U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Sunday about the threat of violence at the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, especially in the aftermath of last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump trying to block Biden’s ascension to power.Schumer, soon to be the Senate majority leader, said he spoke with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Saturday “to urge him to relentlessly pursue the mob of violent insurrectionists, incited by President Trump, who attacked the United States Capitol and killed a police officer, as well as guard against potential additional attacks.”Schumer said, “The threat of violent extremist groups remains high and the next few weeks are critical in our democratic process with the upcoming inauguration.”FILE – Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi looking on, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 20, 2020.Similarly, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, in a letter dated Saturday, asked acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf to extend the three-day period for the national security designation currently surrounding the inauguration to a two-week period starting Monday and extending to January 24.Bowser also asked Wolf for other unspecified “direct federal assistance” to plan for the quadrennial inauguration, federal law enforcement help during the inauguration so the city’s police force can tend to normal patrols throughout the city and daily FBI threat briefings throughout the inauguration period.The mayor said she wants the federal Interior Department to reject requests for public gathering permits throughout that period.She said her requests were “essential to demonstrating our collective resolve in ensuring the constitutional transition of power.”Trump announced Friday that he would not be attending Biden’s inauguration, which would make him the first president in modern history who will not attend his successor’s swearing-in. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to attend, as will former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.FILE – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is sworn in as his wife Jill Biden watches during the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington, Jan. 20, 2009.Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt who is overseeing Biden’s inauguration told the Missourinet website that he spent time Thursday reviewing FBI intelligence reports on the attack on the Capitol. He said the smaller inauguration crowd, prompted by COVID-19 restrictions, will be easier to handle than the more typical 200,000 attendees.And the Secret Service, which is leading a team of law enforcement agencies in providing security for the inauguration, issued a statement Friday that it has been working for more than a year “to anticipate and prepare for all possible contingencies at every level to ensure a safe and secure Inauguration Day.”Law enforcement personnel were overwhelmed as thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed into the Capitol last Wednesday trying to block congressional certification of the Electoral College vote showing Biden had defeated Trump. Several lawmakers, including Democratic Senator Chris Murphy have questioned how law enforcement could have missed warnings of the coming attack. He told NPR on Friday that, “you didn’t have to be on the dark web to know that something really terrible might happen on Wednesday.” And calls for similar protests are continuing online, Twitter said in a statement Friday.“Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021,” it said.Just as numerous Trump adherents had called for the protest on social media accounts, similarly, there are calls for more demonstrations as Biden is inaugurated as the country’s 46th president, in an event organizers are calling a “Million Militia March.”Some organizers, calling themselves “common folk who are tired of being tread upon,” are also calling for an “Armed March on All State Capitals” for January 17, three days ahead of the inauguration.
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Month: January 2021
North Korea’s Kim Gets New Title in Symbolic Move at Congress
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was given a new title, “general secretary” of the ruling Workers’ Party, a post held by his late father and grandfather, state media reported Monday, a largely symbolic appointment apparently aimed at bolstering his authority amid growing economic challenges at home.The party’s ongoing congress, the first in kind in five years, announced Kim’s new title during its sixth-day session Sunday. A congress statement said Kim “has gloriously realized the historic mission to complete the country’s nuclear build-up plan,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.The new title is largely seen as a symbolic move as Kim has already been the party’s top leader. During a 2016 party congress, he was named party chairman, largely the equivalent of general secretary held by his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Before the 2016 congress, Kim Jong Un had led the party with the title of first secretary.Since taking power in late 2011, Kim has taken up a slew of top posts and established the similar absolute power enjoyed by his predecessors. The two late North Korean leaders have kept posthumous titles — Kim Jong Il remains “eternal general secretary” and Kim Il Sung is “eternal president.”On Sunday, state media said the congress had determined to change the party’s Executive Policy Council into the Secretariat. The decision would lead to party officials relinquishing current titles such as chairman and vice chairman and start using old titles such as secretary or vice secretary.The congress is being held as Kim faces what appears to be the toughest moment of his nine-year rule because of multiple blows to his country’s already-fragile economy caused by pandemic-related border closings that have drastically reduced external trade, a series of natural disasters and U.S.-led sanctions.During the congress, Kim Jong Un vowed to enlarge his nuclear arsenal and build more sophisticated weapons systems to cope with what he calls intensifying U.S. hostile policy. He also admitted a previous five-year economic development plan failed and disclosed a new development that focuses on building a stronger self-reliant economy.
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US Launches Work on Consulate in Disputed Western Sahara
The United States on Sunday started the process of establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington recognized Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel.U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla, 1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the far south of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, to mark the start of work on a diplomatic office.”It is such an honor for me to visit this stunningly beautiful and critically important region of Morocco, and to begin the process of establishing a U.S. diplomatic presence here,” Fischer said, according to the U.S. embassy.Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco’s control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.Last year, Morocco joined the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in agreeing to normalize ties with Israel under U.S.-brokered deals.In return, U.S. President Donald Trump fulfilled a decades-old Moroccan goal by backing its contested sovereignty over the barren but phosphate-rich region, which lies next to key Atlantic fishing zones.Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Sunday that “Morocco feels stronger in its legitimate fight for its territorial integrity … with the support of its friends.”The Algerian-backed Polisario Front fought a war for independence from 1975 to 1991 and controls about one-fifth of the desert territory.Some 20 countries, mostly African and Arab nations, have opened diplomatic offices in the Moroccan-held area, but the Polisario considers such moves to be violations of international law.Bachir Mustapha Sayed, a representative of the Polisario’s Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, called the American delegation’s visit a “propaganda tourist trip” and recalled that the Trump “administration will come to an end in less than two weeks” in an interview with Algerian press agency APS.Security personnel stand guard outside the provisional consulate of the U.S. in Dakhla, Morocco-administered Western Sahara, Jan. 10, 2021.Trade dealsU.N. peacekeepers in Western Sahara are mandated to organize a referendum on self-determination for the region and despite Washington’s move, the U.N. insists its position is unchanged.In November, the Polisario announced it regarded a 1991 cease-fire as null and void, after Morocco sent troops into a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone to reopen a key road.Bourita said Sunday that Morocco continues to “support the cease-fire, but will react to any provocation,” adding that Rabat “will support the U.N. process … to find a solution to this long-standing dispute.”Fischer, who called the visit Sunday “another historic milestone in more than 200 years of friendship” between Morocco and the U.S., was accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker.The pair donned flowing white embroidered robes that are traditionally worn in the territory over their suits.In December, the U.S. State Department opened a virtual diplomatic post in Western Sahara ahead of finding “an appropriate site” to build a consulate.The building is expected to be ready in the coming months, Fischer added.Last month, Fischer said that a consulate would allow Washington “to take further advantage of Morocco’s strategic positioning as a hub for trade in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.”The Morocco-Israel deal to normalize ties is expected to involve significant investment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and Morocco hopes Dakhla can become a major regional port.Last month, the DFC inked a memorandum of understanding to invest $3 billion during the next four years into Morocco or with Moroccan partners working in sub-Saharan Africa.It also promised an initiative to “catalyze $1 billion of investments in projects that advance women’s economic empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa.”U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will replace Trump on January 20, has not publicly commented on Western Sahara.
