The May death of 46-year-old George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, and the subsequent protests across the United States and globally, led lawmakers from around the world to social media to discuss race relations, according to a new analysis from the U.S.-based Pew Research Center. The research shows that almost half of lawmakers who are active on Twitter in four countries — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — posted messages referencing Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter protests. Floyd was African American. “Prior to George Floyd’s killing, very few had used the phrase Black Lives Matter or hashtags related to that movement, only about 4%. And now we see that after George Floyd’s killing, those who are weighing in on these topics shoots up to about half,” said Kat Devlin, a Pew research associate who spoke to VOA via Skype. Black Lives Matter protests were held in London and cities across Britain, as well as Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney, Auckland and elsewhere.FILE – People look at a statue of a Black Lives Matter protester by British artist Marc Quinn erected in the spot once occupied by the statue of a slave trader in the English city of Bristol, July 15, 2020.Devlin said events in the U.S. sparked renewed debates on domestic race relations in many countries. “Sixty-nine percent (of legislators) in Australia who were talking about George Floyd or the Black Lives Matter movement also began to talk about Indigenous people in their countries — the same with a majority of the legislators in New Zealand,” Devlin said. Almost two-thirds of all British lawmakers using Twitter posted messages about George Floyd or Black Lives Matter. Around a third posted tweets critical of U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the protests. Most tweeted support and solidarity for the protesters. Many used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to highlight perceived racial inequality in Britain. One widely shared June 1 tweet from British Labor Party MP Clive Lewis compared the situation in the United States to that in Britain: “Any liberal democracy, including our own, where historic wealth accumulation is inextricably linked to racist ideology will be capable of #GeorgeFloyd levels of racial injustice. It’s not an accusation, simply the current reality.”FILE – A protester stands in front of the US embassy during the Black Lives Matter protest rally in London, June 7, 2020.Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a Black lawyer and political activist based in Britain, told VOA that the debate in the U.S. resonates across the Atlantic. “The protests in solidarity, for instance, in the United Kingdom — personally, I don’t think that’s just about the U.S. It’s also recognizing that these this systemic racism exists here in the U.K.,” Mos-Shogbamimu said in a Skype interview at the time of the London protests. “And social media platforms have become the wireless platform to communicate this information worldwide, in real time, instantly.” Not all lawmakers’ tweets expressed solidarity with the protests. Twenty percent of British legislators’ posts were critical of the demonstrations in Britain. Five percent of these posts made reference to the coronavirus pandemic, criticizing the large gatherings and accusing authorities of double standards for allowing the protesters to congregate despite social distancing and lockdown measures in force at the time. “Legislators were talking about the coronavirus in respect to the protests, but then also turned that conversation to the fact that non-white groups within the U.K. are suffering worse outcomes,” Devlin noted. In Australia, Sen. Pauline Hanson of the One Nation Party wrote on Twitter June 8: “ANGER OVER DOUBLE STANDARDS GROWS: Premiers are facing a growing backlash over Covid-19 social-distancing restrictions after allowing tens of thousands of protestors to defy health warnings & attend Black Lives Matter rallies.” Hanson recently shared an article on Twitter that described the Black Lives Matter movement as “neo-Marxist.” In the weeks since Floyd’s death, statues of slave traders have been torn down, colonial histories are being rewritten, and demands for racial equality have become louder, amplified by social media. In the United States, the House of Representatives last month voted to rid the Capitol of Confederate statues. It is not clear if the measure will be brought to a vote in the Senate. Trump has described the destruction of Civil War-era statues and other memorials, including those honoring Christopher Columbus, as an attempt to cleanse the U.S. of its history.
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Month: August 2020
Pompeo Vows to Protect Hong Kong Activists Sought Abroad
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday vowed to protect Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners who have fled the city and denounced China after Beijing said that police had ordered the arrests of overseas activists. “The Chinese Communist Party cannot tolerate the free thinking of its own people, and increasingly is trying to extend its reach outside China’s borders,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The United States and other free nations will continue to protect our peoples from the long arm of Beijing’s authoritarianism.” In an accompanying tweet, Pompeo said that Washington “condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to prosecute pro-democracy advocates resident outside of China, including in the United States.” Chinese state media said late Friday that Hong Kong police had ordered the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in exile on suspicion of violating a tough new security law. One of them, Samuel Chu, head of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, wrote on Twitter that he has been a U.S. citizen for 25 years. FILE – Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law attends a press conference in Hong Kong, January 27, 2018.The most prominent person targeted was 27-year-old campaigner Nathan Law, who recently fled Hong Kong for Britain and called the charges against him “trumped up.” Hong Kong police refused to comment on the charges. But China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, appeared to confirm and defend the charges. “All these law enforcement actions are taken according to the law,” Cui said in response to a question at the Aspen Security Forum. “Anybody, if they violate the law, they should be punished. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what kind of political views they might have.” China in late June passed a security law that bans subversion and other perceived offenses in the financial hub, sending a chill through a city that witnessed wide and occasionally destructive pro-democracy protests last year. The United States has denounced the law and said it would end special treatment for Hong Kong, to which Beijing promised freedoms before Britain handed back the territory in 1997.
