Shaken by the gunfire erupting around her town in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the woman decided to get out. She joined a long line at the local government office for the paperwork needed to travel. But when she reached the official, he told her she had wasted her time.”This is for people who are volunteering to fight,” he said.As Ethiopia’s government wages war in its Tigray region and seeks to arrest its defiant leaders, who regard the federal government as illegitimate after a falling-out over power, the fighting that could destabilize the Horn of Africa is hidden from outside view. Communications are severed, roads blocked and airports closed.Tigray region, EthiopiaBut as one of the few hundred people who were evacuated this week from Tigray, the woman in an interview with The Associated Press offered rare details of anger, desperation and growing hunger as both sides reject international calls for dialogue, or even a humanitarian corridor for aid, in their third week of deadly fighting. The United Nations says food and other essentials “will soon be exhausted, putting millions at risk.”Supplies blocked, communication difficultWith supplies blocked at the Tigray borders and frantic aid workers using a dwindling number of satellite phones to reach the world, it is extremely difficult to hear accounts from those suffering on the ground. At least several hundred people have been killed, and the United Nations has condemned “targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnicity or religion.”The woman, an Ethiopian aid expert who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for herself and loved ones, gave one of the most detailed accounts yet of a population of some 6 million short of food, fuel, cash and even water, and without electricity as Ethiopia’s army marches closer to the Tigray capital every day.”I am telling you, people will slowly start to die,” she said.Men who fled the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region wait for UNHCR to distribute blankets at Hamdayet Transition Center, eastern Sudan, Nov. 21, 2020.Not all of her account could be verified. But the description of her passage through the Tigray capital, Mekele, to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, fit with others that have trickled out from aid workers, diplomats, a senior university official and some of the more than 35,000 refugees who have fled into Sudan after the fighting began November 4. She was connected with the AP by a foreign evacuee.As borders, roads and airports swiftly closed after Ethiopia’s prime minister announced that Tigray forces had attacked a military base, the woman felt torn. She had family in Addis Ababa and wanted to be with them.Banks had closed, but loved ones gave her enough money to travel to Mekele. As she drove, she squeezed her car through makeshift barriers of stones piled up by local youth. She said she did not see fighting.’It was a panic’In Mekele, she met with friends around the university. She was shocked by what she saw.”It was a panic,” she said. “Students were sleeping outside the university because they had come from all over.” There was little to feed them. Supplies in the markets were running low.While in Mekele, she said, she heard three “bombardments” on the city. Ethiopia’s government has confirmed airstrikes around the city. When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in televised comments told civilians in Tigray not to congregate for their safety, “that was a big panic,” she said. “People said, ‘Is he going to completely bomb us?’ There was huge anger, people pushing and saying, ‘I want to fight.’ “When she visited a loved one at a university hospital, “a doctor said they have no medicine, no insulin. At all!” she said. “They were hoping the [International Committee of the Red Cross] would give them some.”Seeking to travel on to Addis Ababa, she found fuel on the black market but was warned her car could be a target. But the U.N. and other aid groups had managed to arrange a convoy to evacuate nonessential staffers to the Ethiopian capital, and she found a space on one of the buses.”I think I was quite lucky,” she said.But as the buses pulled out of the capital, she was scared.Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in Ethiopia ride buses en route to Qadarif to seek refuge at Hamdayet Transition Center, Sudan, Nov. 21, 2020.The convoy of some 20 vehicles made its way through the night to the capital of the arid Afar region east of Tigray, then through the restive Amhara region, going slowly from checkpoint to checkpoint, not all of the security forces manning them briefed on the evacuation.”It took four days in total,” the woman said of the journey, which would have taken a day by the direct route. “I was really afraid.” Tigray special forces watched over the convoy in the beginning, she said. Near the end, federal police accompanied it. They were “very disciplined,” she said.Now, after arriving in Addis Ababa earlier this week, she adds her voice to the growing calls for dialogue between the two governments, which now regard each other as illegal after the once-dominant Tigray regional party and its members were marginalized under Abiy’s reformist two-year rule.’What about the people?'”I think they should negotiate,” she said. “And we really need a corridor so food and medicine can go in. What about the people?”The prospect of dialogue appears distant. The U.S. Embassy this week told citizens remaining in Tigray to shelter in place if they could not get out safely.Like other worried families in Ethiopia and the diaspora, the woman cannot reach her relatives left behind. Many foreigners are still trapped in Tigray, too, she said.”No one knows who is alive, who is dead,” she said. “This is a catastrophe for me.”On Thursday, she said, she managed to speak with a university friend in Mekele. The university had been hit by an airstrike. More than 20 students were wounded.”She was crying,” the evacuee said. “She’s a strong woman, I know that.” Her voice was shaking.
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Month: November 2020
Court Injunction Bars USAGM From Editorial Interference
A federal district court in Washington on Friday granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting officials from the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including its head, Michael Pack, from interfering with the editorial independence and First Amendment rights of the journalists at Voice of America and the other networks it oversees.The ruling, issued by Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered that a request for preliminary injunction by the plaintiffs be partially granted. The order was a stopgap measure to prevent further actions laid out in a complaint until a trial can be held.The ruling relates to a complaint filed by five USAGM officials placed on administrative leave in August and VOA Program Director Kelu Chao, who argued actions taken by the new head of the USAGM were unlawful and violated the First Amendment and the statutory firewall set up to prevent outside interference.FILE – Michael Pack, whom President Donald Trump chose to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is seen at his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 19, 2019. Pack’s nomination was confirmed June 4, 2020.Howell’s ruling marked a major setback for Pack, a former conservative documentary producer tapped by President Donald Trump to head the newly reconstituted USAGM. Since Pack was confirmed by the Senate in late June, the top leaders at VOA and other networks resigned or were removed, hiring and spending were frozen and Pack stopped approving visa renewals for the agency’s foreign journalists.Moreover, Pack’s political appointees conducted internal investigations of reporters and editors suspected of producing news stories unfavorable to Trump and the administration that had a chilling effect on the work of editors and reporters, according to the complaint.Under the order, USAGM officials including Pack are prohibited from “making or interfering with personnel decisions” related to individual editorial staff at VOA and its sister networks; directly communicating with editors and journalists, with the exception of the heads of those networks, or unless they have a director’s consent; and conducting investigations into content, journalists and alleged breaches of ethics at the networks.Requests deniedThe court denied requests for a preliminary injunction involving alleged violations of the International Broadcasting Act, Administrative Procedure Act and Pack’s fiduciary duties as head of USAGM and alleged activities in excess of his authority.USAGM did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.“Editorial independence and journalistic integrity free of political interference are the core elements that sustain VOA and make us America’s voice,” VOA acting director Elez Biberaj said.“A steady 83% of VOA’s audience finds our journalism trustworthy. There are few, if any, media organizations that can claim such trust,” Biberaj added.Attorneys for the Department of Justice argued in a filing last week that the free speech protections of the First Amendment do not apply to VOA journalists because they are federal government employees, but Howell strongly disagreed.She said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving Pack and his aides “violated and continue to violate” the First Amendment rights of VOA journalists “because, among other unconstitutional effects of their actions, they result in self-censorship and the chilling of First Amendment expression.”Howell cited an investigation into VOA’s White House correspondent Steve Herman, saying it “imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint not just on Herman’s speech, but also on the speech of Chao and other editors and journalists at VOA and the networks.”The court will rule later on the full complaint filed against USAGM.Lee Crain, the counsel for the plaintiffs, said, “The court confirmed that the First Amendment forbids Mr. Pack and his team from attempting to take control of these journalistic outlets, from investigating their journalists for purported ‘bias,’ and from attempting to influence or control their reporting content.”In a statement Friday, Crain said the opinion ensured journalists at VOA and the other networks “can rest assured that the First Amendment protects them from government efforts to control editorial and journalistic content. They are free to do exactly what Congress intended: export independent, First Amendment-style journalism to the world.”Global audienceVOA and its sister networks have a vast global reach and have seen a surge in readership and viewership in the past year amid the coronavirus pandemic and the contested 2020 U.S. presidential campaign. In fiscal 2020, news and information programming of USAGM’s five networks together reached a worldwide weekly audience of 354 million people in 62 languages, an increase of 4 million from last year’s record audience, according to USAGM figures.In a 76-page “memorandum opinion” Howell said VOA and the other networks export “the cardinal American values of free speech, freedom of the press and open debate to the dark corners of the world where independent, objective coverage of current events is otherwise unavailable.”