Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Sunday he was resigning for health reasons, the second surprise departure of a top economic policymaker in two days after the central bank chief was ousted.The upheaval follows a 30% slide in the lira to record lows this year amid the coronavirus pandemic as investors worried about falling foreign exchange reserves and the central bank’s ability to tackle double-digit inflation.Albayrak’s resignation, announced in an Instagram statement confirmed by an official, came a day after his father-in-law, President Tayyip Erdogan, replaced the central bank governor with a former minister whose policies are seen to be at odds with Albayrak.”I have decided that I cannot continue as a minister, which I have been carrying out for nearly five years, due to health problems,” the statement said. Albayrak became finance minister two years ago after serving as energy minister.A Finance Ministry official confirmed the authenticity of the statement.Albayrak, 42, was appointed energy minister in 2015 and shifted to finance after Erdogan was reelected with sweeping new executive powers in 2018.During his tenure at finance, Turkey’s economy was hit by two bad slumps, double-digit inflation and high unemployment. The lira has lost around 45% against the U.S. dollar since his appointment and is the worst performer in emerging markets this year.Erdogan, who appointed former finance minister Naci Agbal as the new central bank governor Saturday, would need to approve the resignation.The departure of Turkey’s top two economic policymakers boosted the lira, which rose 2% to 8.3600 against the U.S. dollar at 1904 GMT, and set the stage for a sharp rate rise, analysts said.Agbal “might do a better job in getting approval for a rate hike” given his experience with the government and ruling party, said Selva Demiralp, director of the Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.”Absent a rate hike, I am afraid the financial crisis will only get worse with the depreciation in the lira that increases the external debt, triggering bankruptcies.”Analysts at Goldman Sachs and TD Bank expect a monetary tightening of at least 600 basis points from a 10.25% policy rate now.Mehmet Mus, the deputy parliamentary group chairman for the ruling AK Party, said Albayrak had taken important steps to strengthen the economy and that he hoped Erdogan would not accept the resignation.”We personally witnessed his diligent work. If our president sees fit, I hope he continues at his post,” Mus said on Twitter.
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Month: November 2020
Georgian Police Fire Water Cannon at Protesters Who Claim Polls Were Rigged
Georgian police fired water cannon and tear gas against hundreds of protesters outside the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Sunday to support a call by opposition parties for a rerun of Oct. 31 parliamentary elections that they say were rigged.Small groups of protesters started throwing stones at the police. The demonstrators had moved to the CEC building from the capital’s main Rustaveli Avenue, where thousands of people held a peaceful rally.Police said that protesters tried to storm the CEC building.”As the protesters used violent methods and did not obey the instructions of the police, the Interior Ministry used proportional force within its powers,” the ministry said in a statement.The opposition is demanding the resignation of the CEC chief, Tamar Zhvania, and the calling of fresh elections.According to official results, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 48.23% of the vote, with the largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), taking 27.18%.After the result gave the ruling party the right to form a government, eight opposition parties, including the UNM, said they would boycott parliament.The opposition accuses the ruling party and its supporters of vote buying, making threats against voters and observers and of violations during the counting process. Georgian Dream leaders have denied the accusations.Protesters moved to the CEC building after the 8 p.m. deadline to dismiss the electoral commission head and to start talks on a fresh vote passed without a response from the government.The economy of the South Caucasus country has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. The government said on Saturday it would impose an overnight curfew from Monday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the largest cities because of a sharp rise in cases since early September. Georgia has reported nearly 58,000 cases since the pandemic began and almost 500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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Former Republican US President Bush Congratulates Biden
Former Republican U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday congratulated the projected winner of last week’s election, Joe Biden, saying the Democratic president-elect had “won his opportunity to lead and unify our country.”Bush, who served as the country’s chief executive from 2001 to early 2009, said he has “political differences” with Biden, but that he offered him “my prayers for his success and my pledge to help in any way I can.” Bush also called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to congratulate her.Bush said he thanked Biden for the “patriotic message” he delivered Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware, near his home as he claimed victory over the Republican incumbent, President Donald Trump, after four days of vote counting following the official Election Day on Tuesday and weeks of early voting. Bush described Trump’s total of more than 70 million votes – some 4 million less than Biden’s count — as “an extraordinary political achievement.”Trump has not conceded losing to Biden and filed numerous lawsuits claiming irregularities cost him re-election to a second four-year term.Bush said Trump “has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated.” But Bush said, “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.”
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Greece Welcomes Biden Election Win as Hope for Stability
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Joe Biden after he was projected to become the next U.S. president. Greece views the pending change of guard at the White House as pivotal to easing turbulent relations with Turkey. Many analysts, though, warn Athens should take a more cautious approach.
Mitsotakis sent a congratulatory message within minutes after Biden was projected to win the presidential election.
Mitsotakis called Biden a true friend and voiced certainty that his presidency would help forge stronger ties between the U.S. and Greece.
Analysts say that is diplomatic shorthand for an end to the close personal connection Donald Trump had developed with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over several years.
Sotiris Servos, a professor of international relations in northern Greece, explains.
With this election, Erdogan loses Trump’s ear and the direct access he had to the Oval Office, Servos says. Biden may not be an unknown force to him, but it’s unlikely, Servos says, that Erdogan will try and test the limits of this new relationship early on.
For Greece, embroiled in a long-running and increasingly dangerous standoff with Turkey over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean, that anticipated hiatus may buy crucial time in helping ease tensions between the rival neighbors.
But with Biden expected to toughen relations with Russia, experts in Athens anticipate this could yield even greater support from Washington, especially after Turkey, a key NATO ally, purchased an S-400 missile defense system from Moscow over U.S. objections. Turkey signed a deal to buy the system in 2017 and began taking delivery of it in 2019. A few days prior to the U.S. election, Turkey tested the system, further angering the United States.
Ankara has dismissed Washington’s concerns that the S-400 system could compromise NATO’s military systems and said the weapons are the most cost-effective solution for Turkey’s defense needs.
According to Servos, if there is one foreign policy issue Biden has been very clear about, it is Russia. How these dynamics will play out, will no doubt impact developments in the eastern Mediterranean, he explained.
In a policy chapter dubbed “Joe Biden’s vision for Greek Americans and U.S.-Greece Relations,” Biden promised ahead of the elections to call out Turkish aggression in its long-standing disputes with Greece over sea and air rights. While both NATO allies, the two countries came to the brink of war in September, forcing the U.S. to intervene and urge Erdogan to recall a survey vessel from a drilling expedition off the coast of a Greek island.
Still, critics like Panos Panagiotopoulos, a leading foreign policy analyst and former lawmaker, advise caution.
Of course, Biden’s election spells positive news for Greece, he said, as Biden is no newcomer and knows the issues and problems of this region.
But at the same time, Panagiotopoulos said, “We have to remain realists and Greeks should not froth up to expectations that Biden will cast Turkey to the side for our sake alone.” He also said the best Greeks can hope for is a different state of play and balance of relations in the region.
Whether that will play out remains to be seen.
But until then, Greece says it will not ease up on its defenses in the eastern Mediterranean, keeping ships and submarines in the region and being mindful of Ankara’s moves until Biden takes office early next year.
