Month: September 2020

Імпічмент, відставка і суд зеленому карлику: вимоги українців у Конча-Заспі

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Імпічмент, відставка і суд зеленому карлику: вимоги українців у Конча-Заспі.

Увечері 10 вересня сотні українців навідалися до резиденції зеленого карлика у Конча Заспі з вимогою його відставки та заявами про державну зраду. Акція протесту пов’язана з раніше оприлюдненою інформацією, що на позиціях українських військових під Горлівкою пройде «спільна інспекція» із бойовиками пукінських гібридних сил.

Міністерство оборони України повідомило, що інспекція в районі Шумів Донецької області не може бути проведена 10 вересня, як про напередодні домовилися в рамках засідання Тристоронньої контактної групи. У відомстві відповідальність за це поклали на путляндію і підтримуваних нею бойовиків із бандугруповань лугандонії, які «фактично відмовилися дотримуватись досягнутих домовленостей і працювати на основі здорового глузду заради підтвердження правдивих фактів щодо ситуації на лінії розмежування»
 

 
 
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Гадина путляндии меняет акценты: из окопов информационной войны

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Гадина путляндии меняет акценты: из окопов информационной войны.

Глазеют все. Смотрят немногие. Тех, которые видят, еще меньше. То же со слухом. Слушают все, а слышат немногие. «Разруха не в клозетах, а в головах!» А наша задача – проста, не допустить клозета в голове, а дальше, все встанет на место
 

 
 
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Дегенерати портнов і медведчук та інші. Як (не) розслідують злочини проти журналістів

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Дегенерати портнов і медведчук та інші. Як (не) розслідують злочини проти журналістів.

Спалена автівка, напади на знімальну групу під час здійснення законної професійної діяльності, ознаки встановлення негласного спостереження в помешканні журналіста, спроба отримати дані з телефону головреда з ризиками викриття джерел – все це лише часткова ілюстрація того, з якими перешкодами у своїй роботі стикаються журналісти-розслідувачі.

Втім, ситуації в цілому в країні не краща, лише за перші вісім місяців цього року було зафіксовано 137 випадків порушення свободи слова. Переважна більшість з них – це фізична агресія проти журналістів.

Експерти відзначають, що не остання причина таких масштабів перешкоджань здійснення журналістами їхньої професійної діяльності – безкарність
 

 
 
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Long-Term Solutions Sought for Migrants Displaced by Fires on Lesbos Island

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The U.N. refugee agency is calling for long-term solutions for thousands of migrants on Greek islands who were rendered homeless by fires that devastated the Moria asylum center on the island of Lesbos.An estimated 11,500 asylum seekers are living in the open since a series of fires, which started five days ago, ravaged Greece’s Moria asylum center.No casualties have been reported, but the blaze destroyed everything, leaving everyone without shelter.The U.N. refugee agency reports thousands of vulnerable people, including very young children, pregnant women, elderly people and people with disabilities, are sleeping in the streets, fields, and beaches.UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo says her agency is helping Greek authorities protect and assist asylum seekers affected by the fires. She says the UNHCR is providing emergency aid to ensure people do not sleep in the open.“The coronavirus pandemic also is adding to an already desperate situation. People tested positive [for] COVID need to be provided with special care, isolation and treatment arrangements and medical support. The UNHCR has advised all those previously staying in the center to restrict their movements until temporary solutions are found,” Mantoo said.Greek soldiers set up UNHCR tents to accommodate asylum seekers left without shelter after fires at a refugee camp on Lesbos Island, Greece, Sept. 11, 2020.The Moria center, Europe’s largest refugee camp, was meant to house 3,000 people. At times, the camp population in this squalid, tented settlement swelled to more than 20,000. This is a consequence of increasing numbers of people fleeing war, persecution and extreme poverty, and the refusal of other European countries to share the burden by accepting asylum seekers.Mantoo said the situation must change because it is no longer tenable. Long-term solutions must be found for refugees and asylum seekers stuck in overcrowded, unsafe conditions on the Greek islands.“UNHCR has long been highlighting the need to address the situation and conditions for asylum seekers on the Aegean Islands. The incidents at Moria demonstrate the long-standing need to take action to improve living conditions, alleviate overcrowding, improve security, infrastructure and access to services in all five reception centers on the Greek islands,” Mantoo said.The U.N. refugee agency is appealing to European countries to do more to protect asylum seekers. It urges them to quickly relocate unaccompanied children and other particularly vulnerable people from their precarious situation on the islands.
The agency welcomes recent announcements by some European countries to take in unaccompanied minors and families with children from Greece. 
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Клопы и бункер: карлика заперли под землей, лишив прямой линии и бредовых сказок

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Клопы и бункер: карлика заперли под землей, лишив прямой линии и бредовых сказок.

Обиженный карлик пукин очень боится потерять свою власть. Он продолжает сидеть в бункере, со здоровьем у него не очень и вообще похвастаться ему нечем
 

 
 
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У газпрома плохие новости: холопы пукина переходят на подножный корм

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У газпрома плохие новости: холопы пукина переходят на подножный корм.

В среднесрочной перспективе, рынок сбыта путляндии будет просаживаться все глубже
 

 
 
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Challenges Remain Despite Deal in India-China Border Spat

