U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to review aid operations aimed at helping growing numbers of refugees fleeing conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. More than 43,000 Ethiopians have crossed the border into Eastern Sudan this month. Conditions in Tigray are becoming more dangerous and growing numbers of refugees are fleeing to Sudan in search of protection and shelter. This large influx is putting an enormous burden upon the Sudanese government and aid agencies. The U.N. refugee chief is meeting with officials in Khartoum to see how his agency can best support the government and meet the overwhelming needs of the refugees.The UNHCR continues to ramp up its relief effort together with Sudan’s Commission on Refugees, local authorities and other humanitarian agencies. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says new camp sites are being built and work is going ahead to erect more shelters and improve services.He tells VOA the UNHCR has helped to relocate nearly 10,000 refugees away from the border inside Sudan. However, he notes many refugees want to stay close to the border in hopes of seeing family members who have become separated from them during their flight.“That is why one important service that we humanitarians working with authorities are providing is family tracing services,” said Baloch. “We have been able to get some family members reunited but worries are there that many are left behind. And those who are fleeing they talk about the conflict, hearing gunshots. Some have just fled even before in anticipation of the conflict reaching them.” The UNHCR is raising concern for the safety of civilians caught in conflict inside Ethiopia’s Tigray, particularly in the capital Mekele, home to more than 500,000 people. These concerns are widely shared by humanitarians and activists since the Ethiopian prime minister announced plans to launch a so-called final phase in Tigray’s northern region. Fearing many civilian casualties, the United Nations is warning of possible war crimes if the Ethiopian army attacks Mekele.Baloch says the worsening situation of some 96,000 Eritrean refugees in four camps in Tigray is also very worrying. Before the start of the conflict in early November, he says the UNHCR had regular access to the refugees.“Since the start of it, we have lost access,” said Baloch. “We had done, and these refugees rely on humanitarian distributions. We had done the distribution we had done before the start of the conflict. According to what they have had, is they will be running out of food as of Monday.” The UNHCR is calling for unconditional and unhindered humanitarian access to reach these desperate people with life-saving aid as soon as possible.
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Month: November 2020
Navalny Urges EU to Target Putin’s Oligarch Backers
Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny urged the EU on Friday to put targeted economic sanctions on the oligarchs surrounding President Vladimir Putin.”There is no sense in sanctioning colonels or generals or some people who are definitely not travelling a lot,” Navalny told MEPs by videolink.Addressing the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Navalny, who is recovering in Germany after a poisoning allegedly ordered by the Kremlin, argued for a new strategy.He said the Russian officials and military officers who are traditionally targeted “definitely do not have a lot of estate or bank accounts in Europe”.Instead, he argued, Brussels should go after what he said was Putin’s true inner circle of wealthy moguls with yachts and investments in the EU.Western government have concluded that Navalny was poisoned by Novichok, a military-grade poison that would be hard for non-state assassins to procure.He is recovering after treatment in a Berlin hospital, but his case has increased tensions between Moscow and European capitals, especially Berlin.The EU has imposed entry bans and bank account freezes on six people suspected of being responsible, including the head of Russia’s FSB intelligence agency.But Navalny said it was a mistake to look for a political motive in Moscow’s actions, arguing that the Moscow elite is simply interested in money.”The Russian state must be treated like a bunch of criminals who have temporarily seized power,” he said, urging Europe to support the Russian people.He warned Brussels to reject the result of next year’s Russian parliamentary elections which he said would certainly be rigged.
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Philippines Looking to Reverse Course on Scrapping US Military Pact
The Philippines, an old American ally in Asia, is changing its view on whether to scrap a key U.S. military pact, as it explores new ways of benefiting from U.S. defense aid without isolating its newer superpower friend, China, analysts and officials say.Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte this month announced that cancelling the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) would be suspended for another six months, which lets U.S. troops access Philippine soil for military exercises aimed at regional security as well as local humanitarian work. Philippine presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday that in six more months “we will know” the president’s decision.The first suspension was announced in June, four months after Manila said it would fully withdraw from the 21-year-old pact.Duterte hopes the suspensions will prompt the United States – which wants to keep the agreement so its military personnel can easily reach Asia – renegotiate the two-way defense relationship with a focus not just on warding off China but also on quelling armed rebels at home, analysts believe.FILE – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during his address to a Filipino business sector in suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines, Oct. 13, 2016.Shortly after taking office in 2016, the leader surprised his citizens by seeking a friendship with China despite a maritime sovereignty dispute that shook the two sides from 2012 to 2016. That year, a world court said Chinese claims in the contested waterway, the South China Sea, were illegal.The Philippines president has expressed anti-American views while in office, but domestic opinion polls show that much of the public still favors close ties with Washington. Duterte’s government has acknowledged this year that China remains a threat at sea despite Chinese economic aid offered since 2016.“For the Duterte government’s perspective, there’s too much focus from the United States on U.S.-China great power competition and arming the Philippines to deal with China, rather than arming the Philippines so that the Philippines can do other missions as well,” said Derek Grossman, senior analyst with the U.S.-based Rand Corp. research institution.“By delaying the VFA further, they are keeping the agreement intact but also putting some pressure on negotiators to come up with a better deal,” he said.Philippines Breaks Major Security Agreement with USAgreement that allows US forces to be stationed on Philippine soil has long been a target of President Rodrigo DuterteForeign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. sent in February a “notice of termination” of the Visiting Forces Agreement to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, following through on an order from Duterte. He hinted later that the president was having a rethink.“Why did he change his mind? A man who does not change his mind cannot change anything,” Locsin tweeted June 3 in announcing the first suspension. “And he ran on the slogan: Change is coming.”Washington and Manila separately signed a Mutual Defense Treaty in 1951. The Visiting Forces Agreement is seen as a way to execute the 1951 deal through arms sales, exchanges of intelligence and new discussions on military cooperation.Duterte probably hopes the government of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will renegotiate military ties so the Philippines can tone down maritime defenses against China and instead focus on anti-terrorism campaigns around the restive southern Philippine island Mindanao, experts say. Expect more suspensions of the VFA cancellation, they add.China or US ? Philippines Foreign Policy Plays Both SidesForeign secretary says Asia needs more US presence“It’s going to be like this until the two sides really find an agreement to better the alliance based on mutually acceptable terms,” said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila.About 20 Muslim rebel groups operate in Mindanao and the adjacent Sulu Sea. Mindanao is a stronghold too for the Philippine communist party’s armed front.Duterte ultimately wants a superpower-neutral foreign policy like those crafted by Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, some experts say.The United States had governed the Philippines for more than five decades before granting it independence after World War II. For Washington today, the Philippines represents one in a Western Pacific chain of political allies that work together as needed to stop Chinese maritime expansion.Beijing resents U.S. military activity near the resource-laden, 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea. China, better armed than any other country in East Asia, calls 90% of the sea its own despite protests from the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.“The Philippines will be friends with both sides, but it will not be taken for a ride and I think the six-month, short-term leash is also seen in the context that the Philippines and the U.S. [are] still discussing revisions of the Mutual Defense Treaty,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.Duterte’s government values its U.S. ties as well as others, Jose Manuel Romualdez, Philippines ambassador to the United States, said November 18 in a videoconference with the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall.“It’s not fair to say Duterte is really just cozying up to China and it’s a zero-sum game,” the ambassador said. “We would like to have relations with all countries. We feel that our interests will be best protected by reaching out to major countries like China and even Russia to do what is best for our country.”