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In Extraordinary Rebuke, US Diplomats Blast Trump for Capitol Riot
In a highly unusual move, American diplomats have drafted two cables condemning President Donald Trump’s incitement of the deadly assault on the Capitol and calling for administration officials to support invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Using what is known as the State Department’s “dissent channel,” the career foreign service officers said they fear last Wednesday’s siege may badly undermine U.S. credibility to promote and defend democratic values abroad. “Failing to publicly hold the president to account would further damage our democracy and our ability to effectively accomplish our foreign policy goals abroad,” according to the second of the two cables, which were circulated among diplomats late last week and then sent to State Department leadership. The cables were an extraordinary protest against a sitting U.S. president by American diplomats, who have long complained that the Trump administration has ignored and diminished their role and expertise. The dissent channel is normally used to oppose specific foreign policy decisions. The two most recent cables appear to be unprecedented in their scope and characterization of the president as a danger to the country. The cables also reflect anger at the response to the riot by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a loyal Trump ally.
Pompeo has condemned the violence at the Capitol but pointedly not addressed the role Trump played in encouraging his supporters who stormed the building. Nor has Pompeo addressed the aftermath or acknowledged that American diplomats overseas may now face new difficulty in promoting democracy. For his part, Trump has railed about what he sees as disloyalty at the State Department. He once referred to it publicly — and in front of Pompeo and reporters — as “the deep State Department,” a reference to what Trump and his supporters believe is a cabal of entrenched bureaucrats intent on subverting his policies.It was not immediately clear how many diplomats signed the cables, both of which were viewed by The Associated Press. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “It is essential that the Department of State explicitly denounce President Trump’s role in this violent attack on the U.S. government,” said the first of the two cables, which added that the president’s own comments should not be used “as he is not a credible voice on this matter.” “Just as we routinely denounce foreign leaders who use violence and intimidation to interfere in peaceful democratic processes and override the will of their voters, the department’s public statements about this episode should also mention President Trump by name. It is critical that we communicate to the world that in our system, no one — not even the president — is above the law or immune from public criticism.””This would be a first step towards repairing the damage to our international credibility,” it said. “It would allow the beacon of democracy to shine on despite this dark episode. It would also send a strong message to our friends and adversaries that the Department of State applies an ethos of integrity and objective standards when it condemns assaults on democracy at home or abroad.”The second cable goes further, demanding that Pompeo explicitly recognize President-elect Joe Biden’s election and condemn Trump’s actions. It also said Pompeo should support any effort by Vice President Mike Pence and other Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Invokes Post-Nazi Europe in Video Condemning Capitol Violence
In an emotional video message with intimate references to his childhood in post-Nazi Austria, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger condemned the recent violence on Capitol Hill, and what he called President Donald’s Trump’s lies which incited the revolt.
“President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies,” Schwarzenegger, the 73-year-old former actor who most notably played the role of the Terminator during his Hollywood career, said in a seven-minute video posted on social media Sunday.
“My father and our neighbors were misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead,” said Schwarzenegger, a Republican.My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week’s attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021Trump has maintained, without any evidence, that he won the Nov. 3 election. A mob of his supporters breached security on Capitol Hill Wednesday while Congress finalized the certification of rival Joe Biden’s victory. In a video to his supporters in the midst of the violence Wednesday, the president asked them to go home, but maintained that he had won.
Trump later issued a video in which he promised a smooth transition of power. A deputy White House press secretary tweeted Thursday that the White House and president condemned the violence.
Schwarzenegger warned Sunday that while Trump may become “irrelevant as an old tweet” after the inauguration, lawmakers, whom he criticized for their “spinelessness,” would have to be held accountable for their actions, and that laws would have to be passed so that Wednesday’s events could never happen again.
Schwarzenegger recounted stories of his Austrian childhood post-World War II, where his father and neighbors drank to excess in the aftermath of what he called “the most evil regime” in history.
Comparing the Nazis to the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a hate group, Schwarzenegger noted that many men in his childhood community were not “rabid anti-Semites or Nazis.”
“Many just went along, step-by-step, down the road,” he said.
With a nod to his Hollywood career, Schwarzenegger picked up “Conan’s sword” – a prop used in his 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian,” as music swelled in the background.
“Here’s the thing about swords – the more you temper a sword, the stronger it becomes,” he said.
“Our democracy is like the steel of this sword – the more it is tempered, the stronger it becomes. Our democracy has been tempered by wars, injustices, and insurrections,” he said.
“I believe, as shaken as we are by the events of recent days, we will come out stronger because we now understand what can be lost,” the former governor said.
