The United Nations is appealing for $45.5 million to provide life-saving assistance for 260,000 of the most vulnerable people affected by Super Typhoon Goni in the Philippines.The storm, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, swept across large swathes of southern Luzon with terrifying force 10 days ago. Torrential rains and violent winds blew away roof tops, damaging and destroying homes and infrastructure. The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people have been shattered.The roof and pews of the St. Francis of Assisi church in Malinao town are damaged from powerful winds of Typhoon Goni in Albay province, central Philippines, Nov. 3, 2020.The United Nations says 1.9 million people in eight of the Philippines’ 17 regions have been affected by the typhoon, leaving an estimated 845,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance. The U.N. plans to aid 260,000 of the most vulnerable; among them women, children, the disabled and elderly — people who essentially have lost everything and have no means of support.Given the extent of devastation, the number of casualties has been relatively low. The government reports at least 25 people have been killed, 399 injured and seven are missing. U.N. resident humanitarian coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez says the government’s preemptive action saved many lives.“The government of the Philippines has made significant efforts and they deserve recognition by the huge preemptive evacuation of people,” Gonzalez said. “We are talking about 480,000 people that were evacuated before the arrival of the typhoon. They were moved to some evacuation centers.”Unfortunately, Gonzales said people in the centers now are faced with other risks posed by COVID-19. Local authorities, he notes, are particularly concerned this disaster is taking place at the same time the pandemic is spreading throughout the country.“People in evacuation centers, of course, cannot follow social distancing measures,” Gonzalez said. “The lack of appropriate water access and sanitation represent also a health risk for an area that is also well known by previous cholera outbreaks.”The World Health Organization reports 400,000 cases of coronavirus, including 7,661 deaths in the Philippines. Gonzales notes Typhoon Goni destroyed the only COVID-19 laboratory in the heavily affected Bicol Region, putting an end to all testing.The appeal will fund essential relief, including food, shelter, hygiene, water and sanitation, psychosocial support and protection. The money also will be used to restore livelihoods and critical services to promote the rapid recovery of the most affected communities.
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Month: November 2020
US Students With Disabilities Afforded Equality
Catherine Wilson is a senior at the University of Maryland College Park majoring in journalism and minoring in history. She also gets distracted easily. Loud noises, a cough or even tapping can break her concentration. Consequently, Wilson has help to ensure her success in college: extended time for exams and an alternative testing environment, called “reasonable accommodations.” “I have been really successful with (extended time). I’m able to prove I know the material. And even better, I’m actually able to finish (exams),” she said in an email to VOA. In a university setting, accommodations may include “reducing a course load, electronic word processing, sign language interpreters, extended time for testing, providing note takers and equipping school computers with screen-reading, voice recording or other adaptive equipment,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.Reasonable accommodations have been available to students since the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990. It provides “modifications or adjustments to the tasks, environment or to the way things are usually done that enable individuals with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to participate in an academic program or a job,” according to the American Psychological Association. Disabilities include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as visual impairment, learning disabilities, mobility disabilities and medical disabilities. Accommodations allow extended time to take exams or standardized tests, like the SAT. Or personal note takers who accompany students in their classes so students can focus on absorbing all the material, according to Karla McGregor, director of the Center for Childhood Deafness and professor emeritus at the University of Iowa. Increase since ADA passedColleges and universities have seen a rise in reasonable accommodations in the past 30 years since the ADA was passed, according to the ADA National Network. Universities vary in their assessments of student needs for accommodations. Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and plans developed for a student in primary and secondary schools can often be used to support the request for accommodations. Another is a letter from a health care provider, whether it is a doctor, therapist or neurologist, who knows the student and has studied disabilities and their effects, Fawne Esposito, an administrative assistant at Salisbury University’s Disability Resource Center, explained. The law is clear about reasonable accommodations, according to the U.S. Department of Education: Discrimination of any kind against a student or faculty member with reasonable accommodations is illegal. To receive accommodation for a learning disability a student must be tested, McGregor explained in a telephone interview. The variety of tests, which are administered by psychologists, measure a student’s learning ability, which will determine the student’s eligibility. Testing not affordable for many“The trick is that to qualify for the accommodations, you have to take a series of tests to prove that you need them. And the tests are not free,” McGregor said. Testing to establish the existence of a disability is expensive, McGregor added. Many students go without accommodations because they cannot afford the process. “Thirty-three percent of university students who have learning disabilities nationwide have accommodations,” she said. For example, accommodations include allowing an applicant extra time to take a standardized test because of their ADHD disability. Or providing a student with a sign language interpreter to address the student’s deafness. “The appropriate academic adjustment must be determined based on your disability and individual needs. Academic adjustments may include auxiliary aids and services, as well as modifications to academic requirements as necessary to ensure equal educational opportunity,” the U.S. Department of Education’s website says. To ensure they get reasonable accommodations, students must first inform the school that they have disabilities and need proper accommodations. This should be done as early as possible, before going off to school, the Department of Education says on its website.The main idea with these accommodations is that the students receiving them do not “impose a fundamental alteration to the nature of a service, program, or activity, and/or an undue financial and administrative burden to the University,” according to Salisbury University’s website. While there may be more of a presence of students with reasonable accommodations in colleges and universities, there are still barriers to prevent them from succeeding fully, according to the ADA National Network. These barriers could include being accepted by fellow students, or they could be physical, such as getting access to the classroom if a student has a movement disability. Students worry about stigma“I think one potential negative that students worry about is whether asking for accommodations will introduce some stigma,” McGregor said. Another negative is how long it takes for students to receive the accommodations. Wilson has been outspoken about her experiences. She said she was unable to complete a scheduled exam when her accommodations went unrecognized, she wrote in an email to VOA. While accommodations help the student, implementing them in the classroom is a different challenge. According to the ADA National Network, “the misperception of accommodations as special treatment rather than equal access is a common educational barrier for students with disabilities.” Additionally, students with reasonable accommodations provide a more diverse college experience, since students with disabilities can be considered “a facet of diversity.” “We want a diverse student population. And having these students included is super important,” McGregor said. Said Wilson, “When I’m not able to use my accommodations, I am put into very frustrating situations where I feel I am made to feel stupid or inadequate, and I know that’s not the case. Not being able to have them, I feel very helpless knowing I could have done better.”