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India and China have agreed to disengage troops and de-escalate tensions that flared this week along their contested border, but analysts say overcoming their differences will not be easy.The meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries was held in Moscow on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.It came days after a fresh confrontation in Ladakh when the Indian army said it occupied hilltops on the south bank of the strategic Pangong Tso Lake as a preemptive measure when it noticed Chinese movements. Concerns about the volatile border deepened after both countries accused each other of firing warning shots for the first time in 45 years – long-standing protocols forbid the use of firearms.A joint statement Friday issued by India and China after the talks said that both sides agreed that the current situation on the border is not in the interest of either side. The statement said, “They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions.”At some places, analysts say that troops are deployed less than a kilometer apart.“It’s very tense, and I stress the word ‘very’ because there are large number of troops massed on both sides, an estimated 40,000-plus,” Jayadeva Ranade, who heads the Center for China Analysis and Strategy in New Delhi, said.Whether the ice has been broken at the latest round of talks remains to be seen.In this Sept. 3, 2020, picture, an Indian Army convoy makes way along a highway in Kyelang, some 120 kilometers from the Indo-Tibetan border.“We should be cautiously optimistic about this new agreement but be under no illusions about how difficult it will be to implement. Mistrust among troops along the LAC [line of actual control, the de facto border between the two countries]  is greater than it’s been in years,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington.The military standoff began in May when India accused Chinese troops of crossing into Indian territory at several points along the line of actual control where both sides disagree on where the border stands. The situation escalated sharply in June after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in the Galwan Valley.One of the key flashpoints is Pangong Tso Lake, where India says Chinese troops have come into its territory on the north side — Beijing denies it. India, as a counter, say analysts, occupied key ridges on the south side of the lake last week.“There used to be a buffer which the two sides used to respect. The Chinese have tried to gain an advantage over India by encroaching on that buffer and India has realized that they also need to have those tactical advantages on the ground if they have to manage China along the border so that has led to this very peculiar situation,” according to Harsh Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and professor of international relations at King’s College, London.An Indian army soldier gestures towards the photographer as his convoy moves on the Srinagar- Ladakh highway at Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Sept. 1, 2020.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar that the “imperative is to immediately stop provocations such as firing and other dangerous actions that violate the commitments made by the two sides,” according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.The Indian foreign minister is reported to have told Wang that there should be restoration of the status quo that existed on the border before the military standoff.The rhetoric in the run-up to that meeting was sharp — Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had said “there should be no doubt” about the country’s resolve to protect its territorial integrity. China’s Global Times, an arm of Chinese state media, in an editorial said that any talks with India should be paired with “war readiness.”It remains to be seen whether the latest call to maintain peace and tranquility will translate into actions on the ground – talks held to deescalate tensions have not yielded results so far as neither country has backed down from their differing perceptions of their disputed border.“The Chinese are very insistent that they are in their side of the LAC, they are in their claimed territory. We are equally insistent that they have crossed over and they should go back to where they were,” Ranade said.That could be a sticking point despite signals by India and China that they want to resolve the crisis. “It will be a tall order for both sides to muster the willingness to stand down, despite the pledges made at the negotiating table,” Kugelman said.Ties between the two countries have come under severe strain since the border dispute flared – India has banned scores of Chinese apps including the hugely popular TikTok and video game PubG. It has also taken steps to restrict Chinese firms from infrastructure projects since the military standoff.“Unless the border dispute is managed to the satisfaction of both sides, I don’t see a likelihood of the normalization of the India-China relationship again underscoring that the trust has completely gone,” Pant said.   
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Europe’s Wartime Memories Aggravate Resentment of Germany

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One of Germany’s most experienced diplomats had to wait three months this year before Warsaw would approve his appointment as Berlin’s ambassador to Poland.The official acceptance of an envoy by a host government is normally a formality, especially between allies — as well as an event used to highlight neighborliness and friendship. But Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, one of Germany’s most experienced diplomats, hasn’t received a warm welcome in the Polish capital.A begrudging Polish government on September 1 finally issued its acceptance of his selection. However, it could not resist referring once again to the cause of the delayed approval, noting that Poles remain sensitive to the “great unhealed wound” of World War II.The ostensible objection to the selection of Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO’s first chief of intelligence and deputy head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, as envoy was that his father was a German army officer who served in Adolf Hitler’s entourage in the final weeks of the war.“What is strange for us is that Berlin didn’t realize their pick could cause resentment,” said a senior Polish official.FILE – Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO’s first chief of intelligence and deputy head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, speaks at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, in Herzliya, Israel, Sept. 4, 2018.For Germans, the objection has been bewildering. Freytag von Loringhoven’s father was a career officer, and he wasn’t charged subsequently with any war crimes. He went on to become a general in Germany’s postwar armed forces.The spat over Freytag von Loringhoven’s appointment is just one of a series of recent ugly disputes partly rooted in the past that has brought German-Polish relations to an alarming low. Poland’s ruling nationalist conservative Law and Justice Party, known as PiS, has accused Germany of seeking to recover territory it lost to Poland after 1945, and it has repeatedly declared that Germany should compensate Poland for the damage wrought on the country during World War II, a conflict triggered by Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland.On the day Poland formally accepted Germany’s new ambassador, which happened to be the 81st anniversary of the beginning of the war, a Polish parliamentary commission announced it had finalized the amount of reparations it wants Germany to pay. The number has not been formally disclosed, but Warsaw in the past has estimated wartime damages at around a trillion euros.FILE – Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven poses in front of a painting of his ancestors at his home in Munich, Germany, April 29, 2005. Freytag von Loringhoven, who was part of Adolf Hitler’s entourage in the final weeks of World War II, died in 2007.Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki says Poland lost 6 million people in the war and “many more than any other country that has received vast reparations … The Germans razed to the ground over a thousand Polish villages,” he said in a recent interview.Germany has repeatedly denied it owes Poland money after Warsaw waived all war reparations in 1953.For Germans, the reappearance of wartime history is frustrating. They believe they have accepted moral responsibility for the war and have done much to atone for the past as well as to shape a new peaceful Germany that has helped build the European Union.They see the PiS as seeking to whip up anti-German feeling solely for domestic political reasons — it plays well to the party’s core supporters in the poorer eastern half the country and may have helped the PiS-aligned Andrzej Duda win reelection in a tight presidential race in July.The main Polish opposition parties agree.Not only Poland
However, it isn’t just relations between Berlin and Warsaw that are being affected by war memories, or what Germans see as their weaponization.Beneath the surface, war-tied resentments are bubbling in other parts of Europe, too, with possible important ramifications for the consolidation of the EU, a bloc founded partly to ensure European nations would cease squabbling and to avert the chance of any future conflict emerging among them.Pollsters have noted a rise in anti-German sentiment in the southern European states of Italy and Spain, and in Greece, where the country’s post-2008 debt crisis and Germany’s handling of it still grates. In Hungary and elsewhere in Central Europe, as well as Italy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is blamed for encouraging the 2015 migrant influx into Europe with her open-door policy for asylum-seekers.FILE – Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a meeting of her Christian Union parties faction at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 8, 2020.Some observers predict resentment toward Germany will only grow in the coming months for two main reasons.The first is that poorer European nations will become ever more frustrated with a widening gap between their economic performance and Germany’s, which is likely to weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic better.“The EU is supposed to be a convergence machine, spreading prosperity rather than embedding differences between rich and poor countries,” The Economist magazine noted recently. “It has not worked out that way,” it added.That uneven economic recovery risks fueling populist nationalist anger in the countries that lose out, a possible development Merkel has noted is a risk. In June she backed an EU economic recovery fund, arguing it would serve as “a political instrument against populists and radicals.”The second is that Germany is increasingly becoming the undisputed dominant political force on the European stage, thanks to its economic clout and partly as a result of Britain’s exit from the EU, say analysts. Many of the key posts in Brussels are held by Germans, including the presidency of the European Commission, and no major proposal can be adopted by the EU without Berlin’s approval.
 
