Malaysia’s king has declared a national state of emergency as part of an effort to curb the growing numbers of novel coronavirus infections. The royal palace announced Tuesday that King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued the decree after meeting with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. King Abdullah had rejected a request by Prime Minister Muhyiddin back in October to issue a similar order due to the COVID-19 pandemic The emergency order suspends parliament until August 1 and gives the prime minister’s government broad authority to enact laws. In a televised address, Muhyiddin attempted to assure the nation that the state of emergency was “not a military coup” and that no curfew would be enforced during that period. He had issued a two-week lockdown for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, and five surrounding states Monday as the number of total COVID-19 cases has grown over 138,000, including 555 deaths, with the number of daily new cases rising to well over 2,000 in recent weeks. The emergency also gives the embattled prime minister a reprieve from growing calls in parliament for a special election. Muhyiddin has been prime minister since February, when he was chosen by King Abdullah after then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly resigned and his government collapsed. Muhyiddin’s politically divided ruling coalition has left him with a shaky hold on power. The United Malays National Organization, the coalition’s largest party, has threatened to withdraw support from the prime minister. And veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim met with the king back in September and said he gave him the names of 120 members of the 222-seat parliament who are ready to defect from the prime minister’s razor-thin coalition.
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Month: January 2021
WHO, Partners Announce Ebola Vaccine Stockpile
Parts of the world ravaged by outbreaks of Ebola can now heave a small sigh of relief thanks to the stockpile of vaccine, the International Coordinating Group (ICG) announced Monday. The single-dose vaccine will allow affected countries, particularly those in Africa, to better contain the deadly virus during future outbreaks. “This new stockpile is an excellent example of solidarity, science and cooperation between international organizations and the private sector to save lives,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in a Tuesday FILE – Health workers begin their shift at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 16, 2019.The vaccine, which is recommended by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization for use in Ebola outbreaks, will be managed by UNICEF although the ICG will be “the decision-making body for its allocation and release,” the press release said. “We are proud to be part of this unprecedented effort to help bring potential Ebola outbreaks quickly under control,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said in the press release. Fore said “when it comes to disease outbreaks, preparedness is key.” She said the vaccine stash is a “remarkable achievement” that will allow vaccines to be delivered to those who need them in a timely manner. Countries that make requests for vaccines should receive a response in 48 hours. The vaccines will then be shipped from Switzerland in temperature-controlled packages. The statement said the target is to make “overall delivery time from the stockpile to countries” in seven days. An initial 6,890 doses are now available for outbreak response with additional quantities to be delivered into the reserve this month and throughout 2021 and beyond. It could take between two to three years to reach the SAGE-recommended level of 500,000 doses in the emergency stockpile. Unlike COVID-19, Ebola is rare and unpredictable, hence the need to create a reserve in the absence of a “natural market for the vaccine.” In this case, vaccines are available in limited quantities, and therefore they are reserved for health and front-line workers and when there is an outbreak. IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said in the release, “through each outbreak, our volunteers have risked their lives to save lives.” Chapagain hopes “the impact of this terrible disease will be dramatically reduced” with the vaccine. “An Ebola vaccine stockpile can increase transparency in the management of existing global stocks and the timely deployment of the vaccine where it’s most needed, something MSF has called for during recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Dr. Natalie Roberts, Program Manager, MSF Foundation, said in the release. Meanwhile, the WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and vaccine manufacturers are continuously monitoring the situation and will increase supply should demand soar. The current vaccine is manufactured by Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Corp. and developed with financial support from the United States.
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Pompeo Defends Changes at USAGM Under Trump Appointee
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday defended the leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media against criticisms that its CEO is trying to turn the news network into a propaganda tool. FILE – Michael Pack, President Donald Trump’s nominee 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.He told the audience that faults should be acknowledged but, “This isn’t ‘Vice of America’ focusing on everything that’s wrong with our great nation. It certainly isn’t the place to give authoritarian regimes in Beijing and Tehran a platform.” In support of Pack, a former conservative filmmaker, the secretary of state told the audience and those listening to a live feed, “There’s a new dawn here at Voice of America.” He also praised the work of the network’s journalists for providing independent news to those living in authoritarian countries. Following the speech, VOA’s new director, Robert Reilly, conducted a short conversation with Pompeo about USAGM, its mission and events in the news, but he did not make use of topical news questions provided by journalists beforehand at the network he oversees. Nor did he ask Pompeo about the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week that produced shocking images of a symbol of American democracy seen around the globe.Journalists at the network who attended the event tried to shout questions after it ended but were ignored by Pompeo. The agency said it did not allow outside reporters to attend because of limited space for coronavirus safety protocols. Since joining USAGM in June, Pack has been criticized for actions including his dismissal of the heads of Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; and the Middle East Broadcasting Network; appointing new boards and reassigning the VOA standards editor Steve Springer. VOA’s director Amanda Bennett and her deputy Sandy Sugawara stepped down before his arrival. A U.S. District Court in November barred Pack and his aides from directly interfering in the editorial independence of VOA until a lawsuit alleging violations is settled.Court Injunction Bars USAGM From Editorial InterferenceRuling says First Amendment of US Constitution protects agency’s journalists Pompeo echoed remarks made previously by Pack that actions were needed to correct security concerns at the agency and said the chief executive was right to end “rubber stamping J-1 visas for foreign nationals.” In June, USAGM announced a case-by-case review of the special permit for international journalists, resulting in several losing their jobs and the right to remain in the U.S. after Pack failed to renew their requests. VOA’s 47 language services rely on journalists with not only language skills but also the nuanced knowledge of the region they cover. VOA has to prove, when hiring a journalist on a J-1 visas, that no suitable U.S. candidate is available. U.S. lawmakers and rights organizations including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have condemned Pack’s decision to not renew the J-1 visas, pointing out that it potentially puts foreign journalists at risk of harm if they are forced to return to hostile countries. In his speech, Pompeo criticized a group of journalists at the news network who said the speech should not be broadcast live. A letter, sent on behalf of the whistleblowers by the Government Accountability Project, said broadcasting the speech live is a violation of VOA’s law, rules and policy. “A broadcast speech by the outgoing secretary of state on topics on which he has been widely covered should be seen for what it is: the use of VOA to disseminate political propaganda in the waning days of the Trump administration,” the letter said. Pompeo likened the letter to “censorship, wokeness, political correctness” and the cancel culture on social media and at university campuses, where groups call for voices deemed extreme or intolerant to not be given space.“It all points in one direction — authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness,” Pompeo said. David Seide, senior counsel of GAP, disputed Pompeo’s view, telling VOA, “This is not about censorship or woke-ism. This is about abiding by the law.”“The accusation that VOA employees were attempting to censor the secretary’s speech is ludicrous. The concerns voiced go to the heart of editorial independence,” said Seide, who sent the letter to Pack on behalf of a group of protected whistleblowers. Bruce Brown, executive director of RCFP, shared that view, saying “editorial autonomy should not bend for any one nation’s interest, including our own.” Pompeo’s speech comes a little over a week before a new administration takes over. During the election campaign, a spokesperson for then-candidate Joe Biden said that if elected Biden would remove Pack from office.
