The Justice Department is touting the success of its “China Initiative,” saying it has achieved “substantial progress” in disrupting and deterring Chinese efforts to subvert U.S. economic and national security. In a statement Monday, the second anniversary of the China Initiative, Attorney General William Barr said the department has made “incredible strides” in countering the Chinese threat. “While much work remains to be done, the department is committed to holding to account those who would steal, or otherwise illicitly obtain, the U.S. intellectual capital that will propel the future,” Barr said. The China Initiative was launched in November 2019 by then attorney general Jeff Sessions, who said at the time that “we see Chinese espionage not just taking place against traditional targets like our defense and intelligence agencies, but against targets like research labs and universities, and we see Chinese propaganda disseminated on our campuses.” The goal was to enhance the Justice Department’s investigation and prosecution of these Chinese efforts. Under current attorney general William Barr, the Justice Department has put additional resources into the effort. In July, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau had nearly 2,500 China-related counter-intelligence cases. “The Chinese Communist Party’s theft of sensitive information and technology isn’t a rumor or a baseless accusation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “It’s very real, and it’s part of a coordinated campaign by the Chinese government, which the China Initiative is helping to disrupt.” The FBI, Wray added, opens a new China-related counterintelligence case nearly every 10 hours and “we’ll continue our aggressive efforts to counter China’s criminal activity.” The tough rhetoric comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China over an array of issues including the coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong’s sovereignty and China’s military posture in the South China Sea.Women wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus stand on a pedestrian bridge in Beijing, Nov. 13, 2020.President Donald Trump negotiated the first phase of a trade deal with China in January. But since the coronavirus outbreak spread from Wuhan, China, shortly thereafter, Trump has turned increasingly hawkish toward Beijing, blaming it for exporting the virus to the U.S. U.S. officials say China’s economic espionage and theft of U.S. trade secrets is part of its ambition to supplant the U.S. as the world’s only superpower. Experts agree that China engages in nefarious activities in pursuit of its global ambitions, ranging from traditional economic espionage and cyberattacks to reliance on “non-traditional collectors” of intelligence, such as academics. The Justice Department says its focus on academic institutions includes raising awareness about the Chinese threat as well as prosecuting researchers who have hidden their ties to the Chinese government. Critics say the initiative has swept up researchers unconnected to Chinese intelligence. “Many of these cases appear to be people who are double dipping and not reporting income,” said Donald Clarke, a law professor at George Washington University. “This is not necessarily related to a Chinese intelligence gathering program. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that while China is undoubtedly engaged in “very deep industrial espionage,” Chinese talent is being driven away from U.S. institutions by “the actions of U.S. government and innuendoes of U.S. government.” “This is not only true of academics but [also of] people who are going into industry, the high-tech industries,” Chu, a Noble laureate and physics professor at Stanford University, said during a recent webinar on the China Initiative. “A large fraction of the stuff being created in American universities and industry (is) actually coming from Chinese immigrants.” In September, the U.S. revoked the visas for more than 1,000 Chinese graduate students and researchers with suspected ties to China’s military. The Trump administration has charged that Chinese students have come to the United States to steal intellectual property to advance China’s economic and military sectors. U.S. law enforcement officials insist the China Initiative is not aimed at Chinese nationals or Chinese Americans. In a speech at the Hudson Institute in July, Wray, the FBI director, said that “when I speak of the threat from China, I mean the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party.” In a statement, the Justice Department identified academia as “one of our most vulnerable sectors because its traditions of openness, and the importance of international exchanges to the free flow of ideas, leave it vulnerable to (Chinese) exploitation.” In the past year, U.S. prosecutors have brought a variety of criminal charges against 10 academics affiliated with U.S. research institutions, obtaining convictions in three of those cases, according to the Justice Department. Several were recruited under China’s “Thousand Talents” program, which seeks to advance China’s economic and military development by encouraging the transfer of technical expertise from the U.S. and other developed nations, according to the Justice Department.
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Month: November 2020
Former South African President Zuma Makes First Appearance Before Judicial Commission
Former South African president Jacob Zuma appeared Monday before a commission investigating corruption allegations during his presidency. It was the first time Zuma had appeared before the judicial inquiry since he abandoned his testimony at the hearing more than a year ago. The 78-year-old did not give any evidence on the graft allegations but lodged an application requesting the head of the judicial commission recuse himself, accusing him of prejudice. Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo rejected Zuma’s claim he was biased against him because they used to be close friends. Zondo said he only had a cordial relationship with Zuma, but they were not friends. The commission has no authority to prosecute, however testimony made during the hearing can be used by law enforcement agencies. The fraud and corruption allegedly occurred from 2009 to 2018 before Zuma was forced to resign by his African National Congress party. Zuma is also awaiting trial for allegedly taking bribes from French arms manufacturer Thales more than 20 years ago.
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US States Tighten Coronavirus Restrictions After Rise in Cases
With the country seeing a surge in coronavirus cases, the leaders of California, Iowa and other U.S. states are imposing new restrictions to try to slow the spread of the virus that has killed more than 247,000 people in the United States. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds ordered all indoor gatherings to be limited to 15 people, mandated wearing masks for people who are unable to socially distance from people indoors for more than 15 minutes and said all restaurants and bars must close by 10 p.m. “If Iowans don’t buy into this, we lose,” Reynolds said at a Monday news conference. “Businesses will close once again. More schools will be forced to go online, our healthcare system will fail, and the cost in human life will be high.” In California, Governor Gavin Newsom went further, halting all indoor service at bars and restaurants and requiring people to wear masks when outside their homes, with limited exceptions. The restrictions apply to 40 of California’s 58 counties. New Jersey also put tighter limits on gatherings of people from different households, while the city of Philadelphia banned any indoor gatherings among people who do not live together.A healthcare worker takes a swab from a person sitting in a car at a drive-thru COVID-19 test center in Newark, New Jersey, Nov. 12, 2020.During the past week, the United States has recorded an average of nearly 150,000 new cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country has registered more than 11.2 million total cases during the pandemic, the most in the world. The rise in cases has put a strain on the healthcare systems with half of the country’s states reporting new peaks in hospitalizations. Some retailers have also reintroduced safety precautions on lines for customers to get into stores and set purchase limits on such items as hand sanitizer, toilet paper and disinfecting wipes to prevent hoarding. Other commercial establishments, however, are seeking to increase business. Movie theaters in New York City are seeking permission to reopen, while restaurateurs in Massachusetts are trying to serve more customers at night. In a phone call Monday with the nation’s governors, Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, urged the governors to tell residents the country has never been more prepared to deal with COVID-19. He said there is a large supply of personal protective equipment and cited promising early results from two vaccine candidates. President-elect Joe Biden told reporters Monday that the Trump administration’s refusal to coordinate with his transition team has potentially dire consequences for the government’s COVID-19 response when the new administration takes office in January. Biden cited the task of distributing any vaccines that are approved, calling it a “huge undertaking,” and saying that if his team is not given access to the current planning process then they will be “behind, over a month, month and a half.” “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said. Trump has refused to concede his defeat while he pursues long-shot legal claims that the November 3 vote was rigged against him. He has blocked administration officials from cooperating with Biden’s transition team throughout government agencies. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States was one of the key issues in the election. National polls showed that voters trusted Biden more than Trump to deal with the pandemic.