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Isaias Blasts US Atlantic Coast
Tropical Storm Isaias is tearing across central New York state and New England after quickly moving through the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., leaving at least four dead.The National Hurricane Center has posted tropical storm warnings from Manasquan Inlet New Jersey to Stonington, Maine, Long Island and Long Island Sound, and Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island.Isaias is forecast to bring heavy rain, strong winds, and possible tornadoes to areas that rarely see twisters.A man carries supplies as he walks over fallen tree limbs and downed power lines in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias in the Sheepshead Bay Area of Brooklyn, New York, Aug. 4, 2020.Isaias came ashore in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, on Monday night as a Category 1 hurricane and quickly moved up the coast, losing some force as it drifted inland, but leaving behind floods, downed trees and power outages.Isaias spawned a tornado that killed two in Windsor, North Carlina.A woman in Mechanicsville, Maryland, died when a tree fell onto her car and another person was killed in the New York City borough of Queens, when winds blew a tree onto his van.Tornadoes were also reported in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. Several children received minor injuries when high winds blew the roof off a day care center in Philadelphia.Forecasters say Isaias will rapidly lose steam as it moves farther inland and will weaken to a post-tropical depression as it blows into Canada late Tuesday night.
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Malaysia Police Raid Al Jazeera’s Office, Seize Computers
Malaysian police raided the office of news broadcaster Al Jazeera and two local TV stations on Tuesday, seizing computers as part of an investigation into a documentary on undocumented migrants that enraged the government.Al Jazeera, a Qatari-state owned broadcaster, said in a statement that police seized two computers during the raid, which it called a “troubling escalation” in a government crackdown on media freedom. It urged Malaysian authorities to cease the criminal investigation.Police opened an investigation last month into the Al Jazeera documentary on the treatment of undocumented migrants after officials complained it was inaccurate and biased. Seven Al Jazeera staff members have been grilled by police as part of the probe for alleged sedition, defamation and violating the Communications and Multimedia Act.Police obtained court warrants to search the offices of Al Jazeera as well as local broadcasters Astro and Unifitv, criminal investigation chief Huzir Mohamed said in a statement. The two local TV stations had reportedly aired the video.Huzir said the raids were conducted jointly with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which is also investigating the stations.He said police seized computers which will be sent for further analysis and took statements from witnesses during the raids. “No individual or entity will be spared from action if they have violated the law,” he said.Al Jazeera said the raid was “an attack on press freedom as a whole” and urged Malaysian authorities to cease the criminal investigation.”Conducting a raid on our office and seizing computers is a troubling escalation in the authorities’ crackdown on media freedom and shows the lengths they are prepared to take to try to intimidate journalists,” said Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English.”Al Jazeera stands by our journalists and we stand by our reporting. Our staff did their jobs and they’ve got nothing to answer for or apologize for. Journalism is not a crime,” he said.The documentary, titled “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown,” investigated undocumented immigrants it said were at risk during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,000 migrant workers were arrested during raids in areas in Kuala Lumpur that were placed under tight virus lockdowns.Malaysian authorities also detained a Bangladeshi man interviewed in the documentary after revoking his work permit, and said they will deport him for criticizing the government over its handling of undocumented migrants.”The authorities’ relentless pursuit of Al Jazeera seems to be driven by a desire to punish journalists who aired Malaysia’s dirty laundry rather than a good faith application of the law,” said Matthew Bugher, head of the Asia program of British-based rights group ARTICLE 19.He said Malaysia should investigate the rights violations shown in the documentary instead of targeting the filmmakers.Rights activists have voiced concern over a clampdown on freedom of speech and media independence under new Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who took power in March.Astro was recently fined for airing an Al Jazeera documentary in 2015 about the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman that allegedly contained “offensive content.”Popular online news portal Malaysiakini and its editor face rare contempt proceedings from the attorney general over comments posted by readers against the judiciary.Police also questioned an activist about a social media post alleging mistreatment of refugees at immigration detention centers.A journalist from the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post was also questioned earlier about her reporting on migrant arrests.
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New Bridge in Genoa Opens to Traffic Two Years After Deadly Collapse
A gleaming new bridge in Genoa built after the deadly collapse of a viaduct opened Tuesday, but critics say not enough has been done since the 2018 disaster to overhaul Italy’s crumbling infrastructure.The first cars crossed the sleek steel structure just after 2000 GMT, nearly two years to the day the Morandi highway gave way during heavy rain, hurling dozens of vehicles into the abyss and killing 43 people.The San Giorgio bridge, designed by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano, was inaugurated to much fanfare on Monday.But many of the relatives of the victims declined to attend, saying the ceremony overshadowed the 2018 tragedy.”We’re still there, at the collapsed bridge, with the people we lost under the bridge. We’re stuck in 2018,” Giorgio Robbiano, 43, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the disaster, told AFP Tuesday.However he said “the bridge had to be built and we’re happy for the city.”It was also important to show that large works could be successfully finished in time, without complications,” he said.The tragedy shone a spotlight on the country’s decaying roads, bridges and railways.The Morandi’s speedy demolition and replacement has been hailed by many as an example of what Italy could be, should it scrap its infamous red tape.The centre-left coalition government promised during the coronavirus pandemic this year to use major infrastructure projects to reboot the battered economy, as Italy slid towards its worst recession since World War II.It said it would radically simplify bureaucracy to unblock some 62 billion euros of construction work, and promoted the “Genoa model”: a code-word for work done efficiently and quickly under the watch of a special commissioner.The country has at least 50 large infrastructure projects that are stalled, from a high-speed train in Sicily to the widening of a motorway in Tuscany, Italy’s construction lobby ANCE said.’The Wild West’ Projects stutter to a halt or fail to get off the ground due to lengthy legal challenges to tenders, companies going bankrupt, political point scoring or local council spats, including one in Liguria over which town should host the station on a new train line.The funds are there: according to the Cresme research institute, there were some 200 billion euros earmarked for the sector at the end of 2019, ranging from government and EU funds to private contributions.Last month the government approved a “simplification decree” — touted by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as “the mother of all reforms.”But detractors said it failed to make serious inroads into red tape, and could even prove damaging.Infrastructure executive Angelica Donati said it takes twice as long in Italy to carry out a large-scale infrastructure project than in the rest of Europe, so speeding up the process and improving efficiency and transparency would be much welcomed.But she warned that the new decree crushed competition, by effectively excluding the small and medium enterprises that make up the backbone of Italy from tenders for projects worth over 5.3 million euros.For the next two years, the public administration can rule such projects be treated as an emergency “because of the COVID-related crisis … which would exclude them from all public tender regulations, apart from anti-mafia ones”, she told AFP.A small number of specific companies can be invited to participate individually in the tender — penalizing those who would have made joint venture bids, or are simply excluded.”Using the commissioner structure and throwing out the rule book, saying you have full power to do whatever you want, is not the right way to ensure transparency and protect competition,” Donati said.”The Genoa model is a very bad idea, it’s very dangerous,” and risks turning Italy into “the Wild West”.