“These outlets are not intended to promote uncritically the political views and aspirations of a single U.S. official, even if that official is the U.S. president,” Howell said.Pack has “allegedly taken a series of steps since his June 4, 2020, confirmation that undermine this mission.”Lawyers representing USAGM at the hearing on November 5 argued that Pack was using expanded powers granted to the CEO by Congress in legislation intended to improve the agency’s management and efficiency.The preliminary injunction found that the statutory firewall “reflects that Congress determined this interest to be of greater public importance than the general government interest in efficiency.” It added that the court recognized the networks have an interest in maintaining an appearance of “the highest journalistic credibility.”Ann Cooper, professor emeritus of professional practice and international journalism at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, said VOA’s role as an independent network is crucial to its audiences.Regulations to protect VOA’s editorial independence are “hugely important,” said Cooper, who as a veteran foreign correspondent has worked and traveled to some of the world’s most repressive countries.“If you remove that safeguard and allow a leadership that begins to dictate the coverage, of course you are going to lose credibility. VOA is serving countries where people already see what it means to have a government mouthpiece as media. That’s not what they are turning to VOA for,” Cooper said.J-1 visa exemptionThe court order prohibited interference in editorial staffing decisions, with the exception of J-1 visas — permits for international journalists with exceptional skill.In June, Pack announced a “case by case” review of the J-1 visas, citing national security concerns and referring to findings of an Office of Personnel Management report that criticized yearslong lapses in background checks for some staff.Since June, VOA is aware of only one decision being made in a J-1 case. Pack’s office last month signed a memo rejecting a VOA Indonesian Service journalist’s request for a visa renewal and green card sponsorship.The other visas have expired with no decision supporting or denying the renewal request.In the memo, the judge said Pack’s decision to give greater scrutiny to J-1 visa applications fell within USAGM’s “evaluative and review responsibilities,” and cited the defense argument that foreign staff are employed only if suitably qualified U.S. candidates are not available.VOA journalists have said previously that J-1 colleagues bring valuable insight and skills beyond simple fluency in a language that help the network broaden its reach and engage with audiences.J-1 visa holders whose visas expired told VOA the action felt discriminatory and they doubted that the reviews took place.VOA’s Serdar Cebe.One of those, Serdar Cebe, an anchor who hosted two shows, including the Turkish division’s flagship, “Studio VOA,” was due to fly to Istanbul on Sunday after his grace period ended without a visa renewal.Cebe was aware other colleagues at VOA had lost their J-1 visas but said he did not become worried until the end of August, when his service chief suggested the journalist prepare for bad news.“I was shocked as I did not see that coming. I thought that the U.S. was the champion of the world for the freedom of press and that I would never find myself in a situation where a journalist could be expelled from the VOA due to a visa issue,” Cebe said in an email exchange.Journalist sees biasGrace Oyenubi, a Nigerian journalist who worked for VOA’s Hausa Service, also said the lack of visa renewals seemed biased.“I just feel it’s discrimination. It’s discriminatory,” she said, adding that she passed “vigorous” security checks before being hired by VOA.The loss of her visa has repercussions for Oyenubi’s family. Her husband, whose visa is tied to Oyenubi’s, had to leave his job and they could be forced to uproot their 7-year-old son, who has been to schools only in the U.S.Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, in September proposed a bill to grant a temporary extension to journalists affected by the J-1 delays.A spokesperson for Merkley told VOA the senator “is continuing to push his Republican colleagues to stand up and support free, fair and independent journalism at USAGM.”The spokesperson added, “Senator Merkley is hopeful that January will mark the beginning of a new chapter for USAGM, for the journalists wronged by USAGM, and for press freedom around the world, and he will continue to do all that he can to support those efforts from the Senate.”
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Americans Who Foiled Attempted Attack on Train Are Back in Paris to Testify
France will always remember 2015 as a deadly year with several terrorist attacks, including one that targeted the Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters and another at the Bataclan concert hall. But one attack was foiled that year on an Amsterdam-to-Paris train.On August 21, a gunman with an AK-47 and a bag of nearly 300 rounds of ammunition boarded the high-speed train to allegedly commit a massacre on behalf of the Islamic State terror group. The trial of those charged in the incident is underway.Jean-Charles Brisard, a counterterrorism expert who chairs the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, said the armed man, Ayoub El Khazzani, is directly linked to Adelhamid Abaaoud, mastermind of the November 2015 Paris attacks, since the men traveled to Europe from Syria together. Brisard said El Khazzani was a member of the Islamic State and trained in its camps, where he learned how to shoot to stage an attack in Europe.Thanks to the bravery of a few passengers, including three young Americans backpacking through Europe that summer, the gunman was tackled and subdued. They are now back in France to testify at the trial against El Khazzani and his alleged accomplices.’I do not feel like a hero’Five years after saving many lives, Aleksander Skarlatos said he still does not consider himself as a hero. He instead credited his friend and co-passenger Spencer Stone, who helped subdue the assailant.“I do not feel like a hero because we were just doing what we had to to survive,” he said. “I think Spencer is probably a hero because he was the first one to get [to the attacker]. We only got involved because Spencer needed our help.”Since 2015, Europe has been hit by many terrorist attacks. The most recent ones have occurred in Vienna and in France, where a teacher was beheaded near Paris and three people were killed in a church in Nice.European police are on highest alert because of the terror threat.Counterterrorism expert Brisard said that since the attempted attack on the train, terrorist strikes have evolved. He said analysis shows jihadists may operate alone but are all connected, in France or abroad, and are inspired by an ideology and jihadist propaganda.The trial will resume Monday with the testimony of Stone. He was supposed to testify earlier but was hospitalized when he landed in Paris before the trial. No details about his condition were released.
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Tibetan Government Leader Makes Historic White House Visit
The head of the Tibetan government in exile visited the White House on Friday, the first such meeting in 60 years and one that could draw the ire of Beijing.Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), said he met with the White House’s newly appointed U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues, Robert Destro.Sangay told VOA he met with representatives from the office of the president and vice president, along with key personnel working on Asia- and China-related issues.“I was happy and proud to hear that there is a formal recognition and respect for the Tibetan exile administration, our democratically elected leadership, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s gift of his political handover to the Central Tibetan Administration,” Sangay said in an interview with VOA’s Tibetan Service.China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it described as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region throw off its “feudalist” past. But critics, led by the Dalai Lama, say Beijing’s rule amounts to “cultural genocide.”Sangay told VOA how it had been his hope and that of the Tibetan people, in the last 60 years since Tibetans have been in exile, to engage with the U.S. government at such a high level. In 1959, the Dalai Lama and thousands of others fled the region, crossing the Himalayan mountains and taking refuge in Dharamshala, India, the current headquarters of the CTA.Struggle for ‘genuine autonomy'”We discussed the urgency of the Tibet issue, the middle way path and our struggle for meaningful genuine autonomy,” Sangay said. “I expressed my wish for the Tibetan situation to change for the better and my desire for basic freedom for Tibetans in Tibet.”China’s policies toward Tibet came under a spotlight again this year as ties frayed between Washington and Beijing. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the State Department in September that the Trump administration was “concerned about Chinese actions in Tibet, in light of the [Chinese] general secretary’s recent calls to ‘Sinicize’ Tibetan Buddhism and fight ‘splittism’ there,” a term referring to groups that deviate from Communist Party of China official policies.Sinicization is a term China critics use for a process by which the Chinese Communist Party brings traditionally non-Chinese groups under the influence of the ruling Han Chinese.Rights Groups Slam Xi’s Latest Calls to ‘Sinicize’ Tibetan Buddhism Critics say Beijing’s campaign for ‘new modern Socialist Tibet’ is just latest salvo in war on ethnic identity Sangay noted the U.S. government supports the Tibetan issue.“Even when the government changes, this support for the Tibetan issue would stay. The message was very clear that there is support from the U.S. president and the vice president’s China and Asia offices on the Tibetan issue,” the CTA president told VOA.Yeshi Dorje contributed to this report.
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Thailand’s ‘Bad Student’ Pro-Democracy Protesters Slam Government as ‘Dinosaurs’
Thailand’s “Bad Students” pro-democracy group took over a downtown Bangkok intersection Saturday night, deriding the country’s royalist government as “dinosaurs” as a kingdom bitterly divided by age, politics and attitudes toward the monarchy lurches deeper into crisis.
Inflatable meteors proclaiming the end of the “dinosaur age” bounced across the rally of thousands as protesters in oversized T-Rex suits danced to anti-government rap songs, organized by a group of high school pupils tired of an education system that elevates rote learning and obedience to Thailand’s strict hierarchy over critical thinking.
“The dinosaurs are these government officials who have decision-making power over our lives,” Pimchanok Nongnual, 19, told VOA.
“They are stuck in tradition. They’re conservative, old-fashioned and refuse to change. Their time is up, they must go and open the way to other people who are more competent,” Nongnual said.
Thailand, a kingdom with 13 coups in less than a century, has hit another dead end, six years after the last coup, which its leaders said was meant to end political divisions for good and restore economic growth.
In the last few days alone, though, rival groups of protesters have clashed on the streets and police summoned for questioning pro-democracy protesters as young as 15, while there are no signs of compromise by the royalist establishment, which instead is threatening tougher use of the law, especially against any criticism of the monarchy.