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Belichick Won’t Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom After All
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick announced Monday night that he will not accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying “remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.” In a one-paragraph statement, the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach did not say explicitly that he had turned down the offer from President Donald Trump, whom he has called a friend. Instead, Belichick explained, “the decision has been made not to move forward with the award” in the wake of last week’s deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol. FILE – Annika Sorenstam, Dec. 7, 2019.Trump announced Saturday, three days after the riots, that he would be awarding Belichick the nation’s highest civilian honor, part of a late flurry of presentations that also included golfers Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and the late Babe Zaharias. FILE – Gary Player, Dec. 20, 2020.Sorenstam and Player accepted their awards in a private ceremony the day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Five people died in the mayhem, including U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. Belichick was to be honored Thursday. “I was flattered … out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients,” the coach said in a statement, which was forwarded to The Associated Press by the Patriots. “Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team.” Although he describes himself as apolitical, Belichick has waded into politics on occasion. The architect of the Patriots dynasty wrote Trump a letter of support that the candidate read aloud the night before the 2016 election at a rally in New Hampshire, a bastion of the team’s fandom. Although Trump said the letter offered “best wishes for great results” on Election Day and “the opportunity to make America great again,” Belichick said it was it was merely to support a friend.Belichick also wore an Armenian flag pin to the White House in 2015 when the team celebrated its fourth Super Bowl victory — believed to be a sign of support for the team’s director of football, Berj Najarian, who is of Armenian descent. Last month, Belichick called on the U.S. government to take action against Turkey and Azerbaijan for “unprovoked and violent attacks against Armenians.”In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death this summer, Patriots players praised Belichick for providing an open forum for them to express their feelings on race and social injustice in America. In his statement on Monday, Belichick called that “one of the most rewarding things in my professional career.” “Through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions,” he said. “Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”
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US Business Grows Skittish about Trump, GOP after Riots
Corporate America is quickly distancing itself from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, with many of the biggest names in business — Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Ford and Blue Cross Blue Shield — suspending political donations after a Trump-inspired mob ransacked the U.S. Capitol in a deadly and violent spree last Wednesday.For now, the move is about affirming the rule of law and the clear results of an election that will elevate Democrat Joe Biden to the presidency. But it also signals that companies are growing skittish about lawmakers who backed Trump’s false claims of election fraud, possibly depriving Republicans of public backing from business groups who until recently were the heart of the GOP’s political brand.’Spreading like wildfire’“This is spreading like wildfire,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s management school who consults with CEOs. “The U.S. business community has interests fully in alignment with the American public and not with Trump’s autocratic bigoted wing of the GOP.”Yet the “pausing” of donations announced by many companies — including Marriott, American Express, AT&T, JPMorgan Chase, Dow and others — was unlikely to deliver a serious blow to Republicans in Congress who voted to overturn Biden’s win.“These are symbolic pledges,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that traces the role money plays in politics. “This is just one source of revenue, and for some it’s vanishingly small, particularly in the Senate.”Corporate-sponsored political action committees (PACs) are limited to donating $5,000 per candidate each year. In races that often cost incumbents millions of dollars, such contributions account for just a small fraction of the overall fundraising picture.Take Sen. Josh Hawley. The Missouri Republican has drawn widespread scorn, including from longtime supporters and Senate Republican leadership, for becoming the first senator to announce he would oppose the certification of Biden’s victory.Since 2017, when he launched his Senate bid, only about $754,000 of the $11.8 million he raised came from corporate PACs and trade groups. That accounts for about 15% of his total fundraising haul, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures.What’s more, Hawley was not the biggest spender in his race. Outside conservative groups, including those affiliated with Republican leadership, were the ones who dropped the lion’s share of money that helped him oust former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. Such groups are largely insulated from the corporate donation pause.Big step for HallmarkStill, greeting card maker Hallmark went a step further than most companies. The Kansas City-based company has asked both Hawley and recently elected Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall to return its contributions because of their votes opposing Biden’s win.“Hallmark believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind,” Hallmark spokeswoman JiaoJiao Shen said in a statement.A PAC for the company has donated $7,000 to Marshall, Federal Election Commission records show. The company says it has also donated $5,000 to Hawley.On hold until 2022 electionsIn many cases, though, companies are only suspending their giving for several months, leaving ample time to ramp up donations before the 2022 elections.