Officials in Sudan’s Kassala state have closed the border with neighboring Ethiopia because of stepped-up tensions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region over the past few days.Fathal-Rahman Al-Amin, the acting governor for Kassala state, said the border will remain closed until hostilities have subsided in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which is a few kilometers from Kassala.On Friday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the military carried out a series of airstrikes against regional security forces in the northern Tigray region that destroyed rockets and other heavy artillery.The government “has been forced to take rule of law enforcement measures to effectively respond to the unceasing belligerence perpetrated by the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) clique in violation” of the constitution, Abiy said in a statement last week, which initiated a six-month state of emergency.Ethiopians read about the military confrontation in the country, on a street in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nov. 7, 2020.Al-Amin said Kassala state officials formed a local committee to monitor the Wed Al-Helio crossing point on the Sudan-Ethiopia border and said Sudanese authorities would assist in receiving civilians who might be fleeing violence in Ethiopia.Kassala officials will not allow any group to enter Sudan and turn Sudanese territory into a battlefield, Al-Amin said.“We will not allow anyone carrying guns to enter Kassala. But those who are unarmed, we have a local committee that will immediately assist them at Wed Al-Helio border crossing,” he said.Clashes broke out between the government and the TPLF in Tigray last Wednesday after Abiy accused area leaders of attacking government military bases and trying to steal artillery and equipment. The two sides were part of a governing coalition that ruled the country until 2018, when Abiy took power.On Thursday, Birhanu Jula, deputy chief of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, said more government troops were being dispatched to the area and declared that Ethiopia had entered an “unexpected war” in Tigray.After last week’s developments, Al-Amin instructed Sudan’s security organizations, including the Sudan Armed Forces, to be vigilant along the Sudan-Ethiopia border.“We don’t want to see any kinds of unlawful gatherings. We won’t allow anyone, any group or individuals carrying guns who have caused insecurity in their country to come into Kassala. All these will be fixed by our security. Our border is officially shut down as from today until an unknown date,” Al-Amin said.Eyewitnesses in Kassala say there is a heavy deployment of Sudanese armed forces in the town. They also said Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese paramilitary group, could be seen heading toward the Ethiopian border Sunday night.
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Month: November 2020
African Leaders, Experts, Welcome Biden Presidency, Urge More Africa Involvement
Analysts and political players in Africa are largely welcoming the announcement that Joe Biden has won the U.S. presidency — and are now giving him and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris a long list of priorities for a continent that, they say, should figure high on the next administration’s agenda. And, they added: please visit soon.The statement from the Nelson Mandela Foundation was uncompromising and weighty. “It is with a sense of relief that we have seen President Donald Trump defeated in the US presidential election,” the foundation said, adding that they are glad they won’t have to watch him undermine democratic institutions for another four years. Mandela was South Africa’s first Black president, a man whose tact, eloquence, thirst for reconciliation and Nobel Peace Prize put him in contrast to the most recent U.S. president, Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatang told VOA News on Monday.South African Deputy President F.W. de Klerk, and South African President Nelson Mandela pose with their Nobel Peace Prize Gold Medal and Diploma, in Oslo, on December 10, 1993. (AP)“What President Trump has managed to do, unfortunately, was to breed the things that we don’t want to see in the middle of such a such a great nation and the spewing of hate was becoming normalized that you could attack and also go for name-calling every time you differed with any one of the leaders, it didn’t matter who they were — there was no decorum, in other words, in leadership.” In South Africa, the continent’s most stable democracy, reaction to the news was largely positive, with President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly congratulating Biden and Harris. However, the nation’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party said they felt this election would “make no turning point on the lives of Black Americans as they will continue to be in the periphery.” Sarfo Abebrese, a Pan-African advocate and lawyer from the West African nation of Ghana, says he is happy to provide the new administration with an Africa-specific “to-do list.” “We expect that a Joe Biden administration will now open its ears and hear what the African people are saying,” he said. “We want democracy right there at the top, we want democracy to seep down into the various countries of Africa where we have African heads of state taking the people for a ride and perpetuating their rule for 10, 20, 30 years, sometimes. We need that kind of democratic thing to be built into Africa, and it starts at the top.” Africa has not come up much on the campaign trail, though as Abebrese noted, Biden counts at least two African women as top advisors, which he sees as a good sign. Not to mention Harris becoming the first woman to serve as U.S. vice president. Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris smiles as she speaks to supporters at a election rally, after news media announced that Biden has won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Nov. 7, 2020.“We are hoping that this sets the tone also for South Africa, that we won’t shy away from having the next president being a woman. So hopefully, with this kind of leadership we would have that moment here in South Africa too,” said Hatang of the Mandela Foundation. Professor Ina Gouws with the University of the Free State in South Africa, also applauded Harris’ historic win, but said if the U.S. wants to get serious about this continent, they need to show it, with investment. “We want a stable relationship, one that we can count on. As you know, we have the free trade agreement that is supposed to kick in January of 2021,” she said. “We need whatever investments we can to grow our economy and to create jobs. So we hope that, you know, that would be the outcome in the end. But this presidency must, I think, stabilize the relationship and be very clear about policies towards the continent, and to South Africa in particular.” On one count, all experts we spoke to agreed: Please, they said to the new leaders, visit us in Africa soon. You are most welcome.
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US Sanctions Four Chinese Officials for Hong Kong Clampdown
The United States has levied sanctions against four Chinese officials in Hong Kong’s security establishment for what it says is their role in cracking down on dissent.In a statement attributed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the four are connected “with implementing the PRC-imposed National Security Law and threatening the peace, security, and autonomy of Hong Kong, pursuant to Executive Order 13936.”Those sanctioned are Li Jiangzhou, Edwina Lau, Steve Li Kwai-wah and Deng Zhonghua.According to the State Department, Li Jiangzhou is the deputy director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security, established under the national security law. Lau is head of the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force, and Li Kwai-Wah is the senior superintendent. Deng is the deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.“These individuals will be barred from traveling to the United States, and their assets within the jurisdiction of the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons will be blocked,” according to the State Department statement. “These actions underscore U.S. resolve to hold accountable key figures that are actively eviscerating the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy.”China imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in July to strictly deal with opposition to China’s actions in the former British colony.Washington warned in October that it would put sanctions on officials involved in suppressing freedoms in Hong Kong. In August, the U.S. placed sanctions on Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other officials, saying they had been involved in cracking down on dissent.Pompeo urged Beijing “to abide by international commitments it made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a U.N.-registered treaty.”