The pro-democracy movement wants the former army chief turned elected premier Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government to step down, a new constitution to replace the current one written by the military, and crucial reform of the once unassailable monarchy.Pro-democracy protesters flash the three-finger salute during a ‘Bad Student’ rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 21, 2020.Escape route
After months of peaceful protests, which lean heavily on satire and ridicule of the elderly hectoring generals and arch-royalists who stack the parliament, the pro-democracy movement is becoming increasingly frustrated with the intransigence of the government.
Clashes with royalist “yellow shirts” last week saw the first wounds by gunshots—in a country flooded with weapons and a history of deadly street politics—while police have used water cannon and tears gas against protesters shielding themselves with giant inflatable rubber ducks.
The rubber duck has become the latest symbol of a relentlessly meme-making protest movement and was worn Saturday in hair pins and key chains.
Protesters plan a rally on Wednesday to the Crown Property Bureau, the office in charge of much of the multibillion-dollar fortune of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the world’s richest monarch.
On Friday ex-army chief Prayuth, the subject of much of the protesters’ scorn, issued a warning that “all laws” will be enforced—potentially including Thailand’s strict lèse-majesté law, which allows for imprisonment for up to 15 years for defamation of or insulting members of the royal family.
“It’s not right … I can’t tolerate this,” he told reporters, accusing the pro-democracy group of “creating chaos and violating the monarchy institution.”
The protest movement has smashed through taboos, however, by openly criticizing the monarchy for lavishly spending Thai tax revenues while signing off on the army’s role in politics.
There was little fear on the streets on Saturday.Pro-democracy protesters flash the three-finger salute during a ‘Bad Student’ rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 21, 2020.Ruined future
“What is there to be scared of?” asked high school student Amy, 15, giving one name only. “The government has ruined our future already.”
Vajiralongkorn has been under pressure as never before since ascending the throne in 2016. He has returned from his preferred home in Germany to conduct an unprecedented public relations campaign showing a softer side to a monarchy that protesters say is out of touch and uncaring, going on near-daily walkabouts among royalist supporters.
The pro-democracy camp, though, accuses him of a one-sided approach to his subjects.
They have called from him to remain bound by the constitution, to open palace books for scrutiny and scrap the lèse-majesté” law, while decoupling from an establishment led by army generals and business clans who the protesters say have turned Thailand into a winner-takes-all society.
With neither the protesters nor the government appearing ready to give ground, some experts fear a descent into violence sooner or later. Scores have died on Bangkok’s streets in political violence over the last 15 years.
“It does seem that events are leading toward confrontation,” said Matt Wheeler, International Crisis Group senior Southeast Asia analyst.
The government may be under pressure from its core royalist constituency “to act decisively to put an end to criticism of the monarchy, which is growing bolder,” he said.
“But it is hard to see what measures they could employ that could both quash this burgeoning criticism and also avoid a backlash.”
Others see a December 2 constitutional court date for Prayuth—over a minor infringement of staying in an army residence after he retired from the military—as a potential face-saving escape route for the establishment to remove an unpopular premier through legal means rather than in response to the protesters on the streets.
“This could be seen as a gesture of compromise so to speak,” Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, constitutional law scholar at Chulalongkorn University, said.
“But would it quell the movement on the streets? That’s another story,” he said.
Protesters have called for a seven-day rally from Wednesday until December 2.
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US Court Upholds Hog Verdict; Smithfield Announces Settlement
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a 2018 jury verdict that led to awarding monetary damages to neighbors of a North Carolina industrial hog operation for smells and noise they said made living nearby unbearable.But judges ruled the jurors’ multimillion-dollar awards — intended to penalize a subsidiary of the world’s largest pork producer for wrongdoing — were unfairly weighed against its corporate assets and must be reconsidered.The decisions by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, came hours before Smithfield Foods said it had put an end to this and similar nuisance cases filed by North Carolina residents either already on appeal that went against the company or hadn’t gone to trial.“We have resolved these cases through a settlement that will take into account the divided decision of the court,” Smithfield Foods Chief Administrative Officer Keira Lombardo said in a statement. The company won’t disclose financial terms.Dozens of lawsuitsAttorneys representing the plaintiffs and those in other cases neither confirmed nor mentioned a settlement late Thursday. A statement from lawyers involved in the appeal praised the court’s decision to affirm the verdict.The case ruled upon Thursday by the appeals panel was the first that went to trial among dozens of lawsuits filed by more than 500 neighbors complaining about hog operations. Five that went to trial went against Smithfield, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive damages, which were later reduced because of state law capping such awards. While one lawsuit still resulted in $94 million in damages, more recent verdicts led to much lower compensation.A majority of the three-judge panel rejected Thursday the arguments of attorneys for Murphy-Brown LLC that a new trial should be ordered. Murphy-Brown is a subsidiary of Smithfield, which is owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group Limited.The jurors found the company liable for the nuisance conditions at a Bladen County farm in eastern North Carolina that raised 15,000 hogs annually for the company and disposed of massive amounts of feces and urine there. The neighbors of Kinlaw Farms had filed suit, complaining they had suffered for years from intense, putrid smells coming from open-air hog waste lagoons. They alleged that Smithfield Foods refused to spend money on technology that could address these problems.$50 million in damagesThe jurors declared Murphy-Brown interfered with the enjoyment of the residents’ property. The 10 neighbors received a total of $750,000 in compensation, plus $50 million in damages designed to punish Smithfield and WH Group. North Carolina state law forced U.S. District Judge Earl Britt to cut the punitive damages to $2.5 million. Still, the initial award total worried the hog industry and state agriculture leaders, even causing the North Carolina legislature to pass a law further restricting such litigation.Lombardo said the lawsuits were part of a “coordinated effort by plaintiffs’ attorneys and their allies aimed at dismantling our safe, reliable and modern system of food production.” She said in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s better to focus on producing good food instead of returning to “ongoing and distracting litigation.”Writing the prevailing opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker rejected several arguments from Smithfield’s lawyers where they said Britt erred, including whether the issue of punitive damages should even have been put to the jury.Thacker said there was ample evidence for jurors to conclude the company “persisted in its chosen farming practices despite its knowledge of the harms to its neighbors.” She mentioned piles of hog carcasses in dumpsters on the farm, extensive summer spraying of hog waste from lagoons onto fields, and trucks running at all hours. Smithfield ultimately removed its hogs from Kinlaw Farms.The court “recognized that the jury was right — Smithfield willfully and wantonly interfered with our clients’ ability to live comfortably in their own homes,” said Tillman Breckenridge, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.It was appropriate for jurors to consider the large bank accounts and executives’ salaries at Smithfield and WH Group in determining whether it could have paid to improve technology and other conditions at Kinlaw Farms, Thacker wrote. But she said it was wrong for Britt to allow jurors to consider the same information in determining the size of punitive damages, citing “the particular ability of potentially inflammatory evidence to sway a jury’s calculation.” The court vacated the punitive award and will return the case to the trial court to determine appropriate damages.Smithfield Foods hasn’t changed the dominant method of hog waste disposal since intensive hog operations multiplied in North Carolina in the 1980s and ’90s. The practice involves housing thousands of hogs together, flushing their waste into holding pits and allowing bacteria to break down the material, which is ultimately sprayed onto fields.Circuit Judge G. Steven Agee wrote separately to say he would have given Murphy-Brown a new trial. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson agreed with Thacker’s opinion, but wrote his own, saying poor conditions at industrial hog operations contribute to poor conditions for humans living nearby.
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US Minorities Push for Diverse Biden Cabinet
Native Americans are urging President-elect Joe Biden to make history by selecting one of their own to lead the powerful agency that oversees the nation’s tribes, setting up one of several looming tests of Biden’s pledge to have a Cabinet representative of Americans.
O.J. Semans is one of dozens of tribal officials and voting activists around the country pushing selection of Rep. Deb Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat and member of the Pueblo of Laguna, to become the first Native American secretary of interior. Tell Semans, a member of the Rosebud Sioux, that a well-regarded white lawmaker is considered a front-runner for the job, and Semans chuckles.
“Not if I trip him,” Semans says.
African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and other people of color played a crucial role in helping Biden defeat President Donald Trump. In return, they say they want attention on problems affecting their communities — and want to see more people who look like them in positions of power.
“It’s nice to know that a Native American is under consideration,” said Haaland, who says she is concentrating on her congressional work. “Sometimes we are invisible.”
In Arizona, Alejandra Gomez was one of an army of activists who strapped on face masks and plastic face shields in 100-plus-degree heat to go door-to-door to get out the Mexican American vote. Intensive Mexican American organizing there helped flip that state to Democrats for the first time in 24 years.
“We are at a point where there was no pathway to victory” for Democrats without support from voters of color, said Gomez, co-executive director of the political group Living United for Change in Arizona. “Our terrain has forever changed in this country in terms of the electoral map.
“So we need to see that this administration will be responsive,” she said.FILE – Congresswoman Deb Haaland, Native American Caucus co-chair, joined at right by Congresswoman Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 5, 2020.Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said it was important that Biden’s Cabinet “reflects the country, and particularly his base that supports him,” including women, racial and ethnic minorities and other groups.
