Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is refusing to release Chinese high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou in exchange for two high-profile Canadians under arrest in Beijing. Meng is the chief financial officer of Huawei and is wanted by the United States accused of fraud. Nineteen former Canadian politicians and diplomats, including ex-foreign affairs ministers Lloyd Axworthy and Lawrence Cannon, sent a letter to Trudeau appealing to him to free Meng. They wrote that it would give Canada the opportunity to “redefine its strategic approach to China.” “There is no question that the U.S. extradition request has put Canada in a difficult position. As prime minister, you face a difficult decision. Complying with the U.S. request has greatly antagonized China,” the letter says, according to the CBC. But Trudeau said that “randomly arresting Canadians doesn’t give you leverage over the government of Canada. … We cannot allow political pressures or random arrests of Canadian citizens to influence the functioning of our justice system. So I respect these individuals, but they’re wrong.” Canadian authorities arrested Meng in Vancouver in 2018 on a U.S. warrant. She is out on bail. Shortly after her arrest, Chinese authorities detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor, charging them with spying. Their arrests infuriated Canada. Both are in a Beijing jail and have not had access to Canadian diplomats since January. Canada has also placed trade sanctions on a number of Chinese exports. The Trump administration wants to extradite Meng from Canada for trial. As chief financial officer of Huawei — one of the world’s largest manufacturers of smartphones — Meng is accused of lying to U.S. officials about Huawei’s business in Iran, which is under U.S. sanctions. The U.S. has also warned other countries against using Huawei-built products, suspecting the Chinese government of installing them with spyware. Both Meng and Huawei deny all the U.S. allegations.
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Month: June 2020
Pompeo: US, EU Should Confront China Together
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called on the United States and the European Union to cultivate a shared understanding of China in order to create an effective resistance strategy to Beijing’s increasing economic power. The remarks, made Thursday at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund, came as Pompeo announced his intent to join EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Europe this month for discussions concerning China.
Via video link, Pompeo emphasized the bilateral nature of the actions, stating that “this isn’t the United States confronting China, this is the world confronting China.” The EU has previously expressed concern over China’s alleged predatory trade practices and alleged intellectual property theft but has stopped shy of joining Washington in a trade war.
Instead, the bloc has attempted to forge a middle path, mitigating trade relations while hesitating to escalate tension.FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after an EU summit, in video conference format, at the European Council in Brussels, June 19, 2020.The EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc, held talks with the Chinese leadership on Monday, reportedly putting pressure on China to revamp its negotiation efforts for a trade deal and increased investment in the EU. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that while the talks were important symbolically, more needed to be done to ensure the continued partnership between China and the EU. “We have the intentions, the words put on paper, but we need the deeds,’’ she said. In his speech at the Brussels forum, Pompeo said that the EU-China dialogue was necessary not only to protect U.S. interests, but to protect the bloc’s economy from encroachment by China. He also said that he hoped his upcoming conversations with EU leaders on the issue would provide a “catalyst for action.”
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Suspended NYPD Officer Arrested After Using Banned Chokehold
A New York City police officer was arrested Thursday on charges of strangulation and attempted strangulation after an incident last weekend alleged to have involved a banned chokehold. This is at least the second time officer David Afanador, 39, has faced criminal charges over the alleged use of excessive force. The first came in 2014, six weeks after the death of Eric Garner sparked nationwide outrage and protests against police violence. During the first incident, Afanador was recorded on video allegedly pistol-whipping a 16-year-old suspect, breaking two of the suspect’s teeth. Afanador and his partner were acquitted of wrongdoing and returned to active duty in 2016. FILE – In this photo taken from police body cam video, New York Police officers, including officer David Afanador, right, arrest a man on a boardwalk in New York’s Rockaway Beach, June 21, 2020.In Sunday’s altercation, NYPD officers were recorded tackling three men who reportedly had taunted them for at least 10 minutes. Afanador was seen taking down one of the men, Ricky Bellevue, and snaking his arm around Bellevue’s neck for several seconds as Bellevue lay on the boardwalk in the Rockaway Beach section of the city.Bellevue was treated at a hospital for a cut on his face, according to local TV news reports.After the incident captured by the officer’s body cameras, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday that Afanador was suspended because “the hand around the neck is the hand around the neck.” Chokeholds have been banned by the NYPD for several years, and particular scrutiny has fallen upon the department’s use of the prohibited technique following the death of Eric Garner after a police officer put him in a chokehold. A grand jury declined to indict the police officer involved in the Garner case. Shea’s announcement of Afanador’s suspension came hours after videos of the incident began to circulate on social media, marking a shift in department’s procedures. “I think we have an obligation to act swiftly but we also have to get it right and to inform the public about what’s going on,” Shea told TV station NY1. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the department’s response. “The public needs to see when something goes wrong, there are consequences,” he said. Although Afandaor has not faced disciplinary measures for using a chokehold in the past, city records indicate that he has been involved in eight complaints filed with the city’s police watchdog agency. The incidents included using other types of physical force, but all complaints were found to be unsubstantiated or led to his exoneration.
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Hun Sen Tempers Speculation Son Will Be Next Cambodian Leader
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has groomed his eldest son as a potential successor ever since that son, Hun Manet, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point almost 20 years ago, and is confidently predicting his ruling Cambodian People’s Party will remain in power for another 100 years.
Analysts say, though, that that rise is far from certain and Lieutenant General Hun Manet – who also heads the army – will have to negotiate the CPP politburo, factionalism, a fickle public and China to win enough support to govern this one-party state.
Even Hun Sen, the region’s longest-serving leader, has tempered recent speculation that the top job was his son’s for the taking, saying there were many capable candidates who could contest any future leadership bid.
“It depends on people’s voices. The first concern is whether the party would accept him. The second is the general elections,” he said in a speech after the latest bout of leadership speculation.