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Trump Provides Veterans Lifetime Access to National Parks
Ahead of Veterans Day on Wednesday, the Trump administration announced lifetime free access to U.S. National Parks for all veterans and gold star families. “The Trump administration is committed to honoring American patriots — the men and women who have served in our armed forces,” Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt said. To commemorate #VeteransDay and honor those who have served in the military, @SecBernhardt announced that Gold Star Families and Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces will have free entrance to national parks forever. Learn more at https://t.co/AzFJbBEOwv#DOIDeliverspic.twitter.com/I43ZWVuW1k— National Park Service (@NatlParkService) November 10, 2020Last week, President Donald Trump proclaimed November “National Veterans and Military Families Month.” He was heavily criticized in September after The Atlantic magazine reported he allegedly referred to U.S. soldiers killed in combat as “suckers” and “losers” — allegations the president has denied.Trump Denies Report That He Spoke Disparagingly of US War DeadAtlantic reports that Trump called war dead ‘losers’Veterans Day is commemorated each year on November 11, a tradition that began when World War I ended on that day in 1918 with Germany’s surrender. The day honors anyone who has served in the U.S. armed forces. In a typical year, the day is marked by ceremonies, military bands and parades across the country. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, many events have been canceled, scaled back or switched to a virtual format in many cities. Reduced events The National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery will not be open to the public but will be livestreamed from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which honors U.S. service members killed in battle whose remains have not been identified. Virtual commemorations will also take place at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. Officials in Fort Worth, Texas, are holding a modified parade, dubbed a Memorial Motorcade, with a procession of wheeled vehicles only. The New York Veterans Day celebration is set to include a series of socially distanced live events, as well as virtual events. Post-election This year’s pared-down commemorations also come after a bitterly fought election campaign with razor-thin margins in several key swing states that highlighted how politically divided the country is. Preliminary exit polls from the election show Trump led among military voters, 52% to 44%. However, the president had a smaller margin of support in 2020 than in 2016, when he led 59% to 35%. A Military Times poll in October 2018 found that about half of military personnel said they do not affiliate with either major political party, a continuing trend the poll has found in recent years. The Military Times poll also found that more than three-fourths of troops believe the military has become more politically polarized in recent years. World War One beginnings Veterans Day is traditionally a time when Americans come together regardless of political party to support and honor the service of all veterans. The day became a national observance in 1926. At that time, it was known as Armistice Day, commemorating Germany’s surrender of World War I on November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Congress changed the name to Veterans Day in 1954 to honor not only U.S. veterans of World War I but also veterans of World War II, which ended in 1945. The day now honors any U.S. military veteran and not just those who have fought in war. It is separate from the Memorial Day holiday in May, which honors those who died in military service. The United States has about 17.4 million veterans, according to U.S. census data. Just more than half were 65 years old or older in 2019. According to the data, the states with the highest percentage of veterans — more than 10% — are Virginia, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that nearly 42 million Americans have fought in wars from the American Revolution in 1775 to Desert Storm in 1991. Another 3.3 million veterans have served since the terror attacks against the U.S. on September 11, 2001.
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Slam Poets Convene in Mali for Festival
Mali this year struggled with an Islamist insurgency, a worldwide pandemic, and an August military coup, all of which left most cultural events in the West African nation in shambles.But Mali’s annual International Festival of Slam and Humor, FISH, was merely delayed until November, after a post-coup curfew was lifted.Twenty-three-year-old Malian Aïcha Diarra first learned of competitive, performance poetry – Slam Poetry - when her high school held a contest.She has been a slam poet ever since and competes at FISH every year. She performed on stage for the first time in nearly a year at this year’s festival, which she said brought her great joy.Diarra sees her art as a form of activism to highlight the struggles of Malian women and girls. Sitting on a graffiti-covered rooftop in Bamako, she says many of the topics in her poems are considered too bold in conservative Mali.But, she says, some people congratulate her for daring to talk about taboo subjects such as circumcision of young girls.Cultural crossroadsSlam Poetry is a relatively new music scene in Mali, a country with deep musical traditions that is seen as a cultural crossroads in Africa. Slam Poetry first appeared in Mali in 2006, years after it gained popularity in the United States, and FISH started in 2014.The annual festival is run by Malian group Agoratoire, founded by one of Mali’s first slam poets, Aziz Koné. The theme for this year’s festival is Peace and Social Cohesion.Just days before the festival, France, the region’s former colonial power, launched airstrikes in central Mali that killed more than 50 jihadists.Mali has been struggling against an Islamist insurgency spreading in the Sahel region along with thousands of U.N. and French troops.Anger over the ongoing conflict fueled mass protests that led the military in August to oust President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.Despite the unrest, the festival – and Mali’s slam poets – have seen their support base grow, including among musicians.Poets as musiciansDjelimady Cissoko is an executive member of the Malian Federation of Artists. He teaches the kora – a West African stringed instrument – to students at the National Arts Institute.Cissoko says the slam poets are considered full-fledged musicians.Undeterred by the region’s ongoing conflict and unrest at home, Mali’s slam poets are passionate about their art and a better future for their country.
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Gunmen Kill Filippino Reporter Virgilio Maganes
Filippino journalist Virgilio Maganes was shot dead Tuesday outside his home in Villasisin by a pair of gunmen, according to police.The 62-year-old radio journalist was shot multiple times. Police said in an interview with the local radio station, DWCM, that Maganes was killed instantly after being shot in the head and other parts of his body.Initial investigations by police have not yet been able to identify the suspects or their motive.Maganes, who was based in the province of Pangasinan, northwest of Manila, was a commentator on local radio station DWPR and a columnist for the weekly Northern Watch newspaper.He managed to evade his killers during a similar attack in November 2016 by pretending to be dead.The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned the attack and bemoaned the lack of protection for Maganes. The group in a statement demanded “authorities work fast to solve his death which could be related to the botched attempt on his life.”Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte formed the Presidential Taskforce on Media Security for the safety of journalists, but the NUJP says about 18 journalists have died since he took office.Critics have attributed this to Duterte’s constant berating of the media. Duterte also is accused of encouraging threats from his supporters against the media. The administration has denied any wrongdoing.Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security has begun investigations into the incident it described as “an act of cowardice.”At least 190 journalists have been killed in the Philippines in the last 35 years, making the Asian nation one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism.
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Slam Poets Convene in Mali for Festival
Mali – known for its music and cultural events – attracted artists from around West Africa to this year’s annual slam poetry festival. Reporter Annie Risemberg followed one young Malian poet who is bucking stereotypes in the conservative nation in this report from Bamako.
