The U.N. migration agency reports Insecurity and flash flooding is upending the lives of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in the Lake Chad Basin.
Chad’s Lake Province borders Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. The region has been under repeated attacks by multiple armed groups since 2015 forcing millions of people to flee. The International Organization for Migration reports more than 360,000 people in this part of Chad are forcibly displaced. IOM spokesman, Paul Dillon says new figures show a 22 percent increase in the number of people who have fled their homes since April. This, he says, means that over half of the region’s population now is considered displaced because of the protracted insurgency. “Recurrent security attacks and incursions by non-state armed groups since the beginning of the year prompted the Chadian Government in March to declare the departments of Fouli and Kaya, two of Lake Chad’s borderlands departments as war zones,” he said. “Complicating the forced displacement in response to the security issues, the Lake Region is experiencing the highest rainfall in nearly 30 years.” IOM reports flash flooding of villages and fields have prompted nearly 12,000 people to flee between August 8 and 16, one of the highest numbers it has ever recorded in such a short period. Dillon calls this a worrying trend as the displacement keeps recurring with increasing frequency. He says people are facing a double security and environmental crisis amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. “Three-quarters of the displaced persons IOM identified live in displacement sites, most of which are made from straw and metal structures,” he said. “Many of them sleep in the open without adequate protection from the ongoing, continuing bad weather, with limited access to amenities such as water, hygiene installations, health services and COVID-19 protective equipment.” IOM is providing emergency humanitarian aid to thousands of vulnerable people, including temporary or semi-permanent shelters, and non-food items including hygiene kits, sleeping mats and basic cooking equipment. The agency says it also is involved in a range of peacebuilding, community stabilization and recovery activities.
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Month: August 2020
German President Condemns Attempt Break-In to Reichstag
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday condemned an attempt by protesters to break-in to storm the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building, as an “unacceptable attack on the heart of our democracy.” “We will never accept this,” Steinmeier said in an Instagram message. The incident took place on Saturday evening after some 38,000 protesters gathered in Berlin during the day to protest against the country’s coronavirus restrictive measures. After about two hours, police dispersed the protesters, citing disregard of social distancing rules. The German president called the protesters a “right-wing extremist rabble,” while praised the security forces who “acted extremely prudently in a difficult situation.” “The Reichstag building is the seat of our Parliament and thus the symbolic center of our democracy,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. “The fact that sowers of chaos and extremists are abusing it for their own purposes is unacceptable,” Seehofer added.
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Montenegro Voting for New Parliament; Election to Determine Path Forward
Montenegrins vote Sunday in parliamentary elections, choosing between the path toward EU membership, led by the long-ruling pro-Western party, or closer ties with Serbia and Russia advocated by a coalition of opposition groups.The elections are being held as a dispute over a religious property law opposed by the influential Serbian Orthodox Church brews.The church argues the law permits Montenegro to confiscate its property in efforts to create a separate Montenegrin church, the government has denied the claim.The main pro-Serb and -Russian opposition alliance, For the Future of Montenegro, backs the church.Polls predict the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, a strong Western ally, in power for about 30 years, will finish first but may not have the votes to form a government alone.Montenegro under the DPS and Djukanovic, broke with Serbia and Russia to join NATO in 2017, after declaring independence from Serbia in 2006.Internally, DPS and Djukanovic, have faced accusations of an autocratic rule, as well as of widespread graft and criminal links.Some 540,000 Montenegrins are eligible to vote in the Balkan country for the 81-seat Skupstina, or Assembly.
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India Sets World Record for Coronavirus Infections in 24 Hours
India reported 78,761 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Sunday, the highest single day rise in the world since the pandemic began, while the county is continuing to open its economy.It was the fourth consecutive day that India has registered more than 75,000 infections.With a population of 1.4 billion people, India is the third most infected nation in the world, behind the United States and Brazil, with 3.5 million cases and more than 63,000 deaths, according to official statistics provided by the country’s health ministry.In several European cities Saturday demonstrators rallied against restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak began.Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin to march against mask-wearing and social distancing rules. Police say they arrested about 300 protesters. In London, demonstrators in Trafalgar Square rallied against what they said is the “medical tyranny” that has been placed on them by masks and distancing.A man with a placard reading in German: ‘Watch out! Covidiot’ takes part in a protest against the increasing coronavirus preventative measures in Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 29, 2020.A few hundred protesters in Paris demonstrated against the capital’s mandatory mask-wearing mandate.In Zurich, about 1,000 demonstrators skeptical of COVID-19 rules called for a “return to freedom.”U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement Saturday night that he is extending the federal cost-sharing for the deployment of the National Guard in Louisiana to help with the state’s response to COVID-19 and to help facilitate the Southern state’s economic recovery.Public health departments throughout the United States are calling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse changes the federal agency recently made to its public coronavirus testing guidelines.The Big Cities Health Coalition and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represent thousands of local departments, sent a letter Friday to the heads of the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requesting that the agencies reverse a decision to stop testing people who have been exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic.The organizations called on the government agencies to reinstate recommendations that people who have been exposed to the virus be tested even if they are asymptomatic.At least 33 states are not following the new CDC guidelines and continue to recommend testing for all people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms, according to an analysis by Reuters news agency.Johns Hopkins University reports there are more than 25 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. The United States has almost 6 million infections, followed by Brazil with 3.8 million and India with 3.5 million.
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China’s New Tech Export Controls Could Give Beijing a Say in TikTok Sale
China’s new rules around tech exports mean ByteDance’s sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations could need Beijing’s approval, a Chinese trade expert told state media, a requirement that would complicate the forced and politically charged divestment.ByteDance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to divest short video app TikTok — which is challenging the order — in the United States amid security concerns over the personal data it handles.Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp are among the suitors for the assets, which also includes TikTok’s Canada, New Zealand and Australia operations.However, China late on Friday revised a list of technologies that are banned or restricted for export for the first time in 12 years and Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the changes would apply to TikTok.”If ByteDance plans to export related technologies, it should go through the licensing procedures,” Cui said in an interview with Xinhua published on Saturday.China’s Ministry of Commerce added 23 items –- including technologies such as personal information push services based on data analysis and artificial intelligence interactive interface technology — to the restricted list.It can take up to 30 days to obtain preliminary approval to export the technology.TikTok’s secret weapon is believed to be its recommendation engine that keeps users glued to their screens. This engine, or algorithm, powers TikTok’s “For You” page, which recommends the next video to watch based on an analysis of your behavior.Cui noted that ByteDance’s development overseas had relied on its domestic technology that provided the core algorithm and said the company may need to transfer software codes or usage rights to the new owner of TikTok from China to overseas.”Therefore, it is recommended that ByteDance seriously studies the adjusted catalog and carefully considers whether it is necessary to suspend” negotiations on a sale, he added.ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.China’s foreign ministry has said that it opposes the executive orders Trump has placed on TikTok and that Beijing will defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.
