A Belarusian human rights group says police detained dozens of demonstrators in the capital and the city of Borisov on Wednesday as protests against the exclusion of two opposition candidates from the presidential ballot roiled the country. In Minsk, thousands of people stood in a 3-kilometer-long (2-mile-long) line outside the national elections commission to sign complaints about the removal of Viktor Babariko and Valery Tsepalko from the ballot for the Aug. 9 election. The two candidates were seen as the strongest challengers to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is seeking a sixth term. Police closed off the center of Minsk, and the human rights group Vesna said at least 20 people were arrested. Another 15 demonstrators were detained in the city of Borisov, the group said. Belarusian police officers detain a man in Minsk, Belarus, July 15, 2020.Thousands of people also took to the streets of Minsk and other cities in protest on Tuesday, and police said 250 were detained. The central election commission of Belarus allowed five presidential candidates to be named on the ballot, denying spots to Tsepkalo, founder of a successful high-technology park and a former ambassador to the United States, and former banker Babariko. The decision eliminated any serious competition for Lukashenko, who is seeking reelection after already spending a quarter-century in power. Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994, stifling opposition and independent news media. He accused protesters of plotting a revolution and promised to protect the country from one. “We will be defending the country with any lawful means. We will not surrender our country to anyone,” he said. People stand in a line outside the national elections commission to sign complaints about the removal of Viktor Babariko and Valery Tsepalko from the ballot for the Aug. 9 election in Minsk, Belarus, July 15, 2020.Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned mass detentions as provoking violence and violating protesters’ rights in Belarus. “The police sought to disperse peaceful gatherings, with excessive and unnecessary use of force and in many cases deploying police officers in plainclothes. This provoked violent responses from some protesters who tried to prevent others being arrested and beaten,” Aisha Jung, Amnesty International’s senior campaigner for Belarus, said in a statement. “However, according to eyewitnesses and widely available video footage, the gatherings remained largely peaceful, and many of those arrested were peaceful protesters,” Jung said. Belarusian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Olga Chemodanova said Wednesday that police demonstrated “self-restraint and high professionalism” despite “the aggression of certain individuals.” The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement that it won’t be deploying an election observation mission to Belarus due to a “lack of invitation” from the country’s government.
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Month: July 2020
Lawyers: Trump Might Claim Harassment in Tax Return Quest
A week after losing a Supreme Court ruling, President Donald Trump’s lawyers said Wednesday that they were considering challenging a subpoena for his tax records by criminal prosecutors on the ground that it’s a fishing expedition or a form of harassment or retaliation against him.The plans were outlined in a letter to a federal judge overseeing legal squabbles related to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s request to Trump’s longtime accountant for eight years of the president’s personal and corporate tax records in a criminal probe.The judge, Victor Marrero, scheduled a hearing for Thursday.Vance is seeking the records in part for a probe of payments that Trump’s then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged during the 2016 presidential race to keep the porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal from airing their claims of extramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to campaign finance and lying to Congress, among other crimes.In its ruling last week, the Supreme Court rejected arguments by Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department that the president cannot be investigated while he holds office or that a prosecutor must show a greater need than normal to obtain the tax records.The top court returned the fight over the subpoena to Marrero, saying Trump’s lawyers could still challenge it in the same manner as anyone served with a subpoena.FILE – Demonstrator Bill Christeson holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices ruled that a prosecutor in New York City can obtain President Donald Trump’s financial records, including tax returns, in Washington, July 9, 2020.Lawyers for the Republican president noted that the Supreme Court in its ruling said they could raise arguments that the subpoenas seek too much information or are designed to impede Trump’s constitutional duties or harass, manipulate or retaliate against him.“The president intends to raise some or all of these arguments,” the lawyers wrote.Lawyers for the prosecutor wrote in the jointly submitted letter that Trump’s lawyers were asking for more than they were allowed. They said Trump’s lawyers were basing their plans on a concurring opinion that conflicted with the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in the case, and that the lower-court judge already had rejected the same arguments Trump’s lawyers were suggesting they might make.Last September, Trump’s lawyers argued to Marrero that the subpoena requests by Vance were a “bad faith effort to harass” Trump. The judge rejected the argument.“This court has already found that there was no demonstrated bad faith, harassment or any other unusual circumstance,” Vance’s lawyers wrote. “And this court has rejected the president’s claim that there was any evidence of a ‘secondary motive’ that goes beyond good faith enforcement of the criminal laws.”FILE – Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.Lawyers for Vance, a Democrat, also objected to a request from Trump’s lawyers that they be entitled to gather new evidence before the subpoenas are enforced and that nothing occur until the Supreme Court issues a mandate.In Wednesday’s letter, they also expressed confidence after the Supreme Court victory, saying they could enforce the subpoena immediately but were holding off, “provided the appropriate schedule moves on an expedited basis.”Vance’s attorney, Carey Dunne, also asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to formally issue a certified copy of its decision last week to the lower court so Trump’s lawyers cannot argue that everyone must wait another three weeks before proceeding.Dunne said issues could arise in the “near future” concerning the applicable statutes of limitations if proceedings are delayed, potentially giving Trump “the absolutely temporary immunity” that the Supreme Court rejected. He also said further delay could result in the fading of memories by witnesses and the loss or disappearance of documents.