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EU Leaders Urge ‘Rapid and Coordinated’ Response to Terror Attacks
After the recent terror attacks in France and Austria, European leaders held a summit Tuesday in France to coordinate the response against terrorism, and they are pushing for a “common coordinated and rapid” European response to counterterror attacks.The question of how to respond to Islamist attacks like the recent ones in Nice and Vienna brought together Tuesday French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the Elysee Palace in Paris where they were joined by videoconference with the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands, and top EU officials.President Macron urged a “common coordinated and rapid” European response to counterterror attacks.Macron detailed the need to develop common databases between EU states, improve cooperation between law enforcement, share intel and enact tougher legislation on the continent. Any threat at EU external borders or inside even one member state is a threat to the entire EU, said the French president.European leaders also stressed the need for what they said should be a “determined fight against terrorist propaganda and hate speech on the internet.” Macron mentioned Netherlands and Austria as good examples of how this fight should be carried out.He said the Internet is a space of freedom, and social networks are, too, but this freedom exists only if there is security and if it does not serve as a refuge for those who flout European values or seek to indoctrinate with deadly ideologies. Macron said terrorist propaganda must be removed within an hour once it is flagged.To counter jihadist terrorism, EU leaders also are calling for measures to ensure that the teachings of imams on the continent do not include hate speech.Charles Michel is the president of the European Council.Michel said religious freedom is key in Europe, but there also is a need to guarantee that imams preach the right values of tolerance and peace.This meeting took place on the eve of the anniversary of the November 2015 attacks that killed more than 100 people in Paris.
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Proposed Education Reform Reignites Spain’s Language Wars
In the land that gave the world the first modern novel, Don Quixote, the language of its creator, Miguel de Cervantes, is under threat. This is the contention of bilingual campaigners and conservative politicians who believe a new education law will erode a constitutional guarantee to teach Spanish, also known as Castilian, in schools. Spain is a linguistically diverse country where the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages have equal status that is protected by law. Spain’s left-wing coalition government has introduced a reform, which says Castilian Spanish does not have to be the principal language in classrooms throughout the country. It means in regions like Catalonia, the Basque Country or Galicia, educational authorities must still teach Spanish but it does not have to be the first language and instead can be taught as a secondary subject. The law has sparked a passionate political dispute in a country where language wars have been raging since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s. Longtime leader General Francisco Franco banned regional languages for four decades. After he died in 1975 and democracy was stored, regions won the power to decide which languages were taught in the classroom. Catalonia, which for almost 40 years has been run by nationalist regional governments, embarked on a policy of linguistic immersion with Catalan as the main language in public schools. Spanish is taught for only two hours per week. Elsewhere, in the Basque Country, Galicia and the Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, regional languages have also been offered in schools. Heritage at stake Campaigners who defend the right to learn in Spanish accuse the left-wing coalition government of abolishing the last remaining guarantees to education in what has been Spain’s dominant language for centuries. The reform was agreed among the ruling Socialists, their junior partners in the coalition, the far-left Unidas Podemos and the Catalan separatists Catalan Republican Left, ERC. Ana Losada, president of the Assembly for Bilingual Schools in Catalonia, believes the reform will give authorities a chance to rid Spanish from the classrooms. “Here in Catalonia, they have imposed Catalan and relegated Spanish to a secondary subject. We have fought through the courts to defend our rights under the constitution for our children to be taught in Spanish and we have won,” she told VOA. “This law change will take away that right to defend our language.” Losada recounted the case of 30 parents at the Guinovart School in Castelldefels near Barcelona who took legal action to force authorities to teach in Spanish in 25% of teaching time. She said the Spanish constitutional court defended their right to learn in their mother tongue, despite suffering abuse from those who oppose their actions. The issue of language has proved hugely divisive in Spain. Some Spanish speakers believe Spanish is an integral part of the national culture. Equally, Catalans, Basques and Galicians claim they want to defend their own heritage, symbolized in their languages. Political battle Carlos Carrizosa, leader of the center-right Ciudadanos party in Catalonia, believes the reform was a concession by the minority government so Catalan separatists would support the 2021 budget in a vote due after Christmas. FILE – Carlos Carrizosa of Ciudadanos party speaks at the Parliament of Catalonia after Spain’s Supreme Court jailed nine separatist leaders, triggering violent protests in the region, in Barcelona, Spain, October 17, 2019.The support of the ERC, which has 13 lawmakers, would be crucial to approve the government’s spending plan to help Spain recover from the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ciudadanos, a party with only 10 MPs, may also be vital for the Socialists to win a majority to pass the budget but they are going to make this education law a bargaining chip in return for their votes. “My party has said today that we will not support the budget if they go ahead with this reform. Until now children have been guaranteed Spanish in schools in Catalonia – even if we have had to take court action to ensure this. This law will change this,” he told VOA in an interview. Proponents of the reform, which will come into action when schools return in September 2021, denied the charge that they show no respect for the language of Cervantes. Equality “The charge that we are trying to rid of Spanish could not be further from the truth. This law will ensure that any pupil must leave school speaking Spanish and any other language, be it Catalan, Basque or Galician equally well,” Juan Mena, education spokesman for En Comú, a far-left party allied to Unidas Podemos, told VOA. “The mention of Spanish no longer being the principal language is only because previous education laws said Spanish must be the principal language even in regions where other languages are spoken.” Spanish is spoken by 534 million people, making it the fourth most important in the world after English, Mandarin and Hindi. “It is a victory for us because we have managed to safeguard Catalan as the principal language in education without impairing Spanish,” said Raul Murcia, a spokesman for ERC. Gregorio Luri, a respected educationalist, believes the amendment may be challenged by the Spanish constitutional court.
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Pentagon Policy Chief Resigns Following Esper Firing
Another top U.S. Pentagon official is leaving his post, a day after the termination of Defense Secretary Mark Esper. In his resignation letter to President Donald Trump dated Tuesday, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson listed some of his achievements and said it had been an honor to serve his country. “Now, as ever, our long-term success depends on adhering to the U.S. Constitution all public servants swear to support and defend,” he wrote.
Acting policy chief of @DeptofDefense resigns following clash with @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/SdTKhhx0pY— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) November 10, 2020On Monday, Trump announced via Twitter that he had fired the defense secretary. “Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service,” Trump wrote Monday. Trump Fires Defense Secretary Via Twitter Christopher Miller, Director of National Counterterrorism Center, will serve as acting secretary of defense ‘effective immediately’Esper had been expected to serve through the transition period between now and President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in late January 2021.
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Cameroon Activists Fear for Fate of Asylum Seekers US Plans to Deport
A second group of Cameroonian asylum-seekers are expected to be deported from the U.S. Tuesday, sparking condemnation from rights groups. Activists fear the mostly English-speaking Cameroonians will be prosecuted for alleged involvement in the country’s separatist conflict. There are also growing concerns over the fate of the first group of Cameroonian asylum-seekers deported from the U.S. last month.
Cameroon media reports say 36 citizens will arrive in Douala from Texas on Tuesday after failed asylum bids in the United States.
Rights groups condemned the deportations, the second group of Cameroonian asylum-seekers sent back by the U.S. since October, when 86 were sent back.
