Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, has been sworn in for a second term before parliament members.Most opposition parliamentarians and some former leaders did not attend the ceremony Thursday, both because of COVID-19 restrictions and to show their disapproval of what they call Duda’s disregard for the constitution during his first term, and his almost total acceptance of the ruling right-wing party’s policies that have put Poland at odds with European Union leaders.In a speech to lawmakers after taking the oath of office, Duda said Poland should strengthen Euro-Atlantic ties and cooperate with NATO allies, in particular the United States.Last week, Poland’s Defense Ministry announced the U.S. would establish a permanent military presence in Poland by deploying around 1,000 troops.Many seats for opposition lawmakers were empty, except for several members who wore outfits and masks in rainbow colors and held up copies of the Polish constitution at the end of Duda’s speech.Duda won 51.03% of votes in the July 12 election runoff while his challenger, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, received 48.97% votes.
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Month: August 2020
1.2 Million More Americans Seek Jobless Benefits
Another 1.2 million unemployed U.S. workers filed for government jobless compensation last week, the government’s Labor Department reported Thursday, as the unabated coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the American economy. It was the 20th straight week that more than a million people sought government assistance as the virus unrelentingly attacks communities large and small throughout the country, forcing employers to shut down their businesses or curtail their operations and lay off workers. But last week’s claims total was an improvement, 249,000 fewer workers seeking aid than the previous week, perhaps because a four-month boost in federal aid to the unemployed has, at least for the moment, ended. Until last Friday, the U.S. was sending an extra $600 a week to the jobless workers on top of less generous state unemployment benefits. However, the federal payments expired at the end of July and so far this week the administration of President Donald Trump and opposition Democrats in Congress have been unable to reach an agreement on how long to extend the payments or how much the assistance should be. Republican lawmakers said they are looking to immediately cut the federal boost by two-thirds, to $200 a week, while saying they hope eventually to set the benefit claims at 70% of workers’ former wages. Democratic lawmakers want to keep the current $600-a-week extra payments through the end of 2020. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, accompanied by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, leave a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as negotiations continue on a coronavirus relief package on Capitol Hill, Aug. 4, 2020.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows representing Trump have been negotiating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer over the jobless benefits and other aid to boost the flagging U.S. economy that has been staggered by the coronavirus pandemic. They have set a goal of reaching a deal by Friday but appear to be far apart on several issues. Trump said this week he will unilaterally impose terms of some continuing aid through an executive order if the negotiators cannot reach a deal. A week ago, the Commerce Department said the American economy, the world’s largest, plummeted 9.5% between April and June, the biggest quarterly plunge in records dating back seven decades. The three-month drop, combined with a 4.8% dip from January through March, officially dipped the U.S. economy into a recession as it struggles to regain its footing. The unchecked pandemic, with a surging number of new cases, has left more than 158,000 Americans dead and infected more than 4.8 million. It is estimated that more than 30 million U.S. workers remain unemployed, although not all are collecting assistance. Since March, 55 million people have collected unemployment insurance at one time or another. FILE – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, during a hearing on the Monetary Policy Report.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell a week ago said the new surge in confirmed coronavirus infections poses new threats to the economy. Millions of workers have returned to their jobs but thousands of employers have also continued to lay off workers or pause reopening their doors as the virus spreads, particularly in such large states as Florida, Texas and California. “On balance, it looks like the data are pointing to a slowing in the pace of the recovery,” Powell said. “I want to stress it’s too early to say both how large that is and how sustained it will be.” Powell said some measures of consumer spending, such as debit card and credit card use, have fallen since late June when coronavirus infections jumped after easing in previous weeks. He said labor market indicators signal slower job growth and that hotel occupancy rates have flattened. Powell said Americans are not going to restaurants, gas stations and beauty salons as much as they had been earlier this summer. He said a full economic recovery depends on the country’s ability to control the virus, something it has been unable to do so far. “A full recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it’s safe to engage in a broad range of economic activities,” Powell said. Lawmakers have voiced support or opposition to a wide range of coronavirus economic aid proposals. Some want to send another round of $1,200 stimulus payments to most adults in the country, even as some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about the country’s ever-increasing national debt that now totals more than $26 trillion. Some lawmakers have called for incentive payments to returning workers, some of whom have collected more in unemployment benefits than from their earnings while working. Trump, facing a difficult re-election contest in November against former Vice President Joe Biden, says he is open to continuing the jobless benefits at some unspecified level but wants to make sure they are not so high that they provide an incentive for workers to continue collecting the benefits rather than return to work if they have a chance to. Trump said recently the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better” but this week has said it will just disappear. He is predicting the economy will regain strength later this year and into 2021.
The southern tier of U.S. states that had escaped the brunt of the pandemic in March and April has been particularly hard hit. Their governors reopened businesses — too soon, some now acknowledge — and younger people started socializing in public again at bars and restaurants without embracing such preventive practices as wearing a face mask or social distancing themselves from others by at least two meters.
Now, some state governors are ordering these businesses shut down again. Investment bank Goldman Sachs said 70% of the country has either reversed reopening plans or delayed them.
Key U.S. economic officials are predicting the country’s full recovery from the pandemic will take a lengthy period, extending well into 2021.
The Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank, has predicted that the U.S. unemployment rate, 11.1% in June, will improve to 9.3% by the end of 2020 and to 6.5% by the end of next year.