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Scores of Anti-Putin Protesters Arrested in Moscow, Monitor Says
Russian police arrested more than 100 demonstrators protesting constitutional reforms that could keep Vladimir Putin in power for 16 more years, a human rights monitoring group said.About 500 people, many wearing face masks branded with the word “no,” marched down a major street Wednesday in the Russian capital.Some waved banners demanding that Putin resign, while others called the Russian president a “thief.”OVD-Info, an independent political monitoring group, reported more than 100 arrests, but police and Russian officials made no comments.“I came here to sign the petition against the constitutional reforms because I am a nationalist,” one protester told Reuters, while a teenage girl blamed Putin for “the poverty in our country.”Russian voters this month approved changes to the constitution that allow Putin to remain president until 2036. Without the amendment, he would have been required to step down in four years.The opposition said the vote to amend the constitution was rigged.Putin has been in control in Russia as president or prime minister for 20 years.
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Path to White House Runs Through America’s ‘Rust Belt’
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are three industrial states Donald Trump narrowly won on his path to the White House in 2016 – and which Democrats hope to recapture this year. They are home to many communities where high-wage manufacturing jobs have disappeared in recent decades. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from Wisconsin, where job losses have continued during the pandemic as voters gear up for the presidential election in November.
Producer: Kane Farabaugh
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US Imposes Visa Restrictions on Chinese Tech Companies Employees
The United States is imposing visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese technology companies, including Huawei, for providing “material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally.” Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said telecommunications companies around the world should also “consider themselves on notice” that if they do business with Huawei, “they are doing business with human rights abusers.”The announcement is seen as the latest move to punish Chinese Communist Party’s alleged human rights abuses against China’s minority Muslim population.“Companies impacted by today’s action include Huawei, an arm of the CCP’s surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China. Certain Huawei employees provide material support to the CCP regime that commits human rights abuses,” said Pompeo in a separate statement.The State Department did not provide specific names of employees of Chinese technology companies affected by the visa restrictions.The U.S. move also came a day after the British government announced it would ban Huawei from playing a role in the development of Britain’s next generation 5G network. Washington says Huawei could provide the Chinese Communist Party a “back door” for spying, a claim that Huawei rejects.Huawei headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.The relationship between the world’s two leading economies is seen as at its lowest point in decades.In Beijing, China threatened Tuesday to impose sanctions on a U.S. aerospace company Lockheed Martin Corp., in response to Washington’s approval of a potential deal for Taiwan to buy parts to revamp defensive missiles built by the company.China has urged the U.S. to stop arms sale to Taiwan to “avoid further harming Sino-U.S. ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” China claims democratically self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.”To safeguard the country’s interests, China has decided to take necessary steps, and put sanctions on the main contractor for this sale, Lockheed Martin,” said Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.In a response to a question from VOA, Pompeo said Wednesday American companies should not be punished when the U.S. government is implementing the Taiwan Relations Act.“I regret that the Chinese Communist Party chose to make that threat against Lockheed Martin. It is not the first time they’ve chosen to do that to an American contractor who was working on a program that was between the United States and Taiwan. So, I regret that– I hope they’ll reconsider that and not follow through,” said Pompeo during a State Department press briefing.Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Since then, relations between the U.S. and Taiwan have been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act that was passed by Congress in April of 1979. The U.S. is bound by its law to supply Taiwan with defense equipment.“Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions,” said Lockheed Martin, adding it works closely with the U.S. government on any military sales to international customers. “Discussions about sales to foreign governments are best addressed by the U.S. government.”
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EU Leaders Seek Agreement on COVID-19 Recovery Fund
European heads of state will seek agreement over a proposed $856 billion pandemic recovery fund — and to discuss the bloc’s next multiyear budget — when they meet Friday in Brussels. Neither issue promises to be easily resolved. Backing the recovery package are hard-hit southern countries like Italy and Spain, which would benefit most from their proposed mix of loans, aid and grants. On the other side are the so-called “frugal four” — the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden — which warn spending must be responsible. German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany, July 15, 2020.Europe’s traditional powerhouses, France and Germany, have joined forces to support the package. Even so, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany — which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency — expressed uncertainty earlier this week that a deal will be struck at the Brussels summit.”I think Angela Merkel is pretty determined to reach an agreement,” said Rosa Balfour, director of the Carnegie Europe research organization in Brussels. “What she has said to be cautious is that if it’s not this weekend, it will be in the coming weeks.”At stake are many things — European unity, the direction of financial markets, but also lightening up a heavy EU agenda that includes other key issues, such as finishing up Brexit, Britain’s departure from the European Union.Tara Varma, head of the Paris office for the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the final funding agreement may look quite different from the original proposal.”But if ultimately they make it, that is quite a breakthrough,” she said. “And honestly, it’s a big move forward for the Germans, to implement the rest of their agenda, which is quite massive.”There are other stumbling blocks. Some researchers warn the rescue fund will siphon green investments needed to meet the EU’s ambitious climate goals. And Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban said he may veto any deal linked to rule-of-law criteria.Analyst Balfour said EU leaders might bow to Hungary’s demands — at least this time.”But in the long term, I do think it’s an existential threat to the EU, because the EU is so tied to the fact it is formed by democracies,” she said.The two-day summit takes place amid EU estimates the bloc’s economy will shrink 8.3 percent this year, before growing in 2021.
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Think Tank: Violence in DR Congo’s Ituri Leaves 1,000 Dead
Violence in DR Congo’s northeastern province of Ituri has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and caused around half a million people to flee their homes, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Wednesday.
The flareup has pitched the Hema ethnic group, who are predominantly herders, against the Lendu community, who are mostly sedentary farmers.
