Turkey’s decision to revert the historic landmark, Hagia Sophia, to a mosque has sparked global outrage. But perhaps more than anywhere else, it has touched a nerve in Greece. The government in Athens is trying to mobilize international support for sanctions to be imposed against Turkey.The Greek government has billed the move to turn Hagia Sophia a mosque again a provocation and a grave historic mistake. Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said leading diplomats are scrambling to block Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s decision and that the coming week will be pivotal in that pursuit.Dendias said it’s becoming increasingly clear that Erdogan is bent on reviving the Ottoman era, asserting himself and Turkey as the kingmaker of the region, and defying both international law and codes of conduct.He said Greek diplomats would be teaming up in a round of crisis talks in the next few days, to chart out a course of action on the recasting of Hagia Sophia.An architectural masterpiece, the massive 1,500-year-old structure was the seat of Eastern Christianity for a thousand years before Ottoman Turks conquered its host city, then known as Constantinople.The conquest marks one of the darkest moments of Greek history, leading to the persecution of thousands of Christian Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque and many of its stunning religious mosaics were removed or painted over.Helene Ahrweiler, a Greek and world authority on Byzantine history said history is repeating itself.Erdogan’s decision, she said, marks a second fall of the Byzantine empire. Ahrweiler said the move is such an affront to Christianity that she would not be shocked to learn that the marvelous mosaics left on the temple’s walls have started shedding tears over it.From Pope Francis in the Vatican to Patriarch Kirill in Russia, to the White House, to the Kremlin, the move has sparked a huge outcry.But Greece is going a step further, trying to rally international support for sanctions against Erdogan and his government.Constantinos Filis, an expert in international relations, said it’s unlikely Athens will find the backing it wants from its U.S. and EU allies.He said it’s a Turkish domestic decision. And while Greeks may feel offended by it, he said, Athens cannot take any form of unilateral action — it needs a bloc of allies by its side.Fillis said it’s questionable whether the European Union or U.S. President Donald Trump would be willing to go to bat for Greece on this issue and risk a rift with Turkey’s leader.In recent days, though, leading European leaders have started to consider Greece’s call for sanctions, as Erdogan announced plans to proceed with controversial energy drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.Turkey said it may start the drilling in the next few days, just before it opens Hagia Sophia for public prayers.Greek government sources told VOA that Germany is trying to defuse the growing tensions by trying to bring Greek and Turkish representatives to the negotiating table.But the stakes remain high, and Greece isn’t taking any chances. Foreign Minister Dendias said the Greek military is already on high alert, fearing even a spark of conflict from Turkey.Greece is ready to defend its rights and sovereignty to the full, he said, adding that it’s not a matter for negotiation.
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Month: July 2020
US Congressman and Civil Rights Leader John Lewis Dies
John Robert Lewis, a champion of civil rights for African Americans and longtime U.S. lawmaker, has died. He was 80. The veteran congressman died Friday after a yearlong battle with advanced pancreatic cancer.John Lewis rose to fame as a leader of the modern-day American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. At age 23, he worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and was the last surviving keynote speaker from the August 1963 March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. During the historic gathering, Lewis reminded America of the power of the civil rights movement.“By the force of our demands, our determination, and our numbers, we shall splinter the segregated South into a thousand pieces and put them together in the image of God and democracy. We must say: ‘Wake up America! Wake up!’ For we cannot stop, and we will not and cannot be patient,” said Lewis, overlooking a crowd of 250,000.Former U.S. President Barack Obama said, “In so many ways, John’s life was exceptional. But he never believed that what he did was more than any citizen of this country might do. He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect. And it’s because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union.”From humble beginnings to a civil rights leaderBorn February 21, 1940, outside Troy, Alabama, John Lewis was the son of sharecroppers who grew up in the racially segregated South. He was not able to vote, enroll in college or obtain a public library card because he was Black.Determined to be a part of the struggle for equal rights, Lewis graduated from Fisk University in Nashville in 1963 with a degree in religion and philosophy.As a student, he organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated “Whites Only” lunch counters and staged bus boycotts. Lewis was one of the 13 original “Freedom Riders” beaten and arrested for riding alongside white passengers on interstate buses in the South.Two years later, as chairman of the influential Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, he helped register thousands of Black voters in places like Alabama and Mississippi. “I’ve always fought for what was right,” said Lewis.Life-changing eventsAs a 25-year-old activist, Lewis was badly beaten by white Alabama state troopers as he and 600 peaceful demonstrators marched for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. Lewis suffered a fractured skull. Television images of the incident known as “Bloody Sunday” caused a national awakening to end racial discrimination.“I was beaten bloody and tear-gassed, fighting for what’s right for America. Our country would never ever be the same, because of what happened on this bridge,” said Lewis of the history-making event.Later that year, Lewis stood next to President Lyndon Johnson when he signed the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. The legislation outlawed discriminatory voting practices that kept Blacks from gaining political power.SuccessThe civil rights movement led John Lewis into a career of politics. He was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1981. Lewis was elected to Congress in 1986, calling it “the honor of a lifetime.” He served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia’s 5th district.Sometimes called the “conscience of the Congress,” Lewis fought for income equality for minorities, criminal justice reform, gun safety and health care for all. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2011.“Every day of John Lewis’s life was dedicated to bringing freedom and justice to all,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “As he declared 57 years ago during the March on Washington, standing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial: ‘Our minds, souls, and hearts cannot rest until freedom and justice exist for all the people.’ How fitting it is that even in the last weeks of his battle with cancer, John summoned the strength to visit the peaceful protests where the newest generation of Americans had poured into the streets to take up the unfinished work of racial justice.”Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Our great nation’s history has only bent towards justice because great men like John Lewis took it upon themselves to help bend it. Our nation will never forget this American hero.”While undergoing cancer treatment, he returned to Alabama to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “We must go out and vote like we never, ever voted before,” he said. “I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give in. We’re going to continue to fight. We must use the vote as a nonviolent instrument or tool to redeem the soul of America.”Before his death, Lewis endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for president in April 2020. In one of his last public statements, the congressman said, “I cannot stand by and watch President (Donald) Trump undo the progress we fought so hard for.”Lewis’s longtime friend and fellow civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said Lewis will be remembered for risking his life to change America for the better.Fern Robinson contributed to this story.
