Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, resigned Tuesday after weeks of turmoil in his ruling coalition, leaving Italy rudderless as it battles the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
He tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella, the effective head of state in in Italy. Through his general secretary, who formally announced the resignation, Mattarella invited Conte to stay on in a caretaker capacity pending discussions on what happens next.
Mattarella’s office says the president will begin consultations with party leaders late Wednesday to determine the next steps.
Conte lost his absolute majority in Italy’s Senate, despite winning two votes of confidence in parliament last week.
The defection of a crucial ally, former premier Matteo Renzi, greatly stymied the government’s ability to effectively manage the pandemic and its effect on the country’s already weak economy.
For 15 months, Conte headed the European country in collaboration with its largest party in parliament, the 5-star Movement, and Matteo Salvini’s League party. But bickering led to the withdrawal of Salvini after he failed to win the premiership and that first government collapsed.
President Mattarella has reiterated the need for strong leadership as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic and a weak economy.
Italy has the fourth-highest number of infections in Europe, at more than 2.4 million, and the second-highest number of deaths, at more than 85,000, behind Great Britain, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Mattarella could decide to find someone else to form the coalition he needs in parliament. He also has the option to dissolve parliament paving the way for fresh elections two years early, according to the Associated Press.
Another former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who heads a centrist opposition party, could supply crucial support for the next government.
In a statement, Berlusconi called for a “new government that would represent substantial unity of the country in a moment of emergency.” The statement also suggested early elections.
But Conte still enjoys support from the Democratic Party, which is lobbying for a reappointment despite the inability to work with the 5-Star Movement.
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Month: January 2021
Netherlands Police, Protesters Clash for 3rd Straight Night Over COVID-19 Restrictions
Police and protesters in the Netherlands clashed for a third consecutive night Monday after the government imposed a curfew to slow the spread of COVID-19.
At least 150 people were arrested across the country Monday as protests turned to rioting with demonstrators in some areas setting fires, throwing rocks and looting stores.
In the city of Rotterdam, police responded with tear gas and similar scenes played out in Amsterdam, where water cannons were used on rioters. Unrest was reported in smaller municipalities as well, including Haarlem, Geleen and Den Bosch. Officials say 10 police officers were injured in Rotterdam.
The protests began Saturday after the government imposed the first curfew since World War II. Officials took the action following a warning by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) regarding a new wave of infections due to a more easily transmissible variant strain of the coronavirus, originally identified in Britain.
But many argued the steps were not necessary as the nation has seen steady overall declines in new infections over the last several weeks.
Monday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemned what he called the “criminal violence” “What we saw has nothing to do with fighting for freedom. We didn’t take all these measures for fun, we did so because we are fighting against the virus and it’s the virus which is actually robbing our freedom.”
Schools and non-essential shops in the Netherlands have been closed since mid-December, following the closure of bars and restaurants two months earlier.
More than 966,000 confirmed cases and 13,600 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the Netherlands since the start of the pandemic.
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Pets Are Back: Biden’s 2 Dogs Settle in at White House
The patter of paws is being heard in the White House again following the arrival of President Joe Biden’s dogs Champ and Major. The two German shepherds are the first pets to live at the executive mansion since the Obama administration.
Major burst onto the national scene late last year after Biden, then president-elect, broke his right foot while playing with the dog at their home in Wilmington, Delaware.FIRST DOGS Major and Champ Biden @firstdogsusa have moved into the White House. There has not been a pet in the WH since the Obamas departed four years ago; fmr. President Trump was the first in 100+ years not to have a pet in office. Pics by WH/Adam Schultz pic.twitter.com/uzY7ksNvyg— FIRST DOGS CHAMP & MAJOR BIDEN (@firstdogsusa) January 25, 2021The Bidens adopted Major in 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ joined the family after the 2008 presidential election that made Joe Biden vice president.
The dogs moved into the White House on Sunday, following Biden’s inauguration last week.
“The first family wanted to get settled before bringing the dogs down to Washington from Delaware,” said Michael LaRosa, spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden. “Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace and Major loved running around on the South Lawn.”
The dogs were heard barking outside near the Oval Office on Monday as Biden signed an executive order lifting the previous administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Last week, the Delaware Humane Association cosponsored an “indoguration” virtual fundraiser to celebrate Major’s journey from shelter pup to first dog. More than $200,000 was raised.
Major is the first shelter dog to ever live in the White House and “barking proof that every dog can live the American dream,” the association said.
The Bidens had promised to bring the dogs with them to the White House. They plan to add a cat, though no update on the feline’s arrival was shared on Monday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki predicted, while on video answering questions from members of the public, that the cat will “dominate the internet” when it arrives.
Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, a self-described germaphobe, does not own any pets and had none with him at the White House.
Just like they do for ordinary people, pets owned by the most powerful people in the world provide their owners with comfort, entertainment, occasional drama and generally good PR.
“Pets have played an important role in the White House throughout the decades, not only by providing companionship to the presidents and their families, but also by humanizing and softening their political images,” said Jennifer Pickens, author of a book about pets at the White House.
Pets also serve as ambassadors to the White House, she said. Pickens added that she hoped the Bidens’ decision to bring a rescue dog to the White House might inspire others to adopt.
President Theodore Roosevelt had Skip, who is described by the White House Historical Association as a “short-legged Black and Tan mongrel terrier brought home from a Colorado bear hunt.” Warren G. Harding had Laddie Boy, who sat in on meetings and had his own Cabinet chair.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his beloved terrier Fala. At night, Fala slept in a special chair at the foot of the president’s bed.
More recently, George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel Millie was featured on “The Simpsons” and starred in a bestseller, “Millie’s Book: As dictated to Barbara Bush.” Hillary Clinton followed Bush’s lead with a children’s book about family dog Buddy and cat Socks: “Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets.”
When he declared victory in the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama told his daughters: “You have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.” Several months later, Bo joined the family, a gift from Sen. Ted Kennedy. A few years later, fellow Portuguese water dog Sunny arrived.
Among the stranger White House pets was Calvin Coolidge and first lady Grace Coolidge’s raccoon Rebecca. She was given to the Coolidge family by a supporter who suggested the raccoon be served for Thanksgiving dinner, according to the White House Historical Association. But instead she got an embroidered collar with the title “White House Raccoon” and entertained children at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
Some notable pets belonged to first kids, including Amy Carter’s Siamese cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang, and Caroline Kennedy’s pony Macaroni. The Kennedy family had a veritable menagerie, complete with dogs, cats, birds, hamsters and a rabbit named Zsa Zsa.