“I will support and educate him to unleash his fullest potential.”FILE – Son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, inspects military vehicles at ceremony at the National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 18, 2020.Hun Manet’s elevation through the military ranks was swift, and his recent appointment as chairman of the CPP’s youth wing, alongside a political mission to China, and his father’s authoritarian rule, had further fueled talk about his political ambitions.
Gavin Greenwood, an analyst with A2 Global Risk, a Hong Kong-based security consultancy, told VOA that in raising Hun Manet’s potential succession, legitimate questions about Hun Sen’s rule are also raised, ranging from the prime minister’s health to military loyalty.
“It’s always where the trouble is now, in places with a strong ruler. It’s very rarely that the masses coming up from the bottom who are the threat, it’s the people around you,” he said, adding the leadership talk was one way keeping the troops in line.
“Why is he raising this whole issue now, specifically, or does he feel threatened?
“Is this essentially a warning to sections of the military that they need to remain loyal and to follow the dynasty and his son?” Greenwood asked.
“There’s more questions than answers, but with autocracy that’s usually the case,” he said.FILE – Son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Hun Manet (L), and his wife Pich Chanmoy show their inked fingers after casting their votes in general elections in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 29, 2018.Hun Sen returned his country to being a one-party state in 2018 elections, widely derided as a sham, when the CPP won all 125 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the country’s Parliament.
Victory was assured after the main political opposition party was banned, independent newspapers were closed or sold to government-friendly interests and human rights activists were jailed or fled.
Opposition leader Kem Sokha remains under house arrest on treason charges.
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor with the University of New South Wales, said that by grooming his son for leadership through political appointments but playing down his prospects in public, Hun Sen was limiting any potential rivals for the leadership.
“The minute Hun Sen says that; that’s the anointed one, then it gives the opposition, disgruntled forces the opportunity to attempt to organize and block it. So to keep everybody guessing is probably the better game that there is,” he said.
Prior to elections two years ago Hun Sen, 67, said, despite health concerns, he would lead Cambodia for another 10 years, until he is 75. He has also eschewed the West and its criticisms while forging closer ties with China, which has invested billions of dollars in Cambodia.
“China is absolutely crucial,” Greenwood said in regard to any transfer of power. “Their record is that every country that borders China, China has – as far as its concerned – has issues with.
“The last thing they want in any of these countries is something that’s going to affect stability and order and cause any sort of repercussions and resonances that’s might come back over the border at them.”
Thayer echoed those sentiments.
“Whenever there’s a leadership transition, or about to be, China makes it clear to its friends who it doesn’t like, who it sees as anti-China, and who it would object to.
“So, China’s got to be convinced that Hun Manet will carry on like his father and protect China’s interest and that the transition would not be destabilizing.”
Until then, Thayer said Hun Sen would remain the sole person to determine who replaces him, and he would be ably backed by Hun Manet and another son Hun Manith who is also in the military and heads the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate.
“Hun Sen is the center of that regime and his network protects him,” he said. “He’s got two sons in the military. They would ensure, in the meantime, that the military isn’t used or moves against Hun Sen.”
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Eiffel Tower Reopens — As Long as You Can Take the Stairs
The Eiffel Tower, one of France’s most iconic landmarks, reopened for the first time on Thursday after it was forced to close its doors for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.France was hit badly by the virus, recording 29,731 deaths and 161,348 confirmed cases as President Macron faced heavy criticism regarding his government’s management of the outbreak. Reinstating access to the famed site is yet another sign of Europe’s slow recovery as the continent struggles to balance restarting the economy with public safety concerns.Many countries have expressed cautious optimism about the summer tourist season, hoping that social distancing measures and coronavirus tracing apps will encourage people to travel responsibly.A visitor looks at the view from the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, June 25, 2020.The Eiffel Tower is one of the few Parisian sites permitting visitors. Other tourist attractions, such as the Louvre museum, will remain closed until July 6. To protect visitors, elevators to the tower’s three observation decks scaling 324-meters are closed, and only two of the three decks are open. The remaining deck, as well as the elevators, are expected to open in later summer months.Visitors are free to climb 674 steps to the 2nd floor, according to the Eiffel Tower’s website, which usually takes between 30 to 45 minutes. The tower lost $30 million in revenue from the lockdown that started in March, according to its director general, Patrick Branco Ruivo, and has not been closed for this long since World War II.
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Mississippi Court Rules Officer’s Fatal Shooting of Black Man Justified
PETAL, MISSISSIPPI — An appeals court has upheld a ruling that a Mississippi police officer was justified when he fatally shot a Black Louisiana man, who called police after a car crash.U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett ruled in September that Petal police officer Aaron Jernigan was protecting himself when he fatally shot Marc Davis of LaPlace, Louisiana, in 2017.On Monday, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with Starrett’s ruling, The Clarion Ledger reported. Davis, 34, was driving on Mississippi 42 on June 2, 2017, when he was involved in a car crash in Petal. Davis called police and Jernigan arrived, but later the pair got into an argument and Jernigan shot Davis three times. Davis later died at the hospital. Jernigan said Davis physically assaulted him, attempted to take his gun, and refused orders to stand down. Yoshanta Albert, mother of Davis’ five children, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2018, claiming Jernigan shot Davis unexpectedly and without a warning shot. The lawsuit also claimed that Jernigan used excessive force. Starett threw out the lawsuit, stating Jernigan didn’t use excessive force and if he did, Jernigan was “entitled” to, considering the situation. Albert was among the large crowd that rallied earlier this month in front of the state Capitol against police brutality after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed in Minneapolis last month while in police custody. “This is not what justice looks like: a child without a father,” Albert said at the protest, as she waved a photo of her 2-year-old daughter, Leah, standing next to her father’s casket. “I waited three years. His death was swept under the rug.”