“They are going into hiding until the news cycle moves on,” said Erik Gordon, a law and business professor at the University of Michigan. “They will be back with their checkbooks, and politicians who already are gearing up for the 2020 congressional contests are waiting at the back door.”Even if Trump sold himself to voters as a billionaire guru with a Midas-like grip on the economy, many business leaders had already quietly backed away from a president who had cracked down on trade, inflamed racism, curtailed immigration and failed to contain a deadly pandemic.But the rejection accelerated after he egged on a crowd at a Washington rally and urged them to march on the Capitol on Wednesday.Since then, technology companies have denied the use of services to Trump’s political operation. The payments firm Stripe has stopped processing donations for Trump campaign committees, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the decision has not been made public.The move could cut off Trump’s fundraising arm from what has been a steady stream of small-dollar donations that are often solicited through emails and text messages. Stripe’s decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Shopify, an e-commerce platform for merchants to sell goods, shut down the Trump campaign’s merchandise website as well, as other tech companies including Twitter, Facebook and Amazon are putting new restrictions on Trump’s movement because of the violence.Actions of mob condemned Leading business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce all condemned the insurrection. Yet these same groups also worked in support of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and will face a Biden administration that wants to increase corporate taxes, a sign that they might not be able to break completely with Republicans and represent their members’ interests.What surprised some ethics watchdogs was how quickly companies reacted by suspending their donations.“It looks like it is sincere for many of the corporations,” said Craig Holman, a campaign finance expert with Public Citizen, a liberal consumer advocacy organization. “There was no big public push or pressure to get Marriott and others to announce they would no longer make campaign contributions. They did it on their own — they shocked everyone in the campaign finance community.”The response has not been uniform by corporations. Dow, the chemical company, said it would suspend contributions for the next two years to any member of Congress who objected to the certification of the electoral college. Airbnb said it would also withhold support to those lawmakers.Walking away from politicsSome companies are trying to avoid politics completely in the aftermath of last week’s riots. Citigroup confirmed Sunday that it is pausing all federal political donations for the first three months of the year, including those to Democratic lawmakers.“We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law,” said a memo from Candi Wolff, Citi’s head of global government affairs. She added that once the presidential transition is completed, the country can “hopefully” emerge “from these events stronger and more united.”The decision by Citigroup and others to pause all political contributions outraged some Democrats, who said they were being punished for violence that originated with Republicans and left five people dead.“This is not a time to say both sides did it,” said New York Congressman Sean Maloney on MSNBC. “What the hell did the Democrats do this week except stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law?”
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US Homeland Security Acting Secretary Stepping Down, Department Says
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told his staff Monday he was stepping down, the department said Monday, the latest senior Trump administration official to resign following last week’s deadly mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Department of Homeland Security press office said Wolf would leave his post at 11:59 p.m. Monday. Pete Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will take over as acting secretary, the office said. President Donald Trump withdrew Wolf’s nomination to be permanent Homeland Security secretary last week. Supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol last Wednesday in an assault that led to five deaths, dozens of injuries among law enforcement and the ransacking of lawmakers’ offices.
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Facebook Shuts Down Accounts Linked to Ugandan Information Ministry
Facebook has shut down several accounts of a network in Uganda linked to the country’s Ministry of Information. The social media company accused the network of using fake accounts to promote the ruling party and the president.The Facebook accounts shut down were allegedly linked to the “Citizens Interaction Center” at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.In a statement, Facebook accuses the account holders of using fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users and re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.Duncan Abigaba, the deputy head of the center, said the accounts were targeted because of their support for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement or NRM.Abigaba said the action by Facebook is unfair since members of the opposition National Unity Platform party, led by singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, have been using social media to promote Wine’s presidential candidacy.“So, NRM had to try and sell our candidate as well in the social media space. By selling the candidate, it means you have to employ different tactics including you put out content. And this content you must share it in different groups for it to have as much reach as possible,” said Abigaba.The Uganda Communications Commission wrote to Facebook and Twitter late last year, demanding it shut down several accounts it said were being used wrongly by members of the opposition National Unity Platform.FILE – Uganda’s president and presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni of the ruling party National Resistance Movement waves to his supporters as he arrives at a campaign rally in Entebbe, Feb. 10, 2016.Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo says the commission received a response from Facebook, saying it would investigate the claims.But instead, said Opondo, without any due process, accounts of NRM supporters have been shut down.“They have not told us the nature of the complaint. They have not written even to say we are going to switch you off. And so, it’s a double standard. And that ties very well with what our intelligence is telling us that some of the opposition is working with foreign interests,” he said.The Ugandan government is already disabling some social media platforms. Currently, unless one is using a virtual private network, videos on Facebook cannot be played.The Uganda Communications Commission has also ordered app stores to block over 100 virtual private networks being used by citizens to bypass the blockage.Joel Ssenyonyi, the National Unity Platform spokesperson, denies the party has a hand in the account shutdowns.“We actually wish we had a hand in it. We would actually love to see all the government accounts blocked, because they are using them to justify all the ills that are happening. You know that people get killed and then you see government officials and regime apologists and functionaries go on social media and they justify the killing of people and so on,” said Ssenyonyi. Ugandans go to the polls Thursday with Museveni seeking to extend his 34-year run as president. Bobi Wine has called off his final campaign appearances, due to multiple arrests and police breaking up his rallies.