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1 Killed as Trump Supporters, Protesters Clash in Portland
One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the streets, police said.It wasn’t clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city’s downtown. An Associated Press freelancer observed police medics working on the body of the victim, who appeared to be a white man.“Portland Police officers heard sounds of gunfire from the area of Southeast 3rd Avenue and Southwest Alder Street. They responded and located a victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medical responded and determined that the victim was deceased,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.Portland, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon, has been the site of nightly protests for more than three months since the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. Hundreds have been arrested by local and federal law enforcement and, before the shooting, police made several arrests Saturday and advised residents to avoid the downtown.The chaotic scene came two days after Trump invoked Portland as a liberal city overrun with violence in a speech at the Republican National Convention as part of his “law and order” reelection campaign theme. The caravan marked the third Saturday in a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.The caravan of Trump supporters had gathered earlier in the day at a nearby mall and drove as a group to the heart of Portland. As they arrived in the city, protesters attempted to stop them by standing in the street and blocking bridges.Videos from the scene showed sporadic fighting, as well as Trump supporters firing paintball pellets at opponents and using bear spray as counter-protesters threw things at the Trump caravan.“There have been some instances of violence between demonstrators and counterdemonstrators,” Portland Police said via Twitter. “Officers have intervened and in some cases made arrests.”The Black Lives Matter demonstrations usually target police buildings and federal buildings. Some protesters have called for reductions in police budgets while the city’s mayor and some in the Black community have decried the violence, saying it’s counterproductive.Early Saturday morning, fires set outside a police union building that is a frequent site for protests prompted police to declare a riot.An accelerant was used to ignite a mattress and other debris that was laid against the door of the Portland Police Association building, police said in a statement. At least one dumpster had also been set on fire in the street nearby.The commotion followed a sit-in in the lobby of the Portland mayor’s condominium building Friday night.
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Australian Religious Leaders Criticize ‘Immoral’ COVID-19 Vaccine Deal
A coronavirus deal signed by Australia with an international drug company is raising ethical concerns among prominent church leaders.Australia has signed a deal with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to produce and distribute a vaccine being developed by Britain’s Oxford University… if the treatment works.But three of Australia’s most senior archbishops have written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to reconsider the agreement, saying the use of “fetal tissue” in the research is “deeply immoral.”“To use that tissue then for science is reprehensible,” said Glenn Davies, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. “Once I know something that is morally compromised, it is my job to speak out about it.”The Oxford University study uses embryonic kidney cells harvested from a female fetus in the Netherlands in 1973.Dr. Nick Coatsworth, Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, says the work adheres to strict guidelines.“There are strong ethical regulations surrounding the use of any human cell, and this is a very professional, highly-powered research unit,” he said.Other vaccines in Australia use genetic material that originally came from a human fetus. They include inoculations against rubella, hepatitis A and rabies.Senior religious leaders have not explicitly called for a boycott of the potential Oxford University COVID-19 drug. But they have said that members of their congregations might consider their “individual conscience.”Experts have stressed that any successful vaccine for coronavirus developed using fetal cells would have no remnants of that genetic material in the final product.
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Protests in European Cities Target COVID Restrictions
Demonstrators in several European cities Saturday rallied against restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak.Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin to march against mask-wearing and social distancing rules. Police say they arrested about 300 protesters.In London, demonstrators in Trafalgar Square rallied against what they said is the “medical tyranny” that has been placed on them by masks and distancing.A few hundred protesters in Paris demonstrated against the capital’s mandatory mask-wearing mandate.In Zurich, about 1,000 demonstrators skeptical of COVID-19 rules called for a “return to freedom.”U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement Saturday night that he is extending the federal cost-sharing for the deployment of the National Guard in Louisiana to help with the state’s response to COVID-19 and to help facilitate the Southern state’s economic recovery.Public health departments throughout the United States are calling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse changes the federal agency recently made to its public coronavirus testing guidelines.The Big Cities Health Coalition and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represent thousands of local departments, sent a letter Friday to the heads of the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requesting that the agencies reverse a decision to stop testing people who have been exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic.The organizations called on the government agencies to reinstate recommendations that people who have been exposed to the virus be tested even if they are asymptomatic. At least 33 states are not following the new CDC guidelines and continue to recommend testing for all people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms, according to an analysis by Reuters news agency. Johns Hopkins University reports there are nearly 25 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. The United States has almost 6 million infections, followed by Brazil with 3.8 million and India with 3.4 million.
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Zuckerberg says Facebook Erred in Not Removing Militia Post
Facebook made a mistake in not removing a militia group’s page earlier this week that called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid violent protests after police shot Jacob Blake, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.The page for the “Kenosha Guard” violated Facebook’s policies and had been flagged by “a bunch of people,” Zuckerberg said in a video posted Friday on Facebook. The social media giant has in recent weeks adopted new guidelines removing or restricting posts from groups that pose a threat to public safety.Facebook took down the page Wednesday, after an armed civilian allegedly killed two people and wounded a third Tuesday night amid protests in Kenosha that followed the shooting of Blake, who is Black.”It was largely an operational mistake,” Zuckerberg said. “The contractors, the reviewers, who the initial complaints were funneled to, didn’t, basically didn’t pick this up.”Zuckerberg did not apologize for the error and said that so far, Facebook hasn’t found any evidence that Rittenhouse was aware of the Kenosha Guard page or the invitation it posted for armed militia members to go to Kenosha.Facebook is now taking down posts that praise the shooting or shooter, Zuckerberg said. Yet a report Thursday by The Guardian newspaper found examples of support and even fundraising messages still being shared on Facebook and its photo-sharing service, Instagram.Zuckerberg also contrasted the treatment of Blake, who was shot in the back by Kenosha police, and the white 17-year-old now charged in Tuesday’s slayings, Kyle Rittenhouse, who carried an AR-15-style rifle near police without being challenged. Zuckerberg also acknowledged the civil rights demonstration Friday in Washington, D.C.”There’s just a sense that things really aren’t improving at the pace that they should be, and I think that’s really painful, really discouraging,” Zuckerberg said.Zuckerberg also said the company is working on improving its execution, though he did not provide details. He acknowledged that the approaching presidential election would present greater challenges around polarizing content.”There is a real risk and a continued increased risk through the election during this very sensitive and polarized and highly charged time,” he said.