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Venezuela Says ‘US Spy’ Captured Near Oil Refinery Complex

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that a “U.S. spy” was captured while spying on the largest refining complex in the country, which is going through a severe fuel shortage crisis.In a live broadcast on state television, Maduro said the man was arrested on Thursday in the northwest state of Falcon where he was spying on the Amuay and Cardon oil refineries.They captured “a Marine, who was serving as a Marine on CIA bases in Iraq,” Maduro said. “He was captured with specialized weapons, he was captured with large amounts of cash, large amounts of dollars and other items.”Maduro did not give further details, but said the detainee was giving a statement in custody.Neither the U.S. State Department nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.Amuay and Cardon make up the Paraguana Refining Center, which has a nominal processing capacity of 971,000 barrels per day. Both have experienced multiple outages in recent years that the opposition blames on mismanagement and lack of maintenance.Word of the alleged U.S. spy came after a Venezuelan court last month sentenced two former U.S. Green Berets to 20 years in prison for their role in a failed incursion in May.Separately during Friday’s broadcast, Maduro said that in recent days security forces had also foiled a plot to cause an explosion at another oil refinery, El Palito in Carabobo state.He did not elaborate.Hit by U.S. sanctions that have exacerbated acute fuel shortages, the government on Friday announced a new fuel distribution initiative and said it was planning new refining projects, without providing further details. 
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The Price of Beijing’s Vaccine Diplomacy in Southeast Asia

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As China publicly claims it is closing in on a coronavirus vaccine, Beijing has begun promising early access to countries of strategic interest. The effort is broadly seen as a way for Beijing to try to shore up its global standing after the outbreak that started in Wuhan spread to the rest of the world.Many Southeast Asian countries with claims to contested areas of the South China Sea have become the targets of Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy campaign. In July, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised the Philippines priority access to vaccines. In August, Sinovac, a large Chinese pharmaceutical company, signed an agreement with the Indonesian state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma to provide Jakarta with 250 million doses of vaccines each year.In early September, Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi visited Myanmar and promised that Beijing would give priority to Yangon should it develop a vaccine.“For most governments in the region, whatever else they might feel, whether it’s on South China Sea or any other issue, the pandemic comes first,” said Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert with the Washington-based think tank, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).“They might find things that Beijing is doing as distasteful, they might not like having to keep quiet on disputes, but if Chinese vaccines are the only vaccines they have access to, they are going to have to do whatever it takes,” he told VOA.“I worry a great deal about China picking favored nations for the vaccine,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University, told VOA. “There could be a high price, benefitting China politically, economically, and militarily. A life-saving vaccine should never be bartered for political gain or influence.”COVID-19 hot spotCOVID-19 cases are increasing in Southeast Asia. According to a CSIS tracker, Indonesia and the Philippines have the highest number of confirmed cases in the region, with roughly 200,000 and 250,000 respectively.Singapore has nearly 60,000 cases and Myanmar is reporting a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.“The value of an effective vaccine is beyond measure, the most important medical resource in recent history,” Gostin told VOA. “It would save countless lives and get economies back moving.”The U.S., China and Britain are front-runners in the global race for developing COVID-19 vaccines. China currently has two inactivated vaccine pilots — which use a dead version of the virus to teach the body how to fend off a live version — and one high-tech mRNA vaccine in Phase III. According to China’s state media, Beijing has been giving these experimental COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups since July.The U.S. and Britain also have several potential vaccines entering Phase III.Countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, which lack the ability to develop or mass-produce their own vaccines, are pinning their hopes abroad. Yet the governments of the United States, the European Union, Japan and the U.K. have secured tens of millions of doses from major pharmaceutical firms in advance. U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said Washington would share its vaccines only after all the country’s vaccine needs are fully met.“They have to wait in line even if they want to purchase these vaccines, which means they’ve got no options other than China or Russia,” Poling told VOA.Vaccine: a priorityAfter the surge of cases in China, which spread COVID-19 abroad in early 2020, Beijing eventually controlled the outbreak within its borders through stringent lockdowns and massive testing. Now China is offering to share vaccines with other countries should it develop an effective one.Despite the pandemic, China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea has caused complaints from the U.S. and other related parties. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in July that China’s exploitation of resources in the region is illegal. In August, the Australian delegation used the same term in an official statement to the United Nations.ASEAN countries had also adopted a tougher stance earlier this year. Indonesia was working to promote the China-ASEAN South China Sea Code of Conduct, which aims at regulating behaviors on issues concerning the South China Sea. Vietnam, as the chair of ASEAN this year, has publicly criticized naval skirmishes with Chinese forces in the region.Poling said that’s why he does not expect Vietnam to obtain early access to Chinese vaccines.“The Vietnamese have been the first to pre-order a large batch of Russia’s vaccine, which tells you how uncomfortable Hanoi is with the idea that they have to rely on Beijing,” he said.ASEAN countries had previously hoped Indonesia would take up the leadership role in negotiating with China on the South China Sea conflict. Yet as COVID-19 cases sharply increased in the country, that geopolitical issue appears to have been put aside.“Locating an effective vaccine has become a priority,” said Shiskha Prabawaningtyas, director of the Paramadina Graduate School of Diplomacy in Jakarta.She added that both Indonesian news media and the public seem to express more positive tones toward the results of the Chinese vaccines.“The dominant narrative from the press as well as discourse in social media, is more on ‘when exactly’ the [Chinese] vaccine would be ready,” she told VOA.In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte’s own popularity is at the lowest point of his presidency, which many attribute to the government’s response to COVID-19. In a nationally televised speech in July, Duterte said he has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to give Manila priority access to vaccines, adding he would not seek conflict with China in the South China Sea dispute.“China is claiming [the West Philippine Sea], we are claiming it. China has the arms; we do not … it’s simple as that,” he said.Poling pointed out this shows there’s no such thing as a free lunch.“Chinese diplomats are not going to say: recognize our claims in exchange for vaccines, but the quid pro quo will be understood,” Poling said. “There’s going to be an expectation that if you want early access to these vaccines, you will avoid certain Chinese red lines. And South China Sea is one of them.”Myanmar, which has been promised priority access to vaccines, will hold its election in November.“Aung Sang Suu Kyi and her party have a cozy relationship with the Chinese government, and China would want them to win at the polls again,” said Khin Zaw Win, director at the Yangon-based think tank Tampadipa Institute.He added that a number of big infrastructure projects are already finalized between Beijing and Yangon, including the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. “A successful vaccine would only strengthen this,” he said.Yet he cautioned that for the bulk of the population, there is “deep mistrust – both for the vaccine itself and for China’s motives.” He also said he expected Myanmar to further expand its economic relationship with China should Yangon obtain early access to the Chinese vaccine.Huang Yanzhong, senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, cheered China’s gesture for promising vaccines to other countries, yet cautioned about potential scenarios should the vaccines prove to be ineffective.“There’s also a risk,” Huang told VOA. “China can’t control the media in these countries. So if the vaccines are not effective enough or have any adverse reaction, this public vaccine campaign would have undesired consequences for China’s global image.”Poling said the Philippines is particularly politically explosive.“You’ve got the South China Sea issue, you’ve got the distrust with China, you’ve got Duterte’s own popularity at the lowest point of his presidency because of poor response to COVID,” he said. “So if you are going to see this really backfire or create public outrage, it might well be in Manila.”Rendy Wicaksana of VOA’s Indonesian Service and Khin Soe Win of VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this story.
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Overcoming India-China Border Differences Challenging Despite Agreement to De-Escalate Tensions