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Biden Moves Quickly on US Government Transition
Democrat Joe Biden, the projected winner of the long and contentious U.S. presidential election over Republican President Donald Trump, moved quickly Sunday to start preparations to take over the U.S. government when he is inaugurated January 20 and reverse some key Trump policies. President-elect Biden and his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, launched a website for their transition to power, saying they would immediately focus on the coronavirus pandemic, the recession in the world’s biggest economy wrought by the pandemic, climate change and systemic racism. “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.” 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.— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 8, 2020They declared, “We stand together as one America. We will rise stronger than we were before.” 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.” During his four years in the White House, Trump has often delighted in pushing aside political norms, and the likely end of his effort to win a second four-year term in the White House after the 2020 campaign is no different. Trump has not conceded
He has declined to concede or call Biden. Trump is contesting the outcome 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. 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. Majority of electoral votes
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 even as 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!” 71,000,000 Legal Votes. The most EVER for a sitting President!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) U.S. President Donald Trump enters the Presidential motorcade before traveling to an undisclosed location at the south portico of the White House in Washington, Nov. 8, 2020.Back on golf course
Trump played golf again Sunday for the second straight day, while retweeting election fraud claims from supporters, such as one from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who said, “We believe these people are thieves. The big city machines are corrupt. This was a stolen election.” Twitter said Gingrich’s claim “about election fraud is disputed.” Trump was greeted at the golf course he owns in Virginia outside Washington by a handful of people, including two holding Trump 2020 signs. But another sign said, “Orange Crushed.” Supporters of President-Elect Joe Biden display signs of protest as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, Nov. 8, 2020.Americans 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. Americans React to Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Election Win After clinching win in Pennsylvania to collect 273 electoral votes, former vice president becomes country’s oldest president ever 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. @Transition46
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, FILE – Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg walks among thousands of white flags planted in remembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19 near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.Record-breaking coronavirus deaths
On Saturday, the United States recorded more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases for the fourth consecutive 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. “The American people deserve an urgent, robust, and professional response to the growing public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,” the website reads. 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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Hundreds Desert Cameroon Village After Separatists Kill Village Chief
Hundreds of villagers have deserted a village in Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region after rebels attacked, killed their chief and torched his palace Friday evening. The fleeing civilians are asking for help in neighboring towns. The incident took place a day after another English-speaking chief was abducted. His whereabouts are still unknown.Palm oil merchant Isaac Njoh, 52, says he fled from Liwu La-Malale in Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region after heavily armed rebels attacked the village and set the chief’s residence on fire.
He says villagers were attending a meeting with their traditional ruler when heavily armed men attacked and started shooting in the air. He says the armed men set the palace buildings on fire, but the villagers were able to escape safely. He says many villagers who escaped to the neighboring town of Buea have nowhere to stay? Malomba Esembe, who represents the area in Cameroon’s National Assembly, says the rebels butchered Molinga Francis Nangoh, village chief of Liwu La-Malale. “This is another affront to the sacredness of human life, to the solemnity of traditional institutions and to the sorrow of a people who are still mourning their children who were wickedly slain in Kumba on October 24. I am disturbed by this news and hereby convey my deepest sympathy to the people of Liwu La-Malale. I condemn in the strongest terms this act of wickedness for one other life lost is one too many,” he said. Cameroon’s government has confirmed the killing and blamed separatist fighters. No one has claimed responsibility. FILE – Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English speaking southwest region speaks to reporters in Buea, Dec. 25, 2019. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the Southwest region called for calm and said the military has been deployed to secure the area and find the killers. He asked the fleeing civilians to return. In September, Cameroon territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji held a series of meetings and asked chiefs who fled separatist conflicts to return to their palaces. Atem Ebako, chief of the English-speaking southwestern village of Talangaye says the attack on a chief and the burning of his palace will scare traditional rulers from returning to their villages to participate in the December 6 regional election as requested by the government. “The minister made it abundantly clear to us that it would not be properly seen that the regional council elections that are coming for which the real actors are chiefs, that such an event is taking place and the chiefs are outside. That the government is going to put up a package to accompany the chiefs back to their palaces and we are still expecting that to happen,” he said.
Chiefs suspected of collaborating with the central government in Yaoundé to fight the rebels have been victims of attacks from suspected rebels since the conflict worsened in 2017. At least 11 village chiefs have been killed and 17 abducted and released since then. Hundreds escaped to safer localities and began returning to their palaces in September when the government assured them of their safety.
Last month, some of the chiefs started creating armed militias for protection against separatists for the first time. The government asked militias created by chiefs to collaborate with government troops by informing the military of any strange movements or visitors in their villages, but separatist groups on social media promised to kill chiefs who create militias. The separatists said any chief who collaborates with the central government in Yaoundé will not find peace should they return home. On November 5, Sehm Mbinglo, traditional ruler of the Nso people who was returning to his palace after two years of absence was abducted. Catholic cardinal Tumi, who was accompanying Mbinglo, was also abducted but later released. Mbinglo’s whereabouts are unknown. The rebels have been fighting to create an independent, English-speaking state in Cameroon’s western regions since 2017. At least 3,000 people have been killed and 550,000 displaced, according to the United Nations.
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Indians in Kamala Harris’s Ancestral Village Rejoice in Her Projected Win
Local residents of her ancestral village blew up firecrackers, her maternal uncle fielded endless calls from reporters in his New Delhi home, while ordinary Indians were elated that Kamala Harris, who is of part Indian origin, has beaten high odds to make history in the United States as the projected vice president. For its part, India had a female leader more than 50 years ago, when Indira Gandhi became the country’s first female prime minister in 1966. In Thulasendirapuram village in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state, where Harris’s maternal grandfather was born, the mood was festive — women drew murals, children clutched posters of Harris and people offered thanks at the local temple for her victory, calling her “the daughter of our village.” “Congratulations Kamala Harris, Pride of our village, Vanakkam [Greetings] America,” one woman wrote as residents celebrated and distributed sweets. In recent days, the village held special prayers for Harris as it closely tracked the election results in the U.S. In the home of her maternal uncle in New Delhi, Gopalan Balachandran, the pride in his niece’s achievement was mixed with an equal measure of relief at the projected Democratic victory. Gopalan Balachandran, maternal uncle of Democratic 2020 U.S. vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, addresses the media at his residence in New Delhi, India, Nov. 8, 2020.“I am happy for Kamala but I am happy for the rest of us,” 79-year-old Balachandran, a retired academic told VOA. “I was worried about the direction the whole international security environment was taking,” he said. For most Indians, Harris’s path to vice president-elect as the first woman, the first Black candidate, and first Indian American epitomizes the achievements of the Indian community in the U.S. It was a moment Balachandran had not even remotely imagined when, about six decades ago, his sister, Shyamala Gopalan, migrated from the southern Indian city of Chennai to study in the U.S., where she married a Jamaican, Harris’s father. He says the values Harris absorbed while growing up were simple. “Don’t judge anybody by what they eat, what their religion [is], what language they speak and anything like that. Basically, be a human being and there is nothing special about being a human being in our family,” Balachandran said. His sister always taught her daughters to be strong, he said. “You are what you are, don’t let others defend you, don’t take anything lying down, she used to tell them,” he said. Harris’s reference to her Indian roots during her acceptance speech for the vice presidential nomination, when she mentioned the support she had received from her “chitthis,” a Tamil word for aunts, had made it to the front pages of Indian newspapers and delighted many Indians. It was this Indian connection Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on when he congratulated Harris on Twitter. “Heartiest congratulations @KamalaHarris! Your success is pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for your chittis, but also for all Indian-Americans.” Heartiest congratulations An artist applies finishing touches to a painting of Joe Biden alongside a road in Mumbai, India, Nov. 8, 2020.“Look at all the women around the world, how confident they will be, that even they have a chance somewhere in life to do something. It is not only the men,” said Neema Eidnani, a New Delhi resident. For Eidnani, who has watched many students return from the United States disconcerted by tightening immigration policies under President Donald Trump’s administration, the election results have raised hopes of a change in direction in anti-immigrant policies.“This gives hopes to millions of Indians who still dream about going to the U.S. and making a life there,” she said. Harris’ uncle, meanwhile, said he has not spoken to his niece since the election results were projected. “She will be so busy. I spoke to her two days ago on a family group call,” he said, although he is set to go to Washinton in January for her inauguration.