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In Japan, Worshippers Take Frosty Plunge Against COVID-19
In Japan, an annual Shinto ritual of soul purification this year included prayers for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing guidelines forced a much smaller gathering than in previous years, but as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, believers still turned out – and stripped down – for the annual observance.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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Uganda’s Only Female Presidential Candidate Says Leadership Needs to Change
There are eleven candidates running for president in Uganda’s January election but just one — Nancy Kalembe — is a woman. Kalembe said Uganda needs a change of leadership after 34 years of President Yoweri Museveni and she believes she’s the right woman for the job. Kalembe said the country’s healthcare, education, infrastructure, and jobs are sorely lacking.Posters of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni who is running for his 6th presidential term are seen on a wall in Kampala, Uganda, on Jan. 4, 2021.She blames Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, and said he is behaving like the dictators he once helped topple. “He said his first act of kindness and love for this country was to go to the bush and fight for our freedom, the Ugandans,” Kalembe said. “At the time, I was six years old. My opinion would have been that the next best act of kindness is to hand over power peacefully.”But Museveni has a great deal of support in Uganda — even in Busoga region, where Kalembe is from.She is appealing to those who have not seen their lives improve under Museveni’s rule.A 2017 survey of Ugandan households showed 75% of Busoga’s people are poor compared to a 63% national average.Aida said, we are widows taking care of children singlehandedly. Our children go to school, she said, but we are not able to do more to better their future. So I appeal to all women in Uganda; this is our moment, she said. We have a female speaker, let the president be a woman.In 1994, Uganda became the first African country to have a female vice president and Kalembe is the fourth woman to try for Uganda’s highest office.But a 2016 Research World International poll showed 53% of respondents said Uganda was safer in the hands of a male president.Analysts say it will take time for Ugandans to accept the possibility of a woman president. Perry Aritua is executive director of Women’s Democracy Network-Uganda.“Regardless of whether it’s a man or woman who gets elected, the important thing for the voter should be how they perform,” Aritua said. “Are they able to transform the lives of the people whom they have elected to represent using the mandate they have?” While no woman candidate has ever come close to becoming Uganda’s president, Kalemebe hopes her campaign will at least keep alive the idea of a real change in leadership.
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Pope Formally Expands Women’s Roles in Catholic Church
Pope Francis changed church law Monday to formally allow for more roles for women within the Catholic Church. The decree, called “Spiritus Domini” (The Spirit of the Lord), allows women to serve as readers and altar servers, as well as to assist priests during service or in administering Holy Communion. It officially updates the Code of Canon Law to reflect that “lay persons … can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte,” instead of the previous version “lay men.” In many dioceses, women have already been allowed to carry out such activities. The decision comes as a formal move from Francis, who has publicly advocated for a more diverse and inclusive church, to impede conservative bishops from enforcing male-only altar services in their jurisdictions. “The decision to confer these offices even on women, which entails stability, public recognition and a mandate on the part of the bishop, will make more effective everyone’s participation in the work of evangelization,” the decree says. Francis, however, reiterated that priesthood continues to be a male-only path. “The church does not have the faculty in any way to confer priestly ordination on women,” the pope wrote in a Monday letter to Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. For years, Francis has analyzed the possibility of expanding women’s roles within the church. In April 2020, the pope established a commission to study whether women should be granted the right to become ordained deacons. This would allow women to preach and baptize, but not to conduct Mass.
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Britain Launches Largest Ever Vaccination Program
The British government Monday launched an ambitious coronavirus vaccination plan, with the goal of having 15 million citizens inoculated by the middle of next month. In a statement, the health department said the plan is to have 2,700 vaccination sites around the country, with one located within 16 kilometers of every person in Britain by the end of January. Health officials say rural areas will be served by mobile vaccination units. The health department said officials hope to be able to deliver at least 2 million vaccinations per week by the end of the month, with all residents and staff in more than 10,000 care homes across Britain having access to the shot. The plan calls for 206 active hospital sites, as well as 1,200 local vaccination sites — including primary care networks, community pharmacy sites and mobile teams. The health department said by the end of this month there will also be 50 mass vaccination centers around Britain. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking with reporters at a newly opened center in Bristol, described the situation as “a race against time.” “We can all see the threat that our NHS (National Health Service) faces, the pressure it’s under, the demand in intensive care units, the pressure on ventilated beds, even the shortage of oxygen in some places,” he said. Johnson said 2.4 million COVID-19 shots had been administered in Britain and that about 40% of 80-year-olds there had been vaccinated, along with around a quarter of elderly residents in care homes. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus. The death toll in Britain has been soaring. It now stands at more than 81,500 — the world’s fifth-highest toll — while more than 3 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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US Treasury Sanctions Alleged Russian Disinformation Network
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions Monday against associates and entities affiliated with Ukrainian politician Andrii Derkach, who they say operates a Russian-backed foreign influence network that attempted to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The individuals sanctioned are former Ukrainian government officials Konstantin Kulyk, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Andriy Telizhenko, and current Ukrainian member of Parliament Oleksandr Dubinsky. The Treasury Department said Kulyk “formed an alliance with Derkach to spread false accusations of international corruption.” It added that Onyshchenko, who is a fugitive from Ukrainian justice on corruption charges, “provided edited audiotape copies of purported audio recordings of conversations between former Ukrainian and U.S. officials, which Derkach released between May and July 2020 to discredit U.S. officials and influence the U.S. elections.” The Treasury said Telizhenko arranged meetings between unnamed “U.S. persons” and Derkach to “propagate false claims concerning corruption in Ukraine.” Dubinsky joined Derkach in press conferences “designed to perpetuate these and other false narratives and denigrate U.S. presidential candidates and their families,” Treasury said, a reference to President-elect Joe Biden and his son Hunter. FILE – Joe Biden embraces his son Hunter Biden at an election rally, after the news media announced that Biden has won the 2020 U.S. presidential election.Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014, sparking concerns about the perceptions of a conflict of interest, given the elder Biden was deeply involved in U.S. policy toward Ukraine. He was reportedly paid $50,000 or more a month for his position. Last month, the younger Biden revealed he is under federal investigation for “potential criminal violations of tax and money laundering laws,” The New York Times reported. “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” he said in a statement. The Treasury Department on Monday also sanctioned three other individuals in Derkach’s circle, including Petro Zhuravel, Dmytro Kovalchuk and Anton Simonenko. Additionally, several media companies that Treasury called “front companies” associated with Derkach were also sanctioned. In September, the United States sanctioned Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament allegedly tied to Russian intelligence, and three other Russian-based operatives connected to the Internet Research Agency troll farm based in St. Petersburg. The U.S. sanctions block U.S. financial and property interests of the four individuals, and Americans are prohibited from conducting any business transactions with them.