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Britain’s Hospitals Facing ‘Worst Crisis in Living Memory’
Britain’s hospitals are on the brink of being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and the country’s National Health Service is facing its “worst crisis in living memory,” a senior government official warned Sunday. The blunt warning from England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, came as members of the government’s main advisory panel, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, warned that nationwide lockdown measures introduced after Christmas were too lax and, being flouted too often by people meeting friends in parks and congregating at supermarkets. They are urging the closure of nurseries and the end of “support bubbles” that allow for two households to mix. Ministers say they are not planning to tighten up the measures more but will start enforcing lockdown rules strictly and have ordered police to be forward-leaning and issue fines. People queue for COVID-19 testing at a mass screening centre at Charlton Athletic Football Club as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, Jan. 3, 2021.Some medical workers say the breaking point has already been reached in London and parts of southern England. British coronavirus deaths Sunday surpassed 80,000 for the pandemic, 10,000 more than the civilian death tally during World War II. The country has seen four consecutive daily increases of more than 1,000 deaths. Dr. Zudin Puthucheary, a critical care consultant, told Sky News the NHS is “breaking in front of us.” He said he was “scared and angry.” The majority of hospitals in Britain’s capital have already reportedly reached over-capacity. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, declared Friday a “major incident.” In a statement, he said, “The threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. The number of cases in London has increased rapidly with more than a third more patients being treated in our hospitals now compared to the peak of the pandemic last April,” he added. Puthucheary, who works at the Royal London Hospital, said there’s a shortage of critical care nursing staff and warned intensive care units “are full beyond bursting.” He also said, “We’ve cannibalized staff from all around the hospital — volunteers are pouring in to try and look after these patients and deliver the best care we can. Staff are breaking themselves to make this happen and keep our patients safe — and it’s not going to be enough.” FILE – Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks at a press conference inside 10 Downing Street on further restrictions to be put in place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in London, Dec. 23, 2020.Speaking on the BBC, Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined to speculate on whether the government would introduce stricter rules “because the most important message is not whether the government will further strengthen the rules. The most important thing is that people stay at home and follow the rules that we have got.” Almost 60,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in Britain Saturday. Ministers say they are in a vaccine race against the virus and plan to open seven mass vaccination centers this week, with more in the pipeline. Neil Ferguson, a government adviser and professor at London’s Imperial College, predicted the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 would soar by another 20 percent. “It will be quite difficult to avoid another 20,000 deaths,” he told reporters. But with one in 30 Britons having the virus, he said the country could be through the pandemic within nine months, as a consequence of the vaccination program and the development of herd immunity. “I think we will see growth rates slow,” Ferguson said. “We may see a decline, and that may be slightly aided by the fact that there is quite a lot of herd immunity in places like London,” he added. Paramedics are also reporting they are being forced to treat patients in ambulances for hours at a time because no beds are available. Many hospital managers have ordered staff not to speak to the media unless they have prior clearance to do so and unlike last year, television crews are finding it hard to get permission to film wards. Some doctors have written anonymously of their experiences in hospitals and paint a grim picture of patients being treated in corridors because intensive care units (ICU) are full. “We have several patients who are not ‘fit’ for ICU in the current climate,” wrote one consultant for the new site Unherd.com. “Before COVID, they most likely would have been given a chance, but not now. When we think that these patients have suffered enough, and are unlikely to ever recover, we start talking about making them comfortable. It’s partly that we need the beds for patients with a better chance, and partly that we feel it is cruel to keep these people suffering when their chances of survival are slim. It’s difficult to work out which of those is your true motivation.” Governments across Europe say their hospitals are also stretched, especially in Sweden. And they’re watching with rising anxiety developments in Britain, where transmission rates are being driven by a more contagious mutant strain that’s now being identified across the continent. Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, warned at a press conference Friday the country faces “difficult weeks ahead.” With coronavirus cases surging, he warned, “The data is bad. The incidence rate, the pressure on hospitals, the positivity rate of PCR tests and the number of deaths are rising. The evolution of the pandemic is worsening.” The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are considered the most reliable in detecting the coronavirus.
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Malawi President Saddened Over Coronavirus Surge
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera says he is saddened by statistics showing a recent spike in coronavirus infections in the country. In a Sunday radio address, he announced he was starting a 21-day fast to seek divine intervention into the pandemic that is on the rise again. Health experts say the situation needs more than prayers.
Malawi has recently seen a surge in coronavirus cases. Since Thursday, the country has been confirming more cases than ever recorded. For example, on Saturday, Malawi recorded 381 cases with 12 deaths, the largest figure in a single day since it recorded its first three cases on April 2. Chakwera noted the surge is largely because many people, including him, had ignored preventive measures.
FILE – Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera in Lilongwe, Malawi, June 28, 2020.“Many of us relaxed our vigilance against the virus and now we are paying the price,” he said. “We are paying the price because many of us are back to old ways of not wearing masks. Many of us are back to old ways of not maintaining our distance from others. Many of us are back to old ways of not washing our hands regularly. When I say many of us, I am including myself.” President Chakwera has on several occasions been criticized for ignoring prevention measures during meetings. In October, Chakwera faced public criticism for not wearing a face covering when he met with his Tanzanian counterpart, John Magufuli, during a scheduled three-day official visit to Tanzania. This month, Chakwera was also criticized after he was seen without face coverings and shaking hands with American singer Madonna at his state residence in the capital, Lilongwe. Madonna has four adopted children from Malawi and co-founded a charity there. But in his Sunday radio address, Chakwera said it’s now time for everyone in the country to return to following prevention measures. “The speed at which the virus has been spreading since Christmas is very disturbing,” he said. “Sixty-six new infections were confirmed between Christmas Day and Boxing Day. And in the fortnight that has passed since, over 1,500 new infections have been confirmed, which is an average of over 120 new infections every day which is putting too much pressure in our health system and health workers; this cannot be allowed to continue.” Chakwera said he has directed the ministries of Homeland Security and Health to scale up the enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines with immediate effect. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. President Chakwera, also former head of the Malawi Assemblies of God Church, said he has personally joined his church in a program of a 21-day fast and prayers for God’s intervention into the pandemic. Maziko Matemba, who heads Malawi’s Health and Rights Education Program, says the prayers would only help bring deep reflection on the impact of COVID-19, but that the solution is to put measures in place to stop surging cases, especially at the community level. Ministry of Health statistics show that more than 60 percent of confirmed cases are through local transmission. “[in the past] The focus was much to do with case management but what has happened now, we need to give resources to our front-line community health workers, which can also be supported by the community organizations or civil society structures or community volunteers who are willing to support so that they can manage issues of gatherings and other issues that can happen at community levels,” Matemba said.FILE – Malawi returnees screened at Mwanza border upon arrival from South Africa. (Courtesy: Pasqually Zulu/Immigration Departmentment)Matemba adds that the government should also ensure that returnees escaping economic problems in South Africa are quarantined and tested before they are allowed to go to their respective communities. The Ministry of Health says about 500 people who returned from South Africa Saturday are being kept at an isolation center in Blantyre for COVID-19 tests.
