t made any appearances in state media since June 8, when he oversaw a Politburo meeting that discussed “urgent problems” in developing North Korea’s chemical industry.“Kim Jong Un doesn’t need to have the microphone during these times,” Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser for Northeast Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group, said, “His closest confidante is speaking on his behalf and upon his orders.”Gaining military achievements?The 32-year-old Kim Yo Jong is currently the vice director of the North Korean ruling Korean Worker’s Party’s United Front Department, which handles relations with the South, including propaganda operations and espionage.Some analysts believe Ms. Kim’s new hardline stance may be designed to further bolster her military credentials and expand her authority, not easy tasks in a male-dominated, hierarchical system like North Korea’s.“With the growing health concerns over her brother, she is flexing her muscles to gain support from the regime’s hardliners and the military,” said Jay Song, a lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute.There is a possible precedent. In 2010, North Korea engaged in a similar, though more intense, cycle of provocations against the South.In March of that year, a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship in disputed waters off the Korean peninsula, killing 46 sailors. A few months later, the North shelled the border island of Yeonpyeong, killing several more people.Kim Jong Un is widely believed to have been involved in the provocations, which came after he was named successor to his father, Kim Jong Il.Similarly, some analysts suspect Kim Yo Jong may now be raising tensions with South Korea in order to burnish her military credentials and alleviate concerns within North Korean leadership following her own apparent elevation in the hierarchy.“I think that is very plausible,” Christopher Green, who lectures in Korean studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said.Green said, though that it would be a mistake to assume that means Kim Jong Un is sick.“Kim Jong Un may be in decline, but this doesn’t prove it,” he said, “It is faulty logic to assume so.”
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Evariste Ndayishimiye Sworn In as Burundi’s New President
Evariste Ndayishimiye was sworn in as Burundi’s new president Thursday at the Ingoma stadium in the capital city, Gitegay, a week after the sudden death of outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza. Ndayishimiye was originally scheduled to be sworn into office in August, but the Constitutional Court ruled last week that Ndayishimiye’s swearing take place as soon as possible following the death of his predecessor. Burundi’s president-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye speaks to the media after signing the book of condolences at the presidential palace in Bujumbura, Burundi, June 13, 2020.Ndayishimiye became Burundi’s new leader by securing just over 68 percent of the vote in the May election, and overcoming a bid by the opposition to get the results overturned because of alleged fraud. Ndayishimiye, who was handpicked by the ruling CNDD-FDD party to succeed Nkurunziza, will serve a seven year term, pending his reelection. His immediate challenges included leading his country’s effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. People attending his swearing were told to arrive early to allow time for their temperatures to be taken as a precaution. So far, Burundi has confirmed just over 100 covid-19 infections and one death.
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Border Bungle Sees COVID-19 Detected Again in New Zealand
Ten days ago Jacinda Ardern said her South Pacific country of 5 million people had managed to “crush the virus” through some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world.Now New Zealand’s prime minister is apologizing for a bungle involving two women who had flown home from Britain to visit a dying parent. The New Zealanders were mistakenly released from mandatory quarantine without being tested for COVID-19. All returning citizens must go into state-managed isolation for two weeks and be tested twice for the new coronavirus, once on day 3 and again on day 12. The women later tested positive for the disease.Screening of more than 300 people who had come into contact with the pair is continuing. They had traveled from Britain via Doha, Qatar, and on to Brisbane, Australia, and then flew to New Zealand. Officials say it is unclear where they were infected.Ardern says it was an inexcusable error.“This case represents an unacceptable failure of the system,” she said. “It should never have happened, and it cannot be repeated. From the beginning we have taken an extraordinarily cautious approach at the border. That is why we have required every returning New Zealander to go into a facility that we manage. Our borders and the controls at our borders must be rigorous. They must be disciplined.”The New Zealand military has been put in charge of quarantine facilities. Early release of those in isolation on compassionate grounds has been suspended.Opposition politicians have alleged that the handling of the quarantine system seemed “incredibly loose” with reports of people in isolation at hotels mingling in bars. There have been calls for New Zealand’s health minister, David Clark, to be dismissed.The two cases bring to an end 24 days of no reported coronavirus infections in New Zealand. The government has scrapped almost all of the disease control measures, although its international borders remain closed to foreign nationals.New Zealand has recorded just over 1,500 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases. Twenty-two people have died.Health officials are warning against complacency, insisting there was “a pandemic raging outside our shores.”
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South African President Announces Reopening of Businesses Under Strict Guidelines
South Africa will soon begin reopening full-service restaurants and casinos under strict conditions after nearly three months of being under lockdown restriction to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Wednesday night in a televised address that accredited accommodations and salons will also be allowed to reopen.Ramaphosa said the decision to ease restrictions and begin some reopenings followed talks with industry representatives on stringent prevention protocols, and after getting advice from scientists and consultations with local government leaders.The president said more businesses, including cinemas, are in line to reopen as long as every protocol aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus is followed, such as wearing face masks.South Africa has confirmed more than 80,000 coronavirus cases and more than 1,600 deaths.