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India and China have agreed to disengage troops and de-escalate tensions that flared this week along their contested border, but analysts say overcoming their differences will not be easy.The meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries was held in Moscow on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.It came days after a fresh confrontation in Ladakh when the Indian army said it occupied hilltops on the south bank of the strategic Pangong Tso Lake as a preemptive measure when it noticed Chinese movements. Concerns about the volatile border deepened after both countries accused each other of firing warning shots for the first time in 45 years – long-standing protocols forbid the use of firearms.A joint statement Friday issued by India and China after the talks said that both sides agreed that the current situation on the border is not in the interest of either side. The statement said, “They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions.”At some places, analysts say that troops are deployed less than a kilometer apart.“It’s very tense, and I stress the word ‘very’ because there are large number of troops massed on both sides, an estimated 40,000-plus,” Jayadeva Ranade, who heads the Center for China Analysis and Strategy in New Delhi, said.Whether the ice has been broken at the latest round of talks remains to be seen.In this Sept. 3, 2020, picture, an Indian Army convoy makes way along a highway in Kyelang, some 120 kilometres from the Indo-Tibetan border.“We should be cautiously optimistic about this new agreement but be under no illusions about how difficult it will be to implement. Mistrust among troops along the LAC [line of actual control, the de facto border between the two countries]  is greater than it’s been in years,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington.The military standoff began in May when India accused Chinese troops of crossing into Indian territory at several points along the line of actual control where both sides disagree on where the border stands. The situation escalated sharply in June after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in the Galwan Valley.One of the key flashpoints is Pangong Tso Lake, where India says Chinese troops have come into its territory on the north side — Beijing denies it. India, as a counter, say analysts, occupied key ridges on the south side of the lake last week.“There used to be a buffer which the two sides used to respect. The Chinese have tried to gain an advantage over India by encroaching on that buffer and India has realized that they also need to have those tactical advantages on the ground if they have to manage China along the border so that has led to this very peculiar situation,” according to Harsh Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and professor of international relations at King’s College, London.An Indian army soldier gestures towards the photographer as his convoy moves on the Srinagar- Ladakh highway at Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Sept. 1, 2020.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar that the “imperative is to immediately stop provocations such as firing and other dangerous actions that violate the commitments made by the two sides,” according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.The Indian foreign minister is reported to have told Wang that there should be restoration of the status quo that existed on the border before the military standoff.The rhetoric in the run-up to that meeting was sharp — Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had said “there should be no doubt” about the country’s resolve to protect its territorial integrity. China’s Global Times, an arm of Chinese state media, in an editorial said that any talks with India should be paired with “war readiness.”It remains to be seen whether the latest call to maintain peace and tranquility will translate into actions on the ground – talks held to deescalate tensions have not yielded results so far as neither country has backed down from their differing perceptions of their disputed border.“The Chinese are very insistent that they are in their side of the LAC, they are in their claimed territory. We are equally insistent that they have crossed over and they should go back to where they were,” Ranade said.That could be a sticking point despite signals by India and China that they want to resolve the crisis. “It will be a tall order for both sides to muster the willingness to stand down, despite the pledges made at the negotiating table,” Kugelman said.Ties between the two countries have come under severe strain since the border dispute flared – India has banned scores of Chinese apps including the hugely popular TikTok and video game PubG. It has also taken steps to restrict Chinese firms from infrastructure projects since the military standoff.“Unless the border dispute is managed to the satisfaction of both sides, I don’t see a likelihood of the normalization of the India-China relationship again underscoring that the trust has completely gone,” Pant said.   
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Judge Bars ‘Sloppy’ Prosecutors from Case of Ex-Cops Charged in George Floyd’s Death