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Nearly 1.5 Million More US Workers Seek Jobless Benefits
The number of U.S. workers claiming unemployment compensation declined again last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, even as new outbreaks of the coronavirus threaten more disruption to the American economy.Thousands of U.S. businesses have reopened after the shutdowns mandated three months ago by the coronavirus pandemic, but many are still laying off workers. Now, some companies are re-closing again as the number of infections reaches new heights in the country’s three biggest states, California, Texas and Florida.Nearly another 1.5 million laid-off U.S. workers filed for unemployment compensation last week, the 14th straight week the figure had dipped. But the figure was down only slightly from just above 1.5 million each of the last two weeks, all unusually big figures for the world’s largest economy.The number of workers seeking jobless benefits has now dropped steadily from the 6.9 million who filed for jobless benefits in one week in late March. But key U.S. economic officials are predicting that the country’s full recovery from the pandemic will take a lengthy period, extending well into 2021.In all, 47 million workers have filed for unemployment compensation since mid-March, more than a quarter of the U.S. labor force of 164.6 million. The number currently receiving benefits has dropped to about 19.5 million as millions of workers have now returned to their jobs.People shop at Macy’s Herald Square store on the first day of the phase two re-opening of businesses following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Manhattan borough of New York City, June 22, 2020.With a sudden jump in new coronavirus cases, some businesses that had reopened are now shutting their doors again. The new coronavirus cases are largely across the southern tier of the country that had been spared by the initial outbreak in New York and northern states in March and April.The Apple technology consumer products company shut stores it had reopened in four states — Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Arizona — and on Wednesday closed seven stores in Houston, Texas. Some local and state governments have announced layoffs of workers in the aftermath of the pandemic, while giant retailer Macy’s said it is eliminating 3% of its workforce, 3,900 employees.Governor Greg Abbott in the southwestern state of Texas, who was one of the earliest state officials to permit the reopening of businesses, urged residents to stay home. He said that if the new outbreak of coronavirus cases cannot be controlled, the state might have to impose new restrictions.Struggling economyAs the U.S. economy struggles to regain its standing, President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Congress are debating additional payments to most Americans. But they have yet to reach a consensus on how much the payments would be and who would get them.The $600-a-week federal payments to unemployed workers on top of lesser normal state jobless benefits end in about five weeks.But Trump said this week he supports another round of stimulus payments to most taxpayers, even as some of his fellow Republicans voiced concerns about the country’s ever-increasing national debt that now totals more than $26 trillion.Trump said he envisions again sending $1,200 checks to most individuals, as was already done earlier this year.“We will be doing another stimulus package,” he told one interviewer. “It’ll be very good. It’ll be very generous.”Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters, “As we’ve said before, we’re talking about a bunch of different ideas that we may need to do in another bill.”But he cautioned, “We’re going to take our time and make sure that we’re thoughtful. Whatever we do, it will be much more targeted, much more focused on jobs.”House Democrats have approved about $3 trillion in new spending, which would provide more aid for states and cities, among other things. But Senate Republicans and the White House have rejected the plan and are considering other options to boost the economy. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference, March 3, 2020, in Washington.A week ago, Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, told a congressional committee that while the U.S. economy has started to rebound from the worst of the coronavirus devastation, “levels of output and employment remain far below their pre-pandemic levels, and significant uncertainty remains about the timing and strength of the recovery.”Overall, he said, “The shock that we received — the economy received — was the largest in living memory.”Powell said the sharp downturn wrought by the pandemic has had a pronounced impact on certain segments of the American workforce.“Low-income households have experienced, by far, the sharpest drop in employment, while job losses of African-Americans, Hispanics and women have been greater than that of other groups,” he said. “If not contained and reversed, the downturn could further widen gaps in economic well-being that the long expansion had made some progress in closing.”The official U.S. jobless rate was 13.3% in May, although officials say that when a survey error was accounted for, the rate should have totaled 16.4%. The Fed has predicted that U.S. unemployment will fall to 9.3% by the end of this year and to 6.5% by the end of 2021, a rosier advance than some economists are forecasting.The U.S. death toll from the virus has now topped 121,000, by far the most in the world, and health experts predict tens of thousands more will die in the coming months.The coronavirus has had a major effect on U.S. commerce, with more than two dozen companies filing for bankruptcy protection in May.A closed sign is seen in the front window of the Welch Ave Station bar, June 23, 2020, in Ames, Iowa.Yelp, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses, says that more than 143,000 U.S. businesses have closed since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and that about 50,000 of those businesses are not expecting to reopen. The government says the national economy dropped 4.8% in the first quarter, but that was before the full impact of the pandemic became apparent for the April-to-June quarter.Numerous states still require social distancing of at least two meters between people in stores and some major retail outlets are requiring their employees and customers to wear face masks. Some governors are limiting restaurants to half capacity or only allowing outdoor eating with appropriate social distancing. But in other states, the restrictions have been significantly lifted and crowds have quickly emerged to resume life, shopping or enjoying a day at Atlantic and Pacific beaches, often ignoring the admonitions of health experts to maintain a safe distance from others or to wear a face mask.But the millions of jobless benefit claims have still been unparalleled over decades of U.S. economic history, reaching back to the Great Depression in the 1930s. The number of claims has far exceeded those made during the Great Recession in 2008-2009.
