The U.S. Treasury and State departments on Thursday announced sanctions on 11 entities in Iran, China and Singapore for buying and selling Iranian petrochemicals. In addition, the Justice Department announced two forfeiture complaints against Iran for the recent seizures of Iranian weapons bound for Yemen and refined petroleum bound for Venezuela. “The two forfeiture complaints allege sophisticated schemes by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to secretly ship weapons to Yemen and fuel to Venezuela, countries that pose grave threats to the security and stability of their respective regions,” John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement. “Iran continues to be a leading state sponsor of terrorism and a worldwide destabilizing force. It is with great satisfaction that I can announce that our intentions are to take the funds successfully forfeited from the fuel sales and provide them to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund after the conclusion of the case.” According Demers, in November 2019 and February 2020, U.S. Navy ships interdicted flagless vessels carrying “large stocks of weapons, including 171 guided anti-tank missiles, eight surface-to-air missiles, and various other missile components.” FILE – The crew of the USS Normandy seized this illicit shipment of weapons and weapon components intended for the Houthis in Yemen, aboard a stateless dhow in the Arabian Sea, Feb. 9, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo)An investigation revealed the weapons to be manufactured in Iran and “consistent with known Iranian weapon systems.” On Aug. 20, 2020, the Justice Department filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to forfeit the seized weapons. The second forfeiture complaint was filed on July 20, 2020, by the department’s National Security Division and the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. It sought the forfeiture of 1.1 million barrels of Iranian petroleum seized from four foreign-flagged vessels headed to Venezuela. FILE – The Luna oil tanker is seen in this undated image released by the U.S. Justice Department, which on Aug. 14, 2020, confirmed it had seized the fuel cargo aboard four tankers, including the Luna, sent by Iran to crisis-wracked Venezuela.The seized petroleum has been subsequently sold by the United States. “These actions demonstrate our commitment to working with all of our law enforcement partners to stem the flow of illicit weapons, oil, and money from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other organizations that would do harm to the United States,” U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said in a statement. “The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia will use all available tools, including our jurisdiction to seize and forfeit assets located abroad, to counter terrorist funding and weapons proliferation.”
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Month: October 2020
NATO Allies Growing Weary of Turkish Aggression
The United States is pushing NATO countries to work with Turkey in hopes of healing divisions that have seen Ankara move closer to Russia, but at least one of those allies is bracing for more turmoil.Greece, embroiled in a dispute with Turkey over rights and resources in the eastern Mediterranean, has repeatedly put its FILE – Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos speaks to journalists in Kastanies on March 1, 2020.Turkey has “become increasingly more self-confident … coupled with a rising element of aggressive rhetoric, a confrontational attitude and the revisionist political position,” Greek Minister of National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos said Thursday, during a virtual talk sponsored by the German Marshall Fund.”At some point, something needs to be done,” he said. “Unfortunately, this entails elements of being unpleasant.”Panagiotopoulos and others say that newfound aggressiveness was on display Wednesday, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the West, and France, during a speech to members of his political party.FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party lawmakers at the parliament, in Ankara, Oct. 28, 2020.”They literally want to relaunch the Crusades,” Erdogan said, referring to the French government’s defense of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.The Turkish leader also said the West is “once again headed to a period of barbarity.”Turkey has also incurred the wrath of Western countries, specifically fellow NATO allies, after carrying out tests last week of its Russian-made S-400 air defense system.Talking to reporters Wednesday, a top U.S. State Department official said Washington was prepared to take a harder line with Ankara, warning the threat of sanctions was very real.“Sanctions is very much something that is on the table,” Assistant Secretary of State R. Clarke Cooper told reporters. “Operationalizing such an asset or system incurs further risk of sanctions and further risks of restrictions.”The United States has banned Turkey from participation in its F-35 stealth fighter jet program, and threats of additional sanctions, from the U.S. or other European countries, are not new.But Panagiotopoulos said Thursday that he believed Turkey was likely to make the Russian air defense system operational sooner rather than later and that NATO might be running out of time to take meaningful action.A U.S. Marines F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft prepares to land on the flight deck in the South China Sea.Such concerns, though, have repeatedly been cast aside by Turkish officials, something that troubles Panagiotopoulos.“Russia cannot be counted out,” he said, adding Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system is “enough to prove that potentially Turkey, whether it wanted to or inadvertently, would prove to be a source of undermining NATO’s cohesion from within.”Reuters contributed to this report.