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White House Blocks CDC Officials’ Testimony on School Openings
The White House will not allow any Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials, including Director Robert Redfield, to testify before a House Education and Labor Committee hearing next week on reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic.Bobby Scott, the Democratic chairman of the House committee, said in a statement, “It is alarming that the Trump administration is preventing the CDC from appearing before the Committee at a time when its expertise and guidance is so critical to the health and safety of students, parents and educators.”A White House spokesman said, “Dr. Redfield has testified on the Hill at least four times over the last three months. We need our doctors focused on the pandemic response.”President Donald Trump has said he wants schools to open with fill time in-classroom learning and has threatened to withhold federal funding from municipalities that do not do so.The president, however, has received pushback on that goal from teachers unions, parents and politicians concerned about the safety of opening schools during a coronavirus pandemic.
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US Court Rules Trump Must Allow New DACA Applications
A U.S. federal court has ruled that the Trump administration must accept new applicants to a program to protect young immigrants from deportation.The U.S. District Court in Maryland said Friday the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program must be fully restored for the first time in three years, following a Supreme Court ruling that the program was canceled improperly.The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it is reviewing the ruling.The high court ruled last month that the Trump administration had provided inadequate justification to rescind DACA in 2017. However, the court did not make a judgment on whether DACA recipients have a permanent right to live in the United States and the ruling does not prevent Trump from trying again to end the program.DACA is an Obama-era program that protects from deportation around 700,000 immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children. Only those who were already in the program when it halted have been able to renew their protection.Immigration advocates say tens of thousands of additional young immigrants now meet the minimum age requirement of 15 years to apply for DACA since the program stopped accepting new applicants.Last week, Trump said in an interview with Spanish-language television network Telemundo that he will soon sign an executive order on immigration that includes a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.However, this “does not include amnesty,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement after Trump’s television interview.The White House statement said the executive order would establish a merit-based immigration system and reiterated that Trump would work with Congress on a legislative solution that “could include citizenship, along with strong border security and permanent merit-based reforms,” but no amnesty.Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas criticized Trump’s comments, saying in a tweet, “There is ZERO constitutional authority for a President to create a “road to citizenship” by executive fiat.”Congressional lawmakers have tried on several occasions in recent years to pass comprehensive immigration reform but failed over deep divisions between Republican and Democratic proposals.
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British Lawmakers Seen Pushing for Earlier Huawei Ouster
The British government’s decision to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G telecom network beginning in 2027 is only the “opening salvo” of what is to come, according to a leading expert on U.S.-British relations. Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, thinks there is a “higher than 50% chance” that Huawei’s exit date will come two or even three years ahead of the announced date. The same hardline lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party who pushed for the rejection of Huawei consider seven years to be too long a period to completely disengage from the company, Gardiner said in a telephone interview, adding that these lawmakers may be able to push through legislation that would shorten the timeline. He pointed to statements made Tuesday by member of parliament Iain Duncan Smith immediately after the decision to cut Huawei out of the nation’s 5G plans was announced. FILE – Former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith arrives for a meeting in London, February 4, 2019.“The head of [British Telecom] said ‘seven years, yes, but we can do it in five.’ So now let’s bring it forward to five and make sure it happens quickly; there’s no reason why they can’t,” Duncan Smith said in the House of Commons. The former cabinet minister also urged the government to remove Huawei equipment from existing 3G and 4G infrastructure to prevent a scenario where the company’s software keeps getting upgraded, posing a continuing threat. “If they’re a risk in 5G, why are they not a risk to us generally?” he asked. Duncan Smith continued his urging with an op-ed the next day, in which he wrote, “Removing Huawei makes sense. Waiting seven years to do it does not.” Much of the concern about Huawei has centered on fears that its technology could be used by China to spy on countries that install it. In his op-ed, Duncan Smith wrote that “the bigger problem is the aggressive behavior of China and its crackdown on dissidents in China and elsewhere. We have become far too dependent on this powerful communist state and the free world needs to come together to resolve this issue.” He added: “End [Huawei’s] involvement earlier, in 2025 at the latest.” Gardiner, who predicted that Britain’s action would influence decision-making in other European capitals, believes the vision put forth by Duncan Smith could very well be realized. The cabinet is expected to introduce legislation, known as the Telecom Security Bill, to legalize the terms guiding the nation’s 5G network. Duncan Smith and “about 60” like-minded lawmakers in the Conservative Party, along with supporters in the opposition Labor Party, could attach amendments to the bill to advance the deadline for British companies to divest from Huawei, he said. Gardiner added that the legislators could set a date as early as 2024, when the next general election is due. Roger Garside, a former British diplomat whose postings included Beijing, told VOA from his home in London that he was “profoundly relieved that the British government is coming to its senses over Huawei.” “There has been a fundamental failure under successive British governments to appreciate the threat posed to our fundamental interests by the [People’s Republic of China]. Now we appear to wakening from that dream state.” Beijing, for its part, says it is “seriously evaluating the situation” before responding to the British decision. Huawei’s executives have denied they are obligated to share information with the Chinese government. Gardiner said British leaders were fully aware of the risk of retaliation when they made their decision, which he sees as a severe blow to both Huawei and its Communist Party backers, especially given “the vast inroads” the company had made in “the upper echelon” of British society and “vast amount of resources” Beijing poured into lobbying for Huawei to remain in Britain. He credits the sea change in British public opinion to a “perfect storm” created by China’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its response to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Had Margaret Thatcher, his former boss, “still been with us today, I’m in no doubt she would be standing up to Beijing, standing up for the rights of the people in Hong Kong,” he said.