President Harry Truman famously said that “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog” — and many successors have followed Truman’s advice. The first President Bush once said, “There is nothing like the unconditional love of a dog to help you get through the rough spots.”
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On Key Biden Priorities, There is Room for Bipartisan Agreement, Experts Say
Less than one week into the administration of President Joe Biden, much of the talk in Washington is focused on the dysfunction on Capitol Hill, a spate of executive orders from the new president, and the looming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. None of the three bodes well for bipartisan cooperation so pessimism might seem justified. However, when experts look at the major policy areas that Biden identified in last week’s inaugural address, there are at least some areas where agreement across the aisle is a real possibility. Coronavirus rescue package The Biden administration came out of the gate with a request for $1.9 trillion in spending on various programs related to the coronavirus pandemic, including major economic stimulus spending and a large investment in federal infrastructure to get the vaccine to as many Americans as it can, as quickly as it can. FILE – Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer are seen during a joint session of Congress in the House chamber in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to label the proposal “dead on arrival” because of its price tag, but some observers believe their initial reluctance might be overcome by the reality of the country’s economic situation. “I think that even though people are calling it dead on arrival, there’s a lot in this bill that’s probably going to make it,” said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Few lawmakers, he said, are going to want to stand in the way of programs meant to get people inoculated against the virus, and while there will probably be some arguing about the size of stimulus payments, the popularity of that part of the proposal will make it difficult to kill off entirely. On tax policy specifically, Gleckman believes there is considerable bipartisan agreement on a number of proposals that might turn up in the relief package or a follow-on bill. There is support for expanding the tax credit that filers receive for children under their care and for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to childless workers. Gleckman said that Biden’s Made In America tax credit, meant to spur domestic manufacturing, will also likely have bipartisan support. Immigration policy As with trade policy, Biden will confront a GOP that has made a sharp change of course on matters of immigration over the past several years. The Republican establishment had, for decades, been largely supportive of immigration, seeing it as a driver of economic demand and a source of lower-cost labor. That began to change even before Trump, but the party took an even more aggressive anti-immigration stance under the former president. FILE – Demonstrators with the New York Immigration Coalition rally asking President Joe Biden to prioritize immigration reform, Nov. 9, 2020, in New York.However, Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, believes there are still a number of pro-immigration Republicans who have been silent during the Trump years, but who could support some of the changes Biden is proposing. For example, the Biden proposal would seek to streamline and expand the process for bringing skilled workers into the country — a move that could earn support from Republicans with ties to the business community. Those less enthusiastic about immigration might support other initiatives, such as a proposal to allow the Department of Homeland Security to vary the number of green cards issued each year depending on economic conditions. “This is actually something that the Migration Policy Institute has been advocating for years, because it doesn’t make sense that our immigration [volume] is set by law,” Pierce said. “It should be flexible and maintain a relationship with market conditions within the United States.” Another Biden proposal, to increase the wages paid to temporary workers, could appeal to some who have opposed guest worker programs on the theory that migrant labor tends to drive down the wages of competing U.S. workers.
Potential bipartisan agreement on immigration reform has limits, however. Biden’s most ambitious proposal, an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, mirrors efforts that withered and died in Congress during both the former Obama and George W. Bush administrations. Climate change With the exception of a few outliers, Republicans in the House and Senate oppose most of the major climate initiatives that Biden and the majority of the Democratic Party are advocating. The announcement that on his first day in office Biden had recommitted the U.S. to the Paris Climate Agreement, for instance, was met with angry denunciations from multiple Republican members of Congress. FILE – Then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holding his granddaughter, Isabelle Dobbs-Higginson, signs the book during the signature ceremony for the Paris Agreement at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, April 22, 2016, in New York.However, the GOP’s objections to dealing with climate change are regularly overridden when they conflict with national security interests, said Erin Sikorsky, deputy director of the Center for Climate and Security. “In the past four years, you’ve actually seen that the House and Senate have passed pragmatic climate security legislation, usually through the National Defense Authorization Act each year, and so I think that’s definitely an area where the Biden administration can find bipartisan consensus with Congress,” she said. This will be cold comfort to most environmental activists, however, as the measures are largely reactive rather than proactive, including steps like making military bases more resistant to extreme weather and funding programs that allow climate scientists to interact with the intelligence community. Trade policy The debate over trade has shifted dramatically in the four years since Joe Biden last served in the White House as vice president. Under Trump, the GOP radically reshaped its position on trade, following the former president’s lead by supporting tariffs and protectionism. That, perhaps surprisingly, makes trade one of the areas ripest for bipartisan cooperation. “Trade is an issue on which, in terms of actual policy, the incoming Biden administration is closer to Trump than on most other, or maybe nearly all other, issues,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Within the Biden administration, he said, the prevailing view is that “the goal of trade should not be foremost to follow the law of comparative advantage and try to enlarge two-way commerce, but rather to advance labor, environmental and human rights and, as needed, protect jobs.” FILE – Visitors chat near American and Chinese flags displayed at a booth for an American company promoting environmental sensors during the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Nov. 7, 2019.Biden has appointed Katherine Tai, a trade attorney who speaks Mandarin and has a history of challenging the trade practices of the Chinese government, as U.S. Trade Representative. Her past support for tough-on-China policies has earned her bipartisan support in Congress. Early indications also suggest that the Biden administration may believe, as many trade economists do, that the center of power in international trade has moved away from the World Trade Organization and toward a network of individual trade agreements, many of them bilateral. A lingering question will be the U.S. position with regard to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a pact that creates a massive free trade zone in the Pacific region. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord, which had been largely negotiated by the Obama administration, a move that was supported by many Democrats. However, now the United Kingdom and China are both looking to join the CPTPP. The participation of two more major U.S. trading partners in the accord — and especially China — may leave Biden’s team wondering whether it wouldn’t be preferable to have a seat at the table as a counter to Chinese influence.