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Trump’s Demand for US Cut of TikTok Deal Is Unprecedented
President Donald Trump’s demand that the U.S. government get a cut from a potential Microsoft purchase of TikTok is the latest unprecedented scenario in an unprecedented situation. Microsoft is in talks to buy parts of TikTok, a forced sale after Trump threatened to ban the Chinese-owned video app, which claims 100 million U.S. users and hundreds of millions globally. The Trump administration says TikTok is a national-security concern. How a ban would have worked was not clear; that federal authority has never been used before with a consumer app. TikTok denies that it would send U.S. user data to the Chinese government. Microsoft did not address a potential price when it confirmed the talks. FILE – The logo of the social media video sharing app Tiktok is displayed on a tablet screen in Paris, November 21, 2019Trump said Monday to reporters that the U.S. “should get a very large percentage of that price because we’re making it possible,” adding that “we want and we think we deserve to have a big percentage of that price coming to America, coming to the Treasury.” Trump sometimes floats ideas or actions that get set aside without follow-through. Appearing on the Fox Business Network on Tuesday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow appeared to walk back the idea of a payment to the Treasury, saying “I don’t know if that’s a key stipulation.” TikTok under reviewTikTok was under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, a U.S. government group chaired by the Treasury Secretary that studies mergers for national-security reasons, for its acquisition of another video app, Musical.ly, in 2017. The president can approve or disapprove a transaction recommended by the interagency panel. CFIUS collects filing fees, but those top out at $300,000. “I doubt that’s what Trump has in mind,” said Hal Singer, an antitrust expert and managing director at consulting firm Econ One. “Outside of that I can’t think of any means by which the U.S. could basically get its vig on its forced transfer.” A “vig” is slang for interest on a loan, usually in the context of illegal activity, or the fee charged by a bookie for a bet. There’s no legal precedent in antitrust law for such a payment, said Gene Kimmelman, a senior adviser at the advocacy group Public Knowledge and a former antitrust official at the Department of Justice. “In terms of a foreign company agreeing to sell assets to a U.S. company subject to antitrust review, I can’t see any logical basis under which Treasury or the White House would be negotiating elements of the financial portions of the deal.” While noting that he is not an expert in all areas of U.S. law and the broad authority that the president has, he said the TikTok deal and the White House’s role in it was highly unusual. “Not in my experience have I seen any engagement from the White House in this manner,” he said. “It’s already a unique situation from start to finish with the government intervening to prevent use of a service in the U.S.” There are no “obvious antitrust or other legal bases” for the demand for “what is in effect a payoff to the U.S. government,” said Eswar Prassad, an economist at Cornell University. “The notion of a payment to the U.S. government sets a dangerous precedent of explicit entanglement between national security and economic considerations.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany sidestepped a question Tuesday about what authority the federal government had to collect a portion of proceeds from the potential sale of TikTok, saying “I’m not going to get ahead of the president on any official action.” Treasury did not reply to questions about what legal precedent Trump is relying on to get a payment for the TikTok deal. Microsoft committed to dealIn a statement Sunday, Microsoft had said that that it was committed to the deal “subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.” TikTok has said that it is loved by Americans and “will be here for many years to come.” In a memo ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming sent Chinese employees Tuesday, a translated version of which ByteDance sent to The Associated Press, he said that he felt the goal of the Trump administration was not the forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. business to an American company through CFIUS, but “a ban or even more.” A representative for Microsoft did not reply to questions about the payment demand Tuesday. TikTok declined to comment beyond its Monday statement.
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NYC Health Commissioner Resigns Over City’s COVID Response
New York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, resigned Tuesday, expressing her “deep disappointment” with the way New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has handled the COVID pandemic and his use of the department’s expertise.In her resignation letter, sent to de Blasio and members of the media, Barbot said, “I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the Health Department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been.”Earlier this year, the New York Times reported de Blasio initially ignored Barbot’s advice about canceling large gatherings and closing businesses. Last month, he stripped control of the city’s COVID-19 contact-tracing program from the health department, and placed the program under Health and Hospitals, the agency that runs the city’s public hospitals.Barbot’s replacement was announced as Dr. Dave Chokshi—a Rhodes Scholar who served at the Louisiana Department of Health during Hurricane Katrina and was the principal health adviser to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Obama administration.At his Tuesday news conference, de Blasio thanked Barbot for her service and the important work she did during the crisis. He told reporters it became clear it was time to move forward and “create a new approach” for how to handle the pandemic.Earlier this year, New York City was the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, with daily deaths passing 400 per day. But this past month, the city saw the lowest number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
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UN Ratifies First Unanimous Treaty on Child Labor
A global treaty sponsored by the U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO) calling for greater protection for children against sexual exploitation, forced labor and armed conflict was signed Tuesday by all member nations in the international forum.