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90,000 File Sexual Abuse Claims Against Boy Scouts
Some 90,000 people filed sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America ahead of a Monday deadline. The men accuse scoutmasters and other leaders of molestation, with many of their cases dating back to the 1960s, ’70s and ‘80s. Recent years have brought a surge in lawsuits against the organization as multiple states enacted changes to laws allowing those victimized as children to bring legal action later in life. The Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in February in order to set up a compensation fund for abuse victims, but the size of any potential rewards will be determined during upcoming negotiations.Boy Scouts pack 380 use scissors to cut a worn out American flag before burning it in barrel fires as part of a flag retirement ceremony at a park in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Oct, 13, 2020.“It’s by far the largest sexual abuse scandal in the U.S.,” attorney Paul Moses told AFP. In 2010, Moses won a $20 million award for a former scout abused by his leader. “We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain.” Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has seen its membership fall from a peak of about 4 million in the 1970s to around 2 million today. Among reforms it has instituted in recent years are criminal background checks, abuse prevention training for staff and volunteers and a rule that at least two adult leaders must be present during scout activities.
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UN Refugee Agency: More than 25,000 Ethiopians Flee Violence for Sudan
The UN refugee agency says more than 25,000 Ethiopians, mostly women and children, have fled the violence in the country’s Tigray region for Sudan. The UN agency said Monday, the largest group making the exodus since the conflict began, close to 5,000, arrived in Sudan’s border provinces on Sunday. Jens Hasemann, Emergency Response Coordinator for UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) described the situation as very bad. Hasemann said the UNHCR, the World Food Program, Sudan Red Cross, Muslim Aid and other agencies are providing aid but more needs to be done. Fighting erupted last week after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive against the Tigray regional government after an alleged attack by the Tigray region’s forces. Tedey Benjamin, a refugee from Tigray, said when a man, or even a child is slaughtered, this is revenge. This is a tribal war. Abiy’s government on Monday again shunned international pleas to open talks to end the conflict while neighboring Uganda and Kenya made similar pleas for both sides to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Tensions have been building in the region since September 9 when Tigray, the northernmost of Ethiopia’s nine regional states, defiantly held a regional election after Ahmed postponed the polls, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Witnesses: Ethiopia Bombs Tigray Capital as Fighting Continues
Witnesses in Ethiopia report that the country’s air force bombed the capital of the northern Tigray region Monday, as the United Nations says the growing conflict has forced more than 25,300 refugees to flee into neighboring Sudan.Residents in Mekele told VOA that the bombing demolished homes and partially damaged student dormitories at St. George’s Church Felege Hiwot school.Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told the Reuters news agency that at least two civilians had been killed Monday and a number of others wounded. There was no independent confirmation of the claims.FILE – Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen gives a press briefing at the Prime Minister office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nov. 4, 2020.Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen said Monday that the government was doing all it could to safeguard civilians.”The government will take responsibility” for the safety of civilians, he told a meeting with members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of foreign organizations in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.Ambassador Dina Mufti, spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told VOA that the federal government was targeting individuals “who committed crimes” against it.”Ethiopia will never let its national interests be compromised,” he said, describing the military offensive as “an internal affair.”Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, announced a military offensive against the regional government in Tigray on November 4.The U.N. refugee agency said Monday that the military conflict had forced more than 5,000 refugees into Sudan on Sunday, the highest single-day number of arrivals since the start of the conflict in Tigray.Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref province, Nov. 16, 2020.Also Monday, Abiy’s government again refused international pleas for mediation after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni met Ethiopia’s foreign minister to press for negotiations.Redwan Hussein, a spokesman for the government’s Tigray crisis task force, told reporters that “mediation at this point will only incentivize impunity.””We have never asked Uganda or any other country to mediate,” he added.Calls for negotiations have been growing, as the conflict has spilled into neighboring Eritrea and threatens the stability of the wider Horn of Africa region.Tigray officials accused Eritrean troops of entering the conflict on the side of Abiy’s government in Ethiopia. Eritrean officials deny any involvement.FILE – Debretsion Gebremichael, Tigray Regional President, attends a ceremony in Mekele, Tigray region, Ethiopia, June 26, 2019.On Sunday, Gebremichael confirmed his forces fired missiles at Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, and threatened more attacks, vowing, “We will take any legitimate military target, and we will fire.”Eritrea has long been at odds with the TPLF, experts say, and they fear the country could be drawn into the conflict between the TPLF and Ethiopia’s federal government.Hundreds have been killed since Abiy sent the national defense force into Tigray in early November after accusing local forces there of attacking a military base.Amnesty International has reported that scores of civilian laborers, possibly hundreds, were stabbed or hacked to death in the town of Mai-Kadra in southwest Tigray. It says the victims appeared to have been day laborers, who were not involved in military operations.The Ethiopian government has blamed the attack on the TPLF, which has denied involvement. Tigrayan regional leaders said the allegations are part of a continuing effort to demonize Tigrayan people.Eskinder Firew in Addis Ababa, Mulugeta Atsebeha in Mekelle, and Solomon Abate Gebremariam in Washington contributed to this report.