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Italy Sends Help to Banksy’s Overloaded Migrant Rescue Boat
The Italian coast guard sent help Saturday to a rescue boat funded by British street artist Banksy after the vessel issued urgent calls for assistance, saying it was stranded in the Mediterranean and overloaded with migrants. The coast guard said a patrol boat dispatched from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa had taken on board 49 of “those considered most vulnerable” among the 219 migrants picked up by the ship since Thursday off the coast of Libya. Named after a French feminist anarchist, the Louise Michel started operating last week. Despite the help from Italy, it has still not found a safe port for the rest of the mainly African migrants on board. In this undated handout photo, people pose after being rescued by the Louise Michel, a migrant search-and-rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean and financed by British street artist Banksy, at sea. (MV Louise Michel/Handout via Reuters)The 49 people who were transferred off the ship included 32 women and 13 children, the Italian coast guard said. The Louise Michel, a German boat manned by a crew of 10, issued a series of tweets overnight and Saturday saying its situation was worsening and appealing for help from authorities in Italy, Malta and Germany. “We are reaching a state of emergency. We need immediate assistance,” said one tweet, adding that it was also carrying a body bag containing one migrant who had died. Another tweet said the boat was unable to move and “no longer the master of her own destiny” because of her overcrowded deck and a life raft deployed at her side, “but above all due to Europe ignoring our emergency calls for immediate assistance.” Before Italy’s coast guard intervened, an Italian charity ship, the Mare Jonio, said it was leaving the Sicilian port of Augusta, much farther away than Lampedusa, to offer assistance. Two U.N. agencies called for the “urgent disembarkation” of the Louise Michel and two other ships carrying a total of more than 400 migrants in the Mediterranean. About 200 are on the Sea Watch 4, a German charity ship, while 27 have been on board the commercial tanker Maersk Etienne since their rescue on August 5. The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a joint statement they were “deeply concerned about the continued absence of dedicated EU-led search-and-rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean.” “The humanitarian imperative of saving lives should not be penalized or stigmatized, especially in the absence of dedicated state-led efforts,” they said. In this still image taken from video, a Banksy graffiti in seen on the Louise Michel, a migrant search-and-rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean, Aug. 17, 2020. (MV Louise Michel/Reuters)Italy is the destination of most migrants who have departed from Libya across the Mediterranean in recent years. The influx has created political tensions in Rome and fueled the success of Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League party. The 30-meter long (98-foot) Louise Michel, a former French Navy boat painted in pink and white, was bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork. The side of the vessel’s cabin features a picture of a girl holding a heart-shaped life buoy in Banksy’s familiar stenciled style. Bristol-born Banksy, who keeps his identity a secret, is known for his political or social-commentary graffiti that has popped up in cities around the world.
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Far-Right Extremists Try to Enter German Parliament
Far-right extremists tried to storm the German parliament building Saturday following a protest against the country’s pandemic restrictions but were intercepted by police and forcibly removed.The incident occurred after a daylong demonstration by tens of thousands of people opposed to the wearing of masks and other government measures intended to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Police ordered the protesters to disband halfway through their march around Berlin after participants refused to observe social distancing rules, but a rally near the capital’s iconic Brandenburg Gate took place as planned.Footage of the incident showed hundreds of people, some waving the flag of the German Reich of 1871-1918 and other far-right banners, running toward the Reichstag building and up the stairs.Police confirmed on Twitter that several people had broken through a cordon in front of Parliament and “entered the staircase of the Reichstag building, but not the building itself.””Stones and bottles were thrown at our colleagues,” police said. “Force had to be used to push them back.”Germany’s top security official condemned the incident.”The Reichstag building is the workplace of our Parliament and therefore the symbolic center of our liberal democracy,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.”It’s unbearable that vandals and extremists should misuse it,” he said, calling on authorities to show “zero tolerance.”People gather at the Victory Column as they attend a protest rally in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 29, 2020 against new coronavirus restrictions in Germany. Police in Berlin requested thousands of reinforcements from other parts of Germany.Earlier, thousands of far-right extremists had thrown bottles and stones at police outside the Russian Embassy. Police detained about 300 people throughout the day.Berlin’s regional government had tried to ban the protests, warning that extremists could use them as a platform and citing anti-mask rallies earlier this month where rules intended to stop the virus from being spread further weren’t respected.Protest organizers successfully appealed the decision Friday, though a court ordered them to ensure social distancing. Failure to enforce that measure prompted Berlin police to dissolve the march while it was still in progress.During the march, which authorities said drew about 38,000 people, participants expressed their opposition to a wide range of issues, including vaccinations, face masks and the German government in general. Some wore T-shirts promoting the “QAnon” conspiracy theory while others displayed white nationalist slogans and neo-Nazi insignia, though most participants denied having far-right views.Uwe Bachmann, 57, said he had come from southwestern Germany to protest for free speech and his right not to wear a mask.”I respect those who are afraid of the virus,” said Bachmann, who was wearing a costume and a wig that tried to evoke stereotypical Native American attire. He suggested, without elaborating, that “something else” was behind the pandemic.Another protester said he wanted Germany’s current political system abolished and a return to the constitution of 1871 on the grounds that the country’s postwar political system was illegal. Providing only his first name, Karl-Heinz, he had traveled with his sister from their home near the Dutch border to attend the protest and believed that the coronavirus cases being reported in Germany now were “false positives.”Germany has seen an upswing in new cases in recent weeks. The country’s disease control agency reported Saturday that Germany had almost 1,500 new infections over the past day.A protester is held by German riot policemen in front of the Reichstag building, which houses the Bundestag lower house of parliament, at the end of a Berlin demonstration called by far-right and COVID-19 deniers on Aug. 29, 2020.Germany has been praised for the way it has handled the pandemic, and the country’s death toll of some 9,300 people is less than one-fourth the amount of people who have died of COVID-19 in Britain. Opinion polls show overwhelming support for the prevention measures imposed by authorities, such as the requirement to wear masks on public transport, in stores and some public buildings such as libraries and schools.Along the route were several smaller counter-protests where participants shouted slogans against the far-right’s presence at the anti-mask rally.”I think there’s a line and if someone takes to the streets with neo-Nazis then they’ve crossed that line,” said Verena, a counter-protester from Berlin who declined to provide her surname.Meanwhile, a few hundred people rallied Saturday in eastern Paris to protest new mask rules and other restrictions prompted by rising virus infections around France. Police watched closely but did not intervene.The protesters had no central organizer but included people in yellow vests who formerly protested economic injustice, others promoting conspiracy theories and those who call themselves “Anti-Masks.”France has not seen an anti-mask movement like some other countries. Masks are now required everywhere in public in Paris as authorities warn that infections are growing exponentially just as schools are set to resume classes.France registered more than 7,000 new virus infections in a single day Friday, up from several hundred a day in May and June, in part thanks to ramped-up testing. It has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after Britain and Italy, with over 30,600 dead.In London, hundreds of people crowded into Trafalgar Square for a “Unite for Freedom” protest against government lockdown restrictions and the wearing of face masks. The Metropolitan Police warned demonstrators that anyone attending a gathering of more than 30 people may be at risk of committing a criminal offense.