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Amid Pandemic, Earlier Promotions Black Friday Takes New Shape
From Walmart Inc to Best Buy, retailers have overhauled Black Friday shopping, with some assigning clerks in orange vests to serve as traffic cops, taking shoppers’ temperatures and offering “grab-and-go” merchandise, including toys, bikes and kitchen appliances to discourage lingering in store aisles.Most major retailers closed on Thanksgiving this year in a nod to the stress endured by their workers during a global health pandemic. Walmart reopened stores at 5 a.m. on Friday, directing shoppers to turn right upon entering and proceed along main aisles to shop deals before paying at registers surrounded by plastic barriers.Best Buy is opening its doors at 5 a.m. and Target, which introduced contactless self-checkout and doubled the number of parking spots for its contactless “Drive Up” pick-up service this holiday season, set a 7 a.m. opening.Traditionally, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has launched the holiday shopping season in the United States, with retailers offering steep discounts and turning a significant profit.But during this pandemic-ridden year, major retailers from Target Corp to Kohl’s Corp and Walmart rolled out online winter holiday promotions in October to capture any holiday-related spending as early as possible.Overall, the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts U.S. holiday retail sales will increase between 3.6% and 5.2% over 2019, for a total of $755.3 billion to $766.7 billion. That compares with an average annual increase of 2.5% over the past five years.A Walmart spokeswoman said the world’s largest retailer was not selling traditional “hot-ticket doorbuster” items in stores this Black Friday. But even as health officials around the globe encouraged people to stay home and shop online, Walmart set aside some deals only for shoppers who came into its stores—advertising items including “in-store only” savings on $5 packs of Wonder Nation’s girls’ and boys’ underwear and socks. The spokeswoman declined to comment on the ads.Lindsey Cox, 43, of Thomasville, North Carolina, said she noticed Walmart’s advertised in-store price for Christmas gnomes was much lower than on Amazon.com Inc. But she said she doesn’t plan to visit Walmart stores on Black Friday.”I could not justify going into the store right now,” the stay-at-home mother of three told Reuters. The savings is “not worth the tradeoff” of her or her family potentially being exposed to people who may be infected with coronavirus, she said.On Nov. 19, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deemed “going shopping in crowded stores just before, on, or after Thanksgiving” as a high-risk activity.More than half of U.S. shoppers expect to shop online on Black Friday, despite 75% of consumers taking advantage of seasonal sales, which started earlier this year, an Adobe Analytics survey predicts.However, 55% of consumers reported that sales on the Black Friday weekend feel less special due to promotions in the run up to the event, according to Adobe.Adobe expects Thanksgiving Day to come in below $6 billion in total sales, with Black Friday set to cross $10 billion in sales.The volume of Black Friday payment transactions in Britain as of 0900 GMT was down 13.2% versus last year, initial data from Barclaycard showed, with retailers of non-essential goods still shut and many in the sector spreading out online discounts throughout the month.The end of England’s second national lockdown on Dec. 2 is predicted to see a surge in transactions, surpassing Black Friday, Barclaycard, which processes nearly one pound ($1.33) in every three pounds spent in the United Kingdom, said.
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Iranian Diplomat on Trial in Belgium, Charged with Plotting Attack
An Iranian diplomat and three other Iranian citizens went on trial in Belgium Friday for allegedly plotting to bomb a 2018 rally of the Paris-based National Council Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group in exile.Belgian prosecutors charged Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi and the other Iranians for the alleged plot against the gathering, where the keynote speaker was U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.Assadi was arrested in Germany while on holiday and handed over to Belgium.He refused to appear in court the first day of the trial in Antwerp, claiming diplomatic immunity through his lawyer.”My client asked me to represent him today, he let me know he has the fullest respect for these judges but as he considers that he should benefit from immunity, they are not allowed to judge him,” his lawyer, Dimitri de Beco, told reporters outside the court.Assadi was the third-highest ranking official at Iran’s embassy in Vienna and, according to French officials, he was in charge of intelligence in southern Europe.Tehran has repeatedly denied the charges, saying the allegations are a “false flag” stunt by the NCRI, which Iran considers a terrorist group.This is the first time a European Union country is adjudicating a case on terrorism charges involving an Iranian government official.
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China Imposes Anti-Dumping Measures on Australian Wine
China on Friday said it would impose anti-dumping tariffs on Australian wine, the latest salvo in an increasingly terse standoff between the two that has worsened since Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.
Beijing has on several occasions used the threat of diminished access to its vast domestic market as a stick to beat Australia and has suspended imports of some products including beef and timber.
In the latest blow, China’s commerce ministry announced wine importers will be forced to pay deposits of 107-212 percent of the value of their goods at customs, saying the move was in response to “substantive harm caused to the relevant domestic wine industry”.
But Australia’s trade minister Simon Birmingham on Friday blasted the punitive measure as “grossly unfair, unwarranted, unjustified”, and called the dumping accusation “erroneous in fact and in substance”.
At a news conference, Birmingham said there was a “perception” that China was engaging in a “deliberate strategy, piling on pressure in a number of different sectors”.
Canberra would continue to raise with the World Trade Organization “our concerns about the number and cumulative effect of China’s trade sanctions against Australia”, he said.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Friday defended the measures as a legitimate move to protect Chinese winemakers and consumers.
Zhao instead blamed Canberra for strained ties with Beijing, saying “Australia should do some deep introspection” and “reflect on whether they have respected China’s interests”.
China’s ministry of commerce said in August it would probe dumping — when a country sells goods in a country for less than it costs at home — throughout 2019, at the request of the Wine Industry Association of China.