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EU Leaders Deadlocked Over COVID Recovery Plan After a Day of Haggling
EU leaders failed Friday to make headway in negotiations over a massive stimulus plan to breathe life into economies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, returning to their Brussels hotels shortly before midnight to rest and try again in the morning.Many of the 27 heads declared on arrival for their first face-to-face summit for five months that a deal was crucial to rescue economies in free fall and shore up faith in the European Union, which has lurched for years from crisis to crisis.But officials said a thrifty camp of wealthy northern states led by the Netherlands stood its ground on access to the recovery fund, in the face of opposition from Germany, France, southern nations Italy and Spain, and eastern European states.The proposed sums under discussion include the EU’s 2021-27 budget of more than 1 trillion euros and the recovery fund worth 750 billion euros that will be funneled mostly to Mediterranean coast countries worst affected by the pandemic.Diplomats said the 27 remained at odds over the overall size of the package, the split between grants and repayable loans in the recovery fund and rule-of-law strings attached to it.But the main stumbling block was over vetting procedures to access aid, an EU official said, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte demanding that one country could block payouts from the fund if member states backslide on economic reform.”If they want loans and even grants then I think it’s only logical that I can explain to people in the Netherlands … that in return those reforms have taken place,” Rutte said, estimating the chances for a deal at 50-50.Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki was even more gloomy.As the leaders broke up for the day, he tweeted that they were divided by a bundle of issues and said it was “highly probable” that they would fail to reach a deal on Saturday or even on Sunday if the summit drags past its scheduled two days.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who celebrated her 66th birthday around the negotiating table in Brussels, was also cautious on chances for an agreement, envisaging “very, very difficult negotiations.”After initial elbow bumps between the leaders – all wearing face masks – and birthday gifts for Merkel and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, tense meetings followed in the evening with Rutte and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The world is watchingOrban, who critics accuse of stifling the media, academics and NGOs, threatened to veto the entire plan over a mechanism that would freeze out countries that fail to live up to democratic standards.With EU economies deep in recession and immediate relief measures such as short-time work schemes running out, the specter of an autumn of hardship and discontent is looming.The EU is already grappling with the protracted saga of Britain’s exit from the bloc and is bruised by past crises, from the financial meltdown of 2008 to feuds over migration.Another economic shock could expose it to more eurosceptic, nationalist and protectionist forces, and weaken its standing against China, the United States or Russia.”The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The whole world is watching us.”Despite wrangling over medicines, medical gear, border closures and money, the EU has managed to agree a half-a-trillion-euro scheme to cushion the first hit of the crisis.Mediterranean countries now want the recovery financing to prevent their economies taking on ever-greater burdens of debt.”The big picture is that we are faced with the biggest economic depression since World War Two,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. “We need … an ambitious solution because our citizens expect nothing less from us.”
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US Court Rules California Work with Quebec on CO2 Market Is Constitutional
A U.S. federal district court has ruled that California’s coordination with Canada’s Quebec province in a cap and trade carbon emissions market is constitutional, a blow to the Trump administration made public in a filing late on Friday. In October, the Trump administration sued California for entering a climate agreement with Quebec, saying the state had veered out of its lane in linking with a market in another country and had no right to conduct foreign policy. The decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California this week said the Trump administration had “failed to identify a clear and express foreign policy that directly conflicts with California’s cap-and-trade program.” President Donald Trump, a Republican, has pursued a policy of maximizing fossil fuel output while slashing environmental regulations. He intends to pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. California, the most populous U.S. state and one of the 10 largest economies in the world, has long positioned itself as a leader on taking action against climate change. It agreed with Quebec in 2013 to link markets that aim to cut emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet. The Trump administration has suffered several major losses in the courts on environmental issues and energy pipelines. This week a federal judge in California blocked the administration’s plan to roll back a rule that would slash methane emissions from oil and gas operations on federal lands. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ruling on California’s carbon emissions market. Environmentalists cheered the decision. “The federal government should be doing everything in its power to fight climate change, not fighting the states that are leading the way,” said David Pettit, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council
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On Eve of Bankruptcy, US Firms Shower Execs With Bonuses
Nearly a third of more than 40 large companies seeking U.S. bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic awarded bonuses to executives within a month of filing their cases, according to a Reuters analysis of securities filings and court records.Under a 2005 bankruptcy law, companies are banned, with few exceptions, from paying executives retention bonuses while in bankruptcy. But the firms seized on a loophole by granting payouts before filing.Six of the 14 companies that approved bonuses within a month of their filings cited business challenges executives faced during the pandemic in justifying the compensation.Even more firms paid bonuses in the half-year period before their bankruptcies. Thirty-two of the 45 companies Reuters examined approved or paid bonuses within six months of filing. Nearly half authorized payouts within two months.Eight companies, including J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc., approved bonuses as little as five days before seeking bankruptcy protection. Hi-Crush Inc., a supplier of sand for oil-and-gas fracking, paid executive bonuses two days before its July 12 filing.$10 million in payoutsJ.C. Penney — forced to temporarily close its 846 department stores and furlough about 78,000 of its 85,000 employees as the pandemic spread — approved nearly $10 million in payouts just before its May 15 filing. On Wednesday, the company said it would permanently close 152 stores and lay off 1,000 employees.The company declined to comment for this story but said in an earlier statement that the bonuses aimed to retain a “talented management team” that had made progress on a turnaround before the pandemic.The other companies declined to comment or did not respond. In filings, many said economic turmoil had rendered traditional compensation plans obsolete or that executives getting bonuses had forfeited other compensation.Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group in March temporarily closed all of its 67 stores and in April furloughed more than 11,000 employees. The company paid $4 million in bonuses to Chairman and Chief Executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck in February and more than $4 million to other executives in the weeks before its May 7 bankruptcy filing, court records show.FILE – Workers install a sign for the Neiman Marcus department store at the Hudson Yards development in New York, March 8, 2019.Neiman Marcus drew scrutiny this week on a plan it proposed after filing for bankruptcy to pay additional bonuses to executives. The company declined to comment.Hertz — which recently terminated more than 14,000 workers — paid senior executives bonuses of $1.5 million days before its May 22 bankruptcy, in part to recognize the uncertainty they faced from the pandemic’s impact on travel, the company said in a filing.Whiting Petroleum Corp. bestowed $14.6 million in extra compensation to executives days before its April 1 bankruptcy. Shale pioneer Chesapeake Energy Corp. awarded $25 million to executives and lower-level employees in May, about eight weeks before filing for bankruptcy. Both cited fallout from the pandemic and a Saudi-Russian oil price war, which they said rendered their incentive plans ineffective.ObjectionsReuters reviewed financial disclosures and court records from 45 companies that filed for bankruptcy between March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and July 15. Using a database provided by BankruptcyData, a division of New Generation Research Inc., Reuters reviewed companies with publicly traded stock or debt and more than $50 million in liabilities.Such bonuses have long spurred objections that companies are enriching executives while cutting jobs, stiffing creditors and wiping out investors. In March, creditors sued former Toys ‘R’ Us executives and directors, accusing them of misdeeds that included paying management bonuses days before its 2017 bankruptcy. The retailer liquidated in 2018, terminating more than 31,000 people.FILE – A child grabs a “Star Wars” toy at the Toys “R” Us Times Square store in the Manhattan borough of New York, Nov. 26, 2015.A lawyer for the executives and directors said the bonuses were justified, given the extra work and stress on management, and that Toys ‘R’ Us had hoped to remain in business after restructuring.In June, congressional Democrats responded to the pandemic-induced wave of bankruptcies by introducing legislation that would strengthen creditors’ rights to claw back bonuses. The bill — the latest iteration of a proposal that has long failed to gain traction — faces slim prospects in a Republican-controlled Senate, a Democratic aide said.Firms paying pre-bankruptcy bonuses know they would face scrutiny in court on compensation proposed after their filings, said Clifford J. White III, director of the U.S. Trustee Program, a Justice Department division charged with monitoring bankruptcy proceedings. But the trustees have no power to halt bonuses paid even days before a company’s bankruptcy filing, he said, allowing firms to “escape the transparency and court review.”Dodging bonus restrictionsThe 2005 bankruptcy legislation required executives and other corporate insiders to have a competing job offer in hand before receiving retention bonuses during bankruptcy, among other restrictions. That forced failing firms to devise new ways to pay the bonuses, according to some restructuring experts.After the 2008 financial crisis, companies often proposed bonuses in bankruptcy court, casting them as incentive plans with goals executives must meet. Judges mostly approved the plans, ruling that the performance benchmarks put the compensation beyond the purview of the restrictions on retention bonuses. The plans, however, sparked objections from Justice Department monitors who called them retention bonuses in disguise, often with easy milestones.Eventually, companies found they could avoid scrutiny altogether by approving bonuses before bankruptcy filings. Dozens of companies have approved such payouts in the last five years, said Brian Cumberland, an executive compensation expert at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal who advises companies undergoing financial restructurings.FILE – A Ford Mustang is returned to an Oakland, Calif., Hertz location, Sept. 12, 2005.Companies argue the bonuses are crucial to retaining executives whose departures could torpedo their businesses, ultimately leaving less money for creditors and employees. Now, some companies are bolstering those arguments by contending that their business would not have cratered without the economic turmoil of the pandemic.The pre-bankruptcy payouts are needed, companies say, because potential stock awards are worthless and it would be impossible for executives to meet business targets that were crafted before the economic crisis. The bonuses ensure stability in leadership that is needed to hold faltering operations together, the firms contend.Some specialists argue the bonuses are hard to justify for executives who may have few better job options in an economic crisis.“With double-digit unemployment, it’s a strange time to be paying out retention bonuses,” said Adam Levitin, a professor specializing in bankruptcy at Georgetown University’s law school.Closed stores, big bonusesJ.C. Penney has not posted an annual profit since 2010 as it has struggled to grapple with the shift to online shopping and competition from discount retailers. The 118-year-old chain, at various points, employed more than 200,000 people and operated 1,600 stores, figures that have since been cut more than half.On May 10, J.C. Penney’s board approved compensation changes that paid top executives, including CEO Jill Soltau, nearly $10 million. On May 13, Soltau received a $1.7 million long-term incentive payment and a $4.5 million retention bonus, court filings show.The annual pay of the company’s median employee, a part-time hourly worker, was $11,482 in 2019, a company filing shows.J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy two days after paying Soltau’s bonuses. At a hearing the next day, a lawyer for creditors argued the payouts were designed to thwart court review. The payouts were timed “so that they didn’t have to put it in front of you,” said the lawyer, Kristopher Hansen, addressing U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones.Jones — who is also overseeing the Whiting Petroleum, Chesapeake Energy and Neiman Marcus cases — told Reuters that such bonuses are “always a concern” in bankruptcy cases. “That said, the adversarial process demands that parties put the issue before me before I can take action,” he added, emphasizing he was speaking of general dynamics applicable to any case. “A comment made in passing by a lawyer is not sufficient.”In its statement earlier this year, J.C. Penney said the bonuses were among a series of “tough, prudent decisions” taken to safeguard the firm’s future.Dennis Marten, a shareholder who said he once worked at a J.C. Penney store, disagrees. He has appeared at court hearings pleading for an investigation of the company’s leadership.“Shame on her for having the gall to get that money,” he said of Soltau.