Ignatius Njowir, secretary general of the Cameroon Center for Peace and the Protection of Human Rights, says the U.S. is putting the mainly anglophone Cameroonians at risk of torture for their alleged links to a rebellion in the country’s west.
“It is a pity to see a country like America that the world looks up to as far as democracy is concerned, to see them deporting Cameroonians, Africans knowing fully well what is happening in their countries and what those people have been going through before escaping to America,” Njowir said.
Forty-year-old Cameroonian merchant Yaya Claudine’s younger brother was among the group deported in October.
She says he was released but has since gone into hiding, along with others who were freed, for fear of prosecution.
“When these people came back, they were held for two weeks. The government freed some of them on conditions that they were still going to investigate if they (asylum seekers) were in support of separatist fighters. Then, those that were not free are still there (detained) and then the ones that were freed are living in hiding because they do not know the outcome of the investigation. We do not even know where some of them are hiding,” Claudine said.
The last time the asylum seekers were seen in public was on October 14, when armed police escorted them from Douala International Airport.
A government statement read on state Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV) said some of those deported were freed after being given medical treatment.
The statement said others were held for investigation, including three military deserters who would face charges in court.
Authorities did not say how many of the asylum-seekers were released, how many were being investigated or for what crimes.
Cameroon’s minister delegate to the minister of justice Jean de Dieu Momo denies that any of those deported by the U.S. faced torture. But he said any Cameroonians who broke the law would face justice.
Momo said some Cameroonians in the diaspora, and some who are escaping from their country, have been very hostile and unfair to their nation of origin. He said while the government is listening to legitimate grievances, it is good for those who commit crimes to face the law.
Cameroon’s government accuses the diaspora in the U.S. of sponsoring anglophone rebels in the French-speaking-majority-nation’s western regions.
The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been killed in Cameroon’s four-year separatist conflict and half-a-million others displaced.
The Cameroonians deported in October and on Tuesday entered the U.S last year through South America and Mexico to seek asylum.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been tightening restrictions on immigrants and asylum seekers.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says as a policy does not comment on deportations until after they have occurred.
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US Election Results Dismay Trump’s Populist Allies in Europe
There was undisguised glee among Europe’s liberals and centrists when Joe Biden was projected the winner of the race for the White House. But for the continent’s populist nationalists, including a group of national leaders in Central Europe, the election outcome has prompted dismay, and some foreboding.With Trump out of the White House they would be deprived of a powerful cheerleading ally in Washington and some centrists predict his departure will have a knock-on effect of retarding the political fortunes of leaders on the continent of Europe who espouse populist politics.“Trump’s defeat can be the beginning of the end of the triumph of far-right populisms also in Europe,” tweeted Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council and now head of the European People’s Party, Europe’s largest transnational political party made up Christian Democrats and moderate Conservatives.President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen and First Lady Melania Trump listen.While most European leaders congratulated Joe Biden Saturday when he was projected as the victor by America’s TV networks – based on the provisional tallies of the states – Central European populist leaders noticeably withheld their compliments, or were slower than Western European counterparts in doing so.These included Janez Jansa, prime minister of Slovenia, where Melania Trump was born. Echoing the objections of Donald Trump, who disputes Biden’s projection as the winner, Jansa complained the media was premature in announcing the outcome, tweeting “complaints have been filed.” The Slovenian leader noted “the courts have not even begun to decide.”Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa says Democratic US presidential nomiee Joe Biden’s projection as the winner, the media was premature in announcing the outcome of the election.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who like his Slovenian counterpart endorsed Trump in the run-up to the vote, also withheld his congratulations Saturday. A pro-government news site owned by Orban’s political allies declared America was in the grip of chaos and criticized “big media” for declaring Biden the winner.But Orban shifted Monday and offered his congratulations, albeit not on a phone call but via a letter. “Let me congratulate you for a successful presidential campaign. I wish you good health and continued success in performing your exceedingly responsible duties,” Orban wrote in the letter quoted by state news agency MTI.Orban, who faces an election in 2022, was largely ostracized by the Obama administration for presiding over what Washington saw as an erosion of the country’s democratic checks and balances. Biden served as Obama’s vice president. In 2018 the Orban government was offended when the U.S. Department of State announced a $700,000 grant to help nurture independent media outlets in Hungary.EU pressureFor Central Europe’s populist governments, Trump’s reversal coincides with an approaching rule-of-law showdown with Brussels. The European Union parliament and the Council of Europe have agreed on a mechanism for the disbursement of the bloc’s funds that would require countries like Hungary and Poland to uphold democratic rules — or lose the cash.Hungarian ministers last week accused the EU of failing to focus on pressing problems, including rising anti-Semitism and Islamist terrorism. “Ideological pressure is used under the guise of the rule of law against certain countries just because we say no to migration, no to multiculturalism, and because we have a different view on the role of family in society,” said Hungary’s justice minister, Judit Varga.In practical terms the departure of Trump gives the populist leaders less cover in their confrontations with Brussels and the bloc’s more liberal-minded Western European states, say analysts. Populists also believe their close alliance with Washington gave them a boost in electoral terms, making them appear in tune with the zeitgeist; they fear they may now appear to be going against the gain of history.Trump is credited by members of Poland’s Law and Justice Party with helping Polish President Andrzej Duda win reelection in June in a closely fought race. An eve-of-poll White House meeting, as well as Trump’s decision to move some American troops stationed in Germany to Poland, boosted Duda’s campaign, they say.File – Polish President and presidential candidate of the Law and Justice (PiS) party Andrzej Duda holds up a bouquet after the announcement of the first exit poll results on the second round of the presidential election in Pultusk, July 12, 2020.Biden is expected to be much tougher on rule-of-law issues, although diplomats say they would be surprised if he reversed military and business deals with Central Europe’s populist governments already in the pipeline, if for no other reason than that might be exploited by Moscow, which has been courting them. Populism out, liberalism in?For populists out of power but hoping to win forthcoming elections, including Matteo Salvini of Italy’s Lega party, Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally and Tino Chrupalla of Germany’s AfD, a Biden win means they may find themselves leaning into a headwind of liberalism. Their opponents are already predicting that 2021 will see in Germany the AfD slump and the Greens surge, and that the following year France’s Emmanuel Macron will secure reelection.Other forecasts under this optimistic scenario suggest liberalism will be back and populism out, with the PiS losing in 2023 and Britain’s opposition Labour Party ousting Britain’s populist-leaning Conservatives in 2024.Denis MacShane, a former British Labour Party lawmaker and one-time minister for Europe, says Biden’s projected win shows populist nationalism is not “taking over.” He highlights a series of election setbacks populists have suffered in recent months. Writing in The Article, a British news-site, he says: “Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Finland all have social democratic prime ministers. Greens are the new rising force in European politics. In New Zealand, Labour’s Jacinda Ardern, has won a new term of office, seeing off rightwing nationalist populist opposition.”He added: “Political scientists, intellectuals and commentators now need to get down to work and stop leaning on the crutch of populism as a catch-all explanation of politics going into the next decade.