The departments of defense, state, treasury, interior, agriculture, energy and health and human services and the Environmental Protection Agency are among Biden’s Cabinet-level posts where women and people of color are considered among the top contenders. As with interior, where retiring New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall is thought to be a leading prospect, the candidacies of people of color are sometimes butting up against higher-profile white candidates.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, whose February endorsement of Biden played a critical role in reviving the former vice president’s struggling campaign, said he is confident Biden’s Cabinet and White House staff will reflect the nation’s diversity.
“I think Joe Biden has demonstrated he takes the concerns of African Americans seriously,” said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress. “I expect him to be Lyndon Baines Johnson-like on civil rights.”
At the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge and California Rep. Karen Bass, respectively, are being considered. Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, would be the first Black woman to lead agriculture, which oversees farm policy and billions of dollars in farm and food programs and runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — better known as food stamps — that feeds millions of low-income households.
Fudge’s main competitor is former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who was long seen as the front-runner but faces growing opposition from progressives worried that she would favor big business interests at the sprawling department.
Clyburn, who is known to hold considerable sway with Biden, backs Fudge, calling her accomplished and experienced. “What you need is someone who understands the other side of agriculture,” he said. “It’s one thing to grow food, but another to dispense it, and nobody would be better at that than Marcia Fudge.″FILE – African American supporters of president-elect Joe Biden celebrate on Black Lives Matter Plaza across from the White House in Washington, Nov. 7, 2020, after Biden was projected the winner of the 2020 presidential election.Biden has promised to pick a diverse leadership team. His running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, will be the nation’s first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president.
In January, Biden assured a Native American candidate forum that he would “nominate and appoint people who look like the country they serve, including Native Americans.”
Native Americans say they helped deliver a win in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Arizona and elsewhere, voting for Biden by margins that sometimes hit the high 80th percentiles and above. A record six Native American or Native Hawaiian lawmakers were elected to Congress.
For the Department of Interior, consideration of Udall — a political ally of Biden’s for nearly 50 years who would be the second generation of his family to serve as interior secretary — is facing the historic candidacy of Haaland, a first-term congresswoman.
Asked if qualified white men with political seniority might have to step aside to make room for people of color, Udall told The Associated Press that Biden should be judged by his overall leadership team, including Cabinet secretaries and White House leaders.
“What you should look at a year or two years down the line is the leadership team at interior or EPA or agriculture,” said Udall, whose late father, Stewart, served as interior secretary in the 1960s. “Do they look like a leadership team to represent America?″
The Interior Department deals with nearly 600 federally recognized tribes but also manages public lands stretching over nearly 20% of the United States, including oil and gas leasing on them. That makes the agency critical to Biden’s pledge to launch ambitious programs controlling climate-destroying fossil fuel emissions.
Tribal officials concur there has never been a Native American as head of interior. The department’s websites cite six Native American heads of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which was transferred to the Interior Department from the War Department in 1849.
Haaland, vice chair of the House Committee for Natural Resources, also is getting support from many Democrats and progressives in Congress.
She told the AP that regardless of what job she had, she’d be working to “promote clean energy and protect our public lands.”
The push for her appointment makes for what historian Katrina Phillips of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, says is “one of the first times we’re seeing in public spheres such a broad push on Indigenous issues.”
“We have finally reached the point where there’s a broader American consensus … recognizing Native people deserve a voice,” said Phillips, a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.
Government decisions on tribal issues made by “somebody that never had to live the life” would likely be different than decisions made by someone from the community, said Semans, who lives on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota and helps run the Four Directions Native-voting project. Haaland’s pick would be “something very historical.”
“I have all kinds of respect for Mr. Udall. But there is not one rule or regulation that interior could change that would affect him or his family,” Semans said. “Ever.”
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AU Appoints 3 Envoys to Help Resolve Ethiopian Conflict
The African Union has named three high-level envoys to mediate a peaceful resolution of armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
AU President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa informed Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde on Friday that he had appointed former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and former President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe as special envoys of the AU entrusted to facilitate negotiations between parties to end the conflict in Ethiopia.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement late Friday, welcoming the appointments and commended Ramaphosa “for this initiative” and extended the U.N.’s full support “for ensuring a peaceful, stable and prosperous Ethiopia.”
Guterres also expressed his appreciation to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed “for facilitating this initiative for peace.”
Almost immediately, though, Ethiopia denied that the envoys would mediate between the government and the northern Tigray region, labeling the reports of mediation as “fake news.”
The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in Tigray since the conflict broke out on November 4.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled to Sudan since then, when Abiy sent the national defense force into Tigray, after accusing local forces of attacking a military base there.
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US, Taiwan Boost Economic Cooperation
The United States and Taiwan signed a five-year agreement Friday in Washington to create an annual U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue to increase bilateral cooperation.The Washington meeting covered economic areas such as supply chains, investment screening and renewable energy.“Future EPP Dialogues will help strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan economic relationship, further magnify the two societies’ respect for democracy, and strengthen our shared commitment to free markets, entrepreneurship, and freedom,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.The U.S. delegation was headed by the Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, and the Taipei delegation by Taiwanese minister without portfolio John Deng.U.S. officials from the American Institute in Taipei, the de facto U.S. Embassy for Taiwan, and the Taiwan government officials participated in the meeting virtually.The EPP Dialogue will operate under the auspices of the AIT and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.According to data from the United States Trade Representative’s office, U.S. trade with Taiwan in 2019 amounted to $103.9 billion.Under the Trump administration, U.S. has been selling more advanced weapons to Taiwan, including Harpoon missile systems announced in October, at a cost of $2.37 billion.
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US, Taiwan Increase Economic Cooperation
The United States and Taiwan signed a five-year agreement Friday in Washington to create an annual U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue to increase bilateral cooperation.The Washington meeting covered economic areas such as supply chains, investment screening and renewable energy.“Future EPP Dialogues will help strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan economic relationship, further magnify the two societies’ respect for democracy, and strengthen our shared commitment to free markets, entrepreneurship, and freedom,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.The U.S. delegation was headed by the Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, and the Taipei delegation by Taiwanese minister without portfolio John Deng.U.S. officials from the American Institute in Taipei, the de facto U.S. Embassy for Taiwan, and the Taiwan government officials participated in the meeting virtually.The EPP Dialogue will operate under the auspices of the AIT and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.According to data from the United States Trade Representative’s office, U.S. trade with Taiwan in 2019 amounted to $103.9 billion.Under the Trump administration, U.S. has been selling more advanced weapons to Taiwan, including Harpoon missile systems announced in October, at a cost of $2.37 billion.
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37 People Killed During Unrest in Uganda
Ugandan police said on Friday that at least 37 people have been killed during protests following the arrest of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine on Wednesday.The 38-year-old musician-turned-politician was released on bail Friday in the eastern town of Iganga after being charged with disobeying COVID-19 guidelines that restrict election rallies to fewer than 200 people.Wine, who has been arrested several times in recent years, is seen as a serious challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled for almost four decades. He has repeatedly called for Museveni to retire.In a statement late Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned all acts of violence in Uganda and called on authorities “to ensure that all perpetrators of human rights violations are held accountable.” He also called for “the immediate release of any individual who may have been arbitrarily arrested.”Guterres urged political leaders and their supporters “to participate in the electoral process peacefully, in accordance with the relevant regulations, and to refrain from any incitement of violence or hate speech.”While on campaign trail Thursday, Museveni said some groups of protesters were being used by outsiders who did not like stability in Uganda. He threatened that whoever started the unrest will regret it.Museveni is expected to address the nation on Sunday, according to his spokesperson.Presidential elections in Uganda are scheduled for Jan. 14.
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Experts to US Lawmakers: Afghanistan Draw Down ‘a Mistake’
Experts testified on Capitol Hill that drawing down U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan from 4,500 to roughly 2,500 is a “mistake.” VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has reaction to the U.S. acting defense secretary’s withdrawal announcement this week.
Producer: Kim Weeks
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Europe Coronavirus Cases Exceed 15 Million
More than 15 million people in Europe have been infected with coronavirus, making it the worst-hit region in the world. Authorities hope new lockdowns will get the situation under control. More with VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo.