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Top US, China Diplomats Hold Closed-Door Meeting in Hawaii
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks with China’s chief diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, in Hawaii on Wednesday.The six-hour closed-door talks at Hickam Air Force base in Honolulu was the first face-to-face meeting between Pompeo and Yang since August. They were accompanied by Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai. Pompeo and Yang also met over a brief dinner Tuesday night.Although neither side revealed the exact nature of the discussions, China’s state-run media described the talks as “constructive,” while a spokesperson for Pompeo stressed to Yang “the need for fully reciprocal dealings” between Washington and Beijing.Relations between the world’s two largest economies have plunged to their worst point in decades over numerous issues, including trade, Beijing’s tightening grip on semi-autonomous Hong Kong, its growing presence in the South China Sea, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected in central China late in December.Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA she was “not optimistic that this conversation will halt the downward slide in bilateral relations.”As the Pompeo-Yang meeting was taking place, President Donald Trump signed legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the mass incarceration of as many as 1 million ethnic Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday denouncing the new law, accusing Washington of interfering in China’s domestic affairs. The statement warned that if the U.S. did not “immediately correct its mistakes,” Beijing will “resolutely take countermeasures” which the United States will have to fully bear the consequences.The meeting was also overshadowed by excerpts from an upcoming book by John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, which were released by The New York Times and Washington Post. Bolton alleges the U.S. president asked Xi to increase China’s purchase of American agricultural products to help Trump secure votes in farm states in his 2020 November re-election campaign, in return for a more favorable tariff rate on Chinese goods.Bolton also alleges that Trump signaled his approval of China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. During an opening dinner of the 2019 G-20 meeting in Osaka, Japan attended only by interpreters, Xi explained to Trump “why he was basically building concentration camps” in the northwest Chinese province. According to Bolton, the American interpreter said that Trump expressed that Xi should go ahead with building them.Also on Wednesday, the United States joined other members of the Group of 7 major industrial nations to underscore “grave concern” regarding China’s decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong.“We strongly urge the Government of China to re-consider this decision,” said G-7 foreign ministers in a statement.“We are also extremely concerned that this action would curtail and threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of all the population protected by the rule of law and the existence of an independent justice system.”
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Iranian Christian Activist Hailed by Trump Says Iran Detaining 15 Other Christians
An Iranian Christian rights activist whose 46-day detention earlier this year drew words of concern from U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has detained 15 other Christians as part of its long-running repression of the religious minority in the Islamic republic.Mary Mohammadi, a Tehran-based Christian convert in her early 20s, made the comments to VOA Persian in her first interview since being granted a temporary release from prison on February 26. Iranian authorities had arrested her in the Iranian capital on January 12 after she joined street protests against Iranian security forces’ downing of a Ukrainian plane carrying mostly Iranian passengers four days earlier. Iran said its forces mistook the plane for an enemy threat.Mohammadi said her domestic contacts told her that at least 15 Christians were in detention in Iran’s overcrowded and unsanitary prisons as of June 11.Iran has granted temporary releases to tens of thousands of detainees in recent months in part to curb the spread of the coronavirus in its prisons. But it has refused to furlough dissidents sentenced to more than five-year prison terms for security offenses and has continued to jail other Iranians for peaceful activities deemed threatening to national security.Mohammadi said at least 20 Iranian Christians also were free on bail while awaiting trial. London-based Iranian Christian rights group Article18 has described her as a rare voice for persecuted Christians inside Iran.The U.S. State Department’s 2019 report on religious freedom in Iran, released June 10, cited a report by several rights groups including Article18 as saying that at least 17 Iranian Christians were in prison on charges related to their religion at the end of last year.President Trump raised Mohammadi’s profile by expressing concern about her detention in a February 6 speech to a National Prayer Breakfast gathering in Washington. “Mary was seized and imprisoned in Iran because she converted to Christianity and shared the Gospel with others,” Trump said.Days later, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told an interviewer that he was “deeply concerned” by reports of Mohammadi’s arrest by Iranian authorities. “The United States will … continue to … do our level best to hold them accountable for this terrible repression of someone who simply wanted to exercise her own conscience and her desire to be a Christian,” he said.Iran prohibits its Muslim citizens from converting to another religion. Muslims comprise 99.4 percent of Iran’s 84 million people, according to U.S. government estimates.Iran’s refusal to recognize the Christianity of converts means it only recognizes two main categories of Christians. The government recognizes the faith of Armenian and Assyrian Christians because the presence of these ethnic groups in Iran predates Islam, and also recognizes the faith of citizens who can prove they or their families were Christian prior to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.Iran’s post-1979 constitution recognizes Christians as one of only three authorized religious minorities, along with Jews and Zoroastrians. It requires members of these minorities to register as such but bars converts from doing so. As a result, Iranian converts long have been denied the same rights as recognized members of Christian communities.The State Department’s report cited human rights activists as saying Iran continued to target Christian converts last year with arbitrary arrests, physical abuse and other forms of harsh treatment.Mohammadi told her Instagram followers on April 21 that she had spent 46 days in “terrible conditions” in Tehran’s Vozara detention center and Qarchak women’s prison. She also said authorities had sentenced her to three months in prison and 10 lashes for participating in the January protests but suspended the punishments for one year, allowing her to remain free.The activist was expelled from her Tehran university last December and told the Article18 group at the time that she believed Iranian authorities were retaliating against her for her use of social media platforms to highlight rights abuses against fellow Christian converts in Iran.“Iran’s Islamist rulers don’t need to use guns and tanks to uproot Iranian Christians,” she told VOA. “They use imprisonment, expulsion from university, internal exile, social deprivation and economic isolation. If that is not tantamount to killing Christians, what do you call it?”Mohammadi also called on the international community to pressure Tehran to reconsider its approach toward Iranian Christians.In an annual report released in January, the international Christian charity organization Open Doors said Iran was the 9th most repressive country for Christians in 2019, the same as its ranking a year earlier.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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