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Trump’s Gone, But Tensions Still Loom in US-South Korea Alliance
After U.S. President Joe Biden took office last week, perhaps no world leader breathed a bigger public sigh of relief than South Korean President Moon Jae-in. “America is back,” Moon declared in a congratulatory message marking Biden’s inauguration. The statement didn’t directly mention outgoing President Donald Trump, but the intent was clear..FILE – Police officers use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun while anti-war activists hold a rally against planned South Korea-U.S. annual joint military exercises near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, Aug. 5, 2019.Worry in Seoul A more adversarial U.S. stance toward North Korea would likely upset Moon and his allies in Seoul. At a news conference last week, Moon said the starting point for Biden should be the 2018 Singapore agreement between Kim and Trump, in which both sides agreed to “work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” In an North Korean soldiers keep watch toward the south as South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young inspects the truce village of Panmunjom, Sep. 24, 2020.But will it work? That kind of push for talks would in some ways mirror 2018, when Seoul successfully converted inter-Korean sports cooperation at the Winter Olympics into a series of North-South meetings, which eventually led to the Trump-Kim talks. But there are plenty of reasons to question whether such a move would work this time. The most obvious: the Olympics may not be held at all because of the coronavirus. If the games were held, host Japan may not agree to participate in the talks. “I’d be shocked if his plan worked again because the environment right now is completely different,” says Duyeon Kim, a Korea specialist at the Center for a New American Security. “It was easy to trick Trump into a summit with Kim because Trump loves theatrics and a good photo op,” she adds. “Biden is too smart, experienced, and serious about national security.” How will North Korea respond? In any case, North Korea may not even agree to resume dialogue. For months, Pyongyang has boycotted meetings with both the United States and South Korea, upset among other things that Washington has not relaxed sanctions on its nuclear program.
At a major political meeting this month, North Korea said it was looking for ways to improve relations with the South, but called on Seoul to stop holding military drills with Washington and to stop acquiring new military capabilities. North Korea has also showcased several new weapons over the last few months, including a massive new intercontinental ballistic missile, as well as a ballistic missile possibly designed to be fired from a submarine. Some analysts have expressed concern North Korea could soon test one of those new weapons, or possibly conduct another nuclear test, noting Pyongyang’s tendency to showcase new military capabilities around the start of U.S. administrations. Staying on the same page Another concern among some analysts is that such a major test by the North could sharpen divides between Biden and Moon. “I hope Seoul and Washington can stay on the same page, because it’s going to be challenging. North Korea will continue to pressure South Korea, and there’s only a year left from the Moon administration’s perspective,” said Sue Mi Terry, a Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, during a recent online forum. “The Moon administration just needs to realize that they’re just not going to be able to appease the North,” said Terry, a former CIA analyst. “There’s not going to be a breakthrough on inter-Korean relations until there is a breakthrough between the United States and North Korea.” Some in Seoul are more optimistic, expressing hope Biden and Moon will find enough common ground. “The Biden administration cannot ignore” North Korea, says Youn Kun-young, a South Korean lawmaker and member of Moon’s Democratic Party. “(And) solving the North Korean nuclear issue with only sanctions just isn’t possible.” Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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Ghana Pays Final Respects to Former President Jerry Rawlings
Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, lawmakers and a host of dignitaries on Tuesday will pay final respects to former President Jerry John Rawlings, Ghana’s longest serving leader. Large crowds of mourners have already paid their respects to Rawlings, whose body lay in state at the Accra International conference center. Rawlings, who was 73-years old, died in November of last year, but his cause of death has not been revealed. His burial was partly delayed because Ghana’s political leaders disagreed on some logistics of his funeral. Rawlings had a checkered past in Ghana, having led a military junta before coming to power in coup in 1992. Rawlings was twice democratically elected to two four-year terms. Funeral service for Ghana’s former President is set for Wednesday.
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US Senate to Vote on Blinken’s Nomination to Lead State Department
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the nomination of Antony Blinken to be the country’s next secretary of state. At a confirmation hearing last week, Blinken said he is ready to confront the challenges posed by China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. He said China “poses the most significant challenge” to U.S. national interests, while noting there is room for cooperation. “There are rising adversarial aspects of the relationship; certainly, competitive ones, and still some cooperative ones, when it is in our mutual interests,” he added.Nominated Secretary of State Antony Blinken participates as US President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet announcement event in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 24, 2020.He also pledged to rebuild State Department morale and the diplomatic corps. Blinken said he sees U.S. standing abroad as leadership based on “humility and confidence.” Blinken was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration and has close ties with President Joe Biden. He was staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chair of the panel, and later was then-Vice President Biden’s national security adviser. The Foreign Relations Committee approved Blinken’s nomination by a vote of 15-3, sending the matter to the full Senate for final approval.
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For Some Wuhan Residents, Silence Masks Anger
With fanfare unusual for a documentary film, “Days and Nights in Wuhan” premiered this weekend throughout China. A co-production of official state media and the Hubei Propaganda Department, the film released Friday marks the first anniversary of the lockdown to contain a new and frightening virus in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 first took hold. With shots of heroic medical personal tending patients and empty streets, the film chronicles the suffering and sacrifices of the city’s 11 million residents. The documentary is the latest effort by Beijing to control the official narrative and deflect blame about the origins of the coronavirus that has gone on to kill more than 2 million people worldwide, upend the global economy and forever alter whatever most people see as normal in their daily lives.Residents attend an exhibition on the city’s fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. A year after it was locked down to contain the spread of coronavirus.Chen Chen, 27, employee of a Chinese state-owned enterprise Chen said at the beginning of the lockdown, like everyone else, she tracked the increasing death toll day by day. She accused local authorities of covering up what happened in the earliest days of the outbreak. Now she said she thinks the government did a fantastic job. “In the beginning, everyone blamed the government for suppressing information, leaving us unprepared for such a severe lockdown. But I think they did a great job making up for those mistakes,” Chen told VOA. She added that work resumed last April, businesses resumed last May, and in October, tourists packed Wuhan during the National Day holiday season, responding to government travel subsidies.“The hardest time in Wuhan has passed,” Chen said, “I think we have recovered completely.” Her aunt, who works in a hospital and has recovered from COVID-19, told her that medical personnel have started wearing protective gear again as coronavirus reemerges in China ahead of the Lunar New Year travel season. Yet Chen said she’s not worried. “Now people say Wuhan is the safest city. You won’t find a single person on the street without a mask,” she told VOA. “If you don’t wear a mask, it’s like you are not wearing clothes.” Chen said her parents remain worried. “My parents are in their 50s, and they have never encountered anything like the lockdown before. They described it as a nightmare, and they often say they are afraid Wuhan will be locked down again.” Zhang Hai, 51, former real estate professional Zhang Hai lost his father to COVID-19 last February. His father, Zhang Lifa, was a veteran of the People’s Liberation Army, who had spent decades working on China’s nuclear weapons program. Zhang and his father, both Wuhan natives, were living in Guangzhou then, and traveled to Wuhan only for surgery on the older man’s leg. At the time, local officials were playing down the risk of human-to-human transmission. Zhang said that if he and his father had known what was really going on at the time, they would not have gone to Wuhan. Zhang filed a lawsuit in June against the local government demanding accountability. Since then, he has been constantly harassed by the police. He told VOA that authorities blocked his social media accounts six times, monitored his activity on the messaging app WeChat and tapped his cell phone. He was threatened that if he doesn’t “stop talking,” he would be thrown to jail. “They even followed me when I went back to Wuhan. After I moved to another apartment, three policemen reviewed the surveillance camera footage of the neighborhood,” he told VOA. “I am extremely angry. I’m just an ordinary citizen. I’m not a spy. I’m not anti-party,” he said referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. “My demand for accountability is a patriotic act.” Zhang is one of the few outspoken citizens among those who lost loved ones in the pandemic. “People are silent, that doesn’t mean their anger has disappeared,” he said. “The Chinese government’s narrative that it has won the COVID-19 ‘war’ is conditioned on silencing those who speak out about failings in the government’s pandemic response and abuses committed under the pretext of stopping the spread of the virus,” said Maya Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. Lin Yang contributed to this report that originated on VOA Mandarin.