The two communities were embroiled in a bloody conflict between 1999-2003 that triggered concern across southern-central Africa and led to the European Union’s first foreign military mission, the short-term Operation Artemis.
The latest unrest has worrying ramifications for the notoriously troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and for neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, which played an important role in the 1999-2003 conflict, the ICG said in a report.
“Since December 2017, violence in the province of Ituri… has left nearly 1,000 people dead and half a million displaced,” the ICG said.
So far, Lendu leaders have distanced themselves from the militias, and the Hema have not mounted systematic reprisals, it said.
However, “they (the Hema) do not rule out mobilizing their youth if attacks continue,” it said.
“Young Hema have organized into self-defense groups and erected roadblocks in Ituri, which should be seen as forewarning of the risk of ethnic confrontation.”
The report called on President Felix Tshisekedi’s government to “negotiate the surrender” of Lendu militias, as part of a broader dialogue between the two communities and others.
It also suggested a four-party summit, bringing in the DRC with Angola, Rwanda and Uganda, to “help address the conflict’s regional dimensions.”
North and South provinces, which lie to the south of Ituri, are in the grip of militia groups that typically claim to defend the interests of given ethnic groups, and fight over resources in the mineral-rich region.
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South Africa Lockdown Deprives Needy Children of Food
The COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, the country worst hit by the virus on the continent, is raising worries about children getting adequate nutrition. The malnutrition of children has long been a problem in South Africa, but measures to control the pandemic have cut off some of the vulnerable from government meals programs. The coronavirus lockdown has disrupted a free meals program in South African schools for nine million poor children.The absence of those meals puts a lot of families in a tough spot, says director of The Teddy Bear Clinic, Dr. Shaheda Omar.”With children not being able to go to school, a lot of children have been deprived of having an opportunity of having access to food,” she said. “During the lockdown period, what we have also found, that many people have not been able to secure an income, to generate any form of income, people both in the formal sector and informal sector, have suffered I think, enormously as a result of this.” The worst off are the children below school age, under age five, who in some cases suffer from severe malnutrition and stunted growth. “Over 400,000 children in that age cohort category are not having access to food, so the food insecurity and if you just look at adequate nutrition and support of children, is definitely a grave situation, a situation that requires urgent attention.” Twenty-five years old and unemployed, Julia Moyo struggles to provide food for her five stepchildren. She says as a family, they are facing a challenge to maintain the children at the moment, since the grandmother, who was the main breadwinner, recently passed away. The father of the children is now the single breadwinner, says Moyo, but he is also helping other family members who live nearby. The United Nations’ World Food Program says between one fourth to one-third of South African children are stunted or too thin. Gilbert Tshitaudzi is a nutrition specialist with the U.N. International Children’s Fund in South Africa. “Children are not consuming enough food with the right nutrients that are needed for their growth is the immediate cause of malnutrition in children,” he said. “In infants and other children, it is due to poor infant feeding practices, where we find that most of the children are not breastfed. We need to remember that the greatest burden of all forms of malnutrition, is shouldered by children from the poorest and marginalized communities.” As the pandemic persists and more children go hungry and suffer from malnutrition, achieving the U.N.’s goal of “Zero Hunger” in the years to come is seriously in doubt.
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Praying for Rain by the Mekong as Monsoon Season Begins
As the monsoon gets underway across Indochina, farmers and fishermen are praying for rain after a lengthy drought — aggravated by climate change and dam construction. This year the Mekong River has seen its lowest levels since record keeping began 60 years ago. According to the The situation worsened in June, when rainfall was about 73 percent lower than the same month in 2019, when the drought was already underway. In its latest annual report, the MRC said improved monitoring of increasing droughts, extensive floods and extreme weather were key issues that needed to be addressed by the Lower Mekong countries. “Flood and drought have hit our region hard lately and require stronger regional collaboration,” MRC secretariat chief executive An Pich Hatda said, adding this included ensuring transparency, quality and timeliness in water data sharing. FILE – A local villager drive a boat where the future site of the Luang Prabang dam will be on the Mekong River, outskirt of Luang Prabang province, Laos, Feb. 5, 2020.Food security has emerged as a major issue with about 70 million people depending on the Mekong for their livelihoods and nutrition. Among them is Man Ly He who has plied the waters where the Mekong River meets the Tonle Sap tributary for four decades. He is upset with the construction of dams in northern Cambodia, Laos and China.