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South Korea Welcomes Biden Victory
South Korea has congratulated Democrat Joe Biden for his victory over President Donald Trump in what was a contentious election for the U.S. presidency.South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent out brief messages on his social media accounts Sunday expressing support for the former U.S. vice president and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris.“Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Our alliance is strong and the bond between our two countries is rock-solid. I very much look forward to working with you for our shared values,” the South Korean leader tweeted.“I have great expectations of advancing and opening up the future development of our bilateral relations. Katchi Kapshida,” Moon wrote, using the Korean-language expression that means “let’s go together.”Separately, South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for previously scheduled talks in Washington on Monday. It is unclear how the election will affect those discussions, which Seoul says will largely focus on North Korean denuclearization.In a statement carried by the Yonhap News Agency on Sunday, Kang’s office said, “the foreign ministry has been directly and indirectly communicating with key figures in the Biden camp and the Democratic Party.”Trump has not conceded and has vowed to challenge election results in several states in court.Bilateral tensionUnder the Trump administration, relations between Seoul and Washington were strained over issues such as the cost of stationing thousands of American soldiers on the peninsula. However, Trump and Moon found common cause in engaging Pyongyang, and together accomplished unprecedented diplomatic achievements, including three face-to-face meetings with the North’s ruler, Kim Jong-un.Some observers expect that under Biden’s leadership, much of that bilateral tension could be eased, but inroads with North Korea gained during Trump’s single term might also be lost.Gi-wook Shin, director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, said he expects the new administration to adopt an “anything but Trump” approach to domestic and foreign policy.“The style of a Biden administration will be really different,” he said, adding that Washington will return to a “more conventional type of international diplomacy.”Relations between the U.S. and North Korea appeared to go from one extreme to the other throughout the Trump administration.In 2017, Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against Pyongyang, but a year later Trump and Kim began exchanging a series of private letters that helped foster two summits and another meeting inside the Korean peninsula’s demilitarized zone together with Moon.“We fell in love,” Trump told reporters in 2018. “He wrote me beautiful letters.”However, following the breakdown of negotiations during their second summit, in Hanoi early last year, there has been scant diplomatic activity between Washington and Pyongyang.During a debate last month, Biden criticized Trump’s approach to engagement and called the North Korean leader a “thug,” but did not rule out a meeting with Kim if the regime agrees to denuclearize.Pyongyang has not yet issued any comment on the U.S. election outcome but has previously referred to Biden as a “rabid dog” that must be “beaten with a stick.”’Very crucial period’Shin said Seoul is losing a partner whom it has worked “very closely and well with to engage North Korea,” but said that since the last summit, their interests have seemed to diverge over differing positions on sanctions relief and how hard to press Kim on giving up weapons of mass destruction programs.Shin expects the next administration to unveil a new North Korean denuclearization policy by next summer.“The first half of next year will be a very crucial period,” Shin said, adding, “I wouldn’t be surprised if North Korea tries to test the Biden administration by shooting an ICBM.” (Intercontinental ballistic missile)Other analysts hope that new American leadership will end the yearlong impasse over the amount of money Seoul should pay to host the roughly 28,000 U.S. soldiers based in South Korea. Washington wants South Korea to pay $1.3 billion a year, an approximately 50% increase over what it currently contributes.The Special Measures Agreement, the bilateral cost-sharing mechanism, expired late last year, but envoys reached a temporary deal to fund the salaries of several thousand Korean employees at American military facilities until the end of December.Trump has accused South Korea of taking advantage of the U.S. in terms of security, as well as trade, and has threatened to withdraw U.S. forces if more favorable deals aren’t reached, according to multiple media reports and a book written by his former national security adviser, John Bolton.Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean special forces lieutenant general, said that despite Trump’s efforts to make peace with North Korea, these kinds of remarks hurt the public’s views of him.“It’s not the amount of money, it’s the way that the Trump administration has been asking and portraying the cost-sharing issue,” he said. “To say we are freeloaders is a little too much.”A September Gallup Korea survey found support for Trump at 16%, compared to 59% for Biden.Chun said he expected cost-sharing talks to be more “amiable” with the Biden administration and overall dialogue to be less “emotional” than it was during the Trump administration.He cautioned, though, that Washington’s North Korean policy rests on Pyongyang’s “commitment to denuclearization,” a condition remains the same no matter who the American president is.
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Eta Makes Landfall in Cuba
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Sunday that Tropical Storm Eta has made landfall along the South-Central coast of Cuba and is moving to the north, across the island. The meteorologists forecast Eta, moving with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometer per hour, will produce “dangerous storm surge, flash floods and strong winds over portions of Cuba and Florida.” Early Sunday Eta was 450 kilometers south-southeast of Miami, Florida. There is a storm surge watch, as well as a hurricane watch, for portions of Florida’s coast and Keys, including Florida Bay. FILE – Residents walk past inundated vehicles in the flooded streets of Planeta, Honduras, Nov. 6, 2020, in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta.A tropical storm warning, meanwhile, is also in effect for several Cuban provinces, the northwestern Bahamas, and other sections of Florida’s coast and Keys.
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How Will President Joe Biden Approach Russia?