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Congo Announces End to Its Second Deadliest Ebola Outbreak
Eastern Congo marked an official end Thursday to the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which killed 2,280 people over nearly two years, as armed rebels and community mistrust undermined the promise of new vaccines.Thursday’s milestone was overshadowed, though, by the enormous health challenges still facing Congo: the world’s largest measles epidemic, the rising threat of COVID-19 and another new Ebola outbreak in the north.”We are extremely proud to have been able to be victorious over an epidemic that lasted such a long time,” said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who coordinated the national Ebola response and whose team also developed a new treatment for the once incurable hemorrhagic disease.The announcement initially was set for April but another case emerged just three days before the Ebola-free declaration was expected. That restarted the 42-day waiting period required before such a proclamation can be made.The epidemic, which began in August 2018, presented an unprecedented challenge for the World Health Organization, Congo’s Health Ministry and international aid groups because it was the first Ebola epidemic in a conflict zone. Armed groups posed such a risk that vaccinations sometimes could only be carried out by small teams arriving by helicopter.But much of the risk to hospitals and health workers came from the communities, often angered by the presence of outsiders and the amount of money being spent on Ebola as far more people died of perennial killers like malaria. Some suspected the epidemic was a political scheme, a theory that grew after then President Joseph Kabila canceled the national elections in Ebola-affected areas.Only a few years earlier, West Africa’s Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,000, as at that time there was no licensed vaccine or treatment. By the time of the eastern Congo outbreak there was not one but two new experimental vaccines to ward off the disease that kills about half its victims.After more than a quarter century of conflict, though, distrust of government health workers and other outsiders was exceptionally high in eastern Congo. Many residents initially outright refused the vaccine, fearing it would harm them.New treatment options also offered promise, and the aid group ALIMA even developed a way for patients to feel less isolated. A transparent enclosure for individual patients allowed visitors to still see their loved ones who were undergoing treatment. Yet fear of dying alone still kept many people from going to medical facilities until it was too late.Ultimately two different experimental vaccines were made available in eastern Congo on a compassionate use basis — one manufactured by Merck, the other by Johnson & Johnson. Those vaccines later received regulatory approval and now are expected to be used again in Congo’s northern Equateur province where a new outbreak already has claimed 11 lives. That area also had an outbreak in 2018 that killed 33 people before it was brought under control within months.And with the arrival of COVID-19, health teams in eastern Congo are once again trying to persuade people that a virus they’ve never heard of before could still kill them. The COVID-19 outbreak in the region has been minimal so far, but the challenges of Ebola underscore how fraught it could be to test and treat those in areas under the control of armed rebels.Some, though, are hopeful the region can weather coronavirus — people here already know how to social distance. Schools, churches and mosques are already armed with hand-washing kits. “Ebola has changed our culture,” said Esaie Ngalya, whose grandmother died from the virus. “Now I go to see my uncle but we don’t shake hands. In our culture that is considered disrespectful but now we have no choice because health comes first.”
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Kosovo PM Cancels Trip to US for Talks With Serbia
The prime minister of Kosovo on Thursday canceled his plans to attend a White House meeting with leaders of Serbia following the indictment of Kosovo’s president on war crimes charges stemming from the 1990s armed conflict between the two Balkan countries.
Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti said he informed U.S presidential envoy Richard Grenell of his decision, which is likely to torpedo the talks. Grenell expected Hoti to fill in for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and co-lead the talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Thaci called off his trip to Washington after learning Wednesday of the indictment charging him and nine other former Kosovo rebel fights with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder.
The White House meeting on Saturday was to be the first talks between Serbia and Kosovo in 19 months. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move Serbia has not recognized. The United States and the European Union have been working to help normalize ties between the two countries.
The EU has been leading negotiations for nine years, and the Washington meeting wasn’t coordinated with Europe. EU spokesman Peter Stano did not comment on the White House talks Thursday, He repeated that the EU was committed to facilitating the dialogue and said it would resume in Brussels next month.
“There is no alternative to the EU-facilitated dialogue to address the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” Stando said.
There has been no reaction from Grenell so far, who immediately after the announcement of Thaci’s indictment had tweeted that Hoti would co-lead the White House meeting with Serbia’s president.
Hoti met Thursday in Brussels with European Council President Charles Michel to talk about visa rules, the coronavirus impact and other issues.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers said Thaci and the nine others “are criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” of Serbs and Roma, as well as Kosovo Albanian political opponents. Other charges include enforced disappearance, persecution and torture, he said.
A pretrial judge at The Hague-based court is studying the indictment and could still reject it if there is not enough evidence to back it up.
The Washington meeting will not now happen, said independent analyst Agron Bajrami, adding that the future of the entire Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is in doubt.
“It will be very difficult for him (Thaci) to continue acting acting as a president, if not for anything else but for the fact that he cannot be part of the dialogue now that this has occurred,” said Bajrami.
Isa Mustafa, leader of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, said that the country’s political parties should first convene and talk before meeting with Serbia. He also called for all institutions to continue to operate normally, or “it would be an illusion we could continue toward an agreement.”
Parliament postponed Thursday’s normal weekly session.
Thaci was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation army, or KLA, that fought for independence from Serbia. The fighting left more than 10,000 dead — most of them ethnic Albanians — and 1,641 are still unaccounted-for. It ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign that forced Serbian troops to stop their brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Those indicted include Kadri Veseli, former parliament speaker and leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, who said he considered the indictment politically motivated.
The indictment was the first made by the prosecutor of the special tribunal for Kosovo based in The Hague. The court has been operating since 2015 and has questioned hundreds of witnesses. Another Kosovo prime minister resigned last year before he was questioned.
Hysni Gucati, head of the war veterans organization, accused the Special Court of being “a racist court because it is unilateral.” He mentioned some 460 massacres, more than 16,000 dead, including 1,200 children and 200,000 houses burned during the 1998-1999 war.
He also said the court was politically motivated and the indictments were likely an act of revenge by Europe, which was left out when Thaci turned toward the U.S. to take the leading role in the dialogue.
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia remain high. European Union-facilitated negotiations to normalize their relations started in March 2011 and have produced some 30 agreements, but most of them have not been observed.
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Japan to Abandon US Missile Defense System
Japan Defense Minister Taro Kono announced Thursday Japan had decided to scrap plans to deploy the U.S.-made land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense system that was intended to protect Japan from North Korean threats.The announcement came one week after Kono said the deployment was being suspended after it was discovered that the safety of the civilian community could not be guaranteed near the Mutsumi base in Yamaguchi, southwestern Japan, one of two sites for the proposed land-based missile defense system. The other unit was being planned in Akita in the north. It had been discovered that, in the current design of the system, it could not be guaranteed rocket boosters from the missiles would not fall outside the base. Japan had promised it would never allow something like that to happen. But it said fixing the system would require a total redesign of, not only the software, but the hardware of the system, which would be too costly and time consuming. At a Thursday news conference in Tokyo, Kono apologized for the inconvenience and said discussions would continue in Japan with the United States on how best to carry out the nation’s defense strategies.The Aegis Ashore defense system was aimed at bolstering the country’s capability against escalating threats from North Korea.