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California: Criminal Rings Loot Billions in Jobless Funds
Sophisticated hackers, identity thieves and overseas criminal rings stole more than $11 billion in unemployment benefits from California last year, but the extent of the fraud might grow far larger: billions more in payments are under investigation. California Labor Secretary Julie Su told reporters in a conference call Monday that of the $114 billion the state paid in unemployment claims, about 10% have been confirmed as fraudulent, or $11.4 billion. Nearly $20 billion more — another 17% — is considered suspicious, and a large part of that could be found to be fraud, she said. “There is no sugarcoating the reality,” Su said. “California did not have sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud, and criminals took advantage of the situation.” Nearly all of the fraudulent claims were made through the federally supported Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
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US House Delivers Impeachment Articles to Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives has officially sent its articles of impeachment to the Senate, charging former President Donald Trump with inciting insurrection in connection with the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters earlier this month. House lawmakers who will serve as prosecutors in the impeachment trial made the ceremonial walk to the Senate chamber Monday evening to deliver the articles. Lead House manager Jamie Raskin from Maryland read the charges against Trump, saying Trump “gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of the government.” U.S. House lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, D-MD, hands over the House article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump, on the floor of the U.S. Senate in this this frame grab from video shot at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 25, 2021.The trial in the Senate is set to begin the week of February 8, after Democrats and Republicans agreed to a short delay in order to give both the lawmakers who will serve as prosecutors and Trump’s defense team time to prepare. The extra time will also allow the Senate a chance to confirm more of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees. Trump has hired two lawyers from South Carolina for his legal defense in the impeachment case. Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who each run legal firms in Columbia, South Carolina, will have two weeks to prepare a defense for Trump in the Senate. Democrat Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving member, said Monday he will preside over the impeachment trial. The U.S. Constitution calls for the chief justice of the Supreme Court to preside over impeachment hearings for a president, however because Trump is no longer in office, officials said Chief Justice John Roberts would not preside. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the new president pro tempore of the Senate, pauses in the Rotunda of the Capitol before the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump is delivered in Washington, Jan. 25, 2021.Leahy, 80, was first elected to the Senate in 1974, making him the longest-serving member. He told reporters at the Capitol his role will be “making sure that procedures are followed” and said his years in the Senate will help him to be seen as impartial. Aides to Leahy say the lawmaker will still be able to vote in the trial. Republican Senator John Cornyn criticized that arrangement on Twitter, saying, “How does a Senator preside, like a judge, and serve as juror, too?” Two-thirds majority A two-thirds majority in the Senate would be required to convict Trump. With the Senate politically divided between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, 17 Republicans would have to turn against Trump for a conviction, assuming all Democrats vote as a bloc against the former president. If he is convicted, a separate, simply-majority vote could bar Trump from holding federal office again. Trump stands as the only U.S. president in the country’s 245-year history to be impeached twice. The House impeached him in late 2019, accusing him of trying to enlist Ukraine to dig up dirt against Biden ahead of the November election, but the Senate acquitted him last February. Some Republicans have objected to the impeachment trial on the grounds that Trump is no longer in office. FILE – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 30, 2020.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued against that objection Monday, telling the Senate, “The theory that the Senate can’t try former officials would amount to a constitutional get-out-of-jail-free card for any president.” He said Sunday that the trial would move relatively quickly. “Everyone wants to put this awful chapter in American history behind us. But sweeping it under the rug will not bring healing,” he said. “The only way to bring healing is to actually have real accountability, which this trial affords.” Capitol violenceA number of Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have condemned the violence that unfolded on January 6 and criticized Trump, who urged supporters to march to the Capitol to fight for him in confronting lawmakers as they debated certifying Biden’s election win. FILE – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Jan. 19, 2021.Republican Senator Marco Rubio told the “Fox News Sunday” show that while he believes Trump “bears responsibility for some of what happened,” he opposes the Senate trial. “We’re just going to jump right back into what we’ve been going through for the last five years and bring it up with a trial and it’s going to be bad for the country,” he said. “It really is.” “This is not a criminal trial,” Rubio said. “This is a political process and would fuel these divisions that have paralyzed the country.” FILE – U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-UT, speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dec. 16, 2020.Senator Mitt Romney, who was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial, expressed support for bringing Trump to trial again. “I believe incitement to insurrection is an impeachable offense,” he told CNN. “If not, what is?” Romney said he believes Trump was “complicit in an unprecedented attack on our democracy.” The mayhem left five people dead, including a police officer whose death is being investigated as a homicide. Trump supporters — roughly 800, according to officials — rampaged past authorities, ransacked some congressional offices and scuffled with police before order was restored and lawmakers in the early hours of January 7 officially declared Biden the winner. At the rally before hundreds of his supporters walked 16 blocks to the Capitol, Trump repeated weeks of unfounded complaints that he had been cheated out of reelection by fraudulent votes and vote-counting even though he had lost 60 court challenges to the outcome. “There is no evidence this election was stolen,” Romney said. FILE – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-PA., votes on Capitol Hill, Dec. 13, 2019.One of the House Democratic impeachment managers who will present the case in the Senate against Trump, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, told CNN that they will “put together a case that is so compelling” to confront “the big lie” that Trump had been cheated out of reelection. She called Trump’s incitement of insurrection “an extraordinary, heinous crime. The American public saw what happened.” “This was a terrifying moment … incited by the president,” she said. “This cannot go unanswered.”