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In Cameroon, Hundreds Trapped, Lack Access to Assistance, UN Says
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says poor roads and the threat of further Boko Haram attacks is preventing it from helping civilians in a camp for displaced people in northern Cameroon. The UNHCR says hundreds of displaced people and aid workers are trapped in the camp, which militants attacked over the weekend, killing 17. The U.N. is calling on Cameroon’s military to help.Olivier Guillaume Beer, UNHCR representative in Cameroon says he remains concerned by the situation in Nguetchewe, a village attacked by Boko Haram fighters last weekend. He says he was part of an emergency U.N. mission to assess the situation and evaluate the protection and health needs of those affected. He spoke on Wednesday in Yaoundé after visiting the northern village on the border with Nigeria.”We found people who are in a situation of fear, fear of another attack and trauma,” said Beer. “Traumatized because they are people who had already fled other attacks from the armed groups. We are advocating for the security to be reinforced. We could not provide assistance as we are doing on other sides because of the threat of violence, but also because the roads are poor, nonexistent, rendering movements very difficult.”Beer said some of the displaced people were insisting on leaving the Nguetchewe village camp and some had left. He quoted some of them as saying that it was not the first time they were attacked by Boko Haram on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. He said they need urgent psychosocial care and humanitarian assistance.On Tuesday, Cameroon officials, escorted by the military, brought food and humanitarian aid from President Paul Biya. The village and surrounding areas have suffered neglect because of Boko Haram terrorism. Schools, hospitals and some markets have been abandoned and access roads have become dilapidated. Midjiyawa Bakary, governor of Cameroon’s Far North region says it is not easy to channel International humanitarian assistance to Nguetchewe and surrounding border villages. Bakari says more troops have been deployed to protect civilians and humanitarian groups.He says the fighters will have very difficult moments in the days ahead as more troops from the Multinational Joint Task Forces of the Lake Chad Basin have been deployed to secure the border. He says militias have been equipped with motorcycles and communications facilities to quickly inform the military of any suspected movement. He says the government is aware fighters have infiltrated villages.The camp attacked by Boko Haram on Sunday night houses 800 displaced people. After the attack, the U.N. reported that more than 1,500 villagers and displaced people had escaped to the nearby town of Mozogo and surrounding bush for safety. The villagers said Boko Haram fighters had infiltrated communities. Nurse Marie Giselle Ngueshi leads a group of seven humanitarian workers from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon. She says Boko Haram threats have stopped them from going to Nguetchewe to assist the sick and wounded. She spoke via a messaging app from the northern town of Mozogo.She says the number of wounded people from the weekend’s attack in Nguetchewe gives her an idea of Boko Haram cruelty. She says her group was ready to go and replace their colleagues in Nguetchewe, but were told by local militia groups that Boko Haram had infiltrated the area. She says the militias warned them against going to the village and said their peers cannot leave the village either.The U.N. reports that Boko Haram violence in the Lake Chad Basin region has cost the lives of 30,000 people and displaced more than 3 million others. The U.N. also says Boko Haram remains a threat and the decreasing humanitarian assistance from donor agencies makes it look like a forgotten emergency.
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Дегенерат мертветчук замолвит слово о бедном зе-квартале
Дегенерат мертветчук замолвит слово о бедном зе-квартале.
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Придурок мертветчук будет решать в Крыму не только свои имущественные вопросы, но и близких по духу подельников – в том числе, полшестого президента. В благодарность – и как требование обиженного карлика пукина – лоббирование его интересов по донбасскому и крымскому трекам
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Безумие полиции Украины. Кабан аваков украл 3,5 млн долларов у США
Безумие полиции Украины. Кабан аваков украл 3,5 млн долларов у США.
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Как крадун аваков потратил деньги США на реформу полиции
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Новый указ обиженного карлика пукина. Гомерически хохотали всем Госдепом!
Новый указ обиженного карлика пукина. Гомерически хохотали всем Госдепом!
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Последние новости путляндии и мира, экономика, бизнес, культура, технологии, спорт
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Как сбитые пукинскими террористами гражданские самолеты хоронят путляндию
Как сбитые пукинскими террористами гражданские самолеты хоронят путляндию.
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Все эти 10 лет Польша не имела доступа к взорванному самолету, но все равно проводила расследование, в том числе при помощи британских и американских специалистов. И в конце концов выяснила, что самолет был взорван заложенным во время ремонта на путляндии тротилом. И что якобы случайная катастрофа, является ничем иным как ликвидацией фактически всего верховного руководства страны со стороны обиженного карлика пукина
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Хабаровск не сдается. ВДВ поддержали граждан
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Рейтинг обиженного карлика пукина продолжает падать и пробивает новое дно, сейчас на уровне 23% и это официально, реально еще меньше. А в Хабаровске там вообще и 2% небось не наберет, ведь его уже вызывают даже на бой вдохновившись примером Золотова. В общем становится все интереснее и интереснее, ведь в Хабаровске и ВДВшники присоединились к протестам и просят поддержки всей страны
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WHO Deploys Dozens of Experts to South Africa to Help Slow Coronavirus Spread
A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) is in South Africa to help the country get control of its rapid rise in coronavirus cases.The WHO said in a statement that 43 experts in specialties including, epidemiology, health education, and surveillance, prevention and control will support the COVID-19 response team.The WHO’s surge team will first observe the work of South Africa’s health department before lending special support to the hardest-hit jurisdictions, including Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal, and Mpumalanga.The rise in the spread of the virus has pushed South Africa to nearly 530,000 cases, the fifth highest in the world.South Africa has confirmed more than 9,200 deaths from the coronavirus.In a separate development, Health Minister Dr. Zwelini Mkhize said, cases in Gauteng, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape have slowed but it’s too early to determine if the cases have peaked.