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Cambodia Convicts Journalist for Criticizing Hun Sen
A Cambodian newspaper publisher who made critical comments about Prime Minister Hun Sen on Facebook has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. A Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday jailed Ros Sokhet for incitement and ordered him to pay a fine of $500 (2 million riels), said Sam Sokong, a lawyer for the journalist. Sokhet runs the Khmer-language news website Cheat Khmer. The publisher said he believes the conviction affects his freedom of expression, because the posts were his personal opinion, and has asked to appeal, the lawyer said. FILE – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen waves to government civil servants in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 7, 2020.Article 41 of Cambodia’s constitution guarantees freedom of expression. Sokhet is the second journalist in recent weeks to be convicted of incitement. The vaguely defined charge is often used to target detractors and critics of Hun Sen and the Cambodian government, rights groups say. In October, Sovann Rithy, who founded the social media news outlet TVFB, was convicted of incitement and given a suspended sentence, and last week Sok Oudom, who runs Rithysen Radio News Station in Kampong Chhnang province, went on trial. Rights groups have criticized the Cambodian government for using accusations of incitement to curtail press freedom.Cambodia’s Use of Incitement Law Chills Press FreedomThree arrests in as many months could make journalists fearful of reporting on critical issues, media experts sayIth Sothoeuth, media director at the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the recent legal actions send a threatening message to journalists working on controversial stories. “I think the sustained conviction of journalists can be a threatening signal to other journalists who are doing their work,” Sothoeuth said. In Sokhet’s case, the conviction relates to Facebook posts in June that accused Hun Sen of failing to help people who are in debt, and for urging the prime minister not to nominate his son as his successor, according to the media watchdogs Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. TVFB journalist Rithy faced similar accusations when he was arrested in early April. Rithy’s charge related to his reporting on comments made by Hun Sen at a press conference in which the prime minister said that informal workers, including motorcycle taxi drivers, should sell their vehicles to buy rice because the government could not help them during the COVID-19 economic downturn. In a statement earlier this month Human Rights Watch described Rithy’s conviction as “an especially outrageous case which exemplifies Cambodia’s relentless attack on media freedoms.” Radio station owner Oudom is accused of inciting villagers against the military. The journalist broadcast a Facebook Live report on a long-standing land dispute in Kampong Chhnang province’s Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary, according to his wife, Nuth Sovanthou. Authorities accused him of “exaggerated news reporting.” Oudom often posted stories on the Rithysen Radio News Station Facebook page about land disputes, clashes between people and police, and provincial court cases. “It is unfair for my husband,” Sovanthou said, adding that under Cambodia’s press law, journalists who publish an error should run a correction, not be arrested. Un Chanthol, the lawyer representing Oudom, denied that the journalist incited villagers. “He went to report news, not to incite,” Chanthol said. More than 50 local and international rights groups called on Cambodia earlier this month to end its attacks on free expression and to protect journalists who are critical of the government. The statement listed at least 13 journalists whom it said had faced court complaints for news coverage and said authorities had revoked four media licenses during the coronavirus pandemic for the alleged sharing of false news.
“In the past years, the Cambodian government adopted a series of repressive laws that have enabled a crackdown on independent media and social media and resorted to provisions in the penal code – in particular articles 494 and 495 – to silence critical reporting and its reporters,” read the statement, referring to the criminal code provisions on incitement. In response, Cambodia’s Information Ministry said the rights groups’ statement is baseless and intended to deceive public opinion. It added that the journalists were arrested for wrongdoing. Reporters Without Borders ranks Cambodia 144th out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
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Trump Moves to Sell Oil Drilling Leases in ANWR
The Trump administration is moving to finalize the sale of controversial oil drilling leases in a wildlife refuge in Alaska.A notice from the Bureau of Land Management posted on the federal register is listed as “unpublished” as of Monday, but it calls for nominations on the lease tracts considered for the oil sale. Oil drilling in the sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was banned for decades before a 2017 reversal by the Trump administration.In an executive order signed in April 2017, Trump reversed the Obama administration’s decision to prohibit oil and gas drilling in the Arctic waters off Alaska.The White House said 90 billion barrels of oil and 327 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are buried off the U.S. coastline but that 94% of the area is off limits. President-elect Joe Biden opposes drilling in ANWR. Conservationists have fought against drilling since the 2017 executive order. In recent months, several U.S. banks said they would not help finance the project.The 19-million-acre refuge is home to numerous Indigenous tribes and wildlife, including polar bears and caribou.Thirty days after the call for nominations is published on Tuesday, the Trump administration would have to issue a notice for an impending sale of leases. The sale would take place 30 days after that, according to Reuters, which would be just before Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
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British Diplomat Saves Drowning Student in China
A British diplomat leaped into a river in southwestern China and rescued a drowning student over the weekend, Britain’s embassy in Beijing and Chinese state media said. Stephen Ellison, the 61-year-old British consul-general in Chongqing, jumped into the water in the municipality on Saturday after spotting the struggling female student, who had fallen in by accident, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported. A video of the incident posted on the British embassy’s Twitter account shows a woman drifting facedown in the water as onlookers scream in panic, before the diplomat takes off his shoes, plunges in and swims to her aid. We are all immensely proud of our Chongqing Consul General, Stephen Ellison, who dived into a river on Saturday to rescue a drowning student and swim her to safety. pic.twitter.com/OOgXqsK5oe— UK in China 🇬🇧 (@ukinchina) November 16, 2020 A life preserver is then tossed into the river, enabling people on the bank to drag Ellison and the student to safety. “Thanks to the rescue, the student soon resumed breathing and regained consciousness,” Xinhua said, citing the local authorities, without naming the woman. The British embassy said everyone is “immensely proud” of Ellison. Sino-British ties have been strained in recent months over China’s decision to impose a new national security law to quell pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which London handed back to Beijing in 1997 after 156 years of British rule. China on November 5 barred non-Chinese travelers from countries including Britain from entering amid surging coronavirus cases.
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Biden Warns of Lethal Consequences if Trump Won’t Coordinate on Coronavirus Response
President-elect Joe Biden warned that outgoing President Donald Trump’s refusal to recognize the transition prior to the January 20 inauguration could have dire consequences amid the coronavirus pandemic. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question Monday in Wilmington, Delaware.Biden, again warning of a “very dark winter” ahead, called for immediate congressional passage of the HEROES Act — a proposed $3 trillion stimulus package in response to the economic devastation wrought by COVID-19. “The idea the president is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension,” Biden said, adding, “At least you’d think he’d want to go off on a positive note.” The president-elect said people are running out of unemployment insurance, 20 million people are on the verge of losing their homes because they cannot make mortgage payments, and “you have a larger number being kicked out and that will be kicked out on the street because they can’t pay their rent.”
Biden made the remarks following a briefing he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris held on the state of the U.S. economy, which faces new headwinds with the surge in coronavirus cases. The spike in cases and hospitalizations has prompted some state governors and municipal officials to reimpose limits on business operations to try to curb the spread of COVID-19. President-elect Joe Biden listens as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks about economic recovery at The Queen theater, in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 16, 2020.”To state the obvious, we are currently in a pretty dark hole right now, at least in regards to where we’re headed with COVID,” Biden said during a discussion with business and labor leaders. Trump, who remained in the White House on Monday and made no public appearances, had the stock market on his mind in the morning, touting an announcement about a second coronavirus vaccine for causing a rise in share prices as the trading week began.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 470 points on Monday, a rise of 1.6%. “Please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!” the president said on Twitter, referring to the efficacies of COVID-19 vaccines announced by Pfizer a week ago and Moderna on Monday. “They appear to be ready for prime time — ready to be used,” Biden said of the vaccines. He has criticized Trump for making statements that he said might make people hesitant to get inoculated. Mass vaccinations across America may still be months away, while the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are increasing to record numbers. A researcher works in a lab run by Moderna Inc, in an undated still image from video.The United States has now recorded more than 246,000 coronavirus deaths and 11.1 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University. Both figures are the highest of any country. The U.S. economy has recovered millions of the jobs lost in the first weeks of the pandemic in March and April when the unemployment rate hit 14.7%. The jobless rate improved to 6.9% in October, still nearly double the five-decade low figure of 3.5% recorded before the virus swept into the United States from China and Europe. Still, millions of jobs disappeared in the pandemic and may not be recovered, as new coronavirus infections surge throughout the country. Election resultsBiden’s ability to shape the economic recovery is to a large degree contingent on the outcome of two runoff elections in the southern state of Georgia on January 5. Republicans have already won 50 of the 100 seats in the Senate that takes office in early January. Democrats have 48. If incumbent Republicans win either or both of the Georgia elections, Republicans will continue to control the Senate for the next two years and limit the new president’s options to advance his legislative agenda, including economic assistance to financially hard-pressed families. If Democrats win the two elections in Georgia, Biden could gain leverage in a politically divided Senate, with Harris, as vice president, breaking tie votes in favor of his initiatives. Trump has refused to concede his defeat while he pursues legal claims that the November 3 vote was rigged against him. He also cites what he calls irregularities in several states. State election officials have reported no serious irregularities with the vote that would impact the outcome of the race. “I won,” Trump tweeted on Monday. “No, Biden won the election,” The Associated Press stated in a fact-check story issued following the president’s declaration on Twitter, noting the former vice president achieved victory in key states, topping the 270-electoral-vote threshold, with room to spare, to clinch the presidency. A coalition of state election officials and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared in a joint statement that the election was the most secure in history and there is “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised.”