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EU ‘Regrettably’ Hits US with Tariffs, Seeks Better Ties with Biden
The European Union will impose tariffs on up to $4 billion of U.S. imports in retaliation for U.S. subsidies for Boeing but said on Monday it was hopeful of an improvement in trade ties under U.S. President-elect Joe Biden. The move, given the green light by the World Trade Organization last month, is the latest in a 16-year U.S.-EU dispute over civil aviation subsidies. U.S. tariffs on $7.5 billion of EU products after a parallel WTO case against Airbus have been in place for over a year. “We have made clear at every stage that we want to settle this long-running issue,” EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference after an online meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday. “Regrettably, despite our best efforts (and) due to lack of progress on the U.S. side, we can confirm that the European Union will later today exercise our rights and impose countermeasures awarded to us by the WTO in respect to Boeing.”FILE – European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, November 21, 2018.From Tuesday, the EU will impose tariffs of 15% on U.S. exports of planes and parts and of 25% on a variety of products, including tobacco, nuts, fruit juice, fish, spirits, bags, tractors and casino and gym equipment. The bloc says its main objective is to persuade the United States to negotiate a solution, arguing the chief beneficiaries of the dispute are competitors such as China’s COMAC. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month had said any move by Brussels to impose tariffs would force a U.S. response, but a brief statement issued late Monday contained no such threat, and his office said the two sides were in negotiations to resolve the longstanding dispute. “The United States is disappointed by the action taken by the EU today,” he said. “The EU has long proclaimed its commitment to following WTO rules, but today’s announcement shows they do so only when convenient to them.” The United States argues that the alleged subsidy — a Washington state tax break — was repealed seven months ago, removing any legal basis for the EU measures. Although headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Boeing used to be a Seattle, Washington-based company and retains major production facilities in Washington state. In the past, the Trump administration has said it could choose to hike its 15% tariffs on Airbus planes, raise tariffs on products such as EU cheese, olives and whiskey, or switch to other products. It argues there is no legal basis for EU measures because underlying subsidies to Boeing have been repealed. Brussels says only the WTO can determine whether members have complied with its rulings. Boeing called the EU decision “disappointing and surprising,” and urged Airbus and Brussels to work to resolve the trade dispute. ‘Great expectations’ for Biden German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the news conference that many EU countries saw Biden’s election victory as a chance for an improvement in ties. FILE – German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier arrives for a news conference to present the government’s economic spring projection, amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Berlin, Germany, April 29, 2020.”We will try to get a new start in trade policy between the United States and all member states,” said Altmaier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. He said Europe’s goal was to find common ground with the future Biden administration and then reduce overall tariffs as much as possible. “There are great expectations and the hope that the American presidential elections will lead to a return to multilateral engagement in international trade,” Altmaier said. The European Union and most EU states have congratulated Biden on his election victory. Trump, with whom Europe has had strained relations, is pursuing legal challenges to the outcome while making unfounded claims of fraud. Dombrovskis said the Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27 EU nations, had made some informal contacts with Biden’s team and that there was a full list of things to do, from coordinating on the reform of global trade rules to incorporating climate change goals into trade. The EU tariffs come about a week before regulators are expected to clear the Boeing 737 MAX for service after a safety grounding of more than 19 months. Industry sources say the tariffs could hobble deliveries to key buyers such as Ireland’s Ryanair, whose chief executive has called on Boeing to absorb the extra import duties. A coalition of the U.S. and European drinks industry said the tariffs would damage a sector already devastated by COVID-19 related closures. Dombrovskis repeated an EU offer that the bloc was ready to suspend its measures at any time if the United States did the same, “whether under the current or the next administration.”
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Emmy-Winning Visual Effects Artist Draws From Her Cambodian Roots
From a child of immigrants drawing on the walls of the family’s house to an Emmy-winning visual effects artist drawing for Hollywood, a Cambodian American talent represents a classic success story of the American dream. Now, she hopes to bring the dream to her motherland. VOA’s Chetra Chap reports.Camera: Sisovann Pin
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Vatican to Release Report on Defrocked Cardinal McCarrick
The Vatican on Tuesday will release its report into the rise and fall of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-influential American cardinal who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of rumors that he was a sexual predator. The McCarrick scandal is different from other cases of clergy abuse, primarily because there is evidence that Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew of his penchant for bedding seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S. church as an adept fundraiser who advised three popes. When McCarrick’s crimes were revealed, the scandal sparked such a crisis of confidence in the church’s U.S. and Vatican hierarchies that Francis approved new procedures to investigate bishops accused of abuse in a bid to end decades of impunity for Catholic leaders. But beyond that, the McCarrick case has forced the Vatican to acknowledge that adults can be victims of sexual abuse, too. The Vatican has long tried to paint any sexual relations between priests and adult men or women as consensual, focusing its prevention policies on protecting minors. But as a bishop, McCarrick held all the power in his relationships with his seminarians: to refuse his sexual advances or report his misconduct could have spelled an end to their priestly vocations and careers in the church. The Vatican’s new policies, enacted as a response to the McCarrick scandal, spell out that adults could have been forced “to perform or submit to sexual acts” through abuses of authority by church leaders.FILE – Pope Francis reaches out to hug Cardinal Archbishop emeritus Theodore McCarrick after the Midday Prayer of the Divine with more than 300 U.S. Bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., September 23, 2015.What’s it about? The archdiocese of New York announced on June 20, 2018, that it had determined that an allegation that McCarrick sexually molested a minor was “credible and substantiated.” The allegation was lodged by a former altar boy who said McCarrick fondled him when he was a teenager during preparations for Christmas Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1971 and 1972. The allegation was the first against McCarrick involving a minor, and as such triggered the investigation. On the same day, McCarrick’s former dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, New Jersey, revealed they had settled two of three allegations of sexual misconduct by McCarrick involving adults in 2005 and 2007. Subsequently, James Grein came forward detailing the abuse he suffered at the hands of McCarrick, a family friend, starting when he was 11. Other former seminarians have since described the harassment and abuse they endured while “Uncle Ted,” as McCarrick liked to call himself, was their bishop in New Jersey, forced to sleep in his bed during weekend trips to his