“The reason why there is no fish is because of the new dams, including Stung Treng, which blocked the river flow and the water levels are going up and down three or four times a month depending on whether the dams are open or closed. “This rainy season there has been no rain,” he added. Scientists have also tied the drought to the climate phenomenon known as the Indian Ocean Dipole, like El Nino in the Pacific Ocean, impacting the Indian monsoon and the wet season in mainland Southeast Asia. Unusually cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the eastern half of the Indian Ocean cause less rainfall in Southeast Asia, while warmer waters in its west cause floods in East Africa. The Dipole is aggravated by global warming. Temperatures peaked at record highs earlier this year but have since begun a return to normal with long range weather forecasters predicting improved rainfall patterns over the coming months. The shifting weather patterns are also creating hardship and forcing people to change the way they live. “My family wakes up at 2:00 a.m. to buy fish at Chhaing Chamras fish market and then we sell in the Kandal Market. We make small margins and now I buy fish because there are no fish in the river,” said Yan, a former fisherman. “My wife works for many hours in the market while I try to do other jobs like fixing the boat. We sell from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., then I pick up my wife. “My family prays after lunch and we relax for a few hours then we go back to market and sell fish again. At 8:00 p.m. come back home. Life in the Mekong is difficult.” The drought has also taken a toll on the 850 fish species in the Lower Mekong. Many, like the Irrawaddy Dolphin and the giant catfish, are endangered. Some fish have had to be transported to deeper pools after becoming trapped in mud-puddles. But record low water levels and plummeting fish catches have failed to move officials in Vientiane to curtail their hydro-electric dam construction, designed to turn land-locked Laos into the “battery of Asia.” FILE – Fishermen lay their nets on the Mekong River near Luang Prabang close to the site of an approved Laos dam site, Feb. 8, 2020.Vientiane recently announced it would proceed with its third dam across the mainstream of the Mekong at Pak Beng at a cost of $1.88 billion, following construction of Don Sahong dam at Siphandone, part of the famed 4,000 Islands, just north of the Cambodian border. The massive $3.8 billion dam in Xayaburi went into commercial operation in October. Sat Smey Ror from Chroy Chang Va village has lived on a boat since she was born. She has never seen water levels this low and she blames dams for poor fish catches while noting the collapse of a dam in Laos two years ago. “The water levels can rise quickly and when it turns dark in color, we can catch fish, maybe two or three kilograms a day. I heard that a dam collapsed when the water was too high,” she said. Dams and climate change are a dangerous combination. Extremes in the Indian Ocean Dipole in the past occurred about once every 17.3 years, but scientists are forecasting their frequency will increase to once every 6.3 years over this century. There are about 140 dams planned for the mainstream of the Mekong and its tributaries. Most are in China, but Beijing denies the dams are impacting down-stream water levels. FILE – The Dachaoshan dam on the upper Mekong River is pictured in Dachaoshan, Yunnan province, China.A report by research company Eyes on Earth Inc. in April found China has been restricting the Mekong’s natural water flow by hoarding water through a cascade of dams. “When drought sets in, China effectively controls the flow of the river,” Brian Eyler, the regional director of the Stimson Centre think tank said. Beijing dismissed the findings. Despite Beijing’s denials, water levels during last year’s monsoon season reached just 2.5 meters, a third of the usual rate of 7.5 meters. And scientists have documented the river turning blue, indicating a severe lack of the sediment needed to replenish the banks, and say soil erosion is now looming as the next threat to thousands of homes and buildings. Ny Chann contributed to this report.
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Praying for Rain by the Mekong as Monsoon Season Begins
Across the Mekong Delta fishermen, farmers and their families are hoping the current wet season will end a long running drought. Its effects are being felt in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and here in Cambodia where rainfall has been way short of expectations. Luke Hunt has our story.Camera: David Potter, Ny Chhan, Luke Hunt
Producer: Jason Godman
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British PM Defends COVID-19 Response to Opposition
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday defended his government’s COVID-19 response and preparations for a potential second wave of the pandemic as he fielded pointed questions from opposition lawmakers in parliament.In the House of Commons, opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer, referring to a report commissioned by the Government Office for Science, asked Johnson about the report’s recommendation that tracking and tracing of COVID-19 cases be expanded throughout July and August to prepare for a possible winter surge.Johnson said they were preparing for the possibility of a second wave but did not say the government was specifically following the report’s recommendations. Starmer questioned if Britain’s track and trace program was up to the task.The prime minister insisted the track and trace program was “doing fantastic work” and is as equal to or better that any system in the world. He said the program has resulted in 144,000 people across the nation agreeing to isolate themselves to fight the spread of the coronavirus.Starmer noted the most recent statistics show the program is slipping, contacting 70 percent of the people it needs to, while it was at 90 percent just a few weeks earlier. He questioned whether Johnson had read his own government’s report, which set out the worst-case scenario for the pandemic in the months ahead and what to do about it. Johnson said he was “aware” of the report and the government was taking every reasonable step to prepare. The prime minister was asked if his government would commit to an independent public inquiry to access its response to the pandemic. He said certainly there would be an inquiry, but the middle of combating the pandemic was not the appropriate time for it. Britain has reported one of the world’s highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths.On Tuesday Britain’s government said it will demand people wear face coverings inside shops.
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Media: Founder of Nigeria’s Gokada Found Dismembered in New York Apartment
A technology entrepreneur who founded Nigeria’s Gokada ride-hailing app was found decapitated and dismembered in a luxury New York apartment with a power saw plugged in nearby, New York media reported late Tuesday.
Police on Wednesday confirmed the death of Fahim Saleh in a statement and deemed it a homicide but offered none of the grisly details reported in New York media.
Detectives found Saleh’s torso near a power saw and later discovered his head and limbs sorted into plastic bags, police told New York crime reporters.
Saleh’s sister discovered the body Tuesday afternoon, and the fact the saw was still connected led detectives to suspect her arrival may have startled the perpetrator, who would have fled through another exit, the New York Times reported.
“We have a torso, a head that’s been removed, arms, and legs. Everything is still on the scene. We don’t have a motive,” police spokesman Carlos Nieves told the Daily News.
Saleh, 33, founded the Gokada motorbike hailing app. It was popular in the Nigerian megacity of Lagos until state officials in February banned all motorcycle taxis, known locally as ‘okada’ and able to weave through traffic.
Gokada, funded by U.S and Gulf investment and venture capital funds, has one of the largest fleets of motorcycle hailing taxis in Nigeria. But the company, along with its competitors, fell foul of regulators in Lagos state.