U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, when first elected, both thought they could establish a rapport with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and dramatically improve U.S.-Russian relations.Their appraisal of Putin swiftly changed.When asked his impression of Putin after his first face-to-face meeting, George W. Bush said, “I looked the man in the eye. I found him very straightforward and trustworthy – I was able to get a sense of his soul.” Obama, eight years later, openly sought a reset in relations only to see his hopes dashed finally with Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in 2014.Joe Biden, who as Obama’s vice president supported the reset strategy, is unlikely to follow the example of his predecessors, say former diplomats and analysts. Biden indicated as much during his presidential campaign, saying at a CNN town hall last month, “I believe Russia is an opponent, I really do.”In contrast, he called China “a competitor, a serious competitor.”During the presidential campaign, Biden sought to differentiate himself from President Donald Trump regarding Russia, accusing his Republican rival of being soft on Putin.Trump and his aides pushed back, with the president saying in August, “The last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have.”Early last month, Biden criticized his opponent for remaining silent on the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which he bluntly blamed on the Moscow government.“Once again, the Kremlin has used a favorite weapon — an agent from the Novichok class of chemicals — in an effort to silence a political opponent,” he said. “It is the mark of a Russian regime that is so paranoid that it is unwilling to tolerate any criticism or dissent.”But candidates can say one thing during a campaign and do something else once in office; sometimes they have little choice because of circumstances or the course of events. Will a President Joe Biden pursue as muscular an approach to Russia as he has suggested?’No reset’“I don’t think Biden is going to fall head over heels to butter up Putin,” said David Kramer, who was an assistant secretary of state in the administration of George W. Bush. “Moscow has continued with a disinformation campaign against him, and so I don’t think he’s going to extend a hand and say, ‘Let’s make nice,’” added Kramer, now a fellow at the McCain Institute, a foreign policy think tank based in Washington.“I mean, no reset. I don’t think he’s going to try anything like 2009,” Kramer said in reference to Obama’s failed reset policy. Kramer thinks Biden will have to focus largely on domestic issues, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact.“And to the extent he is able to focus on foreign policy, Russia should not be at the high end of the priority list,” he told VOA. Although he added, “You can’t ignore it. And it is a factor in a number of problems we face. I think he’s going to have to devote his limited time when it comes to foreign policy to work with countries that are ready to solve problems.” By that he means shoring up America’s transatlantic alliance.Biden and Putin have met — without much cordiality. In a 2011 interview with The New Yorker magazine, Biden said at one meeting he told the Russian leader, “I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.”Biden continued: “He looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said: ‘We understand one another.’”Aside from the lack of personal rapport, analysts say any effort to reset relations would be complicated by economic sanctions on Russia, imposed by both the Obama and Trump administrations. The measures will leave Biden with little room to maneuver and are unlikely to be lifted while Western powers believe Russia is mounting cyberattacks against them.’Gray space’Former Western diplomats say antagonism is likely to persist between Washington and Moscow as long as the Kremlin seeks to undermine Western democratic institutions.Last week, a former top security adviser to British prime minister Boris Johnson, Mark Sedwill, revealed that Britain has launched a series of covert cyber-based attacks on Russian leaders and their interests to “impose a price greater than one they might have expected” for their cyber-offensive against the West.Other allied powers, including the U.S. are doing so, too, say Western intelligence officials in what is becoming a “like-for-like” cyber-conflict with the Kremlin in the so-called “gray space,” the gap between normal state relations and armed conflict.The U.S. and other Western powers are in conflict with Russia on a range of issues — from the 2014 annexation of Crimea to the pro-Moscow agitation in east Ukraine, from Russia’s backing of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to the 2018 attempted assassination in Salisbury, England, of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.Heather Williams of Britain’s Chatham House expects a Biden administration to focus on two key areas: restoring arms control and strengthening NATO to check Russian adventurism.“On the one hand, the U.S. must maintain a strong deterrent and restore credibility with its allies. At the same time, it must pursue arms control and other risk reduction opportunities,” she said.In the final days of the presidential election the Kremlin appeared to be hedging its bets on who might win.Republican campaigners, as well as President Trump, had been hurling corruption charges at Biden’s son Hunter over his service on the board of an energy company in Ukraine and business dealings with China.But Putin dodged an opportunity to amplify the allegations against Hunter Biden, saying, “Yes, in Ukraine he had or maybe still has a business. It doesn’t concern us. It concerns the Americans and the Ukrainians. I don’t see anything criminal about this.”The Russian leader has also sought to highlight possible common ground with Biden — especially over nuclear arms control.Nuclear arms controlPutin called this month for the last existing nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the U.S. to be saved, proposing to extend the New START treaty that’s set to expire in February. “It would be extremely sad if the treaty ceases to exist,” he said.The treaty was signed in 2010 by Barack Obama and then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The pact limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.During his long career in the Senate, Biden was a champion of nuclear arms control and he has promised to seek to extend the New START treaty, saying he would likely accept a Russian offer to extend it for five years.
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US Averaging More Than 100,000 Daily COVID Cases
Last week the United States averaged more than 100,000 new daily COVID-19 cases, with more than 128,000 recorded Friday.U.S. hospitalizations have significantly increased, forcing hospitals in Midwestern and Southern states to take urgent action to accommodate floods of new patients.Infections are surging in all U.S. regions as the coronavirus death toll continues to climb. The U.S. has 9.8 million coronavirus cases, with more than 237,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.Months after the Sturgis motorcycle rally in August in the Black Hills of South Dakota, which drew nearly half a million people, public health officials say the event’s legacy is hundreds of coronavirus infections across the U.S.Dr. Benjamin Aaker, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association, told The New York Times, “We don’t know if we’ll ever know the full extent” of the infections originating from Sturgis. Last week, South Dakota averaged more than 1,000 daily coronavirus cases.President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled Monday to announce the members of a 12-member coronavirus task force for his administration, set to begin in January.Europe, meanwhile, is experiencing a second wave of COVID-19.”The light at the end of the tunnel is still quite a long way off,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently. Germany reported more than 23,000 new cases. Saturday.On Friday, France had more than 60,000 new cases. France has 1.7 million cases and more than 40,000 COVID deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.India reported more than 45,000 new infections Sunday. Johns Hopkins said the South Asian nation has recorded 8.5 million cases so far.
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Americans Mark Veterans Day Amid Strain of Pandemic
Americans are celebrating Veterans Day this Wednesday amid the strain of the coronavirus pandemic and on the heels of a close presidential election.Veterans Day is commemorated each year on Nov. 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 and in a typical year is marked by ceremonies, military bands and parades across the country. However, this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, many events have been canceled and others have been scaled back or switched to a virtual format.Reduced eventsParades have been called off in cities such as Orlando, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and San Antonio, Texas.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 Unknowns, 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-electionThis 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 President Donald 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.WWI beginningsVeterans 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, but at that time, it was known as Armistice Day, commemorating Germany’s surrender of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. — at 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 – at 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 Sept. 11, 2001.
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From Refugee to Representative, US Candidates Celebrate Election Victories
Oballa Oballa’s trek to Election Day was a long and improbable one.He grew up in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, where he witnessed mass killings that took the life of his uncle and hundreds of others. He survived a two-week trek across treacherous terrain to reach a refugee camp in Kenya. He spent 10 years in camps where he often didn’t have enough to eat.Now he has been elected to the City Council of his adopted hometown of Austin, Minnesota. He is the first refugee, first immigrant and first person of color to serve on the council. He said he never doubted he’d reach this destination.“I’m so proud to call myself an American citizen, whereby I can serve and help the community,” he said. “The American dream is that anything I put my mind into, if I work hard for it, I can achieve it. That’s how I define my American dream.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Oballa Oballa has been elected to the City Council of his adopted hometown of Austin, Minnesota. He is the first refugee, first immigrant and first person of color to serve on the council. (Photo courtesy Oballa Oballa)Oballa said he wanted to be politically active as soon as he arrived in the U.S. in 2013. He served as president of the student senate at his community college and helped pass state legislation to address food insecurity on community college campuses.Since he was active in the community, he was already a familiar face when he began knocking on doors and asking for votes.“I’m always volunteering. You go to Walmart, you see my name, a lot of people recognize me. So, when I decided to do door knocking, a lot of people are already familiar with my face — that makes it easier for me and my team,” he said.He still had to win their support by discussing the issues he is passionate about, such as access to daycare, affordable housing and the need for economic growth.“I have to introduce myself to tell my vision and why I’m running, because I have to appeal to the voters and the residents that I will be the right person,” he said.Naquetta Ricks fled civil war in Liberia with her family as a child. Now, a mother of an adult daughter, she’s been elected to the Colorado House. (Skype/VOA)In Colorado, mortgage broker Ricks said she fled civil war in Liberia with her family as a child. Now, a mother of an adult daughter, she was elected to the Colorado House.“This privilege to run for state representative is such an awesome privilege that I don’t take lightly at all,” she told VOA’s Daybreak Africa. “I think that people are open to hearing where you’re coming from. And that’s what makes America great. This is the example that we set in a democracy.”In Minnesota, Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, said he believes his unique experience allows him to speak for all his constituents in one of the most diverse districts in the state.“I felt that I was the best to bridge the gap between the immigrant and nonimmigrant communities,” he said. “I grew up in a Somali household, but I was born and raised in America. So, I had one foot in each culture. So, because of that understanding that I carry both identities with me, I’m able to best serve the communities in this district.”Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, was elected to Minnesota’s state Senate. (VOA)He said his election is a powerful statement about the changing face of his home state.“In Minnesota, we’re inclusive. We’re welcoming for everybody: our immigrants, our first-generation people,” he told VOA’s Somali Service. “I’m able to represent one of the most diverse communities in Minnesota – and not just in terms of race but in terms of values. We value each other. We value our working-class residents, and we value putting our people first.”James Butty and Somali Service’s Maxamuud Mascadde contributed to the report.