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Amid Pandemic, US Farmers Endure Another Year of Uncertainty
U.S. farmers entered 2020 cheered by an easing of America’s trade war with China that had disrupted lucrative agricultural exports. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, any optimism was short-lived as farmers weathered a year of upheaval thanks to whipsaw market fluctuations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Camera, Producer: Kane Farabaugh
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Hong Kong Protesters Outraged by Beijing’s Comparison of US Capitol Siege to Storming of Legislature
As the shocking scenes at the U.S. Capitol building unfolded last week, residents of Hong Kong, nearly 13,000 kilometers away, were reminded of the chaos at their own Legislative Council on July 1, 2019.It also was an unprecedented moment, and a turning point, for the pro-democracy protests in the city were then just one month old.July 1 is a significant date in the Chinese city. It’s the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China by Britain in 1997 and has attracted annual rallies since. But in 2019, there was a different reason people were taking to the streets. They were challenging a controversial bill that would allow extradition of Hong Kong residents to mainland China for trial. Demonstrations had been gathering momentum since June.As street protests ensnarled government buildings that day, groups of activists splintered off from the masses, headed towards the Legislative Council, the city’s top political chamber.The demonstrators eventually entered the complex by breaking glass walls and metal doors, as local police refrained from confrontation. Protesters swarmed the chamber, waved both the Union Jack, Britain’s national banner, and the old colonial Hong Kong flag.Slogans were spray-painted, and furniture and pro-Beijing portraits were damaged, but it was reported that protesters made efforts to protect cultural objects and literature.According to the president of the Legislative Council the total damage was about $5 million. Overall, 13 people were arrested, 15 were injured, and there were no fatalities.FILE – Protesters try to break into the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong where riot police are seen, during the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China, July 1, 2019.Beijing and its supporters, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, condemned the events at the Legislative Council as “riots,” with the narrative focusing on “violent protesters” who vandalized the complex. Despite the rhetoric, a week later, Lam gave in to pressure and announced the extradition bill was “dead.”But the pro-democracy protesters felt they had made statement, attempting to maintain Hong Kong’s limited democracy, and resisting the city’s continuous slide into China’s authoritarian system.Even today, water barriers still surround the government complex as a vivid reminder of the day’s historic events.Hong Kong was to have been under a “one country, two systems” agreement until 2047, made between Britain and China prior to the handover of the city in 1997. This allows Hong Kong to enjoy limited autonomy and democracy. But Hong Kongers have complained these freedoms are being eroded by Beijing.Beginning in June 2019, street demonstrations surged through the former British colony for six consecutive months, often turning violent. In June 2020, Beijing enacted a national security law on Hong Kong, prohibiting subversion, success, and foreign collusion, with violations of the law freely interpreted.Since Wednesday’s chaos in Washington, Chinese Communist Party officials and those affiliated have made public comparisons between the incidents at both the U.S. Capitol and the Legislative Council.U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.Hua Chunying, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson tweeted a video clip of events on 1 July 2019 in Hong Kong with a title “Mobs storm Hong Kong’s Legislative Council” in an apparent jibe towards Washington.Qingqin Chen, the chief reporter for China’s state-affiliated media Global Times, tweeted: “When Trump supporters storm Capitol, they are called as ‘mob’ but we’ve seen exactly the similar scenario happened in #HongKong #LegCo in 2019.”The linking of the two incidents has raised an uproar on social media, with residents and reporters in Hong Kong angrily insisting the incidents are not comparable.Self-exiled Hong Kong activist Nathan Law, who graduated from Yale University, tweeted about such comparisons.“It’s the WRONG comparison. Several scenes on 1st July 2019, one of the monumental days of the protest movement, can help you tell the differences,” he said.The tweet continued: “The protesters had a very clear understanding of what they were targeting, they only damaged the symbols representing the authoritarian regime.” Law added, “The protesters who entered the building were civilized and well-mannered. They were fighting for a better society and social justice. They were demanding an unelected government to implement a fair and open electoral system.”FILE – Journalists film a protester defaceing the Hong Kong emblem inside the meeting hall of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, July 1, 2019.Several pro-democracy protesters within Hong Kong also spoke to VOA, giving their reaction.Twenty-seven-year-old Hong Kong resident Aaron — who asked that only his first name be used, for fear of being arrested — said “Beijing has always played a game of ‘whataboutism’ when it comes to international politics. Trying to deflect their own internal events but pointing out the failings in other countries.”Aaron added: “From a distance, I can see that a casual observer will be quick to draw comparisons between the two while failing to understand the nuance between people protesting a non-democratic single-party government like that of Hong Kong and China and protesting a legitimate democratic electoral result like in the U.S.”For the Hong Kong protester, “there isn’t even a democratic process to scrutinize,” Aaron told VOA.Another Hong Kong resident, Anson – who asked that his real name not be used — said it’s “absolutely ridiculous” both incidents have been compared and the comments by China “highlights their narrow view of democracy.”Anson told VOA, “The so-called ‘storming’ of the LegCo occurred as a reaction to an unjust bill issued by the Hong Kong government to further hinder the advancement of basic human liberties in Hong Kong. The U.S. Capitol siege was in reaction to (a) legitimate and democratic election. The simple difference is the people of Hong Kong were not even given a chance to decide for their futures, so they were forced into action.”
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Facebook Shuts Down Ugandan Government-Linked Accounts Ahead of General Election
Facebook has taken down several accounts linked to the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, saying they were being used to manipulate public opinion ahead of this week’s presidential election.
The U.S.-based social media giant said Monday it linked the network of accounts to the Uganda’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.
Facebook said the ministry “used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users, re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.”
The Associated Press quoted presidential spokesman Don Wanyama as saying Facebook was “interfering in the electoral process of Uganda.” He also said, “If people wanted to have the evidence of outside interference, now they have it.”
Voters in the East African country will cast ballots Thursday in a general election that pits President Museveni against 10 challengers, including popular singer-turned-legislator Bobi Wine.
The lead-up to the vote has been marred by increasing violence, numerous human rights violations, and restrictions imposed on opposition candidates and supporters.