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White House Says US Seeks ‘New Approach’ with China
The White House says Washington is being patient as it seeks a “new approach” toward relations with China at a time when the two countries remain in serious “strategic competition.” ”What we’ve seen over the last few years is that China’s growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad, and Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity and values in significant ways that require a new U.S. approach,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday during a news briefing. Hours earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by video to the World Economic Forum where he urged countries to cooperate on climate change and public health — and also warned against conflict between Washington and Beijing without naming the United States. Xi said containing the coronavirus is the most pressing task for the international community. China’s Xi Jinping Warns Against ‘New Cold War’ In virtual address to World Economic Forum, Chinese leader urges world to come together to fight coronavirus pandemicBeijing’s message comes as U.S. President Joseph Biden’s foreign policy team prepares to rally allies to take on pressing challenges, ranging from preserving democracy to a growing rivalry with China and other authoritarian states. ”A divided world cannot tackle the common challenges facing humanity, and confrontation will lead humanity to a dead end,” Xi said during a virtual address to the World Economic Forum. Relations between the world’s two leading economies are at their worst in decades as the nations clash over trade, 5G technology, human rights and regional security. Washington accuses Beijing of a years-long effort to steal intellectual property and engage in industrial espionage. Biden’s administration is reviewing plans to delist three Chinese telecommunication companies from the New York Stock Exchange. Last Tuesday, outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in genocide against the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang. The policy determination could trigger new reviews and sanctions. US Classifies China’s Policies Toward Uighurs as ‘Genocide’ Determination could lead to broader US policy reviews, with Secretary of State nominee Blinken saying he agrees with Pompeo’s judgment Later Monday, a State Department spokesperson told VOA that a comprehensive U.S. strategy will be holding China accountable for its unfair and illegal practices, and “making sure that American technologies aren’t facilitating China’s military buildup or human rights abuses.” “We need a comprehensive strategy and a more systematic approach that actually addresses the full range of these issues, rather than the piecemeal approach of the past few years,” said the spokesperson. ‘Spirit of no conflict’ A statement from the Chinese Embassy to the U.S. over the weekend said that the Beijing government hopes Washington can “uphold the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation” to focus on cooperation and manage differences.That call is likely to be greeted skeptically by the Biden administration, which is outspoken about how it views China’s intentions. ”We’re in a serious competition with China,” Psaki said Monday. “China is engaged in conduct that hurts American workers, blunts our technological edge and threatens our alliances and our influence in international organizations.”
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US Justice Department Watchdog to Probe Possible Election Meddling
The independent watchdog at the U.S. Justice Department said Monday he is launching an investigation into whether anyone at the agency “engaged in an improper attempt” to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he would examine the actions of current and former Justice Department officials, but not those elsewhere in the government. FILE – U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 18, 2019.Former Attorney General William Barr, who headed the Justice Department before leaving office a month ago, said the agency had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome” than Biden’s victory. But Trump, whose four-year term in the White House ended last Wednesday when Biden was inaugurated as the country’s 46th president, for weeks made unfounded claims of voting and vote-counting irregularities that cheated him out of reelection, even as judges dismissed about 60 court cases claiming fraud in the key states that Biden won and proved decisive in the election. Horowitz’s announcement of an investigation came after The New York Times reported that Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark had been discussing a plan with Trump in late December to oust Jeffrey Rosen, the agency’s acting attorney general after Barr left Trump’s Cabinet, and then claim there had been widespread fraud and challenge the election results. The conversations reportedly occurred in the days ahead of Congress’s January 6 meeting to certify Biden’s victory in the Electoral College that is determinative of U.S. presidential elections. FILE – Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Clark speaks as he stands next to Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Oct. 21, 2020.In a statement, Clark denied he had tried to oust Rosen, and Rosen declined to comment to The Washington Post. With Biden in the White House, Clark and Rosen, both Trump appointees, have now left the Justice Department. The challenge would have focused on the southern state of Georgia, where Biden won by just under 12,000 votes out of the 5 million ballots that were cast, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992. Even had Georgia, with 16 votes in the Electoral College, flipped to Trump, it would not have been enough to change the overall outcome. FILE – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, Nov. 6, 2020.But Trump was so fixated on the Georgia outcome, unexpected as Biden’s victory was, that at one point in early January he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes he would need to overtake Biden by a single vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a staunch critic of Trump, had demanded that Horowitz start an investigation “into this attempted sedition” by Clark. The New York Democrat said it was “unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.” The Times report said that Trump decided not to dismiss Rosen in favor of Clark after top Justice Department officials said they would stage a mass resignation if he fired Rosen. The former president has not yet commented. Clark has said the newspaper’s account of his conversations with Trump was inaccurate but declined to detail the inaccuracies.
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New USAGM Acting Head Names New Leadership to Networks
The top official at the U.S. Agency for Global Media has replaced the appointed heads of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network with former senior executives.Acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media Kelu Chao made the announcement within days of being named to the post by President Joe Biden.Biden demanded the resignation of Chao’s Trump-appointed predecessor, Michael Pack, only two hours after taking office.Chao, a veteran broadcast journalist, replaced Ted Lipien at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with acting head Daisy Sindelar and said a permanent president will be named shortly.Chao reinstalled Bay Fang to her post as president of Radio Free Asia, replacing Stephen Yates, and named Kelley Sullivan as acting president of the Middle East Broadcasting Network, replacing Victoria Coates.“I have great faith in these leaders in ensuring the highest standards of independent, objective, and professional journalism,” Chao said in a statement Sunday.Last week, Chao oversaw the removal of the top executives at the Voice of America — Robert Reilly, whom Pack appointed as VOA director in December, along with Reilly’s deputy, Elizabeth Robbins. Also last week, the chief of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting stepped down.Since assuming her post last week, Chao has reversed the major appointments that Pack made throughout USAGM’s networks during the seven months he led the agency.Pack’s short tenure as head of USAGM had been widely criticized by Democrats and some Republicans beginning with his purge of veteran managers under him.His time leading USAGM also led to several whistleblower complaints, an order from the Office of Special Counsel to investigate allegations of mismanagement, and separate court orders barring him and his aides from interfering in VOA editorial decisions or installing appointees at the Open Technology Fund, respectively.Democrats accused Pack of trying to turn the federally funded networks he oversaw into pro-Trump propaganda machines.Chao on Sunday also announced new corporate board directors for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Network, replacing the board directors named by Pack just days before his departure.The new directors are Karen Kornbluh, who served as an ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development under former President Barack Obama; Ryan Crocker, who has served as a U.S. ambassador to several countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan; and Michael Kempner, who heads a public relations firm in New York.Kornbluh, who will serve as the board’s chair said in a statement, “Now more than ever, U.S. international media must serve as an accurate, reliable source of news and information in places where illuminating truth is needed the most.”Chao has worked for more than 40 years at VOA and the agency and is the first woman to hold the top position at USAGM.In her acting role, Chao will oversee USAGM’s networks and grantees, which include VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and the internet freedom nonprofit, the Open Technology Fund.The Biden administration said last week it would nominate a permanent CEO soon.