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at the Labour Election Day party after the it won the general election, in Auckland, Oct. 16, 2020.Biden’s projected win has certainly spooked populist leaders currently out of power. Tomio Okamura, head of the Czech Republic’s far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party, said a Biden victory represents a victory for migration and the dictatorship of minorities. Jan Skopecek of the Civic Democratic Party, a Euro-skeptic party in the Czech Republic, the second largest in the country’s chamber of deputies, warned this week that Biden supports radical leftist views and would struggle to pinpoint Czechia on the map.But the closeness of the U.S. presidential vote, as well as Republican seat gains in the House of Representatives and the likelihood Republicans will retain a majority in the U.S. Senate, is providing some solace for Europe’s populist nationalists.They say the election doesn’t amount to a repudiation of populism as Trump managed to increase his overall vote, and they highlight how Trump even in defeat broadened his electoral coalition, making it more multi-ethnic.They also say populist nationalism has been a long time in the making and is rooted deeply now. Distrust of establishment parties and political elites will persist amid continuing squabbles over immigration and fears of distant and unaccountable international organizations, they argue.European populists have seen their support fall off since the coronavirus pandemic emerged. A survey in October by British pollster YouGov showed a decline in populist thinking in eight European countries, including Germany, Britain, France and Italy. Political analysts said the findings were likely tied to the pandemic because of the natural tendency for people to rally around their governments at times of national crisis.Populists, like some establishment parties, have also struggled to maintain a consistent message about how to handle the pandemic.But some analysts say there will likely be plenty of fertile ground for populists to hoe in the meantime. Support for populist beliefs could recover quickly as the focus of the crisis shifts to the economic fallout, impacting politics even more. Income disparity and industrial and rural decline — the bread-and-butter of populism — are likely to worsen after the pandemic. Migration is likely to increase. The transition towards green economies is also likely to help populists recruit supporters.“We live in a populist era,” said Christoph Trebesch of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a research institute based in Germany. He doesn’t believe that the US election will come to be seen as marking the end of populist nationalism.“At least all the signs suggest that this isn’t going to happen I don’t see evidence of a turnaround. It isn’t as though, say, Biden won by 10 percent. It is tempting to think that everything will go back to normal, but I don’t think this is going to happen. Populists have their ups and downs but the trend is upwards,” he said.
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China Gears Up for World’s Largest Online Shopping Festival
Chinese consumers are expected to spend tens of billions on everything from fresh food to luxury goods during this year’s Singles’ Day online shopping festival, as the country recovers from the pandemic.
The shopping festival, which is the world’s largest and falls on Nov. 11 every year, is an annual extravaganza where China’s e-commerce companies, including Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo, offer generous discounts on their platforms. Last year, shoppers spent $38.4 billion on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms Tmall and Taobao.
The shopping festival got its name as it falls on Nov. 11 every year. Also known as 11.11 or Double 11, the numbers look like “bare branches”, an expression referring to those who are single and unattached in China. The day thus later became known as Singles’ Day.
This year’s festival will be closely watched as a barometer of consumption in China, which is just beginning to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic after months of lockdown earlier in the year.
Analysts expect Chinese consumers to spend more on imported products and foreign luxury brands, since many Chinese tourists were unable to travel internationally due to the coronavirus pandemic and tightened travel restrictions.
A survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman found that 86% of Chinese consumers are willing to spend the same as or more than during last year’s Singles’ Day festival.
“In the last six months or so, wealthy households have actually spent more money,” said Sean Shen, customer and strategy competence leader for EY in Greater China. “We also see that purchases of luxury segment products are increasing because of the international travel restrictions.”
In 2018, Chinese consumers spent about 770 billion yuan ($116.3 billion) on luxury items, accounting for about a third of the global spend, with each luxury-consuming household spending an average of 80,000 yuan annually ($12,089), according to a 2019 McKinsey report on luxury.
Sales of electronic goods and health and wellness products are also expected to rise, as more people work from home and pay more attention to their health amid the pandemic, according to a report by consultancy Bain & Company.
To help merchants cope with the impact from the coronavirus, online platforms have extended the shopping festival period this year in hopes of boosting sales.
Both Alibaba and JD.com, the country’s two biggest e-commerce companies, began offering discounts on Oct. 21, three weeks ahead of Nov. 11. Some brands and merchants that slashed their prices booked hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of dollars) in sales just hours into the shopping festival.
Tang Chenghui, an electrical engineer who lives in Beijing sees Singles’ Day as an opportunity to stock up on snacks and imported products such as milk from Australia. Ahead of the festival, Tang pre-ordered 3 boxes of duck eggs, 10 packets of soybean milk powder, two boxes of yogurt, coffee and wine.
“I’m buying more snacks this year because I’ve just moved into a new apartment and have enough storage space to stockpile the snacks I like,” said Tang. “Some of these products are really cheap during the Singles’ Day discounts.”
Unlike Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S., Singles’ Day in China is not just about deep bargains. Alibaba pioneered the concept of Singles’ Day and holds an annual gala on Nov. 11 with celebrity performances to entertain shoppers.
E-commerce companies don’t break down Singles Day sales volume by brands so it is hard to know what share goes to foreign companies, though some companies might announce their own performances.
Sales via livestreaming and Alibaba’s annual gala are part of a “shoppertainment” trend which blends shopping with entertainment in order to become more appealing and engaging to shoppers.
Mini games within online shopping platforms entice shoppers with deeper discounts while encouraging them to spend more time within the app.
“Because of COVID-19, brands and retailers have doubled down on e-commerce and livestreaming commerce to drive growth, and it will show strongly on (Singles’ Day) this year,” said Wang Xiaofeng, a senior analyst at Forrester.
But while millions of shoppers spend hours on mini games hoping to snag better bargains, some are irked by the complexities required to win such discounts.
“Black Friday discounts tend to be better, and they are more straightforward,” said Liu Zhirou, a 27 year-old Beijing-based accountant. “Now, I still ask my friends to help me buy things from the U.S. during Black Friday.”
“The rules around Singles’ Day discounts now are getting more and more complicated,” she said. “I usually just spend my money on Black Friday, and buy less on Singles’ Day.”
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EU Files Antitrust Charges Against Amazon Over Use of Data
European Union regulators have filed antitrust charges against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform.