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La Nina Seen Continuing Into 2021, Affecting Temperature, Weather Patterns
The World Meteorological Organization predicts La Nina will continue through January and is expected to usher in drier and wetter conditions than normal in different parts of the world.The latest seasonal forecasts indicate the La Nina event will cause drier than normal conditions in much of East Africa and lead to increased rainfall in southern Africa. Central Asia is likely to see below normal rainfall earlier than usual.The WMO reports some of the Pacific islands and the northern region of South America will see some of the most significant precipitation anomalies associated with this year’s La Nina event — a cooling of ocean surface water along the Pacific coast of the South American tropics that occurs on average every two to seven years.Some countries and regions are particularly vulnerable to changes in weather patterns.WMO humanitarian expert Gavin Iley told VOA the Greater Horn of Africa was an area of particular concern.“As we know, it is already being beset by problems, with locust infestation,” Iley said. “And generally, the models are suggesting below normal rainfall for quite a large portion of the Greater Horn of Africa. So, obviously that could have a number of impacts … in areas like Somalia. … So, we always need to keep an eye on the latest outlook.”WMO said governments can use weather forecasts to plan ways to reduce adverse impacts in climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture, health, water resources and disaster management.WMO Deputy Director of Climate Services Maxx Dilley said governments can use La Nina forecasting to adapt their strategies to the changing weather patterns.“You can imagine in the agricultural sector that some crops will do well under wet conditions and others will do better under dry conditions,” Dilley said. “And there are agricultural management practices that can be adjusted to take account of whether it is expected to be wet or dry.”Dilley said WMO increasingly is trying to tailor these forecasts to specific concerns, such as food security or human health. For example, he said, wet conditions alone do not provoke outbreaks of dengue fever or malaria. He said temperature, humidity and vegetation create the conditions for mosquitoes to breed.So, rather than just giving a rainfall forecast, he said, meteorologists will provide a forecast that is correlated with these diseases and can be used for dengue fever or malaria control.
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At Least 140 Migrants Drown Off Senegalese Coast
At least 140 migrants drowned after a boat carrying more than 200 people sank off the coast of Senegal, the U.N. migration agency said Thursday.The boat caught fire at sea and capsized Saturday, shortly after leaving the coastal Senegalese town of Mbour, according to the International Organization for Migration.IOM said in a news release the boat was trying to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands but turned over near Saint-Louis along the northwest coast of Senegal.FILE – Fishing boats are seen in Saint-Louis, Senegal, May 16, 2020.About 59 of the migrants were rescued by Senegalese fishermen and the Spanish navy. Senegal’s government and the IOM have arranged a mission to travel to Saint-Louis to assess the needs of survivors and provide psychosocial assistance.The IOM described this incident as 2020’s deadliest migrant boat wreck. Last year, 210 migrants died along the same route.Growing numbersThe number of departures from West Africa to the Canary Islands has significantly increased in recent weeks.In September alone, 14 boats carrying 663 migrants left Senegal for the Canaries. Of these departures, 26 percent were reported to have experienced an incident or shipwreck, according to the IOM.IOM estimates there have been about 11,000 arrivals to the Canary Islands this year, about five times the number who had arrived by the same point in 2019. It said the 2020 figure, however, is still far below the peak seen in 2006 when more than 32,000 people arrived there.The migration agency said in a statement it was deeply saddened by the tragedy and reiterated the need to “enhance legal channels to undermine the traffickers’ business model and loss of life.”IOM Senegal Chief of Mission Bakary Doumbia said it will take “unity between governments, partners and the international community to dismantle trafficking and smuggling networks that take advantage of desperate youth.”
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Donors, Volunteers Step Up to Help One of Malaysia’s Worst-Hit Areas
In Malaysia, volunteers are collecting donations to help a part of the country that has been hit hard by COVID-19.At a storage site, volunteers tape and stack boxes of donated food and personal protective equipment, or PPE, from face shields to sardines. It is being sent from Malaysia’s biggest metropolitan area to one of its most remote — Semporna, which has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. Thousands of people are under lockdown, and some live in communities that can be reached only by boat. William Cheah, co-founder of Kembara Kitchen, helped organize the donation drive for Semporna residents. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)William Cheah, co-founder of a social enterprise called Kembara Kitchen, helped organize the donation drive. “You do not need to be a very big person to have a very big impact,” Cheah said. “If everybody comes together, the unity involved in people coming in to help each other out, you create a lot of effect.” Zach Ho and his wife, Ivy, dropped off powdered milk formula. “We feel that every contribution helps,” Zach Ho said. “Even though it’s a very small amount, we hope that it helps the situation in Semporna.” Tan Mei Ling, a piano teacher, helps organize the donated food and PPE being sent to Semporna, Malaysia. (Dave Grunebaum/VOA)Volunteer Tan Mei Ling is a piano teacher whose music school is currently closed because of the pandemic. “I thought I would just come and help, since I was free,” she said. “I couldn’t teach, so I just came to help, and it feels good.” Altogether, more than four tons of aid was donated. The supplies were flown to the airport nearest to Semporna before being distributed by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
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UN: 20 Years After Landmark UN Resolution, Women Still Excluded in Peace Processes
Twenty years after a landmark U.N. Security Council resolution seeking to include more women in the prevention and settlement of conflicts, the head of U.N. Women says “exclusion is still the norm.””Evidence shows that peace processes that involve women are key to long-lasting peace, yet women are still systematically excluded, confined to informal processes, or relegated to the role of spectators, while men sit in the rooms that will define their lives and decide their future,” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of U.N. Women, told a Security Council meeting marking the anniversary Thursday.She said in peace negotiations from 1992 to 2019, only 13% of negotiators, 6% of mediators, and 6% of peace agreement signatories were women.”These negotiations are still structured in a way that elevates and empowers the actors that have fueled the violence, rather than empowering the constituencies who make peace,” she said. Resolution 1325 was adopted unanimously by the Council on Oct. 31, 2000. It stresses the importance of equal participation of women in both the prevention and resolution of conflicts, as well as peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction. The resolution also calls on parties to conflicts to protect women and girls from gender-based violence.”This resolution was born out of the horrors committed against the bodies of women and girls in Bosnia and Rwanda, and the example set by women who fought for representation in Northern Ireland, southern Africa, and Central America,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said. While she commended women and civil society groups for bringing atrocities committed against women and girls from the shadows into the light, she said justice is yet to be won for most victims and impunity continues to be the norm.”We had to wait until last year to see the first ever successful conviction for sexual and gender-based violence at the International Criminal Court,” she noted. FILE – Congolese militia commander Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court during his trial at the Hague, in the Netherlands, July 8, 2019.That case was against Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He was convicted on 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and sexual slavery, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. There has been notable progress in several countries, where women have made and retained gains. Mlambo-Ngcuka pointed to achievements by women in Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Philippines and Liberia, among other countries.Mlambo-Ngcuka said moving ahead, there must be “a radical shift and tangible results” in the equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes. She said that neither the United Nations nor its member states should give funding or legitimacy to processes that have only symbolic or superficial female representation. The protection of women’s rights should be another goal going forward, she said. ”In all conversations I have with women’s civil society organizations about women’s rights, they start or finish with concerns about women’s sexual and reproductive rights and widespread violence against women,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said. “For women to play a role in decision-making in society, they need to be able to decide over their own bodies.”She also warned that the coronavirus pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on the female population. Lockdowns have exposed deep inequalities in education, health systems and economic opportunities for them. Women also make up the majority of front line health care workers globally. ”Yet they are once again under-represented in pandemic decision-making,” she said, noting it is even worse for women in conflict areas.