Security camera video showed Saleh in the apartment building’s elevator with a man in a dark suit, mask and gloves, the media reports said.
Video showed the masked man following Saleh into the apartment, where a struggle began.
A police spokesman declined to offer details beyond a short statement saying police found him unconscious and unresponsive and that emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead.
A Gokada spokesman did not respond to Reuters requests seeking comment.
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West African Neighbors Seek to Mediate in Mali Crisis
Envoys from Mali’s neighbors led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan were scheduled to arrive in Bamako on Wednesday in a bid to mediate in an escalating political crisis ahead of new high-risk protests. Representatives from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are having to bridge apparently irreconcilable differences between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and a protest movement that is demanding his resignation. Fresh protests have been set for Friday, a week after demonstrations that ignited three days of clashes with the security forces, leaving 11 dead and 158 injured, according to an official tally — Mali’s bloodiest toll from political unrest in years. FILE – Protesters gestures on a barricade put up in front of the Salam mosque of Badalabougou, where the influent Imam Mahmoud Dicko led a prayer dedicated to the victims of clashes in Bamako, July 12, 2020.The so-called June 5 Movement, an alliance of political, social and civil-society leaders gathered around a powerful imam named Mahmoud Dicko, is tapping into deep-seated anger. Malians are worried and frustrated by an eight-year-old jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes and swept into Niger and Burkina Faso. Many are also incensed at perceived government corruption and the outcome of long-delayed parliamentary elections in March and April that handed victory to Keita’s party. A rally on Friday will be a “ceremony of sacrifice and of prayer” for protest victims, opposition leader Mountaga Tall told reporters on Tuesday after opposition figures were released after several days in detention. “He who asked for us to get killed is no longer our president,” he said. “We are convinced that President IBK has neither the intellectual nor the physical capacity to lead the country,” he said, referring to the head of state by his initials. Several barricades were set up in the capital Bamako after he spoke, and some tires were burned, but otherwise the city was calm on Wednesday. Keita’s office said that the ECOWAS delegation would include constitutional experts. Protesters build barricades to block circulation on the Martyrs Bridge of Bamako, Mali, July 11, 2020.One of the potential solutions being explored by the authorities is to appoint new judges to the Constitutional Court, a tribunal that is a major target of protest anger. The court tossed out about 30 results of the legislative elections in a move that handed seats to members of Keita’s party. An ECOWAS mission to Mali last month concluded that the court’s decision was “at the root of the tension” and called on the government to review the contested results or stage new elections as soon as possible. It also called for a “consensus government of national union.” These recommendations have found a broad echo in the international community. Keita, for his part, has made several gestures toward the June 5 Movement, including the dissolution of the Constitutional Court to enable a U-turn on the contested seats. However, the dissolution creates legal as well as political complications, which the expected constitutional experts may be able to resolve.
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Turkey Marks Fourth Anniversary of Failed Coup Attempt
Turkey is marking the fourth anniversary of the July 15 failed coup attempt against the government, with ceremonies and events remembering its victims.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, accompanied by civilian “veterans” who fought against the coup, laid a wreath at a memorial in the presidential complex in Ankara and prayed. Erdogan was kicking off a series of events to commemorate the crushing of the coup, including one at parliament. Attendees were wearing masks as the event took place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 15, 2016, factions within the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to try to overthrow Erdogan’s government. A total of 251 people were killed and around 2,200 others were wounded as the coup plotters fired on people or bombed parliament and other government buildings. Around 35 alleged coup plotters were also killed.
Turkey has blamed U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, for the coup attempt. Gulen rejects the accusation. His network was designated a terrorist group and dubbed Fethullahist Terror Organization or FETO.
“We will continue our resolute fight inside our country and abroad until the last FETO member is brought to justice,” Erdogan said at a luncheon for the relatives of “martyrs” and the wounded.
The government declared a state of emergency after the coup attempt to crackdown on Gulen’s network.
Under emergency powers that were in place for two years, tens of thousands of people were arrested for alleged links to the coup and to Gulen and the trials continue. More than 130,000 people were fired from public service through emergency decrees, among them teachers and police officers.
Critics say the arrests and dismissals went too far, targeting all opposition to the government under Turkey’s wide terror laws.
Erdogan said more than 100 people with purported links to the cleric were caught abroad and brought back to Turkey to stand trial. Schools, cultural centers and associations set up across the world by Gulen’s transnational network were shuttered or transformed to institutions tied to the Turkish government.
The U.S. hasn’t extradited the 79-year-old cleric despite repeated requests.