beach house. McCarrick, 90, was defrocked last year after the Vatican determined he sexually abused adults and children, including during confession. McCarrick’s response McCarrick has said he was innocent of the fondling accusation but accepted the pope’s sanctions. “While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,” he said in a statement June 20, 2018, after the initial fondling allegations were substantiated. In a 2008 email McCarrick sent to the Vatican, he denied ever having sexual relations with anyone but said he had shown an “unfortunate lack of judgment” for having shared his bed with seminarians.FILE – Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano reads during the episcopal ordination of Auxiliary Bishops James Massa and Witold Mroziewski, in Brooklyn, New York, July 20, 2015.Archbishop’s bombshellThe McCarrick scandal took on greater dimensions on Aug. 26, 2018, when the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, published an 11-page expose accusing two dozen U.S. and Vatican churchmen by name of knowing about McCarrick’s misconduct since at least 2000 and hiding it. Vigano cited the case of one former seminarian who in 1994 wrote a lengthy letter to his bishop detailing McCarrick’s sexual abuse of him and others — a document that would have been turned over to the Vatican at the very least in 2004 when the man was defrocked. Vigano demanded Francis resign, saying he had told the pope in 2013 during one of their first meetings that McCarrick has “corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.” Vigano claimed that Francis rehabilitated McCarrick from Benedict’s sanctions and turned him into a trusted adviser. FILE – Pope Francis wears a face mask as he attends an inter-religious prayer service for peace in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, a church on top of Rome’s Capitoline Hill, in Rome, October 20, 2020.Vatican’s response Francis initially refused to comment, but later authorized a Vatican investigation into its archives to determine who knew what and when about McCarrick, the result of which is being released Tuesday. In 2019, Francis told Mexican broadcaster Televisa that he didn’t know anything about McCarrick’s past and didn’t remember if Vigano had raised the issue with him when they met in 2013. In addition, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, confirmed McCarrick had been subject to disciplinary measures for uncorroborated “rumors” of misconduct but said the Vatican’s decision for him to live a discreet life of prayer stopped short of binding canonical sanctions because the rumors lacked proof. Ouellet accused Vigano of mounting a “blasphemous” political hit job against Francis. Further revelations A former McCarrick aide, Monsignor Anthony Figueriredo, in May 2019 released excerpts of correspondence that show McCarrick was placed under written Vatican restrictions in 2008 for sleeping with seminarians but regularly flouted them with the apparent knowledge of Vatican officials under Benedict and Francis. In December 2019, the Washington Post reported that McCarrick gave more than $600,000 in donations from a personal fund he controlled to powerful clerics in the U.S. and Vatican, including those who had a say in whether to investigate him. The payments underscored the common tradition among well-funded bishops and religious superiors to curry favor in the Vatican with checks. McCarrick also helped funnel millions of dollars to three popes via the U.S. Papal Foundation, which he helped co-found to raise money from wealthy American Catholics for specific works of papal charity.
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Allies Congratulate Biden As Russia, China Await Legal Challenges
World leaders have been giving their reactions to the victory of Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, some U.S. rivals including China and Russia are awaiting the outcome of legal challenges to the result.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Jason Godman
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US Still Facing ‘Dark Winter’ with Coronavirus, Biden Warns
With the coronavirus pandemic entering its worst phase yet, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden says the country is “still facing a dark winter,” warning that 200,000 more people could die of COVID-19 before a vaccine is widely made available. Speaking on Monday after receiving a briefing from his transition team’s new coronavirus advisory board, Biden, in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, cautioned “the challenge before us right now is still immense and growing, and so is the need for bold action to fight this pandemic.” The United States has surpassed 10 million cases of the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University, with infection rates, hospitalizations and the number of deaths all rising. A White House coronavirus task force meeting, led by Vice President Mike Pence, is being held later Monday. Earlier in the day, one drugmaker announced that an early analysis suggests its vaccine is very effective in preventing COVID-19.Pfizer said a data monitoring committee found no serious safety concerns with its vaccine, which requires two doses. The pharmaceutical company and its German partner, BioNTech, intend to apply for emergency authorization for the vaccine after the third week of November. It is one of four vaccines in the United States in the final stage of testing. FILE – Pfizer says it will ask for emergency authorization later this month for its COVID-19 vaccine currently undergoing testing. Photo illustration.Biden, calling this a “positive note,” said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will soon run a process of rigorous reviews and approvals, but it “must also be grounded in science and fully transparent, so that the American people can have confidence that any approved vaccine is safe and effective.” The president-elect added that the vaccine, even if approved, will not be widely available for many months, thus “the challenge before us right now is still immense and growing, and so is the need for bold action to fight this pandemic.” The government’s assistant health secretary, Public Health Service Admiral Brett Giroir, speaking separately to reporters on a conference call after Biden’s remarks, echoed the president-elect’s plea for all people in the country to wear masks until the vaccine can be widely deployed. A lot of people remain at risk until that time, the admiral said, expressing hope that after mass vaccinations, COVID-19, while not eradicated, hopefully, “it’ll be like polio, that it’ll be a rare occurrence and one that we can deal with.” Asked about the Biden transition team’s announced plan to tackle the pandemic, Giroir replied, “I haven’t seen anything in the testing strategy that we’re not already doing.” Giroir, a top health official in the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump promised, “we will work together between testing and smart policies to slow the spread, flatten the curve, save lives and set up for an effective and smooth transition to the next administration.”
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Ukraine President Zelenskiy Tests Positive for COVID-19
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday became the latest world leader to test positive for COVID-19.Zelenskiy tweeted the announcement, saying “There are no lucky people for whom #COVID19 does not pose a threat. Despite all the quarantine measures, I received a positive test. I feel good & take a lot of vitamins. Promise to isolate myself but keep working. I will overcome COVID19 as most people do. It’s gonna be fine!”Shortly thereafter, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, announced on his Facebook page that he too had coronavirus. Yermak said he feels “normal” and will continue working from self-isolation. He also urged everyone not to be careless with COVID-19 rules, saying “Wear masks, wash your hands. Keep your distance, while staying calm.”The number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Ukraine continues to grow. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports the country registered 9,647 new cases and 142 new deaths Monday, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 474,245. At least 8,695 have died from the disease in Ukraine.