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Greece Seeks to Extend Western Frontiers to Secure Economic Exploitation
Greece’s government has presented a bill to parliament that doubles the country’s territorial waters along its western frontiers, allowing it to exploit untapped energy reserves that can boost its ailing economy. Greece wants to also expand its frontiers along its eastern borders, in the Aegean but its neighbor, Turkey, rejects the move, saying it would spell war. Still, the two NATO allies, that have seen relations plummet dangerously in the last year over energy rights, are gearing for a fresh effort at exploratory talks to sort out their differences.In presenting the bill for ratification by parliament, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said it marked a historic moment for the country, part of a bigger attempt to shield its sovereign interests as Greece and Turkey remain locked in a dangerous standoff over energy and maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean.The bill is the result of years of negotiations between Greece and Italy, redefining their maritime boundaries and establishing an exclusive economic zone that allows Athens to now survey the Ionian waterway and seabed that divides Greece and Italy for up to 19 kilometers from Greece’s western coast.That’s twice as much as before.A similar agreement is also being sought out with Albania which recently agreed to take the maritime case to arbitration at the international court at The Hague – something which Greece has also been trying to convince Turkey to do to sort out long-standing differences involving the Aegean Sea, an oil-and minerals-rich waterway that divides the two NATO allies.Bent on exploring untapped gas and oil reserves in the seabed that surrounds Greece, Athens has long been keen to extend its borders along its eastern frontiers – a move that Turkey has been strongly resisting, saying that any such designs would choke off its access to the Aegean, turning the waterway into somewhat of a Greek lake.Ankara has warned that any decision by Athens to extend territorial rights in the Aegean would spark war – a threat Greece is reluctant to ignore, especially after the two NATO allies came to the brink of an all-out conflict in that exact waterway just 20 years ago.Relations between the two age-old foes have seesawed for years since then. But in the past year, they escalated dangerously because of oil and gas drilling projects underway in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.And while Turkey has snubbed repeated attempts by the European Union to mediate exploratory talks with Greece, it now appears to be returning to the negotiating table.In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held crucial talks with key EU officials.More are expected to follow as Ankara, according to analysts, appears to be trying to rekindle its ties with the West after U.S. sanctions were imposed on the country’s defense industry for purchasing a Russian anti-ballistic system in breach of its NATO alliance commitment. The EU is also warning of sanctions it too may impose in March.Dimitris Keridies, a Greek lawmaker and professor of international relations, explains.In this sense, he said, Erdogan is almost predictable in how he is behaving. He’s clearly under pressure and he wants to restore relations with European states, Israel, Arab states and the U.S., especially with the new president coming in, to show a different face to all, mainly the Europeans, ahead of a March summit that will decide on the fate of those sanctions.Greece has long welcomed any Turkish return to exploratory talks; but it wants them to take place under an agreed agenda of topics, says Tassos Hadjivassiliou, a leading lawmaker.If they want to return to the negotiating table, Hadjivassiliou said, then they have to agree to the agenda of the talks. And that, he explains, can include nothing more than issues surrounding exploitation in the Aegean Sea. Any other issues are just unacceptable claims.It remains unclear what the finalized agenda will feature. But government officials in Athens tell VOA the exploratory talks may begin within weeks.
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UN Officials Say Fair Elections Unlikely in Uganda
U.N. officials warn prevailing political conditions in Uganda are stacked against the likelihood of free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections later this week.
The lead-up to Uganda’s national elections has been marred by increasing violence, numerous human rights violations, and restrictions imposed on opposition candidates and supporters. Spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani says the deteriorating human rights situation in the country is likely to discourage people from voting. This, she says raises the prospect of continued unrest after the election. “Numerous human rights violations have been reported, including of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and participation, as well as arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture. … Indeed, harassment, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition candidates and supporters have been worrying developments during the electoral campaign.”she said. FILE – Ugandan opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, is escorted by policemen during his arrest in Kalangala in central Uganda, Dec. 30, 2020.In mid-November, the arrest and detention of two opposition presidential candidates, Bobi Wine and Patrick Oboi Amuriat, and members of the political opposition triggered riots and protests across the country. At least 54 people were killed. Shamdasani says several presidential directives on COVID-19 have been issued since March, purportedly on health grounds. She notes Uganda’s Electoral Commission issued a new decree in June. It prohibits mass rallies during the election campaigns, suggesting digital electoral campaigns instead. “Human rights law, under certain circumstances, may allow for restrictions to mass gatherings and physical campaigning for public health reasons.,” she said. “However, we have increasingly observed that the COVID-19 restrictions have been enforced more strictly to curtail opposition electoral campaign activities in a discriminatory fashion.” The U.N. human rights office is calling on the Ugandan authorities to protect peoples’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. It is urging them to take measures to prevent electoral violence and to guarantee the rights of people to participate freely and peacefully in the election process.
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Newspaper: German Parliament Boosts Security after US Capitol Riots
Security has been stepped up at Germany’s Bundestag (lower house of parliament) after the storming of the Capitol in Washington by rioters last week, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has told lawmakers, Bild am Sonntag weekly reported.”Berlin state police have arranged for a reinforcement of their forces around the Reichstag building,” it quoted Schäuble as saying in a letter to lawmakers.A spokeswoman for the Bundestag confirmed that Schäuble had written to lawmakers about the current situation but declined to give details of the content of the letter.Bild am Sonntag also reported that Schäuble had asked the Foreign Ministry for a report on the Washington violence and would “clarify with the federal government and the state of Berlin what conclusions should be drawn for Bundestag security.”Angry supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, voted out of office in a November election, broke into the Washington Capitol, seat of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, on Wednesday. Five people died, including a police officer.In Berlin, protesters against coronavirus restrictions stormed the steps of the parliament building during a demonstration in August.