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Rights Campaigners: Treason in Russia Can Mean Almost Anything
Treason in Russia can almost mean anything these days, say rights campaigners. The high-profile arrest last week of former defense reporter Ivan Safronov on a charge of high treason has prompted an international outcry, but his detention is part of a Kremlin-sponsored “spy mania” that’s seeing the net being cast far and wide for traitors and spies and entangling not only reporters and academic researchers. FILE – Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who works as an aide to the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, is detained on suspicion of treason and escorted before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, July 7, 2020.The number of people charged and convicted of treason and espionage has jumped five-fold in Russia since 2011 — with a noticeable acceleration after the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Twelve people were convicted in 2009 compared with 62 last year, according to MediaZona, an opposition website. Of the more than 300 charged for treason or espionage — or for divulging state secrets — since 2011, only one of those accused managed to secure an acquittal. Russia’s FSB intelligence agency is under pressure from President Vladimir Putin to uncover spies, according to political activists and commentators. “Every day, without interruption, brings more searches, detentions, arrests and criminal charges,” said Ilya Klishin, an opposition journalist and one of the organizers of the 2011-’12 protests in Moscow against election fraud. Instilling terror “Maybe there is no deeper logic behind all of this than the desire to intimidate the population, to instill terror — in the literal sense of the word,” he wrote in an opinion article for the English-language Moscow Times newspaper. “It has become a mechanical morning ritual: Wake up and scan the news to learn whom the authorities came for that day.” He said Russian authorities are targeting largely journalists and historians and that “the rest of us could be next.” In fact, several people who would classify themselves as “the rest” have been charged with espionage in a series of bizarre arrests the past few years, including of a newly-married couple who have been in jail for a year. Antonina Zimina was arrested in 2018, then last year her husband, Moscow-based lawyer Konstantin Antonets. Both are accused of blowing an FSB agent’s cover. Antonina’s father told Kommersant newspaper that during their 2015 wedding reception the agent, a friend, drank heavily, gossiped about his work and took photos with other guests. The happy couple sent copies of the wedding snaps to friends. These were posted on social media sites with the agent figuring in the photographs. It is not clear whether the couple were targeted because of their work, but analysts say that is unlikely as Antonina worked as a consultant for a Russian think tank founded by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin loyalist. FILE – Oksana Sevastidi, center, surrounded by journalists, leaves the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, Russia, March 12, 2017.Other arrests have included the detention of Oksana Sevastidi, a storekeeper from Sochi, in southern Russia, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for sending a text message to a friend in neighboring Georgia about a train she spotted carrying military equipment. Sevastidi served two years in prison before Putin pardoned her amid a public uproar. ‘No spy mania in Russia’ Last week, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed claims that Moscow is in the grip of spy mania or that the rising treason and espionage arrests are a show of force aimed at intimidating critics. “Compared, for example, with the U.S. and the EU, there is no spy mania in Russia,” he said, adding that he was not aware there had been a rise in espionage cases in Russia. FILE – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov listens during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 19, 2019.He added, though, that foreign intelligence services are operating aggressively in Russia.”It is no secret that foreign intelligence services are not slacking off in Russia, they work day and night against Russian officials, and Russian intelligence officers,” he said, adding Russian counter-intelligence “is not sitting back either.” Russian journalists were shocked by the arrest of Ivan Safronov, now a communications adviser to Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. The thirty-year-old Safronov denies allegations of selling military secrets to the Czech Republic and the United States. For many years he was a highly respected military correspondent for leading Russian newspapers. So far, the authorities have no revealed evidence justifying the treason charge. Ivan Pavlov, the journalist’s lawyer, told independent broadcaster Dozhd that the charges were linked to Safronov’s past reporting and not his job at the space agency, which he joined in May. If convicted, Safronov could be sentenced to 20 years in jail. Since his arrest, dozens of journalists have been arrested protesting his detention, most have been released. “Now Vladimir Putin’s been in power for 20 years and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks,” said one of Safronov’s supporters, journalist Grigory Pasko. He told the BBC: “There are no brakes now; no restraints. They can do what they want, how they want and to whomever they want.” In 1997, Pasko was accused of treason. Safronov’s lawyer, Pavlov, says there appear to be trends when it comes to the FSB targeting. “A few years ago there was a trend [of going after] scientists, they started taking them in droves. Well now, it’s you [journalists],” he told the Meduza, an independent news site. Echoes of the past The trends, though, start merging, according to Ilya Klishin. He said the Russian intelligence agencies seem even more emboldened since the amending this month of the Russian constitution allowing Putin to remain in office until 2036. They seem suddenly to have “redoubled their activity” and “things feel different.” For some, the rising treason arrests amount to an echo, albeit a faint one, of the blood-drenched 1930s, when communist dictator Joseph Stalin staged show trials of his enemies or those he perceived as potential threats, cowering an already terrified population. The Moscow show trials also helped to intensify nationalist feeling by making Russians feel their country was beleaguered — under threat not just from ideological foes abroad but from fifth-columnists at home as well.
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Trump Looks to Scale Back Environmental Reviews for Projects
President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new federal rule to speed up the environmental review process for proposed highways, gas pipelines and other major infrastructure, a move that critics are describing as the dismantling of a 50-year-old environmental protection law.
Trump will travel to Atlanta on Wednesday to announce the federal rule as he seeks to make it easier to meet some of the country’s infrastructure needs. When he first announced the effort in January, the administration set a two-year deadline for completing full environmental impact reviews while less comprehensive assessments would have to be completed within one year. The White House said the final rule will promote the rebuilding of America.
Critics call the Republican president’s efforts a cynical attempt to limit the public’s ability to review, comment on and influence proposed projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, one of the country’s bedrock environmental protection laws.
“This may be the single biggest giveaway to polluters in the past 40 years,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that works to save endangered species.
Trump has made slashing government regulation a hallmark of his presidency and held it out as a way to boost jobs. But environmental groups say the regulatory rollbacks threaten public health and make it harder to curb global warming. With Congress and the administration divided over how to boost infrastructure investment, the president is relying on his deregulation push to demonstrate progress.
“The United States can’t compete and prosper if a bureaucratic system holds us back from building what we need,” Trump said when first announcing the sweeping rollback of National Environmental Policy Act rules.