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Spain Investigates Russian Links to Catalan Separatists
Russian agents offered military aid to Catalan separatists at the height of their failed bid to break away from Spain in 2017, according to a judicial investigation in Spain.These are the extraordinary allegations at the heart of an investigation launched by a judge in Barcelona who is probing alleged links between the Catalan independence movement and a Russian misinformation campaign designed to destabilize Europe.Police arrested 21 suspects in Barcelona on Wednesday on the orders of Judge Joaquin Aguirre, including three men who were close to the former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont who fled Spain shortly after the failed declaration of independence three years ago.In one recording presented in court documents, one of those detained by police allegedly mentions an offer by Russian agents to provide Puigdemont with 10,000 troops to help in a theoretical armed conflict with Spanish forces. The offer never materialized.Fake news offensive”Russian interference as a geopolitical strategy was a fact during the fall of 2017 when (the Russians) spread fake news and disinformation,” Judge Aguirre said in a ruling, citing online items backing the Catalan separatists spread by Russian news platforms.The Spanish government had accused Russia in 2017 of meddling in the Catalan conflict, a charge that Russian officials denied at the time.
In what appeared to be an ironic repost to the court allegations, the Russian Embassy in Madrid tweeted: “It is necessary to add two zeros to the number of soldiers and the most shocking thing about this conspiracy: the troops should be transported by Mosca and Chato, airplanes assembled in Catalonia during the (Spanish) Civil War and hidden in a safe place in the Catalan Sierra until they receive the order to act through encrypted publications.”A woman holds a sign during a protest against police raids and the arrest of Catalan separatists, in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 28, 2020.TimingThough the investigation relates to events three years ago which threatened to tear apart one of Europe’s largest economies, it has ramifications in today’s polarized political environment.Spain’s minority left-wing coalition government depends on the Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana, ERC, for support as talks are under way to pass a budget for 2021. Spain has had no full year spending plan for the past four years and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic this budget is crucial to finance the country’s recovery.“It is evident that the Spanish government has no appetite to find a solution to the conflict in Catalonia,” said Raul Murcia, a spokesman for ERC, told VOA.Regional elections are planned in Catalonia in February when separatist parties are likely to win a majority but not more than 50% of the vote, according to recent polls.The Catalan separatist movement has always proclaimed non-violent beliefs, even though last year there were violent clashes with police after nine leaders were jailed for up to 13 years for their roles in the 2017 breakaway bid.Wider investigationThe investigation also targets the alleged misuse of public funds for the separatist movement in Spain as well as the allegedly active role of Russian-backed disinformation campaigns to discredit Madrid.Those arrested face allegations of embezzlement and money laundering.Investigations revealed that money intended for Barcelona’s provincial government and a regional entity for promoting sports teams had been diverted illegally, the Spanish government said in a statement after the arrests.
Josep Lluis Alay, a close collaborator of Puigdemont, was one of those detained. Others included David Madi and Oriol Vendrell, two former politicians for Catalonia’s major separatist parties.A demonstrator is detained by police officers during a protest against police raids and the arrest of Catalan separatists, in Barcelona, Spain, Oct. 28, 2020.In the wake of the early morning raids, Puigdemont tweeted that Alay and the others “must be immediately released. Acting against political dissidents is a huge violation of fundamental rights”.After the breakaway attempt failed, Puigdemont fled Spain hidden in the boot of a car to France then flew to Brussels, where he has campaigned to raise support for his cause internationally. Puigdemont is currently a European Parliament member.Another suspect, Oriol Soler, is a publisher who is considered one of the top strategists of the separatist movement.Assange connectionHe is being investigated for allegedly meeting Russian contacts and the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange when he was seeking refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to promote the separatist cause and discredit Spain internationally.In a court document which was made public, it said the alleged meeting between Soler and Assange in September 2017 “falls within the strategy of misinformation and destabilization in which the Kremlin has also participated as part of its general narrative that the European Union is on the brink of collapse, the principal message of the news outlets controlled by the Kremlin.”Benet Salellas, Soler’s defense attorney, said that his client is innocent and “denounces that the justice system is being utilized to fight against the Catalan independence movement”.The arrests sparked several small protests across Catalonia.The issue of independence has consistently divided the region’s 7.5 million inhabitants.In a recent poll earlier this month for the Catalan regional government, 46.3% of Catalans opposed breaking away from Spain, while 45.5% backed independence.