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Indonesian Authorities Locate Black Boxes from Sriwijaya Air Passenger Plane
Indonesian aviation authorities said Sunday they had located the two black boxes from the Sriwijaya Air passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta Saturday. Speaking to reporters, Soerjanto Tjahjanto, head of Indonesia’s transport safety agency said that divers would look for them, hoping to retrieve them soon. The devices contain recordings of cockpit voice and flight data could help officials understand why the Boeing 737-500 with 62 people on board crashed. An official with Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, Bambang Suryo Aji, confirmed earlier that wreckage had been found from the Sriwijaya Air passenger plane. Aji said the discovery of wreckage was first reported by the local post command on Lancang Island and that the debris would be sent to the National Commission on Transportation Safety. A crisis center has been set up at the Jakarta International Container Terminal JICT-2 in Tanjung Priok Harbor. Some material from the wreckage, including body parts and victims’ belongings were sent to the center and has been forwarded to the Indonesian Police Hospital. Jakarta Police spokesperson Yusri Yunus told VOA, “We really hope that the closest relatives could come to the hospital. They should take DNA test to confirm the body parts that we have found. We also asked them to bring the medical record, such as dental record, or perhaps a tattoo.” VOA radio affiliates in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, reported that some family members came to Supadio Airport to find out more information regarding the plane. Some family members could not hide their sorrow and were seen crying and screaming at the crisis center’s staff. Flight SJ182 was en route to Pontianak, the capital of the West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, the Transportation Ministry said. Flightradar24, the flight tracking service, said the Boeing 737 “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.” Minister of Transportation Budi Karya said the plane took off at 2:36 p.m. local time Saturday but four minutes later air traffic control could no longer contact it. “Within seconds the plane disappeared from the radar,” he added. Indonesian navy and air force sources told VOA that at least seven ships had been deployed to location, while some aircraft ready to be operated from Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta Sunday morning. The airline’s chief executive, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, told reporters that the plane’s takeoff was delayed 30 minutes because of heavy rain. A local fisherman identified only as Mahyudin on Pancang Island near the location where contact was lost with the plane said in an interview with VOA that “some fishermen told me they hear a loud bang, like an explosion, in the sea around 2:30 or 2:40 p.m.
Isabela Cocoli, Wayne Lee and Fern Robinson contributed to this story.
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White House Pushed Top Federal Prosecutor in Atlanta to Resign, Paper Says
The White House pushed the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta to resign before Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff because President Donald Trump was unhappy that he wasn’t doing enough to investigate Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.The Justice Department on Tuesday tapped a new federal prosecutor to lead the Atlanta office, a day after the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Byung J. “BJay” Pak, abruptly resigned.Pak’s resignation drew attention because Trump appeared to refer to him in a recent phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state in which the outgoing Republican president asked state officials to try to “find” enough votes to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.In a recording obtained by numerous media outlets, Trump appeared to complain during the call about Pak without naming him, saying there was a “Never Trumper U.S. attorney” in Georgia.The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said that at the behest of the White House, a senior Justice Department official called and told Pak he needed to step down because he was not pursuing the voter-fraud allegations to Trump’s satisfaction.The White House declined to comment while the Justice Department and Pak did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on Saturday.Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Jon Ossoff unseated Republican David Perdue in Tuesday’s runoffs, giving Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
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Australia, US, UK, Canada Criticize Hong Kong Mass Arrests
The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, Great Britain and Canada issued a joint statement Sunday expressing “serious concern” about the arrest of 55 democracy activists and supporters in Hong Kong last week.The arrests were by far the largest such action taken under a national security law that China imposed on the semi-autonomous territory a little more than six months ago.“It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” the four foreign ministers said.The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is needed to restore order in a city that was rocked in 2019 by months of often violent anti-government protests demanding greater democracy.Most of those arrested last week had taken part in an unofficial primary for a legislative election that was later postponed. Authorities allege the primary was part of a plot to take control of the legislature in order to paralyze government and force the city’s leader to resign.The 55 have not been charged, and all but three have been released on bail pending further investigation. Convictions could disqualify them from running for office.The four foreign ministers said the next legislative election should include candidates representing a range of political opinions. Only half the city’s legislature is elected by popular vote.“We call on the Hong Kong and Chinese central authorities to respect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention,” they wrote.The statement was signed by Marise Payne of Australia, Francois-Philippe Champagne of Canada, Dominic Raab of the U.K. and Mike Pompeo of the United States.Separately, Pompeo announced Saturday that the U.S. is voiding longstanding restrictions on how its diplomats and others have contact with their counterparts in Taiwan, a self-governing island that China says should be under its rule.The actions on Taiwan and Hong Kong will undoubtedly anger China, which views such moves as foreign interference in its internal affairs.The Trump administration, which is in its final days, is also sending Kelly Craft, its ambassador to the United Nations, to Taiwan later this week. China has sharply criticized the upcoming visit, while the Taiwan government has welcomed it.
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Apple, Amazon Suspend Parler Social Network from App Store, Web Hosting Service
Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc have suspended Parler from their respective App Store and web hosting service, saying the social networking service popular with many right-leaning social media users has not taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of posts inciting violence.The action by Apple and Amazon follows a similar move by Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday. Parler is favored by many supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter on Friday, and it is seen as a haven for people expelled from Twitter.“We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” Apple said in a statement Saturday.Apple had earlier given Parler 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan, pointing to participants’ using the service to coordinate Wednesday’s siege of the U.S. Capitol.Amazon’s move effectively takes the site offline unless it can find a new company to host its services.Amazon suspended Parler from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, for violating AWS’s terms of services by failing to effectively deal with a steady increase in violent content, according to an email by an AWS Trust and Safety team to Parler, seen by Reuters.An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the letter was authentic.Due to the “very real risk to public safety” that Parler poses, AWS plans to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, at 11:59 p.m. PST, the email seen by Reuters showed.Parler Chief Executive John Matze lashed out at Amazon, Google and Apple, saying it was a coordinated effort knowing Parler’s options would be limited and it would inflict the most damage right as Trump was banned from other social media platforms.“There is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch,” he said in a post on Parler.“This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the marketplace… You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.”In addition to Parler, right-leaning social media users in the United States have flocked to messaging app Telegram and hands-off social site Gab, citing the more aggressive policing of political comments on mainstream platforms such as Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc.