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US Allies Tighten Alliance to Contain China’s Maritime Expansion
Australia’s recent shift to a more combative stance against China will tighten political and military coordination among U.S.-allied nations that want to check Beijing’s maritime expansion, analysts said this week.Canberra broke its neutral stance toward China with harsh pledges and comments in May, June and July due to a series of problems with the communist government, despite brisk trade ties. In particular, Australia openly backed the United States last month by sending the United Nations a letter that described Beijing’s sovereignty claims in the contested South China Sea as illegal.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested in a speech Wednesday that his country would work more closely with India, Japan and the United States – an ally already so close that a Chinese newspaper in May quoted a netizen calling Canberra a “dog” of Washington.Those four countries belong to a group dubbed the Quad, which formed in 2007 to discuss security issues in Asia, including China’s activities. Specialists predict more from the Quad, this time galvanized by Australia, even though the United States normally leads.“It appears at least from the Australian end that Australia is sort of trying to take a significant directive role rather than a follower role,” said Stuart Orr, professor of management at Deakin University in Australia.’Concrete action’On Wednesday, Morrison, addressing an Indo-Pacific security forum, noted the June Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with India. The partnership calls for meetings at least once every two years between defense ministers. Morrison added Wednesday that Australia reached a memorandum of cooperation in July to work with Japan on space cooperation and said Australia planned to take “concrete action to support our Pacific and Southeast Asian friends and family.” Japan and India have their own bitter territorial issues with China.The U.S. and Australian governments have cooperated for decades on resisting foreign governments that Washington dislikes. Now the U.S. side is embroiled in a trade dispute with China. Both Western countries resent China for suspected technology-related crimes and want the Asian country investigated as the source of the coronavirus.Australia proposed in May a formal inquiry into the Chinese origins of the pandemic and a month later Morrison said his country had been the target of a “state-based” cyber-attack. Beijing called the June remark a smear.Compared to other countries worried about Beijing, “I think Washington and Canberra are on the same page of the book about the problems with China,” said Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.“I think that they have a much stronger sense of unity about confronting China in a smart way,” he said.None of the Quad countries claims the South China Sea, but all of them see it as a pivot point for Chinese expansion past its land borders and recall Beijing as a Cold War foe.Fish, energy reserves, shipping lanesChina vies for sovereignty over the contested sea with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. All five rival claimants have weaker militaries and less infrastructure on the sea’s hundreds of tiny islets than does China. Claimants prize the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea for fish, energy reserves and shipping lanes.Officials in Beijing cite historical usage records to defend their claim over about 90 percent of the sea.“China would at least have to be wary and at the same time it would have to be more concerned about Australia and the U.S. leading or sort of spearheading what they would likely see as rather unwelcome prospects of greater external interest and perceived meddling in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.India may hope to build up the Quad amid its military standoff with China near a disputed land border, London media organization India Inc. suggested in a commentary after Morrison met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Australia’s leadership role in the Quad could mean more joint naval exercises that anger China, scholars believe.Japan and Australia joined the USS Ronald Reagan and a strike group last month for joint exercises southeast of China.U.S.-Australia military exercises will gain speed, especially if they involve Japan, India, and traditional pro-U.S. European allies such as France and the United Kingdom, said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.’Moral standpoint’Southeast Asian states, despite overlapping South China Sea claims with Beijing, have shown less enthusiasm than have Quad countries toward Australia’s new assertiveness. Some, such as Brunei and the Philippines, receive aid and investment from China. Their negotiating bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hopes for an eventual maritime code of conduct with Beijing.However, they welcome the Quad’s activities from a “moral standpoint,” Koh said.Australia and Vietnam, the most outspoken maritime claimant, issued a joint statement last year to express “serious concerns about developments in the South China Sea, including land reclamation and militarization of disputed features,” a likely reference to Chinese activity.Expect Australia eventually to step up engagement with Vietnam, Thayer said.
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NBA Team Owners Commit $300 Million to Black Empowerment
NBA team owners will contribute $300 million over the next decade to establish a charitable foundation dedicated to economic empowerment in the Black community, the league announced Wednesday.The NBA Foundation, launched in partnership with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), will see all 30 club owners contribute a collective $30 million annually for 10 years in initial funding to support racial equality and social justice.”The creation of this foundation is an important step in developing more opportunities for the Black community,” NBPA president Chris Paul said. “I’m proud of our league and our players for their commitment to this long-term fight for equality and justice, and I know we will continue to find ways to keep pushing for meaningful institutional change.”The move follows worldwide protests after the death George Floyd last May while in police custody.NBA players are wearing messages of support for cultural issues on jerseys as they finish their season while “Black Lives Matter” is written upon all courts where games are played.The foundation mission will be to drive economic empowerment for Black communities through employment and career advancement, boosting access and backing for high school, college-aged and career-ready Black men and women.It will also assist national and local organizations that provide skills training, mentorship, coaching and personal development in NBA communities across the United States and Canada.Part of the foundation’s mission regarding employment will be on obtaining a first job, securing employment after high school or college and career advancement once employed.”All NBA team governors recognize our unique position to effect change and we are committed to supporting and empowering young Black men and women in each of our team markets as well as communities across the US and Canada,” said NBA board of governors chairman Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the ownership group for the reigning NBA champion Toronto Raptors.Four NBA club owners, three players and executives from the NBPA and a member of the league office will serve on the foundation board of directors.”We’re dedicated to using the collective resources of the 30 teams, the players and the league to drive meaningful economic opportunities for Black Americans,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.”We believe that through focused programs in our team markets and nationally, together with clear and specific performance measures, we can advance our shared goals of creating substantial economic mobility within the Black community.”
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Kim Directs Aid to N. Korean Town Under Virus Lockdown
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un directed his government agencies to act immediately to stabilize the livelihoods of residents in a city locked down over coronavirus concerns, state media reported Thursday. North Korea declared an emergency and locked down Kaesong near the inter-Korean border in late July after finding a suspected virus case there. It hasn’t confirmed yet if the person tested positive and still says the country hasn’t had a single case of COVID-19, a claim questioned by outside experts. Kim presided over a meeting Wednesday of the ruling Workers’ Party’s executive policy council where they discussed a special supply of food and funds to Kaesong, the Korean Central News Agency said. The report didn’t specify the measures that were to be taken. North Korea has said the suspected virus patient is a runaway who had fled to South Korea three years ago before slipping back to Kaesong last month. Some experts speculate North Korea is aiming to hold South Korea responsible for a potential virus spread in the North or try to save its face before winning aid items from the South. Describing its anti-virus efforts as a “matter of national existence,” North Korea earlier this year shut down nearly all cross-border traffic, banned foreign tourists and mobilized health workers to quarantine anyone with symptoms. But the Kaesong lockdown is the first such known measure taken in a North Korean city to stem the pandemic. Foreign experts say a coronavirus outbreak in North Korea could cause dire consequences because of its fragile public health care infrastructure and chronic lack of medical supplies. They are also skeptical about North Korea’s claim of having had no infections because the country shares a long, porous border with China, its biggest trading partner, where the pandemic emerged last year. Kaesong, a city with an estimated population of 200,000, is just north of the heavily fortified land border with South Korea. It once hosted the Koreas’ jointly run industrial complex, which has been shut since 2016 amid nuclear tensions, and an inter-Korean liaison office North Korea demolished earlier this year.