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Wisconsin Republican Party Says Hackers Stole $2.3 Million
Hackers have stolen $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party’s account that was being used to help reelect President Donald Trump in the key battleground state, the party’s chairman told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The party noticed the suspicious activity on Oct. 22 and contacted the FBI on Friday, said Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt.
Hitt said the FBI is investigating. FBI spokesman Leonard Peace did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The attack was discovered less than two weeks before Election Day, as both Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden made their final push to win Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes. Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016 and planned his third visit in seven days on Friday. Biden also planned to campaign in Wisconsin on Friday. Polls have consistently shown a tight race in the state, usually with Biden ahead by single digits and within the margin of error.
Hitt said he was not aware of any other state GOP being targeted for a similar hack, but state parties were warned at the Republican National Convention this summer to be on the lookout for cyber attacks.
“We have been in contact with the state party and are assisting them through this process,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Ahrens. “The RNC never left Wisconsin after 2016, and we are confident that our ground game and the millions we are spending on TV and digital will deliver us another win there in 2020.”
The hack exposed new tensions in the final days of the race between the Trump campaign and the state party, which overspent and failed to properly account for its expenditures in 2018, leading to a shakeup in top party leadership.
There have been more than 800 attempted phishing attacks for financial gain targeting the Wisconsin Democratic Party this campaign cycle, but none has been successful, said party spokeswoman Courtney Beyer.
Hitt said the hackers manipulated invoices from four vendors who were being paid for direct mail for Trump’s reelection efforts as well as for pro-Trump material such as hats to be handed out to supporters. Invoices and other documents were altered so when the party paid them for the services rendered, the money went to the hackers instead of the vendors, Hitt said.
The hack was discovered after someone noticed that an invoice was generated that should not have been, he said.
Hitt said it appears the attack began as a phishing attempt and no data appears to have been stolen, said party spokesman Alec Zimmerman.
The money was stolen from the state party’s federal account, which currently contains about $1.1 million, but that number fluctuates daily because of quick moving resources late in the campaign, Zimmerman said.
Campaign finance reports filed this week in Wisconsin show Democrats have raised far more money than Republicans. The state Democratic Party raised nearly $59 million over the past two years compared with just $23.7 million for Republicans.
Early voting is in full swing in Wisconsin, with more than 1.6 million ballots returned as of Thursday morning. That is nearly 55% of the total vote cast in 2016.
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Taiwan Marks 200 Days Without New Domestically Transmitted COVID-19 Cases
Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control reported Thursday the nation has now gone 200 days without any domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19, highlighting the island’s continued success at keeping the virus under control even as cases surge in other parts of the world.
The government health agency last reported a domestic case on April 12. CDC officials noted the milestone and thanked the public for playing a role, while urging people to continue to wear masks and wash their hands often.
At a news conference in Taipei, CDC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang credited the people of Taiwan for abiding by the CDC’s COVID-19 regulations, including self-quarantining at home, submitting to inspections at airports and participation in contact-tracing programs.
Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has recorded 553 cases of COVID-19, and just seven deaths. While it has stopped domestic transmission, it continues to record new cases in people arriving from abroad.
The CDC did report three Thursday new COVID-19 cases that came into the country from overseas. The reports said a woman traveling from the United States, a man returning from the Philippines, and an Indonesian woman all tested positive for the virus in recent days and submitted themselves for quarantine.
Taiwan has been pointed to as a success story in how to respond to the pandemic, especially considering its close business and tourism ties with China, where the virus first emerged late last year.
Its success has in part been attributed to acting very early in the pandemic. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports Taiwanese officials were checking passengers on flights from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the pandemic began, as early as Dec. 31 for fever and pneumonia symptoms.