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At Least 11 Dead in Indonesia Landslides
Indonesian officials say at least 11 people are dead and 18 others injured in back-to-back landslides in Sumedang regency, West Java, Saturday night.“The first landslide happened due to heavy rain and unstable soil condition in that area,” Raditya Jati, an official with Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), said in a statement. “A subsequent landslide occurred when some search and rescue personnel were evacuating victims in the first landslide area.”Search and rescue workers are among the dead.The search and rescue effort will resume Sunday, carried out by a joint team of military, police and local disaster agency workers, who are waiting for heavy equipment to arrive to aid in the operation.The landslides also cut off a bridge and several roads in the area.Saturday’s heavy rain triggered landslides in several areas in West Java, including Garut and Sumedang.Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency is forecasting heavy rain, lightning and strong winds Sunday and Monday.The peak months of the rainy season in Indonesia are in January and February.
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House Likely to Offer Articles of Impeachment Against Trump on Monday
Efforts to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his role in inciting the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday gained momentum Saturday, with Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives announcing they will offer articles of impeachment as early as Monday.Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from the state of California, who helped draft the charges against Trump, tweeted Saturday afternoon that the articles had 180 co-sponsors, although no Republicans were among them.UPDATE to the update: We’ve just hit 180 cosponsors of the Article of Impeachment drafted by Rep District of Columbia National Guardsmen stand outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after a day of rioting Trump supporters.“It’s also very difficult in a situation in which the president is not in a coma or not otherwise physically incapacitated that he can’t function or operate because under the 25th Amendment, once it is invoked the president can notify Congress that he is able to discharge the powers of the office and take that power back,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.An overwhelming number of Democratic lawmakers – and some Republicans – have expressed support for removing Trump from power or censuring his actions.Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has called for Trump to resign, making her the first Republican senator to endorse a presidential resignation.“I want him to resign,” she told The Anchorage Daily News. “I want him out. He has caused enough damage.”“He hasn’t been focused on what is going on with COVID,” Murkowski said. “He’s either been golfing, or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. … He needs to get out.”Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey declined Saturday on Fox News to commit to voting in favor of Trumps removal despite saying he had “committed impeachable offenses.” However, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse told CBS News that he would definitely consider impeachment.But House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated he does not support impeachment.President-elect Joe Biden has said Trump wasn’t fit for office, but he declined to endorse Democratic calls that he be impeached for a second time. Biden said the situation would be different if Trump were not leaving office in less than two weeks.“If we were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, trying to evoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took,” Biden said. “But I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”Trump was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019 but was acquitted in a trial in the U.S. Senate in February 2020. No American president has ever faced two impeachment votes.“There are two reasons to pursue impeachment,” said Paul Berman, a professor of law at the George Washington University School of Law. “One is simply to make it clear that a sitting president inciting an insurrection against the United States government is perhaps the worst thing that a president could ever possibly do. And that statement needs to be made. Second, and more pragmatically, if he were impeached, and convicted, that would prevent him from running for office in the future.”
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Pro-Trump State Lawmaker Resigns After Riot; More Arrests Announced
A pro-Trump state lawmaker who filmed himself storming the U.S. Capitol has resigned and more arrests were announced Saturday as part of an investigation into Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol.Derrick Evans, a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, announced his resignation Saturday in a one-sentence letter to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.Evans was charged with entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct. If convicted, he faces a year and a half in federal prison. Evans broadcast a Facebook Live video of himself breaking into the building with a crowd of rioters, at one point saying, “We’re in, we’re in, baby.” In an earlier video posted on Facebook, now deleted, Evans warned that the rioters would storm the building.Evans has since said he wanted to apologize, according to media reports.Richard Barnett, 60, of Little Rock, Arkansas, was arrested Friday morning and charged with entering the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, where photos show him sitting in Pelosi’s office with his boot up on a desk. He faces three counts: knowingly entering and remaining in restricted grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and theft of public money, property or records, according to court documents released Friday. Barnett, who faces up to one year in prison, is in custody in Arkansas awaiting extradition to Washington.Jacob Anthony Chansley, who appeared in numerous photos and videos wearing a fur hat with horns and paint on his face, was arrested Saturday and faces charges including violent entry and disorderly conduct on the U.S. Capitol grounds. Chansley is scheduled to appear in court next week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Esther Winne told The Associated Press by email. Chansley did not immediately respond to messages.Supporters of President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.Doug Jensen, 41, of Des Moines, Iowa, was jailed early Saturday on federal charges, including trespassing and disorderly conduct counts, for his alleged role in the Capitol riot. Video posted online during the storming of the Capitol showed a man who appears to be Jensen, who is white, pursuing a Black police officer up an interior flight of stairs as a mob of people trails several steps behind. At several points, the officer says, “Get back,” to no avail. It is not known if Jensen has an attorney.Evans and Barnett are among those charged so far in federal court in the District of Columbia in connection with the rioting. The charges were filed Thursday and unsealed Friday. In addition, about 40 others were charged in the D.C. Superior Court, most of them for illegal entry and curfew violations.Adam Johnson, 36, of Florida was arrested late Friday in Pinellas County, Florida, where he remains in custody on a U.S. Marshals warrant, Richard Barnett, a supporter of President Donald Trump, sits inside the office of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as he protests inside the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.The rioting and looting erupted Wednesday afternoon when hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, angry over Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, forced their way into the building that contains the House and Senate while lawmakers were meeting in a joint session to certify Biden’s victory.In a video released late Thursday, Trump condemned the violence and called for healing.For weeks Trump has falsely claimed that he won the election in a landslide but was robbed of his victory – a claim believed by many of his followers. During a rally near the White House on Wednesday, Trump urged thousands of his supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the election results.Asked if federal prosecutors were examining Trump’s role in inciting the assault on the Capitol, Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters Thursday, “We’re looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role and the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re going to be charged.”The subsequent violence left five dead including a Capitol Police officer.Law enforcement officials said they were investigating the circumstances leading up to the officer’s death but would not say whether they were pursuing a murder case.