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Hopewell Chin’ono’s Arrest in Zimbabwe Viewed as Warning for Critics
When a military coup ended President Robert Mugabe’s 30-year term in 2017, Zimbabweans at first were hopeful.For some, it was the only transfer of power they’d ever witnessed. For others, it provided relief from Mugabe’s three decades of autocracy — a period marked by a struggling economy, massive corruption and the stifling of dissent.FILE – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in Minsk, Belarus, Jan. 17, 2019.When Emmerson Mnangagwa — Mugabe’s vice president and longtime ally — took over as president, he pledged to tackle the Beatrice Mtetwa, a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers of Human Rights, talks to reporters outside the Harare Magistrates Court in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 18, 2020.Despite being in jail, Chin’ono is in high spirits, his lead attorney, Beatrice Mtetwa, told VOA. Unlike the first time he was arrested, the journalist is unwilling to make any concessions: If he receives bail, he needs assurance that he can continue tweeting without punishment, Mtetwa said. “He’s in a better frame of mind this time around than he was the first time,” Mtetwa said. “This is a fight worth pursuing because freedom of expression is a necessary part of any democratic state.”Crackdown on social mediaThe legal action against Chin’ono over a tweet represents what some see as the latest effort to control social media in Zimbabwe.Social media platforms are a haven for the country’s journalists — it’s almost the only media platform that isn’t state-controlled, said Fungai Tichawangana, a former arts and culture journalist from Zimbabwe. The state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has a monopoly over television and radio stations. As a result, journalists turn to social media — and so do the authorities.“We’ve seen increasingly that journalists do get targeted, social activists do get targeted, political activists do get targeted,” Mtetwa, Chin’ono’s lawyer, told VOA. “Basically, anyone who is not within the ruling elites, who tweets, get targeted.”But the punishments are laden with hypocrisy, said Tichawangana, a 2016 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, who lives in Massachusetts. Ruling elites also use social media to share opinions, but they are never punished, Tichawangana said.Zimbabwe’s justice minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, addresses journalists in Harare, Aug. 19, 2020. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)The government is also attempting to expedite a cybercrime bill that would punish those who spread falsehoods on social media with up to five years in prison. Minister of Justice Ziyambi Ziyambi says the bill will help “deal with” those who intentionally spread falsehoods on digital platforms. Heard, who is a managing editor of the South African news website The Daily Maverick, said governments use the excuse of tackling disinformation as a guise to stifle dissent. After Mnangagwa won a close presidential election in Zimbabwe in 2018, protests broke out in the capital, Harare. The military, whom some had seen as heroes who overthrew Mugabe, opened fire. The act stunned people across the country.The following year, when the government announced increased fuel prices, more protests broke out. Authorities shut down Facebook, WhatsApp and the internet — efforts that limited communications about the protests. Not just in ZimbabweIn August, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an inter-governmental organization with leaders from 16 countries, held its annual summit of heads of state and government.The leaders urged each other “to take pro-active measures to mitigate external interference, the impact of fake news and the abuse of social media, especially in electoral processes,” according to a communique from the summit.Last year, the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) said “despite the many benefits of social media, it is increasingly being exploited by some subversive elements and negative forces to destabilize African countries.”These measures, among others, signify the shift across several African countries to limit social media freedoms, Quintal, from CPJ, said.“They use the fact that the so-called fake news propagated on social media as a reason why they would want to crack down,” Quintal said. “But we all know, frankly, and it’s quite clear that this really is an attempt to crack down on dissent.”Others said the moves will limit the space for independent reporting.“There’s a dearth of alternative voices,” Tichawangana told VOA. “And social media makes it possible to have other opinions expressed.”Proposed curbs on social media come as press freedom deteriorates among several African countries, Heard said, including Tanzania, Mozambique and Eritrea. Heard acknowledged it is hard to generalize the situation to the entire continent. Namibia, South Africa and Botswana are among the most free globally for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders’ 2020 World Press Freedom Index. Yet it’s clear the crackdown is intensifying, journalists and advocates said — something they believe will likely continue as more restrictive legislation is discussed.
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Pro-EU Reformer wins Moldovan Presidential Election
A pro-European reformer has won the presidency of Moldova — defeating her Moscow-backed opponent in a second-round vote that centered around the economy, corruption, and what course the small, one-time Soviet republic would choose in the tug and pull between Russia and the West.With all the Incumbent Moldovan President Igor Dodon speaks to media in Chisinau, Moldova, Nov. 16, 2020.Her opponent, the incumbent President Igor Dodon, earned the support of 42% of voters despite support from Moscow and a scorched earth Moldova’s presidential candidate Maia Sandu, poses for a selfie photo with her supporters as she leaves the Action and Solidarity Party office in Chisinau, Nov. 16, 2020.East vs West dimensions?The Moldovan election appeared to be the latest challenge to Russia’s continued influence over former Soviet republics it once ruled.Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly backed Dodon and had called on Moldovans to support his bid for another term. Russian political advisers arrived from Moscow to help manage the campaign.Indeed, Dodon has been a loyal Kremlin ally in return, calling for good relations, attending key Kremlin events, and sitting out calls to sanction Russia over its seizure and annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via video conference in Moscow, Nov. 5, 2020.“This certainly serves the vital interests of the Russian and the Moldovan people,” he added. In addressing the course of her future foreign policy on Monday, Sandu said she would seek a “true balance” by pursuing “pragmatic dialogue with all countries” including Europe, Russia and the United States.Sandu supporters argue the incoming president was simply sticking with a pragmatic approach to foreign policy that had served her well in the past.”Maia does come from this chain of pro-European politicians in Moldova,” says the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Nicu Popescu, who served as foreign minister under Sandu when she was prime minister for a period in 2019.“But she’s also someone who sees pro-Europeanism as not built through hostile relations with Russia,” he told VOA.“Much of the Moldovan population wants this approach,” he added.