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Museum Exhibit Revamp Raises Concerns in Hong Kong
Scholars are urging government curators not to shy away from controversial issues in the production of new exhibits as the Hong Kong Museum of History undertakes a two-year revamp of its popular Hong Kong Story exhibition.Occupying 7,000 square meters in eight galleries on two floors, the permanent exhibition of the Hong Kong Story has attracted more than 10 million local and overseas visitors since its launch in 2001, according to the museum website. It has now been temporarily closed, starting October 19, for an extensive renovation. Visitors wearing masks to help protect against the coronavirus walk past an earth sculpture, at the Hong Kong Museum of History, in Hong Kong, Oct. 16, 2020.The old exhibition showcased exhibits starting from the Devonian period 400 million years ago up to 1997. It only caused a stir in the public when the exhibition was officially closed this month, even though the decision was announced in 2015. The revamp is a regular exercise of history museums conducted every 20 years, according to John Carroll, a professor in the University of Hong Kong’s History Department and an expert in museology.Coming at a time when Hong Kong is reeling from intense turmoil after yearlong massive protests sparked by a now-defunct extradition bill last year, many fear the new exhibition — which will cover the period from the Neolithic to 2014 — will be a watered-down version of the recent history of the city.“Everything in Hong Kong these days is politically charged, there’s no point in speculating. The project is going to be difficult and challenging. However, it’s a good opportunity to make it an even better exhibition,” according to Carroll, the author of A Concise History of Hong Kong. “It’s not uncommon for governments to produce museums which are not critical because they don’t want to train people to be critical of the authorities. Most museums are a compromise,” he said, adding that “Museums should be a product of discussion, argument and negotiation, and to tell complex stories.” A screen shows the ceremony of British handover Hong Kong to China, at the exhibition “The Hong Kong Story” in the Hong Kong Museum of History, Oct. 16, 2020.He said even the old exhibition was curated in a traditional, conservative way, with an apparent attempt to avoid controversy. For instance, the portraits of the British governors who headed Hong Kong before the political handover to China in 1997 were displayed in a “dark corner” of the venue. “It is designed in such a way that people would not spend much time there,” he said.Echoing Carroll’s views, Godfrey Lai, a history researcher at Lingnan University, a Hong Kong liberal arts university, said, “I’m not too concerned with certain events being omitted or downplayed in the new exhibition since it’s rather difficult to wipe out history in modern times. But I am more concerned with the use of language and whether the selection of the content is biased.”“What’s so problematic is that the government tends to obtain the information from pro-establishment sources such as pro-Beijing newspapers,” he added. In the old exhibition, photos and videos instead of text were used to depict politically sensitive incidents, such as the pro-communist Hong Kong riots in 1967 under the British rule to keep away from having to deal with the conflicting views related to the historic events, Lai said.For the updated version of the exhibition, he suggested that interviews with people who have participated in the events and government officials who are responsible for making the decisions, and artifacts generated during that time be included to provide a more complete perspective. Lai also said the display should be presented from the point of view of Hong Kong people rather than that of the mainland Chinese.“Domestically, it should resonate and have a connection with the local people. Externally, tourists would want to know how the local people look at the events. If people want a mainland Chinese perspective, they should go the museums in Beijing,” he said.Taking a broader view, Carroll said the exhibition will be aimed at not just the 7.5 million local population but also visitors from mainland China and overseas. “Some people want to be more critical of the colonial rule, but some don’t,” he said. Both history scholars indicated they would want to have government officials’ reaction to key events shown in the exhibition. Then-Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s decision-making over the Umbrella Revolution, for example, also known as Occupy Central Movement when a series of mostly peaceful sit-in pro-democracy protests took place in 2014 should be featured in the renewed production, Carroll said.Angela Fong, who had visited the now-closed exhibition several times over the years with her two children, aged 17 and 10, said she is concerned that key political issues will be left out or “twisted.”“The government is already making changes to the history textbooks in schools. It’ll be difficult to tell the truth to our next generation,” she said.In 2015, history researcher Lai founded Wetoasthk, a Facebook page dedicated to Hong Kong history that has close to 30,000 followers. He said the government does not have an exclusive privilege in keeping a record of history.“Anyone can record history, especially with the help of technology today,” he told VOA.
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Merkel Defends German Coronavirus Restrictions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday defended new coronavirus restrictions to lawmakers and lashed out at those who tried to dismiss the infection as harmless as the number of cases hit a new high.
In a speech before the Bundestag – the German parliament – that was interrupted by heckling from right-wing politicians, Merkel said the new measures “are appropriate, necessary and proportionate.” She said, “There is no other milder approach than reducing personal contacts to try and stop the infections chain and to change the course of the infections back to a level where we can handle it.”
Merkel spoke a day after she and the governors of Germany’s 16 states agreed on far-reaching restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, including the closure of bars and restaurants, limits on social contacts and bans on concerts and other public events.
But, as in most countries around the world, there has been pushback against such restrictions. There have been protests and reports of violence in some areas by those claiming the dangers of the virus have been overstated and restrictions are nothing more than a power grab.
When heckling broke out from populist politicians during Merkel’s speech, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble warned there would be consequences for their actions if they did not let the chancellor continue.
Merkel responded by lashing out at those who claim the virus is harmless, saying, “Lies and disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate, damage not only democratic debate but also the fight against the virus.”
She said, “When science has proven something is false then it must be clearly stated. Because our relation to facts and information not only affects democratic debate but human lives.”
Merkel told lawmakers that Germany is in a “dramatic situation” as it goes into winter, which she said would be “four long, difficult months. But it will end.”
Germany’s disease control center said local health authorities reported 16,774 new positive tests in the past day, pushing the country’s total since the start of the outbreak close to half-a-million.
The Robert Koch Institute recorded 89 additional deaths, taking Germany’s toll to 10,272.
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Former DHS Official Says He Wrote ‘Anonymous’ Trump Critique
A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.
The official, Miles Taylor, came forward six days before Election Day to criticize President Donald Trump as “a man without character.” He said he hoped other former administration officials will “find their conscience when they wake up tomorrow” and speak up, too.