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Nigerians Laud Biden Reversal of Trump’s Travel Ban on Muslim, African Countries
Abuja resident Joseph Abba wished to honeymoon with his wife in the United States after their wedding in 2018.He readied their documents and applied for a visa but says his visa was denied, even though he met the basic requirements.”As an applicant, the pain of being refused, even when you know you’re qualified, is something else,” Abba said. “Having known the already concluded decisions even before going for the interview, it’s a discouragement on the applicant.”Nigeria was one of several African nations included in the travel bans imposed by former U.S. president Donald Trump. As a result, travel between Nigeria and the U.S. became almost impossible.The Trump administration said the restrictions were imposed because of terrorism concerns, saying the countries on the list did not meet minimum security standards.But critics like Abba doubt security issues were the real reason.Trump was highly criticized in his early days in office for derogatory comments about Africa countries.”Nigeria is not the only country in the world that is having insecurity as a problem. Insecurity is just like the pandemic, it’s a global problem,” Abba said.On his first day in office, Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, signed 17 executive orders, including one that overturned the travel restrictions.Nigerian business owners like Taiwo Charles, who runs a travel agency in Abuja, welcomed the move.”It’s a big relief for entrepreneurs like me, especially in the travel industry, who can now begin to see so many opportunities coming up and then begin to enjoy the benefits of influx between Nigeria and America,” Charles said.With travel made easier once again, Nigerians like Abba said they will begin to visit the United States again, and travel companies are expecting to see a rise in revenue.
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Thailand’s Economy Struggles with Second COVID Wave
Heavily dependent on tourism and exports, Thailand was one of Asia’s worst-hit economies by the coronavirus in 2020. Now as a second wave strikes, an unpopular government is desperately trying to avoid the economic damage of a full lockdown. Nevertheless, bars, massage parlors and restaurants are struggling even as the public health crisis worsens. From Bangkok, Vijitra Duangdee explains.
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China’s Xi Jinping Warns Against ‘New Cold War’
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the world to come together to fight the coronavirus pandemic and warned against a “new Cold War” in a speech Monday at the World Economic Forum, held virtually this year because of the pandemic. “To build small cliques or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others … will only push the world into division,” the Chinese president said in a 25-minute video speech.Xi called for strengthening the G-20 as the “main forum for global economic governance.” The group, made up of 20 of the world’s leading developing and wealthy nations, should “engage in closer macro-economic policy coordination,” China’s president added.“We should build an open world economy … discard discriminatory and exclusionary standards, rules and systems, and take down barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges,” Xi said.Xi vowed to make China a more active participant in economic global governance.“Multilateralism is the thought of the 21st century,” he added.This is the first time Xi has attended the forum since 2017, when he defended free trade and globalization.U.S. climate envoy John Kerry represented the United States.
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Biden Lifts Ban on Transgenders in Military
President Joe Biden has issued an executive order that overturns a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military.In 2016, then-President Barack Obama allowed transgender people to join the military and to receive medical treatment to transition to the gender with which they identity. Trump banned recruitment of transgender people but allowed those already in the military to continue serving.“Today, I repealed the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving in the military. It’s simple: America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride,” Biden tweeted.Today, I repealed the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving in the military. It’s simple: America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride.— President Biden (@POTUS) January 25, 2021Trump had said allowing transgender people to serve would be disruptive and expensive.“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” Trump tweeted in 2017, announcing the new policy.Biden’s defense secretary, retired Army General Lloyd Austin said he supports the new policy change.“I fully support the President’s direction that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination,” he said in a statement. “The Department will immediately take appropriate policy action to ensure individuals who identify as transgender are eligible to enter and serve in their self-identified gender.”
The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for sexual minorities, tweeted, “A grateful nation salutes all who have served and hoped for this moment. … If you fight for your country, you deserve a country that will fight for you.”There is no official data on the number of transgender people serving in the military and estimates vary widely. Gays and lesbians gained the right to serve openly in the U.S. military during former President Barak Obama’s first term, when Congress repealed a law that subjected them to expulsion if their sexuality became known.
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Brexit Bites for British Businesses as Border Delays Slow Trade
Despite making up just 0.1% of Britain’s economy, fishing played an outsized role in the brinkmanship leading up to December’s Brexit agreement between London and Brussels.
Many Brexit supporters saw regaining control of the country’s sovereign waters as totemic. A month since the agreement was signed, many fishermen say they feel betrayed.
Under the deal, a quarter of European boats’ fishing rights in British waters will be transferred to British boats over the next five years.
That is not good enough, said Phil Mitchell, skipper of the 23-meter-long trawler Govenek of Ladram, which operates from Newlyn Harbor in Cornwall, England. He believes many fishermen feel they were exploited by the “Leave” campaign.
“They were happy to use us for their campaign, and when push comes to shove, we’ve had the shove, and we’ve been dumped on from a great height,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Britain would regain full control of its waters.
“The fact now is that we’re worse off than before Brexit because it’s all written in that we won’t be able to get (control of fishing rights) back. And it’s just a travesty. Boris, the betrayer, has completely sold us down the river,” he added.
Nearly half of the fish caught by British boats is exported to the European Union, a trade worth over $1.8 billion in 2019. Brexit has brought new border checks, paperwork and costs.FILE – Fishing boats are moored at the South Pier of Bridlington Harbor fishing port in Bridlington, Dec. 11, 2020.Allan Miller runs AM Shellfish from Aberdeen, Scotland, another hub of Britain’s fish industry. He said delivery times of live brown crab, lobster and prawns to Europe had doubled, meaning lower prices, while some of the product does not survive the increased journey time.