Wine exports to China hit a record A$1.3 billion (US$900 million) last year, according to Australian government data, making it the biggest market by value for Australia.
Friday’s news sent shares in Treasury Wine Estates Limited — which owns the popular Penfolds brands — tumbling more than 11 percent before trade was halted.
China’s commerce ministry has complained Australian wines benefit from government subsidies that give them an advantage over Chinese products.
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Ethiopians Flee Tigray Capital Fearing Military Assault
Fearing an imminent assault, people are fleeing Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s order for the “final phase” of the military offensive aganist local forces.The government has warned the city of half a million people of “no mercy” if they did not distance themselves from the Tigray leaders in time.Abiy warned Mekele residents Thursday to disarm and stay inside as military units were ordered in. His government, however, has declared it would protect civilians.”The last peaceful gate which had remained open for the TPLF clique to walk through have now been firmly closed as a result of TPLF’s contempt for the people of Ethiopia,” Abiy said in a statement Thursday, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.Final Phase of the Rule of Law Operations Commences pic.twitter.com/TAAyZxSe0U— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) November 26, 2020Earlier this week, Abiy gave the TPLF 72 hours to surrender or face a military offensive on the state’s capital of Mekele.In the meantime, food and other items are running in short supply in the Tigray region of 6 million people. The United Nations has called for immediate access for humanitarian aid that is neutral and impartial.Abiy’s government has said a “humanitarian access route” would become available, managed by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Peace.The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in Tigray since November 4, when Abiy sent the national defense force into the area, after accusing local forces of attacking a military base there.Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 40,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan, recounting horrific tales of violence.The conflict has raised alarm from rights organizations and the United Nations, which have urged Abiy to seek a diplomatic solution to the problem, noting the harm faced by civilians already victims of a weak economy and the coronavirus pandemic.But Abiy thus far has rejected all calls for dialogue with Tigray leaders.
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Rescuers Search for 30 Trapped Miners in Zimbabwe
Rescuers are trying to reach at least 30 miners in Zimbabwe trapped underground after a shaft in an outdated gold mine collapsed.Relatives of those trapped have been holding vigil since late Wednesday, when the accident occurred in the town of Bindura, well north of the capital, Harare.The French news agency Agence France-Presse reports the head of Zimbabwe’s miners’ federation, Wellington Takavarasha, said Thursday that six people have been rescued.Miners who are part of small-scale operations are said to work in unauthorized settings to avoid selling their gold to a state-owned buyer and receiving a reduced amount of foreign currency.Gold mining accounts for 60% of the foreign currency coming into Zimbabwe.
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Cambodia Court Defers Opposition Treason Trial to 2021
A Cambodian court convened Thursday for the treason trial of more than 100 opposition figures and then deferred proceedings until next year, delaying a case widely condemned as a move by long-serving premier Hun Sen to decimate his political rivals.A total of 121 defendants, all tied to the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), had been summoned to appear Thursday, but just 34 showed up, with many in exile, convinced they would not get a fair hearing.Deputy prosecutor and court spokesperson Kuch Kimlong confirmed that judges had decided the case be divided into two and heard in January and March.”Maybe it’s related to the issue that the accused need to have defense lawyers,” he told Reuters when asked the reason.Defendants and court staff were seen arriving amid tight security at the Phnom Penh court, with most media unable to enter what police said was a packed courtroom.The CNRP was banned and its leader Kem Sokha arrested ahead of an election in 2018, allowing Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party to win every parliamentary seat.Kem Sokha’s treason charges stem from accusations he conspired with the United States to overthrow Hun Sen, which both he and Washington reject.The opposition crackdown has strained Cambodia’s ties with the West and prompted the European Union, its key export destination, to rescind some trade privileges.Experts say that has only pushed Cambodia deeper into the orbit of China.Several defendants had complained they had not seen their indictments ahead of what government critics and a United Nations human rights expert have called a politically motivated trial. The government has insisted serious crimes were committed and due process would be followed.Other defendants believe their inclusion was punishment for supporting the failed return from exile of Sam Rainsy, Hun Sen’s biggest rival during his 35-year rule.Those include Seng Theary, an American-Cambodian lawyer who was among the few to appear on Thursday at what she called “a kangaroo court employing laws of the jungle.”
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Can Recycling Be Profitable?
China used to be the world’s biggest buyer of recycled materials around the world. But that stopped in 2018, when the country banned importing recycled plastics and other scrap materials, forcing the United States and many other countries to look for a new alternative. VOA’s Keith Kocinski has more from New York.
Camera: Nick Jastrzebski Producer: Keith Kocinski
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In Senegal, Entrepreneurial Cancer Survivor Looks to 3-D Printing to Aid Amputees
When a Senegalese woman lost her arm to cancer, she viewed her new reality not as a disability but a problem that needed fixing. Allison Lékogo Fernandes reports from the capital in this reported narrated by Carol Guensberg.
Camera: Allison Lékogo Fernandes Producer: Allison Lékogo Fernandes
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CIA Officer Killed in Somalia, Report Says
A CIA officer was killed in combat in Somalia in recent days, U.S. media said Thursday without releasing details of how the agent died.The veteran officer was a member of the CIA’s Special Activities Center, a paramilitary branch that carries out some of the US intelligence agency’s most dangerous tasks, The New York Times said.The officer died of injuries suffered during an operation last week, according to CNN.The CIA has not commented publicly on the death.Washington has some 700 troops deployed in Somalia carrying out training of Somali forces and conducting counter-terrorism raids against the Al-Shabaab militant group, which Washington designated a terrorist movement in 2008.Earlier this month, Washington put on its terror blacklist the leader of an elite unit of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group blamed for a January attack in Kenya that killed three Americans.Al-Shabaab is estimated to have between 5,000 and 9,000 fighters who have vowed to overthrow the Somali government, which is supported by some 20,000 troops from the African Union.The slain US operative was a veteran of special forces operations, having previously been a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, the Times reported.The outgoing administration of President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing all US forces from Somalia by the time he leaves office in January, the paper added.At the start of his term, Trump gave the Pentagon a freer hand to expand their operations, with both air strikes and ground raids, in the war-ravaged African country.But an official report released in February said that “despite continued US air strikes in Somalia and US assistance to African partner forces, Al-Shabaab appears to be a growing threat that aspires to strike the U.S. homeland.”