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Former Harvard Coach, Dad Charged in Latest Admission Scheme
A former Harvard University fencing coach and a Maryland businessman have been arrested and charged with conspiring to circumvent the school’s admissions process, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.Peter Brand, 67, a former Harvard fencing coach who was fired in 2019, is alleged to have taken more than $1.5 million in bribes to get the sons of Maryland businessman Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, into Harvard by recruiting them to the school’s fencing team.In 2013, Zhao, who runs a telecommunications company, allegedly donated more than $1 million to a fencing charity run by Brand. That same year, one of Zhao’s sons was accepted to Harvard.The second son gained admission in 2017.”In total, Zhao made $1.5 million in payments to Brand, or for Brand’s personal benefit, even as Brand recruited Zhao’s younger son to the Harvard fencing team,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”Zhao allegedly paid for Brand’s car, made college tuition payments for Brand’s son, paid the mortgage on Brand’s Needham, Massachusetts, residence, and later purchased the residence for well above its market value, thus allowing Brand to purchase a more expensive residence in Cambridge that Zhao then paid to renovate,” the news release stated.“This case is part of our long-standing effort to expose and deter corruption in college admissions,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “Millions of teenagers strive for college admission every year. We will do our part to make that playing field as level as we possibly can.”College Admissions Scandal: The Value of a DegreeCollege Admissions Scandal: The Value of a DegreeIn an earlier but separate case in March 2019, the U.S. Justice Department announced it had served indictments on 50 individuals who participated in a bribery scheme to get the children of wealthy families into top-tier schools. Naming it “Operation Varsity Blues,” Lelling said it was a multilevel, yearslong scam. Several families from both the United States and abroad were caught up in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal. All pleaded guilty, served time and paid fines, in addition to forfeiting the money they had paid in bribes. Reports: Millions Paid for Chinese Admissions to US Schools
The family of a Chinese student paid $6.5 million to a consultant to ensure her admission to Stanford University in California in 2017, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The family of Yusi “Molly” Zhao, who was admitted to Stanford’s sailing program in 2017, paid to get their daughter into the highly selective school, the paper reported.
Prosecutors said they did not believe the schools were directly involved or knew of the pay-for-admission scam.According to Lelling’s office, the most recent case dates to at least 2012 when Brand allegedly spoke to Zhao about his sons.Brand and Zhao were expected in federal court Monday — with Brand making an initial appearance in Boston and Zhao in Greenbelt, Maryland, according to the Department of Justice.An attorney representing Zhao said his client denies the charges and will fight them. “Jack Zhao’s children were academic stars in high school and internationally competitive fencers who obtained admission to Harvard on their own merit,” attorney William Weinreb said in a statement emailed to VOA and other media outlets. “Both of them fenced for Harvard at the Division I level throughout their college careers. Mr. Zhao adamantly denies these charges and will vigorously contest them in court.” If convicted of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, the two could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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Analysts: Sudan Could Play Key Role in Tigray Conflict
As thousands of Ethiopians flee the Tigray conflict into neighboring Sudan, analysts in Khartoum say Sudan could play a key role in the conflict. Sudan is channeling the refugees — estimated to be at least 20,000 — into the eastern cities of Qaddarif and Kassala, and preparing camps to house them. FILE – Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok speaks inside Friendship Hall in Khartoum, Sudan Dec. 25, 2019.Meanwhile, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok says he called his Ethiopian counterpart, Abiy Ahmed, and said Sudan is taking an unbiased position toward the conflict. He called for African mediation to end the war and start talks between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Sudanese analysts believe the country has a crucial role to play due to its mutual interests with both Ethiopia and Eritrea, which was attacked by the TPLF over the weekend. African Affairs special researcher Ibrahim Nassir notes that Sudan once supported the Tigray region when it fought against Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. Now the situation is different, he says. The new Sudanese government is obviously wanting to resolve its own internal issues and not get involved in foreign issues. He says it’s useful for Sudan to support Ethiopian stability, as its relationship with Ethiopia is a balancing component to Sudan’s relations with other countries, especially Egypt. The Tigray region sits in the northernmost part of Ethiopia. The TPLF dominated national politics in Ethiopia until Abiy Ahmed, from the Oromo region, was elected in 2018. Abiy improved relations with Sudan by recognizing a 1972 pact that defined the Sudanese-Ethiopian border, an issue that had simmered for decades. Nassir thinks Sudan might eventually back Abiy and the federal government in the Tigray conflict. Nassir says if Sudan’s national security becomes impacted by this crisis, it will definitely take a side, especially given that Abiy has started to flirt with Khartoum’s government by resolving the border issues. That might make Sudan pragmatic due to its interests and support the federal government of Ethiopia. FILE – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks in Hawassa, Ethiopia, June 5, 2020.Abiy also played a crucial role in mediating between Sudan’s military generals and civilians after the ouster of longtime Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The mediation led to a power-sharing agreement that guides Sudan’s transitional government. Meanwhile, Sudan imposed a state of emergency along the Ethiopian border last month after tribal clashes in the area killed dozens of people. Observers have voiced concern that the fragile situation in eastern Sudan, along with the Tigray conflict, could open the way for criminal networks in the region, including human traffickers. Ethiopia’s government took military action against Tigray after the region’s forces attacked a military camp of federal troops November 4, according to the prime minister. The TPLF denied the attack.