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Ethiopian Rebel Group Denies Role in Singer’s Death
While Ethiopia’s government is blaming the insurgent Oromo Liberation Army for last month’s shooting death of a popular singer, which sparked days of violent unrest, the OLA’s commander denies any responsibility and says the administration itself is culpable. “Our struggle is to create a country where people can speak freely. We don’t kill people because they speak their mind,” Kumsa Diriba, commonly known as Jaal Maro, told VOA’s Horn of Africa service in a phone interview Wednesday. Hachalu Hundessa was fatally shot June 29 in a suburb of the capital, Addis Ababa. The 34-year-old activist singer’s music had served as a soundtrack to anti-government protests that helped bring Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power in April 2018. He belonged to the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest, which has pressed for self-rule of the country’s vast Oromia state and for establishing Afaan Oromo as the national language. In announcing the arrests of three suspects last week, Attorney General Adanech Abebe blamed Hachalu’s killing on the OLA, an armed faction that broke away from the Oromo Liberation Front in 2018. In a phone interview Monday, she told VOA that the suspects confessed to being directly ordered by the OLA to kill the singer to foment violence between ethnic groups — in this case, Oromos and Amharas. “We found death threat text and voice messages on Hachalu’s cellphone that came from a person who describes himself as a member of OLA/Shene,” Adanech said, using the government’s name for the group. “A woman who was with Hachalu at the time of his death also identified the killer.” The OLA has battled with Ethiopia’s military in Western Oromia for the last two years. The Abiy administration accuses the insurgent group of attacking and killing civilians in Oromia and Southern Nations. Deadly violence The violence in the hours following Hachalu’s slaying was the deadliest since Abiy took office. Ethiopian authorities told VOA that at least 166 civilians and 11 police officers were killed, revising an earlier report of 239 deaths. Witnesses told VOA that roving bands of young men armed with guns, machetes and other weapons sought out ethnic and religious targets, primarily non-Oromos. Attacks against people and property took place in some 40 Oromia districts, VOA confirmed with authorities. Shashemene, a city of that lies 200 kilometers south of the capital, experienced broad destruction, local authorities said. Schools and other buildings, including a hotel owned by retired track star Haile Gebrselassie, an Olympic gold medalist, were burned down. Yohannes Wolde, who owns Lucy, the city’s first private education center, said arsonists destroyed one of its five locations. That site had 350 employees who supported education for more than 4,200 students. “When I heard they were burning the school, I evacuated my family from my house and went hiding. Soon after, they also came to my house and burned it,” Yohannes told VOA. Some 40 Oromia districts were affected. A burned car and bulding which were set on fire by a mob during the violence after the assasination of Oromo’s pop singer Hachalu Hundessa are seen in Shashamene, Ethiopia, on July 12, 2020.Tense environment The violence has subsided, but tensions remain, police say. Kumsa, the 50-year-old commander, said the OLA controls Western Oromia and has operational bases throughout the country, but he denied any involvement in attacks on civilians. He said the government’s accusations against his group were fabricated. “Protecting citizens from such mob attacks is a responsibility of the government,” he said. Taye Dendea, spokesman for the ruling Prosperity Party, dismissed OLA’s denial of involvement. “We don’t expect an insurgent group that works to destabilize the government would claim responsibility,” he told VOA in a phone interview. “OLA also denied other unspeakable acts they committed against innocent civilians in Oromia. But the community knows what they did.” On Wednesday, the government partially lifted the internet shutdown imposed following Hachalu’s death. Adanech said the shutdown was necessary to block calls for attacks that were spreading through social media and creating confusion or worse. “Such disinformation is aimed at inciting violence among Ethiopians,” she said, warning people to be wary of “misinformation and random speculation,” some of which is disseminated for political gain. Tsion Girma and Habtamu Seyoum of VOA’s Horn of Africa service contributed to this report.
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Who Is Behind Mali’s Surging Protest Movement?
Mali’s protest movement against President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has triggered the war-torn nation’s most serious political crisis in years, sparking fears it will slide into chaos. The June 5 Movement has triggered a showdown with the government with unflinching demands that Keita resign over perceived failures in tackling the dire economy and Mali’s eight-year jihadist conflict. But on July 10, the movement staged a rally that turned violent and dramatically escalated the political crisis. Thousands marched on July 10, 2020, in Bamako in anti-government demonstrations urged by an opposition group that rejects the president’s promises of reforms.Protesters blocked bridges, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster, and attacked the parliament building. Three days of clashes between protesters and security forces ensued, leaving 11 dead and 158 injured, according to an official tally, in the bloodiest bout of political unrest Mali had seen in years. The protest group’s official name, the “Movement of June 5 — Rally of Patriotic Forces,” comes from the date of the first rally it organized. Its leaders are channelling a wellspring of anger in Mali sparked by the outcome of March-April parliamentary elections, but whose underlying causes include discontent over its handling of Mali’s jihadist insurgency. The Sahel nation of some 20 million people has struggled to quell a jihadist insurgency that first broke out in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of lives since. The June 5 Movement has achieved the unlikely feat of uniting a disparate group of opposition figures, including religious figures and civil-society leaders, under one banner. Members include longtime political heavyweights and former military personnel who took part in Mali’s 2012 coup, for example. Most are drawn from a generation that came to prominence following Mali’s transition from military dictatorship to democracy, in 1991. But many June 5 Movement members also worked under Keita in some capacity, before they turned into political opponents. Ibrahim Maiga, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in the capital Bamako, said that “the M5 is full of old heads who served” Keita. He added that this does not “necessarily inspire confidence in the people.” Civil-society leaders who are not party political are also members, however, including trade unionists, or the anti-corruption activist Clement Dembele. Above all these figures towers the figure of Mahmoud Dicko, a highly influential imam who has emerged as the group’s de facto leader — despite not being a formal member. Bokar Sangare, another researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said that the June 5 movement’s “very diverse composition” means its leaders are often sharply divided. In public, however, the opposition group speaks with one voice. Leaders sign statements together and present a united front at press conferences. They have been targeted by Keita’s government before. Malian authorities arrested several leading members of the movement in the aftermath of last week’s unrest, but later released them. One of the movement’s members, who requested anonymity, said that other opposition leaders went to ground after the unrest to avoid detection from security forces.