Miller was one of several seafood exporters to stage a protest outside Parliament in London this month, using articulated trucks to block traffic around Westminster.
“Live shellfish, it’s got a sell-by date. It’s alive or dead,” Miller said. “Unless the government does something, a lot of these businesses will be out of here. They’ll be finished.”
Johnson insists the problems will be ironed out.
“Insofar as there are problems at the moment caused by teething problems, people not filling in the right forms or misunderstandings. And when it’s not people’s fault, of course, we’re going to compensate and to help out. And funds have been put in place to do that,” Johnson told reporters January 18. “But be in no doubt that there are great opportunities for fishermen across the whole of the U.K. to take advantage of the spectacular marine wealth of the United Kingdom. … There is scope for fishermen, fishing communities, fishers across the U.K. to take advantage of the increase in quota,” Johnson added.
It is not just fish that are floundering. Other sectors are warning of significant disruption. New tax rules have prompted some European retailers to stop selling to British customers, while some shipping firms have paused their cross-Channel operations.
Edward Velasco, British import manager at the pan-European fruit and vegetable supplier Rodanto, said problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic have been compounded.
“We’ve had the added challenge of Brexit and the added documentation that requires hauliers have an extra cost in coming here. They don’t know if the drivers are going to get back within a certain amount of time. If they’re not, if the wheels are not moving, they’re losing money. And ultimately, so are we,” Velasco told Reuters news agency.FILE – Trucks bound for Britain wait on the access ramp to the Channel Tunnel in Calais, northern France, before leaving for England, Dec. 17, 2020.Supermarkets in Northern Ireland have faced shortages owing to extra checks on goods shipped from mainland Britain. So, is it teething troubles, or an inevitable consequence of Britain’s decision to quit the European Union?
“It depends which sector you’re talking about, whether these are teething problems or they are structural and endemic to the consequences of having signed the EU-U.K. Free Trade Agreement,” said analyst Rem Korteweg of the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands.
“Where I think there are teething problems is in the issue, let’s say, of small-order transports. So, this question of ‘groupage’ that hauliers are now facing, where they have to sign forms for every single shoebox or crate that is in their container, I think those things can be simplified,” Korteweg told VOA.
He added, “Where I don’t think we’re currently facing teething problems — and things are much more structural — is, for instance, in the health and sanitary, and phytosanitary and food safety checks, for instance, with fish exports. Because that is the consequence of leaving the Single Market, that there is now a regulatory border.”
Britain insists Brexit will offer economic opportunities outside the EU. Its strategy was given a boost this week as Japanese carmaker Nissan pledged to keep building cars in Britain and invest millions of dollars building a new factory to make batteries for electric vehicles.
From 2027, all British and European carmakers will have to source batteries from either Britain or the EU or face tariffs on their exports.
“Brexit gives us the competitive advantage not only within the United Kingdom but outside the United Kingdom, also,” Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta said Thursday following the announcement.
The government hopes other companies will soon follow Nissan’s lead and invest in its vision of a “Global Britain.” But a month on from the signing of the EU-U.K. Free Trade Agreement, many businesses say Brexit has so far brought extra costs and little benefit.
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Kerry Says US ‘Proud to be Back’ in Paris Climate Agreement
World leaders gathered virtually Monday for the Climate Adaption Summit, an online meeting hosted by the Netherlands with hopes of developing practical solutions and funding for dealing with climate change between now and 2030.The online program featured leaders from around the world, including China’s Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders. Representing the United States was former Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been appointed by President Joe Biden to be Washington’s new special climate envoy. Kerry told the group the Biden administration has made fighting climate change a top priority and said the U.S. is proud to be back as a leader on the issue.“We have a president now, thank God, who leads, tells the truth and is seized by this issue,” Kerry said. “And President Biden knows that we have to mobilize in unprecedented ways to meet a challenge that is fast accelerating. And he knows we have limited time to get it under control.”Kerry said that is the reason Biden immediately rejoined the Paris climate agreement that former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from formally last November. Trump originally announced the U.S. was pulling out of the agreement in 2017, but United Nations regulations prevented it from being official until November. Biden rejoined the agreement on his first day in office. As secretary of state under former President Barack Obama in 2015, Kerry helped negotiate the original agreement, bringing China to the table at the U.N. climate conference in Paris.
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Malawi Recruits Healthcare Workers to Combat Surge in COVID-19
Malawi says it is recruiting hundreds of healthcare workers to address a shortage as the country deals with a surge in COVID-19 cases. Healthcare workers welcome the move but say the government needs to do more than just hire more nurses.Government statistics show that about 900 Malawian health workers are currently in quarantine after exposure to COVID-19. Ten of them have died.Dr. Charles Mwansambo is secretary for the Ministry of Health.Speaking during a televised presidential address on Sunday evening, he said to address the shortage, the government is attempting to recruit 1,380 new healthcare workers from various schools this week.“So there are 219 workers for central hospitals, 150 workers for CHAM [Christian Health Association of Malawi] facilities and 377 for district hospitals. And we are also recruiting 634 interns,” he said.Malawi is experiencing a lot of challenges under COVID-19, including a shortage of personal protective equipment or PPEs.Mwansambo said Malawi has set aside about $1.2 million for the procurement of the PPEs.“Districts where the pandemic is severe have been furnished with emergency treatment units. And our next step is to set up emergency treatment units in each of the remaining district with a bed capacity between 30 and 60,” he said.In an address Sunday night, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera said he was concerned with an unprecedented rise in coronavirus cases.“In the past seven days, we have confirmed a total of 6,675 new infections, which is an average of 953 confirmed infections per day. This means that the average daily number of new infections from this past week is double what it was the previous week,” he said.Chakwera also said in the past seven days, the daily average number of COVID-19 deaths was more than double what it was the previous week.“Covid-19 deaths in the seven days between January 10th and 16th were 80, but in the seven days between January 17th and yesterday, the total was 170. The continued rise in new infections and new deaths over the past week means that the urgent directives I gave a week ago must continue to be implemented with uncommon speed,” he said.The directives included a nighttime curfew, suspension of schools and a recommendation that Malawians wear face masks.