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Washington, New York Protesters Call for Recognition of Uighur Abuses as Genocide
Dozens of people in Washington and New York City took to the streets Friday afternoon, calling on the U.S. government, the United Nations and countries around the world to do more than condemn the violence against Uighurs, and recognize China’s policies in the northwest region of Xinjiang as a genocide. The demonstrations came as the ethno-religious minority members mark four years since China stepped up its campaign in Xinjiang, and amid reports that the U.S. government is weighing labeling Beijing’s actions as genocide. “Tomorrow, August 29, marks the fourth anniversary of Chen Quanguo’s transfer from Tibet to East Turkistan, [the] so-called Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief who was the mastermind behind the building of concentration camps, prisons, Uighur forced labor and high-tech surveillance, the police state as we know it today,” Salih Hudayar, the founder of the Washington-based Uighur organization East Turkistan National Awakening Movement, told VOA. Uighur demonstrators gather in front of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar)Since late 2016, when Chen was appointed as the CCP secretary of Xinjiang, observers estimate that more than 1 million Uighurs have been held in concentration camps while tens of thousands of others have been forced to work in factories around China. Some watchdog groups, among them FILE – A Chinese police officer takes his position by the road near what is officially called a vocational education center in Yining in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.Calling the U.S. sanctions against him an “ugly farce and disgusting,” Chen has justified his government’s policies in Xinjiang as a way to establish stability. “No force can interfere with or stop the stability, development and prosperity of Xinjiang and the solidarity of people of all ethnic groups in the region to march forward. I am full of confidence in a brighter future of Xinjiang,” Chinese state media Xinhua quoted him as saying July 21. Members of the Uighur diaspora who demonstrated in Washington and New York on Friday told VOA that they still have no way of contacting their family members stranded in Xinjiang, given China’s policy of cutting off the region’s communication to the outside world. Many of the protesters held pictures of their relatives, who they said were taken into concentration camps, and chanted slogans like “China stop Uighur genocide” and “Independence for East Turkistan.” Many Uighurs call their ancestral homeland East Turkistan, an appellation for the present-day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, with Urumqi as its capital. FILE – Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.One of the protesters in Washington, Aziz Sulayman, 49, told VOA that his 33-year-old brother Alim Sulayman, 47-year-old brother-in-law Yehya Kurban and 31-year-old cousin Ekram Yarmuhammed were all taken by Chinese authorities in the second half of 2016 and have not been seen since. “My brother was a dentist, my brother-in-law was a businessman, and my cousin was a graduate from a medical school. They didn’t need any vocational training or reeducation as China lied to the world,” Sulayman said, adding that his communication with his mother and five sisters has also been cut off since late 2016.“I don’t know whether my entire family is still alive or dead. We are here to show the world that what the CCP is committing in our homeland against our loved ones meets the criteria of U.N. Genocide Convention,” Sulayman told VOA. The U.N. defines genocide as any of several acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” according the U.N. website that lists the acts. U.S officials in the past have criticized the CCP treatment of Uighurs in strongly worded statements. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called it the “stain of the century” and condemned it as “a human rights violation on a scale we have not seen since World War II.”
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Thousands March in Mauritius Over Dead Dolphins, Oil Spill
Honking and drumming, tens of thousands of people protested Saturday in Mauritius over the government’s slow response to an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship and the alarming discovery of dozens of dead dolphins in recent days.The protesters displayed signs such as You have no shame" andI’ve seen better Cabinets at IKEA.”One protester scrawled “Inaction” on an inflatable dolphin held above the crowd.They marched peacefully through the capital, Port Louis, a month after the ship struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island nation. It later cracked under the pounding surf and spilled around 1,000 tons of fuel oil into fragile marine areas.’Turning point’It's clear we are at a turning point in the history of our country,'' a commentary in the Le Mauricien newspaper said. Other protests were reported outside the Mauritius High Commission in London and in Paris and Perth, Australia.Addressing the crowd in Port Louis, some speakers called for top officials to step down. There was no immediate government comment.Thousands of people protest in Port Louis, Mauritius, Aug. 29, 2020, over the government's slow response to an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship.I’d be surprised if it’s not close to 100,000” people who attended the march, local writer Khalil Cassimally said. Public demonstrations aren’t common in Mauritius, but one of the things that really binds people together is the sea,'' he said.It’s one of the jewels of this country, and everyone feels very passionately about this.”Another protest is planned on September 12 in Mahebourg, one of the most affected coastal villages, Cassimally said.Blow to tourismMauritius depends heavily on tourism, and the spill has been a severe blow on top of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has limited international travel.Authorities on Friday said at least 39 dead dolphins had washed ashore but it’s not yet clear what killed them. The government said no fuel oil was found in two necropsies so far and called the deaths a sad coincidence.''Civil society groups should be present as necropsies continue, and independent experts should give a second opinion, local environmental group Eco-Sud said Friday.A protester seeks "justice for our dolphins" in Port Louis, Mauritius, Aug. 29, 2020, in response to the government's slow response to an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship.Some experts fear water-soluble chemicals in the fuel are to blame.Something that is also concerning is that we don’t know the possible long-term effects. The oil is a new low-sulfur fuel oil that is being introduced to reduce air pollution,” Jacqueline Sauzier with the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society told the journal Nature this week. This is the first time that type of oil has spilled, so there have been no long-term studies on the impacts.''Residents and environmentalists have demanded investigations into why the MV Wakashio strayed miles off course. Its captain and first officer have been arrested and charged withendangering safe navigation.”The ship ran aground on July 25 and began leaking fuel August 6 into the Mahebourg Lagoon, fouling a protected wetlands area and a small island that was a bird and wildlife sanctuary.Volunteers’ effortThousands of civilian volunteers worked for days to try to minimize the damage, creating makeshift oil barriers by stuffing fabric bags with sugar cane leaves and empty plastic bottles to keep them afloat. Environmental workers carefully ferried dozens of baby tortoises and rare plants to shore, plucking some trapped seabirds out of the goo.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth blamed bad weather for the government’s slow response. Experts from ship owner Nagashiki Shipping, France and the United Nations have since arrived at the scene, and multiple investigations are underway.The ship’s remaining fuel was pumped out before the vessel finally split in two.