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Zimbabwe Police Arrest Journalist for Third Time in 6 Months
Prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono appeared in court Saturday after police arrested him for “peddling falsehoods.” Media monitor groups fear Chin’ono’s arrest — his third in six months — may be part of efforts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to stifle freedom of expression on social media.Chin’ono arrived Saturday at the Harare Magistrate’s Court in full personal protective equipment (PPE), complaining about his continued “persecution.”“Because we tell them the truth, we comment about corruption, they look for frivolous charges to throw at me,” he said. “But as a journalist I am covered by the law.”He sat for close to four hours as prosecutors looked for PPE to wear before proceeding with his case. Chin’ono said he has been in contact with two people who have since tested positive for coronavirus.Harrison Nkomo of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights told reporters that his client, Chin’ono, would be acquitted of the latest charge of “peddling falsehoods.”“We are challenging placement of Hopewell on remand,” he said. “The basis of our challenge is that they are proceeding in respect of a piece of legislation, which was repealed. I do not want to delve much into my argument.”In 2014, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court removed from the country’s statutes the criminalization of the publication of false statements undermining public confidence in the uniformed forces.Tabani Moyo of Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe said this third arrest of Chin’ono is intended to intimidate citizens and journalists in Zimbabwe.“This immediate case points to a clear case of trying to effect a chilling effect on the media,” Moyo said. “How do you come to a conclusion that Hopewell has violated any law of the country for providing an opinion on a video clip that has thousands of people communicating on it? Why, why arriving at Hopewell, a journalist for that matter? So, it is an assault on the media. Secondly, it is meant to send chilling effect not only to the media, but to the users of the online spaces. This is a dangerous trend we are seeing.”Monica Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe’s information minister, said Saturday that she would comment on the matter only after the courts had disposed of the case.Meanwhile, Chin’ono is scheduled to be back in court Monday, when his lawyer is expected to challenge the law under which he was charged Thursday.Chin’ono had been free on bail since last year for two charges when he was picked up on the latest charge.In July 2020, Chin’ono was arrested for advocating on social media anti-government protests being organized by activists. Then he was arrested in November for obstruction of justice and demeaning the country’s National Prosecution Authority.Chin’ono denies both those charges.
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Public Outcry Shuts Stalin-themed Cafe in Moscow After a Day
A shawarma shop in Moscow was forced to close a day after it opened following an outcry over its provocative Josef Stalin-themed branding, the shop’s owner told Reuters on Saturday.The Stalin Doner shop featured a portrait of the controversial communist leader above its front door. Inside, a man dressed in the Stalin-era security service uniform served customers meat wraps named after Soviet leaders.”We fully opened the day before yesterday and served around 200 customers,” shop owner Stanislav Voltman said.”There were no legal reasons [to close the shop],” he added, but said that police had forced him to remove the Stalin sign, and then “colossal pressure” from local authorities forced him to shut completely.The branding was hotly debated on social media, with some commenters condemning it as distasteful.Stalin’s rule was marked by mass repression, labor camps and famine. Nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1936-38, according to conservative official estimates.However, many in the former Soviet Union still regard him primarily as the leader who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, ensuring the country’s very existence.”I had expected some social media hype,” Voltman said. “But I had not expected that all TV stations, all the reporters and bloggers would flock here and queue up like they do in front of the Lenin mausoleum.”
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Indonesian Official Confirms Debris Found From Missing Plane
An official with Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency has confirmed that debris from a Sriwijaya Air passenger plane carrying 62 people was found after contact was lost shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.The rescue agency’s Bambang Suryo Aji said the discovery of wreckage was first reported by the local post command on Lancang Island and that the debris would be sent to a national transportation safety agency.At a virtual press conference Saturday, the head of the safety agency, Soerjanto Tjahjono, said he was still gathering all information and “will start searching for the black box tomorrow morning.”VOA radio affiliates in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, reported that some family members had come to Supadio Airport to find out more information regarding the plane and that a crisis center had been set up. Some family members could not hide their sorrow and were seen crying and screaming at the center’s staff.Bound for PontianakFlight SJ182 was en route to Pontianak, the capital of the West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, the Transportation Ministry said.Flightradar24, a flight tracking service, said the Boeing 737 “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.”“The missing plane is currently under investigation and under coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee,” government spokesman Adita Irawati said in a statement.Minister of Transportation Budi Karya told reporters the National Search and Rescue Agency and the military had deployed ships to search for the plane.The minister said the plane took off at 2:36 p.m. local time Saturday, but four minutes later air traffic control could no longer contact it. “Within seconds the plane disappeared from the radar,” he added.Indonesian navy and air force sources told VOA that “at least seven ships have been deployed to location, while some aircraft ready to be operated from Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta tomorrow morning.”The airline’s chief executive, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, told reporters that the plane’s takeoff had been delayed 30 minutes because of heavy rain.’Loud bang’A local fisherman identified only as Mahyudin on Pancang Island near the location where contact was lost with the plane said in an interview with VOA that “some fishermen told me they hear a loud bang, like an explosion, in the sea around 2:30 or 2:40 p.m.“It was raining and quite dark. They came home around 3.30 p.m. and as soon as I got their report, we call local police. They [fishermen] also saw plane debris near their boat.” He added that local police had set up emergency tents on the Island.Wayne Lee and Fern Robinson contributed to this report.
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Pompeo Lifts ‘Self-imposed Restrictions’ on US-Taiwan Relationship
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday said he was lifting restrictions on contacts between U.S. officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, a move likely to anger China and increase tensions between Beijing and Washington in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s presidency.China claims democratic and separately ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and regularly describes Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.While the United States, like most countries, has no official relations with Taiwan, the Trump administration has ramped up backing for the island country, with arms sales and laws to help Taiwan deal with pressure from China.In a statement, Pompeo said that for several decades the State Department had created complex internal restrictions on interactions with Taiwanese counterparts by American diplomats, service members and other officials.”The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the communist regime in Beijing,” Pompeo said in a statement.”Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions,” he added.The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States in Washington, which serves as Taiwan’s unofficial embassy, said the move showed the “strength and depth” of the United States’ relationship with Taiwan.Craft to visitThe U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, will visit Taiwan next week for meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders, prompting China on Thursday to warn they were playing with fire.Chinese fighter jets approached the island in August and September during the last two visits — first by Alex Azar, U.S. secretary of health and human services, and second by Keith Krach, U.S. undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment.The United States is Taiwan’s strongest international backer and arms supplier, and the U.S. is obliged to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.”The United States government maintains relationships with unofficial partners around the world, and Taiwan is no exception. … Today’s statement recognizes that the U.S.-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy,” Pompeo said.