Tonga, an island nation located in the Pacific, approved the treaty this week, making it the first U.N. labor treaty ratified by all 187 members. Ratified treaties are legally binding on all signatory governments.International Labor Organization Director-General Guy Ryder attends a news conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Oct. 1, 2019.“Universal ratification … is (a) historic first that means that all children now have legal protection against the worst forms of child labor,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said.
“It reflects a global commitment that the worst forms of child labor, such as slavery, sexual exploitation, the use of children in armed conflict or other illicit or hazardous work … have no place in our society,” he said in a statement.
According to the ILO, the number of child laborers plummeted to 152 million children in recent years, a sharp decline from its previous peak 20 years ago of 246 million. Most child workers are employed in the agricultural sector, and 73 million are placed in dangerous conditions while working.Children in Worst Forms of Labor Get Legal Protection The universal ratification of a convention provides children with critical legal protection from the worst child laborConcern for this issue has risen in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic and the strain on global and local economies. According to the Reuters news agency, some experts say the pandemic could reverse up to two decades of activism and progress in reducing child labor.
In June, the United Nations warned that child labor in the 5-11 age group was likely to rise during and after the pandemic as families grapple to make ends meet.
“The business community is both aware of and acting on the need to do business with respect for children’s rights,” said Roberto Suarez Santos, head of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the world’s largest private sector network.
Ending child labor is one of the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, a set of global priorities created in 2015. The organization plans to eradicate the practice by 2025.
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Children in Worst Forms of Labor Get Legal Protection
The International Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor has been universally ratified. The International Labor Organization said this is the first time in its history that all 187 of its member states have ratified an International Labor Convention.An estimated 152 million children are in child labor. Seventy-three-million are involved in hazardous work that the International Labor Organization defines as the worst forms of child labor.International Labor Organization Director-General Guy Ryder attends a news conference after a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Oct. 1, 2019.ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said the universal ratification of the convention means that children now will benefit from critical legal protection against the worst forms of child labor.“In the past, it has too often been the lot of children to be used to fight in armed conflict, to be sold as slaves, forced into work in the drug trade or in the production of child sexual abuse material or exposed to hazardous substances and long hours,” Ryder said. “In every country, now these practices have been condemned, and clear legal prohibitions against them have been established everywhere.”However, Ryder warns against complacency. He said countries must do more to end impunity for violators and for violations of children’s right to be free from child labor. He said governments must implement and enforce the provisions in the convention.UN Ratifies First Unanimous Treaty on Child Labor The legally binding convention prohibits exploitation of children and forced laborSince the ILO convention was adopted in 1999, the incidence of child labor and its worst forms dropped nearly 40% by 2016. However, progress has slowed in recent years, particularly among children five to 11 years of age, and in some geographical areas.Africa is the region with both the highest absolute number of child laborers and the highest prevalence. Ryder tells VOA the situation in Africa is very worrying.“Just over 72 million African children are in child labor. Of those, 31.5 million in hazardous work,” Ryder said. “The prevalence rate then is nearly 20%. Nearly one in five of all African children are in child labor. … Progress seems to have stalled in Africa, and child labor in absolute terms actually increased in sub-Saharan Africa from 2012 to 2016.”The ILO chief fears years of progress in reducing child labor are at risk of being reversed by COVID-19. He notes the pandemic has caused global unemployment to skyrocket. As more and more people lose their livelihoods and means of survival, he said the danger and temptation to push children back into the labor market will grow.
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Russian Mercenaries in Libya Leave Mines as Deadly Calling Cards, Observers Say
International observers are sounding the alarm about an alliance between Russian mercenaries and a Libyan militia, which they say imperils civilians and risks intensifying Libya’s civil war.
In recent weeks, forces loyal to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar have retreated from neighborhoods surrounding Tripoli. In their wake, human rights groups and the U.S. military say they left behind Russian-made landmines — many of them planted in residential neighborhoods.
The U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, and independent analysts accuse mercenaries with the Wagner Group, a private Russian company, of being behind the mines. Late last month, AFRICOM said in a tweet that Russia and the Wagner Group continue to be involved in both ground and air operations in Libya and that Russia continues to play an unhelpful role in Libya by delivering supplies and equipment to the Wagner Group.LIBYA: #Russia & the #Wagner Group continue to be involved in both ground & air operations in #Libya”Russia continues to play an unhelpful role in Libya by delivering supplies & equipment to the Wagner group,” said Maj. Gen. Gering. More: https://t.co/NewSqn0cMJpic.twitter.com/E7zEMDQxZi— US AFRICOM (@USAfricaCommand) July 24, 2020“They’ve been involved in kind of booby trapping civilian neighborhoods, setting up defense systems in the middle of oil fields and oil terminals and really kind of preparing for an enlarged conflict, and they are being supported militarily by Russia,” said Tarek Megerisi, a policy fellow with North Africa and the Middle East program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Megerisi said the Russians are making little effort to conceal their actions. “We see Russian planes regularly traveling from Russia to Syria and then from Syria to Libya where they’re bringing arms and they’re also allegedly bringing Syrian mercenaries to join up with the Russian groups,” he told VOA.US General: Russia Using ‘Same Playbook’ in Libya as in Ukraine, Syria Brigadier General Gregory Hadfield says Russia moved fighter jets and bomber aircraft to Libya to develop a stronghold there In May, a top AFRICOM official said Russia was further destabilizing Libya to gain a stronghold in northern Africa, just as it has in eastern Europe and the Middle East. Brigadier General Gregory Hadfield, AFRICOM deputy director for intelligence, said fighter jets and bomber aircraft were “flown by members of the Russian military” into Libya “by way of Iran and Syria” to support Russian state-sponsored private military contractors who are helping forces fighting the U.N.-supported Libyan government.