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Australian State of Victoria Celebrates 28 Days Without a New COVID-19 Case
The Australian state of Victoria has recorded no new coronavirus cases or deaths for 28 consecutive days. Health authorities say they have achieved what is widely considered to be the official benchmark for eliminating COVID-19 from the community.The last coronavirus patient in Victoria was discharged from a hospital Monday. There have been no reported cases or fatalities in Australia’s second-most populous state for a month.Infections, though, have been detected in other parts of the country. There are concerns the virus could escape into the community from quarantine hotels for citizens returning from overseas. They face a mandatory 14 days in guarded isolation on their return home, but breaches in security were blamed for a deadly second wave of infections in Victoria.But the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, said Australia’s success in containing COVID-19 has been widely praised.“The outside world is not a safe place,” he said. “We see that the outside world beyond Australia’s borders has enormous numbers of cases and so we will, as a world, have to manage COVID-19 at least through 2021 and potentially beyond and that has implications for Australia. At the same time, Australia has done incredibly well. We have still had heartache; we have still had tragedy. But the world looks at Australia and overwhelmingly says, ‘We wish we were Australia.’”Authorities say there have been four critical parts to Australia’s coronavirus battle plan: closing its borders to foreign travelers back in March, mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing and strict lockdowns.There have also been high levels of compliance by Australians to social distancing and hygiene protocols.A second wave of infections prompted state authorities in Victoria to bring in some of the world’s toughest lockdown restrictions in July, which have been relaxed in recent weeks.Australia has recorded almost 28,000 coronavirus cases and 907 deaths since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
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Trump Says He Will Leave White House if Biden Wins Electoral College Vote
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, the closest he has come to conceding the Nov. 3 election, even as he repeated his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.Speaking to reporters on the Thanksgiving holiday, Republican Trump said if Democrat Biden, who is to be sworn in Jan. 20, is certified the election winner by the Electoral College, he will depart the White House.But Trump said it would be hard for him to concede under the current circumstances and declined to say whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration.”This election was a fraud,” Trump insisted at the White House while continuing to offer no concrete evidence of widespread voting irregularities. Earlier Trump spoke by video link with members of the U.S. military for the holiday.Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes — many more than the 270 required — to Trump’s 232, and the electors are scheduled to meet Dec. 14 to formalize the outcome. Biden also leads Trump by more than 6 million in the popular vote tally.Trump has so far refused to fully acknowledge his defeat, though last week, with mounting pressure from his own Republican ranks, he agreed to let Biden’s transition process officially proceed.Asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden, Trump said: “Certainly I will. Certainly I will. And you know that.””But I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January. A lot of things,” he said. “Massive fraud has been found. We’re like a third world country.”Desperate efforts by Trump and his aides to overturn results in key states, either by lawsuits or by pressuring state legislators, have failed, and he is running out of options.In the United States, a candidate becomes president by securing the most electoral votes rather than by winning a majority of the national popular vote. Electors, allotted to the 50 states and the District of Columbia largely based on their population, are party loyalists who pledge to support the candidate who won the popular vote in their state.Biden, Trump stay close to homeBiden and Trump both stayed close to home to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the country.Biden spent the holiday in the small seaside town of Rehoboth, Delaware, where he and his wife, Jill, have a vacation home. The Bidens hosted daughter Ashley Biden and her husband, Dr. Howard Krein, for the holiday meal.The former vice president, appearing with his wife in a video message posted to his Twitter account on Thanksgiving, said his family typically holds a large gathering on the island of Nantucket off Massachusetts but would remain in Delaware this year “with just a small group around our dinner table” because of the pandemic.In the presidential-style address to a nation that has lost more than 260,000 lives to the coronavirus, the Democratic president-elect said Americans were making a “shared sacrifice for the whole country” and a “statement of common purpose” by staying at home with their immediate families.Trump often likes to celebrate holidays at his Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida. But on Thursday he remained in the Washington area, spending part of the morning at his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, where he played a round of golf.
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Hundreds Sentenced to Life Terms in 2016 Turkey Coup Attempt
A Turkish court on Thursday handed down life sentences to more than 300 military and civilian personnel who had been on trial for three years for their roles in a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in July 2016.They were among 475 people who had gone on trial in August 2017 in connection with the failed coup. The takeover attempt left more than 250 people dead and 2,000 people injured.The incident led to a massive crackdown; 130,000 people were fired from their government jobs.Prosecutors accused the defendants in the mass trial, including some generals and fighter jet pilots, of directing the coup and bombing key government buildings, including a section of Turkey’s parliament. They were also accused of holding then-military chief Hulusi Akar, who now serves as defense minister, captive for several hours. Authorities say the defendants directed the plot from the Akinci base outside the capital, Ankara.A Turkish soldier patrols next to the entrance of the Sincan Penal Institution at the 4th Heavy Penal Court near Ankara, on Nov. 26, 2020.The defendants were also accused of working at the behest of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of masterminding the action. He has denied any wrongdoing. Turkey has sought his extradition.The court ruled that Gulen and four others wanted by the Turkish authorities should be tried separately.Seventy people were acquitted in the case, while some received prison sentences of between six and 16 years.The deputy chairman of Erdogan’s Justice and Development party, Leyla Sahin Usta, speaking to state-run Anadolu news agency, said the party is “experiencing the joy of seeing the defendants, who were already put on trial by the public’s conscience, receive their punishment.” The chairman also said the development Thursday marked “the end of the era of coups in Turkey.”Loved ones of some defendants said they were not happy with the outcome. Busra Taskiran, fiancee of a trainee F-16 pilot, told The Associated Press her boyfriend and other trainee pilots were “convicted today for life, despite not taking part in the coup attempt.” She said they fought against the coup “by locking themselves in a room.”The father of another convicted trainee pilot, Alper Kalin, said the court did not consider evidence that could have proved the innocence of some trainees.