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Cameroon’s Poor Benefit, While Food Traders Suffer from Pandemic Closures
Cameroon says the temporary closure of most restaurants and border trade during the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped food prices by up to 70 percent. While food sellers are suffering the lost income, cheaper prices have helped some of Cameroon’s poorest to cope during the economic disruption. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced restaurants to close in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, a new way of business emerged to sell the surplus of cheap food. Trucks that used to deliver large quantities of food to the city’s eateries and hotels now go from street to street, selling fruit, vegetables, and chicken to the general public. But food distributors like Christoph Nanze say the pandemic is destroying their business. He says his wholesale buyers have dried up with restaurant closures and the banning of large gatherings and border trade. Nanze says they are suffering because vegetable, meat and chicken sellers no longer have access to markets in Nigeria, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Since the neighboring countries sealed their borders to stop the spread of COVID-19, he says, food prices have decreased sharply. Nanze says the price of a 20-liter bucket of fresh tomatoes has dropped from $15 to only $4, while the price of a chicken that weighs 1.5 to 2 kilograms has fallen from $10 to about $3 to $4. But in poor neighborhoods, where day laborers and laid off workers have been struggling during the pandemic, the cheap food is a blessing. Among the buyers is 39-year-old unemployed single mother of two, Amina Awah. She says it is the first time in her life that she can afford to buy a few meals of meat per week for her children. She says she is very happy that food is now very cheap and poor Cameroonians like her can add chicken to their diet. Awah says she does not like seeing people infected and dying from COVID-19 but, she wishes for prices to remain low so that the poor can also eat well. But as the poor like Awah express joy, Cameroon’s farmers trade unions have called on the government to assist them. The Cameroon Poultry Trade Union’s Joseph Tchomb says the fall in food prices means members are unable to repay their loans. He says farmers are also discouraged from producing and, if no government assistance comes soon, Cameroon may face a food shortage. Tchomb says the COVID-19 crisis has exposed Cameroon’s fragile economy. If the government does not give financial assistance to farmers and food sellers, he says, their businesses will crumble. Tchomb says banks that gave out loans to traders should renegotiate the terms because so many people cannot afford to pay them back. FILE – Women work at an onion field near Gazawa on March 7, 2020.Cameroon’s Minister of Finance Louis Paul Motaze says the government is preparing a rescue plan for farmers. He says the government plans to give farmers tax breaks and subsidies to ensure production. Motaze says the government and Cameroon’s President Paul Biya are very much aware of the difficulties that traders are going through. He says they are doing everything possible to assist them. Although the government is already losing close to $2 billion in revenue due to COVID-19, says Motaze, Biya has removed taxes for food stuffs. Motaze says the government has vowed not to allow the possibility of any food shortages.
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Asia Markets Lose Ground, Europe Rebounds Amid New Surge of Coronavirus Cases
Global markets are mixed Thursday, with Asia beginning the day sustaining serious losses due more pandemic-imposed gloom. The S&P/ASX in Sydney had the biggest losses in the region, plunging 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei index lost 1.2% for the day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.5%, while Shanghai’s Composite gained 0.3%. Seoul’s KOSPI index lost 2.2%, but Taiwan’s TSEC index rose 0.4%. The Sensex in Mumbai was fluctuating in late afternoon trading. The situation was much better in Europe, with the FTSE index in London up 0.2%, Paris’s CAC-40 0.4% higher, and Frankfurt’s DAX index up one percent. Oil markets are falling Thursday. U.S. crude oil is selling at $37.79 per barrel, down 0.5%, and Brent crude trading at $40.20 per barrel, down 0.2%.The mixed situation is due to more bad news about COVID-19 from the United States, which posted more than 36,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, the highest one-day number of new cases since late April. Most of the numbers came out of Florida and Texas, both of which posted over 5,000 new cases, and California, which posted a staggering 7,000 total new cases — a record day for all three populous states. The news led to all three major U.S. indexes posting losses of well over 2%. And Wall Street is likely to get off to a bad start Thursday, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all trending downward in futures trading.
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Собаки лают, а караван идет: Турция жестко ответила на ультиматум путляндии и Египта
Собаки лают, а караван идет: Турция жестко ответила на ультиматум путляндии и Египта
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Обиженный карлик пукин потерял авторитет. Победобесие 24 июня 2020 года с позорным итогом
Обиженный карлик пукин потерял авторитет. Победобесие 24 июня 2020 года с позорным итогом.
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На своем параде обиженный карлик пукин остался даже без ближайших союзников, приехали те, кто просто не смог отказаться
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Обиженный карлик пукин и боевики на параде
Обиженный карлик пукин и боевики на параде.
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Сегодня, 24 июня, вместо 9 мая, был проведен парад в честь 75-летия победы в, по формулировке путляндии, «великой отечественной войне».
В окупированных Луганске и Донецке тоже провели такие парады.
Зачем проводить эти мероприятия в условиях коронавируса? И каково значение парадов для современности?
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Намёк обиженному карлику пукину: США усиливают присутствие в Польше
Намёк обиженному карлику пукину: США усиливают присутствие в Польше.
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США превращают Польшу в главный форпост безопасности в Европе
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«Його час спливає». Що думають в путляндії про можливе обрання ображеного карлика пукіна?
«Його час спливає». Що думають в путляндії про можливе обрання ображеного карлика пукіна?