He said the U.S. also was aware of additional Russian cargo planes and personnel that have been brought in, along with older surface-to-air missiles.
Moscow has denied the recent deployment and described AFRICOM’s accusation as “crazy talk.”FILE – This handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry Jan. 13, 2020, shows Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov welcoming Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar in Moscow.Civilians, many of whom are returning to their homes after a forced evacuation, are falling victim to the mines. According to a July 13 U.N. report, landmines or booby traps had killed 52 people and injured 96 in southern Tripoli. Since then, Libyan media outlets have reported more carnage, including a July 16 mine explosion that injured three children.
Haftar’s forces, called the Libyan National Army, are based in the east of the country. More than a year ago, they advanced on Tripoli, where the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) is based. Haftar said he wanted to restore order and end terrorism in the country. But for nearly a year, the forces were stalled outside the Libyan capital.
Megersi said the goal of the LNA booby traps is simple: kill and maim as many people as possible to discourage forces loyal to the GNA.
“This is really just a way to slow down the government troops to make sure that they couldn’t stay hot on their heels,” he said. “But also just to kind of suck the joy of victory out of the morale from the government-aligned forces. Because they’ve gone from finally freeing Tripoli from this conflict and lifting the siege to losing over 100 people in the space of a month as they go house to house trying to unpick these booby traps.”This undated handout photo obtained July 15, 2020, courtesy of AFRICOM, shows a verified image of a booby-trapped anti-personnel mine connected to the Russia-financed Wagner Group, found in a residential area in Tripoli.Megerisi says Russia also is printing billions of counterfeit Libyan dinars to finance Haftar’s army and undermine the overall Libyan economy by causing inflation. “These cash injections and this kind of parallel currency that they’ve printed on behalf of Haftar has allowed this opposition or entity to remain solvent and to be able to continue buying weapons, buying mercenaries and prosecuting this war against the Libyan government,” Megerisi said.
Haftar’s forces and their Russian allies have returned to the eastern part of the country. At the same time Russia, as well as Egypt, another Haftar ally, have called for a cease-fire. This has led some to wonder whether this might pave the way for a partitioning of the country between Haftar and the GNA.
Jason Pack, a non-resident fellow at the non-profit Middle East Institute in Washington and founder of Libya-Analysis, warned that Russia’s history in other parts of the world indicate a cease-fire may be a precursor to further attacks.
“What we’ve seen in Syria is when Russia calls for a cease-fire and negotiated settlement, what they’re really doing is buying time when they’re in a position of tactical weakness as the Russian-backed Haftar forces are in Libya now,” Pack said.
Pack says he fears that Russia and its Libyan allies will use any cease-fire to prepare for a new onslaught to take the capital. “Haftar’s forces are losing. Russia wants a timeout so they can build up defenses so that they can eventually surge and hopefully take Tripoli,” he said.
Mohamed Elshinnawi contributed to this report.
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Cape Verde Agrees to Extradite Maduro Ally to US
A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved extradition of Colombian businessman Álex Saab to the United States, where he faces charges involving money laundering on behalf of Venezuela’s socialist government.The court made its decision Friday but did not inform the defense team until Monday evening, João do Rosário, an attorney on Saab’s legal team, told VOA’s Portuguese service.Rosário said the defense team would appeal Saab’s extradition to Cape Verde’s Supreme Court. He said it has 10 days from the date of notification to take such action. “We will necessarily have to appeal this decision,” Rosário said, adding that it was “not properly grounded.”He said the legal team also is considering an appeal to the country’s Constitutional Court. Saab, a 48-year-old Colombian lawyer and businessman, was arrested on the island of Sal on June 12, when his private plane stopped for refueling en route from Venezuela to Iran. The United States requested Saab’s extradition within days of his arrest. Venezuela’s government protested Saab’s arrest, contending he was on a “humanitarian mission” to get food and medical supplies, according to The Associated Press. Saab is considered a possible front man for the family of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The United States and other countries blame Maduro’s socialist policies for a political and economic crisis threatening regional stability. Saab and another Colombian businessman were indicted in July 2019 in U.S. federal court in Miami for their alleged participation in an illegal bribery scheme from late 2011 through at least September 2015, according to a U.S. Justice Department news release last year. The men allegedly laundered money from bank accounts in Venezuela “to and through bank accounts located in the United States,” a U.S. Justice Department news release said when the indictment was issued. In September, Saab was among three individuals targeted by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly enabling Maduro “and his illegitimate regime to corruptly profit from imports of food aid and distribution in Venezuela,” a U.S. Treasury Department news release said at the time. This account originated in VOA’s Portuguese service, with Eugenio Teixeira reporting from Cape Verde and Alvaro Andrade from Washington..
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EU’s Top Diplomat, Urges Delay in Vote on Inter-American Development Bank Chief
A top European Union diplomat has called for a delay in the vote to choose the Inter-American Development Bank’s new president, a closely watched election that has sparked controversy over the first-ever U.S. candidate.