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Angelina Jolie Says Children ‘Invisible Victims’ of Rape in War
Actor and activist Angelina Jolie urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to fulfill its promise to hold to account perpetrators of sexual violence against children in conflict settings.“I have met child survivors of sexual violence – and domestic violence and trauma and abuse – everywhere,” Jolie said of her 20 years working with the U.N. refugee agency. “There is no continent untouched by these crimes.”She addressed a council session reflecting on the issue, one year after adoption of Resolution 2467, which strengthened prevention through justice and accountability mechanisms, empowered the council to impose sanctions on perpetrators, and opened the way for victims to seek reparations.Jolie gave the example of Yazidi children she had met in northern Iraq. Thousands of their mothers and female relatives have been abducted, enslaved and abused since 2014 by fighters with the Islamic State group. Many are still in captivity.“Many of the children witnessed the murder of their relatives, and the rape of their mothers,” she told the council in a virtual meeting. “One doctor who has provided medical care for hundreds of Yazidi women and girls said that almost every girl she had treated between the ages of 9 and 17 had been raped or subjected to other sexual violence. In some cases, victims were girls under the age of 9.”Specialized care neededShe said the children experience post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, flashbacks and nightmares, yet these “invisible victims” are particularly overlooked when it comes to support services.“What few services there are have been largely focused on women survivors – who have immense trauma and unmet needs of their own,” Jolie said. “The reality is that no one is getting the care they need. But there is a specific lack of dedicated care for children.”Jolie said she has seen these problems in every conflict setting she has visited and urged the international community to step up its funding to address the needs of all survivors.Khin Ohmar, a peace activist from Myanmar, spoke on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. She said in her country, the military has long used rape as a weapon against ethnic communities.“The horrific accounts of Rohingya women during the 2016 and 2017 so-called ‘clearance operations’ remain urgent, shocking and unique in their ferocity,” she said. “They are also representative of the military’s pattern of using gender-based violence in their campaigns against other ethnic communities, including the Kachin, Shan, Ta’ang and Rakhine.”She said grave international crimes continue to be committed in Myanmar, and she urged the council to refer the file to the International Criminal Court, as domestic accountability is not possible.Sexual violence a tactic of warThe U.N. secretary-general’s envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said sexual violence is a tactic of war and a tool of political repression, used to dehumanize, destabilize and forcibly displace populations. It includes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization and forced marriage.“This is a crime that shreds the very fabric that binds communities together, leaving social cohesion and safety nets threadbare,” Patten told the council.She said the U.N. documented nearly 3,000 cases last year of conflict-related sexual violence but noted it is a crime that is underreported because of fear of reprisals and stigmatization. Nearly 90% of attacks targeted women and girls; 848 were on children. Hundreds of cases also targeted men, boys and LGBTQI persons.She noted that many victims are still seeking justice and support years later.“In post-conflict contexts, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, survivors of sexual violence are still fighting to realize their rights and status as legitimate victims of war, in order to access reparations and redress,” Patten said.She urged the council to enforce its resolution and show perpetrators that there are consequences for violating it.
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Tokyo Once Again Sets Daily Record for New COVID-19 Cases
Tokyo’s governor confirmed Friday the Japanese capital had 293 new daily cases, setting a record for new cases for the second straight day.At a news briefing, Governor Yuriko Koike suggested the higher number of confirmed cases reflects more aggressive testing. More than 4,000 people a day are being tested, with a goal of 10,000.The governor urged social distancing, regularly disinfecting hands and other measures to curb the outbreak. She has also requested medical facilities make additional beds available for the expected surge in patients.While Japan never had a total lockdown, the government did declare an emergency and asked businesses to close and people to work from home beginning in April. That emergency was lifted in late May.But since that time, cases have started to rise again in metropolitan areas, with Tokyo seeing an average of more than 200 cases a day for the past seven days. Plans have been announced to call a second emergency as concerns rise the city reopened too quickly.Tokyo’s surge has prompted officials to exempt it from the “Go To Travel” campaign, which offers discounts for travel in the country to encourage tourism.Japan has so far avoided the massive number of cases experienced in the hardest hit nations, with fewer than 24,000 and about 1,000 deaths.Japan has been trying to keep economic activity going while avoiding the spread of the coronavirus, opening restaurants and theaters with limited seating and having store clerks work behind plastic shielding.
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100-year-old British Fundraiser Tom Moore Receives Knighthood
British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, who became a national hero and international celebrity in April when he raised $41 million for Britain’s National Health service, received a knighthood Friday during a ceremony at Windsor Castle. While the ceremony was held in private, pictures released from the event show a broadly smiling Queen Elizabeth using a sword that belonged to her father to bestow the honor on Moore on the grounds outside the castle.Captain Sir Thomas Moore poses for the media after receiving his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 17, 2020.While the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the postponement of other official ceremonies schedule for June and July, a special exception was made for Moore. The COVID-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus. Moore received the honor after he started an online pledge drive to raise money for the National Health Service charities during the peak of the country’s COVID outbreak. He sought to complete 100 lengths of his garden, using his walker, before his 100th birthday in April. The pledges exceeded his expectations. His efforts touched people in Britain and beyond as it provided a heart-warming distraction from the adversity of the pandemic, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to nominate Moore for the award. Moore, who has been made an honorary colonel and an honorary member of the England cricket team, said Friday he was “overwhelmed” by honor.