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Amnesty International: Opposition Politicians Fleeing Tanzania
Human rights group Amnesty International is calling on the Kenyan government not to deport a Tanzanian opposition politician who fled his country for fear of persecution. Godbless Lema, a former lawmaker in Tanzania’s Chadema party, left for Kenya after being briefly detained following his loss in controversial October elections. It has been less than a week since Tanzanian President John Magufuli was sworn in for a second term in office, and opposition politicians are leaving the country in fear. FILE – Tanzania’s incumbent President and presidential candidate of ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi John Magufuli speaks at the Jamhuri stadium in Dodoma, Tanzania, Aug. 29, 2020.On Sunday, Kenyan authorities arrested Tanzanian opposition lawmaker and former member of parliament Godbless Lema as he crossed into Kenya with his wife and three children.Demas Kiprono, a program manager with Amnesty International Kenya, says Nairobi should grant asylum to the politician. “We spoke to his lawyer; his lawyer confirmed that he is trying to seek asylum because he doesn’t feel safe back in Tanzania. This is coupled with the fact that he was arrested and released soon after the election last week. … We must process him through the normal channels, getting in touch with the refugee bureau, so that they can assess his refugee status,” he said.A call for Lema to be granted asylum also came from Salum Mwalimu. He ran on the opposition ticket with Tundu Lissu, the man who unsuccessfully challenged Magufuli for the presidency.“I think it’s good to provide any support just to protect his life rather than taking it as normal diplomacy or normal situation and deport him to Tanzania, because it will be very unfair if Lema gets back to Tanzania, and he finds his life in danger, or anything bad happens to him,” he said.Lissu, who alleged fraud in the reelection of Magufuli, has sought asylum in the German Embassy in Tanzania.Amnesty has accused the Tanzanian government of widespread abuses during the campaign. The rights group alleges the vote was rigged in favor of the CCM party, which has ruled since independence nearly 60 years ago. Electoral officials say Magufuli won 84 percent of the vote. He has called for national unity, pledging to work for all Tanzanians.An observer from the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa said it noted oppression, and the opposition had been targeted in a way that challenges the fairness of the vote.Mwalimu, meanwhile, says it’s not in Lema’s character to leave the country unless the threats he received are serious.“I don’t think Lema just decided to take that decision. He is a senior politician, he is well experienced, and he has gone through tough moments. So, until he reached that decision, there must be something very serious which he knows by himself. If that’s the case, anything can happen to him,” he said.Tanzanian media report another opposition MP and former presidential candidate, Lazaro Nyalundu, has been barred from leaving the country for failing to produce travel documents.
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Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Lawmakers Threaten To Resign
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers said Monday that they would resign en masse from the city’s legislative council if the central Chinese government in Beijing disqualifies any of them.
The announcement from the 19 opposition lawmakers came amid unconfirmed reports that China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, was preparing to disqualify four legislators.
Media reports in Hong Kong, including from the South China Morning Post, said that the four lawmakers would be accused of filibustering meetings and violating their oaths of office.
The convener of the pro-democracy camp, Wu Chi-wai, said that any move by Beijing to disqualify the legislators and prevent them from doing their duties would be “ridiculous.”
“It reflects they are ruthless, and they disrespect the Basic Law,” he said, referring to the mini-constitution that governs the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong after the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
Lawmaker Dennis Kwok said that disqualifications would be a “serious departure” from the original spirit of the “one country, two systems” framework under which Hong Kong enjoys freedoms not found in mainland China.
“It seems like those in power cannot tolerate opposition anymore,” said Kwok. “They’re adamant in getting rid of all opposition in the Legislative Council, and they are adamant in getting rid of all Democrats.”
The four legislators who are said to be on the verge of disqualification were barred from seeking reelection earlier this year.
After the legislative election was postponed, the four had decided to stay on as lawmakers for another year.
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Two Lebanese Offer Migrant Workers A Way Back Home
In a damp room with a few rotting pieces of furniture and old mattresses on the floor, seven migrant women sit hugging their belongings, a Kenyan flag hanging behind them on the wall.
A Lebanese woman walks into the apartment, located in a poor area east of Beirut, and the migrants rush excitedly to hug her.
“We are finally going home,” says Nancy, a 25-year-old Kenyan. “Déa is a heavenly saint. We experienced a lot here, but Déa and her friend are our saviors.”
Déa Hage-Chahine and Serge Majdalani are two young Lebanese who have partnered on a mission to repatriate domestic migrant workers stranded in Lebanon by the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history.
In two months, they have helped get home more than 120 women, mostly Kenyans and some Ethiopians, fundraising more than $35,000 for flights and coronavirus tests through an online campaign and working tirelessly to clear bureaucratic and legal hurdles.
It’s a mission both came into unexpectedly. The 33-year-old Majdalani, who works in finance in New York, was visiting his family in Beirut in the summer when he heard about the thousands of migrants lining up outside their embassies trying in vain to get help to leave.
First, he tried to use his brother’s travel agency to arrange private chartered flights for them. “But that was way too costly,” he said.
A friend connected him to Hage-Chahine. Separately, she too had been inspired to act.
“I was walking my dog in Beirut and saw so many women and children on the streets. No one was helping them,” she said. “I could not see that and turn a blind eye.”
Lebanon has some 250,000 migrant workers, most of them women working as maids.
Even before the crisis, they were subjected to abuse under a sponsorship system, known in Arabic as “kafala,” which ties workers to their employers. Rights activists have described the system as a form of “neo-slavery.” Thousands have escaped employers, then stayed to work undocumented.
“Workers are viewed as objects here,” said Majdalani. Employers use the fees they pay to brokers to justify barring maids from leaving, he said. “They confiscate their passports as if they owned them.”
Then the bottom fell out of Lebanon’s economy this year in a combination of financial collapse and the coronavirus pandemic. Lebanese have lost jobs and seen the value of their savings evaporate as the currency plunges in value.
Migrant workers were thrown into desperate straits. Many maids have not been paid for months. Some employers dumped them on the streets or outside their embassies.
Now many can’t afford the exorbitant costs of repatriation flights.
Hage-Chahine worked in marketing but has recently been unemployed. In addition to the money from fundraising, she has used some of her savings to pay for a shelter for the women and provide food and medicine.
She spent her days with them on the streets, counseling them, shopping for them. Meanwhile, she and Majdalani worked out the nitty gritty details of arranging departures. They retrieved workers’ passports and belongings from former employers, talked daily with security officials to resolve legal obstacles, and organized and paid for flights.
“We help change someone’s life,” Hage-Chahine said. “Unfortunately, the work we do is actually so small compared to the reality of the problem.”
They played the role of embassies, which they describe as corrupt and incapable of helping the migrants.
On its website, the Kenyan Consulate in Lebanon says it is registering legal and illegal workers seeking to return home. Phone calls to the consulate, which has been embroiled in allegations of abuse and exploitation, went unanswered. The Ethiopian Embassy did not respond to an Associated Press request for a comment.
Back at the shelter, the two Lebanese helped the women load their luggage into a bus.
Nancy, the Kenyan woman who gave just her first name, fled her employers years ago because, she said, the children abused her because she’s Black. She has worked without papers since. With no one paying dollars anymore, she couldn’t stay. What she did save is trapped in a bank account by currency controls.
She’s relieved just to get out.
“I am going to see my son and start my own business,” she said. “I will not come back here again.”
The final goodbyes at the airport with Hage-Chahine and Majdalani were emotional for everyone.
“I don’t think anyone will forget what they have done,” said Ririan, 34, one of the departing migrants. They all spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from authorities.