In a July 30 letter seen by Reuters, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cited the coronavirus pandemic and the nomination of President Donald Trump’s hawkish Latin America adviser Mauricio Claver-Carone as reasons to postpone the planned Sept. 12 vote until after March.
“This postponement is more advisable if we consider the submission, without precedent, of a candidacy to preside the Bank by the United States Government,” Borrell wrote in the letter to Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya.
Some U.S. lawmakers and former ministers and presidents in Latin America have publicly voiced their opposition to Claver-Carone, although he is favored to win the Sept. 12 election and has support from at least 15 countries.
Two Argentine government officials told Reuters the country, which has its own candidate, would favor postponing the IDB election. But with just over 11% of the voting power, they would need the support of other countries to delay the vote.
Claver-Carone dismissed the idea that Europe would oppose his candidacy in an interview last week, saying he was already in touch with European leaders about future plans.
“Do you think Europe is going to look at the majority of region which has already come out publicly in support of our candidacy and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go with one country in the region versus the overwhelming majority of the region?’ The optics of that would be horrible,” Claver-Carone said.
A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters the EU was not party to the IDB as an entity, and all member states had agreed to the virtual September election.
“Any effort by a minority of countries, let alone by non-regional countries, to hijack the election process would be an affront to the region and be challenged,” the official said.
Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, also pushed back in a tweet on Sunday: “The region is independent, sovereign and can maturely make its own decisions.”
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Thai PM Urges Protesters to Back Off Constitutional Demands
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told student protesters Tuesday “not to create chaos” after many advocated for reform of Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.Openly discussing the possibility of reforming the constitutional monarchy is generally seen as taboo in Thailand. And defaming the royal family can be punishable by up to 15 years in prison under the nation’s “lese majeste” laws.Prayuth said the parliament would consider the protester’s demands, underscoring, “I beg people not to create chaos at this time. We are solving these problems together.”Prayuth is a former army chief who has been in power since staging a military coup six years ago. Since then, he has headed a military-backed government in Thailand.He noted that a committee had been created in parliament to discuss possible amendments to the constitution, which was drafted in 2017 under military auspices. He added that it also would try to establish a way to ascertain the opinions of Thailand’s younger demographic.Anon Nampa dressed as a wizard speaks during a Harry Porter-themed protest demanding the resignation of Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok, Aug. 3, 2020.The ad hoc committee set up by the parliament specifically aimed at possible changes to Section 256 of the constitution — the section related to constitutional amendments. Currently, any constitutional amendment needs the support of a minimum of one-third of the parliament’s 250 senators.Many of the senators would be wary, however, of supporting any amendment, not wanting to be viewed as opposing the current government.Another aspect of the constitution allows appointed senators and elected House representatives to pick the prime minister. Nonetheless, many protesters want the elected representatives to have a greater say in the choice of prime minister.Protesters also say the 2017 constitution allowed Prayuth to be assured of staying prime minister after 2019’s disputed election via the creation of a junta-appointed Senate.Prayuth said, “I support changes that are needed and I am not in conflict.” He has not stated, though, what possible changes the parliament would discuss. Protests have been taking place throughout Thailand since a court ban of the opposition Future Forward Party prompted widespread campus protests in July. The protests since then have spread throughout the country, advocating other changes, as well.
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3 Stranded Sailors Rescued From Tiny Pacific Island
The Australian Defense Department said three Micronesian sailors have been rescued from a tiny Pacific island after the large distress signal they wrote in the sand was spotted from above.
The Defense Department said the men had been missing in the Micronesia archipelago for nearly three days when their “SOS” distress signal was spotted Sunday on uninhabited Pikelot island by both Australian and U.S. aircraft.
SOS is an internationally recognized distress signal that originated from Morse code and means “Save our Ship” or “Save our Souls.”
Officials said the men apparently set out from Poluwat atoll in a seven-meter boat July 30 intending to travel about 43 kilometers to Pulap atoll when they sailed off course and ran out of fuel. Searchers in Guam asked Australia for help.
The military ship Canberra, which was returning to Australia from exercises in Hawaii, diverted to the area and joined forces with U.S. search planes from Guam.
The men were found roughly 200 kilometers from where they originally set out.
An Australian military helicopter landed on the beach and gave the men food and water. They are reportedly in good condition. A Micronesian patrol vessel was expected to pick them up.