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US Optimistic Economic Sanctions Hurting Chinese Company in Cambodia
The U.S. Treasury Department says the economic sanctions imposed under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act on a Chinese development company operating in Cambodia and its Cambodian liaison are an “effective and appropriate tool” for improving human rights and democracy.In September, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Chinese state-owned company, Union Development Group (UDG), that operates in Cambodia. The U.S. cited UDG for seizing land and displacing families to make way for a $3.8 billion luxury gambling and lifestyle project in unspoiled Koh Kong province.UDG operates under a parent company, Tianjin Union Development Group. UDG says the Cambodian project is part of Beijing’s global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.A Chinese state-owned entityIn the past, the U.S. raised concerns that the site could be used by Chinese naval forces. Cambodian authorities denied this, pointing to the nation’s constitutional prohibition on allowing foreign troops on its territory.The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated UDG as a Chinese state-owned entity and alleged that UDG operated as a Cambodian entity under the aegis of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Gen. Kun Kim, a close ally of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen. The general allegedly used the military’s right to seize land for its needs to move local people off the land UDG wanted for its resort project.The U.S. sanctioned Kun Kim and his family network on Dec. 9, 2019, for corruption and bribery.The U.S. sanctioning of UDG and Kun Kim is pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to target serious human rights abusers, their corrupt practices and supporters. The act allows “the executive branch to impose visa bans and targeted sanctions on individuals anywhere in the world responsible for committing human rights violations or acts of significant corruption,” according to Human Rights Watch.These sanctions, which include freezing funds held in U.S. banks, function as a deterrent “forcing foreign officials at all levels who would use unlawful violence or corruption to consider repercussions from the U.S. government,” according to Human Rights Watch.The Treasury Department official said accomplices of sanctioned parties could also face consequences.“Foreign persons who provide certain material assistance or support to the designated entity may be subject to future sanctions by Treasury,” the Treasury spokesperson said.“We cannot comment on the specific impact that our sanctions have had on UDG, nor potential ongoing investigations,” the spokesperson added.’Specific malign actors’However, during an email exchange in late October, the spokesperson said that “Treasury uses its Global Magnitsky sanctions authority in a targeted fashion to counter the activities of specific malign actors associated with corruption and serious human rights abuse. Targets are carefully investigated, evaluated, and selected based on evidence of their involvement in such activities, as well as our assessment that economic sanctions would be an effective and appropriate tool against them.”In some cases, the success of a sanction hinges on the “voluntary compliance” of non-U.S. banks.“The scope of Treasury’s Global Magnitsky sanctions prohibitions is limited to the United States or U.S. persons, but it is possible that other governments may choose to take similar action,” according to the Treasury spokesperson.Scott Johnston, an associate attorney for human rights accountability at Human Rights First in Washington said, “It’s not uncommon to see voluntary compliance where other foreign companies in banking also choose to comply” with the U.S. Magnitsky sanctions.“For their own reasons, internal reasons, [foreign banks] look at these sanctions and they do their own internal calculus and decide it’s better for them to be able to maintain positive relationships with the U.S. financial sector than it is to maintain relationships with these actors,” he said.Once sanctions are in place, a new process begins, Johnston said.“They [the Treasury] continue to monitor the activities of the sanctioned persons,” he said. “It’s not uncommon to see them do supplemental follow-up sanctions where they will add additional designations” based on additional information unearthed since issuing the original sanction or changes in how the sanctioned person is doing business.For example, Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic, who was sanctioned in December 2017, faced expanded sanctions in December 2019. After the U.S. agency found companies and people that had helped Tesic evade the initial sanctions, new sanctions were issued to target the enablers.’It’ll be stopped’Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation told VOA Khmer last month that it is not necessary for the sanctioned person to have assets or family members in the U.S. If the sanctioned person uses a dollar-denominated credit card, it doesn’t matter if transactions take place in Cambodia or China, the card will be frozen, she said.“It’ll be stopped, and it’ll link back to like the bank accounts, too,” Enos said.She said the sanctions imposed by the U.S. under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act on UDG and Kun Kim “were very good decisions made by the U.S. government even if some of them were kind of too little and a little bit late. But I think that many of these designations are important.”Enos continued to say, “I think that the individuals who were chosen were chosen for very specific reasons because in part of their proximity to Hun Sen, but also because of their support of or practices that just distort the flourishing of democracy in Cambodia.”Enos told VOA Khmer she encourages rights groups to keep monitoring the sanctioned persons and report to the U.S. if there are any changes in their business or other activities.”I think that human rights advocates and ordinary Cambodian citizens should continue to press for accountability for a government that has taken, you know, what was once at least a semi-democratic system and entirely done away with it,” Enos said. “So I think that there should be no greater pushes for internal accountability, but also that there should be encouragement of future additional sanctions that continue to zero in on Hun Sen and his party.”
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Trump Makes Late-term Bid to Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Trying to close out major unfinished business, the Trump administration issued regulations Friday that could lower the prices Americans pay for many prescription drugs.But in a time of political uncertainty, it’s hard to say whether the rules will withstand expected legal challenges from the pharmaceutical industry or whether President-elect Joe Biden’s administration will accept, amend or try to roll them back entirely.”The drug companies don’t like me too much. But we had to do it,” President Donald Trump said in announcing the new policy at the White House. “I just hope they keep it. I hope they have the courage to keep it,” he added, in an apparent reference to the incoming Biden administration, while noting the opposition from drug company lobbyists.The two finalized rules, long in the making, would:— Tie what Medicare pays for medications administered in a doctor’s office to the lowest price paid among a group of other economically advanced countries. That’s called the “most favored nation” approach. It is adamantly opposed by critics aligned with the pharmaceutical industry, who liken it to socialism. The administration estimates it could save $28 billion over seven years for Medicare recipients through lower copays. It would take effect January 1. — Require drugmakers, for brand-name pharmacy medications, to give Medicare enrollees rebates that now go to insurers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers. Insurers that deliver Medicare’s Part D prescription benefit say that would raise premiums. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it would increase taxpayer costs by $177 billion over 10 years. The Trump administration disputes that and says its rule could potentially result in 30% savings for patients. It would take effect January 1, 2022.FILE – A research scientist works in a laboratory at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in San Diego, March 4, 2015.’Reckless attack’The pharmaceutical industry said Trump’s approach would give foreign governments the “upper hand” in deciding the value of medicines in the U.S. and vowed to fight it.”The administration is willing to upend the entire system with a reckless attack on the companies working around the clock to end this pandemic,” the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement, adding that it is “considering all options to stop this unlawful onslaught on medical progress and maintain our fight against COVID-19.”The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the “most favored nation” rule would lead to harmful price controls that could jeopardize access to new, lifesaving medicines at a critical time.Trump also announced he was ending a Food and Drug Administration program designed to end the sale of many old, and potentially dangerous, unapproved drugs that had been on the market for decades.Sales of hundreds of these drugs, including some known to be harmful, have been discontinued under the program. But an unintended consequence has been sharply higher prices for consumers for these previously inexpensive medicines after they were approved by the FDA.President Donald Trump listens as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Nov. 20, 2020.Different Medicare pathTrump came into office accusing pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder” and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.As a candidate in 2016, Trump advocated for Medicare to negotiate prices. As president, he dropped that idea, objected to by most Republicans. Instead, Trump began pursuing changes through regulations.He also backed a bipartisan Senate bill that would have capped what Medicare recipients with high bills pay for medications while generally limiting price increases. Ambitious in scope, the legislation from Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., did not get a full Senate vote.Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a former drug company executive, said the rules would “break this model where patients suffer, where prices increase every year,” while corporate insiders enrich themselves.Addressing the prospect of legal battles, Azar said, “We feel that both regulations are extremely strong, and any industry challenging them is declaring themselves at odds with American patients and President Trump’s commitment to lowering out-of-pocket costs.”The international pricing rule would cover many cancer drugs and other medications delivered by infusion or injection in a doctor’s office.It would apply to 50 medications that account for the highest spending under Medicare’s Part B benefit for outpatient care. Ironically, the legal authority for Trump’s action comes from the Affordable Care Act, the Obama-era health care overhaul he’s still trying to repeal.The rule also changes how hospitals and doctors are paid for administering the drugs, to try to remove incentives for using higher-cost medications.FILE – Ann Lovell holds her prescriptions at her home in South Jordan, Utah, following her visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Jan. 31, 2020. She travels every few months to Tijuana to buy medication for rheumatoid arthritis at a steep discount.Democrats’ preferenceRelying on international prices to lower U.S. costs is an approach also favored by Democrats, including Biden. But Democrats would go much further, authorizing Medicare to use lower prices from overseas to wrest industry concessions for all expensive medications, not just those administered in clinical settings.Embodied in a House-passed bill from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., this strategy would achieve much larger savings, allowing Medicare to pay for new benefits such as vision and dental coverage. It also would allow private insurance plans for workers and their families to get Medicare’s lower prices.Trump has taken other action to lower prescription drug costs by opening a legal path for importing medicines from abroad. Also, Medicare drug plans that cap insulin costs at $35 a month are available during open enrollment, currently under way.Prices for brand-name drugs have continued to rise during Trump’s tenure, but at a slower rate. The FDA has put a priority on approving generics, which cost less.