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Thousands of Refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray Region Fleeing Violence
The border town of Hamdayat, Sudan, is now home to thousands of refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray region fleeing violence. Among the estimated 8,000 who have arrived in recent days are the parents of seven-month-old twins born prematurely, laying on a bed in a makeshift shelter. The family was forced to leave the hospital in Tigray where they were getting medical care.“They were in incubators but when the city was bombed, we ran away and came here,” their father Burhano Qobrfay told Reuters at the village located in eastern Kassala state. “Their mother doesn’t have much milk. We are using flour and mixing it to feed them. That is not recommended by doctors. Our children are dying right before our eyes.”The more than week-long conflict in Ethiopia between the federal government and the regional ruling party, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has forced more than 20,000 people to flee to Sudan, according to the Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region prepare to cross the Setit River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdait village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan, Nov. 14, 2020.The U.N. and local agencies said they are helping people who are fleeing the conflict.“If it wasn’t for Sudan, many would be dead,” Qobrou Qonzou, a refugee seeking shelter in the border town of al-Fashqa told reporters. “Where do we go? If we go to Eritrea, they will slaughter us. If we go to Gonder, they will slaughter us. Where would we go if it wasn’t for Sudan?”The violence escalated last week after fighters loyal to the TPLF allegedly attacked a federal government position in what the government called an attempt to loot weapons and equipment. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed responded by ordering airstrikes and sending in troops.The Ethiopian federal government says its onslaught is a limited military action against some members of the TPLF. The TPLF says this is a war against Tigray.FILE – People walk in front of the head office of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the ruling party in the region, in the city of Mekele, northern Ethiopia, Sept. 6, 2020.Mass killings targeted civiliansAlthough military clashes, including aerial bombardments, have received most of the media attention, there are reports of attacks directed against civilians. In Mai-Kadra, Ethiopia, Amnesty International said it has documented a mass killing of hundreds of civilians by attackers wielding knives, axes and machetes. Amnesty International says those killed were not involved in the military operations.“They were all, indeed, men of working age, and we were told by eyewitnesses that these were day laborers who were not involved in the ongoing military offensive,” Sam Dubberley of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team told VOA in a Skype interview. “We saw scores of bodies in the videos and we’ve been told there were hundreds of people killed in this attack.”EXCLUSIVE: @amnesty investigation reveals evidence that scores of civilians were killed in #Maikadra massacre in Ethiopia’s Tigray state. https://t.co/CDxxJsXNS5
— amnestypress (@amnestypress) November 12, 2020The Ethiopian government has blamed the attack on the TPLF, which has denied involvement. The regional ruling party said the allegations are part of a continuing effort to demonize Tigrayan people.“The false allegations of TPLF’s involvement in these killings are being proliferated with the intent to incite hatred towards Tigrayans in Ethiopia,” the political party said on its official Facebook page. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said the Amnesty report has not been verified. During a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, the commissioner’s spokesperson, Rupert Colville, called for a full inquiry to determine what happened.🇪🇹 #Ethiopia: Amid emerging reports of mass killings in the town of Mai-Kadra, @mbachelet expresses increasing alarm at rapidly deteriorating situation in #Tigray: “I strongly urge both sides to realize that there will be no winner in such a situation” 👉 https://t.co/vClDLmDjYWpic.twitter.com/zwSNvYJo0U
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) Members of the Amhara Special Force return to the Dansha Mechanized 5th division military base after fighting against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, in Danasha, Amhara region near a border with Tigray, Ethiopia, Nov. 9, 2020.Getachew Reda, the Tigray Central Command spokesperson, said in order to stop the military incursion, there are no alternatives left but to strike strategic targets in Ethiopia and Eritrea.“We will strike critical military and city infrastructures as targets,” he said on a television show speaking in Amharic before the reported missile strikes in Eritrea’s capital.Meanwhile, the number of those seeking refuge in Sudan is growing rapidly.Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to register at the UNCHR center at Hamdayet, Sudan, Nov. 14, 2020.A woman from the Qimant ethnic group who fled to Sudan said she and other women fled with nothing but children clinging to their backs.“They (the children) don’t have anything to drink and eat. All of us are suffering,” she told AFP while sheltering in Gedaref State, Sudan. “We don’t have clothes. We have borrowed from our neighbors to wear the clothes we have. We ask the Tigray (regional government) and governments around the world to raise their heads and look at us.”Fabrik Tessafay, a Tigrayan refugee who is one of the thousands fleeing conflict and sheltering in Hamdayat, told the Associated Press: “war is meaningless, even if the central government is cooperating with the Eritrean government and with the Amhara region, together they fight or kill, specifically the Tigray people.”
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Italy’s Stromboli Volcano Erupts with ‘High Intensity’
Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported a “high intensity” explosion Monday at the Stromboli volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, located off the southern coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.The institute’s surveillance cameras captured the event in visual and thermal format early Monday. The explosion could be seen sending ash and steam at least 100 meters into the air and streams of lava rapidly running down the center-south side of the volcano. The institute reported the event lasted four minutes. “From the seismological standpoint,” it “was characterized by a sequence of explosive events and landsliding,” it said.The institute also reported no variation in the overall condition of the volcano.The Stromboli volcano is one of the most active on Earth, with minor explosions and random lava flows descending from the crater directly into the sea. It has been erupting almost continuously since 1932. Light from its nighttime eruptions is visible for long distances, earning it the title, “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.”
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Top Trump Aide: ‘Obviously’ Looks Like Biden Won the Election
A top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to admit Monday there is little chance the president will be declared the winner in this month’s presidential election, even though he and other key aides are still hoping for a second term.”Look, if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner, obviously things look that way now, we’ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council,” White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told the virtual Global Security Forum. “There’s no question about it.”“The great thing is the United States of America, we pass the baton and have peaceful, successful transitions even in the most contentious periods,” O’Brien added.O’Brien’s comments came as Trump continued to insist on social media that the election was rigged and that he should be declared the victor over former vice president Joe Biden, whom news networks projected as the winner on November 7. “The Radical Left Democrats, working with their partner, the Fake News Media, are trying to STEAL this Election. We won’t let them!” he tweeted, shortly before O’Brien’s remarks. The Radical Left Democrats, working with their partner, the Fake News Media, are trying to STEAL this Election. We won’t let them!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020“I won the Election!” he added in another tweet earlier Monday, while questioning the veracity of an ongoing recount of votes in the state of Georgia in a third. I won the Election!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020Twitter labeled all three tweets, “disputed.”But O’Brien, Monday, sounded a more conciliatory note.”If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies,” he said. “They’re going to have very professional folks that are coming in to take these positions, many of whom have been here before.”O’Brien also expressed hope that a Biden presidency would build on some of Trump’s accomplishments, especially the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.Trump Hosts Abraham Accords Signing Between Israel, UAE and BahrainWhite House ceremony aims to burnish Trump’s foreign policy victories ahead of November presidential election”I hope that if the current lawsuits don’t work out for the president and President [elect] Biden becomes the next president, I really hope that a Biden-Harris administration is going to pursue the Abraham Accords,” he told the online forum.“There are a number of other countries that are teed up to join,” he said, calling the accords a “great legacy” for Trump.The Trump campaign has been pursuing a series of lawsuits, contesting thousands of ballots in key swing states. But on Sunday, it dropped a key part of a suit in Pennsylvania and is now contesting only a few hundred ballots in a state Biden is projected to win by more than 60,000 votes.The president himself also has continued to push public claims of voter fraud and other irregular activity, though he and his supporters have failed to produce evidence to back them up.Trump Renews ‘Rigged Election’ Claim Against All Evidence President’s own election security officials maintain ‘there is no evidence’ of election fraudTrump on Sunday appeared to acknowledge Biden’s victory, but tweeted, Biden “won because the Election was Rigged” and that Biden “only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA.”“I concede NOTHING!” he added.Trump Appears to Acknowledge Biden Win but Won’t Formally ConcedeContinues to tweet baseless claims that he lost because vote was rigged against him
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EU Signs Deal for 405 Billion Doses of Potential German COVID Vaccine
The European Commission, the European Union’s administrative branch, announced Monday a deal with to purchase 405 billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from German bio-tech company CureVac. The announcement comes just days after EU officials announced a similar deal with German company BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for an initial 300 million doses of the vaccine candidate they jointly produced, which, they say, has proven 90 percent effective against COVID-19 in late-stage testing. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters the deal with CureVac is, of course, conditional on their vaccine proving to be safe and effective. Von der Leyen said the fifth CureVac is fifth company the alliance has contracted with a for its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio.FILE – A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.She said they are already working on a deal with U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna, for a sixth contract. On Monday, Moderna announced testing showed its vaccine candidate to also be better than 90 percent effective. Von der Leyen said the European Commission hopes to have finalize their contract with Moderna soon. She said all the vaccines must independently tested by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before they will be accepted. She said, “We do not know at this stage which vaccine will end up being safe and effective… And this is why we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on very different technologies.” European nations continue to see a surge in COVID-19 cases, and many have implemented at least partial nationwide lockdowns until the end of the month.