Georgia is emerging as a key swing state in the general election. Trump won the Republican-leaning state by 5 percentage points in 2016, but some polls show him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. This will be Trump’s ninth trip to Georgia and his sixth visit to Atlanta during his presidency.
The president’s trip also comes as the state has seen coronavirus cases surge and now has tallied more than 12,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths.
Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is running against incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue, said Trump’s decision to come to Georgia to discuss infrastructure as the state’s coronavirus crisis worsens demonstrates that the president is “in denial and out of control.”
“Coming here for a routine photo-op is, frankly, bizarre, surreal against this unprecedented health and economic crisis,” Ossoff said.
Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said that if Ossoff views a major policy announcement to expedite critical infrastructure projects as anything other than about job growth and economic expansion, then it might explain why he lost an election two years ago.
The White House said the administration’s efforts will expedite the expansion of Interstate 75 near Atlanta, an important freight route where traffic can often slow to a crawl. The state will create two interstate lanes designed solely for commercial trucks. The state announced last fall, before the White House unveiled its proposed rule, that it was moving up the deadline for substantially completing the project to 2028.
Thousands of Americans on both sides of the new federal rule wrote to the Council on Environmental Quality to voice their opinions.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited a North Carolina bridge in its letter as an example of unreasonable delays, saying the bridge that connected Hatteras Island to Bodie Island took 25 years to complete, but only three years to build. “The failure to secure timely approval for projects and land management decisions is also hampering economic growth,” the business group wrote.
The Natural Resources Defense Council said that when Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act 50 years ago, it did so with the understanding that environmental well-being is compatible with economic well-being. The proposed rule, it said, would lead federal agencies to make decisions with significant environmental impacts without ever considering those impacts in advance.
“At the end of the day, it would lead to poor decision, increased litigation and less transparency,” said Sharon Buccino, a senior director at the environmental group.
Trump’s trip to Georgia comes one day after Biden announced an infrastructure plan that places a heavy emphasis on improving energy efficiency in buildings and housing as well as promoting conservation efforts in the agriculture industry. In the plan, Biden pledges to spend $2 trillion over four years to promote his energy proposals.
Trump’s push to use regulatory changes to boost infrastructure development also comes as the House and Senate pursue starkly different efforts. The Democratic-controlled House passed a $1.5 trillion plan that goes beyond roads and bridges and would fund improvements to schools, housing, water and sewer, and broadband. A GOP-controlled Senate panel passed a bill last year setting aside $287 billion for roads and bridges, but other committees are still working on the measure, including how to pay for it.
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Trump Signs Hong Kong Bill, Attacks Biden on China
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed legislation that slaps sanctions on Chinese officials who undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, and an executive order that ends preferential treatment to the Chinese special autonomous region. In his remarks, Trump sought to portray himself as tougher on China than his political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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Taiwan-EU Disagreement Reflects ‘Mess’ in Reopening Borders after COVID-19
Analysts say a dispute between Taiwan and the European Union for its ban on Taiwanese travelers may typify future diplomatic squabbles among governments around the world as they seek consensus on allowing international travel amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Foreign Ministry in Taipei said this week it hoped the EU would put Taiwan on a safe list of places from which citizens can travel in Europe. Taiwan has nearly zero active disease cases but won’t reciprocate by allowing in EU citizens, a problem for the European side. Taiwan says the EU isn’t safe from disease yet. Taiwan’s political rival, China, may have asked the European Union to shun Taiwan too, some analysts say. FILE – Youths wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk on a street in Taipei, Taiwan, March 30, 2020.The Taiwan case exposes a lack of standard, internationally accepted consular practices on how governments should reopen to foreign travelers — the source of economically crucial trade and tourism — in a world where successful disease control varies widely. Some countries want reciprocity in the same spirit they decide the price of visas, experts believe. Others show signs of letting in just business travelers in the short term, they say, and a lot in Asia are expected to stay shut completely until a vaccine comes out. “Deglobalization is continuing in the face of COVID-19 with the collapse of many of the systems that underpin global economic development,” said Stuart Orr, professor of management at Deakin University in Australia. “This will continue to highlight the cultural distances between sovereign states and lead to increasing differences in expectations about border reopening. “In the face of deglobalization, shared understandings between sovereign states is decreasing rather than increasing,” Orr added. Japan plans to ease travel restrictions by letting in some 250 business travelers per day from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported in June. The target countries all have low COVID-19 caseloads. Singapore and six Chinese cities and provinces have agreed to open an immigration “fast lane” for business travelers, the Singaporean Foreign Ministry says on its website. The often-deadly disease first surfaced in China, which is also a key source of travel revenue for Singapore. Australian media quoted their country’s tourism minister last month saying the border would stay sealed until 2021. The European Union, by contrast, opened its borders to all 27 member nations on June 15 despite lingering outbreaks in some spots. FILE – People cross the border between France and Spain at Behobie, southwestern France, June 21, 2020. Spain reopened its borders to European tourist in a bid to kickstart its economy.Hopeful travelers are braced now even for bans on leaving their own countries and on returning to countries where they hold long-term residence permits. The Philippines won’t let most citizens out, for example, while China has banned foreign permit holders from reentry. “It’s a real mess all over the world and the list of rules is so long it’s really a nightmare trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist with the market research firm IHS Markit in Singapore. “There’s no standard. Every country makes its own decision about how they want to go about this.” Most Asian governments will hold out for a vaccine before any mass reopening moves, Biswas forecast. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it plans to keep talking with EU officials about letting Taiwanese travelers enter. The European bloc has opened to citizens of 15 outside countries including some that report higher COVID-19 caseloads than Taiwan’s. “The EU decides not only on the grounds of med [medical] records and the factual reality,” said Fabrizio Bozzato, Taiwan-based researcher at the CEMAS Center research forum at the University of Rome. “Its decisions are also the result of political considerations, so the exclusion of Taiwan from the first iteration of the list does not come as a total surprise.” FILE – A tourist from Taiwan wears stickers on her back, in Milan, as Italy was hit by the coronavirus outbreak, Feb. 25, 2020.The EU’s demand for Taiwan’s reciprocity is probably just an excuse, said Chao Chien-min, dean of social sciences at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. He suspects European countries want to get on the good side of China because of the Asian powerhouse’s global economic clout. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and condemns other governments from treating the island like a state. “Because their relations with mainland China are already poor, they don’t need to make relations even worse because of Taiwan,” Chao said.