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Sewage May Be Essential to Spotting Next COVID-19 Outbreak
For public health officials attempting to manage the spread of coronavirus, knowing how many people in a city or neighborhood are infected is key. But challenges to widespread population testing are leading many cities to look for data under manhole covers. Yes, sewage may be essential to spotting the next outbreak. Matt Dibble has the story.
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Justice Ginsburg Says Cancer Has Returned, But She Won’t Retire
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court.The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and that she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks.
“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Ginsburg said in a statement issued by the court.
She said her recent hospitalizations, including one in May, were unrelated to the cancer.
A medical scan in February revealed growths on her liver, she said, and she began chemotherapy in May.
“My most recent scan on July 7 indicated significant reduction of the liver lesions and no new disease,” she said. “I am tolerating chemotherapy well and am encouraged by the success of my current treatment.”
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Sudan Faces Worst Food Crisis in Recent History
Sudan is facing the worst food security crisis in its recent history according to the United Nations. Nearly a quarter of Sudan’s 45 million population is severely food insecure, including those living in the capital, Khartoum.This month 10 humanitarian partners in Sudan, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Food Program and the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization released an report that indicates 9.6 million Sudanese are in “high acute food insecurity” due to conflict, high inflation, and COVID-19.“These numbers are the highest ever recorded in the history of the [Integrated] Food Security Phase Classification analysis in Sudan,” said United Nations Secretary General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, speaking at a U.N. briefing in New York Thursday.The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a highly technical report that details levels of food insecurity in countries like Sudan. The latest IPC report covers June through September and says 15.9 million people have been classified as under stress.“Food insecurity is especially concerning in some states such as North Kordofan, where the number of people facing severe food insecurity has increased by 335 percent,” said Dujarric.The U.N., and its humanitarian partners have provided food assistance to an estimated 2.3 million people in the first quarter of 2020, but Dujarric said “more has to be done and more funding is urgently needed.”The current food crisis in Sudan is caused by protracted displacement, economic decline and inflation, and soaring food price hikes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, said the report.Khartoum alone is estimated to have 1.4 million people who are severely food insecure according to Arshad Malik, Save the Children Sudan Country Director in Sudan.Malik told South Sudan in Focus that during the fasting month of Ramadan two months ago, many families could not find food to eat at the end of the day. “We heard from families that some of the families actually used water to break the fast because they had nothing to eat. In that economic situation, families are forced to get their children married earlier, especially girls are more vulnerable, and then otherwise children are more vulnerable to child labor, sexual abuse, physical abuse,” said Malik.Aside from children, 1.3 million internally displaced persons are affected by food insecurity especially in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states according to Malik.“They are already deprived of basic services. They had less access to health, to food, to education and with this complicated situation where the government is facing a big economic downfall because of a lack of support from the international community, they are even more vulnerable,” Malik told VOA. Sudan’s annual inflation rate surged to 136 percent in June, compared to 114 percent in May, according to Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics.The latest IPC report on South Sudan found the country was also facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity. In May, the IPC report said 6.5 million people, or just over half of the country’s population, faced severe acute food insecurity.While the IPC report said famine had been contained since it was declared in some areas of Unity state in February 2017, it warned the situation remains critical and the risk of famine persists, especially in isolated areas where conflict can quickly increase. Some 1.7 million South Sudanese were estimated to be in the emergency level (IPC Phase 4) of food insecurity in May.Food shortages, climate shocks, a deepening economic crisis, insecurity, and insufficient agricultural production kept levels of hunger and acute malnutrition alarmingly high according to the report.Carol Van Dam Falk contributed to this report.
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Police Make Arrest in Killing of Tech CEO Found Dismembered
A person is in custody in connection with the killing of a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur found dismembered inside his luxury Manhattan condo.
A law enforcement official said Friday the person in custody has been working as Fahim Saleh’s personal assistant.
Saleh was found at around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday inside his luxury seventh floor apartment on the Lower East Side.
He was found dead in a gruesome scene Tuesday afternoon. Saleh was the CEO of a ride-hailing motorcycle startup called Gokada that began operating in Nigeria in 2018. Authorities say a relative called police after going to check on Saleh and making the gruesome discovery.
Investigators had recovered security video showing Saleh exiting an elevator that leads directly into the full-floor, two-bedroom apartment earlier Tuesday afternoon, closely followed by a masked person dressed entirely in black according to another law enforcement official who was briefed on the case.
It also shows a struggle between the two that ensued at the entrance to the apartment, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Police believe that the relative may have interrupted the intruder before that person fled out a back exit.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide after an autopsy found the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the body.
Saleh’s LinkedIn biography described him as a self-taught businessman who founded Gokada, building on his experience of first “seeing an opportunity in his parent’s native country of Bangladesh” and starting that country’s largest ride-sharing company. It said he also invested in a similar venture in Colombia.
Investigators had been exploring whether the killing could have been related to Saleh’s business dealings.
Apartments in the 10-story building where Saleh’s remains were found sell for more than $2 million. The building was completed in 2017 as part of a wave of gentrification in the neighborhood.
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Кавказское обострение: Турция смогла сломать обиженного карлика пукина – он напуган…
Кавказское обострение: Турция смогла сломать обиженного карлика пукина – он напуган…
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Это является, во-первых, красноречивой иллюстрацией уровня отношений между россией и Турцией, в которых вторая позволяет себе все больше, а первая предпочитает этого не замечать
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Обиженный карлик пукин полностью обезумел: стрижка предстоит основательная
Обиженный карлик пукин полностью обезумел: стрижка предстоит основательная.