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Observers Dismayed as US Considers Troop Pullout From Somalia
No other country has been involved in Somalia’s future as much as the United States. Now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the Horn of Africa nation at what some experts call the worst possible time.Three decades of chaos, from warlords to al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab to the emergence of an Islamic State-linked group, have ripped apart the country that only in the past few years has begun to find its footing. The U.S. Embassy returned to Somalia just last year, 28 years after diplomats and staffers fled.Somalia faces a tense election season that begins in the next few weeks to decide the presidency and parliament. United Nations experts say al-Shabab, supporting its 5,000 to 10,000 fighters on a rich diet of extorting businesses and civilians, is improving its bombmaking skills. And an ever bigger military force, the African Union’s 19,000-strong AMISOM, has begun its own withdrawal from a country whose forces are widely considered unready to assume full responsibility for security.It is not clear whether President Donald Trump will order the withdrawal of the estimated 700 U.S. military forces from Somalia, following his orders for Afghanistan and Iraq, or whether the reported urge will pass before he leaves office in January. But the idea is taken seriously, even as U.S. drone strikes are expected to continue in Somalia against al-Shabab and IS fighters from neighboring Djibouti and Kenya — where al-Shabab carried out a deadly attack against U.S. forces early this year.The U.S. Africa Command has seen a “definitive shift” this year in al-Shabab’s focus to attack U.S. interests in the region, a new report by the Department of Defense inspector general said Wednesday — and the command says al-Shabab is Africa’s most dangerous and imminent threat.Here’s what’s at stake:Counterterrorism”The first thing … it’s disastrous for Somalia’s security sector. It just causes that first panic reaction — you know, ‘Why now?’ said Samira Gaid, a Somali national security specialist who served as senior security adviser to the prime minister and special adviser to the head of AMISOM. “Especially since over the past 3½ years in particular the security sector really improved, and we tried to work closely with” the U.S., she told The Associated Press.FILE – U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Damian T. Donahoe, deputy commanding general, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, center, talks with service members during a battlefield circulation, Sept. 5, 2020, in Somalia.Recent progress includes a “war council” between the U.S. and Somali governments, she said, where the U.S. helps to draw up military plans. “We call them Somali-led operations, but really the U.S. is hand-holding us through it.”The U.S. military also trains Somalia’s elite Danab special forces that now number around 1,000, and is providing Danab with air cover and intelligence, Gaid said.Danab units are now operational in four of Somalia’s five member states, the U.S. military says, and they conducted about 80% of the Somali national army’s offensive forces in the quarter ending September 30 and nearly all operations against al-Shabab.The Danab forces also serve as a model for how the rest of Somali military forces can develop to be “more meritocracy and less clan-focused,” said Omar Mahmood, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.The loss of U.S. forces is widely seen as a gain for al-Shabab, and for the far smaller presence of hundreds of IS-affiliated fighters in Somalia’s north.Al-Shabab’s messaging has always stressed the extremist group’s staying power, national security specialist Gaid said: “These external forces will always leave.” A U.S. withdrawal will play into that narrative.SecurityWithout U.S. forces, al-Shabab “will find it easier to overrun AMISOM, let alone the Somali national army,” Vanda Felbab-Brown, co-director of the African Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution, told an online event this week. And with neighboring Ethiopia’s conflict increasing pressure to withdraw more Ethiopian forces from Somalia, a U.S. troop withdrawal “is really just the worst time.”The U.S. has said implementation of the plan for Somali forces to take over the country’s security next year is “badly off track,” said the new report by the Department of Defense inspector general.FILE – U.S. Army Spc. Dominic Deitrick, assigned to the 1-186th Infantry Battalion, seen through a night-vision device, provides security, June 12, 2020, at an undisclosed location in Somalia.Somali forces cannot contain the al-Shabab threat on their own, the report said. They still rely on the international community for financial support, and yet they “sometimes go unpaid for months.”The U.S. has been the most engaged security partner in Somalia “willing to get down and dirty,” Mahmood said. But no other country appears to have the willingness to replace what U.S. forces are doing on the ground.And a withdrawal of both the U.S. and AMISOM would risk leaving the impression that “Somalia increasingly can rely less and less on external security partners,” Mahmood said.Political stabilitySomalia is on the brink of elections, with the parliamentary vote scheduled in December and the presidential one in February. What was intended to be the country’s first one-person-one-vote election in decades instead remains limited by disputes between the federal government and regional ones, which the U.S. has said also weakens command and control of Somali forces.At least keep U.S. forces in Somalia until after the elections, Felbab-Brown wrote this week, warning of possible postelection violence or al-Shabab taking advantage of any chaos.Even though U.S. forces don’t provide election security, “our problem is, with the U.S. focused on a drawdown of troops, it would not be focused on how the elections are going politically,” Gaid said.The U.S. has been one of the most vocal actors on Somalia’s election process, she said. “We were all expecting after November that the U.S. would be clear on a lot of stuff. Now it seems we have to wait.”
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Paris Police Suspended Over Beating of Black Man
A Black man beaten by several French police officers said he is seeking justice after the publication of videos showing officers repeatedly punching him, using a truncheon and tear gas against him for no apparent reason.French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered the officers involved in the case suspended.The incident came as President Emmanuel Macron’s government is pushing a new bill that restricts the ability to film police, which has prompted protests from civil liberties groups and journalists concerned that it would allow police brutality to go undiscovered and unpunished.Demonstrators gather during a protest against a bill on police images, in Paris, Nov. 21, 2020.Videos first published on Thursday by French news website Loopsider show the violent arrest of a music producer, Michel Zecler, in the 17th arrondissement or district of the French capital on Saturday.The video images obtained by The Associated Press, both from a security camera inside the studio and filmed by neighbors outside, show three officers following Zecler inside his music studio, where they can be seen repeatedly punching him and beating him with a truncheon.Zecler told AP he feels good now that “the truth is out.””I want to understand why I have been assaulted by people who were wearing a police uniform. I want justice actually, because I believe in the justice of my country,” he said.Zecler said that the officers hurled repeated insults at him, including a very strong racist epithet.He added that he still does not understand why officers decided to arrest him. He suffered injuries to his head, forearms and legs.His lawyer, Hafida El Ali, said: “He asked them what they wanted, if they wanted to check his identity. … They didn’t stop beating him, the video of the violence (inside the studio) lasts for 12 minutes.”At some point the officers called in reinforcements and went outside. They then threw a tear gas grenade into the studio to get those inside to come out, according El Ali.El Ali said that nine others who were recording music in the studio basement were also beaten.”Outside they are still beaten up and thrown to the ground and that’s the moment when a police officer sees they are being filmed,” she said. Then the violence stops.Zecler was taken into custody.Zecler’s lawyer stressed the value of the videos in her client’s case.”These videos are essential because initially my client was being detained … for violence against people with public authority,” El Ali said. “This is very serious. The reality is that if we didn’t have these videos maybe my client would be in prison.”Darmanin tweeted that the body that investigates allegations of police misconduct, the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, is looking into the case, saying, “I want disciplinary proceedings as soon as possible.”The Paris prosecutor’s office is also investigating the police actions. The prosecutor’s office said Thursday it has dropped the proceedings against Zecler that were opened the day of his arrest.It’s the second such police brutality investigation in Paris this week prompted by video footage. The government ordered an internal police investigation on Tuesday after police officers were filmed tossing migrants out of tents and intentionally tripping one while evacuating a protest camp.That same day, France’s lower house of Parliament approved a draft law meant to strengthen local police and provide greater protection to all officers. It notably makes it a crime to publish images of officers with intent to cause them harm. The bill, which enjoys public support after recent terrorist attacks, will now go to the Senate.