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Daily Testing for COVID-19 Dropping in US, AP Reports
Daily testing for the coronavirus in the United States is falling, even while the death toll rises, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.The number of tests has dropped nearly 4 percent over the past two weeks, AP reported.Experts said demand has overburdened laboratories that carry out the highly accurate molecular tests that detect the genetic code of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.These tests can give results in as little as two days.The experts are calling for a different test that people can do themselves and get results in just minutes, but the scientists say those tests are not as reliable. They include a do-it-yourself test where a patient would spit on a special piece of paper that changes color if the results is positive.But federal regulators say such tests could be highly unreliable.“I don’t think that would do a service to the American public of having something that is wrong seven out of 10 times,” Assistant Health and Human Services Secretary Brett Giroir said. “I think that could be catastrophic.”Meanwhile, Russian authorities said Wednesday they are expanding their express COVID-19 testing to Moscow’s two other major airports after carrying out the tests at Sheremetyevo, Russia’s busiest airport.Authorities said the tests can yield results in just an hour.Facebook on Wednesday took down a post by President Donald Trump because it said the post spread misinformation about the coronavirus.“This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” a Facebook spokesman said.The post included a link to a Fox News video where Trump says children are “virtually immune” to the virus.This is the first time one of the president’s COVID-related posts has been deleted from Facebook. Twitter also has demanded the White House remove the video from its account.Studies show that while children are less likely to become infected with the coronavirus and their symptoms tend to be milder, they are not immune and can still spread the virus to others.Gambia has imposed a three-week overnight curfew after the number of COVID-19 cases jumped 60 percent in just one week.Gambia is mainland Africa’s smallest nation and has also had the lowest number of coronavirus deaths – 16.Gambian officials said people had become lax about social distancing and other preventive measures.Four government ministers and the vice president are among those who have tested positive in recent weeks.The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the government must take steps to stop the coronavirus from spreading to the Indigenous population.The justices gave authorities 30 days to come up with a plan that includes keeping outsiders from protected Indigenous communities.Indigenous groups demanded more protection, saying the coronavirus could wipe out some tribes and accusing President Jair Bolsonaro of not taking the outbreak seriously.The family of Chief Aritana Yawalapiti, one of Brazil’s most influential Indigenous leaders and leader of the people of Upper Xingu in central Brazil, died Wednesday of COVID-19.
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Turkey Considers Leaving European Domestic Violence Pact
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it will decide by next week whether to leave a European treaty to protect women against domestic violence, a move that has angered many Turkish women, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s daughter.Turkey was the first country to ratify the Istanbul Convention in 2012, followed by 33 other European nations.It is called the first binding agreement that declares violence against women a human rights violation and “creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women,” including protecting victims and prosecuting violent suspects.But Turkey’s conservative government says it wants to withdraw from the pact because opponents say it undermines Turkish families and so-called traditional values that already protect women from violence.A 2016 U.N. report said that 38 percent of Turkish women had experienced “physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.” And, according to an authoritative Istanbul-based advocacy group, We Will Stop Femicide, the number of women murdered, usually by their partners, has been increasing, with 121 women murdered in 2011 and in 2018, 440, according to an NPR report.The possible withdrawal is pitting Erdogan’s son and daughter against each other.“It is our religion which determines our fundamental values, our view of the family,” the Turkish Youth Foundation said. Erdogan’s son, Bilal Erdogan, is a member of the foundation’s board.But Erdogan’s daughter Sumeyye Erdogan is the deputy head of Turkey’s Women and Democracy Association.“We can no longer talk about ‘family’ … in a relationship where one side is oppressed and subject to violence,” the association said. “Marital rape is not normal in a healthy relationship. Bullying is in opposition to human dignity and Islamic value judgments.”The deputy chairman of the AKP, Numan Kurtulmus, said Turkey’s LGBTQ community has “taken refuge” behind the convention to push for equal treatment.Those who support Turkey remaining in the agreement said dropping out would be contrary to European values and be considered a step back from Turkey’s long campaign to join the European Union.