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Якби мова не мала значення, навіщо було б її стільки разів забороняти?
Якби мова не мала значення, навіщо було б її стільки разів забороняти?
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Венедіктова визнала що фабрикувала справу проти Стерненка та знову зганьбилась своїми заявами
Венедіктова визнала що фабрикувала справу проти Стерненка та знову зганьбилась своїми заявами.
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На засіданні комітету ВР з питань правоохоронної діяльності так звана генпрокурор венедіктова, відповідаючи на питання так званого нардепа бужанського, фактично визнала що справа проти мене є політично вмотивованою та що це помста за участь у протестах.
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Путляндский рейх будет разрушен. Они вернут всем и всё!
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Rev. C.T. Vivian, Key Civil Rights Leader, Has Died at 95
The Rev. C.T. Vivian, a civil rights veteran who worked alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and later led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has died.
Vivian died at home in Atlanta of natural causes Friday morning, his friend and business partner Don Rivers confirmed to The Associated Press. Vivian was 95.
His civil rights work stretched back more than six decades, to his first sit-in demonstrations in the 1940s in Peoria, Ill. He met King soon after the budding civil rights leader’s victory in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Vivian helped organize the Freedom Rides to integrate buses across the South and trained waves of activists in non-violent protest. It was Vivian’s bold challenge of a segregationist sheriff while trying to register Black voters in Selma, Alabama, that sparked hundreds, then thousands, to march across the Edmund Pettus bridge.
“He has always been one of the people who had the most insight, wisdom, integrity and dedication,” said Andrew Young, who also worked alongside King.
President Barack Obama honored Vivian the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. The reverend had continued to advocate for justice and equality in recent years. Speaking with students in Tennessee 50 years after the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, he explained that the civil rights movement was effective because activists used strategies to make sure that their messages were amplified.
“This is what made the movement; our voice was really heard. But it didn’t happen by accident; we made certain it was heard,” Vivian said.
Cordy Tindell Vivian was born July 28, 1924, in Howard County, Mo., but moved to Macomb, Ill., with his mother when he was still a young boy.
As a young theology student at the American Baptist College in Nashville, Tenn., Vivian helped organize that city’s first sit-ins. Under King’s leadership at SCLC, Vivian was national director of affiliates, traveling around the South to register voters. In 1965 in Selma, he was met on the Dallas County courthouse by Sheriff Jim Clark, who listened as Vivian argued for voting rights, and then punched him in the mouth.
Vivian stood back up and kept talking as the cameras rolled before he was stitched up and jailed. His mistreatment, seen on national television, eventually drew thousands of protesters, whose determination to march from Selma to Montgomery pressured Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act later that year.
Vivian continued to serve in the SCLC after King’s assassination in 1968, and became its interim president in 2012, lending renewed credibility and a tangible link to the civil rights era after the SCLC stagnated for years due to financial mismanagement and infighting.
“There must always be the understanding of what Martin had in mind for this organization,” Vivian said in a 2012 interview. “Nonviolent, direct action makes us successful. We learned how to solve social problems without violence. We cannot allow the nation or the world to ever forget that.”
Vivian had a stroke about two months ago but seemed to recover, Rivers said. Then, “he just stopped eating,” he said.
Rivers, 67, said he was 21 when he met Vivian at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Back then, he worked as an audio director when Vivian was the dean of the university’s divinity school. The two remained close over the years and Rivers said he handled the business side of Vivian’s work.
“He’s such a nice, gentle, courageous man,” Rivers said, adding that the reverend wasn’t in it for the money but, “he was always giving, giving, giving.”
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EU Leaders Hold Summit on COVID-19 Recovery Plan, Multi-Year Budget
In Brussels, European Union leaders are holding their first face-to-face summit in months on two key issues that will shape the bloc in the years ahead— a massive coronavirus economic recovery plan and its next multi-year budget. But differences, especially over the fund, remain sharp. Many are downplaying chances of striking a deal this time around.Face masks firmly on, the 27 European heads of state started early on talks scheduled to end Saturday. But in a sign of the difficult negotiations ahead — and in hopes of a deal this weekend — Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said he had brought extra clothing should the meetings be extended by another day.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, acknowledged differences remained very wide. Merkel says she is not certain an agreement will be reached at this summit.Germany and France, the EU’s most powerful members, have teamed up to support a proposed $857 billion fund of grants and loans to reboot coronavirus-hit economies–especially those of southern European countries like Italy and Spain.But four northern countries are reluctant to offer non-repayable grants—and want strict governance criteria. Here’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands—considered to toe the hardest line among the so-called “Frugal Four,” meaning his country, along with Austria, Sweden and Denmark.European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.“If the South is needing help from other countries to cope with the crisis — I understand that because there is limited scope to deal with that financially themselves — then I think it is only reasonable for us to ask for a clear commitment to reforms. And if then, loans have to be converted to a certain extent to grants, then reforms are even more crucial — and the absolutely guarantee that they have taken place.”Italy’s economy minister, Giovanni Tria, told an Italian newspaper his country would fight any changes to the current recovery fund proposal. Still, many leaders and experts have voiced optimism a compromise will be reached — possibly later this month.Also up for discussion is the EU’s next seven-year budget.French President Emmanuel Macron called for more solidarity and ambition among leaders to tackle the post-coronavirus recovery. He said the coming hours would be decisive — adding he was optimistic, but prudent of a positive outcome.For Germany’s Merkel, currently the bloc’s longest-serving leader and staunchly pro-EU one, a successful outcome may be particularly important. Merkel steps down next year, and analysts say she has an eye on her legacy. She also turned 66 on Friday, and Luxembourg’s Bettel said a deal on the recovery fund would be a great birthday present.
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