“Seeing their happiness, when they are finally able to leave, is very rewarding,” said Majdalani, who has since returned to New York. “Especially knowing that we are freeing them from horrible living conditions. That is a moment of pride and joy.”
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More Than 500 Protesters Detained in Belarus
Police in Belarus arrested at least 500 people on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets again to demand new elections and the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
At least nine journalists were detained, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
The human rights group Viasna was quoted to have put the number of those arrested in the capital, Minsk, and elsewhere, between 548 and 830. They included well-known model and former Miss Belarus winner Olga Khizhinkova, and Olympic decathlete Andrei Kravchenko.
A heavy security force had been deployed since early Sunday in the capital as protesters held umbrellas and waved red-and-white flags that have become the symbol of the opposition. Police also deployed water cannon in various locations around the city.
Since Lukashenko claimed victory in a disputed August 9 election, with the country’s election commission saying he garnered 80% of the vote, protesters have regularly taken to the streets demanding his resignation and the release of political prisoners.
Lukashenko’s main opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was forced to take asylum in Lithuania after fleeing Belarus for her safety in the wake of the government crackdown.
Despite widespread claims at home and abroad the vote was heavily rigged, Lukashenko has refused to relinquish power. He has been in office for 26 years.
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German Chancellor Congratulates Biden, Harris on Election Victory
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday congratulated the new U.S. president-elect and his running mate on their projected election victory and said the U.S. and its European partners must stand together to deal with the challenges of our time.
At a news conference in Berlin, Merkel said Biden has decades of experience in both domestic and foreign policy and knows Germany and Europe well. She said she had fond memories of good encounters and discussions with the former vice president.
The German chancellor also warmly congratulated Harris as future vice president, noting she will be the first woman to serve in that position. Merkel said Harris, as the child of two immigrants, is an inspiration for many people and example of what is possible in America, and added, “I am looking forward to meeting her.”
Merkel said the U.S., Germany and the rest of the European Union must stand “side by side” to face the big challenges of our time, including the COVID-19 pandemic, global warming and terrorism. She said they must work for “an open world economy and free trade, because this is the basis of our prosperity on either side of the Atlantic.”
Merkel also said she recognized Germans and Europeans have to take on more responsibility in their partnership with the United States. “America is and remains our most important ally. But it expects us, and rightly so, to make stronger efforts to take care of our security and to stand up for our convictions in the world,” she said.
Germany currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Relations between Merkel and President Donald Trump had been strained over issues such as funding for NATO and relations with Russia.
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Biden Gets to Work on Coronavirus, Transition as Trump Refuses to Concede Defeat
Democrat Joe Biden, the projected winner of the long and contentious U.S. presidential election over Republican President Donald Trump, has moved quickly to start preparations to take over the U.S. government when he is inaugurated January 20 and reverse some key Trump policies. The move comes as Trump is contesting the outcome of the November 3 election through lawsuits, claiming, without evidence, that vote-counting irregularities in several states where Biden won narrow pluralities and all their electoral votes, would reverse the result and hand him a second term. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris achnowledge supporters after delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 7, 2020.“We are preparing to lead on Day One, ensuring the Biden-Harris administration is able to take on the most urgent challenges we face: protecting and preserving our nation’s health, renewing our opportunity to succeed, advancing racial equity, and fighting the climate crisis.” They declared, “We stand together as one America. We will rise stronger than we were before.” In this image from video, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 20, 2020. (Democratic National Convention via AP)Coronavirus advisory panel
Biden announced Monday the formation of a 13-member coronavirus advisory panel co-chaired by former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler and Yale University associate professor and associate dean Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. “Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement. Biden, during the campaign, regularly assailed Trump for his handling of the pandemic as the death toll of Americans rose to a world-leading total of 237,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Trump in recent weeks has said the U.S. is “rounding the turn” on COVID-19. People line up at a COVID-19 rapid test site, Nov. 7, 2020 in Miami Beach, Fla.During the past week, the United States averaged more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases per day. The Biden-Harris transition website lays out a seven-point plan against the coronavirus, including ”regular, reliable, and free testing” for all Americans, an “effective, equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines” once they become available and an attempt to implement a nationwide mask mandate that many oppose as an intrusion on their individual freedom. Climate change, Muslim ban
Aides say that on his first days in office, Biden plans for the United States to rejoin the Paris climate accord that Trump withdrew from and reverse Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Biden plans to repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and to reinstate the program that allows young people, often called “Dreamers,” who were brought illegally into the U.S. as children, to remain in the country. During the campaign, Biden also said he plans to rejoin the international accord to restrain Iran’s nuclear weapons development that Trump rebuked and pulled the U.S. from. U.S. transitions in power can often bring swift policy shifts but the one from Trump to Biden could be among the most jarring in recent U.S. political history. One Biden aide told CNN, “Across the board we will continue laying the foundation for the incoming Biden-Harris administration to successfully restore faith and trust in our institutions and lead the federal government.” Trump won’t concede
Trump has declined to concede or call Biden. President Donald Trump returns to the White House after news media declared Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to be the winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, in Washington, Nov. 7, 2020.The Trump campaign is pursuing multiple court cases starting Monday, although there were scant reports of irregularities during last Tuesday’s voting or in the days of vote counting since then, tabulations that are still going on in numerous states even though the outcome in almost all the country’s 50 states is not in doubt. A majority of 270 votes in the country’s 538-member Electoral College, with the most populous states holding the most sway, determines the outcome of U.S. presidential elections, not the national popular vote. Biden currently holds a 4-million vote edge in the national vote count. Biden passed the 270-vote Electoral College majority threshold on Saturday when it became apparent he had amassed a narrow, but decisive popular vote lead in the eastern state of Pennsylvania and won its 20 electoral votes. At that point, all major television news organizations, including Trump favorite Fox News, and leading newspapers, declared Biden the winner. Trump has railed against the outcome, while praising himself Saturday on Twitter, saying, “71,000,000 Legal Votes. The most EVER for a sitting President!” Biden currently has 75.2 million votes. A Joe Biden supporter holds up a message for President Donald Trump during a rally near the White House, Nov. 7, 2020. (Margaret Besheer/VOA)Thousands celebrate Biden-Harris victory
Thousands of people massed in the streets in large Democratic-dominated cities across the country on Saturday to celebrate Trump’s defeat, including in Washington, outside the White House.Some shouted, “You’re fired,” Trump’s signature line from his one-time television reality show, “The Apprentice,” before he won the presidency in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is leading the bipartisan effort planning the January 20 inauguration, said it “seems unlikely” that vote projections showing Biden as the presidential winner would change in the coming days. But he told ABC’s “This Week” show it was reasonable for Republicans to wait a little longer for state election officials to tabulate the official outcome and in some cases, such as in the southern state of Georgia where Biden leads narrowly, to conduct a recount. Biden and Harris launched Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts using the handle @Transition46, a reference that Biden will be the country’s 46th president in its 244-year history. On the Biden-Harris website, BuildBackBetter.com, he said, ”We’ll rise stronger than we were before. We will act on the first day of my presidency to get COVID under control. We will act to pass my economic plan that will finally reward work, not wealth, in this country. We’ll act to restore faith in our democracy and our faith in one another. “We’ll once more become one nation, under God, indivisible, a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed,” he said. FILE – Protesters hold their fists in the air during a rally in Las Vegas against police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd, June 5, 2020.Racial injustice
The website said it would also address racial inequity and police reform in the U.S. by working with Congress to institute a “nationwide ban on chokeholds” during police arrests of criminal suspects, stop “the transfer of weapons of war to police forces,” establish a “model use of force standard” and create a “national police oversight commission.” The Biden-Harris website also said, “The moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. To deal with the growing economic inequality in our nation. And to deal with the denial of the promise of this nation — to so many.”