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Pompeo Announces Tour of Europe Next Week
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday he would visit Poland and three other European countries next week, as the United States announced plans to reposition troops outside of Germany. During this tour, which will begin Aug. 11, the U.S. top diplomat will also visit the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria. “It will be a very important and productive trip,” he said, announcing the tour during a press conference. Polish President Andrzej Duda, a populist conservative, was narrowly reelected to a new five-year term last month after a highly polarizing campaign in which he was notably received into the White House by Donald Trump. FILE – Poland’s President Andrzej Duda listens to U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, June 24, 2020.The American president, who has a terrible relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has decided to withdraw thousands of American soldiers from Germany to reposition some of them in Poland. The Pentagon announced last week that the United States would deploy 1,000 additional troops to Poland in rotations, thanks to an agreement reached with Warsaw on their status in the country. They will be added to the 4,500 American soldiers already deployed by rotations in the country. The tour should also be placed under the sign of China, as Pompeo, who seeks to reduce Beijing’s influence in the world, urges U.S. allies to avoid Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
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Hiroshima Survivors Mark 75th Anniversary of World’s 1st Nuclear Attack
The dwindling witnesses to the world’s first atomic bombing marked its 75th anniversary Thursday, with the mayor and others noting the Japanese government’s refusal to sign a nuclear weapons ban treaty, highlighting its hypocrisy.Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to more seriously commit to nuclear disarmament, pointing out Japan’s failures.”I ask the Japanese government to heed the appeal of the (bombing survivors) to sign, ratify and become a party to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” Matsui said. “As the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack, Japan must persuade the global public to unite with the spirit of Hiroshima.”His speech highlights what survivors feel is the hypocrisy of Japan’s government, which hosts 50,000 American troops and is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Tokyo has not signed the nuclear weapons ban treaty adopted in 2017, despite its non-nuclear pledge, a failure to act that atomic bombing survivors and pacifist groups call insincere.The U.S. dropped its first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people, mostly civilians and including many children. The U.S. dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered August 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.Survivors, their relatives and other participants marked the 8:15 a.m. blast anniversary Thursday with a minute of silence.Thursday’s peace ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was scaled down, with the number of attendants reduced to fewer than 1,000, or one-tenth of past years, because of the coronavirus pandemic.Some survivors and their relatives visited and prayed at the park’s cenotaph hours before the ceremony began. The registry of the atomic bombing victims is stored at the cenotaph, whose inscription reads “Let all the souls here rest in peace for we shall not repeat the mistake.”An aging group of survivors, known as hibakusha, feel a growing urgency to tell their stories, in hopes of reaching a younger generation.On the 75th anniversary, elderly survivors, whose average age now exceeds 83, lamented the slow progress of nuclear disarmament.They expressed anger over what they said was the Japanese government’s reluctance to help and listen to those who suffered from the atomic bombing.”Many survivors are offended by the prime minister of this country who does not sign the nuclear weapons prohibition treaty,” said Keiko Ogura, 84, who survived the atomic bombing at age 8. “We need non-nuclear states to help us and pressure the Japanese government into signing.”Matsui urged world leaders, especially those from nuclear weapons states, to visit Hiroshima and see the reality of the atomic bombing.
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US Report Exposes Official Communications, Proxies in Russian Disinformation
Russia is continuing to create and amplify false narratives in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, with the goal of undermining democratic values and the credibility of the United States and its allies, a government report said.The report from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) exposed Russia’s tactics of spreading disinformation through official government communications, state-funded global messaging, cultivation of proxy sources, weaponization of social media and cyber-enabled disinformation.“Beijing has also taken a page from Russia’s playbook, leveraging conspiracy websites and proxy channels to push disinformation and propaganda, with the goal of undermining democratic norms,” Lea Gabrielle, special envoy and coordinator of the GEC, said during a phone briefing.“The threat of both China and Russia disinformation is real,” she added.This came as the U.S. is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who works with or for a foreign government for the purpose of interfering with U.S. elections through certain illegal cyber activities.“The U.S. government will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections,” Gabrielle told VOA. “The GEC works with our partners worldwide who share information on election interference and the tactics that they’ve seen used by Russia and others.”Seven Kremlin-aligned disinformation proxy sites and organizations, including the Strategic Culture Foundation website and the Katehon think tank, were also profiled in GEC’s report. Those proxies amplified narratives critical of the U.S. while embracing Russian positions, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak.The report said Russia’s general aims are “questioning the value of democratic institutions” and “weakening the international credibility and international cohesion of the United States and its allies and partners.”But a counterdisinformation community made up of governments, civil society, academia, the press, the private sector and citizens is pushing back, the State Department said.Senior Russian officials and pro-Russian media have sought to capitalize on the fear and confusion surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic by actively promulgating conspiracy theories, the report said.
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US Steps Up Campaign to Purge ‘Untrusted’ Chinese Apps
The Trump administration said on Wednesday it was stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and called the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and messenger app WeChat “significant threats.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said expanded U.S. efforts on a program it calls “Clean Network” would focus on five areas and include steps to prevent various Chinese apps, as well as Chinese telecoms companies, from accessing sensitive information on American citizens and businesses.Pompeo’s announcement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok. The hugely popular video-sharing app has come under fire from U.S. lawmakers and the administration over national security concerns, amid intensified tensions between Washington and Beijing.”With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat and others are significant threats to personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for CCP (Chinese Communist Party) content censorship,” Pompeo said.TikTok currently faces a deadline of Sept. 15 to either sell its U.S. operations to Microsoft Corp or face an outright ban.FILE – This Feb. 25, 2020, file photo, shows the icon for TikTok in New York.In the run-up to Trump’s November re-election bid, U.S.-China ties are at the lowest ebb in decades. Relations are strained over the global coronavirus pandemic, China’s military buildup in the South China Sea, its increasing control over Hong Kong and treatment of Uighur Muslims, as well as Beijing’s massive trade surpluses and technological rivalry.Pompeo said the United States was working to prevent Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from pre-installing or making available for download the most popular U.S. apps on its phones.”We don’t want companies to be complicit in Huawei’s human rights abuses, or the CCP’s surveillance apparatus,” Pompeo said, without mentioning any specific U.S. companies.Pompeo said the State Department would work with other government agencies to protect the data of U.S. citizens and American intellectual property, including COVID-19 vaccine research, by preventing access from cloud-based systems run by companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, China Mobile, China Telecom, and Tencent.Pompeo said he was joining Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf in urging the U.S. telecoms regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, to terminate authorizations for China Telecom and three other companies to provide services to and from the United States.He said the State Department was also working to ensure China could not compromise information carried by undersea cables that connect the United States to the global internet.The United States has long been lobbying European and other allies to persuade them to cut out Huawei from their telecommunications networks. Huawei denies it spies for China and says the United States wants to frustrate its growth because no U.S. company offers the same technology at a competitive price.Pompeo’s comments on Wednesday reflected a wider and more accelerated push by Washington to limit the access of Chinese technology companies to U.S. market and consumers and, as one U.S. official put it, to push back against a “massive campaign to steal and weaponize our data against us.”A State Department statement said momentum for the Clean Network program was growing and more than 30 countries and territories were now “Clean Countries” and many of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies “Clean Telcos.”It called on U.S. allies “to join the growing tide to secure our data from the CCP’s surveillance state and other malign entities.”