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2 Soldiers Killed in Helicopter Training Crash in California
Two soldiers were killed and three were injured when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise off Southern California’s coast, the Defense Department said Saturday.Staff Sergeant Vincent P. Marketta, 33, of Brick, New Jersey, and Sergeant Tyler M. Shelton, 22, of San Bernardino, California, died Thursday from injuries sustained during an aircraft mishap while conducting aviation training,'' according to a U.S. Army Special Operations Command statement.The loss of Staff Sgt. Marketta and Sgt. Shelton has left a scar in this regiment that will never completely heal,” said Colonel Andrew R. Graham, commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). Our priority now is to ensure the families of our fallen warriors receive our complete support as we work through this tragedy together."Officials released no other information on the crash. J. Elise Van Pool, an Army spokeswoman, confirmed in an email that three other soldiers were injured in the crash but said she did not have any other details to provide,as the incident is just beginning to be investigated.“Both Marketta and Shelton were assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.Marketta enlisted in the Army in 2011 as a Black Hawk repairer. He was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and spent 18 months as an aircraft repairer in 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR (A). He was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said.Shelton enlisted in the Army in 2016 as a Black Hawk repairer. In 2017, he was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan.Marketta and Shelton will each receive the Meritorious Service Medal posthumously, officials said.The deaths came after a U.S. Navy seafaring tank went down last month in hundreds of feet of water off San Clemente Island during a training exercise. Seven Marines and one Navy sailor died after the 26-ton (23-metric ton) landing craft sank July 30.They had just completed a routine exercise and were heading back to the Navy ship with a dozen other amphibious assault vehicles. Troops on board two other amphibious assault vehicles responded quickly but could not stop the vehicle from sinking.The U.S. Navy-controlled island 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of San Diego has an airfield, a bombing range and a training facility used by special operations units.
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UN Slams Guards’ Killings During Madagascar Prison Escape
The U.N. human rights office is condemning excessive use of force by security guards that killed 22 inmates and injured eight others during a mass escape at a Madagascar jail nearly a week ago.Security forces reportedly opened fire as hundreds of men were trying to escape Sunday from Madagascar’s Farangana prison in the southeast of the country. The attempt largely failed. Out of 380 inmates, only 25 were still on the run Saturday.The U.N. human rights office on Friday described the squalid prison conditions as appalling and a hotbed for the spread of COVID-19.Agency spokesman Rupert Colville said it was the seventh attempted prison escape in the country since the coronavirus pandemic began.He said prisoners were living in fear of being stricken with this deadly disease.”As with many other jails, the conditions at Farafangana are deeply troubling. The prison is overcrowded, conditions are generally unhygienic, the food is poor, and inmates lack proper access to health care. Our office has previously engaged with the authorities to express concerns about conditions in the country’s jails, and the resultant dangers of overcrowding during the pandemic.”Relief of overcrowdingColville said in the early stages of the pandemic, U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet appealed to all countries to reduce overcrowded prison populations. He said she specifically urged the release of people at risk, including pregnant women, the disabled, the elderly and minors.Colville told VOA that Malagasy authorities were aware of the problematic conditions in their prison system.“The president of Madagascar had embarked on trying to make changes to the prison system, with the main objective of decongesting the prisons. But clearly, more remains to be done,” he said. “And the fact that there have been seven such escapes, and apparently that it happened at the weekend is a factor, because there is less security in the prison on the weekend.”The U.N. human rights office called on the government to conduct a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the killings and injuries that occurred during the prison escape. It reminded authorities that the use of force must comply with the principles of legality and necessity and that it must be proportional and nondiscriminatory.
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Protesters Take to Streets Against Police Shooting Black Man in Kenosha
A rally, led by members of Jacob Blake’s family to demand an end to police violence, began Saturday afternoon in the Midwestern U.S. city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, after a night of peaceful protests over the shooting of Blake, an African American man, by a white policeman.Blake’s family and activists organized the rally as National Guard units stood by with orders to prevent the kind of unrest that erupted earlier in the week in response to the shooting.”We are heartbroken and enraged, but we are steadfast in our demand for justice,” Tanya Mclean, a Blake family friend who helped organize the event, said in a statement. She said Blake’s shooting was not an isolated incident.Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times August 23 in front of witnesses, including Blake’s young children, leaving him partially paralyzed and turning the predominately white city of 100,000 into the latest hot spot in a summer of nationwide protests against charges of police brutality and systemic racism.Investigators have said little about the shooting. But the city’s police union said Blake had a knife and fought with officers even as two efforts to stun him with a Taser were unsuccessful.FILE – A woman hands flowers to a member of the Wisconsin National Guard standing by as people gather for a vigil, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wis., Aug. 28, 2020.Arson, vandalism and other acts of violence devastated a largely minority neighborhood of the city Monday night, one day before a teenager, who was seen on video roaming the streets with an assault rifle, fatally shot two demonstrators and wounded a third.Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, surrendered to police Wednesday close to his home in the state of Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. One video taken by protesters appears to show him trying to surrender in Kenosha minutes after the shootings, only to be told to get off the streets as police vehicles passed him by.Rittenhouse has been charged with six criminal counts, including first-degree intentional homicide and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor. One of his lawyers, Lin Wood, tweeted that Rittenhouse shot the demonstrators in self-defense.Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said earlier in the week that Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake when he was resisting arrest after police responded to a call from a woman who reported her boyfriend had arrived at her home without permission.Kaul also said police later recovered a knife from the floor of the car Blake was leaning on when he was shot. Blake’s lead attorney, Benjamin Crump, said his client was not armed with a knife and did not threaten or provoke the police.The police officers involved in the encounter with Blake have been on administrative leave, pending an investigation by the Wisconsin Justice Department.Governor Tony Evers deployed more Wisconsin National Guard troops earlier in the week to help local law enforcement agencies restore and maintain order.