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У разі прийняття поправок до Конституції, які обнулять президентські терміни ображеного карлика пукіна, він зможе обиратися і в 2024-му, і в 2030 році, тобто залишатися на своєму посту до 2036 року. Як ставляться до такої перспективи росіяни, наші колеги із телепроєкту дізнавалися на вулицях Москви
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Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
Ваші потенційні клієнти про потрібні їм товари і послуги пишуть тут: MeNeedit
Senegal President Self-Quarantining After Being Exposed to COVID-19
Senegalese President Macky Sall is self-quarantining as a precaution after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.The president’s office issued a statement late Wednesday, saying although Sall tested negative for the virus, he will isolate himself for 15 days based on advice of doctors.Meantime, Yeya Diallo, a Senegalese lawmaker who announced Wednesday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, is urging people to takes steps such as social distancing to avoid becoming infected and spreading the virus.So far, Senegal has confirmed more than 6,100 coronavirus cases and 93 deaths.
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As Investors Move from China, Vietnam Adds EU Trade Pact to Arsenal
Volvo from Sweden, Adidas from Germany, and Zara from Spain are all European companies that have increased their investment in Vietnam in recent years. Analysts expect that trend to deepen when the Vietnam-European Union trade deal approved earlier this month by Vietnam’s National Assembly takes effect this summer, particularly as companies seek to reduce their reliance on neighboring China.Vietnam is one of only a handful of nations forecast to see economic growth this year amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Much of that growth will result from foreign investment, including investment facilitated by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, or EVFTA. Governments from both sides have called it a “next-generation” deal because it not only decreases tariffs, but also contains language to hold companies to labor, environmental, and social standards.Sheng Lu, an associate professor in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies at the University of Delaware, said the deal will benefit textile and garment makers in the Southeast Asian nation as tariffs come down.“EVFTA will provide a level playing field for Vietnam, which is expected to see a continuous robust growth of its apparel exports to the EU and gain additional market shares in the years to come,” Lu said in an analysis of the agreement. “Meanwhile, not eligible for any EU preferential duty benefit, apparel exports from China are likely to face intensified competition in the EU market after the implementation of EVFTA.”Investment has been seeping out of China because the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the U.S.-China trade war, has shown companies the dangers of pinning their supply chains on a single nation. When officials and consultants in Vietnam pitch it as the new destination for that investment, the EU trade agreement is one of the benefits they tout.Le Van Hanh, who advises companies interested in the Vietnam market through her work with the Vietnam office of AHK, German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, said the trade deal will eliminate 70 percent of tariffs between the two sides immediately, and 99 percent of tariffs in 10 years.“That sounds very great, right?” she said on the AHK podcast. “And furthermore, there are also commitments in services, public procurement, nontariff barriers, export duties, and a good regulatory package.”She described two German companies she has helped to relocate from China to Vietnam, including a textile manufacturer hit hard by new 25 percent U.S. tariffs. Moving to Vietnam was useful not just because of the tariffs, but also because many of the manufacturer’s suppliers were also moving there, she said.Her colleague, Bjorn Koslowski, said it is easier for European companies to move from China to Vietnam because both nations have a number of things in common, including Confucian values, an industrious work ethic, a drive for monetary success, and a drive to learn.“Many companies that invest here or do business with the Vietnamese, they are also convinced by the HR [human resource] quality,” he said. “Vietnam is very culturally similar to China and many companies have already worked with China.”Direct European investment in China peaked in 2012 and has been declining since, according to data compiled by Rhodium Group, a research firm, whereas investment into Vietnam has continued to rise. For instance, direct investment from Europe rose 27 percent from 2018 to 2019, according to Vietnam’s Planning and Investment Ministry.Some in China dismiss predictions that it will lose from Vietnam’s trade deal with the EU. Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Vietnam doesn’t have the scale to overtake China and the trade deal won’t suffice for EU companies to “decouple” from China.“Both the ‘takeover’ and ‘decoupling’ theories have been escalating in recent years, with China always passively involved,” Xu wrote in the Global Times, a newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, but he termed both theories “wishful thinking.”
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South Korea Marks 70 Years Since Outbreak of War with North
South Korea is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korean War’s outbreak amid the coronavirus pandemic.The anniversary is not an official holiday, but the occasion is often marked with ceremonies, war photography exhibitions and tours to former battlefield sites for visiting foreign veterans.This year, many public observances have been scaled down or canceled because of the coronavirus, which health officials say is now in its second wave in South Korea.Kim Young-ho was among 370 Korean War veterans honored Thursday morning at a ceremony in Cheorwon County, northeast of Seoul and adjacent to the demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas since the early 1950s.Seoul’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs estimates 84,000 Korean War veterans are still alive.In accordance with physical-distancing regulations, all participants in the event were required to wear masks and were seated a meter away from each other. Guest attendance was more limited than was the case in previous years, local officials said.Kim said it was inevitable that the commemoration needed to be smaller because of the coronavirus but that he is more disappointed that after 70 years, the standoff between the two Koreas is still not resolved.“I feel this status quo will last until I die,” the 89-year old said.Faced with restrictions on in-person observances, some cultural institutions are making their Korean War anniversary exhibitions available online.The Korean Film Archive is showing five feature-length movies about the war on its YouTube channel and will make several short films available on its video-on-demand service this month, planning official Jeon Min-hwa said, adding the screenings are meant to remind viewers that the conflict is “still ongoing.” A peace treaty to officially end the war has still not been signed.The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul is using its YouTube channel to display around 250 works of art that depict wartime scenes.Park Yu-lee, a communications official at the museum, told VOA by email the Korean War has gradually become “defamiliarized” in the public memory.The effect of the global pandemic on commemorations of the war outbreak anniversary is also being felt far beyond the divided peninsula, some historians said.Andrew Salmon, author of two books on the Korean War, said the coronavirus has added extra urgency to what is normally a “somber remembrance.”This year’s observances were meant to be a “last hurrah” for many of the conflict’s foreign veterans, who had planned to travel to South Korea for the occasion, the Seoul-based British writer said, adding that all of these men are now in the “twilight of their lives.”“This was probably the last anniversary that many of these men would have been able to attend,” Salmon said, “The living history of the war is fading.”