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Biden Elected President After Nearly a Half-Century in Politics
President-elect Joe Biden, a prominent figure in Washington political circles for nearly half a century, will succeed President Donald Trump in January. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan looks at the career of a veteran politician, who had his biggest political win four years after leaving office as vice president.
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Biden Pledges to Unify, Not Divide US in Address to Nation
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the projected winner of the U.S. presidency, pledged to be “a president who seeks not to divide, but unify” the country during an address to the nation Saturday night from Wilmington, Delaware.Echoing earlier speeches, Biden said it is “time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.”Biden urged his supporters to reach out to those who didn’t vote for him, and he acknowledged the disappointment of those who support President Donald Trump.“I’ve lost a couple times myself,” Biden said. “Now, let’s give each other a chance.”The president-elect also announced that on Monday he will launch a COVID-19 task force “built on bedrock science” to begin the work of getting control over the pandemic, which Johns Hopkins University data says has infected more than 9.8 million Americans and killed more than 237,000.A fixture in Washington political circles for nearly a half century, Biden is to be inaugurated Jan. 20, along with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, currently a U.S senator from California.Biden was introduced on Saturday night by Harris, the daughter of immigrants who will be the first woman, first African American and first Indian American to serve as vice president.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 49 MB480p | 69 MB540p | 75 MB720p | 147 MB1080p | 311 MBOriginal | 468 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio”When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America,” she said to the cheers of the socially distanced outdoor crowd.She thanked the voters across the nation for turning out in record numbers and delivering a “clear message: you chose hope, unity, decency, science and, yes, truth,” she said. “You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.”Harris wore white in tribute to women’s suffrage and opened her remarks with a tribute to the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights champion. She also paid tribute to her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, and the generations of women who came before her.”While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she said. “Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibility.”Biden, a Democrat who served 36 years in the U.S. Senate and eight years as second in command to former President Barack Obama, was projected as the winner of the U.S. presidency earlier Saturday, after news organizations determined he had gained an insurmountable lead in the vote count in the state of Pennsylvania.That state’s 20 votes in the Electoral College put him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency. Hours later, he was projected to have also won the state of Nevada.The results in each state will not be certified for up to 30 days and are subject to court challenges, but they are expected to stand.Across the country, his supporters exploded with joy at the news of Biden’s victory, honking car horns in Biden’s home city of Wilmington, Delaware, and pouring into the streets across the nation. A large crowd of celebrants danced and sang in the street in front of the White House in Washington.The projection followed four days of suspense during which officials in a half-dozen states tabulated millions of mail-in ballots sent by voters who had wanted to stay away from polling stations for fear of contracting the coronavirus.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 41 MB480p | 58 MB540p | 67 MB1080p | 263 MBOriginal | 360 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioTrump was arriving at his golf course outside Washington when the announcement was made by all major news organizations, including the usually supportive Fox News. Trump’s campaign immediately issued a statement challenging the projection and insisting it will continue to fight through the courts to reverse the result.“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over,” the statement began.“Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor,” it said.On Monday, the statement continued, Trump’s campaign “will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”Biden’s win makes Trump the third U.S. chief executive in the last four decades to lose reelection after a single four-year term as the American leader.The election outcome remains subject to recounts in states where the result was very close – usually less than half a percentage point – and a flurry of court challenges from Trump and his Republican party, who allege voting irregularities.So far, those challenges have been treated skeptically in the courts and the U.S. Supreme Court – where Republican appointees hold a 6-3 majority – has been reluctant to overrule the states’ election decisions.The U.S. employs an indirect form of democracy, not a national popular vote, to pick its leaders. The outcome is effectively decided in state-by-state elections throughout the 50-state country and the national capital, Washington, D.C. The winner needs 270 or more electoral votes in the 538-member Electoral College.
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Survivors of Super Typhoon Goni Face Humanitarian Crisis
U.N. assessments to gauge the needs of hundreds of thousands of people affected by Super Typhoon Goni, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever to hit the Philippines, reveal a catastrophic trail of devastation and destruction.The superstorm made landfall Sunday in the eastern region of Bato in the island province of Catanduanes. A preliminary assessment shows at least 2 million people have been affected by the destructive force of Goni.The United Nations reports 370,000 people are displaced. Tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed. Schools, businesses and essential infrastructure in Goni’s pathway have been demolished. Lives and livelihoods have been crushed.World Food Program spokesperson Thomson Phiri said badly affected people in the hard-hit province of Albay told WFP’s assessment team they had never experienced such a powerful storm. They said their rice harvest has been lost, and the rain and wind have flattened fields, destroying crops.“The top needs that we are seeing is that people are in need of food,” he said. “People are in need of shelter. People need clean water. They need sanitation. They do not have power and they need emergency telecommunication support.”The International Organization for Migration said Goni barreled through many highly urbanized and heavily populated areas. Those places have some of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in the country.IOM spokesperson Paul Dillon said that has exacerbated the emergency response. He says it is critical that proper precautions against infection be taken at the evacuation sites.“We have roughly 52,000 of people in evacuation centers at this time — 450 of them spread out across the affected areas,” he said. “The damage is extraordinary. In many cases those evacuation centers, which were critical in disaster preparedness, have been damaged themselves. Roofs have been ripped off and walls taken down.”The World Health Organization reports nearly 392,000 coronavirus infections, including more than 7,460 deaths. Southern Luzern, one of the most affected areas in the country, has nearly 71,000 cases.Dillon said it is very difficult for people to maintain physical distance in the overcrowded evacuation centers. He said priority protection needs include face masks, sanitizer bottles, and face shields. He said his agency also will be delivering modular tents and shelter grade tarps to protect Goni survivors from the elements.