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Australian Media on Trial Over Cardinal Contempt Charges
A civil trial has started Monday for 30 media companies and journalists accused of contempt of court over the reporting of Australian Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on sexual abuse charges. The cardinal, a former adviser to Pope Francis, was released from prison in April after his guilty verdict for assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s was overturned following a successful appeal to the High Court. In December 2018, an Australian judge in the state of Victoria issued an order preventing the media from reporting the guilty verdict a jury had reached against Cardinal George Pell. The formal papal adviser was due to face a second trial on separate charges in March 2019. The suppression order was put in place to ensure that Cardinal Pell would receive a fair trial that would not be prejudiced by the previous guilty verdict. Some of Australia’s biggest media companies are accused of breaching that official directive by reporting that a “high-profile” person had been convicted of serious charges. Numerous publications referred to the verdict, without naming Cardinal Pell. The Herald Sun newspaper published a black front page with the word CENSORED in large white letters. Some international news outlets, which operate outside the Victorian County Court’s jurisdiction, did report that the cardinal had been found guilty in December 2018. The suppression order was lifted, and the media was able to freely report Pell’s convictions in February 2019 when prosecutors abandoned the second trial. Matt Collins is a senior barrister who specializes in media law. He has previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that it is a complex case. “These are very difficult balancing exercises,” he said. “The court has to take into account on the one hand a pretty fundamental principle in our democracy, which is that courts should be open, and that people have a right to know what happens in our courts; and on the other hand, the importance of maintaining the integrity of the criminal justice system.”
Cardinal Pell was the most senior Catholic figure ever jailed for child abuse, but the conviction and a six-year prison term were overturned in April. The Vatican ex-treasurer, who is 79 and currently in Rome, had always denied the allegations. The contempt of court civil trial is being heard remotely because of COVID-19 restrictions. It is expected to run for three weeks. The media companies are contesting 100 charges. Their lawyers have said previously that if they are found guilty it could have a “chilling effect” on open justice in Australia.
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Concern of Outright War in Ethiopia Grows as PM Presses Military Offensive
Ethiopia’s prime minister stepped up a military offensive in the northern region of Tigray on Sunday with air strikes as part of what he called a “law enforcement operation,” increasing fears of outright civil war in Africa’s second-most populous country. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has defied calls from the United Nations and allies in the region to negotiate with leaders in Tigray, home of the ethnic group that dominated the federal government before he took power in 2018. Abiy last week launched a military campaign in the province, saying forces loyal to leaders there had attacked a military base and attempted to steal equipment. Abiy accuses the leaders of Tigray of undermining his democratic reforms. Government fighter jets have since been bombing targets in the region, which borders Sudan and Eritrea. Aid workers on Sunday reported heavy fighting in several parts of the region, with at least six dead and dozens wounded. Also on Sunday, Abiy named a new chief of the army, a new intelligence chief and a new federal police commissioner and foreign minister, changes that analysts said brought close allies into top posts as the conflict escalates.FILE – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, center, arrives for an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb. 9, 2020. Ahmed on Nov. 4, 2020 ordered the military to confront the Tigray regional government after he said it attacked a base.The premier won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with neighboring Eritrea and for introducing democratic reforms in one of Africa’s most repressive countries. But the democratic transition he promised is endangered by the Tigray conflict, the International Crisis Group think-tank warned last week. In a televised address on Sunday, Abiy urged the international community “to understand the context and the consistent transgressions” by the Tigrayan leaders which led the government to undertake “this law enforcement operation”. Tigrayans complain that Abiy, who is from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest, has unfairly targeted them as part of a crackdown on past rights abuses and corruption. Forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the region, are battle-hardened and possess significant stocks of military hardware, experts say. They and militia allies number up to 250,000 men, according to the International Crisis Group. One of the biggest risks is that Ethiopia’s army will split along ethnic lines, with Tigrayans defecting to the regional force. There are signs that is already happening, analysts said. The United Nations raised concerns of reprisals against ethnic Tigrayans amid heightened tension in the diverse country in a confidential report dated Sunday and seen by Reuters. Addis Ababa Police Commissioner Getu Aregaw said Sunday that the government had arrested 162 people in possession of firearms and ammunition, on suspicion of supporting the Tigrayan forces. The suspects were “under investigation”, he said in a statement. He did not identify their ethnicity. The mayor of the capital, Adanech Abiebie, said on Saturday several TPLF members working in her administration had been arrested on suspicion of planning to disrupt the peace. As Abiy’s government mobilizes troops to send to Tigray, other parts of the country roiled by ethnic violence could face a security vacuum, analysts say.
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Surge in COVID-19 Infections Pushing US Past 10 Million Cases
The United States is set to surpass 10 million COVID-19 cases Monday as the country deals with a surge in infections worse than at any other point in the global pandemic. During the past week, the United States has added an average of more than 100,000 new cases per day, double its daily infections from a month ago. About 900 people are dying each day. Midwestern states are being hit the hardest, with hospitalization rates in the region reaching record highs. President-elect Joe Biden is meeting Monday with a coronavirus task force as he looks ahead to steps his administration will take to battle the pandemic when he takes office in January. His is scheduled to follow the talks with an address outlining “his plans to beat COVID-19.”Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Biden attends briefing in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 5, 2020. Vice President Mike Pence, who has led the current administration’s response to the coronavirus, is convening a session of his task force Monday for the first time since October 20. COVID-19 infections have spiked in other parts of the world, including in Europe, where some governments have instituted lockdown measures to try to slow the spread of the virus. Globally the number of confirmed cases is more than 50 million, with 1.2 million deaths and 33 million people recovered. Among the areas with the highest infections per capita during the past week are the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Austria and Italy. Switzerland is also high on that list, and on Sunday deployed more than 200 army reservists to assist hospitals strained by new admissions. Portugal, another hard-hit nation, is instituting new night-time curfews in some areas beginning Monday. In Poland, the surge in cases has pushed the mayor of Warsaw to cancel Wednesday’s annual Independence Day march. As work continues toward a coronavirus vaccine with multiple companies carrying out clinical trials to test safety and efficacy, Argentina is the latest government to reach an agreement with AstraZeneca to receive doses of its vaccine candidate. The deal is for about 22 million doses to be delivered in the first half of 2021.