Taylor has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s in recent months and had repeatedly denied he was the author of the column and subsequent book — even to colleagues at CNN, where he has a contributor contract. He left the Trump administration in June 2019 and endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president this summer.
Trump and White House officials moved quickly to describe Taylor as someone with little standing and clout.
“This guy is a low-level lowlife that I don’t know. I have no idea who he is, other than I got to see him a little while ago on television,” Trump told a campaign rally crowd in Arizona. As he belittled Taylor as a “sleazebag” and called for his prosecution, the crowd broke into cheers of “drain that swamp.”
But as DHS chief of staff, Taylor was in many White House meetings with the president on his border policy and other major Homeland Security issues. During Taylor’s time as chief of staff, Trump threatened to shut down the border and his administration developed the policy to force asylum seekers to wait across the U.S.-Mexico border.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows called Taylor’s revelation “a monumental embarrassment,” tweeting, “I’ve seen more exciting reveals in Scooby-Doo episodes.”
During a CNN appearance with Chris Cuomo Wednesday night, Taylor said he didn’t unmask himself earlier because the story would have disappeared within 48 hours.
“No one would pay attention and they wouldn’t care,” he said. “Right now, Americans are reviewing the president’s resume, his record and his character and it is mission critical that people like me, but others, come out now when the voters are listening and tell them who this man really is.”
Taylor’s anonymous essay was published in September 2018 by The New York Times, infuriating the president and setting off a frantic White House leak investigation to try to unmask the author.
In the essay, the person, who identified themselves only as a senior administration official, said they were part of a secret “resistance” force out to counter Trump’s “misguided impulses” and undermine parts of his agenda.
The author wrote, “Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.”
The Times identified the author as a “senior official” in the administration and received some criticism online Wednesday for inflating Taylor’s credentials. The newspaper, which said it had granted Taylor anonymity because his job would be jeopardized if his identity was revealed, on Wednesday confirmed Taylor was the author because he has waived his right to confidentiality, and had no other comment.
The allegations incensed the president, bolstering his allegations about a “deep state” operating within his government and conspiring against him. The president, who had long complained about leaks in the White House, also ordered aides to unmask the writer, citing “national security” concerns to justify a possible Justice Department investigation.
Instead, the author pressed forward, penning a follow-up book published last November called “A Warning” that continued to paint a disturbing picture of the president, describing him as volatile, incompetent and unfit to be commander in chief.
To a certain extent, he’s since been overshadowed by other former government officials, both during the impeachment hearings and after, who went public condemning Trump’s behavior with their names attached.
Taylor’s behavior also leaves questions for CNN. He was asked directly by the network’s Anderson Cooper in August whether he was “Anonymous” and answered: “I wear a mask for two things, Anderson, Halloween and pandemics. So, no.”
Josh Campbell, a national security correspondent for CNN, tweeted that he had also asked Taylor if he was “Anonymous” and was told no.
Taylor said Wednesday that he owed Cooper a beer and a mea culpa. He said he wrote in his book that he would deny being “Anonymous” if asked, because he wanted to keep the focus on his arguments, instead of who was writing them.
“You know what the problem is with having lied is: Now you’re a liar, and people will be slow to believe you,” Cuomo said.
But he continued with a half-hour interview where Taylor denounced Trump. CNN said Taylor would remain a network contributor.
Taylor said he believed Trump would double down on damaging policies, particularly the separation of families at the southern border, if he won a second term.
“They want to turn this country into fortress America rather than a shining city on the hill,” he said.
He said he considered resigning from the Trump administration a year before he did and wishes now that he had.
Former GOP consultant Reed Galen, one of the founders of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, tweeted that Taylor “isn’t a hero.” He added: “He sat in those rooms, in those councils of power and allowed the banality of evil to work. … Heroism isn’t silence until it’s convenient and personally advantageous to stand up.”
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France-Turkey Dispute Grows Over Cartoons and Influence in Africa
The war of words between France and Turkey over cartoons portraying Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, triggered by the recent beheading of a French teacher, continues to escalate. But behind the diplomatic storm over freedom of expression versus religious sensitivity is a bitter rivalry for influence in Africa.To rousing applause from parliamentary deputies of his party, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday accused Western countries of seeking to re-launch the Crusades. Erdogan’s latest salvo is over French President Emmanuel Macron’s defense of the publication of cartoons of Islam’s prophet Muhammad.Erdogan said it is an issue of honor for Turkey to stand against the attacks against the Prophet who honored Mecca, Medina, Africa, Asia, Europe, in the whole world, and at all times.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his ruling party lawmakers at the parliament, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 28, 2020.The Turkish president has sought to present himself as a global defender of Muslim rights. But the current dispute over the cartoons is part of a growing rivalry between France and Turkey, says analyst Sinan Ulgen of the Edam research institution in Istanbul.”There is a different positioning regionally with France having established a strategic alliance with the United Arab Emirates ostensibly to fight against the influence of political Islam in the Middle East and Northern Africa,” Ulgen said. “And where Turkey is seen on the contrary as belonging to the other camp, namely of supporting political Islam through its relationship with the different entities and the Muslim Brotherhood.”West Is in Danger of Losing Turkey, US WarnsTop State Department official says when it comes to tensions with Ankara, the US, allies watch for ‘actions from Moscow to cleave us apart’ France and Turkey back rival sides in the Libyan civil war, while Erdogan is a strong critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah, el-Sissi, a key French ally. Turkey is now challenging France’s powerful influence in predominantly Muslim West African countries that were once French colonies, says Emre Caliskan of Britain’s University of Oxford.”Turkey, as a newcomer, an emerging power, their interests, and presence is threatening French interests and a vice versa,” said Caliskan. “Turkey is trying to secure the region around Libya. We saw Erdogan’s visit to Niger and Turkey recently engaging with Mali.Earlier this year, Turkey signed a defense agreement with Niger. The Turkish military already has a presence in Libya. For now, analysts say Ankara’s priority is to build a strategic presence in the region. But Turkish companies are also eyeing African markets currently dominated by French firms, which analysts say can only add to the deepening rivalry between Turkey and France.