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Belarus Revokes Accreditation of at Least 17 Journalists Covering Post-Election Turmoil
Belarusian authorities stripped accreditation from at least 17 journalists from major foreign news organizations who have been covering the country’s turmoil following the disputed presidential election.
The move, taken on August 29 by a commission of the national Security Council, was a major escalation by President Alexander Lukashenko’s government as it continues to face popular protest and international condemnation for the August 9 election, and for the harsh police crackdown on opposition protesters.
The journalists targeted include employees of major Western news organizations including RFE/RL, the BBC, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence-France Presse, Germany’s ARD television, Deutsche Welle, and Radio France. Without accreditations, journalists are not legally permitted to gather news within the country.
No reason for the government’s decision was provided.
It was not immediately clear if journalists from Russian state-run and state-funded news media, such as the TASS news agency, Vesti TV, or the RT channel, faced a similar loss of accreditation.
‘Desperate, ominous move’
At least 17 journalists had their accreditations canceled, the Belarus Association of Journalists reported.
“Stripping our journalists of accreditation on grounds of ‘extremism’ is a desperate and ominous move by an authoritarian government to stifle the independent media and ruthlessly control the availability of credible information inside Belarus,” acting RFE/RL President Daisy Sindelar said in a statement. “It’s a violation of international standards and an assault on the Belarusian people who rely on us.”
Four journalists from RFE/RL’s Belarus Service were hit by the move, and one from Current Time, the Russian-language TV network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
Others include two from the BBC, two from AP, two from AFP, two from ARD, and two from Reuters.
Many of those affected are Belarusian citizens.
Reuters journalist Tatyana Melnichuk told RFE/RL that she had been informed that her accreditation had been revoked via a telephone call from the Foreign Ministry.
“They told us that our accreditation, like the accreditations of the BBC journalists, had been revoked and that we had to return them today or on Monday,” Melnichuk said. “They didn’t give any reason.”Detained Journalists in Belarus Face Charges for Covering Post-Election ProtestsAt least 35 journalists, and more than 260 people overall were detained during Aug. 27 protests in Minsk, according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna US calls for ‘restraint’
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk called on Belarusian authorities to “demonstrate restraint.”
“We stand by our long-term commitment to support Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the aspirations of the Belarusian people to choose their leaders and to choose their own path, free from external intervention,” the statement said.
Two days earlier, around 50 journalists were detained while covering postelection protests in Minsk; the group included employees from Belarusian outlets such as TUT.BY, BelaPAN, and Belsat.
In all, more than 260 people were detained during at the time, according to the human rights center Vyasna.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists said most of the journalists detained at the time were released after police checked their documents.
Four journalists who refused to hand over their smartphones for police to check were charged with participating in an unauthorized protest, the association said. A Swedish journalist will also be deported, it added.
The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the election, which gave Lukashenko a landslide victory.
Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results, charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor.
During their detention on August 27, RFE/RL journalists were searched by police, who appeared to be looking for recording equipment. Their laptops and cameras were seized, and they were ordered to open the photo galleries and other information on their mobile phones. In at least one case, a journalist was told to delete images of riot police.
One RFE/RL photographer was threatened with misdemeanor charges if he refused to comply with police orders.
Meanwhile, many websites of news organizations have seen curtailed access within Belarus amid reports that of sporadic Internet access.
Several bloggers also remain in prison, including a consultant for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service on digital strategy. His detention in Zhodzina prison outside of Minsk has been extended to October 25.
Protesters, who are planning another demonstration in Minsk on August 30, have been largely defiant despite a brutal police crackdown, and widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters.
The leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities.
With reporting by Current Time.
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US Fines Company for Goods Made With Suspected Forced Labor in China
Earlier this month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued its first penalty for goods made with forced labor under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.The agency levied a fine of $575,000 against the Chinese entity PureCircle, a company accused of using prison inmates in China to produce the food sweetener stevia.
The fine against PureCircle is one of a series of actions over forced labor taken up by CBP in the past year. Since September 2019, the agency has issued 11 moratoriums on the importation of forced labor products into the United States, four of which were directed at Chinese companies.
“As part of its trade enforcement responsibilities, CBP is dedicated to vigilantly monitoring U.S.-bound supply chains for links to forced labor, including prison labor, and will act to deter and disrupt the importation of merchandise made with forced labor practices,” Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade said in a statement.
She continued, “The use of forced labor is not just a serious human rights issue, but it also brings about unfair competition in our global supply chains. CBP’s goal is to ensure that goods made by forced labor never reach U.S. consumers.”
So far this year, U.S. law enforcement authorities have stepped up scrutiny of a range of products from China suspected of being manufactured through forced labor.
“We’ve had a very active year this year in terms of issuing withhold release orders,” Smith told VOA.
In just the past few months, CBP has targeted several Chinese companies for allegedly selling products made with forced labor to American consumers.
Lenovo also targetedOn Monday the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Commerce Department has imposed sanctions on Lenovo, a Chinese manufacturer that supplies laptops to U.S. public schools, due to its alleged use of forced labor.
On August 11, CBP issued a moratorium on all U.S. ports of entry for imports from the Hero Vast Group, a Chinese clothing company.
On 1 July, CBP officials at the port of Newark FILE – In this June 29, 2020, photo, provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an officer inspects a hair accessory at an exam station in Newark, New Jersey. Some of the products are believed to be made in Chinese detention camps.On June 17, CBP issued a moratorium on the release of all U.S. ports of entry for the detention of all or part of imported goods made from products produced by Lop County Meixin Hair Product Co. Ltd. (Meixin) in Xinjiang, China.
The official at CBP told VOA that each case is based on a “reasonable suspicion” of the use of forced labor.
“So essentially what that means is that when goods arrive at a port of entry and we have identified that they are likely to have been produced using forced labor,” Smith added.
‘Proving’ products are free from forced labor
Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch in New York, told VOA that CBP’s “reasonable suspicion” policy is to identify and withhold goods first. “As long as your company’s products come in, I’ll have to detain you first, and you’ll have to provide evidence that you’re not using forced labor,” Li said.