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WHO Urges Africa to Prepare for Vaccine Rollout
The World Health Organization urged African countries Thursday to prepare plans to distribute vaccinations for COVID-19 as they become available.A WHO study found that many African countries were not ready for “what will be the continent’s largest immunization drive.”“Planning and preparation will make or break this unprecedented endeavor, and we need active leadership and engagement from the highest levels of government with solid, comprehensive national coordination plans and systems put in place,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, was quoted as saying in a press release.As the race to find a safe & effective #COVID19 vaccine is showing increasing promise, a new @WHO analysis finds that #Africa is far from ready for what will be the continent’s largest ever immunisation drive. 👉🏿https://t.co/o0Rh2Zlv15pic.twitter.com/iBn1XrTeKs— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) November 26, 2020Experts warned that while the development of a vaccine was to be celebrated, it was only the first step in “a successful rollout.”John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the continent would need about 1.5 billion doses, at two doses per person, to achieve the 60% coverage needed to reach herd immunity for its 1.3 billion population, according to The Associated Press.However, Nkengasong said vaccinations weren’t likely to begin until the second quarter of 2021.Most African countries have fared relatively well in the pandemic compared with Europe and the United States.The continent has reported roughly 2 million cases of coronavirus and 50,000 deaths, according to the WHO.Over 2 million confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent – with more than 1.7 million recoveries & 50,000 deaths cumulatively.View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/FKav40Cbddpic.twitter.com/CAmR7xs8JX— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) November 26, 2020
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Zimbabwean Artisanal Miners Fear Resurgence of Violence
Deadly violence in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector was a problem for years until COVID-19 restrictions brought it to a sudden, surprising halt. Now, with lockdown measures gradually lifting, some in the sector fear the violence will return. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Mazowe, Zimbabwe.Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe,
Produced by: Barry Unger
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Letter From Venezuelan Jail: ‘Give Me Freedom’
A U.S. oil executive jailed for three years in Venezuela said all he hopes for is a fair trial so that he can walk free with his name cleared and go home to his family in the United States.In a letter from prison provided exclusively to The Associated Press, Tomeu Vadell said it’s especially painful to be separated during the Thanksgiving season from his wife, three adult children and a newborn grandson he’s never held.”Before living this tragedy, these celebrations were very special times for our family,” Vadell wrote, saying he embraced the traditional American holiday after moving in 1999 from Caracas to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for a job with Venezuelan-owned Citgo. “Now, they bring me a lot of sadness.”It’s the first time Vadell or any of the other so-called Citgo 6 have spoken publicly since being arrested and charged with a massive corruption scheme. He’s held at a feared Caracas jail called El Helicoide.Despite his circumstances, Vadell held out hope for a brighter future.”During the trial, the truth has proven undeniable,” Vadell said in the four-page handwritten letter. “It proves that I am innocent.”2017 meetingVadell, 61, and the five other Citgo executives were summoned to the headquarters of the Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA, the parent company of the Houston-based Citgo, for what they had been told was a budget meeting on November 21, 2017. A corporate jet shuttled them to Caracas, and they were told they’d be home for Thanksgiving.Instead, a cadre of military intelligence officers swarmed the boardroom, taking them to jail.Their trial started four months ago and closing arguments took place Thursday. That began a wait for the judge’s verdict.With their arrests, President Nicolás Maduro’s government launched a purge inside Venezuela’s once-thriving oil industry, built on the world’s largest crude reserves. It later arrested the head of PDVSA, a former oil minister and dozens of others.FILE – This undated photo posted on Twitter on June 18, 2020, by Venezuela’s foreign minister shows, from left, CITGO executives Jose Angel Pereira, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Tomeu Vadell and Alirio Jose Zambrano in Caracas.The men accused along with Vadell are Gustavo Cárdenas, Jorge Toledo, brothers Jose Luis Zambrano and Alirio Zambrano, all now U.S. citizens, and Jose Pereira, a permanent resident.They’re charged with embezzlement stemming from a never-executed proposal to refinance $4 billion in Citgo bonds by offering a 50% stake in the company as collateral. Maduro at the time accused them of “treason.” They all have said they are not guilty.The trial has played out one day a week in a downtown Caracas court. Because of the pandemic, sessions are held in front of a bank of dormant elevators in a hallway, apparently to take advantage of air flowing through open windows.Reporters and rights groups have been denied access to the hearings. There was no response to a letter addressed to Judge Lorena Cornielles seeking permission for The Associated Press to observe.The office of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor said in a statement to the AP that investigators found “serious evidence” that corroborates financial crimes potentially damaging to the state-run company.”The Citgo case has developed normally during all the stages established by the Venezuelan criminal process,” the statement said. “In the next few days, we’ll know the verdict.”Held for ‘all the wrong reasons’Vadell’s attorney, Jesus Loreto, said his client appears to have been caught up in a “geopolitical conflict” of which he’s not a part. He said Vadell’s name never appeared on any of the documents prosecutors read into evidence.”There’s nothing that refers to Tomeu in any way — directly or indirectly,” he said. “This is the story of a good guy being held against his will for all the wrong reasons.”Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has negotiated the release of other Americans held by hostile governments, traveled to Caracas in July and met with Maduro.He didn’t win their freedom, but days later two of them — Cárdenas and Toledo — were freed from jail and put in house detention. Two weeks later, the long-delayed trial began.Richardson told The Associated Press that conversations with the Venezuelan government continue, despite his meeting with Maduro being “a little stormy.”Jesus Loreto, an attorney representing Tomeu Vadell, one of six U.S. oil executives jailed in Venezuela, shows a letter written by Vadell, in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 25, 2020.Richardson said he believes there’s an opening tied to President-elect Joe Biden’s election and a desire by Maduro to improve relations with Washington.”I think the Venezuelans have been straight with me, but more progress needs to be made,” he said. “My hope is to have something positive by Christmas.”It’s not clear what approach Biden will take toward Maduro. Trump aggressively pressed to remove Maduro through sweeping financial sanctions, and the U.S. Justice Department has indicted Maduro as a “narcoterrorist,” offering a $15 million reward for his arrest.Vadell’s letter steered clear of politics. He didn’t mention Maduro or speak about his jailers, though he did express concern about the “consequences” of speaking out.With encouragement from his family, Vadell broke his silence, taking a risk relatives said was necessary.’Light of hope illuminates us'”I believe it’s more important that the light of hope illuminates us,” Vadell wrote. “May the light of hope put an end to the sadness of my family.”The five other men did not respond to invitations The Associated Press made through their lawyers to comment.Vadell’s daughter, Cristina Vadell, 29, said in a phone interview from Lake Charles that her father isn’t the kind of person who seeks attention. Rather, he prefers to focus on work and his family.During his 35-year career with PDVSA and Citgo, Vadell ended up running a massive refinery in Lake Charles and then became vice president of refining. The letter attempts to expose this side of his life, she said.”I think he was willing to take some risks and open some hearts to allow him to come home,” she said. “I think he’s still wondering, ‘What happened?’ He went to a work meeting and never came home.”She shared photos of the family with her father, standing around a Thanksgiving turkey. Each year, they would give it a name, something like Charlie or Phillip. The past three Thanksgivings just haven’t been the same without him, she said.Vadell wrote that he’s proud to be the son of Spanish immigrants to Venezuela, where he was educated as an engineer. He brought his family to the U.S., bringing the best of the two countries together, he said.”I’m now reaching an intersection where if justice is done, I will be able to rebuild my life and try to compensate my family for all the lost moments,” Vadell wrote. “The light is intense — the hope is great — give me freedom.”