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Trump, Biden Campaign in Florida Thursday
With days until voters cast the last ballots in the U.S. presidential election, the top candidates are focusing their campaign efforts Thursday in the southeastern state of Florida.In every election since 1996, the winner of Florida has won the presidency. The winner there earns 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the election.President Donald Trump begins his campaigning day with a rally in the city of Tampa before traveling for an evening rally in the state of North Carolina.Former Vice President Joe Biden is set to speak to supporters in Broward County in the afternoon and then head to his own event in Tampa in the evening.According to anAbout two-thirds of America’s early voters have mailed in their ballots, and the rest voted in person at polling places throughout the country. Biden voted Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware, while Trump cast his ballot on Saturday at a library in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort. Voting experts say voter turnout for the contest between Republican Trump and Democratic challenger Biden could be the highest percentage of the electorate since 1908, when 65% of the country’s eligible voters cast ballots.
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Pompeo Says China is ‘Gravest Threat to Future of Religious Freedom’ in Jakarta
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Communist-run China as “the gravest threat to the future of religious freedom” Thursday in Indonesia, the last stop of his four nation regional tour.
Secretary Pompeo praised the majority-Muslim nation’s embrace of democracy and tolerance of other religions during a speech in Jakarta before Nahdlatul Ulama, a liberal Muslim group that acts as a counterweight against hardline lslamic movements.
Calling on religious leaders “to be a moral witness” and speak out on behalf of people of all faiths, Pompeo touched on China’s “war” against Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and practitioners of the outlawed Falun Gong sect.
The top U.S. diplomat specifically mentioned Beijing’s “brutalization” of the ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, where they are subject to a brutal crackdown by Communist Chinese authorities, including the mass incarceration of as many as one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in detention centers.
China denies mistreating Uighurs and says the centers provide vocational training and are needed to tackle extremism and promote development.
Pompeo said Chinese authorities ‘have spun fantastic tales of happy Uighurs, eager to discard their ethnic, religious and cultural identities to become ‘modern’.”
Pompeo also addressed the “violent oppression” of Muslim Rohingyas at the hands of Mynamar’s military, and the Iranian regime’s persecution of Baha’is, Christians, Sunni Muslims and other minority groups.
Pompeo’s stop in Indonesia comes after visits to New Delhi, Colombo, Sri Lanka and Male, Maldives. He said last week he will discuss “commercial issues, security issues, and diplomatic issues” and affirm the two countries’ vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific in meetings with Indonesian leaders, including with President Joko Widodo.
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France, Germany Impose New Lockdown Measures as COVID-19 Cases Soar
A rising tide of new coronavirus cases has prompted the leaders of France and Germany to impose a new round of lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus.During a televised speech Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a nationwide monthlong lockdown that will take effect Friday. Macron said restaurants, bars, cafes and other nonessential businesses will be closed, while residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, shopping and doctor’s appointments.German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a set of similar measures in her own monthlong lockdown order Wednesday after a meeting with leaders of the nation’s 16 federal states. In addition to restaurants and bars, all gyms, theaters and opera houses will be shut down under Merkel’s order, which takes effect Monday, while the majority of businesses, shops and hair salons will be allowed to remain open.Schools in both nations will remain open during their respective lockdowns.The restrictions were announced by Macron and Merkel as both nations struggle with a record number of new COVID-19 cases practically every day — with Germany posting nearly 15,000 new cases Wednesday — creating a situation that has pushed their respective health care systems to their limits.France and Germany are joining several other European nations that have been forced to impose a new set of restrictions to deal with a second and growing wave of the virus as the cold weather season approaches in the Northern Hemisphere.As of early Thursday, there are more than 44.4 million total COVID-19 cases worldwide, including over 1.1 million deaths. India has reached the milestone of over 8 million total novel coronavirus cases, second only to the United States, with 8.8 million total confirmed cases.As the effort to develop a safe and effective vaccine continues, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration says it will ensure that everyone in the United States will be able to be inoculated free of charge.Seema Verma, the head of the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs, announced Wednesday the agency will cover the cost of any vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Verma also said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will cover a larger portion of the cost of any new COVID-19 treatments. Private health plans will also be banned from charging their customers anything for administering the vaccine.