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Ghanaians Remember ‘Complex’ Former President Jerry Rawlings
The death of Ghana’s former president Jerry John Rawlings, at age 73 on Thursday in Accra, sparked mixed reactions across the nation. Some were saddened by Rawlings death while others spoke of human rights abuses under his rule. Stacey Knott reports from Accra.
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Ghanaians Remember ‘Complex’ Former President Jerry Rawlings
The death of Ghana’s former president Jerry John Rawlings at age 73 on Thursday in Accra, sparked mixed reactions across the nation. Some were saddened by Rawlings death while others spoke of human rights abuses under his rule. Jerry John Rawlings leaves a complicated legacy in Ghana of both violence and democracy. While seen as a champion of the poor, and a fighter against corruption, rights activists accused him of jailing and killing opponents. Supporters celebrated Rawlings’ life at a vigil in Accra Sunday night, held by the party he founded and served twice as Ghana’s elected president — the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Musicians and dancers celebrate former President Jerry John Rawlings at a vigil on Nov 15, 2020. (Stacey Knott/VOA)“Our founder who has been a legend, and he is still a legend for centuries to come, his legacy reigns, and we are still going to have him in our memory. NDC, as a party, we are going to celebrate a week-long for our departed hero,” said Hajai Mariama Zakeri, an organizer for the NDC. Before he was elected, Rawlings orchestrated two coups, in 1979 and in 1981. But he surprised critics by then transitioning Ghana to democratic elections. David Agbee, a governance and security expert, says Rawlings was unpredictable and “complex.” “After the 1981 coup, any political scientist, international relations, or any person in this country will tell you categorically that the emergence of Rawlings has more or less — or profoundly — stopped all coups in Ghana.” Rawlings surprised critics once again by leaving office in 2001. But he continued to hold influence in Ghana. After Rawlings’ death at age 73 on Nov 12, supporters mourned outside his residence in Accra as his party’s top officials visited with the family. Rita Addo says Rawlings cared for the country’s poor. Rita Addo outside the residence of Rawlings, in Accra, Nov 13 2020. (Stacey Knott/VOA)She says he created policies for children to go to school and employment so they could then get jobs, which were flourishing before he left power. Addo says she will remember him as someone who came to help the poor. In announcing Rawlings’ death on Thursday, President Nana Akufo-Addo said: “a great tree has fallen, and Ghana is poorer for this loss.” The announcement said flags would fly at half-staff for a week and then the nation would hold a state funeral, though no date has yet been set.
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Blackfeet Boxing Documentary Casts Light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
“Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible” is a documentary that shows how Native American women at the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana, take up boxing to defend themselves from abduction, rape and domestic abuse – an epidemic in Native American communities. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.Camera and Produced by: Penelope Poulou
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Pakistan’s Capital Under Virtual Lockdown Over Anti-France Protest
Security forces in Pakistan sealed off a main highway into the capital, Islamabad, for a second day Monday to contain thousands of Islamists gathered outside the city to protest the reprinting of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in France.
Witnesses and organizers said around 5,000 followers of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, began rallying on Sunday in neighboring Rawalpindi city and vowed to march toward the French Embassy in Islamabad. Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, a religious political party, chant slogans while they block a main highway during an anti-France rally over the remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 16, 2020.Rally participants were chanting anti-France slogans and demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador.
Pakistani authorities, however, deployed thousands of riot police and paramilitary forces, and placed shipping containers at key entry points to block participants from entering the capital. Cell phone service in and around Islamabad was also switched off to prevent rally organizers from coordinating with each other.
Protesters attempted to remove roadblocks Sunday night in their bid to enter the city, prompting police to respond with tear gas. The ensuing clashes spilled into Monday morning, injuring more than a dozen police officers. Activists and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gather beside empty tear gas shells fired by police during an anti-France demonstration in Islamabad, Nov. 16, 2020. An officer told VOA one of their personnel suffered “critical” injures, saying some of the demonstrators were “armed with long sticks that had daggers tied to them.” The clashes also left several protesters injured, according to hospital sources in Rawalpindi.
The Pakistani capital remained under virtual lockdown even on Monday evening, with telecommunication services suspended for a second day in a row and security forces struggling to disperse the rally.
Commuters between Islamabad and Rawalpindi and those traveling to the capital from other parts of Pakistan faced lengthy delays on alternate routes into the capital.
Islamic parties in Pakistan have routinely organized scattered protests since early September against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for republishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims deem as blasphemous.
Last month, a history teacher was decapitated outside a school near Paris after he had shown his students caricatures of the Prophet when the class discussed free speech.FILE – Floral tributes to Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans St Honorine, are seen at the Place de la Republique, in Lille, France, Oct. 18, 2020.While French authorities were investigating the slaying of Samuel Paty and cracking down on suspected Islamist militants, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in a cathedral in Nice.
French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the right of publishers in his country to depict cartoons of the Prophet, drawing strong condemnation and triggering anti-France protests in Muslim countries.
Islamabad has formally lodged a complaint with France over what it called a “systematic Islamophobic campaign” in the European nation.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused Macron of attacking the Muslim faith and urged Islamic countries to work together to counter what he called growing repression in Europe.
“European powers, Western countries must understand that you cannot use freedom of speech as a weapon to cause Muslims pain by insulting our Prophet. Unless this is understood, the cycle of violence will keep happening,” Khan cautioned in a statement earlier this month.
The ongoing violent protest outside Islamabad is not the first time the hardline cleric and TLP chief, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has organized demonstrations over blasphemy-related issues in Pakistan.
Rizvi’s followers, at his call, almost paralyzed parts of Pakistan in 2018 following the acquittal by the Supreme Court of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who had been wrongly accused of disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad.