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Trump’s Eldest Son Tests Positive for Coronavirus
U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesman said Friday.The spokesman said Trump Jr. tested positive earlier this week and has been “completely asymptomatic.” He said Trump Jr. was “following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines.”Trump Jr., 42, is the latest member of the president’s family to become infected with the virus as cases surge across the country.The president, first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron contracted COVID-19 in October and have since recovered. Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, tested positive for the coronavirus in July.The United States has seen increases in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks, with numerous one-day records set and quickly broken. On Thursday, the U.S. registered another daily record, almost 188,000.FILE – Ventilator tubes are attached to a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Nov. 19, 2020.As of Friday evening EST, total coronavirus infections in the United States had passed 11.9 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University Resource Center. The U.S. has had more coronavirus cases than any other country. The U.S. also has the world’s largest COVID-19 death toll, with more than 254,000.The country is now averaging more than 1,300 COVID-19 deaths per day, according to The Associated Press — the highest level since the virus swept through New York City in the spring. Deaths from the virus in the United States reached about 2,200 a day in late April.California curfewMost residents in California will begin a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew Saturday to try to stop the spread of the virus. The curfew affects 41 of the state’s 58 counties.Earlier Friday, U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said they had filed for emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use their COVID-19 vaccine, saying they were poised to begin distribution within hours of receiving authorization.The application came after the companies said testing had shown the vaccine to have an effectiveness rate of 95%, with no serious safety concerns observed to date.U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said Friday that the FDA could make a decision about emergency use of the vaccine candidate within weeks.People wait at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Nov. 20, 2020. With the coronavirus surging, top U.S. public health officials urged Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving and not to spend the holiday with those outside their households.On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an alliance of three professional medical groups released separate statements urging Americans to stay home for next week’s Thanksgiving celebrations and to rethink their holiday observances.The groups expressed concern that coronavirus cases and deaths could jump if Americans did not scale back their traditional Thanksgiving plans.Spikes after holidays“Positive cases spiked after Memorial Day, after the Fourth of July, after Labor Day and now – two weeks after Halloween,” the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association said in a joint open letter.The statement from the CDC urged Americans not to travel to see their loved ones but instead to “celebrate at home with the people you live with.”The CDC statement came just a week before Thanksgiving and after many Americans had made travel arrangements for the holiday.
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Canary Islands Migrant Situation Described as ‘Powder Keg’
Spain continues to struggle with an influx of migrants arriving at the Canary Islands in recent weeks.Nearly 17,000 migrants have arrived this year, which has overwhelmed a temporary facility at Arguineguin port on Gran Canaria, AFP reported. The facility was designed to hold 400, AP noted, adding that many migrants sleep on concrete and spend hours exposed to direct sunlight.The Associated Press reported that Spanish officials opened a secondary holding facility for about 200 to try to relieve some of the pressure. Reuters on Friday reported the government also promised to open more facilities capable of holding 7,000 migrants.Local politicians and humanitarian groups have been critical of how the Spanish government has been handling the surge in migrants, most of whom come from Morocco and Senegal.”I recognize that we need to be self-critical because at a certain point, perhaps the conditions at Arguineguin port were not the most suitable for human beings,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Spanish public television, TVE, according to AFP.”We have a humanitarian crisis” in the Canary Islands and “nobody must look the other way,” she said.Canary lawmaker Ana Oramas went further, telling Spain’s Parliament the situation was a “powder keg,” according to AP.“[The Canary Islands] are a volcano waiting to explode,” she said.In addition to adding facilities, the Spanish government is attempting to stem the flow of migrants through diplomatic means, AFP reported, citing recent talks with Morocco and Senegal.The Canary Islands have been a hot spot for migrants before. In 2006, 30,000 migrants reached the archipelago before stepped-up Spanish patrols slowed the pace.At the time, Spain struck a deal with African countries that were the source of these migrants, promising financial aid in return for development programs, which made it less attractive for people to leave their home countries.
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‘No More Room for Delay’: Biden Wants Emergency COVID-19 Aid
President-elect Joe Biden is calling on Congress to enact billions of dollars in emergency COVID-19 assistance before the year’s end, according to a senior adviser who warned Friday that “there’s no more room for delay.”Biden transition aide Jen Psaki delivered the remarks before Biden’s first in-person meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer since he was projected the winner of the presidential election. Biden hosted the pair Friday afternoon at his makeshift transition headquarters in a downtown Wilmington, Delaware, theater.Biden sat with Schumer, Pelosi and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, all wearing masks and spaced out around a bank of tables.”In my Oval Office, mi casa, you casa,” Biden said during the brief portion of the meeting that journalists were allowed to witness. “I hope we’re going to spend a lot of time together.”Pelosi said at an earlier news conference that she and Schumer would be talking with Biden about “the urgency of crushing the virus,” as well as how to use the lame-duck session of Congress, legislation on keeping the government funded and COVID-19 relief.FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks after the Senate Republican GOP leadership election on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 10, 2020.But prospects for new virus aid this year remain uncertain. Pelosi said talks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP leadership on Thursday did not produce any consensus on a new virus aid package.”That didn’t happen, but hopefully it will,” she said.Also Friday, McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, proposed that Congress shift $455 billion of unspent small-business lending funds toward a new COVID-19 aid package. His offer came after a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.Biden’s new governing team is facing intense pressure to push another COVID-19 relief bill and come up with a clear plan to distribute millions of doses of a prospective vaccine, even as Biden is just days away from unveiling the first of his Cabinet picks, which are subject to Senate confirmation.Psaki said that Biden, Pelosi and Schumer are working together on a pandemic relief bill before Congress adjourns for the year.”They’re in lockstep agreement that there needs to be emergency assistance and aid during the lame-duck session to help families, to help small businesses,” Psaki said. “There’s no more room for delay, and we need to move forward as quickly as possible.”The president-elect has also promised to work closely with Republicans in Congress to execute his governing agenda, but so far, he has focused his congressional outreach on his leading Democratic allies.The meeting came two days after House Democrats nominated Pelosi to be the speaker who guides them again next year as Biden becomes president, though she seemed to suggest these would be her final two years in the leadership post.FILE – President Donald Trump walks down the West Wing colonnade from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden to speak to the press, at the White House in Washington, Nov. 13, 2020.President Donald Trump continues to refuse to allow his administration to cooperate with Biden’s transition team. Specifically, the Trump administration is denying Biden access to detailed briefings on national security and pandemic planning that leaders in both parties say are important for preparing Biden to govern immediately after his January 20 inauguration.Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Friday on “CBS This Morning” that Biden’s charge that the transition delays would cost American lives was “absolutely incorrect.””Every aspect of what we do is completely transparent – no secret data or knowledge,” Azar said.
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Trump Meeting with Michigan Lawmakers Won’t Include Campaign Officials, White House Says
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with lawmakers from the Midwestern U.S. state of Michigan will not be an “advocacy meeting” and will not include campaign officials.Trump meets Friday at the White House with Michigan’s Republican state legislative leaders as his campaign continues to challenge Joe Biden’s November 3 presidential victory based on unfounded allegations of voter fraud.After failing repeatedly in court challenges throughout the country to undermine Biden’s victory by questioning the legality of the vote count, the president and his legal advisers are now reaching out directly to Republican state legislative leaders to see if they are willing to take steps to reverse the will of voters.“This is not an advocacy meeting,” McEnany said at a White House news conference hours before the meeting. “There will be no one from the campaign there. He routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country.”Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who has worked feverishly to support Trump’s efforts, told Fox 5 New York that he would attend the meeting to “answer any questions.”The meeting is part of Trump’s extraordinary post-election campaign to block President-elect Biden’s victory in Michigan and in other battleground states and to reverse the results of the national election.Biden, a former vice president, unofficially won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes. The state, however, has not yet certified the results while Trump and his allies keep trying to convince judges and state legislators to exchange the statewide popular vote with Republican-chosen electors.The meeting was scheduled after Trump took the unusual step of personally calling two Wayne County, Michigan elections officials earlier this week who agreed to certify the results. But the officials said they later reconsidered their decision after speaking with Trump.Trump went further by inviting Republican state lawmakers from Michigan to the White House for talks as state elections officials prepare to confirm Biden as the winner.Wayne County, which includes Detroit, is Michigan’s most populous county and one that voted heavily for Biden.As Michigan’s Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey left Detroit for Washington on Friday, he was met by activists carrying signs with the slogan “Respect the Vote” and “Protect Democracy.”
Earlier this week, Shirkey said that Biden is the president-elect. Shirkey said that any attempt to award Michigan’s electoral votes to Trump is “not going to happen,” according to the news outlet Bridge Michigan.Michigan state House Speaker Lee Chatfield will also attend the meeting.
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South Australia Pizza Worker’s Lie Triggers Statewide Lockdown
South Australia’s premier told reporters Friday that the decision to put the state into a six-day lockdown was triggered by a “lie” to contact tracers from one individual.The announcement came two days after the state government ordered residents to stay at home and shut many businesses to combat what was considered a highly contagious outbreak of coronavirus.At news conference in Adelaid, South Australian state Premier Steven Marshall said a man who tested positive for COVID-19 told contract tracers he had stopped only briefly at the Woodville Pizza Bar to buy pizza. The restaurant had been identified as a virus hot spot.His story led health officials to believe, since he contracted the virus from only a brief visit, that the strain of virus was highly contagious, taking 24 hours or less for a newly infected person to become infectious to others. In fact, the man was an employee at the restaurant and had worked several shifts there alongside another worker who tested positive.Marshall told reporters he was immediately lifting some of the emergency restrictions that had been imposed and was furious at the individual who lied to the contact tracers.“The selfish actions of this individual have put our whole state in a very difficult situation,” Marshall said. “His actions have affected businesses, individuals, family groups and is completely and utterly unacceptable.”Marshall said he was still concerned about the recent outbreak of at least 25 cases, one of which was the state’s first locally acquired case since April. He urged residents to get tested and continue taking precautions, but said the stay-at-home order would be lifted beginning Saturday and most businesses would be allowed to reopen.