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US National Security Adviser Calls for Tougher Stance Against China
U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser says China is trying to “remake the world’ in its image.Speaking Wednesday before a group of business leaders in Phoenix, Arizona, Robert O’Brien said U.S. policymakers had naively believed for decades that the Chinese Commnunist Party would move steadily towards democracy as it grew economically, while at the same time downplaying Beijing’s numerous human rights abuses.O’Brien said China has launched a massive effort to influence opinion within the United States, claiming that people in more than a dozen American cities listen to FM radio stations that broadcast “subtle pro-Beijing propaganda.” One example he cited was a false assertion that the novel coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan late last year was brought into the country by a U.S. soldier.O’Brien also cited China’s efforts to collect personal data on millions of Americans through cyberhacking of credit bureaus, health insurers, hotel chains and even dating websites.“The Chinese Communist Party wants to know just about everything about you,” he said.O’Brien said the Trump administration has imposed restrictions on Chinese companies that are closely allied with the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence and security apparatus from accessing U.S. data, including tech giant Huawei, which the administration contends will use its new 5G network to spy on Americans.O’Brien’s speech is part of the administration’s increasingly hardline stance towards China over economic and diplomatic issues, including trade, restrictions on tech giant Huawei from accessing U.S. semiconductor technology, and Beijing’s tightening grip on semiautonomous Hong Kong.Other high-ranking senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, are expected to deliver similar speeches challenging China in the immediate future.O’Brien’s harsh criticism towards China stands in sharp contrast to recent allegations made in a new book by his predecessor, John Bolton, that Trump directly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase China’s purchase of American agricultural products to help Trump secure votes in farm states in the November 2020 U.S. election, in return for a more favorable tariff rate on Chinese goods.Bolton also alleges that Trump approved of Xi’s explanation for building internment camps for as many as one million Uighur Muslims, an ethnic minority in Xinjiang
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South Africa Takes Part in Human Trial for Potential COVID-19 Vaccine
South Africa is taking part in Africa’s first human trials aimed at producing a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, which continues to surge in the country. Oxford University, in conjunction with South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, announced Wednesday thousands of volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 who received the vaccination will be monitored for 12 months to see how well the vaccine guards against COVID-19. South Africa is the second country outside of Britain taking take part in the Oxford trial after Brazil launched its study on Wednesday. Oxford University scientists, who developed the vaccine, also known as AZD1222, are working with AstraZeneca on development and production. Shabir Madhi, professor in vaccinology at Wits University said, this is most likely the first of at least three to four other vaccine studies on COVID-19, that will be done in South Africa over the period of the next six months. South Africa, which is gradually relaxing coronavirus lockdown restrictions, has the highest rate of infections in Africa, with more than 100,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths. Meantime, Brazil’s Health Ministry said Wednesday, the country’s coronavirus cases and deaths are surging, resulting in nearly 1.2 million cases since the pandemic began, and more than 53,800 deaths.
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Can US Help Achieve Unity for Syrian Kurds?
Supported by the United States, Syrian Kurdish groups last week announced the first step toward uniting efforts to run the northeastern part of Syria. Since 2012, the Kurdish-majority region has largely been controlled by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The YPG is the main element within the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State (IS) in Syria. In addition to these groups, the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) is another major bloc that includes several political parties. The ENKS has opposed the PYD and its autonomous administration in northeast Syria. ‘Significant progress’ U.S. officials hope the two sides put their differences aside and focus on improving the local administration in the war-torn country. “We are here tonight to celebrate the progress that has been made, which is significant,” Ambassador William Roebuck, deputy special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, told reporters last Wednesday in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka. For months, the U.S. has been mediating negotiations between the two Kurdish sides to obtain agreement on a political framework that will allow them to participate in a joint administration for northeast Syria. Following the announcement, the U.S. Embassy in Syria issued a statement, saying the initial agreement will cover governance, administrative cooperation and protection. “The United States welcomes this as an important step towards greater understanding and practical cooperation, which will benefit the Syrian Kurdish people, as well as Syrians of all components,” the embassy said in a statement last week. The U.S. Embassy in Damascus suspended its operations in 2012 following a Syrian government crackdown on protesters during the early days of the country’s civil war. But the embassy maintains contact with the Syrian public through social media. Stabilizing NE Syria Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, says the U.S. wants to align the Syrian Kurdish parties in order to stabilize northeast Syria, as Washington continues its campaign against IS. “A major U.S. goal is to diversify the political actors in northeast Syria and to provide a Turkish-approved Syrian Kurdish party with the opportunity to participate in governance and security in northeast Syria,” he told VOA. “Uniting the Syrian Kurdish factions is a local move with geopolitical implications for U.S. policy on Syria and the U.S.-led effort to execute counter-ISIS operations,” Heras said, using another acronym for Islamic State. Considered close to Turkey, the ENKS has expressed willingness to participate in the local administration established by the PYD. “The success of this agreement depends on how much the U.S. can support it while investing in our region politically,” said Sulaiman Oso, an ENKS leader. Other Kurdish officials say such unity efforts are important to protect the gains they have made against IS and other militant groups throughout the Syrian civil war. “Turkey and the Syrian regime are trying to damage our gains, but we have been able to create a consensus amongst ourselves, which will prevent these actors from exploiting our divisions,” Mazloum Abdi, general commander of SDF, told VOA. Turkish objection Heras says the push by the U.S. for Syrian Kurdish unity “could also assuage Turkey’s concerns about a PYD-dominated order in northeast Syria sufficiently to forestall future Turkish military action against the SDF.” Turkey views the YPG and PYD as extensions of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been engaged in a decades long war with Turkish armed forces for greater Kurdish rights. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington. In the past two years, Turkey and its allied Syrian militias have seized several Kurdish towns in northern Syria that were previously held by the YPG. In what appeared to be a response to the recent Syrian Kurdish talks, Turkish officials said that any organizations that work with the PKK will be considered legitimate targets, including the ENKS. “Whatever their names are, those who are with the YPG-PKK are not different in our eyes from the YPG-PKK, and they are legitimate targets,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with CNN Turk television last week. Two days after the Syrian Kurdish unity announcement, the Turkish military launched a campaign against what Turkey calls elements of the PKK militant group in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Ilhan Tanir, an editor with the Turkish website Ahval News, believes Turkey will focus its efforts on spoiling the unity talks. “We have already seen that Ankara, both by threatening ENKS and bombing Iraqi Kurdistan, has shown it is unhappy with the talks and will do more to halt such a joint administration,” Tanir told VOA. But Kurdish officials believe a solid partnership between the different factions in Syria would strengthen their political status at the regional level. “It will ultimately protect our region from threats by other states who accuse the PYD of being a PKK affiliate,” Oso said of the ENKS. VOA’s Namo Abdulla contributed to this report from Washington.