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The judge in the criminal case against four former Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officers charged in George Floyd’s death disqualified four local prosecutors on Friday because of “sloppy” work, while a special prosecutor said the defendants had “acted together” and should face trial together.The hearing before Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill focused on various motions in the criminal case arising from Floyd’s death, which led to protests in the United States and other countries against racism and police brutality.It was the first time all four defendants — Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — appeared together since the May 25 death of Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody. Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes. He faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder.While Cahill did not rule on any major motions, he dealt a blow to the prosecution by disqualifying Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and three other lawyers in his office from participating in the case because of a meeting they had with the medical examiner with no outside attorneys present. The medical examiner is the official who investigated the cause of death.“It was sloppy not to have someone present. Those four attorneys are off the case,” Cahill said. “They are now witnesses.”After the hearing, Floyd’s relatives and lawyers pushed back against the assertion made by defense attorneys in court filings that Floyd, who had the powerful opioid pain medication fentanyl in his system, died of an overdose rather than cardiopulmonary arrest, the official cause of death.“The only overdose that killed George Floyd was an overdose of excessive force and racism by the Minneapolis Police Department,” lawyer Ben Crump said outside the courthouse. “It is a blatant attempt to kill George Floyd a second time.”Neal Katyal, a special attorney for the state, said a joint trial was justified given that the evidence was similar for all four defendants and because separate trials would force relatives to repeatedly relive the trauma of Floyd’s death.“I have seen a lot in my life, and I can barely watch the videos,” Katyal, a lawyer and the U.S. Justice Department’s former acting solicitor general, said about the bystander videos of Chauvin pinning Floyd to the pavement.“These defendants acted together, they were on the scene together, they were talking to each other during the nine minutes Floyd was on the ground,” Katyal said.Kueng, Lane and Thao have all been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for not taking action to help Floyd.All four defendants have opposed a prosecution motion to consolidate their cases into one trial. They have requested that their cases be moved outside Minneapolis and have filed motions to dismiss the charges.Robert Paule, an attorney for Thao, said combining the cases would force him to defend against the prosecution and navigate the potentially conflicting interests of the other defendants.“You are bringing in a group of bobcats in a bag and letting them loose in a courtroom at all once,” Paule told the hearing.More than 100 protesters gathered outside the Family Justice Center in Minneapolis, which was barricaded with a fence and concrete blocks, chanting “Black lives matter,” “no justice, no peace” and “indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail.”Cahill said it was premature to decide whether to move the trial. He said he wanted to send a questionnaire to potential jurors to see how they had been affected by media coverage, and whether a fair jury could be selected in Hennepin County.Cahill said he was leaning toward having an anonymous jury, citing potential security threats. The judge said a trial would likely last six weeks, including two weeks for jury selection. 
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Drive-in Theaters Make a Comeback During Coronavirus Pandemic

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Drive-in theaters were once a big part of American car culture in the mid-’60s. But air-conditioned theaters eventually put most of them out of business.  But these days, with movie theaters shut down because of the coronavirus, drive-in theaters are experiencing something of a renaissance. VOA’s Towhidul Islam visited a drive-in theater in rural Virginia and filed this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
Camera: Towhidul Islam    Produced by: Bezhan Hamdard
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Food Lines Triple in One Year, says NY Charity

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The economic impact of the coronavirus continues to linger in New York City, where lines to pick up donated food are still much longer than usual, according to a local charity group. Food Bank for New York City says it has distributed 30 million meals to New Yorkers, triple the number compared with last year. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Future Unclear for Myanmar Army Deserters in Netherlands

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Details are emerging about how two privates in the Myanmar army who confessed on video to committing atrocity crimes ended up in the Netherlands. According to Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK, Private Myo Win Tun and Private Zaw Naing Tun deserted and ended up with the Arakan Army, one of many ethnic armies operating in the country. There, they were interviewed and confessed. Farmaner said those taped confessions had to initially be considered questionable, given the possibility they were made under duress.  The two arrived in Bangladesh in mid-August seeking protection. They were again questioned about the alleged crimes. According to Farmaner, their stories came to the attention of the International Criminal Court, headquartered in The Hague. The two were then handed over to the Dutch government and taken to the Netherlands.  Farmaner said the two were under the “care” of the Dutch government and were not in ICC custody. Whether the soldiers will be charged or serve as witnesses is unclear. Court officials have not commented publicly on the two soldiers. The men say they participated in mass murder and the destruction of entire villages under the orders of senior officers. The statements from the two soldiers add weight to accounts that have been given by numerous victims and investigators since August 2017. That’s when the country’s military launched a brutal crackdown in response to attacks on Myanmar security outposts by Rohingya militants. FILE – Rohingya refugees, who crossed the border from Myanmar, walk toward refugee camps, in Palang Khali, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Oct. 19, 2017.United Nations investigators reported that at least 10,000 Rohingya were likely killed and about 200 settlements were destroyed. The campaign drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh, by U.N. count. They now live in squalid refugee camps and depend on humanitarian aid to survive. Myanmar’s government has continuously dismissed the accusations. Testifying at the International Court of Justice last December, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s highest civilian leader, denied that there was a state-sponsored campaign to destroy the Rohingya. Responding to the videos, Myanmar military spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun called the Arakan Army, the insurgent group that recorded the videos, a terrorist organization and said the former soldiers may have been coerced into giving their statements. The military says a small number of rogue soldiers have committed crimes.
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UN Agency Condemns Cambodia’s Repression of Human Rights Defenders