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Algeria Eyes Cross-Border Missions as Fear of Militant Spillover Grows
Algeria approved constitutional amendments on Sunday that experts call an ambitious move to answer public demands after months of protests and to safeguard its borders against violent extremism spillover from Libya and other troubled neighbors. Since its independence from France in 1962, the North African country’s constitution has stipulated that the army’s mission is to defend Algeria’s borders and sovereignty without breaching other nations’ sovereignty. That changed in the Nov. 1 referendum when articles 28 and 29 of the constitution where amended to allow cross-border operations upon the approval of two-thirds of its parliament and under the supervision of the Arab League, the African Union and the United Nations. “It is a pragmatic choice, the region is unstable, and Algeria is surrounded by states, mainly Mali, Niger and Mauritania, that are considered to be fragile states, so Algeria needs to be ready if a conflict erupts in its neighbors,” Dalia Ghanem, Algerian resident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told VOA. Ghanem said the new amendments to allow the army to carry out cross-border peacekeeping missions are an attempt by the new government to prepare Algerians for any future military interference in neighboring countries. Algeria has been in political unrest since 2019, when thousands of its citizens took to the streets to protest an attempt by Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for president for a fifth consecutive term. The youth-led movement Hirak ended two decades of Bouteflika rule and brought Abdelmadjid Tebboune to power. The Sunday referendum, which coincided with the anniversary of Algeria’s war for independence, approved the proposed changes with 66.8% of the votes despite a low turnout of about 23%. The amendments introduced presidential term limits and created a new anti-corruption body, which the government says will help address the country’s economic crisis. Hirak, however, says the amendments fall short of fundamental reform. The country’s political transition over the months has been increasingly rough as its borders became more vulnerable to insurgent groups infiltrating along the desert terrain. Terror threats The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) in September published its Algeria 2020 Crime and Safety Report that found terrorist groups remained active in the Sahara region where Algeria extends southward. “[Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb] AQIM, AQIM-allied groups, and ISIS elements, including the Algerian affiliate locally known as Jund al-Khilafah in Algeria (JAK-A, now calling itself ISIS-Algeria), are present. These groups aspire to attack Algerian security services, local government targets, and Western interests,” the report said. The report warned of “immediate cross-border threats” to Algeria, including the presence of 4,000 violent Libyan extremists near Algeria’s eastern border. It also cited concerns coming from Tunisia where AQIM leaders were trying to unify factions in Algeria. While Algerian officials in the past were largely passive toward conflict in their region, they are now recognizing the necessity of military engagement in addition to diplomacy to assert their role in regional affairs, according to Andrew Lebovich, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). “Algeria has been concerned regarding the security of its borders for years and has become particularly acute since the revolution in Libya, the Tuareg Rebellion in Mali of 2012, and of course several attacks in Algerian towns,” Lebovich said. US stand Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Algeria has maintained close counterterrorism cooperation with the United States. Some observers say that the scope of security and military relations has improved in recent months because of the rising ability of jihadist groups to maneuver across North Africa. “The U.S. is trying to have a more holistic and involved approach in the region and trying to continuingly foster a closer defense relationship with Algeria, particularly in a time when U.S. government is concerned about the influence of other powers in North Africa and West Africa, Russia, China and Turkey,” Lebovich said. In late September, Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, visited the Algerian capital, Algiers, where he met with President Tebboune to discuss increasing cooperation on regional stability. “Algeria is a committed counterterrorism partner. They play a central role to the security of North Africa and the Mediterranean,” Townsend said, stressing the region’s importance for the interests of the U.S., Africa and Europe. In a separate visit on Oct. 1, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he spoke with Algerian officials about the threat imposed by extremist groups in the Sahara and Sahel regions. “There are a number of areas where we plan to increase our cooperation, such as in counterterrorism. We look to improve our exercises and training together,” Esper said. “We also discussed other issues involving our militaries, which I am confident will increase our interoperability as well.” Some experts say the recent top visits, while an extension of U.S. policy toward Algeria, indicate Washington predicts a growing military influence of Algiers as it shifts away from its non-interventionist position. “We started to see more AQ [al-Qaida] activity in the Maghreb along with Malian Algerian border. The first time, from a State Department delegation, was in 2008 when it was the first time we discussed Mali with Algeria,” said Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Algeria (2006-08) and professor at Yale University. “Esper’s visit is not a change in the policy, it is a continuation in the policy,” he told VOA. ‘Vulnerable situation’ While the new constitutional amendments can improve Algeria’s security, its main aim is to answer the reform demands of protesters on the streets, the Algerian government says. President Tebboune had claimed that “Algerians will make history for a sought-after real change.” However, experts say the low voter turnout suggests that Hirak’s call for a boycott found support among a large population of Algerians. Hirak is the first mass movement since the decade-long civil war (1991–2002) between Islamic guerrillas and the government. The war claimed an estimated 200,000 lives. Some experts say the ghost of the civil war is still present in the country as it struggles to respond to challenges ranging from economic crisis to political unrest and extremist threat. “Algeria’s internal political situation is difficult now; the Algerian economy is suffering [and], little by little, its foreign exchange reserves are disappearing,” Ford said, adding that these conditions are similar the crisis of legitimacy and political unrest that led to the internal conflict of the 1990s.
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World Leaders Offer Congratulations to Biden, Harris
After days of shying away from comment on America’s presidential election, world leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel tendered congratulations Saturday to Joe Biden after Pennsylvania’s vote results made him the projected winner.“The U.S. is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities from climate change to trade and security,” Johnson said in a statement issued by Downing Street.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a virtual news conference at Downing Street, London, Oct. 12, 2020.The British leader also praised Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, for what he dubbed her “historic achievement.” Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, is the first woman of color on a U.S. national political ticket.Midweek, Johnson avoided making any remarks on the election, sidestepping calls from Britain’s opposition parties to comment on President Donald Trump’s demand for vote counting to stop in several states.“We don’t comment as the U.K. government on the democratic processes of our friends and allies,” he said.Some Trump supporters expressed frustration with foreign leaders.“These early calls by foreign leaders congratulating Biden are deliberate election interference,” tweeted Kyle Shideler, an analyst at the Center for Security Policy, a pro-Trump policy organization in Washington. “It is beyond inappropriate for these leaders to weigh in at this time.”Canada’s TrudeauAmong the first world leaders to react to Biden’s projected win was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying, “Canada and the United States enjoy an extraordinary relationship — one that is unique on the world stage. Our shared geography, common interests, deep personal connections, and strong economic ties make us close friends, partners, and allies.”He added: “I look forward to working with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, their administration, and the United States Congress as we tackle the world’s greatest challenges together.”FILE – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, walks with then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden for a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 1, 2013.Germany’s Merkel said she was looking forward to “future cooperation” between the two countries, adding: “Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable if we are to master the great challenges of our time.”Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and French President Emmanuel Macron also offered congratulations.Macron said: “We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let’s work together.”Sanchez added: “We are looking forward to cooperating with you to tackle the challenges ahead of us.”Governments across the world have been anxiously waiting to see whether Republican Trump would secure a second term or they would be dealing for the next four years with his Democratic challenger, the former U.S. vice president.Most foreign leaders were careful not to express a preference, fearful of alienating the eventual winner. Even national leaders most closely associated with Trump, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, were restrained in their praise of him.FILE – Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, attends a news conference in Lublin, Poland, Sept. 11, 2020.Hungary’s firebrand populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban was one of the few leaders to back Trump publicly, as he did in 2016, announcing in an article in a Hungarian newspaper in September that he was “rooting for another victory for Donald Trump because we are very familiar with the foreign policy of U.S. Democratic administrations, built as it is on moral imperialism. We have tasted it — albeit under duress. We didn’t like it and we don’t want a second helping.”Other conservative nationalist leaders in central Europe were quieter, including Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.NervousnessAnxiety had only mounted since Election Day, with international allies fearful that America was heading for a contested election that could last for weeks or months.Officials in several European countries said they did not want to say anything they might later have to retract, as some governments did amid the confusion of the contested U.S. election in 2000. Among others, the German president initially congratulated candidate George W. Bush, only to have to withdraw his remarks as the world waited for five weeks and a Supreme Court ruling to finally conclude the election.But the congratulatory messages to Biden by several leaders Saturday suggested America’s allies have decided the result is a foregone conclusion — despite Trump’s decision not to concede and his determination to mount legal challenges.FILE – Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks to a crowd during an event in Gdansk-Westerplatte, Sept. 1, 2020.That includes Poland, one of the U.S.’s closest allies under the Trump administration. Duda said Saturday that his country was determined to maintain a “high-level, high-quality … partnership” during a Biden administration.Messages of congratulation also came Saturday from the leaders in the Netherlands, Qatar, Egypt, Ukraine, Lebanon, Norway and Greece.Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheal Martin, said: “Ireland takes pride in Joe Biden’s election, just as we are proud of all the generations of Irish women and Irish men and their ancestors whose toil and genius have enriched the diversity that powers America.”Biden traces his ancestry to Ireland and England.