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During COVID, High School Students Find Other Ways to Celebrate End of Senior Year
They are an unorthodox generation. The class of 2020 was born while the United States was still reeling from the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Their world has been filled with unpredictability since day one.Members of the class of 2020 finish their senior year of high school after being confined to their homes for weeks, losing out on some of the most highly anticipated rituals of the American teenager: sports championships, dance recitals, senior trips, prom and graduation.“I did not realize that March 13th was my last day at school,” said Cassidy Goebel of Evansville Day School in Midwestern U.S. state of Indiana, by email. “One of my friends was joking around and said: ‘C’mon guys, let’s give hugs like the last day of school.’ We all just laughed and said, ‘Sure.’ I wish I would have hugged my friends tighter that day.”Cassidy’s sister Sierra was a senior this year, too. Their class had only 18 people.“Our class was like a family,” Sierra Goebel said, also by email. She said she felt the loss of little things as well as big rituals: “It was supposed to be the time where you sat in the hall telling the ridiculous memories you had here.”She said she and her friends tried to cheer each other up remotely, using phone and video chats. They are hoping to schedule a “do-over” prom for July.Another classmate, Neha Bhasin, had been scheduled for an experiential learning trip to Puerto Rico the week before spring break. It was canceled.“I was devastated,” she said. “Instead of getting to leave with such an amazing experience, the idea of spending that week remote learning was frustrating.” She said it was hard to finish nine years at the small private school without a proper goodbye.The cusp of adulthoodWhile high school rituals may not seem important in the face of a pandemic – or the anti-racism protests that have since gripped the nation – high school counselor Franciene Sabens of southern Illinois says these quintessentially American traditions represent much to kids at the cusp of adulthood.“These activities (and now losses) are tied to a student’s social identity,” Sabens said. She said the end-of-high-school rituals “allow them opportunities for self-expression, to practice social skills in a formal setting, and an opportunity to make beautiful, and often final memories with their classmates and friends before graduating high school.”She added that some students start planning for prom – the final, formal dance of the year – as early as December.Phil Sturm of Chevy Chase, Maryland, has three grown daughters and a Chinese exchange student, Yichen Zhang, who has become “like the son I never had,” he said.“My daughters, who really consider him to be their brother, decided that … if there was going to be no prom [at school], that there was going to be a prom for their brother” at home, Sturm said. Yichen’s girlfriend, a Chinese student from Boston University, was staying with them as well. So all of the family members dressed up, put on music, and crowned Yichen and his girlfriend the prom king and queen.Documenting lossesSabens noted that different events are special to different people.“To some, prom was a colossal loss,” she said. “To others, their band trip was the biggest loss of their life … and others feel like their life will never be the same without their senior year sports season.”Documenting those losses has helped some Rhode Island students cope. Brock Geiselman is a photographer and assistant coach for the basketball team at his alma mater, Cumberland High School in Cumberland, Rhode Island.Geiselman set out to make portraits of athletes on the grounds of the school in their caps and gowns, posing with their athletic equipment. As more students caught wind of the project, Geiselman decided, “we’re going to incorporate something that they’ve lost. I just incorporated everything.” (One of the losses was access to sports uniforms, which are owned by the school, so he took cap-and-gown photos instead.)Kids posed for Geiselman with their drum kits, their trophies, their catcher’s mitts, their mountain bikes. Families paid for the picture with donations, in sums from $10 to $300.Brendan Wright of Cumberland High School, Cumberland, Rhode Island, will play baseball at West Point next year. (Geiselman Imagery)Geiselman is using the proceeds to buy grocery and restaurant gift cards for families struggling to make ends meet. At last count, the total proceeds were around $7,500.Kaylee Powers lost out on a senior trip to Disney World with her two best friends, Abby Becker and Lily Monahan.“Our last day of school was the day they canceled the Disney trip,” she said. “That day, Disney closed.”But the girls did gather for a final time as seniors on school property for a photo session.The three girls have been taking pre-event photos together at Abby’s house since freshman year. A day or two after the photo was taken, they each took a solitary walk across the graduation stage. The event took place over several days to accommodate social distancing guidelines.And so, it turns out, the Class of 2020 closes with a lesson in resilience.Party barnAmy Griffin runs an “entertainment farm” in Helena, Alabama, where she and her husband rent out their barn and farmland for parties. She and her husband staged an alternative prom for area students on June 5.“It was an amazing way for us to provide for our business that has been struggling since closing down the first of March, while also giving back to the community,” she said.Some 200 students showed up, paying $30 a ticket. The dance was held in a large party barn with barn doors left open for ventilation. Tables outside were spaced throughout the barnyard for social distancing. The Griffins strung lights in the trees and kept the petting zoo open for extra fun. Attendees were given masks to wear, although not all attendees used them.Griffin said all went well, except the weather.“About an hour into the dance, a rainstorm came through – but it was laughable,” she said. “After all, what would an event honoring the class of 2020 be without something unexpected happening?”She noted that no one complained, despite doused bonfires and wet decorations. On the contrary, she said, “Anytime one of them passed my husband and I during the dance, they thanked us,” she said. “As each of them left the dance at the end, they graciously thanked us again. Every single one of them.”
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