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Sudan Considers Total Lockdown With More COVID Cases
Sudanese health authorities say a total lockdown is not out of the question after a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases across the country over the past four weeks.Acting Health Minister Osma Abdurrahim, who recently recovered from COVID-19, is calling on all citizens to wear face masks and follow all other preventative measures to avoid contracting or transmitting the disease.Surge of infections called ‘terrifying’Abdurrahim described the higher infection rate as “terrifying.”“Three weeks ago, we registered 200 cases. Two weeks ago the number increased to 500 and this week the number has jumped to 700 positive cases,” Addurrahaim told reporters at a Thursday evening news conference in Khartoum.He said nearly a hundred deaths were recorded in isolation centers this past month.Aburrahim went into self-isolation when he tested positive for COVID-19 10 days ago.Finance official tests positiveLate last week, Sudanese acting finance minister Hiba Ahmed also tested positive. Ahmed said she is still carrying out most of her officer duties from home.The health ministry will continue to monitor the situation and is considering calling for a total lockdown, according to Abdurrahim.“We shall be following the health situation more closely and up to this moment there is no decision of a total lockdown, but this will depend on the epidemic curve. We will keep updating the public regularly,” said Abdurrahim.At the same briefing, undersecretary of the ministry of education Tamadur Al Tarifi announced the government is postponing the re-opening of most schools for another two weeks in accordance with directives from health authorities.At the end of that period, Al Tarifi said, health officials will decide whether schools should be reopened.“These 15 days will be closely monitored by the ministry of health. If they decide that schools should not open, we don’t have much to do rather than following their directives,” said Al Tarifi, adding that the government hoped a new academic season would be “begin soon” and that it would be safe for students.Schools set to reopenSchools across Sudan were shut down in March. They were expected to reopen this coming Sunday.Primary and secondary school candidates resumed classes early last month on the condition that students wear face masks in school, practice social distancing and observe all other health directives. Al Tarifi said “congested classrooms” should either be divided in half or schools should operate on two shifts.He said the health ministry would conduct regular visits to schools to ensure they follow “all health directives.”
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Tigray Forces Fire Rockets Into Neighboring Ethiopian Region
Tigray forces fired rockets Friday into a neighboring Ethiopian state, heightening fears the internal conflict could spread to other parts of the country, a day after the federal government said its forces were closing in on the dissident region’s capital.Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, unleashed a military campaign in the Tigray region on November 4 with the declared aim of unseating its ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which he accuses of defying his government and seeking to destabilize it.Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in the conflict in Africa’s second most populous country, while tens of thousands have fled fighting and airstrikes in Tigray, crossing to neighboring Sudan.Earlier this week, Abiy said the military operation was in its final phase.Redwan Hussein, spokesman for an Ethiopian committee handling the conflict, said that “our defense forces are moving forward and closing in on Mekele,” Tigray’s regional capital.On Friday, the government claimed to have captured a string of towns in Tigray. A communications blackout in the region has made such claims difficult to verify.Rocket fireAn official in Ethiopia’s Amhara state said TPLF forces fired rockets at its regional capital, Bahir Dar, early Friday morning.Last week, the TPLF also fired rockets at Asmara, the capital of neighboring Eritrea, which it accuses of backing the Ethiopian advance. Both Eritrea and Ethiopia deny the allegation.Amhara communications official Gizachew Muluneh said the three TPLF rockets all missed their targets, resulting in neither casualties nor damage, with two rockets striking near the airport and a third hitting a maize field.For its part, the TPLF on Friday accused government forces of an attack on Mekele’s university that injured an unspecified number of students.Tigray President Debretsion Gebremichael told AFP the rocket strike aimed at Bahir Dar airport was in retaliation for that attack.There was no immediate response from the government in Addis Ababa, which has insisted all its airstrikes are aimed at military targets.Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province are pictured at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref province, Nov. 19, 2020.From feuding to fightingThe TPLF led the overthrow of Mengistu Hailemariam, head of Ethiopia’s military Derg regime, in 1991 and dominated the country’s politics until Abiy became prime minister in 2018.The party has complained of being sidelined and blamed for the country’s woes. The bitter feud with the central government led the TPLF to hold its own elections this year in defiance of a postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic.International calls for peace have escalated along with the fighting.U.S. officials said they had urged de-escalation from both Abiy and the TPLF leadership but saw little prospect for negotiations.”At this point neither party, from everything we hear, is interested in mediation,” said Tibor Nagy, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa.Abiy has insisted the military operation’s narrow target is the “reactionary and rogue” members of the TPLF, not ordinary Tigrayan civilians.But observers have voiced concern about Tigrayans losing their jobs or being arrested for their ethnicity.Ethiopia’s army head, Berhanu Jula, has accused World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a Tigrayan who served as health minister under TPLF leader Meles Zenawi, of working on behalf of the party.”He has worked for them to get weapons,” said Berhanu on Thursday, without offering evidence.Tedros denied the accusation, tweeting: “I am on only one side and that is the side of peace.”Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lie in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref province, Nov. 18, 2020.Casualties and refugeesThe conflict started when Abiy accused TPLF forces of attacking two federal military camps in the region.Since then, his campaign has seen warplanes bombing Tigray and heavy fighting, while Amnesty International has documented a gruesome massacre in which “scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death” in the southwest town of Mai-Kadra.Air Force chief Yilma Merdasa told state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corp. that they were also deploying drones but denied Tigray’s claims they were coming from abroad.Meanwhile, the U.N. said a “full-scale humanitarian crisis” was unfolding, with 36,000 people having streamed into neighboring Sudan.U.N. officials in Geneva said that around $200 million would be needed to provide assistance to as many as 200,000 people who could flee unrest over the next six months.The U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, said there were already 12,000 children among the refugees.”Restricted access and the ongoing communication blackout have left an estimated 2.3 million children in need of humanitarian assistance and out of reach” in Tigray, executive director Henrietta Fore said.The Norwegian Refugee Council, which is operating in eastern Sudan, warned up to 5,000 people were crossing from Ethiopia every day.”People are sleeping out in the open. There are no tents, just blankets,” country director Will Carter said.”They are essentially moving with nothing, to nothing.”