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Tropical Storm Eta Hits Florida Keys
Tropical Storm Eta made landfall late Sunday in the Florida Keys on its way into the eastern Gulf of Mexico before taking another aim at the southeastern U.S. state later this week. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm had maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour as it brought heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash floods to parts of southern Florida. Forecasters expect the storm to strengthen slightly into a hurricane later Monday or Tuesday but weaken again into a tropical storm before making a mainland Florida landfall. Officials have closed beaches, ports and coronavirus testing sites in the state and urged people to stay home. Florida’s governor has also declared a state of emergency in several counties to speed the government’s response. Forecasters expect Eta to drop 15 to 30 centimeters of rain on central and southern Florida through Friday. Parts of the Bahamas, Jamaica and Cuba will also see some heavy rains. Eta was a strong hurricane when it hit Nicaragua last week, bringing flooding rains to communities from Panama to Mexico. Rescuers in Guatemala continued searching Sunday for people caught in a landslide and authorities raised the official death toll to 27 with more than 100 people still missing. The storm has been blamed for at least 20 deaths in southern Mexico and at least 20 more in Honduras.
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After a Divisive Election, How Does America Move Forward?
American voters waited days to hear the projected results of the 2020 election, with voter turnout at record numbers. Amid a pandemic and a strong partisan divide, how does the country heal? Esha Sarai reports from Philadelphia.
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UK Honors War Dead in Scaled-back Remembrance Sunday Service
In a scaled-back service, Queen Elizabeth II led tributes Sunday to those from the U.K. and the Commonwealth who perished in wartime, as most veterans paid their respects at home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The 94-year-old monarch looked on from a balcony at a government building above the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London on the 100th year anniversary of the memorial’s installation following the conclusion of World War I. The Cenotaph was officially unveiled on Nov. 11, 1920, two years to the day after the signing of the armistice that brought an end to hostilities. Following a two-minute silence at 11 a.m., Prince Charles laid a wreath on the queen’s behalf during the Remembrance Sunday commemoration. Others, including Charles’ oldest son, Prince William and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also laid wreaths in honor of those who have perished in wartime. Leaders from across the political spectrum, including former prime ministers, were also present. The public was unable to attend this year, with the event taking place during a second national lockdown in England, and instead was encouraged to take part in the two-minute silence at home. In other years, the commemoration is packed with thousands of veterans and military personnel. In Sunday’s service, there were less than 30 veterans in attendance, and everyone present observed social distancing rules though mask wearing wasn’t mandatory in the outdoor setting. Though the service was very different this year, people took time to honor the war dead. Small services were permitted. World War II veteran Seymour “Bill” Taylor, who turns 96 next month, usually attends the service but paid his respects outside his home in Colchester, around 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of London, with the support of his neighbors. “It’s something that’s really special and it means an awful lot,” he said. “I shall remember it as a good day.” Charles’ other son, Prince Harry, wasn’t present but spoke about what serving his country in Afghanistan meant to him. “Being able to wear my uniform, being able to stand up in service of one’s country, these are amongst the greatest honors there are in life,” Harry said in a podcast. “To me, the uniform is a symbol of something much bigger, it’s symbolic of our commitment to protecting our country, as well as protecting our values.” Gen. Nick Carter, chief of the defense staff, said remembrance services still hold relevance today even though there is no one alive who served in World War I and the number of veterans from World War II are dwindling. “We have to remember that history might not repeat itself, but it has a rhythm and if you look back at the last century, before both world wars, I think it was unarguable that there was escalation which led to the miscalculation which ultimately led to war at a scale we would hopefully never see again,” he said in an interview with Sky News. “We need to be conscious of those risks and that’s why remembrance matters,” he added.
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Laos Bids to Shed Least Developed Country Label
Laos has a good chance of climbing out of Least Developed Country status after the United Nations reviews its social and economic progress next year but may yet be held back by the coronavirus pandemic and ballooning debt to China, economists and analysts say. The tiny communist country of 7.2 million people on China’s southern border is one of 47 nations that still bear the U.N.’s LDC label, which comes with international aid and free-trade privileges. In February a special U.N. committee that vets the countries’ progress every three years may decide that Laos is ready to graduate, sapping the aid and trade benefits provided to LDC nations but boosting its odds of attracting more foreign investment and versatile low-interest loans that would sustain economic growth and viability. Laos has made graduating a key policy goal for years. It passed its first of two requisite consecutive reviews in 2018 by meeting two of the three criteria the committee gauges progress by — gross national income per capita, which was then set at exceeding $1,242, and human assets, a measure of the increase in health, education and literacy of the population. It failed to meet the third, economic vulnerability, a measure of how susceptible a country is to economic and environmental shocks that could affect sustained economic growth. The X factors An analyst and two economists who watch Laos closely told VOA recently the country was very likely to meet the same two criteria it met in 2018 at its second review in February. If it does, Laos could officially shed its LDC status by 2024, after the standard three years to prepare. It helps that the data the committee will be using in February for the three core criteria only go up to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the committee will also be drawing on a flexible set of “supplemental graduation indicators and country-specific analysis” that will show the pandemic’s social and economic toll on Laos. “Based purely on those three criteria I’d say it’s very likely that Laos will be above the line on at least two if not all three of the criteria. But then of course there’s all of the other things that would need to be taken into account, so I wouldn’t want to prejudge the outcome of the review yet,” said Matthew Johnson-Idan, senior economist for the U.N. resident coordinator’s office in Laos.Stacked chairs are seen inside the closed Lao Laan Xang Restaurant as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Madison, Oct. 20, 2020.He said the supplemental indicators the committee looks at vary from country to country but tend toward those that help it decide whether the progress a country has made in meeting the three core criteria is sustainable. The more sustainable a country’s progress looks, the better. Johnson-Idan expects the pandemic to factor heavily into what those additional indicators will be. Though COVID-19 has officially infected only 24 people in Laos and killed none, lockdowns at home and abroad have hit the economy hard. The World Bank forecasts Laos’ gross domestic product growth rate to plummet from an average of about 7% over the past decade to 1% or less in 2020. Fiscal fundamentals Johnson-Idan said that will make it tougher for Laos to service a mounting debt burden and keep up the social services spending propelling the health and education gains that have brought the country to the brink of graduating from LDC status. He said the government