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South African President Self-Quarantining after Possible COVID Exposure
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is self-quarantining at home after coming into contact with a dinner guest who tested positive for COVID-19.A spokesperson for Ramaphosa said he learned Tuesday that he had come in contact with the infected person while attending a fundraiser dinner with 35 other people for South African schools in Johannesburg last weekend.Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said in a statement that he is not showing any symptoms and continues to work.The statement also said Ramaphosa wished the guest, who is getting medical attention, a speedy recovery.The president’s self-quarantining comes as South Africa’s coronavirus cases have risen in recent weeks.So far, South Africa has confirmed more than 719,000 COVID-19 cases and 19,111 deaths.
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Congolese Cycling Club Hits a Bump: Poor Financing
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a cycling club faces an uphill struggle: getting the financial support to compete, including in pan-African races. Anasthasie Tudieshe reports from Kinshasa.
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Algerian President Transferred to German Hospital Amid COVID Scare
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is undergoing medical examination at a German hospital, a day after the government announced he was admitted to an Algerian hospital after self-isolating because several of his senior aides tested positive for COVID-19.The 75-year-old president’s treatment in Germany comes days before Algeria’s critical Nov. 1 referendum on changes he has proposed to the constitution.A government statement announced on state television did not specify what Tebboune is being treated for, even though he had a coronavirus scare.There has been no government announcement that Tebboune tested positive for COVID-19.Tebboune replaced Algeria’s ousted longtime president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in January amid political unrest in the country.
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Rooster Kills Philippine Police Chief in Freak Accident
A Philippine police chief was killed during a raid on an illegal cockfight earlier this week after he was slashed by the razor-sharp metal blade attached to a rooster’s leg.Lieutenant Christian Bolok, the chief of the San Jose police department in central Northern Samar province, was trying to grab a rooster when the blade, known as a gaff, cut a gaping hole in his leg and sliced his femoral artery, causing him to bleed to death.Three people were arrested in Monday’s raid and several cockfighting roosters were confiscated.Cockfighting is a popular pastime in many rural areas in the Philippines, where gamblers bet on which rooster would survive the bloody fight. However, cockfighting and other sporting and cultural events have been banned in the archipelago to blunt coronavirus spread, which has led to over 375,000 infections, including at least 7,114 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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US Veterans Lean Toward Trump this Election, But Some Are Disillusioned
U.S. military veterans tend to vote Republican in presidential elections, and a majority will likely do so again this year. But VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb talked to some veterans who are reconsidering their political leanings and voting on the issues that matter most to them.
Camera: Adam Greenbaum and Mike Burke
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US Lawmakers Attack Social Media CEOs for Taking Down and Labeling Some Speech
The CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, just days before the U.S. election. Tina Trinh reports.
Producer: Matt Dibble
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Biden Deploys Obama to Campaign, Trump Sends His Children
Days before the November 3 election, the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are making their last pitch to voters, sending high-profile surrogates including former President Barack Obama and the Trump family children. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
Produced by: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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Trump Claims Lead in Key States Where Most Polls Show Him Trailing
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday his poll numbers in some battleground states are better than what major surveys show, which have him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden. “Poll numbers are very good. You don’t see the real poll numbers,” said Trump, speaking at his Las Vegas hotel before heading to Arizona for a pair of campaign rallies. A voter sits on the sidewalk as voters wait in long lines to cast their ballots during early voting at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Oct. 28, 2020. The wait to vote was over 4 hours.National polls typically show Biden with a lead of 7 to 8 percentage points lead over Trump, but with about half that margin in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome in the Electoral College. “We’re up in almost all of the states that we’re talking about,” according to the president, who said he is “doing fantastically” in Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and that he is also leading in Michigan and Wisconsin. The surveys that show him behind, contended Trump, are “suppression polls” that “are almost like a campaign contribution” to the Democratic National Committee. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden attends a virtual public health briefing at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Oct. 28, 2020.According to an FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump departs at the end of a campaign event at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, Oct. 27, 2020.Biden added that Trump “gets his photo op. Then he gets out. He leaves everyone else to suffer the consequences of his failure to make a responsible plan and he just doesn’t care.” Americans are voting early for Tuesday’s presidential election in unprecedented numbers, a product of strong feelings for or against the two main candidates and a desire to avoid large crowds at Election Day polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic. About 75 million people have already voted six days ahead of the official Election Day, totaling more than half of the overall 2016 vote count, which was 138.8 million. About two-thirds of America’s early voters have mailed in their ballots, and the rest voted in person at polling places throughout the country. Biden voted Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware, while Trump cast his ballot on Saturday at a library in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort. Voting experts say voter turnout for the contest between Republican Trump and Democratic challenger Biden could be the highest percentage of the electorate since 1908, when 65% of the country’s eligible voters cast ballots. Focus on Arizona U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona, Oct. 28, 2020.On Wednesday, both Trump and Biden’s running mate, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, campaigned in Arizona, a Southwestern state along the Mexican border that Trump won in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton. No Democratic presidential candidate has won there since 1996, but polls now show Biden narrowly ahead. The state has 11 of the 270 electoral votes that either Trump or Biden will need to claim the presidency and be inaugurated on January 20. U.S. presidential elections are decided through an indirect form of democracy in the 538-member Electoral College, not the national popular vote. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a campaign event in Flint, Mich., Oct. 28, 2020.Vice President Mike Pence was holding rallies Wednesday in two key Midwest states, Wisconsin and Michigan, both of which Trump captured four years ago. Ken Bredemeier in Washington contributed to this report.
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