The EU’s executive commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, said Tuesday that the charges have been sent to the company.
The commission said it takes issue with Amazon’s systematic use of non-public business data to avoid “the normal risks of competition and to leverage its dominance” for e-commerce services in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU.
The EU started looking into Amazon in 2018 and has been focusing on its dual role as a marketplace and retailer.
In addition to selling its own products, the U.S. company allows third-party retailers to sell their own goods through its site. Last year, more than half of the items sold on Amazon worldwide were from these outside merchants.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said it’s not a problem that Amazon is a successful business but “our concern is very specific business conduct which appears to distort genuine competition.”
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue, which could amount to billions of dollars. The company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement.
The company can, under EU rules, reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
Vestager also opened a second investigation into Amazon over whether it favors its own products and those from third-party merchants that use its logistics and delivery services.
It’s the EU’s latest effort to curb the power of big technology companies, following a series of multi-billion-dollar antitrust fines against Google in previous years.
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US Supreme Court to Hear Obamacare Case
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a Republican effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act health care law.The hearing comes weeks after Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority.At the center of the case is a requirement in the 2010 law for most people to have a minimum level of health insurance or face a financial penalty. In a 2012 case, the Supreme Court ruled that provision was allowed on the basis that it represented a tax that Congress is allowed to levy. In 2017, the Republican-controlled Congress and set the penalty to zero.A group of states, led by Texas, is leading the current charge to dismantle the health care law, commonly known as Obamacare. They argue that the mandate for individuals to purchase health coverage is unconstitutional, and that without that provision, the entire Affordable Care Act must be struck down.Part of the original congressional intent in requiring people to have coverage was that it would bring more healthy people into the system who would pay premiums without using many services, helping to offset costs of individuals who needed more care, including those with pre-existing conditions who had previously been denied coverage.Texas and its partners argue that eliminating the individual mandate would create an imbalance and push health costs unfairly higher.The opposition is led by California, and points to the 2017 action by Congress as evidence that lawmakers had no problem with removing only the penalty for the individual mandate while allowing the rest of the Affordable Care Act to remain in place. They further argue that as the law stands, with no penalty in place, it merely encourages people to have health insurance, and thus cannot be seen as an unconstitutional imposition by the government.The court is expected to issue its ruling in the case by late June or early July.Of the justices who were members of the court during the 2012 case, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to strike down the entire law. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor voted to uphold it.Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have since joined the court.If the court strikes down the law, up to 20 million people could lose their health coverage and insurance companies could be allowed to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
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Former Mali President Amadou Toumani Touré Dies in Turkey
Former Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure has died at the age of 72.
According to Reuters and the French News Agency (AFP), Toure died Monday night in Turkey.
It is unclear what caused Toure’s death.
Toure was a former army general, who was celebrated for his pursuit of democratic reforms in Mali, including organizing elections.
Toure was ousted as president of the West African nation following a military coup eight years ago.
Touré’s successor, Ibrahim Boubacar, was ousted in another coup three months ago.
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Australia’s COVID-19 Infection Rates Tumble, But Authorities Remain Vigilant
Australia has recorded another day of no locally transmitted coronavirus cases. Health authorities say there are now fewer than 90 active COVID-19 infections in the country. For three consecutive days, Australia has recorded no new cases of community transmission in its relentless fight against COVID-19. Victoria, which was at the center of a second wave of infections, has reported its 11th consecutive day with no new cases or fatalities. More disease-control restrictions have been eased in the state capital, Melbourne, as one of the world’s longest coronavirus lockdowns comes to an end. But some restrictions remain. Masks are still mandatory in Victoria, and authorities say that Remembrance Day services to commemorate the end of the First World War on November 11 will not go ahead because of limits on gatherings. Large crowds will also be banned from Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks. The midnight display will go ahead but will be much shorter than normal. Prime harborside viewing areas for the New Year’s fireworks display will be exclusively reserved for frontline health and emergency workers. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, “We will be releasing final details very shortly, but we wanted to make it clear that unless you have been given a ticket to one of the designated areas, or unless you have a booking at restaurant, or a cafe please do not expect to go to the CBD (central business district) for New Year’s Eve.” Australia has detected 27,600 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began and 907 people have died. Health officials have said four main factors contributed to Australia’s relative success in containing the highly contagious virus: the closure of its international borders to foreign travelers in March, mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing and adherence to distancing and hygiene protocols. Many borders separating Australia’s states and territories were closed to curb the spread of the virus. Queensland authorities said Tuesday they were ‘hopeful’ of allowing travel with Victoria early next month. Officials in South Australia have also been meeting to discuss the reopening of its border with neighboring Victoria. Australia’s international borders are not expected to reopen until next year. As summer approaches, health authorities are urging Australians not to be apathetic or complacent about the dangers of COVID-19.
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Biden Presidency Will Face Historic Challenges
After winning a close election, President-Elect Joe Biden now shifts focus to governing a deeply divided nation that is grappling with a deadly pandemic and a struggling economy. VOA’s Brian Padden reports that for the incoming moderate Democratic president, success will likely hinge on both finding common ground with conservative Republicans while maintaining support from progressives in his own party.
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Asian Markets Mostly Higher Tuesday
Asian markets are mostly higher Tuesday, one day after U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced a breakthrough in the effort to develop an efficient and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index ended 0.2% higher. The S&P/ASX index in Australia rose 0.6%, and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.2%. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s Composite index fell 0.4%, while the TSEC index in Taiwan dropped 0.3%. In late afternoon trading, the Hang Seng index is up 0.8%, and Mumbai’s Sensex is 1.2% higher. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,883.90, up 1.5%. U.S. crude oil is selling at $40.22 per barrel, down 0.1%, while Brent crude oil is up 0.2%, selling at $42.49. Pfizer said early Monday morning that its experimental vaccine, developed jointly with Germany’s BioNTech, proved to be more than 90% effective in preventing the virus in participants without evidence of prior infection. In futures trading, the Dow and the S&P 500 are trending higher, while the Nasdaq is trending lower.
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6 Nigerians Sentenced for Funding Boko Haram Terrorist Group
Six Nigerians are facing prison terms of ten years to life after a federal appeals court in the United Arab Emirates upheld their convictions for funding the terrorist group Boko Haram. According to The Daily Trust newspaper, the accused were initially tried and convicted last year following their arrest in 2017. The court in Abu Dhabi Monday sentenced Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu to life in prison. Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa were each given a ten-year sentence. The newspaper said the court judgement said that between 2015 and 2016, the accused transferred $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria to benefit Boko Haram even as associates defended their actions, saying there was nothing criminal about the transaction.
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What Is a Presidential Transition?