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US Lawmakers Ask 6 Top Universities to Hand Over Records of Foreign Donations
Three members of the U.S. Congress are asking six of the nation’s top universities to hand over records of donations they have accepted from certain foreign nations, including China and Russia, citing concerns that these multimillion-dollar donations present a growing national security threat.Letters aimed at helping the members to “further understand the effects of adversarial foreign direct investments in the U.S. higher education system” were sent to the presidents of Harvard, New York University, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and University of Delaware. The U.S. Department of Education building building is seen in Washington, on July 22, 2019.The letters say the federal Department of Education (DOE) “has uncovered over $6.5 billion of previously unreported foreign donations to U.S. Institutes of Higher Education,” and note that Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 requires colleges to disclose to DOE all contracts with and gifts from foreign sources of more than $250,000.The letters were signed by the most senior Republican members of three House of Representatives committees — James Comer (Oversight and Reform), Jim Jordan (Judiciary) and Virginia Foxx (Education and Labor).The letters ask for the documents to be provided no later than Aug. 10. However, as members of the minority party in the House, the congressmen cannot compel the universities to comply.According to the letters, Harvard University has declared 31 gifts or contracts totaling $101 million from China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia since 2015. During the same period, the University of Pennsylvania allegedly collected $62 million, New York University $40 million, while Yale and the universities of Chicago and Delaware each were said to have received less than $30 million.DOE investigationIn May, Department of Education General Counsel Reed Rubinstein told lawmakers in a memo that lawyers from several top-tier universities were being overly aggressive in labeling documents “confidential” and were refusing to hand over emails detailing their business relationships with China, Russia and countries in the Middle East.“The evidence suggests massive investments of foreign money have bred dependency and distorted the decision-making, mission and values of too many institutions,” Rubinstein wrote in the memo.FILE – Students walk on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Nov. 12, 2015.In February, an Education Department investigation found that two of America’s top universities, Harvard and Yale, failed to report a total of at least $375 million in foreign gifts and contracts. At the same time, the department started to probe whether other universities, including Texas A&M, Cornell, MIT, Rutgers and the University of Maryland, had failed to report gifts and contracts with foreign nations.Foreign influence at U.S. universities was already an issue. Earlier this year, Dr. Charles Lieber, a top chemistry professor at Harvard, was indicted for lying about his involvement with the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Plan.The University of Pennsylvania has also been criticized for its failure to explain a $3 million donation from a Hong Kong shell company owned by a Shanghai businesswoman with close ties to Chinese government officials.Yu Ping, a Chinese law expert, told VOA there should be no valid reason for UPenn not to report the donation. “If you didn’t file a report, then there’s a problem. That means the donation probably involves some suspected programs,” he said.Influence by CCPThe U.S. administration has become increasingly concerned with foreign governments’ influence buying and espionage operations at American universities, and the chief concern seems to be China.In their letter to the university chiefs, the three congressmen said their greatest concern is that “some recipients alter their decision-making based on the donation received.”Xia Ming, a professor of political science at the City University of New York, told VOA that Chinese officials need the branding from top-tier schools on their resumes, and Western universities are dependent on the donations and tuitions from foreign nationals, making these campuses vulnerable to foreign influence.He cited a recent report by Harvard as an example.The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard published a report July 9 saying that Chinese citizen satisfaction with government has increased virtually across the board since 2003, when the study began. In the latest survey conducted in 2016, “95.5% of respondents were either ‘relatively satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’ with Beijing,” said The Harvard Gazette, the official news outlet of Harvard University. The report noted that the satisfaction rates with local governments were lower. “Many Harvard researchers are visiting scholars from China. They bring China’s propaganda into Western campuses and publish reports together with their American counterparts in the name of top-tier American universities,” Xia told VOA.
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Serbia Turns the Tables, Investigates the Investigative Journalists
Five years ago, Serbia’s Anti-Corruption Agency opened a money laundering investigation into Sinisa Mali, who was then mayor of the capital, Belgrade. The Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) —a Serbian investigative journalism outlet — had reported on FILE – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic gestures at Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) headquarters during a national election, the first in Europe since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, in Belgrade, Serbia, June 21, 2020.Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied the probe is retaliation against critics, telling a press conference, “everyone should be equal before the law.” But local journalists and rights groups questioned the Finance Ministry’s motive. Some said the probe appears to be an attempt to intimidate reporters and civil society groups who are holding powerful officials to account and another signal of rising hostility facing Serbia’s media. FILE – Stevan Dojcinovic, an editor of Serbia’s investigative web portal Krik, known for its reports on corruption and organized crime, poses for a picture in Belgrade, Serbia, Dec. 18, 2019.Stevan Dojcinovic, an award-winning journalist and editor-in-chief at KRIK, said the inquiry is part of the government’s pressure on independent journalism. “I am not surprised that we were on the list. We, as well as our colleagues, have been targeted for years by various government agencies used to pressure journalists,” Dojcinovic told VOA. Dojcinovic said the move was concerning because investigative journalists play a critical role in ensuring transparency and exposing government corruption, a chronic problem in Serbia. Multiple investigative outlets in the region work to scrutinize the dealings of those in power and their handling of multi-million-dollar public contracts, among other accountability matters. Their exposes sometimes trigger official investigations, although convictions are rare. In Mali’s case, for example, KRIK reported that companies he owned bought Bulgarian apartments through two offshore firms, and that Mali failed to report ownership as required. When the Anti-Corruption Agency looked into the allegations it found Mali received large sums, including from an offshore company under his control. But prosecutors dismissed the case and said they saw no evidence of wrongdoing. KRIK said the prosecutor’s office declined to provide further justification for its decision. Similarly, an official investigation into Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin’s purchase of a Belgrade home was dismissed in 2017 by the Prosecutor for Organized Crime, for lack of evidence. In that case, KRIK reported that Vulin failed to report bringing about $240,000 into the country. The law requires that foreign transactions of about $11,000 or more must be reported. In another case, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) revealed in 2015 that the state-owned electric company had mismanaged a public contract bidding process for a $17 million contract to pump floodwater from a mine, leading to project delays and budget overruns. Grist for reporting In a June background document, the European Commission said Serbia has not done enough to fight corruption and organized crime, or to protect the media. The commission in an earlier report said official corruption was prevalent and that, despite some improvement, “There is a need for strong political will to effectively address corruption issues, as well as a robust criminal justice response to high-level corruption.” The report, part of the country’s Stabilization and Association Agreement as a candidate country for European Union membership, also described lack of progress on freedom of expression as a “serious concern” and reported an increase in political and economic pressure on journalists. Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic, director of BIRN, which is also on the Anti-Money Laundering Unit target list, said the investigation appeared to be a way for the government to track the source of funding for journalists and NGOs, and how much money is granted. Some of those on the target list told VOA that officials failed to provide a clear answer when asked about the basis for the investigation. Serbia’s Ministry of Finance referred VOA to the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, which did not respond to an email requesting comment. The ministry has denied in news reports that the money laundering probe is meant to criminalize the news media and other organizations. But it has not publicly given a reason for looking into the NGOs and news outlets. “These are regular activities, not politically motivated,” Mali told the privately owned media company Pink TV. A statement from the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, carried by the state-run Tanjug news agency, said it has also investigated ministers and that non-governmental groups named for scrutiny should not be treated as “sacred cows.” President Vucic said, “everyone should be equal before the law” and suggested those named for investigation were trying to profit from it. “Let’s make noise about how endangered we are so we can get more money from donors,” Vucic said of the NGOs during a July 30 press conference. “That’s been the practice for 30 years.” Erosion of rights International human rights groups and media watchdogs have been criticized what they see as Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule. In its 2020 Freedom in the World Report, the U.S. monitoring group Freedom House said Vucic’s government had “steadily eroded political rights and civil liberties, putting pressure on independent media, the political opposition, and civil society organizations.” Sofya Orlosky, program manager for Eurasia at Freedom House, told VOA that targeting rights groups and independent journalists on allegations of money laundering and financing terrorism has become a “common practice” for regimes in the region. “By abusing the anti-money-laundering mechanism to intimidate civil society, the Serbian authorities show clear disregard for their own commitment to eradicating corruption,” Orloski said. “Instead of threats, the authorities should engage in an honest dialogue.”
The United States and the European Union each raised concerns. A statement by the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade said the U.S. was ready to assist Serbia on its path toward EU membership. “However, the impression that official Belgrade wants to suppress civil society or the freedom of the media will damage Serbia’s reputation and make it more difficult to make progress toward this goal of great value,” the statement said. International rights groups, including Amnesty International, described the probe as an intimidation act. In a statement, Amnesty said, “The targeting of journalists and NGOs on absurd allegations of money laundering and financing terror is a blatant act of intimidation and the latest in an ongoing campaign by Serbian authorities to silence critics.” Meanwhile, journalists working for media organizations named in the money laundering inquiry say the pressure will only sharpen their focus. “This government action will not make us question our resolve and purpose,” BIRN Director Zarkovic said. “We will continue to reveal government corruption and expose those involved.” This article originated in VOA’s Serbian service.
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New Coronavirus Clusters Emerge in Jakarta Office Buildings
Two months ago, Jakarta transitioned away from large-scale social restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, allowing people like Sri Hendary to resume normal activities like working at the office. But this past Monday, Sri had to revert to working from home when her office decided the risk of workplace infection became too great. “We now work in shifts,” said Sri, who works at a shipping company that abides the strict health protocols enforced in most Jakarta office buildings. “In our building, every person has to get their temperature checked with a thermal scan, disinfect their hands and shoes, and wear a mask at all times,” she explained. FILE – Officials take the body temperature reading of worshippers as a precaution against the new coronavirus outbreak, outside a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 31, 2020.Spooked by a cluster of new outbreaks, her managers took action. “The staff comes into the office once a week only for a few hours, but for those who are above 50 years old, including me, we are advised to work only from home.” Tenfold increase Indonesia’s COVID-19 Task Force recorded at least 90 new coronavirus clusters in Jakarta office buildings on July 28, comprising a total of 459 confirmed workplace cases — a tenfold increase since large-scale social restrictions concluded in early May. Of these clusters, 18 were discovered in offices of different Indonesian ministries. FILE – An employee wearing protective gear as a precaution against the new coronavirus holds a banner displaying information about the virus, at the Harmoni Central Busway station in Jakarta, July 16, 2020.Task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito says these clusters emerged because some businesses are neglecting health protocols. “Internationally, we are still in a pandemic,” he told VOA. “It has been advised to work from home, especially for those who are at higher risks. Offices should also limit the working hours and the room capacity should be at 50%. “If people are not disciplined in maintaining the health and safety guidelines, then of course clusters can happen,” he added. Elizabeth Selina, who works at an office in West Jakarta, says complacency about workplace safety guidelines have left her constantly worried about contracting the virus. “At first we had to disinfect our hands when we entered, but after some time, I’ve seen people who just walk in without doing that,” she said. “We also have to wear a mask, but at one point, some of the staff will take it off.” Selina says some colleagues are confined to close quarters for several hours, sometimes with poor ventilation. She hopes the government will impose stricter enforcement of workplace safety protocols, including regular testing of those who work on site. Lax oversight University of Indonesia epidemiologist Pandu Riono blames the latest outbreak on a lack of supervision and education about workplace protocol enforcement. A lot of offices have opened up their buildings, he said, without properly educating the staff about the importance of cleanliness and maintaining a physical distance. “I had identified potential clusters that can happen with the easing of [restrictions],” said Riono, explaining that he had urged government health officials in May to require physical distancing in offices, factories, markets, or any place where crowds gather. Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist from Australia’s Griffith University, says the government should hold off opening non-essential offices until the end of the year. “There is no other choice for Indonesia, unless you want to risk a large increase in infection and death,” Budiman told local news outlet Kompas. FILE – A security guard wearing protective equipment looks on during a coronavirus test for passengers of long-distance trains at Senen Train Station in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 27, 2020.Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has vowed to improve enforcement oversight and expand COVID-19 testing, promising to name companies that fail to comply. “The Jakarta Government will continue to supervise every business and public activity in Jakarta,” he said during an online press conference July 30. “We will formally announce in our website any violations and the consequences,” he said. “We will also impose a progressive fine for repeat offenders and companies that have received prior warnings.” Baswedan says the head of the office must take actions to protect their workers and continue to stress the importance of adhering to the health and safety protocols, as well as continuously supervising the day-to-day activities in the building. “If a workplace does not care about its workers, the consequence is potential infection,” he said. “When that happens, there has to be a closure and, in the end, everyone will lose.” Indonesia now has more than 116,871 confirmed cases, with 5,452 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia.