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Zimbabwe President Calls for Unity as He Deals With ‘Divisive’ and ‘Rogue’ Elements
Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has appealed for national unity against what he called “evil” and “dark forces.” In a televised address Tuesday the president blamed opposition groups, who he described as “terrorists” working with outsiders, for destabilizing Zimbabwe’s economy. The comments come days after he ordered troops to stop anti-government protests over poverty and corruption.In a surprise address broadcast from the State House, President Emmerson Mnangagwa called for unity and patience among Zimbabweans as he deals with “detractors” who he said are derailing his efforts to turn around the economy, which has struggled for more than two decades.He said opposition elements, economic sanctions, cyclones, drought and, most recently, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic were affecting progress toward Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.“Added to this economic aggression, local currency manipulation and detractors who fear the inevitable imminent success of our reforms,” said Mnangagwa. “Although our progress has been slowed down, rest assured that we shall achieve our objectives. We will defeat the attack and bleeding on our economy. We will overcome attempts of destabilization of our society by a few rogue Zimbabweans acting in league with foreign detractors. Those who promote hate, and disharmony will never win.”Alexander Rusero is a former international relations and security studies lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College. He says Mnangagwa was “ill advised” to address the nation Tuesday.“It (the speech) ill timely given the circumstances at hand. It looks like the president was bulking to pressure following the surprising trend of the hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter which has seen almost all people on social media converge at global level raising concerns of human rights abuses,” said Rusero. “So there was really nothing to take away from that state of the nation address because there was absolutely nothing to look into.”Makomborero Haruzivishe is one of 14 political activists wanted by police in connection with anti-government protests that were planned for last Friday but stopped by a heavy police and army presence in the streets of Harare. Speaking to VOA by phone from an undisclosed location, he noted that Mnangagwa’s speech was silent on gross human rights abuses and corruption in Zimbabwe. “He is only seeing shadows,” said Haruzivishe. “He just was sweeping over critical issues, issues to do with accountability and transparency. But we will not allow Emmerson Mnangagwa to use the coronavirus pandemic to quarantine our rights, to quarantine our future, quarantine our freedom. That will never happen. Peace unites Zimbabweans. Development unites Zimbabweans.”Haruzivishe accused the president of subverting the constitution and said activists will continue to tweet #ZimbabweanLivesMatter to, in his words, “reclaim the democratic space which has been lost” under Mnangagwa’s rule.Upon taking power with the help of the military in 2017, Mnangagwa said he would not rule the country with an iron fist like former president Robert Mugabe. But his critics say he seems to be sliding into the dictatorship of his predecessor.
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European Markets Struggling Tuesday, Asian Posting Strong Gains
European markets are mostly lower Tuesday in a reversal of the strong gains posted hours earlier in Asia. London’s FTSE index is 0.1% lower at the midday point. The CAC-40 index in Paris is up 0.1%, and Frankfurt’s DAX index is down 0.4%. Asian markets posted across-the-board gains in response to new data from the United States and other nations that manufacturing activity has begun to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index ended its trading session 1.7% higher. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index earned 1.8%. The KOSPI index in Seoul rose 1.2%, and Taipei’s TSEC index gained 1.5%.Both Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Mumbai’s Sensex index finished 2% higher, while Shanghai’s Composite index gained 0.1%.In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,992.50, an increase of 0.3%. U.S. crude is selling at $40.38 per barrel, down 1.5%, while Brent crude is selling at $43.47 per barrel, also 1.5% lower.All three major U.S. indices are trending negatively in futures trading ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street.
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Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Press USAGM to Release $20M for Censorship-Evading Tech
A group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers is pressing the Trump administration to release $20 million in congressionally approved funds aimed at promoting internet access throughout the world, especially in authoritarian countries such as China and Iran. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement, “The Open Technology Fund provides a lifeline for people living under oppressive regimes.” He added, “Unfortunately, this critical programming is on the brink of collapse.” Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the funding hold “a gift to repressive governments in China, Iran and elsewhere,” according to the Washington Post. Lawmakers spoke out after Laura Cunningham, the acting chief executive of the Washington-based Open Technology Fund, accused USAGM and its leader, Michael Pack, of forcing the OTF to halt 49 of its 60 internet freedom projects that assist human rights and pro-democracy advocates in about 200 countries, because of the funding lapse. USAGM responded to Cunningham’s letter in a statement to VOA that did not say whether the agency plans to release the funds but said “advancing internet freedom and protecting the safety of journalists and activists are among USAGM’s highest priorities.” The statement also accused OTF of unspecified security failures that jeopardize its mission and the security of people working to advance internet freedom. The Open Technology Fund is one of several government-funded global media entities, including Voice of America, overseen by Pack as chief executive of USAGM. He assumed control of USAGM in June after a protracted fight in Congress over his appointment by President Donald Trump. USAGM announced last month that the agency is FILE – Michael Pack, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019. Pack’s nomination was confirmed June 4, 2020.When he took over USAGM, Pack fired several heads of the government-funded media entities. But a federal appellate court in Washington recently blocked him from dismissing the board and officials at the Open Technology Fund, saying it believed the officials would eventually win their case contesting Pack’s ability to oust them. In her letter, Cunningham said, “This arbitrary and unnecessary delay in funding has now compromised the work of our projects and jeopardized the lives of millions of users who rely on our technologies worldwide. “This funding delay is needlessly undermining USAGM’s reach and impact abroad,” she said. “According to USAGM’s own analytics, 85% of USAGM’s audience in Iran and 40% of USAGM’s audience in China rely on OTF-supported technologies to access USAGM content. “Most troubling is that these actions will directly strengthen the hands of internet freedom adversaries, like the Chinese and Iranian governments, who are actively working to undermine freedom and democracy around the world,” Cunningham said. She asked Pack to release the funding “so that we can resume the truly critical work of countering repressive censorship and surveillance abroad.”
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Dueling Protesters Including Armed Men Face Off in Utah
Groups of dueling protesters that included police supporters carrying rifles and flags supporting President Donald Trump faced off outside a suburban Salt Lake City police department Monday night in response to use of force by officers at a demonstration the night before that resulted in the arrest of eight people.
The two groups yelled and chanted at each other from across the street, but no violence was reported.
About 100 people came to show their support for the officers’ actions, some holding signs that read “Back the Blue” and others who carried large guns and said they were part of a group called Utah Citizens Alarm.Across the street from the Cottonwood Heights police department, a nearly equal amount of protesters held “Black Lives Matter” signs to protest what they say was police brutality at the rally Sunday night.