The arrests and detentions in November of Wine and Patrick Oboi Amuriat, another presidential candidate, as well as other members of the political opposition, triggered riots and protests. At least 54 people were killed.
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California Funeral Homes Turn Away Bereaved Families
Southern California funeral homes are turning away bereaved families because, like hospitals they are overwhelmed by deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan
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Biden to Tap Veteran Diplomat William Burns as CIA Chief
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday he will nominate career diplomat William Burns to be his director of the Central Intelligence Agency.In a statement Monday, Biden’s transition team said Burns is a 33-year U.S. State Department veteran who has served under both Republican and Democratic presidents.Burns rose through the ranks of the diplomatic corps and served as ambassador to Jordan under former U.S President Bill Clinton and ambassador to Russia under former U.S. President George W. Bush. The 64-year old diplomat was named deputy secretary of state in 2011 by U.S. President Barack Obama before retiring in 2014 to run the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.In a statement, President-elect Biden said Burns’ bipartisan experience ensures he will bring an “apolitical” approach and perspective to intelligence that will keep America safe. “The American people will sleep soundly with him as our next CIA Director,” said Biden of Burns.Ambassador Burns has received three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the highest civilian honors from the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He attended LaSalle University in Philadelphia where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and earned a master’s and doctoral degrees in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.
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Pope, In New Decree, Allows More Roles for Women in Church
Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to formally allow them to serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of communion.
In a decree, the pope formalized what already has been happening in many developed countries for years. But by introducing the change in the Code of Canon Law, it will be impossible for conservative bishops to block women in their diocese from having those roles.
But the Vatican stressed that these roles were “essentially distinct from the ordained ministry,” meaning that they should not be seen as an automatic precursor to women one day being allowed to be ordained priests.
“The pontiff, therefore, has established that women can accede to these ministries and they are attributed by a liturgical function that institutionalizes them,” the Vatican said in an explanatory note.
In the decree, called “Spiritus Domini” (The Spirit of the Lord), Francis said he had taken his decision after theological reflection.
He said many bishops from around the world had said that the change was necessary to respond to the “needs of the times.”
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Foreign Workers, Mostly Chinese, Flee Post-Election Violence in C.A.R.
Cameroon authorities say more than 250 foreign workers, most of them Chinese, have fled post-election violence in the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) to the border town of Garoua Boulay. The foreign workers say they are being targeted by rebel groups disgruntled with the C.A.R.’s December 27 presidential election that saw Faustin-Archange Touadera reelected. Li Yu, 43, calls himself a spokesman for Chinese workers who fled post-election violence in the Central African Republic to Cameroon. He says 152 Chinese merchants, construction engineers, and those working on mining sites escaped to Cameroon in the past week. Cameroon authorities say more than 250 foreign workers in the CAR have crossed over to Cameroon within the past week. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Li says armed rebel groups began threatening Chinese mining workers after the December 27 elections in the C.A.R. He says the situation worsened during the first week of January when groups of heavily armed men started searching their homes, looting and asking all Chinese citizens to leave or be killed. Li says he is happy that Cameroon is hospitable to them. Li says more than 60 of the Chinese were working on mining sites in the C.A.R. and some of them trekked through the bush for days before arriving in Cameroon. He says some Chinese and other foreign workers were assisted to the border by the Central African Republic’s military. Cameroon authorities say over 250 foreign workers in the C.A.R. had crossed over to Cameroon within the past week. Cameroon Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji visited the fleeing workers Sunday in Garoua Boulay. Cameroon Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji and Li Yu, Chinese CAR workers spokesperson, in Garoua Boulay, Cameroon. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Nji says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya dispatched him to the border to ensure their safety and to provide aid. He says Biya asked him to make sure that all foreign workers escaping the violent clashes in the C.A.R. are safe in Cameroon, especially the Chinese. Nji says the mattresses, food, and first aid products they are handing out are from Biya to help the fleeing workers in Garoua Boulay. Mattresses and basic needs are handed to Chinese workers fleeing from CAR, Garoua Boulay, Cameroon, Jan. 10, 2021. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)He says Cameroon’s military will help transport Chinese citizens who want to go to their embassy in the capital, Yaoundé. Nji says 4,500 civilians have fled election-related violence in the C.A.R. to Garoua Boulay since December.He says the violence has also blocked close to 2,000 trucks at Garoua Boulay trying to get from Cameroon’s coastal city of Douala to the C.A.R.’s capital, Bangui. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, on Sunday said violence was rising to an alarming extent. MINUSCA said 4,000 civilians in the C.A.R. towns of Bouar and Grimari fled heavy fighting between rebels and troops to safety in Bouar’s Roman Catholic Church. Cameroon’s Chief of Defense Staff Lieutenant General Rene Claude Meka last week visited Garoua Boulay. Speaking Sunday, he said Cameroon’s intelligence indicated that C.A.R. rebels were moving towards the border. Meka says he visited Cameroon’s eastern border with the C.A.R. to ensure that troops strictly apply measures to protect civilians from the disorder in the C.A.R. He says he is happy that the military is keeping Cameroon’s side of the border safe by making sure that rebels and weapons do not infiltrate into Cameroon. FILE – Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera addresses the media outside a polling station, after casting his ballots during the presidential and legislative elections at a polling station in Bangui, Dec. 27, 2020.Violence flared in the C.A.R. over the December 27 presidential election, which saw Faustin-Archange Touadera reelected with more than 53 percent of the votes. The C.A.R. accuses former president Francois Bozize, whose candidacy for the presidential election was rejected, of attempting a coup. He denies organizing December rebel attacks, which were repelled by U.N. troops. Bozize’s opposition coalition demanded the election be postponed due to the violence, but the government went ahead with the polls. Violence between armed groups since 2013 has displaced nearly 700,000 people inside the Central African Republic and forced over 600,000 to flee — most to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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China Denounces End of US Restrictions on Contacts with Taiwan Officials