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Malicious Tip-Offs Stifle Academic Freedom in China, Analysts Say
In recent years, a growing number of college professors in China have been dismissed, fired, even arrested and sentenced to prison terms after being turned in to authorities by classroom informants for “inappropriate speech.”Analysts say the worrying trend of what they call “malicious reporting” in China’s universities is becoming increasingly rampant. They say the practice not only further limits the space for freedom of thought and expression in Chinese universities, but also is jeopardizing the quality of academic research and discussions.Earlier this month, renowned Chinese historian and Cold War expert Shen Zhihua was delivering a live-streamed speech at an academic seminar on the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, but an hour into the lecture, the feed was suddenly cut off. It remains unclear what Shen may have said that was offensive and the host of the seminar, Capitol Normal University in Beijing, has yet to put the video back online.In a statement, the university blamed a malicious tip-off from students or individuals who tattle on teachers when they make statements or share views that are perceived as challenging the Communist Party’s official narratives or its leader, Xi Jinping.The university called the complaint a clear violation of academic discussion and freedom of speech. It also noted that the lecture was the seventh in a “Four Histories” series at the History College of the Capital Normal University. The university said that far from being a subversive speech, the talk was an attempt by the school to carry out the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s speech on the study of the “Four Histories.”The “Four Histories” refer to the history of the party, the history of the People’s Republic of China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of the development of socialism.When asked by VOA about the incident, Shen just laughed and said he doesn’t pay much attention to criticism online.”Chinese netizens…they will report you when they hear anything that they are not happy about,” he said.This photo taken on June 26, 2019, shows an adult student taking notes on Xi Jinping taught in a class at the Party School of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee for foreign journalists in Beijing.Violating the constitutionProfessor Yang Shaozheng, who was fired after being spied on and after his students reported him for remarks criticizing the CCP in 2018, told VOA that the party deprives people of their freedom of speech even though it is guaranteed in the country’s constitution.”On the surface, it’s these malicious reporters who are annoying and disgusting, but if they didn’t have the environment, they wouldn’t be able to get away with it even if they wanted to make a malicious report,” he said.He also said that the country’s broader political environment does little to discourage the reporting of false accusations.“Malicious reporting is now prevalent, mainly because they (authorities) do not comply with the laws that protect freedom of expression in our country, so university professors and citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of expression is violated,” he said.Students attend a class on the first day of the new semester in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on Sept. 1, 2020.Student informantsYou Shengdong, another victim of this practice, says the reason malicious tip-offs are prevalent is that many universities in China deploy student informers as watchdogs against their teachers to eliminate dissent and turn universities into party strongholds in a throwback to the Mao Zedong era. He told VOA that everyone is feeling the danger and the chilling effect in Chinese universities.Many universities have openly recruited informers to supervise teachers. These monitors are required to report teachers who spread superstitions, Western values and criticism of the party’s principles, and to ensure that things that belong to “seven things to not talk about” proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013 are not mentioned in the classrooms, including universal values and historical mistakes that the Chinese Communist Party has made.In addition to making Xi Jinping Thought a mandatory course in universities, a requirement that began at 37 institutions of higher learning this fall, schools have been openly hiring informants in recent years.In its regulations for student informants, Xiantao Vocational College in Hubei Province states clearly that student informants should report teachers that have any behaviors that jeopardize national interests. The school said teachers should also be reported if their speech or behavior contradicts Party policies or violate the party’s discipline.”In recent years, the political and academic climate of Chinese universities has deteriorated, ” You said. “Because of the cameras in the classrooms as well as the informers, I have been reported along with other teachers. This situation is getting worse. If teachers cannot teach and research freely in their own fields, how can we educate students?”New cultural revolutionYou says the result is the promotion of “ideological brainwashing.””If there is no freedom of speech in a country, especially in a university, how can the truth be spread? How can knowledge be imparted? How can the students be taught?” he said. “Any country — if it is a society for the people — then there should be many voices, not only one voice.”And in a paranoid atmosphere where many are focusing on what cannot be discussed, Yang said the climate can often raise common academic discussions to a political level.”In academic discussions, no academic idea should be raised higher than it is, to the political level. This is what a normal academic environment needs,” he said. “What is prevailing now is people don’t care about logic or facts. They always talk about political stuff and doctrines.”He said that this kind of far-left thinking reminds him of China’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s and 1970s, a period that cost Chinese society dearly. During the chaotic Cultural Revolution, millions died, intellectuals were targeted, and schools and places of higher learning were closed. Yang said it seems that the authorities have not learned any lessons from the past.Teachers punished for ‘inappropriate speech’Deng Xiangchao, former vice-dean of the School of Art at Shandong University of Architecture, was ordered to retire in January 2017 for reposting articles that criticized Mao Zedong.Shi Jiepeng, former associate professor at Peking University, was dismissed in July 2017 after being accused of “spreading false statements on the Internet” and “crossing ideological red lines.”Tan Song, associate professor at Chongqing Normal University, was dismissed by the school and detained by the police in September 2017 for investigating China’s land reforms, the Anti-Japanese War, Wenchuan earthquake, and talking in class about the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.Xu Chuanqing, associate professor at Beijing University of Architecture, was reported in September 2017 for allegedly criticizing students for not taking classes seriously and saying Japanese students work hard and Japan would become a “superior nation.” He was given administrative sanctions in 2018.Zhai Juhong, associate professor at Hubei Zhongnan University of Economics, Political Science and Law, was accused of criticizing Xi Jinping’s constitutional amendments and China’s people’s congress system in a political class, and was expelled from the party, disciplined and removed from her post in May 2018.Wang Gang, associate professor at School of Clinical Medicine at Hebei University of Engineering, was dismissed in July 2018 after creating a WeChat group for Chinese people who are looking to speak up about rights that are violated and arguing that China would not embark on a path of democratic constitutionalism in a series of articles.Cheng Ran, Xiangtan University lecturer, was demoted in March 2019 after he was accused of making a series of statements in the classroom “with a large number of false images and reports from foreign media” and “vilifying the image of the party and state leaders.”Tang Yun, associate professor at Chongqing Normal University, was disqualified and demoted in March 2019 after being reported by students for making statements that damaged the country’s reputation.Xu Zhangrun, professor at Tsinghua University’s law school, was suspended in March 2019 for criticizing Xi Jinping for amending the constitution and calling for rehabilitating the June Fourth Movement. Xu was later dismissed and arrested for prostitution.Lu Jia, associate professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Marxism, was accused by students of being “anti-party and anti-constitution” in April 2019 and is under investigation.Zi Su, former teacher at the Yunnan Provincial Party School, who advocated for the Chinese Communist Party practice of intra-party democracy and called for Xi’s resignation, was arrested in April 2017 on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power and sentenced to four years in prison in April 2019.Huang Qi, retired female professor at Guizhou Minzu University, was administratively detained for 15 days on September 24, 2019 for making comments on Twitter and WeChat about Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement and the Tiananmen Square crackdown.Liu Yufu, teacher at Chengdu University of Technology’s law school, was administratively punished in October 2019 for comments he made in class and online several years ago.Cao Jisheng, lecturer in the School of Marxism at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, was administratively sanctioned by the police and marked by the school in late October 2019 for making “inappropriate remarks” in a WeChat group.Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Birthday Time: Biden Turns 78, Will Be Oldest US President
President-elect Joe Biden turned 78 on Friday. In two months, he’ll take the reins of a politically fractured nation facing the worst public health crisis in a century, high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice.
As he wrestles with those issues, Biden will be attempting to accomplish another feat: demonstrate to Americans that age is but a number and he’s up to the job.
Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation’s history, displacing Ronald Reagan, who left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years and 349 days old.
The age and health of both Biden and President Donald Trump — less than four years Biden’s junior — loomed throughout a race that was decided by a younger and more diverse electorate and at a moment when the nation is facing no shortage of issues of consequence.
Out of the gate, Biden will be keen to demonstrate he’s got the vigor to serve.
“It’s crucial that he and his staff put himself in the position early in his presidency where he can express what he wants with a crispness that’s not always been his strength,” said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University who has advised legislators from both parties. “He has got to build up credibility with the American people that he’s physically and mentally up to the job.”
Throughout the campaign, Trump, 74, didn’t miss a chance to highlight Biden’s gaffes and argue that the Democrat lacked the mental acuity to lead the nation. Both critics and some backers of Biden worried that he was sending the wrong message about his stamina by keeping a relatively light public schedule while Trump barnstormed battleground states. Biden attributed his light schedule to being cautious during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of Biden’s rivals in the Democratic primary also made a case on age — while skipping Trump’s vitriol — by raising the question of whether someone of Biden’s and Trump’s generation was the right person to lead a nation dealing with issues like climate change and racial inequality.
Brian Ott, a Missouri State University communications professor who studies presidential rhetoric, said Biden was hardly impressive as a campaigner, but has proven far more effective with his public remarks since Election Day.
Ott said Biden’s victory speech was poignant, and his empathy showed in a virtual discussion that he held earlier this week with frontline healthcare workers. The president-elect’s experience — a combination of age and nearly 50 years in politics — conveys more clearly through the prism of governing than the chaos of campaigning, he said.
“The rhetoric of governing, unlike the rhetoric of campaigning, is collaborative rather than adversarial,” Ott said.
Biden’s relatively advanced age also puts a greater premium on the quality of his staff, Baker said. His choice of Sen. Kamala Harris, more than 20 years younger than him, as his running mate effectively acknowledged his age issue. Biden has described himself as a transitional president but hasn’t ruled out running for a second term.
“He’s well served in making it known from Day One that she’s ready to go,” Baker said of Harris. “She’s got to be in the images coming out of the White House. They also need to, in terms of their messaging, highlight her inclusion in whatever the important issue or debate is going on in the White House.”
Biden, in a September interview with CNN, promised to be “totally transparent” about all facets of his health if elected but he hasn’t said how he’ll do that.
The campaign has made the case that Biden isn’t your average septuagenarian.
His physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, in a medical report released by the campaign in December, described Biden as “healthy, vigorous … fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief.”
O’Connor reported that Biden works out five days a week. The president-elect told supporters that during the pandemic he has relied on home workouts involving a Peloton bike, treadmill and weights.
In 1988, Biden suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms, an experience that he wrote in his memoir shaped him into the “kind of man I want to be.” O’Connor also noted in his report that Biden has an irregular heartbeat, but it has not required any medication or other treatment. He also had his gall bladder removed in 2003.
A September article by a group of researchers in the Journal on Active Aging concluded that both Biden and Trump are “super-agers” and are likely to outlive their American contemporaries and maintain their health beyond the end of the next presidential term.
Some of Biden’s White House predecessors left behind breadcrumbs about the dos and don’ts of demonstrating presidential vigor, said Edward Frantz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis.
Reagan made sure the public saw him chopping wood and riding horses. Trump, after being diagnosed with the coronavirus, quickly returned to a busy campaign schedule — holding dozens of crowded rallies in battleground states in the final weeks of the campaign. Those events flouted coronavirus guidelines on social distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings.
In 1841, William Harrison, 68, attempted to show off his vigor by delivering a lengthy inaugural address without a coat or hat. Weeks later, Harrison, then the oldest president elected in U.S. history, developed a cold that turned into pneumonia that would kill him just a month into his presidency. It’s disputed whether Harrison’s illness was related to his inaugural address.
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