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The U.N. human rights office is condemning what it calls growing repressive measures by the Cambodian government that stifle freedom of expression and assembly practiced by the country’s human rights defenders.Since the end of July, the U.N. rights agency has documented the arrest of 25 human rights defenders, including a prominent trade unionist, Rong Chhun. It says 13 people have been released after reportedly signing an agreement under duress to stop their activities.Among the 12 remaining in prison, the agency says most face charges of incitement to commit a felony.FILE – Rong Chhun, president of Cambodia’s Independent Teachers’ Association, speaks at a factory workers’ protest calling for benefits after their textile factory was shuttered amidst the coronavirus pandemic in Phnom Penh, July 29, 2020.U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says numerous human rights defenders have received threatening phone calls, including death threats, and many are in hiding for fear of being arrested.   “We have also witnessed the unnecessary and excessive use of force by security forces against women demonstrators on at least five separate occasions in recent weeks,” Shamdasani  said. “We have also documented the intimidation of those participating in peaceful demonstrations — including protesters calling for measures to alleviate the economic impact of COVID on livelihoods, as well as environmental activists, and those demanding the release of detained human rights defenders.”   Shamdasani says the current situation marks a deepening of the government’s intolerance of dissent. The Cambodian government has not responded to the accusations related to the latest cases, the U.N. spokeswoman says.  There recently has been a tightening of laws regarding the detention of human rights defenders, she adds. “In fact, there was a letter that was sent out by the Ministry of the Interior publicly stating that a lot of these activities carried out by very prominent human rights groups are conducive to activities — and I quote — ‘to create provocation and incitement affecting the stability, security, public order and create chaos in society through the use of social media and other media networks,'” Shamdasani said.The U.N. rights office is calling on the Cambodian government to immediately and unconditionally release those detained, and for security forces to stop using excessive force against those engaged in peaceful protests.    
 
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Wildfire Smoke Brings Worst Air Quality to Portland, Seattle

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Smoke pollution from wildfires raging in California and across the Pacific Northwest worsened in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, on Friday, giving those cities and others in the region some of the world’s worst air quality.Public health officials warned residents to keep indoors with the windows shut, to set air conditioners to run on recirculated air instead of fresh, and to use air purifiers if they had them. Meanwhile, they wrestled with whether to open “smoke shelters” for homeless people or others lacking access to clean air amid the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about herding people indoors.”The same population that is most vulnerable to the virus is also most vulnerable to the smoke,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said during a news conference.Winds shiftThe sky turned a hazy, grayish white across the Northwest as winds that had previously pushed much of the smoke offshore shifted, bringing unhealthy levels of near-microscopic dust, soot and ash particles to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. San Francisco also continued to suffer from smoke pollution; those four cities topped the list of major cities with the worst air quality Friday, according to IQAir.com, which tracks air quality around the world.The particles are small enough that they can penetrate deep into the lungs, and health effects can include chest pain, arrhythmia and bronchitis. Those with preexisting conditions such as heart and lung disease or asthma are especially at risk.FILE – Under darkened skies from wildfire smoke, a jogger makes his way along McCovey Cove outside Oracle Park, Sept. 9, 2020, in San Francisco.The smoke was expected to linger through the weekend, another reminder of the vast and severe effects of climate change. In a news conference Friday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee insisted on calling the blazes “climate fires” rather than wildfires.”This is not an act of God,” Inslee said. “This has happened because we have changed the climate of the state of Washington in dramatic ways.”Seattle ordered parks, beaches and boat ramps closed through one of the last hot weekends of the summer to discourage outdoor recreation, and officials were opening a clean-air shelter Friday afternoon that can hold 77 people. The facility, which had been set up as an overflow COVID-19 care facility, is large enough to allow for social distancing, they said.’Weather relief centers’San Francisco officials were also opening “weather relief centers” that will stay open through the weekend, said Mary Ellen Carroll, director of the city’s Department of Emergency Management. City buses were free for everyone so those who need to can reach the centers.Much of California was covered by a thick layer of smoke being pumped into the air by dozens of raging wildfires. In San Francisco, the gray air smelled of burned wood and visibility was clouded by “very unhealthy” air, according to the Bay Area Air Quality District.Residents were also asked to avoid activities that could further degrade the air quality, including unnecessary driving, lawn mowing and barbecuing.Working in University Place, a Tacoma suburb, Washington state Department of Ecology spokesman Andy Wineke said the smoke had obliterated his typical view of the Olympic Mountains.”I can barely see my neighbor,” he said.
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South Sudan, Sudan Address Economic Crises

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South Sudan’s central bank said Friday that it planned to ban the use of foreign currency nationwide to prevent further depreciation of the South Sudanese pound against the U.S. dollar after prices of food and other basic commodities have skyrocketed in recent weeks and months. Juba resident Saida Juan said prices were higher each time she headed to the market. The mother of seven said a kilo of meat, which sold for 700 South Sudanese pounds a few months ago, now costs 2,500 South Sudanese pounds, an increase that means her family can afford to eat only green vegetables these days. She called on government officials to do everything in their power to stabilize prices. “Traders selling goods in the markets have been blaming the price hikes on the increase in the exchange rate of the South Sudanese pound and the U.S. dollar. My message to our leaders is that they should try by all means possible to not allow foreign currency to dominate our markets, because the dollar is not our currency. We are really suffering,” Juan told South Sudan in Focus. FILE – A man walks past several mobile money kiosks in Juba, South Sudan, Sept. 10, 2019.On Thursday, the Business Committee of South Sudan’s National Assembly summoned Bank of South Sudan Governor Gamal Abdallah Wani, Finance Minister Salvatore Garang Mabior, and Erjok Bullen, deputy commissioner of the National Revenue Authority, to answer questions about the depreciation of the South Sudanese pound.  Wani attributed the country’s high inflation rate to the 62% drop in international oil prices, ongoing violence in parts of the country, and increased military spending.FILE – A merchant in the Central African Republic shows Sudanese bank bills, Dec. 20, 2017.In July, Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics recorded an annual inflation rate of 143%, after June’s inflation rate of 136% and May’s rate of 114%. On Friday, $1 was selling for close to 300 Sudanese pounds on Sudan’s black market.   The Sudanese government is enacting urgently needed security and legal measures to crack down on smugglers of gold and subsidized goods, Ali said. “We hereby activate a state of economic emergency, the formation of a joint force to protect the Sudanese economy, which will be comprised of the army, the police, the rapid support force, the general intelligence, and the customs authorities,” Ali announced Thursday.  The unprecedented move was triggered by the rapid depreciation of the Sudanese pound against the dollar, said Suliman Baldo, a senior adviser at the Sentry, a Washington-based organization that tracks corruption in African governments.   “In the space of some 40 days, the dollar has passed from 150 or 140 Sudanese pounds to the dollar to some 300. Therefore, the rate of depreciation was very ominous,” Baldo told South Sudan in Focus. Baldo said the government must do more than crack down on illegal traders to turn around Sudan’s “economic crisis.”  Sudan’s Central Bank should implement restrictions on the amount of money people can withdraw in a day, monitor the circulation of cash in the country and bring military spending under the oversight of the finance ministry, said Baldo.   “The government really needs to take tough actions to try to basically stop dealings in cash, you know, Sudanese dealing in big sacks of Sudanese pounds,” Baldo told VOA. 
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Pentagon to Rescind Order Dissolving Stars and Stripes Newspaper