China is vowing to counter a decision by the United States to lift self-imposed restrictions on contacts between U.S. diplomatic officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, while maintaining the unofficial relationship between the two democracies.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to the self-ruled island as “a vibrant democracy and reliable partner of the United States” in a statement Saturday announcing the eased restrictions. US State Department Ends Restrictions on Contacts with Taiwan Officials Pompeo says Taiwan is a ‘reliable’ and ‘unofficial’ partner “The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception,” Pompeo said as he declared that all previous “contact guidelines” issued by the State Department involving Taiwan to be “null and void.”The announcement comes after the Taiwan Assurance Act, requiring the State Department to reassess such restrictions on U.S. relations with Taiwan, became law in December 2020.Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the 1949 end of China’s civil war, when Chaing Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communist forces and settled on the island. China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force to unite the two sides.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing Monday that China will allow no interference in its reunification efforts with Taiwan, and that any actions in that direction would be met with firm countermeasures, although he did not spell out any specifics.For years, most high-ranking U.S. military officials and senior American officials were banned from traveling to Taiwan to avoid upsetting Beijing. Top Taiwanese officials, including Taiwan’s president, vice president, and ministers of foreign affairs and of defense, have been prevented from coming to Washington.“Decades of discrimination, removed. A huge day in our bilateral relationship. I will cherish every opportunity,” said Taiwan’s envoy to the U.S. Hsiao Bi-khim in a tweet.Decades of discrimination, removed. A huge day in our bilateral relationship. I will cherish every opportunity. https://t.co/kR29OLLcFh— Bi-khim Hsiao 蕭美琴 (@bikhim) January 9, 2021The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s representative office in the U.S., said in a statement that the State Department’s actions to further bilateral engagements “reflect the strength and depth of our relationship.”“We are grateful to the State Department, as well as members of Congress from both parties for passing the Taiwan Assurance Act, which had also encouraged this review,” the office said.Some analysts said it’s the right move but question the timing.”Taiwan is an important unofficial partner, a major economic and security partner, making robust engagement a vital U.S. national interest. Arbitrary restrictions on engagement harm U.S. interests and belittle our Taiwan friends, at no gain to either, and potential harm to both,” said Drew Thompson, a former U.S. defense official and now a senior research fellow at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Thompson added, however, “a blanket statement such as this, abrogating all of the guidance in place for years, without replacing it with a new framework simply reflects the chaos we are currently seeing in Washington. It is a good thing badly done, four years too late, that can be reversed with little effort in a few weeks. “US Lifts Ban on Official Contacts with Taiwan. So, Who’s Coming?After four years of warming toward Taiwan, despite China, U.S. President Donald Trump’s government throws out pro-China rules that have limited visits between senior-level officialsBonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA Saturday “if these restrictions hampered the U.S. from promoting the relationship in a way that serves U.S. national interests, the Trump administration should have done this much earlier. It is against our traditions to make policy decisions in the waning days of an administration.”Others said the latest move will force Taiwan policy higher up on the agenda of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.Euan Graham, a senior fellow from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, referred in a tweet to “the prim correctness around Taiwan nomenclature, all the do’s and don’ts (and they were mostly don’ts),” adding, “Always in fear of a tongue lashing from the PRC representative at Asian security conferences. I would happily bid goodbye to all that.”Other countries more so. The prim correctness around Taiwan nomenclature, all the do’s and don’ts (and they were mostly don’ts). Always in fear of a tongue lashing from the PRC representative at Asian security conferences. I would happily bid goodbye to all that. https://t.co/zSVp8ScJXc— Euan Graham (@graham_euan) January 10, 2021“These changes are long overdue, and the Trump administration ideally would have made them sooner. Beijing seeks to coerce, isolate, and eventually control Taiwan. The United States must counter these efforts by Beijing, and more robust U.S. bilateral interactions with Taiwan are an important part of that,” said Bradley Bowman who is a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.“The incoming Biden administration should also examine self-imposed limitations related to U.S. military training and exercises with Taiwan,” Bowman said.Pompeo’s Saturday statement follows a previous announcement that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft will visit Taiwan from January 13 to 15.The announcement was met with strong opposition from Beijing. Hua Chunying, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, accused the U.S. of violating Beijing’s one-China “principle” and warned that the U.S. will pay a “heavy price for its wrongdoings.”The U.S. says its long-held One China policy is “distinct” from Beijing’s One China principle, under which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) asserts sovereignty over Taiwan. The U.S. has never accepted CCP’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan and has refrained from taking a position on sovereignty over Taiwan.
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Indonesian Navy Attempts to Recover Flight Recorders of Crashed Jetliner
Indonesian navy divers began searching Monday for the flight recorders from the passenger jet that crashed Saturday in the Java Sea.Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182 disappeared from radar just four minutes after taking off from Jakarta en route to Pontianak, the capital of the West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, carrying 62 passengers and crew, including 10 children.Search and rescue crews on Sunday pinpointed the location of the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, known as “black boxes, after locating debris from the crashed plane.Indonesian Authorities Locate Black Boxes from Sriwijaya Air Passenger Plane Passenger jet crashed with 62 on boardFlightradar24, the flight tracking service, said the Boeing 737-500 jetliner “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute.”Divers have already recovered remains of several people on board the plane, along with various pieces of debris, including landing gear, wheels and one of the plane’s turbine engines.Bambang Suryo Aji, an official with Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters Saturday the debris will be sent to the National Commission on Transportation Safety.At least 53 naval vessels and 2,600 rescue personnel are taking part in the recovery operation.Saturday’s crash is the latest entry in Indonesia’s troubled aviation sector, which has been plagued by safety concerns. A series of deadly crashes, including the 1997 crash of a Garuda jetliner that killed all 234 people aboard, and the 2014 crash of an Indonesian AirAsia jet in the Java Sea that killed 162 people, prompted both the United States and the European Union to ban Indonesian airlines from entering their respective airspaces for several years.Saturday’s crash was the first since a Lion Air jet crashed into the Java Sea soon after takeoff in 2018, killing all 189 passengers and crew. That plane was a Boeing 737 MAX, the same model that was involved in another deadly crash several months later in Ethiopia. Both crashes were blamed on a faulty automated flight control system that led to the grounding of the entire 737 MAX fleet.The Boeing 737-500 plane that crashed Saturday had been in operation for 26 years.