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Empty Seats, Delivered Feasts as Virus Changes Thanksgiving
Vivian Zayas can’t keep herself from scrolling through photos of last Thanksgiving, when her mother stood at the stove to make a big pot of rice and beans and then took a seat at the edge of the table. That was before anyone had heard of COVID-19 and before it claimed the retired seamstress. Ana Martinez died at 78 on April 1 while recovering at a nursing home from a knee replacement. The family is having their traditional meal of turkey, yams, green beans and rice and beans — but Zayas is removing a seat from the table at her home in Deer Park, New York, this year and putting her mother’s walker in its place as a reminder of the loss. “It’s a painful Thanksgiving. You don’t even know, should you celebrate?” asked Zayas. “It’s a lonely time.” Americans are marking the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday amid an unrelenting pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people in the United States. Yayoi Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky” balloon is seen during the 94th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was closed to spectators due to the spread of COVID-19, in Manhattan, New York City, November 26, 2020.Turkey and pies will still come out ovens, football will still be on TV, families will still give thanks and have lively conversations about politics. But this holiday has been utterly altered after months filled with sorrows and hardships: Many feasts are weighed down by the loss of loved ones; others have been canceled or scaled back with the virus surging. Zoom and FaceTime calls have become a fixture at dinner tables to connect with family members who don’t want to travel. Far fewer volunteers are helping at soup kitchens or community centers. A Utah health department has been delivering boxes of food to residents who are infected with the virus and can’t go to the store. A New York nursing home is offering drive-up visits for families of residents struggling with celebrating the holiday alone. “The holidays make it a little harder,” said Harriet Krakowsky, an 85-year-old resident of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in New York who misses the big Thanksgiving celebrations of years past and has lost neighbors and friends to the virus. “I cry, but I get over it. We have to go on.” On any normal Thanksgiving Day, Kara McKlemurry and her husband would drive from their Clearwater, Florida, home to one of two places: his family’s home in another part of the state or her family’s house in Alabama. This year, McKlemurry informed her family there would be no visits because of the pandemic. And when her in-laws offered to stop by, the couple said no. Kara McKlemurry poses for a photo while writing Thanksgiving notes to family and friends at her home, November 19, 2020, in Clearwater, Florida. On any normal Thanksgiving Day, McKlemurry and her husband would gather with family.She and her husband didn’t want to risk infecting anyone or getting the virus themselves. Not everyone followed McKlemurry’s example. Millions of Americans bought tickets to fly somewhere for the holiday, crowding airports despite pleas from officials to avoid travel and gatherings. Still, McKlemurry, 27, wanted to do something unique to mark this unusual holiday — something to let everyone know that she and her husband still feel blessed this year. So, a week before Thanksgiving, armed with colored pens and stickers of owls with scarves, she hand wrote notes of gratitude to every member of the family. “We’re so grateful to have you in our lives,” she wrote on a card with a cartoon fox, “even if we can’t actually be together this year for the holidays.” In the nation’s capital, the convention center is empty unlike in previous years, when volunteers have worked together to serve a meal to about 5,000 people. In the era of social distancing, the sponsored event had to be reimagined. Ahead of the holiday, organizers delivered to 20 nonprofits 5,000 gift bags, each with winter clothing accessories, hand sanitizer and a mask, and 5,000 boxes that included a turkey sandwich with condiments, a side potato salad, a cookie and utensils. From start to finish, Thanksgiving is different this year for Jessica Franz, a nurse who works the graveyard shift at Olathe Medical Center, in a Kansas City suburb. For one, Franz, 39, is celebrating without her mother-in-law, Elaine Franz, who died of the coronavirus on November 10, just one day before her 78th birthday. In previous years, her mother-in-law, who was Mennonite, would lay out a spread for her children and grandchildren. At Franz’s work, in a typical year, co-workers would bring food for a potluck. Nurse Jessica Franz shows a photo of her mother-in-law, Elaine Franz, outside Olathe Medical Center after working the graveyard shift November 26, 2020, in Olathe, Kansas. Elaine Franz died November 10 after contracting COVID-19.None of that is happening this year. The family is shifting the festivities to Zoom and FaceTime. It’s been hard for her daughters — ages, 2, 8 and 11. Her middle daughter was exposed to the coronavirus at school and is quarantined until December 3, and her oldest daughter is struggling with the concept of a scaled-back holiday. “We had a good conversation that was, ‘This year may be different, and that’s OK. It is one year. If things are different this year and that means we get to see all the rest of our family next year, it is OK,'” said Franz, who has personally cared for patients dying of coronavirus. The Thanksgiving gathering at David Forsyth’s home in Southern California, meanwhile, comes with a uniquely 2020 feel: rapid virus tests at the door to decide who gets inside. The kit costs about $1,000 for 20 tests, each of which involve pricking a finger and putting a drop of blood on a tray. Ten minutes later the results either show someone is negative, has antibodies or is positive. Normally, about 15 to 20 people attend the family’s Thanksgiving dinner in Channel Islands Harbor. But this year, it will be only eight of them: Forsyth, his wife, her four adult sons and the partners of two of them. His wife started cooking Tuesday. She’s planning a cold cucumber soup for a starter and bunch of appetizers for the early afternoon meal. The sons are bringing side dishes. Turkey and the fixings are the main course. Champagne may be cracked. Forsyth hasn’t seen his family much during the pandemic but wanted to save the holiday. “People are trying to live a normal life,” he said. “And, you know, with the second wave coming now, it’s not a bad idea to be prepared.” Kerry Osaki, right, helps his wife, Lena Adame, in the kitchen in their Fountain Valley, California, home, November 25, 2020. This year, their traditions have fallen to the pandemic that took the life of Osaki’s 93-year-old mother.Kerry Osaki longs to see his now-grown children, without masks, and hug them. But instead he and his wife are celebrating just the two of them after their traditions were upended. Osaki’s 93-year-old mother, Rose, who lived with the couple in Orange County in California, died from the virus after all three got sick. With his mother gone, Osaki, 67, and his cousin decided to pass on the family’s annual Thanksgiving get-together. His wife, Lena Adame, typically spent the holiday cooking a spread of turkey and stuffing with her relatives — but some had seen virus cases at their workplaces, so the couple decided to skip that, too. “It’s just been a long, rough and sometimes sad year,” he said. In Ogden, Utah, Evelyn Maysonet stepped out of her home Tuesday morning to find boxes overflowing with canned goods, desserts and a turkey. She has been isolating with her husband and son since all three tested positive for COVID-19. None of them has been able to leave to buy groceries, so they were thrilled to receive the health department’s delivery — and the chance to cherish the things that matter most. “As long as you have a life and you’re still alive, just make the best of it with you and your family,” Maysonet said.