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Here Comes Santa Claus — With Face Masks and Plexiglass
Santa Claus is coming to the mall — just don’t try to sit on his lap. Despite the pandemic — and the fact that Santa’s age and weight put him at high risk for severe illness from the coronavirus — mall owners are going ahead with plans to bring him back this year. But they are doing all they can to keep the jolly old man safe, including banning kids from sitting on his knee, no matter if they’ve been naughty or nice. Kids will instead tell Santa what they want for Christmas from six feet away, and sometimes from behind a sheet of plexiglass. Santa and his visitors may need to wear a face mask, even while posing for photos. And some malls will put faux gift boxes and other decorations in front of Saint Nick to block kids from charging toward him. Julianna, 3, and Dylan, 5, Lasczak visit with Santa through a transparent barrier at a Bass Pro Shop in Bridgeport, Conn., Nov. 10, 2020.Other safety measures include online reservations to cut down on lines, workers wiping down holiday-decorated sets, and hand sanitizer aplenty. Santa’s hours are also getting cut to give him a break from crowds. Macy’s canceled its in-person visits this year, saying it couldn’t provide a safe environment for the more than 250,000 people that show up to see Kriss Kringle at its New York flagship store. But malls, which have struggled to attract shoppers for years, are not willing to kill a holiday tradition that is one of their biggest ways to lure people during the all-important holiday shopping season. “You have to give them a reason to come or they’ll stay home and shop online,” says Michael Brown, who oversees the retail team at consulting firm Kearney. More than 10 million U.S. households visited Santa in a mall or store last year, according to GlobalData Retail’s managing director Neil Saunders. Nearly 73% of them also spent money at nearby restaurants or stores, he says. “Santa is the magnet that attracts people to malls and without that attraction, malls will struggle more to generate foot traffic,” says Saunders.Mall operator CBL, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, plans to bring Santa to nearly 60 malls at the end of November, about three weeks later than last year. The company decided against a plexiglass barrier because it didn’t look right in photos. But Santa will be socially distanced and wear a face mask. He may also put on a plastic shield to protect his face. “We’re doing everything possible so that he stays healthy,” says Mary Lynn Morse, CBL’s marketing vice president. Mall owner Brookfield started planning in-person Santa visits at 130 of its shopping centers in April, opting for sleighs and gift boxes where visitors can sit away from Santa. At one of its malls, The SoNo Collection in Norwalk, Connecticut, a round piece of plexiglass will be placed in front of Santa so it looks like he’s inside a snow globe. But the precautions may not be enough to convince some shoppers. “It just seems like such a bad idea, just being in a mall,” says Emma Wallace of Alexandria, Virginia, who decided against taking her toddler to his first visit with Santa this year. “We’re just so sad,” she says. “We were really looking forward to that picture that seems like every parent has, where they’re sort of terrified or just bemused by the whole Santa thing.” Malls realize many people may stay home. Cherry Hill Programs, which will bring Santa to more than 700 malls, is also offering Zoom calls with him for the first time in its 60-year history. And Brookfield teamed up with virtual Santa company JingleRing, giving people a way to chat with Santa from home. Ed Taylor, a Santa who typically spends several months in Los Angeles filming TV spots and making mall appearances, will stay at home in southern Oregon this year. “When you think about the high-risk profile for COVID, you’re kind of drawing a picture of Santa,” Taylor says. He’ll be doing video calls with families and has been holding online classes to get other Santas camera-ready. Meeting kids virtually means getting them to speak up more, since the calls usually run seven minutes — about twice as long as mall visits, where the main objective is to snap a good picture. Going online gives Santa a chance to experiment with his attire. Some may ditch the formal red suit for vests and rolled up sleeves, since Santa is presumably calling from the North Pole and running a toy workshop full of busy elves. “Up at home, we’re working,” says Taylor. “We have presents to make. We’ve got reindeer to feed.” But there’s some parts of Santa’s look that can’t change. JingleRing, which has signed up more than 400 Santas, held online training sessions on how to use at-home bleaching kits to transform gray hair and beards into Santa’s snow white hue. They were also advised to buy teeth whitening strips. “Santa can’t have smoker’s teeth,” says Walt Geer, who co-founded JingleRing this year after realizing people may need a new way to meet Santa. Stephanie Soares is sticking to the old way. She brought her daughter, Gia, to a Bass Pro Sports store last week in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to take a picture with Santa, who wore a clear plastic face shield and sat behind a glare-free acrylic barrier that sometimes made it hard to hear what the kids were saying. A worker sprayed down the barrier after each visit. “Even though we’re in a pandemic, it’s important that the kids are still able to be kids and still keep up with the regular traditions,” says Soares.
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FBI: Hate Crime Incidents Rose 2.7% in 2019
Hate crime incidents increased 2.7% last year, rising to their highest level in more than a decade, the FBI says in a new report.There were 7,314 hate crime incidents last year, up from 7,120 in 2018 – the highest number of incidents since 2008, according to the report released on Monday.US Hate Crime Laws ExplainedHate crime laws are essentially “penalty enhancement” tools in the hands of prosecutors. The statutes allow state and federal prosecutors to charge a defendant with an added penalty and to seek harsher sentences.Despite a slight decline in 2018, hate crime surged by nearly 21%during the first three years of President Donald Trump’s administration, a period marked by the rise of an increasingly violent far right movement. While Trump has denounced white supremacists, extremism watchdogs note that hate crimes have spiked against groups vilified by the president. For example, anti-Latino hate crime rose 53% during Trump’s first three years in office, FBI data show.”The latest rise in hate crime signals a new brutal landscape, where targeted attacks against rotating victim groups not only result in spikes, but increases are also being driven by a more widely dispersed rise in the most violent offenses,” said Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.The FBI defines hate crimes as criminal acts motivated by race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity.Although most hate crimes are non-violent, the report showed an increase in violent offenses such as assault and murder.Hate-motivated homicides more than doubled to a record 51, driven by attacks carried out by white supremacists, including an August 2019 massacre at an El Paso supermarket which left 23 people dead.Last year marked the third consecutive increase in hate-motivated homicides. According to data compiled by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, homicides committed by white supremacists and other far-right extremists also rose for the third straight year last year.“These racist killers dominated the overall category of “extremist motivated” homicides with a total higher than that of all extremist killings combined for 2018,” the center said in a report.The number of hate-driven aggravated assaults rose for the sixth consecutive year to its highest level since 2001, according to the FBI report. There were 866 aggravated assaults last year, up from 818 the previous year.House Passes Law Making Lynching a Federal Hate Crime First federal anti-lynching law to pass House in 120 years; Senate passed bill last year, it now goes to Trump for signatureAs in previous years, most of the hate crimes reported in 2019 were motivated by race and ethnicity, followed by religion.Anti-Semitic hate crimes jumped 14% to 953, the highest level since 2008. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, “2019 was one of only two years in the last decade with over 900 anti-Semitic hate crimes.”Anti-Latino hate crime increased nearly 9% to 527 in 2019, the highest total since 2010, while anti-Arab attacks surged 16% to 95. Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate crime fell for the third straight year, from 188 to 176, after peaking at 308 in 2016.
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