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Global Leaders React to Biden’s Projected US Presidential Win
Congratulations from leaders around the world poured in for Joe Biden after he was projected Saturday to become the next president of the United States.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of the first to tweet his best wishes.Congratulations, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 7, 2020“Congratulations, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.”British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also took to Twitter, noting “the US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities.” Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarrispic.twitter.com/xrpE99W4c4— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 7, 2020German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she anticipated having a strong relationship with the new U.S. administration.“I look forward to future cooperation with President Biden,” Merkel tweeted. “Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable if we are to master the great challenges.”Chancellor #Merkel congratulates @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. #Election2020pic.twitter.com/A9Vwy1XYAR— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) November 7, 2020French President Emmanuel Macron also tweeted his congratulations, saying, “We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let’s work together!”The Americans have chosen their President. Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris! We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let’s work together!— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 7, 2020NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted, “I know Joe Biden as a strong supporter of our Alliance & look forward to working closely with him. A strong #NATO is good for both North America & Europe.”I congratulate @JoeBiden on his election as the next U.S. President & @KamalaHarris as Vice President. I know Joe Biden as a strong supporter of our Alliance & look forward to working closely with him. A strong #NATO is good for both North America & Europe https://t.co/Ij3rWtNH5c— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) November 7, 2020Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Biden, noting on Twitter, “As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights.”Congratulations @JoeBiden on your spectacular victory! As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights. pic.twitter.com/yAOCEcs9bN— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 7, 2020Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted, “Look forward to President Elect Biden’s Global Summit on Democracy & working with him to end illegal tax havens & stealth of nation’s wealth by corrupt ldrs. We will also continue to work with US for peace in Afghanistan & in the region.” Congratulations @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris. Look forward to President Elect Biden’s Global Summit on Democracy & working with him to end illegal tax havens & stealth of nation’s wealth by corrupt ldrs. We will also continue to work with US for peace in Afghanistan & in the region— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 7, 2020From Africa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted his congratulations to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying, “Ethiopia looks forward to working closely with you.”My congratulations to US President-Elect @JoeBiden and Vice President-Elect @KamalaHarris on your historic #Election2020 win. #Ethiopia looks forward to working closely with you.— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) November 7, 2020Namibian President Hage Geingob said of Biden on Twitter, “During our struggle for freedom, we came to know him as a Senator who opposed apartheid in South Africa and the region. I look forward to working with @JoeBiden for stronger bilateral relations and multilateralism for a fairer world.” I congratulate @JoeBiden on his victory. During our struggle for freedom, we came to know him as a Senator who opposed apartheid in South Africa and the region. I look forward to working with @JoeBiden for stronger bilateral relations and multilateralism for a fairer world.— Hage G. Geingob (@hagegeingob) November 7, 2020South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also tweeted his congratulations to Biden and Harris, saying, “We look forward to working with you and deepening our bonds of friendship and cooperation.”We congratulate President-Elect @JoeBiden and Vice President @KamalaHarris and the American people on your election. We look forward to working with you and deepening our bonds of friendship and cooperation. pic.twitter.com/aajOxmL8KI— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 7, 2020From the Middle East, Jordan’s King Abdullah tweeted, “I look forward to working with you on further advancing the solid historic partnership between Jordan and the United States, in the interest of our shared objectives of peace, stability and prosperity.”Congratulations to President-Elect @JoeBiden and VP-Elect @KamalaHarris. I look forward to working with you on further advancing the solid historic partnership between Jordan and the United States, in the interest of our shared objectives of peace, stability and prosperity pic.twitter.com/Q5qN565nGa— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) November 7, 2020Iraqi President Barham Salih, in a tweet Saturday, called Biden “a friend and trusted partner in the cause of building a better Iraq. We look forward to working to achieve our common goals and strengthening peace and stability in the entire Middle East.”I extend warmest congratulations to President-elect @JoeBiden, a friend and trusted partner in the cause of building a better Iraq. We look forward to working to achieve our common goals and strengthening peace and stability in the entire Middle East.— Barham Salih (@BarhamSalih) November 7, 2020
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Slovakia’s Second Round of Coronavirus Tests Draws Large Crowds
Slovakia held a second round of nationwide coronavirus testing on Saturday in an effort to curb increasing infections, with more than half a million people screened by noon.Last weekend, more than 3.6 million people — two thirds of the population — took part in the first round of a scheme that other nations are studying as they look for ways protect their health systems.The government this time called on people from regions where more than 0.7% tested positive last weekend to repeat the procedure, testing in 45 out of 79 of the nation’s counties.Because Slovaks in areas with lower rates of infection — including the capital, Bratislava — could voluntarily go for tests, it was not clear how many would participate. The government had estimated that it could test up to 2.6 million people.As of noon (1100 GMT), government data showed 553,377 had been tested, with 3,677 positive results. Prime Minister Igor Matovic said the country now had a way to handle the epidemic.”When we agree that we would want to have more freedom, to open theaters, churches … we will know that we have this tool [to control the epidemic],” Matovic said.The antigen test produces results in 15-30 minutes but is less accurate than the standard PCR tests.Overall, Slovakia reported 2,579 COVID-19 cases on Saturday through PCR testing, bringing the total to 73,667, with 351 deaths.Compared with other parts of Europe, Slovakia recorded relatively few cases after the pandemic started spreading in March, but infections have soared in recent weeks. The government has warned the increase could overwhelm hospitals.
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A Defiant Trump Golfs as Media Declare His Defeat
U.S. President Donald Trump was on a golf outing at his private country club in northern Virginia when U.S. media organizations projected his reelection defeat.After traveling via motorcade from the White House, Trump walked onto his golf course as the release of the latest vote tabulations from Pennsylvania prompted news outlets – including Trump’s favored Fox News – to declare that former Vice President Joe Biden would become the 46th president of the United States.That spared the president from hearing the cheers and honking of horns near the White House when the Biden victory was announced on television and radio across the country.Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden wave signs at the entrance to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Nov. 7, 2020. Trump was at the facility.When the motorcade arrived in Sterling, Virginia, the presidential procession was greeted by a cluster of both Trump and Biden supporters who stood next to each other peacefully.One sign read: “Good riddance.” A woman gave the presidential limousine a thumbs-down gesture.After four hours at the golf club, the president returned to the White House with his motorcade—with lights flashing and sirens blaring—driving past Biden supporters celebrating on the sidewalks of downtown Washington, D.C.Biden ‘has not been certified’While Trump was on the golf course, his campaign released a defiant statement in his name.“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over,” the statement began.“Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”A supporter of President Donald Trump argues with a President-elect Joe Biden supporter at the entrance to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Nov. 7, 2020. Trump was at the facility.On Monday, the statement continued, Trump’s campaign “will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”The statement concluded that Trump “will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”In a Saturday tweet, the president stated his case more bluntly: “I WON THIS ELECTION BY A LOT.”Fell shortThe president, in reality, fell short of the number of electoral votes needed for reelection, with the results from Pennsylvania pushing the challenger over the 270-count threshold needed for victory, according to projections by all major U.S. news outlets.These included Fox News, Trump’s most ardent supporter among the national TV and cable networks.In the popular vote, with ballots still being tabulated, the national total Saturday afternoon showed Trump trailing Biden by more than 4 million votes.President Donald Trump returns to the White House after playing a round of golf, Nov. 7, 2020, in Washington.Some of Trump’s Saturday morning claims on Twitter were masked by the social media platform cautioning: “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” Others had a blue exclamation mark at the bottom of the tweets with a clickable link to “Learn about US election 2020 security efforts.”The president has not spoken publicly since Thursday evening, when he made similar unsubstantiated charges about the voting process, prompting the three major U.S. broadcast networks to cut away from his appearance for instant fact-checking.Customary practiceA lack of concession by Trump would not prevent Biden from assuming the presidency on January 20, 2021. It is customary in the transfer of power for the outgoing president, departing because of electoral defeat or having served the maximum two terms, to stand alongside the incoming chief executive at the inauguration.“Donald Trump does not get to decide the winner of elections,” Symone Sanders, a Biden campaign senior adviser, told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, Saturday afternoon. “The people decide, voters in the country decide, as we have long said, and voters have made their choice very clear.”