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India Widens China App Ban to Cover More From Xiaomi, Baidu
India has banned some mobile apps of Chinese companies such as Xiaomi Corp and Baidu Inc, three sources told Reuters on Wednesday, in New Delhi’s latest move to hit Chinese companies following a border clash between the neighbors.
India in June outlawed 59 Chinese apps for threatening the country’s “sovereignty and integrity,” including ByteDance’s video-sharing app TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser and Xiaomi’s Mi Community app.
Another ban was imposed in recent weeks on about 47 apps which mostly contained clones, or simply different versions, of the already banned apps, the sources said.
Unlike its June move, the government did not make its latest decision public, but there are a few new apps that have made it to that list, including Xiaomi’s Mi Browser Pro and Baidu’s search apps, the sources said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many new apps have been affected.
India’s IT Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi did not respond to a request for comment. China has previously criticized India’s decision to ban the apps.
A spokesman for Xiaomi in India said the company was trying to understand the development and will take appropriate measures. Baidu declined to comment.
A ban on the Mi Browser, which comes pre-loaded on most Xiaomi smartphones, could potentially mean the Chinese firm will need to stop installing it on new devices it sells in India.
Xiaomi is India’s No.1 smartphone seller with close to 90 million users, according to Hong Kong-based tech researcher Counterpoint.
The bans are part of India’s moves to counter China’s dominant presence in the country’s internet services market following a border clash in June between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
India has also made approval processes more stringent for Chinese companies wanting to invest in the country, and also tightened norms for Chinese companies wanting to participate in government tenders.
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WHO: Young People Should Ask Themselves: ‘Do I Really Need to Go to that Party?’
World Health Organization officials Wednesday urged young people to fight the urge to go parties and other gatherings to help prevent new outbreaks of COVID-19.During a virtual question and answer session from WHO headquarters in Geneva, WHO health emergencies chief Mike Ryan and WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said young people need to play a role in helping to slow or stop the spread of virus.FILE PHOTO: Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s emergencies program Mike Ryan speaks at a news conference on the novel coronavirus in Geneva, Feb. 6, 2020.Countries around the world, even those which had the virus relatively under control, have seen COVID cases surge in night life hotspots, bars, or other areas where young people like to gather.They said this is especially true in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is summer and young people are tired of lockdowns and eager to enjoy the nice weather.Ryan said young people need to ask themselves: “Do I really need to go to that party? Do I really need to be there?” He said younger people have a “huge opportunity to drive down transmission with their behavior.”WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove attends a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, July 3, 2020.The virus “transmits in clusters, it likes people that come together,” said Van Kerkhove, explaining that the virus, if present, will transmit from person to person any time communities provide the opportunity.WHO officials have seen cases surge among college age people not just at bars and parties, but at places where people gather to watch sporting events, said Van Kerkhove, who urged people to continue practicing physical distancing.What has not been widely discussed, she added, is that not everyone who has the virus spreads it to someone else. Between 10 and 20 of all cases are responsible for about 80% of viral transmissions. Gatherings provide those “spreaders” the best chance to transmit the virus to the most people, she said.
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US Treasury Announces New Sanctions on Ally of Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa
The U.S. Treasury has imposed financial sanctions on an alleged Zimbabwean government ally who it says used corruption to rake in millions of U.S. dollars.Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei and his company, Sakunda Holdings, were targeted Wednesday by the Treasury Department.“Tagwirei and other Zimbabwean elites have derailed economic development and harmed the Zimbabwean people through corruption,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin G. Muzinich in a press release.The release said Tagwirei used opaque business dealings and relationships with top officials, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, to win state contracts and receive favored access to hard currency, which has been in short supply for years in Zimbabwe. The department tied the sanctions to the second anniversary of a violent crackdown against protesters in Zimbabwe that left at least six people dead.A successful businessman, Tagwirei has long been connected with Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party and top officials, such as President Mnangagwa and First Vice President Constantino Chiwenga. Both individuals have been subject to previous sanctions and retain spots on the U.S. Treasury’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, a compilation of individuals who have been targeted by various sanctions programs. According to his profile on Sakunda Holdings’ website, Tagwirei sits on the National Procurement Board for Zimbabwe’s oil supply industry, in addition to serving as the company’s chief executive officer. A report commissioned by the Zimbabwean government in 2019 found that Tagwirei and his associates could not account for at least $3 billion dispensed to the Command Agriculture program, a state farm subsidy financed by Sakunda Holdings and supported by Mnangagwa, the Treasury Department says. Zimbabwe has been thrust into turmoil in recent weeks, as citizens emboldened by the #blacklivesmatter movement take to the streets to protest human rights abuses and a lack of government assistance as the economy falters during the coronavirus pandemic. Several activists, authors and civilians have been arrested. The government contends the protests are being orchestrated by foreign governments and opposition leaders in an attempt to destabilize the nation. Under the new sanctions, all property and interests of Tagwirei and Sakunda Holdings that are in the U.S. or under the control of U.S. nationals must be blocked and reported to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
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