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The Pentagon says it will rescind its order for a government-funded, independent military newspaper to cease publication by September 30, nearly a week after President Donald Trump tweeted that he would stop budget cuts from his own administration that would have closed Stars and Stripes. “You do not have to submit the Plan of Action and Milestones for a Stripes closure in FY 2021,” Army Colonel Paul Haverstick, the acting director of Defense Media Activity, wrote in an email Thursday to the publisher of Stars and Stripes. The Department of Defense spending plans, released in February, eliminated all government funding for the paper for fiscal 2021, which begins October 1. FILE – Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Millham, from New Paltz, N.Y., a former reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, checks the Facebook site in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 31, 2009.But last Friday, Trump tweeted that he planned to reverse the Pentagon budget plans to cut government funding for the military news outlet. “The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!” Trump tweeted. The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to FILE – An Associated Press war correspondent reads a copy of Stars and Stripes aboard the exchange liner Gripsholm, as it arrived at Algiers, in this image provided by the U.S. Signal Corps, May 23, 1944.A Defense Department memo by Haverstick last month instructed the Stars and Stripes publisher to provide a plan of action “no later than September 15” to discontinue Stars and Stripes publications and dissolve the news organization “no later than January 31, 2021.” In the case of a continuing resolution (CR) from Congress, which would prevent a government shutdown and extend funding temporarily, the memo (obtained by VOA) instructed the publisher to plan the “last date for publication of the newspaper” “based on the end of the CR or other circumstances.” A bipartisan group of 11 Democratic and four Republican senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper last week, calling on the Department of Defense to maintain funding for the publication, which has more than 1 million readers. “The $15.5 million currently allocated for the publication of Stars and Stripes is only a tiny fraction of your department’s annual budget, and cutting it would have a significantly negative impact on military families and a negligible impact on the department’s bottom line,” said the letter, signed by the senators. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and an Air Force veteran, also sent a letter opposing the budget cut, citing strong support for Stars and Stripes in Congress. FILE – U.S. soldier Sgt. John Hubbuch of Versailles, Kentucky, a member of the NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, reads Stars and Stripes newspaper at a U.S. air base near Tuzla, Feb. 14, 1999.Stars and Stripes started during the Civil War as a publication for Union troops. Today, it distributes to U.S. service members stationed around the globe, including in war zones. Most recently, the publication shed light on the Defense Department’s failure to shut down schools on U.S. military installations in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a Japanese public schools ruling that called shutdowns necessary to stopping the spread of coronavirus.  “Stars and Stripes tells the military’s story like no other publication can. It was held by GIs in the trenches of World War II and held by special forces members at remote outposts in Syria after being flown in by Osprey in the battle against ISIS,” Tara Copp, a reporter for McClatchy who was the Pentagon correspondent for Stars and Stripes from 2015 to 2017, told VOA. “It is a rounding error [an inconsequential amount] to DOD, but it is much, much more than that to the men and women and their families who read it,” she added. Copp said that the publication provides the time and resources to look into stories that many other outlets do not. For example, her in-depth investigation into the 2000 Osprey crash at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona, for the publication in 2015 led to former Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work exonerating the two Marine Corps pilots who had been blamed for the crash.
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French PM: No New Lockdown Despite COVID-19 Surge

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French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Friday the government was not planning a new, nationwide lockdown in response to a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases this week. In a televised statement in Paris, following a meeting with the Defense Council, Castex acknowledged the COVID-19 situation has gotten worse, and he urged citizens to practice social distancing and wear masks. In addition, he said, the government would take steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.  He said these measures would include fast-tracked testing for priority cases and giving local authorities the power to make some businesses reduce opening hours. But the French prime minister said they would not “put on hold our social, cultural and economic lives, the education of our children, and our capability to live normally.” The French government is under renewed pressure to curb the spread of the disease as health authorities Thursday reported 9,843 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a new record, topping the previous record of 8,975, set six days earlier. French health experts have called on the government to act to avoid a second wave of the virus. The head of the government’s scientific council, Jean-François Delfraissy, said Wednesday the government needs to make “a number of difficult decisions in the next 10 days.”  In March, France imposed a strict lockdown. That succeeded in preventing the hospital system from being overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, but it also dealt a severe blow to the economy. That lockdown was relaxed in early May. 
 
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US Marks 9/11 Anniversary at Tributes Shadowed by Virus