The Sunday protest march was meant to remember a man who was fatally shot by police two years ago. His father was one of the eight people who were arrested. He and his wife blamed police for inciting conflict and ruining a peaceful rally intended to honor the memory of their son and bring attention to police brutality.
Officers used pepper spray, stun guns and batons during the arrests made after some protesters refused orders to keep the protest on sidewalks in the suburban neighborhood, said Cottonwood Heights police Lt. Dan Bartlett.
He said police were kicked, choked and hit, sending five officers to a hospital with broken ribs, a broken nose and other injuries.
Several protesters were wrestled to the ground by police, including one man who was left with a bloodied face, according to images of the events.
The ACLU of Utah questioned what motivated police to “escalate a peaceful dance/rally,” and a left-leaning watchdog group known as Better Utah called for an internal investigation of what it characterized as a “gross overreaction” by officers.
Bartlett said officers were defending themselves after getting “jumped” by protesters who sought out a confrontation.
“It’s a shame that we’re put in these no-win situations,” Bartlett said. “Use of force is never pretty. It never looks good. And it’s disturbing to people, which we certainly understand. We don’t want want to be put in that situation… to get people to follow the law.”
The protest march was held in memory of Zane James, a 19-year-old white man who was shot and killed by a Cottonwood Heights officer in 2018 as he left the scene of a robbery. Police said they found a pellet gun in his pocket after he was shot and that James was suspected of committing two armed robberies. He was shot by the officer who said James was reaching into his pockets and clothing as he fled.
His parents, Tiffany and Aaron James, previously alleged in a lawsuit against the police department that their son didn’t pose a threat and shouldn’t have been shot.
Aaron James was among those arrested Sunday on suspicion of riot, assault on an officer and interfering with an officer, Bartlett said.
James and his wife, Tiffany James, said Monday that police escalated the situation.
“This is exactly why we marched. This is exactly why we came together with this group of people. This is exactly why our son was shot,” Tiffany James said. “This is a culture of police power that is not community friendly and it needs to be addressed.”
Bartlett said he can’t comment on the lawsuit filed by the James family because it’s pending litigation.
Sunday’s rally began at a park in the community about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City. Protesters marched and danced into a residential neighborhood where the clashes with police occurred.
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Poland Reports Record Increase in COVID Cases
Poland reported on Tuesday a record daily increase in coronavirus cases for the fourth time in a week, with more than a third of them found in the southern Silesia region, which has been grappling with another outbreak among coal miners.
The latest tally of 680 new infections and six deaths comes as Poland considers introducing stricter restrictions, including mandatory testing for travelers returning to Poland and quarantine for those coming from certain countries.
More than 220 cases were reported in Silesia, where a rapid spread of infections led to a temporary reduction of coal output and work in 12 mines in June. The situation then stabilized, but has now deteriorated again.
Last week new cases were detected in three mines, including Chwalowice, which was among those where work was cut back to a minimum in June. The state assets ministry said all 2,700 miners in Chwalowice would be tested on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sanitary services said last week the resurgence of COVID-19 among miners was a result of easing restrictions and of the working conditions in the mines, where it is difficult to enforce social distancing.
Currently 1,043 coal miners are infected, mostly from Poland’s biggest coal producer PGG, data cited by state-run news agency PAP showed on Tuesday.
The pandemic has added to numerous problems faced by the coal industry. The government, PGG representatives and trade unions have agreed to work out a restructuring plan by the end of September.
Poland now has a total of 48,149 recorded coronavirus cases and 1,738 deaths.
Sittings of the upper and lower houses of parliament have been pushed back, with the lower house meeting moving from Aug. 7 to Aug. 14, after one senator tested positive on Saturday.
Members of parliament and senators have since undergone testing for COVID-19.
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Ауфидерзейн, путляндия: карлика пукина вышвырнули из новой космической гонки
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Asian Markets Posting Strong Gains on Manufacturing Data
Reports that manufacturing activity in the United States and other nations has begun to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic sent Asian markets soaring Tuesday. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index ended its trading session 1.7% higher. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index earned 1.8%. The KOSPI index in Seoul rose 1.2%, and Taipei’s TSEC index gained 1.5%. In late afternoon trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 2% higher, Shanghai’s Composite index is slightly lower at 0.1%, and Mumbai’s Sensex is up 1.5%. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,990.50, an increase of 0.2%. U.S. crude is selling flat at $40.98 per barrel, while Brent crude is also virtually unchanged, selling at $43.29 per barrel. All three major U.S. indices are trending upward in futures trading.
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Japan’s Nippon Steel to Appeal S. Korean Court Order to Seize Assets
Japan’s Nippon Steel says it will appeal a ruling by South Korea’s highest court for the seizure of its assets to compensate four South Koreans who were forced into labor during Japan’s brutal colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945. The Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2018 ordering Nippon to pay $38,000 to the four South Koreans who were forced to work in Japanese factories during World War Two. An earlier court ruling froze more than 80,000 shares of a joint venture between Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and South Korean steelmaker POSCO. The decision angered Tokyo, claiming the issue of compensation for Korean forced laborers was settled by the 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations between the Asian neighbors. The treaty included $800 million in reparations paid by Japan in the form of economic aid and loans. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government responded to the court ruling by removing Seoul from its list of preferred trading partners, which allowed for the quick approval of critical products used by South Korean electronics manufacturers. South Korea removed Japan from its list of preferred trading partners in return. Japan’s 35-year colonial occupation has left a bitter legacy among South Koreans, with hundreds of thousands subjected to numerous atrocities, including the so-called “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels.
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