Li said that this places a heavy burden on companies suspected of using forced labor – effectively assuming guilt and forcing importers to prove their innocence. “Now some multinationals must strengthen the management of their supply chains to prevent orders from flowing to places where forced labor is used.”
CBP’s Smith said that, to ensure that they do not send products made through forced labor into the U.S., importers not only have to comply with the law themselves, but also keep an eye on their supply chains and make sure their supplies also comply with U.S. law.
“So our expectation is that they will be looking not only at the supplier that they buy directly from, but, for example, the supplier’s supplier. So if there is a shipment of apparel garments that comes into the United States and that the importer that brings it into the United States will not only be looking at who makes that garment, but who makes the fabric or who grows the cotton that goes into the fabric,” Smith told VOA.FILE – Residents line up inside a vocational training center in Artux, in western China’s Xinjiang region, Dec. 3, 2018. Critics say China uses some of these facilities as detention camps for forced labor.Prison labor sweetener
PureCircle USA is a U.S.-based subsidiary of PureCircle Biotech, a joint venture between China and Malaysia based in Jiangxi, China. In 2016, an NGO accused it of importing several products made by prison inmates into the U.S., including stevia and its derivatives exported by a company in Inner Mongolia.
The CBP’s $575,000 fine against the group came four years after that initial accusation, pointing to how difficult it can be to win judgments against companies.
CBP said in a statement, “The action against PureCircle stems from an investigation into stevia produced in China by Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agricultural and Trade LLC (“Baoanzhao”) that CBP initiated after receiving an allegation from a Non-Governmental Organization. That investigation led CBP to issue a Withhold Release Order (WRO) in May 2016. The WRO remains in effect.”
PureCircle USA has denied importing products made by forced labor before 2016, saying that it agreed to a penalty amounting to only 7% of the amount originally proposed by CBP in a settlement with CBP to avoid “extensive litigation requiring travel to China during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Trump Visits Hurricane-Damaged Louisiana, Texas
U.S. President Donald Trump visited Gulf of Mexico coastal areas of Louisiana and Texas on Saturday that were ravaged by Hurricane Laura, leaving them without power and water as cleanup efforts continued in seasonally hot and humid conditions.Fourteen people were killed when the Category 4 storm devastated the area early Thursday, with more than half of them succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from improper use of generators.Trump arrived at Lake Charles, Louisiana, a city of 80,000 residents that Laura hit hard. More than 220,000 people in Lake Charles were estimated to be without water, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf speak with National Guard soldiers helping with cleanup as they tour damage from Hurricane Laura, Aug. 29, 2020, in Lake Charles, La.Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said water treatment plants “took a beating” and warned there was no timetable for restoring electricity.Trump is also visiting nearby Orange, Texas, a city of more than 18,000 people in an area where the economy is dependent on chemical plants. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, noting Laura’s slight turn to the east, said the area was extremely fortunate to avert the “unsurvivable” storm surge forecasters had predicted.One day before his trip to survey the damage, Trump issued a disaster declaration for Louisiana, a move that made federal money available to the five parishes that were in Laura’s direct path.President Donald Trump tours damage from Hurricane Laura, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Lake Charles, La. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)After the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers applauded nearly 20,000 line workers Friday for joining power restoration efforts in hurricane-damaged areas, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden tweeted, “Times of crisis often bring out our best as Americans — and we’re seeing that right now in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura.”“Thank you to all of our emergency responders who are working around the clock to help people get back on their feet,” Biden added.
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Diplomats Warn Zimbabwe Against Using COVID-19 to Restrict Citizen Rights
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling party has dismissed as “rubbish” a statement by Western diplomats warning Zimbabwe’s government not to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to stifle citizens’ rights. The statement was delivered while more than a dozen citizens are in hiding for fear of persecution or prosecution for organizing an anti-government protest.
Seven countries, including the U.S., have urged Mnangagwa to keep the inauguration pledge he made in 2018 to respect human rights. Western diplomats joined forces in a statement saying their countries would continue to assist Zimbabwe in addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by recurring droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But COVID-19 must not be used as an excuse to restrict citizens’ fundamental freedoms. Freedom of the press, of opinion, of expression, and of assembly are all universally recognized human rights and are guaranteed by the Zimbabwean constitution. The government also has a responsibility to investigate and prosecute those responsible for violating human rights,” said the seven embassies in their diplomatic message.
Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Saturday the government would not comment on the group’s statement by the U.S., Germany, Poland, Britain, Canada, Norway and the Netherlands.FILE – Tafadzwa Mugwadi, spokesman for the ruling Zanu PF party, seen here July 21, 2020, in Harare, dismissed concerns by Western diplomats as “rubbish,” saying they had no right to lecture Zimbabwe about human rights. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Tafadzwa Mugwadi, a spokesman for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, dismissed the statement by Western diplomats.
“This is just a piece of rubbish. Nothing new except the usual rhetoric from culpable players whose hand has always been visible as far as disturbances in this country are concerned. Under what circumstances or basis do they have to instruct the government or people of Zimbabwe to stop from blaming them? How are they immune when they are equally blaming the government? They are blaming a government on whose neck they imposed these illegal sanctions. It’s just a bunch of nonsense,” Mugwadi said.
Zimbabwe’s political opposition and rights groups say Mnangagwa is moving away from his promise not to follow the playbook of his predecessor, long-time leader, the late Robert Mugabe, whose 37-year rule was littered with human rights abuses.
The head of Human Rights Watch in southern Africa, Dewa Mavhinga, says the government must investigate the claims instead of dismissing them.Dewa Mavhinga, the southern Africa Director at Human Rights Watch, seen here Aug. 29, 2020, in Harare, says the Zimbabwe government must investigate claims of rights abuses by state agents. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“This is very important that the Zimbabwe government demonstrates that it respects human rights. Without this demonstration for respect for human rights, all efforts to revive the economy, for international re-engagement, will be wasted because no one wants to do business with a country that does not respect rights, a country that brutalizes its own citizens, a country that looks the other way when there are obvious cases of abductions and torture of citizens by state agents,” Mavhinga said.
A hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter is trending on social media, but the government insists there is no crisis.
Rights groups and the opposition say the government is looking for a number of pro-democracy activists who are in hiding, saying they fear being arrested for organizing an anti-government protest, which security forces thwarted in July.
Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and opposition leaders Jacob Ngaruvhume and Job Sikhala are in prison on charges of stoking violence ahead of the march against poverty and corruption, which was to take place July 31.