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US Lifts Ban on Official Contacts with Taiwan. So, Who’s Coming?
Taiwan should expect one or two senior visitors this month and an open door in the years ahead following the U.S. government’s decision Saturday to lift its ban on high-level contacts, a rule it had observed to get along with the Asian island’s political rival China, scholars believe.U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo declared Saturday that previous restrictions on Taiwan-bound travel by American diplomats, service members and other officials were “null and void.” He said the U.S. government had been living by the self-imposed rules in an “attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing.” Trump’s administration has warmed toward Taiwan diplomatically and militarily since 2017 as the U.S. clashes with old Cold War foe China over trade, technology sharing and consular issues. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and gets angry when the United States supports Taipei. US State Department Ends Restrictions on Contacts with Taiwan Officials Pompeo says Taiwan is a ‘reliable’ and ‘unofficial’ partner The U.S. government that has catapulted relations with Taipei to their strongest since the 1970s – part of a joint resistance against China – already confirmed last week it would send its U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft to Taiwan January 13-15. Taiwan, despite years of protests, cannot join the United Nations nor its agencies, such as the World Health Organization, as Chinese allies block most bids for Taiwanese participation.Pompeo himself could reach Taiwan before Trump’s scheduled departure from the White House January 20, some analysts say. Pompeo has not made such an announcement, but the Chinese state-monitored Global Times news website raised the possibility of a “a surprise visit to Taiwan before he steps down to make the upgrade of official exchanges between the U.S. and the Taiwan island an established fact”.A trip by Pompeo would carry more U.S. foreign policy weight compared to officials who have visited Taiwan before, meaning a stronger jab at China, said Kwei-bo Huang, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.“That seems to be what the Chinese are targeting the most,” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center research group in Washington. “They just want Trump to go away quickly and quietly without getting into any trouble.”Beijing Warns US Will Pay ‘Heavy Price’ if UN Ambassador Goes to TaiwanChina deems it ‘crazy provocation’China stepped up military flights into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone after U.S. health secretary Alex Azar traveled to Taiwan in August and state department undersecretary Keith Krach arrived a month later.“If Pompeo can come over, the People’s Liberation Army will definitely intensify its stance, and it will become stronger,” Huang said.Trump himself could technically visit Taiwan but would gain little from a trip as mounting transfer-of-power issues swirl in Washington, Sun said.U.S. officials began liberalizing high-level contact with Taiwan in 2018 when Congress passed the Taiwan Travel Act, which says U.S. policy should let officials visit Taiwan “to meet their Taiwanese counterparts”.The Communist leadership in Beijing has called Taiwan its own since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong’s forces and rebased on the nearby island. Most Taiwanese said in government surveys two years ago they oppose unification with modern China.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen supports that sentiment and seeks closer U.S. ties as a counterweight. The United States cut ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favor of the fast-growing China but retains a strong informal relationship with the island.China-Taiwan ties deteriorated last year as Taiwan-U.S. relations improved. Chinese military aircraft increased flights near the island in mid-2020 and the two sides lack a mechanism to hold formal talks.The Taiwan government welcomed Pompeo’s statement Sunday and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted that the curbs on high-level visits were “unnecessarily limiting our engagements these past years.”President-elect Joe Biden is widely expected to engage China more fervently than Trump. He will support “a peaceful resolution” of China-Taiwan issues, Taiwan government-funded Central News Agency reported Sunday, citing a member of Biden’s transition team.Pompeo’s order Saturday on lifting travel rules seeks to make Taiwan policy direction “irreversible”, Sun said. Biden can leverage Pompeo’s edict to reach out to Taiwan as needed without excessive anger from China, said Derek Grossman, senior analyst with the U.S.-based Rand Corp. research institution. “I think when a soon-to-be past administration makes a decision, then the new administration doesn’t have to worry as much about that, because it’s already been done,” Grossman said.
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Outgoing Capitol Police Chief Says Officials Dismissed Plans for National Guard Backup
Outgoing U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told the Washington Post that security officials in the House of Representatives and Senate denied his request to ask the National Guard to be ready to help ahead of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.“If we would have had the National Guard, we could have held them at bay longer, until more officers from our partner agencies could arrive,” Sund told the Post.Sund said Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger suggested he have informal talks with National Guard officials to have personnel on alert in case they were needed, and that House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving expressed discomfort with how it would look to formally declare an emergency ahead of the planned demonstrations by President Donald Trump’s supporters.The newspaper said Stenger declined to discuss the matter when approached for an interview, and that it was unable to reach Irving for comment.A Pentagon spokesman said last week that U.S. Capitol Police did not make a request for National Guard backup ahead of the riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Capitol Police Were Overrun, ‘Left Naked’ Against Rioters The department had the same number of officers in place as on a routine day. While some of those officers were outfitted with equipment for a protest, they were not staffed or equipped for a riot.Pro-Trump rioters overwhelmed the outnumbered Capitol Police and spent several hours inside the building Wednesday as security rushed lawmakers to safety. It took hours for authorities to reassert control of the building with Capitol Police eventually getting help from the National Guard as well as local police and federal law enforcement agencies. In the wake of the attack, several lawmakers have questioned Capitol Police preparation. Sund, Stenger and Irving have all resigned.
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US Lawmakers Discuss Next Moves as Nation Grapples to Understand Violence at Capitol Building
With U.S. President-elect Joe Biden set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, one question being debated is whether Congress will pursue a second impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump over his alleged role in last Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol building. Michelle Quinn reports.
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