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Напад російських окупантів на медиків – воєнний злочин. Мовчання зеленого карлика – злочин також!
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Бунт рабочих газпрома: у монополиста нет денег на зарплаты
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Карлик пукин в бешенстве: газпром продолжает терпеть катастрофу на газовом рынке Турции
Карлик пукин в бешенстве: газпром продолжает терпеть катастрофу на газовом рынке Турции
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Зелёный карлик и крадун аваков делают «антиреформу» для водителей Украины
Зелёный карлик и крадун аваков делают «антиреформу» для водителей Украины
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ICE Won’t Compel Foreign Students to Be on Campus
Students and educators expressed relief and joy after the U.S. government withdrew a rule requiring international students to be on campus this autumn or risk losing their visa status. Since last week, students and educators have been immersed in confusion and anxiety, they said, over the uncertainty of whether they would be allowed to attend their classes online instead of in person. Since March, many colleges and universities closed their campuses and moved classes online to thwart the spread of the COVID-19 virus. “This is a significant victory. The directive had disrupted all of American higher education,” wrote Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow in an email to the Harvard community. “I have heard from countless international students who said that the July 6 directive had put them at serious risk. These students – our students — can now rest easier and focus on their education, which is all they ever wanted to do.” Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology had filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies, which released the directive that international students had to attend autumn classes in person – and not only online – or they would lose their visa status and risk deportation.Over 200 US Universities Challenge ICE Guidelines on Foreign Students Hundreds of higher education institutions have filed briefs in support of lawsuits challenging guidelines that will not allow into the US international students whose coursework would be all online”I’m pretty relieved right now because, like, you know, I have some sort of clarity on the foreseeable future,” Jaskirat Panjrath, a freshman at Parsons School of Design in New York, who had expressed great anxiety to VOA before ICE rescinded its ruling.US Visa Changes Create Panic Among Indian StudentsRequirement by immigration authorities to be on campus during fall studies causes confusion, anxiety“Today’s decision is a victory for campuses and communities across the nation. The July 6 guidance dangerously linked international students’ legal status to their institution’s decision-making on how best to navigate keeping their campus community safe during a highly unpredictable pandemic,” Esther D. Brimmer, executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, wrote in a statement. “It put university administrators in the position of weighing the deportation of valued members of their campus community against the public health risks of holding in-person classes. We are heartened to see the guidance put to rest,” she stated. “A victory for international students across the nation,” tweeted Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and one of 200 schools that filed court papers in support of a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology against the federal government. “Thank you to every institution and individual who joined us in speaking out against this policy and taking action to reverse it.” “I think it’s fantastic that there were so many colleges and universities that stood behind their international students and did everything they could to ensure that we could keep our place,” Emma MacGillivray, a rising senior at Drexel University, from Canada told VOA. “This news has given many of us piece of mind and the security in knowing that we will not be forced to leave, and we can continue our education uninterrupted,” MacGillivray, a student athlete in women’s squash. “International students are an extraordinary benefit not just to American higher education but to our entire nation, resulting in a wealth of new ideas, cultural connections, cutting-edge technology, and life-saving medical advances, including in the fight against COVID-19,” stated Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. Mitchell pointed to “the economic benefit” that more than one million international students bring to the United States: about $41 billion and more than 450,000 U.S. jobs. “Honestly, I’m feeling very relieved, of course. That was the first part like, I’m glad we don’t have to go through this,” Bansari Kamdar, master’s in applied economics at University of Massachusetts-Boston, told VOA. “But on the other side, it just has made us so aware of the precariousness of the situation of international students here, right? Like we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Kamdar said. While there are more international students in the United States than ever, analytics show a softening in enrollment in new students over the past few years, according to the Institute for International Education, which compiles an annual snapshot of international students in the U.S.Fewer Foreign Students Enrolling in US College and UniversitiesAnnual Open Doors report of international students in US shows increase in total international enrollment from previous year, but a decrease in new international student enrollment“While this is a positive outcome, we cannot ignore the damage inflicted by the perception of the July 6 guidance – the administration was willing, until this guidance was rescinded, to force international students to choose between maintaining legal immigration status and what is best for their health and safety,” NAFSA’s Brimmer wrote.US Universities Brace for Big Decline in International StudentsLatest policy from immigration agency says students must be on campus or lose visa status“The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States remains unpredictable and institutions must be trusted and be given the authority to make decisions that are right for their campuses based on their local circumstances and the safety and well-being of all involved,” Brimmer said.
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