The Trump administration has yet to begin the process of aiding President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team in the initial stages of taking control of the government. The General Services Administration (GSA), a government agency in Washington, is holding up approval for the full funding and resources of the transition process until a winner is “ascertained.” President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election and has claimed fraud in the vote count. Government experts warn it is vital for the transition to begin to guarantee an orderly transfer of power. Here is a look at what the transition process is and how it works. What is a presidential transition? The time between a presidential candidate winning the election and the inauguration ceremony is known as the “transition.” The transition is run by the president-elect’s nonprofit transition team, which is separate from the campaign and has its own staff and budget. What happens during the transition? The transition marks the beginning of the complex task of a president-elect taking over the administration of the federal government. During this time, a president-elect often focuses on selecting his White House staff, led by a chief of staff, as well as key Cabinet posts. A president appoints around 4,000 people to positions across the government, with more than a quarter of them needing Senate confirmation. These administrators help to oversee 2.1 million civilian employees and 1.4 million active-duty military personnel, part of a federal bureaucracy with an annual budget of more than $4.5 trillion. In addition to filling positions, transition officials explore how a new president can turn campaign promises into federal policy. They often look at what actions can be taken quickly, such as rolling back executive actions taken by the previous president. They look at each federal agency to understand policy and staffing needs and will often have key team members shadow outgoing staff to prepare for new roles. When does the transition begin? Planning for the transition can informally begin at any time, however it officially starts when the outcome of the election becomes known. The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 allows the GSA to provide the president-elect team with offices and office equipment. The government also provides background checks for security clearance purposes. An updated law passed in 2010 allows major party candidates to begin receiving government assistance for the transition earlier in the process, permitting them to use government office space, computers and services immediately following the nominating conventions, which this year took place in August. Federal law also gives career civil servants significant power over the transfer of data and knowledge to incoming administration officials, an arrangement intended to reduce the risk of politicization. Agency transition directors are required to be senior career staff and not political appointees. Does the length of the transition vary? The transition generally lasts about 11 weeks, from Election Day in early November to Inauguration Day, which is constitutionally mandated to be held on January 20. However, the transition can be shortened if the outcome of the election is not quickly known. In 2000, a drawn-out legal fight between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, who would eventually win the presidency, led to a transition that was only about half the time as usual. Bush was not declared the victor until five weeks after the election, truncating the transition period to just 39 days. How is the transition funded? Transitions are paid for by a combination of federal and private funds. The administrator for the GSA has the legal authority to release over $6 million in federal funding to Biden’s transition team. In addition, The New York Times reports that Biden has raised at least $7 million in private donations for his transition. The Federal Election Commission allows individuals donors or organizations to give up to $5,000 to a candidate’s presidential transition, which must be publicly disclosed. Who is leading Biden’s transition planning? Biden has tasked longtime aide Ted Kaufman to head his transition team. Kaufman is Biden’s former chief of staff in the Senate and is also a former senator from Delaware — appointed to fill the seat vacated by Biden in 2009 after his election to the vice presidency. In April, Biden asked Kaufman to start working on a transition in the event he wins the presidency. Kaufman also worked on former President Barack Obama’s transition team in 2008 and helped write the 2010 legislation that provided earlier government support for the transition process.
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American Mom Who Joined IS Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Prison
The lone woman brought back to the United States and charged with supporting the Islamic State terror group will spend the next six and a half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. A judge handed down the sentence Monday for 35-year-old Samantha ElHassani, more than five years after she took her children to join her husband and his brother in Syria. ElHassani, originally from Elkhart, Indiana, was eventually captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and was repatriated along with her four children in July 2018. She pleaded guilty to terrorism financing charges last year. “Today’s sentence serves as a strong reminder that the FBI will never relent in ensuring those who abandon their country to support a violent terrorist organization, such as Ms. ElHassani did, will be held accountable,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan said in a statement. “She knew exactly what she was doing and why,” Keenan added. “She was an active participant in this heinous activity and is now facing the consequences.” According to court documents, ElHassani helped her husband and his brother join IS by smuggling more than $30,000 in cash and gold to Hong Kong, which she then used to acquire tactical gear, including rifle scopes and image-stabilized binoculars. From Hong Kong, the family traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, finally reaching IS-held territory in Syria sometime around June 2015. Until her guilty plea, ElHassani had maintained that her husband had tricked her into traveling to Syria while they had been on vacation.American Mother Charged for Assisting Islamic State
An American mother brought back from a detention camp in Syria is being charged with willingly aiding the Islamic State terror group.
U.S.
“We ended up in Raqqa,” she said during an interview with Frontline and the BBC, while in Kurdish custody. “The first thing I say to him is, ‘You’re crazy, and I’m leaving.’ And he said, with a big smile on his face, ‘Go ahead. You can try, but you won’t make it.'” During the family’s time with IS, the eldest son, Matthew, was featured in one of the terror group’s propaganda videos, in which he threatened to attack the West. ElHassani’s husband, Moussa, was reportedly killed while fighting for IS. She said she and her four children, two of whom were born in Syria, eventually fled Raqqa with two Yazidi slave girls before ending up in a Kurdish detention camp. Upon ElHassani’s return to the U.S., the four children were placed in the care of the Indiana Department of Child Services. The U.S. announced last month that in all, 27 U.S. citizens known to have traveled to Iraq or Syria to join IS are now back on U.S. soil.Ten US Adults have been repatriated from syria and Iraq and charged with crimes One of them, 23-year-old Omer Kuzu of Dallas, Texas, pleaded guilty earlier this year.American IS Follower Pleads Guilty to Terror ChargesDallas native, brought back to US last year, admitted pledging allegiance to terror group, fixing communications equipment for frontline fighters in SyriaMeanwhile, Mohamad Jamal Khweis of Virginia was convicted on terror charges and sentenced in October 2017 to 20 years in prison for providing material support to IS.28yo #Virginia man Mohamad Jamal Khweis gets 20years for joining #ISIS, acting asst AttyGen calls him “unpredictable & dangerous person” pic.twitter.com/1VHV6mOqLt— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 27, 2017The cases of the seven remaining IS suspects are pending. “The U.S. has been aggressive in prosecuting Americans who joined ISIS, leading the way for other countries on making sure that their citizens face justice for the horrible injustices they wrought on innocent Iraqi and Syrian victims,” Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, told VOA. Still, Hughes took note of the relatively light sentence for ElHassani, who will spend less time behind bars than other Americans charged with providing material support to IS. “Elhassani had two things going in her favor: returning ISIS members and women tend to get lesser sentences than their male counterparts who fail to join the so-called caliphate,” he said. Other researchers have also noticed the disparities in the sentencing of women for terrorism. “Evidence suggests that governments tend to be less responsive to women in terrorism compared to their male counterparts,” concluded a 2018 study published by West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center.UN Warns Too Few Islamic State Women Are Facing JusticeComplicating matters, researchers found not all countries are even willing to consider possibility that some IS women need to be held to account And earlier this year, a report by the United Nations warned the failure to bring IS women from Western and North America to justice could undermine efforts to defeat the terror group. “The tendency to view women as passive followers of their husbands continues to prevail,” the analysis found. “[That], together with evidentiary challenges, contributes to low rates of conviction and/or shorter or suspended sentences.” Despite such concerns, U.S. officials have touted their efforts to repatriate and prosecute citizens who joined IS, urging other countries to follow their lead. “We repatriated ElHassani from Syria because every nation is responsible for holding its citizens accountable and addressing the future threat they may pose,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement Monday. “We will not stop.” Despite some repatriations, the SDF continues to hold about 2,000 foreign fighters in makeshift prisons in northeastern Syria. Another estimated 10,000 foreign women and children reside in displaced persons camps in the region. Of the 17 Americans repatriated from Syria or Iraq after joining IS, 15 are currently minors. The other two, officials tell VOA, were minors when they traveled with their families to join the terror group’s self-declared caliphate.