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Nigeria’s Goal: Vaccinate 40% of Population Against COVID-19 This Year
Nigerian officials say the country is ready to receive its first COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of January. The government wants to vaccinate 40% of the country’s population by the end of this year. But experts say the cost and storage of the vaccine poses a challenge.Officials said President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would be the first recipients of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, the first 100,000 doses of which are expected to be available this month.They said the vaccine then would be distributed to key political leaders and health workers in order to raise awareness before it gets to the citizens.Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said,
“We have actually developed a comprehensive deployment plan on how we are going to deploy these vaccines in phases. We’re aiming to cover up to 70% of the population just to ensure that we’re able to stop transmission.”Shuaib said 40% of the population was expected to get shots this year and the remaining 30% by the end of next year.Lacking storageBut experts said Nigeria does not have adequate storage facilities to hold vaccines at the required temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius.Also, the demand and cost for vaccines are very high, making it nearly impossible to accommodate that many doses anytime soon in Nigeria, according to pharmaceutical research expert Olobayo Kunle.”A number of our colleagues, scientists in this country have worked hard, but one thing is for sure: The vaccines that are in use, we were not directly involved in the development,” Kunle said. “So, sitting here and developing timelines is a bit difficult.”Many African countries are facing the challenge of securing adequate supplies of the coronavirus vaccine because of the high cost. But the World Health Organization-backed COVAX program is making sure countries like Nigeria are not left behind, Shuaib said.”There’s been a preponderance of vaccines going to the richer countries,” Shuaib said, “so what the COVAX facility is trying to do is to make sure that vaccines are available to low- and medium-income countries irrespective of their abilities to pay. For example, they’re going to be providing up to 20% of Nigeria’s population in terms of needs for vaccine free of charge.”Nigerian authorities are also bargaining with vaccine manufacturers in Britain, Russia and China and say they would prefer vaccines that are easy to store and deliver.
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Indonesian Government Begins Investigation Into Missing Plane
Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry says Sriwijaya Air lost contact with one of its passenger planes Saturday carrying 62 people shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.Flight SJ182 was en route to Pontianak, the capital of the West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, the ministry said.Flightradar24, the flight tracking service, said the Boeing 737 “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta.”“The missing plane is currently under investigation and under coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee,” government spokesman Adita Irawati said in a statement.Indonesian Plane Missing Shortly After TakeoffMore than 50 people onboardIndonesian Minister for Transportation Budi Karya told reporters the National Search and Rescue Agency and the military deployed ships to search for the plane. The minister said the plane took off at 2:36 p.m. local time but the air traffic controller could no longer contact it four minutes later. “Within seconds the plane disappeared from the radar,” he added. Indonesian navy and air force sources told VOA that “at least seven ships have been deployed to location, while some aircraft ready to be operated from Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta tomorrow morning.” The airline’s chief executive, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, told reporters that the plane’s takeoff was delayed 30 minutes because of heavy rain. A local fisherman identified only as Mahyudin on Pancang Island near the location where contact was lost with the plane said in an interview with VOA that “some fishermen told me they hear a loud bang, like an explosion, in the sea around 2:30 or 2:40 p.m.
“It was raining and quite dark. They came home around 3.30 p.m. and as soon as I got their report, we call local police. They [fishermen] also saw plane debris near their boat.” He added that local police set up emergency tents on the Island. An official with the search and rescue agency, Bambang Suryo Aji, confirmed that debris from the plane had been found after initial reports from the local post command on Lancang Island. He said the debris will be sent to the National Commission on Safety Transportation.In a virtual press conference, the head of the National Commission on Safety Transportation, Soerjanto Tjahjono, said he is still gathering all information and “will start searching for the black box tomorrow morning.”VOA radio affiliates in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, report that some family members have come to Supadio Airport to find out more information regarding the plane and a crisis center has been set up. Some family members could not hide the sorrow and were seen crying, and screaming at the center’s staff.Wayne Lee and Fern Robinson contributed to this story.
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UN Condemns Vietnam’s Crackdown on Freedom of Expression
U.N. human rights bodies accuse Vietnam of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by clamping down on freedom of expression and denying critics due process and a fair trial. The sentences given to three independent journalists earlier this week are the latest example of a further erosion of freedom of expression in Vietnam. The men were found guilty of national security offenses and sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment.U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says an increasing number of independent journalists, bloggers, online commentators and human rights defenders are being arbitrarily detained based on vaguely defined laws. US Urges Vietnam to Release Convicted Journalists Three members of journalists association were sentenced to 11 or 15 years in prison this week In the case of the recently sentenced journalists, she says all three were held in lengthy pre-trial detention. She adds there are serious concerns their right to a fair trial was not respected.“Many of them are kept effectively incommunicado in detention. They do not have access to their families,” said Shamdasani. “They also do not have access to lawyers … In other cases, we do have indication of ill treatment, and we also have indications that there are individuals who have medical needs whose needs are not [being] taken into account.” Shamdasani also expresses concerns that individuals who try to cooperate with the U.N.’s human rights bodies are subjected to intimidation and reprisals. She says that effectively inhibits them from cooperating with the U.N. and sharing information about human rights issues.“Now the kinds of reprisals and intimidation that they face can include harassment, travel bans, loss of employment, physical attacks as well as arbitrary arrest, detention and torture…So, it is very important for us to send an alarm on this,” said Shamdasani.
Shamdasani says the U.N. human rights office continues to raise those cases with the Vietnamese government, urging it to stop criminally charging people for expressing their right of freedom of expression.She adds people should be able to exercise their fundamental rights without fear of reprisals.
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