is making plans to improve its fiscal standing.”It’s certainly something, though, I would expect the [committee] to be looking at very closely when it comes to the review, and that will be one of the core factors that will determine whether or not they think this progress is sustainable post-graduation,” he added. The World Bank estimates that Laos’ debt could climb to 68% of its gross domestic product this year, most of it owed to China for several massive infrastructure projects. In August the U.S. ratings agency Moody’s warned of a credible risk that Laos could default on its debts “in the near term.” Imogen Page-Jarrett, Laos analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit, a global research firm, said the country remains dangerously reliant on just a few industries, namely hydropower and mining, and a narrow range of exports, including garments and minerals. She said the government has also made little progress building up a mostly low-skilled workforce. “There hasn’t really been much progress in that respect over the last two years, so I would say the vulnerabilities in its economic structure are still high. And if we add to that the rising levels of debt, and especially the rising proportion of debt owed to China, I think that adds to the vulnerability of the economy,” Page-Jarrett said. “If they’re using just the traditional three criteria then Laos would pass the review. But there is a risk that it would not now because they’re using this additional criteria,” she added. In the neighborhood On the whole, though, Page-Jarrett and Johnson-Idan reckon that Laos’ growing economic ties to its giant neighbor have thus far done more to help than hinder its odds of graduating from LDC status. They say Chinese investment and trade have done much to expand the economy and raise the country’s per capita gross national income past the new $1,222 threshold set by the U.N. for its 2021 review. Mana Southichack, an economist and head of Lao Intergro, a local research firm, agreed. He said China was one of Laos’ top three trading partners, along with fellow neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, and recently overtook Thailand as its largest investor. A flood of cheap Chinese goods, from farm tools to motorbikes, has also helped boost living standards by saving locals money and making small businesses more productive, said Mana. “These are the things many people don’t look at, and they are important,” he said. Mana said the U.N. was more likely than not to approve Laos’ graduation bid in February. He worries that the economic impact of the pandemic could drag the country back into LDC status after it graduates but believes it would pull through so long as China, Thailand and Vietnam recover from their own downturns in the next few years. Of the five countries that have graduated to date, none has slipped back, and all have continued to grow, said Johnson-Idan. The U.N. also has a few options besides simply passing or flunking Laos. If the country does once again meet two of the three core criteria in February but fails to impress on the additional indicators, the committee could recommend postponing a decision until 2024 or approving graduation and extending the transition period beyond the standard three years. Johnson-Idan said it has done both before. On Thursday Laos’ state-run Vientiane Times reported that the pandemic could delay the country’s graduation but did not mention any changes to the government’s plans. Planning and Investment Minister Sonexay Siphandone told the paper the government was still assessing the outbreak’s impacts.
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Taliban Expect Biden to Stick to Afghan Peace Deal Without ‘Significant Change’
The Taliban say they expect President-elect Joe Biden to stick to a peace agreement the insurgent group sealed with the United States earlier this year to end the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest.
The February 29 landmark pact negotiated by President Donald Trump’s administration has set in motion a “conditions-based” withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. The U.S. military has since cut the size of its troop presence to 4,500 soldiers, from around 13,000 at the time of the signing of the deal and vacated several Afghan bases.
“It (the agreement) serves the interest of the Afghan nation and the interest of the American nation. It should not be subject to any significant change and should be implemented in the form in which it is agreed upon,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem told VOA when asked for his comments on the fate of the pact under the next U.S. president.
“It is our expectation that the ongoing peace process and the agreement with the U.S. government will remain on track,” Naeem said. He spoke to VOA from Qatar’s capital, Doha, where the Taliban maintains its political office.
The agreement requires the Taliban to not attack international forces and to prevent transnational terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida and Islamic State, from operating in Afghanistan. It has also opened first-ever direct peace talks between the insurgent group and representatives of the Afghan government, which was not part of the U.S.-Taliban deal.
Doha is hosting what are officially known as intra-Afghan peace negotiations, which began September 12 but have stalled for the most part because of disputes between Taliban and Afghan negotiators over procedural matters.FILE – A general view shows talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, congratulating Biden on his election victory, said Sunday that ties between Kabul and Washington are expected to deepen in areas of counterterrorism and building peace.
“Afghanistan looks forward to continuing/deepening our multilayered strategic partnership w/ the United States — our foundational partner — including in counterterrorism & bringing peace to Afghanistan,” Ghani wrote on Twitter.
Ordinary Afghans also welcomed Biden’s victory, hoping the president-elect might slow the U.S. troop withdrawal to allow for a stable peace to take root, as opposed to Trump who said in a recent statement that he would like all American troops to be home by Christmas.
Biden said during his campaign that if he were elected, he would maintain a small troop presence in Afghanistan to ensure al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorists do not threaten the United States from the war-ravaged country. But he opposed continued U.S. involvement in Afghan nation-building.
In a February debate among U.S. Democratic presidential hopefuls, Biden drew strong criticism from Afghans for saying that “there’s no possibility of uniting” Afghanistan.
The Taliban, however, maintains that it wants all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan for a durable peace deal between Afghanistan rivals to take roots that ends the war.
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Tropical Storm Eta Likely to Arrive as Hurricane in Florida Late Sunday
Tropical Storm Eta is gaining strength and likely to become a hurricane again by the time it reaches Florida late Sunday or Monday morning, forecasters said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami Sunday issued hurricane and storm surge warnings for the Florida Keys and southern tip of the state. Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday, and officials closed beaches and ports, shut down public transit and urged everyone to stay home.
Eta had maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour at last report Sunday afternoon and moving north, northwest at 22 kilometers per hour over the Florida Straits, the hurricane center said.
When it came ashore Tuesday in Central America, Eta was a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. The storm left hundreds dead or missing across the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, as well as in Mexico, which is considered part of North America. In Guatemala, searchers were still looking for more than 100 missing in a landslide, one of many fueled by rain from Eta, in San Cristobal Verapaz.
Eta made landfall along the south-central coast of Cuba as a tropical storm Sunday, swelling rivers and causing floods along the coast, where 25,000 people had been evacuated. But there have been no reports of deaths.
A tropical storm warning, meanwhile, is also in effect for parts of the Bahamas, and sections of Florida’s coast and Keys.
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