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Americans commemorated 9/11 on Friday as a new national crisis — the coronavirus pandemic — reconfigured anniversary ceremonies and a presidential campaign carved a path through the observances.In New York, victims’ relatives gathered Friday morning for split-screen remembrances, one at the September 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner, set up by a separate organization.The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation objected to the memorial’s decision to forgo a long-standing tradition of having relatives read the names of the dead, often adding poignant tributes. Memorial leaders said they made the change as a coronavirus-safety precaution on the 19th anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.Kathy Swift arrived early at the alternative ceremony a few blocks away, wearing a T-shirt honoring her slain brother, Thomas Swift, who worked in finance.”We still have to remember,” said Swift, 61. “The whole country’s going downhill. It’s one thing after another, and now with the COVID. I’m glad they’re still having this, though.”President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump observe a moment of silence on Air Force One as he arrives at the airport in Johnstown, Pa., on his way to speak at the Flight 93 National Memorial, Sept. 11, 2020, in Shanksville, Pa.President Donald Trump addressed a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.”The heroes of Flight 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no matter the odds, America will always rise up, stand tall and fight back,” the Republican president said, recalling how the plane’s crew and passengers tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers as headed for Washington.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, visit with a family at a boulder marking the impact site of Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., Sept. 11, 2020.Biden paid respects at the election battleground state’s Flight 93 memorial in the afternoon. Earlier, he attended the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York, exchanging an elbow bump with Vice President Mike Pence before the ceremony began with the usual tolling of a bell.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden greets Vice President Mike Pence at the 19th anniversary ceremony in observance of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, Sept. 11, 2020.Biden offered condolences to a woman he spotted crying in the crowd of hundreds, Amanda Barreto, who lost her aunt and godmother in the attacks. Barreto, 27, said Biden “wanted to let me know to keep the faith” and “wanted me to say strong,” telling her he understood what it meant to lose a loved one. His first wife and their daughter died in a 1972 car crash, and his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.Biden didn’t speak at the ceremony, which by custom has not allowed politicians to make remarks.Pence went on to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation ceremony, where he read the Bible’s 23rd Psalm, and his wife, Karen, read a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.”For the families of the lost and friends they left behind, I pray these ancient words will comfort your heart and others,” said the vice president, drawing applause from the crowd of hundreds.Complex occasionIn short, the anniversary of 9/11 is a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a health crisis, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.Still, families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon in Washington and near Shanksville on September 11, 2001 — shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.Around the country, some communities canceled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others went ahead, sometimes with modifications.The Pentagon’s observance was so restricted that not even victims’ families could attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.At the New York memorial, thousands were still invited. But they heard a recording of the names issued from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.But some felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation arranged its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there was no reason that people couldn’t recite names while keeping a safe distance. Reverence for the dead “requires that we read these names out loud, in person, every year,” said foundation chair Frank Siller, whose brother Stephen was a firefighter.The readers stood at podiums that were wiped down between speakers.FILE – Spectators look across the Hudson River from Jersey City, N.J., at the Sept. 11 tribute lights in New York City on the 18th anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Sept. 11, 2019.Tribute in LightThe two organizations also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center, evoking its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus-safety concerns for the installation crew. After the Tunnel to Towers Foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chair, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Governor Andrew Cuomo.Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization encouraged people this year to make donations or take other actions from home.
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Myanmar Imposes COVID-19 Restrictions as Cases Surge

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The government of Myanmar Friday imposed its toughest measures so far to control the spread of the coronavirus, banning travel from its commercial capital, Yangon, the country’s transportation hub and transit point, and grounding all domestic flights.
Both measures, announced just hours before taking effect, will be in place until October 1.
Myanmar appeared to have largely been spared from the pandemic, having recorded just 353 coronavirus cases as of the beginning of August. The health department says, in less than three weeks, the number of confirmed cases has increased by five times, reaching at least 2,265 on Friday. The number of deaths has more than doubled in the past eight days to 14.
Authorities are putting in tighter restrictions to control the rising number of coronavirus cases.
New roadblocks were set up Friday in parts of the country’s capital, with some smaller streets closed, while main roads remained open.
Health authorities had already ordered partial lockdowns in 29 of Yangon’s 44 townships, including 20 on Thursday.
In a national television address Thursday, Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, urged the public to follow health protocols as the new restrictions take effect, or “we will take action by law.” She said the law is not to punish people but protect society.”
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UN, IRC Step Up Emergency Aid to Flood-Devasted Sudan

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U.N. and international agencies are stepping up emergency operations in response to deadly flooding in Sudan, which has left hundreds of thousands homeless
 
Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission says more than half-a-million people have been affected by the worst flooding in the country in at least 100 years.  It expects the number of people needing help to reach 750,000.   
 
The commission reports dozens of people have lost their lives, more than 100,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged, agricultural land is under water and unusable and thousands of livestock have been killed.
 
The International Red Cross Federation calls the magnitude of the flooding disaster unprecedented. It says teams of Red Crescent volunteers are helping people move to higher ground. The organization is appealing for $12 million to provide emergency shelter, safe drinking water, food and other essential needs for at least 200,000 of the most vulnerable people.
 
And the World Health Organization warns of an outbreak of water-borne and vector-borne diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya, malaria, and measles. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib says the U.N. body has delivered supplies to prevent and control those diseases. She told VOA that the WHO also is taking measures to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
 
“We have sent diagnostic tests, laboratory equipment. We have helped in training technicians and doctors to recognize symptoms on COVID and how to help patients. We have also disseminated a lot of information including in the language of Sudan, Arabic,” Chaib said.
 
The World Health Organization reports at least 13,439 coronavirus cases, including 833 deaths in Sudan. Chaib said the country’s health system suffers from years of underfunding, staff shortages, lack of equipment, medicine and supplies. She said the WHO is working to fill in the gap.   
 
The Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs oversees humanitarian operations by aid agencies.  It also manages the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, a country-based fund to which donors contribute money to carry out the of flood-related programs.
 
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Osama Bin Laden’s Niece Pens 9/11 Statement

Posted on by SeeUS

On the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the niece of the mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, has written a public statement.
 
“For the past nineteen years, not a day has gone by since this horrible, tragic day that I haven’t thought of you, America, and grieved privately with you for all the innocent lives lost,” Noor Bin Laden (who goes by Bin Ladin) wrote on her Twitter account.“This is in part due to this inexplicable turn of fate that links me to these atrocious attacks, but more importantly because of my love for your country.”She added that her “values and feelings” are “diametrically opposed to the name that I bear.”In addition to honoring the lives lost, the Swiss citizen also praised first responders, those who died later from complications resulting from the attack and the survivors who lost loved ones.Bin Ladin is the daughter of Carmen Dufour, a Swiss author, and Yeslam bin Ladin, an older half-brother of Osama. Her parents divorced in 1988. She and her two sisters were raised in Switzerland.She was 14 years old on Sept. 11, 2001.“I was so devastated,” she told the New York Post. “I had been going to the States with my mom several times a year from the age of 3 onwards. I considered the U.S. my second home.”Bin Ladin, who had kept a low profile, gained notoriety on Sept. 6 when she published a letter supporting U.S. President Donald Trump.
 
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