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EU Parliament Backs Lobster Deal And EU-US Mini Trade Pact
Thanksgiving just got a little bit better for the Maine lobster industry.
The European Union parliament on Thursday approved a mini trade deal with the United States, which includes the elimination of customs duties on U.S. lobster imports. The passage with 638 votes for, 45 against and 11 abstentions was the last major political step for the deal to come into effect.
As a result, the 27-nation EU will drop its 8% tariff on U.S. lobsters for the next five years and work to make the move permanent.
U.S. lobster imports to the EU came to about $111 million in 2017 before falling off in the face of rising tensions between the trading partners, and an EU trade agreement with Canada that allowed its lobsters to enter the bloc tariff-free.
Because of it, said EU legislator Bernd Lange, “we have seen a drop in demand by 50% in Maine, which is obviously quite serious. So now we are making an offer to allow American lobster to come tariff-free into the EU.”
For its part, the U.S. agreed to cut in half tariffs on EU imports worth about $160 million a year, including some prepared meals, crystal glassware and cigarette lighters. The tariff cuts will be retroactive to Aug. 1.
The deal approved on Thursday covers only a tiny portion of trans-Atlantic trade with the U.S., but the EU hopes it will have some symbolic value. And for the lobster industry, already hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, every piece of good news is welcome.
For the EU, which has had acrimonious relations with the Trump administration, a sign of goodwill will never hurt.
“We have more in common than divides us,” said Lange. “This piece of legislation is an offer: it’s not about lobster for all. It’s about cooperation instead of confrontation.”
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British-Australian Academic Accused of Spying by Iran Freed in Reported Prisoner Swap Deal
A British-Australian academic has been released from prison in Iran after more than two years. Kylie-Moore Gilbert was convicted on espionage charges, which she has always denied.Moore-Gilbert, an academic at Melbourne University, was serving a 10-year sentence in Iran for spying. She was detained at Tehran airport in 2018 after attending a conference. Accused of espionage, she was tried in secret and convicted. She has strongly denied all the charges against her. Iranian state media said she was exchanged for an Iranian businessman and two Iranian citizens “who had been detained abroad.” It has been reported the men were linked to a plot to bomb Israeli diplomats in Bangkok in 2012. Australian officials have not commented publicly on reports of a prisoner swap. In letters smuggled out of Tehran’s Evin Prison earlier this year, the British-Australian academic said she had “never been a spy” and was concerned for her mental health. Moore-Gilbert said in a statement that she still had “love and admiration” for the “warm-hearted, generous and brave people” of Iran. She added that it was “with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to.” She also thanked Australia for helping to secure her freedom. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said her release is long overdue.
“We are very happy; she is obviously very thrilled,” he said. “She is processing it all as you would expect. She is on her way back to Australia and we put those arrangements in place for her transfer back to Australia. She is with Australian officials, who are giving her all the support she needs. There will be quite an adjustment for Kylie. She has gone through a terrible ordeal. The injustice of her detention and her conviction, Australia has always rejected.” Iran has imprisoned several foreign nationals and Iranian dual citizens in recent years, many of them on charges of espionage. Human rights groups have accused Tehran of using the cases to try to gain concessions from other countries. Australia continues to warn its citizens against any travel to Iran because of a “high risk” of arbitrary arrests.
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Australia to Cancel Citizenship of Convicted Algerian-Born Terrorist
A convicted terrorist has had his Australian citizenship canceled by authorities in Canberra. Algerian-born Abdul Nacer Benbrika was jailed for 12 years in 2008 for his role in a plot to attack targets in the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
Benbrika is the first person to be stripped of Australian citizenship while in the country. Others who have had their citizenship canceled were overseas when the orders were made. Authorities still consider Benbrika to be a threat to Australia. He was arrested in 2005 along with 17 other suspects and charged with planning multiple attacks on Australian soil, including on a nuclear reactor in Sydney, a casino in Melbourne and a major sporting final. He was found guilty of terrorism offenses and sent to prison for 15 years. His sentence expired November 5 but he remains behind bars under an interim detention order. He is expected to be deported to Algeria, where he was born, and has 90 days to appeal the decision to cancel his citizenship. Opposition Labor senator Penny Wong says she supports the decision to deport the convicted extremist. “We did understand when we passed those laws through the Parliament that the cancellation of citizenship was a big step, but a necessary step in certain circumstances and Mr. Benbrika’s activities and his conviction are well-known to all of us, and that is why Labor supported the passage of that legislation,” she said. The deportation of convicted terrorists is not universally popular in Australia. Spy chiefs fear that stripping them of citizenship might increase the global threat of extremism, by simply exporting dangerous individuals with radical views to other countries. They have urged the Australian government to use its powers sparingly to avoid unintended consequences. Benbrika has lived in Australia since 1989. While he remains in prison in Victoria, he has been granted an ex-citizen visa.
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