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US Allows Emergency Use of COVID-19 Antibody Drug
U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared the experimental drug from Eli Lilly for people 12 and older with mild or moderate COVID-19 not requiring hospitalization. It’s a one-time treatment given through an IV. The therapy is still undergoing additional testing to establish its safety and effectiveness. It is similar to a treatment President Donald Trump received after contracting the virus last month. Lilly’s studies of the antibody drug are continuing. Early results suggest it may help clear the coronavirus sooner and possibly cut hospitalizations in people with mild to moderate COVID-19. A study of it in hospitalized patients was stopped when independent monitors saw the drug did not seem to be helping in that situation. The government previously reached an agreement to buy and supply much of the early production of Lilly’s drug. FILE – Lab technicians load vials of investigational coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment drug remdesivir at a Gilead Sciences facility in La Verne, California, March 18, 2020. (Gilead Sciences Inc/Handout)Only one drug, Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, has full FDA approval for treating COVID-19. Government treatment guidelines also back using dexamethasone and other steroids for certain severely ill, hospitalized patients. One other treatment has an emergency use designation now: convalescent plasma, made from the blood of COVID-19 survivors. No large studies have shown it to be more effective than usual care alone, however. The new drug is part of an emerging family of biologic therapies that offer a promising new approach to preventing serious disease and death from COVID-19. Experts say the infused drugs could serve as a therapeutic bridge to help manage the virus until vaccines are widely available. The drugs are laboratory-made versions of antibodies, blood proteins the body creates to help target and eliminate foreign infections. The new therapies are concentrated versions of the antibodies that proved most effective against the virus in patient studies. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. also has asked for emergency authorization for an antibody drug it is testing, the one Trump received. FILE – Medical technicians work at a drive-thru coronavirus testing facility at the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals company’s Westchester campus in Tarrytown, New York, September 17, 2020.FDA regulators authorized the Lilly drug using their emergency powers to quickly speed the availability of experimental drugs and other medical products during public health crises. Potential benefits must outweigh risksIn normal times the FDA requires “substantial evidence” to show that a drug is safe and effective, usually through one or more large, rigorously controlled patient studies. But during public health emergencies the agency can lower those standards and require only that an experimental treatment’s potential benefits outweigh its risks. The emergency authorization functions like a temporary approval for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. To win full approval, Lilly will have to submit additional research to fully define the drug’s safety and benefit for patients. The government has signed an agreement with Lilly to spend $375 million to buy 300,000 vials of the drug. How many doses that would provide is unclear. Each vial contains 70 milligrams and that dose proved ineffective in the early results. It took four times that amount — 2,800 milligrams — to show any effect. The Lilly drug is authorized for people 12 and older who weigh at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds), and who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization. This includes those who are 65 years of age or older, or who have certain chronic medical conditions.
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Trump Campaign Sues to Halt Pennsylvania From Certifying Biden Win
U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking to block state officials from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. The lawsuit, brought by the campaign and two registered voters, alleged Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting system “lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters.” The lawsuit claims Pennsylvania officials violated the U.S. Constitution by creating “an illegal two-tiered voting system” where voting in-person was subject to more oversight than voting by mail. It was filed against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the boards of elections in Democratic-leaning counties that include Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Boockvar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FILE – Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar speaks at a news conference regarding election vote counting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, November 5, 2020.The president, who has spent months trying to undermine the election with unproven allegations of fraud, has pledged to go forward with a legal strategy that he hopes will overturn state results that gave Biden the win in Tuesday’s vote. The Trump campaign and Republicans have brought numerous lawsuits since Election Day over alleged election irregularities. Judges have already tossed cases in Georgia and Michigan. Separately, some Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania on Monday said in a press release that they would “call for a legislative-led audit of the 2020 election and demand election results not be certified, nor electors be seated, until the audit is complete.” In the United States, a candidate becomes president by securing the most “electoral” votes rather than winning a majority of the national popular vote. Electors generally cast their vote for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states. They are slated to meet on December 14. Edward Foley, who specializes in election law at the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, said the Pennsylvania legislature couldn’t stop the certification of the vote without changing the law. “To do that, they would have to attempt to amend the state statute and that is going to be vetoed” by Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Foley said. The Pennsylvania case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
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Ivory Coast’s Ouattara Wins Third Term in Vote Boycotted by Opposition
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara won a third term with 94.27% of the vote, final results showed Monday, after an election that opposition parties largely boycotted and dismissed as illegal. Main opposition figures are facing criminal charges after denouncing the October 31 vote and creating a rival government in protest. Ouattara signaled Monday evening that he was open to dialogue with the opposition to enable calm to return to the world’s top cocoa growing nation following violent protests before and after the election. FILE – Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara speaks to journalists after voting at a polling station during presidential elections in Abidjan, October 31, 2020.”I would like to reaffirm my availability, today like yesterday, for a sincere and constructive dialogue with the opposition, while respecting the constitutional order,” Ouattara said in a nationwide broadcast. He invited former President Henri Konan Bedie for a meeting in the coming days. Bedie had sided with the opposition in boycotting the election and forming the parallel government. Opposition groups said Ouattara violated the constitution, which limits presidents to two terms. Ouattara had maintained that the approval of a new constitution in 2016 allowed him to restart his mandate. Clashes in the run-up to the vote and on election day killed around 35 people, officials said. At a press conference Monday, constitutional council president Mamadou Kone officially announced Ouattara’s victory, confirming last week’s provisional results.
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