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China Says 9 Bodies Recovered After Mine Accident
Chinese authorities said Monday rescue workers have recovered the bodies of nine miners following a mine accident in eastern Shandong Province earlier this month.The recovery comes a day after 11 men were rescued from the mine where an explosion struck January 10. A group of 22 were trapped hundreds of meters underground by the explosion, with some relying on food and medicine delivered through long shafts drilled by rescue teams. One miner remains missing.At a news briefing Monday, the Mayor of Yantai City, Chen Fei, told reporters rescue workers discovered the nine bodies while searching the mine.Chinese state television reports the explosion at the Hushan mine occurred in its ventilator shaft, causing a blockage that damaged the cable car that brought workers in and out of the mine. The rescue team chief, Chen Yumin said it appeared all nine miners had been killed by the impact of a secondary explosion in the mine as they tried to climb up to the mine entrance to escape.Chinese authorities have detained several managers of the mine, which was still under construction, for allegedly waiting to report the blast more than 24 hours after it occurred.
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Israel Extradites Former School Principal to Australia to Face Sex Crime Charges
The lawyer for a former Australian school principal accused of sexually assaulting students says his client was extradited to Australia on Monday by order of Israel’s Supreme Court.Malka Leifer is wanted on 74 charges of child sex abuse in Australia and had been fighting extradition since 2014. Her lawyer, Nick Kaufman, confirmed Monday she was placed on a flight several hours before Israel was to close its Ben Gurion International Airport to nearly all air traffic due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Leifer is wanted by Australian police for sexual assault charges, including rape, involving girls at her former school, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne. She has denied the charges.Leifer, who also holds Israeli citizenship, fled Australia in 2008 after the accusations surfaced.In an effort to avoid extradition, she claimed mental illness. But last year, an Israeli psychiatric panel determined Leifer was lying about her mental condition, setting in motion the extradition.In December, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against her extradition, and Israel’s justice minister signed the order to send her to Australia.
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Uganda Court Orders Opposition Leader Released from House Arrest
A high court in Uganda has ordered security forces to end the de facto house arrest of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, calling it unlawful and a violation of his rights. Uganda’s high court on Monday ruled the security presence at the home of National Unity Platform party leader Bobi Wine since January 14 was unlawful.Deputy Court Registrar Jameson Karemani read the ruling, which said the detention of Wine and his family was a violation of their rights. “It has been established that his right to personal liberty has been infringed. Having found, as I do that the restrictions imposed on the applicant are unlawful, it is hereby ordered that they are lifted. Consequently, an order for restoration of the personal liberty of the applicant is hereby issued,” said Karemani.Uganda’s state prosecutors had argued that the movement of Wine’s wife Barbara Itungo was not restricted, which the court found untrue. The state also argued the security forces were at Wine’s home for his own protection, a claim that Wine’s supporters dismissed as a cynical ploy. Speaking to VOA’s James Butty by phone on Sunday, Wine said he and his family were running out of things to eat.”The last time that my legal team was able to access me, they brought in some food and we’ve been surviving using that food. But now, we’ve run out of food. But the military and the police will not hear of it,” he said.Wine called for the end to his de facto house arrest.”We are governed by the law. If I am doing anything illegal, I should be arrested and charged. And if not, I should be made to be free,” he said.The Ugandan opposition leader also said again that Yoweri Museveni won the presidential election by fraud.”It was fake; it was not real. It was not anywhere related to what actually the people of Uganda said through their vote on the 14th of January. We defeated General Museveni resoundingly, and we have evidence to that.”The court ruled Monday that if there is a case against Wine, he should be produced before the court. Wine’s lawyers led by George Musisi applauded the ruling and said they hoped that the state would comply. FILE – Joel Ssenyonyi, left, spokesperson of National Unity Platform, speaks to media with lawyers of Bobi Wine, after being blocked to enter at the security checkpoint near Kyaguolanyi’s home in Magere, Uganda, Jan. 18, 2021.“We are glad that court has emphasized the constitutional freedoms by saying that the restrictions on personal freedom are so important that if you are to restrain someone’s freedom, especially if you’re saying that you have grave allegations against them like they are alleging, they should be taken to court and charged,” he said. Army spokesperson Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso said security forces would respect the court’s decision but indicated they might not withdraw immediately. “That is something we will all have to wait for and that will depend on how the security chiefs determine to do the withdrawal process. To really call upon the other side, that really you need to keep law. We really need to do less of those things that seemingly cause insecurity. The provocations, the chaos that sometimes cause unnecessary anxiety,” she said. Ugandan security forces surrounded Wine’s home as voters went to the polls January 14 to elect a president. After Wine declared the election a fraud and himself the president-elect, security forces moved in on his house and prevented anyone from leaving or visiting — including family. A patrol car of the Ugandan police is seen stationed outside the compound of Ugandan opposition leader Bobi WIne on Jan. 20, 2021.Wine’s brother Fred Sentamu said they were looking forward to his release. “My brother Robert Kyagulanyi didn’t commit any crime in standing for presidency of the country. Whoever stands against president [Museveni] becomes a criminal. This means there’s no democracy at all in our country. He has suffered, psychologically. Physically, he’s growing thin,” he said.Uganda’s electoral commission said 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni was elected to a sixth term with 58 percent of the vote, which Wine maintains was engineered by fraud. FILE – Election officials count the ballots after polls closed in Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 14, 2021.Uganda’s Electoral Commission said it was investigating videos circulating on social media showing people allegedly ticking ballots and stuffing ballot boxes. The U.S. State Department declined to congratulate Museveni and said it remain concerned by reports of election irregularities and politically motivated arrests. Museveni called the election Uganda’s fairest ever vote.
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Turkey: No Word from Pirates Who Seized Sailors off Nigeria
Pirates who seized 15 sailors when they stormed a Turkish-crewed container ship in the Gulf of Guinea two days ago have not yet made contact with authorities, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Monday.An Azeri sailor was killed when armed attackers boarded the vessel, which was headed to Cape Town from Lagos, and abducted 15 Turkish sailors.”We have not yet received word from the pirates,” foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.Turkey was in contact with officials in Gabon, where he said the Liberian-flagged container ship Mozart had docked with its remaining crew, and with authorities in neighboring countries.Echoing comments by President Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s transport minister said the government was working to ensure the swift release of the sailors.”We will rescue our citizens from the hands of these bandits and reunite them with their families as soon as possible,” Adil Karaismailoglu said.The ship was attacked 160 km (100 miles) off Sao Tome island on Saturday, maritime reports showed.Pirates in the Gulf, which borders more than a dozen countries, kidnapped 130 sailors in 22 incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized worldwide, according to an International Maritime Bureau report.The attack on the Mozart could raise international pressure on Nigeria to do more to protect shippers, who have called for tougher action in recent weeks, analysts said.
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