Earlier this month, South Africa, which is the current chair of the African Union, sent envoys to engage with both the government of Zimbabwe and relevant stakeholders, to “identify possible ways in which South Africa can assist Zimbabwe.” However, they left after meeting only with President Mnangagwa.
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Navalny Associate: Kremlin Involved in Opposition Leader’s Poisoning
A close ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says authorities in Moscow are reluctant to investigate Navalny’s alleged poisoning, because the Kremlin was behind it, despite its denials.
Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and a prominent opposition activist, said in an interview that all the existing evidence points to the Kremlin.
“For me, it’s absolutely obvious, I’m not afraid to speak it out loud, that behind the poisoning is exactly the Kremlin,” said Sobol. Simply, nobody else could do it. Again, the method of the poisoning is the sign of that. Neuroparalytic poison is something that you can’t buy at a pharmacy. It’s a combat substance. And because of that, they will not investigate it,” Sobol said.FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, his wife Yulia, right of him, and opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, second from left, take part in a march in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 29, 2020.Navalny’s associates made a request to Russia’s Investigative Committee for authorities to launch a criminal investigation that could lead to charges of an attempted assassination of a public figure, but say they got no response.
“They understand that any investigation will lead to the Kremlin,” Sobol said. “They’re not launching a criminal probe because they will have to answer at some point what the results of the investigation of this criminal case are.”
Russia’s Prosecutor General office said Thursday the inquiry launched last week did not find any indication of “deliberate criminal acts committed against” Navalny.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said last week he saw no grounds for a criminal investigation before the cause of Navalny’s condition was fully established.
Navalny, a well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a corruption investigator, fell ill August 20 while flying to Moscow from Siberia, prompting an emergency landing in Omsk.
His personal doctor and aide said Navalny had drunk black tea at an airport café, which she believed was laced with poison.Last weekend, Navalny was transferred to the Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany, for an “extensive medical diagnosis.” Doctors there found traces of “cholinesterase inhibitors,” a neuroparalytic substance, in his system. He reportedly remains on a ventilator in a medically-induced coma. German doctors describe his condition as serious but not life-threatening.
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Flooding in Niger Kills Dozens, Displaces Thousands
Flooding has killed at least 45 people and led to the displacement of more than 226,000 from their homes in Niger this week, officials said Saturday.Days of heavy rain in Niger’s western region caused the Niger River to overflow, practically shutting down the capital, Niamey.Mud huts along the river have collapsed and rice fields are submerged.Niger’s prime minister, Brigi Rafini, visited affected neighborhoods and families. He was quoted as saying that with river dike rehabilitation work completed just before the rainy season, flooding should not have happened.
Rafini said additional measures will be taken to protect other threatened areas, adding that with climate change, “we are never safe from floods.”
Last year, floods in Niger killed at least 57 people and forced more than 132,500 to abandon their homes, according to government figures.
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UN Condemns US Police Shooting of African American Jacob Blake
The U.N. human rights office has condemned the shooting of African American man Jacob Blake and said the use of force by police may violate international law.
Riots broke out in the city of Kenosha in the U.S. state of Wisconsin in the wake of Sunday’s police shooting of Blake, which has left the 29-year-old African American man partially paralyzed.
The U.N. human rights office views the shooting as a painful reminder of the heightened risk African Americans run when engaging with law enforcement in the United States. Agency spokesman Rupert Colville said the episode reaffirms the need for urgent action to eradicate links between structural racism and policing.
“From the images available that we have seen at this point, the police appears to use force against Jacob Blake that would seem to be excessive and it does not appear the law enforcement officers abided by the international standards of the intentional use of lethal force with a firearm,” Colville said.
A statement from the Kenosha police union said that based on officers’ inability to gain compliance and control from Blake after using verbal, physical and less lethal means, the officers drew their firearms.
Colville said it seems highly possible the force used against Blake could have been discriminatory in nature.
The human rights spokesman also said he was aghast at the presence of vigilantes at the protests in Kenosha that followed the police shooting of Blake. He said he found the killing of two people and injury of others by a 17-year-old gunman of particular concern. Police push back protesters outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Protesters converged on the courthouse during a second night of clashes after the police shooting of Jacob Blake a day earlier.The teen who took a rifle to the protest of Blake’s shooting told an online news site before going to the demonstration that it was his job “to protect people.” First-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide are among the criminal charges the young man is now facing.“We would see this as yet another unfortunate example of the insufficient and lax gun control measures in the United States, which is something we have spoken about several times before,” said Colville. “It should be inconceivable that you have a 17-year-old running around with an automatic rifle in a position to shoot people in this way in such a tense situation.”
Colville added the events of the past few days in Kenosha are not only recurrent, but preventable. He warned against the U.S. government sending federal troops into Kenosha to restore law and order. He said their presence would likely make things worse rather than better.
In a tweet Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the National Guard had successfully quelled violence and rioting in Kenosha.
He said “Since the National Guard moved into Kenosha, Wisconsin, two days ago, there has been NO FURTHER VIOLENCE, not even a small problem. When legally asked to help by local authorities, the Federal Government will act and quickly succeed,” the president said.
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Belarusian President Threatens to Cut European Transit Routes if Sanctions Imposed
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday threatened to cut European transit routes through Belarusian territory if sanctions are imposed on his country.Speaking while visiting a dairy factory, Lukashenko said he would block neighboring European countries from shipping goods to Russia over Belarusian territory and divert Belarusian exports now shipped through ports in neighboring EU member Lithuania to other outlets.”If they, Poles and Lithuanians, used to fly through us to China and Russia, now they will fly through the Baltic or through the Black Sea to trade with Russia, and so on, and they can only dream of sanctioned products, those products on which Russia has imposed an embargo,” he said.Lukashenko also said he had ordered half the country’s army to be at combat preparedness and had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that troops of both countries could unite against a potential Western threat.A woman carries a historical white-red-white flag of Belarus during an opposition demonstration against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 28, 2020.“If they (NATO troops) don’t hold still, it’s necessary to use a joint grouping of armed forces, the basis of which is the Belarusian army,” Lukashenko said. “The Russians must support us and follow us.”Lithuania, Poland and Latvia have called for Europe to take stronger action against Lukashenko, in face of a nearly three-week popular uprising since the August 9 election, which the opposition maintains he rigged to prolong his 26-year rule. Lukashenko has denied the accusations.Since the Monday after the election, when Belarusian Central Election Commission declared Lukashenko received over 80% of the votes and opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya about 10%, thousands have taken to the streets demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.
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