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UN Rights Chief Urges Halt to Ethiopia Violence, Dialogue to Restore Peace
Ethiopia’s stability is on the line as the recent outburst of fierce fighting in the country’s Tigray and Oromia regions risks getting out of hand. U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet called Saturday for a de-escalation of violence and for grievances in these separate but equally destructive conflicts to be settled peacefully.Heavy clashes broke out Wednesday in the northern region of Tigray between federal and regional troops, prompting declaration of a six-month state of emergency. The Ethiopian government announced it had deployed federal troops in response to an alleged attack by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on a military base.Bachelet spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told VOA the eruption of fighting followed months of growing tensions between the federal government and authorities of the Tigray regional state.“This is really quite an alarming flare-up of these tensions, which have now entered into a phase of violence. … Since then, it has been very difficult to get information exactly about what is happening on the ground, because there has been an internet shutdown and phone lines have also been cut,” Shamdasani said. “So we are very worried, especially as we are not able to access information about the impact of the clashes on civilians.”Bachelet also deplored an attack by a group of armed men against members of the Amhara ethnic group in the Oromia region on Sunday. The government said 32 people were killed, although other sources reported many more casualties.Shamdasani said Bachelet was concerned about the lack of proper investigations and accountability into past similarly deadly incidents.“What that means is that, you know, people are left desolate,” Shamdasani said. “They are left feeling like there are entire communities that are pitted against each other and that this then provides fertile ground for further intercommunal clashes, more casualties.”Shamdasani said Bachelet was calling on the government this time around to ensure prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into these incidents and to ensure that those responsible are held individually accountable.
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Britain Begins COVID Mass Testing in Liverpool
As Britain battles a surge in coronavirus infections with a nationwide monthlong lockdown, an ambitious mass testing pilot project has been launched in the northwestern city of Liverpool. Anyone who lives or works in the city and comes forward will be given a free test, whether they show symptoms of COVID-19 or not. Sabina Castelfranco has more from London.
There are long lines at one of the mass testing facilities set up at a tennis center in Liverpool in what is the British government’s latest effort to find a way to limit the spread of COVID-19, which has seen particularly high numbers in the country’s northwest in recent weeks.
Two thousand members of the British army have been deployed along with medical staff at various sites in the city, which include schools, offices and care homes, to help administer the tests and process the swabs as quickly as possible in this first citywide experiment.
Liverpool is one of the British cities most affected by the virus. It was the first city to be placed in Tier 3, Britain’s highest alert level for COVID-19, even before the country went into national lockdown this week.
The aim of the project is also to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed soon. Liverpool residents are concerned about the virus and appeared very supportive of the government’s plan for their city.A member of the armed forces waits to test local residents at the Liverpool Tennis Centre on the first day of mass testing pilot, in Liverpool, Britain, Nov. 6, 2020.“You can be symptom-free and still positive and you’re going to go about your business and spread it aren’t you? So, the more people that do it, the more people that will hopefully stay in if they are found positive,” said one woman who lining up to be tested.
There is hope in Liverpool that if enough people come forward for testing, more infections will be detected, which will help to eventually bring down the numbers. Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson tested negative on the first day of and urged the population to take advantage of the free testing.
“It’s estimated that about 80% of people who have the virus are asymptomatic so, if we identify people who have the virus and would then self-isolate, it’s going to stop the spread of the virus. So, it’s crucial that we use this tool,” Anderson said.
The Liverpool pilot project will allow up to 500,000 people to be tested over 10 days. If successful, the government has said it plans to roll the pilot out in other cities and areas of the country. Britain has the highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe.
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Biden Transition Team Didn’t Wait for Verdict to Get Busy
Joe Biden’s transition team didn’t wait for a verdict in the presidential race before getting to work. Well before Saturday’s victory for Biden, longtime aide Ted Kaufman had been leading efforts to ensure the former vice president can begin building out a government in anticipation of a victory. Kaufman is a former senator from Delaware who was appointed to fill the seat vacated when Biden was elected vice president. He also worked on Barack Obama’s transition team in 2008, and helped write legislation formalizing the presidential transition process. Biden first asked Kaufman to start work on a just-in-case transition in April, shortly after the former vice president locked up the presidential nomination at the conclusion of a once-crowded Democratic primary. The transition can be a frenzied process even under normal circumstances. It was at least somewhat reminiscent of the 2000 presidential race and that year’s postelection legal fight over the recount in Florida. After more than a month, the dispute between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore was decided by the Supreme Court — truncating the transition period to just 39 days before the January 2001 inauguration. Clay Johnson, who headed Bush’s transition team, said Biden’s advisers couldn’t “wait to be sure that the president-elect really is the president-elect.” Johnson said that in June of 1999 — about 17 months before Election Day 2000 — Bush approached him about heading the possible transition, having seen his father go through the process 11 years earlier. Prior to Election Day, Bush had already settled on Andy Card to serve as chief of staff for both the transition and at the White House. Johnson thought they were ahead of schedule. But then came the recount. After an initial 10 days or so, Bush’s running mate, Dick Cheney, told Johnson to begin raising money and making staffing decisions, declaring that the race “is going to be resolved one way or the other.” The Bush team was unable to conduct FBI background checks on potential Cabinet members and other appointees with no official winner declared. Instead, it used a former White House general counsel from the Reagan administration to conduct interviews designed to screen for potential problems that might have turned up in background checks. “You have to assume you are it and not be presumptuous but they better be working hard as if they are it,” Johnson said of Biden’s team. “And they should have started doing that last Tuesday night.” Biden’s campaign has refused to comment on the transition process. His closest advisers say the top priority will be announcing a White House chief of staff, then assembling the pieces needed to tackle the coronavirus. A president gets 4,000 appointees, and more than 1,200 of them must be confirmed by the Senate. That could be a challenge for Biden since the Senate may well remain controlled by the Republicans. The transition process formally starts once the General Service Administration determines the winner based on all available facts. That’s vague enough guidance that Trump could pressure the agency’s director to stall. It’s also unclear if the president would meet personally with Biden. Obama met with Trump less than a week after the election, but there was no dispute about him having topped Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College. Whenever the process starts, Biden will have to cope with the coronavirus, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans. Biden has promised to use his transition period to meet with the governors of every state and ask them to impose a nationwide mask-wearing mandate. He says he plans to go around any holdouts to secure such rules from county and local officials. Another key decision will be how Biden deploys his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. His campaign has indicated that Biden will establish a White House-level coronavirus task force like Trump did, but it’s not clear if he will tap Harris to run it. Vice President Mike Pence heads the current panel. Biden has been huddling in his Wilmington home with top advisers and family. Harris has stuck close too, occupying a Delaware hotel with her family since election night and joining Biden as he gave remarks in recent days. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a former Biden presidential primary rival, said he expects Harris to be “a real partner” to Biden and hopes to see her “managing major issues of importance.”
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