The United Nations is condemning military and police officers who attacked journalists covering opposition figure Bobi Wine’s delivery of a petition to the U.N. rights office in Uganda on Wednesday, according to a press release. At least 20 journalists were wounded and at least four suffered severe head injuries, Stephen Bwire of the Uganda Journalists Union told Reuters. “The journalists were doing their duty and they were clearly identifiable as journalists; they were not hostile, they were politely covering the events,” Bwire said. Bobi Wine rejected his loss in last month’s presidential elections, claiming the elections were rigged in favor of the president, Yoweri Museveni. Wine, accompanied by five party officials, was filing a complaint about Ugandan human rights abuses at a U.N. office in Kampala when “[security officers] descended on everyone they could land on and beat them without mercy,” he tweeted, describing the action as “contemptuous.”Presidential challenger Bobi Wine speaks to the media outside his home, in Magere, near Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 26, 2021.The pop star turned politician complained about the “continuing abductions, torture and murder” of his supporters in the petition he was attempting to deliver when the attack started. “The military was waiting,” he tweeted. “Right outside the gate of the U.N. office, they attacked and beat up journalists and elected leaders.” Footage of the incident on social media show police with batons chasing after screaming journalists and hitting them indiscriminately. One video showed a reporter bleeding from the head from a baton wound. In other footage, NTV Uganda reporter Jeff Twesigye is chased by police and can be heard begging for mercy and apologizing for doing his work. A camera that filmed the incident also captured moments when police demanded to know what Twesigye had captured. Brigadier General Flavia Byewkaso, a military police spokesperson, posted a statement on Twitter saying that security personnel were on hand to enforce COVID-19 protocols during Wine’s march to the U.N. office, insisting journalists weren’t targets of the attack. Byekwaso said the incident was regrettable and advised “journalists on duty to always wear easily identifiable press jackets.” Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown condemned the incident and called for a probe.“Whenever assaulted, swift, public, transparent investigations must follow to ensure justice is served and to restore public trust,” tweeted the top U.S. diplomat in Uganda. “Those who violate press freedom must be held to account.” The U.N. urged the Ugandan government to immediately investigate the attack and “ensure those responsible are brought to justice,” according to the release.
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Month: February 2021
Cameroon Critics Ask for DDR Improvements Amid Ex-Fighter Protests
Critics of Cameroon’s rehabilitation centers for former rebels are calling for a restructuring after some former rebels complained about the centers’ poor conditions. The former Anglophone rebels say the centers for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) offer them little support and are failing to reach the goal of social integration.More than 150 ex-fighters are in a dispute over the DDR center in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest region.Among them is a 27-year-old man who identified himself as Dzever, who said he is receiving training to be financially stable as soon as he is allowed to leave the center.”Here in the center, we have some trades that we are practicing, like agriculture, we have poultry, then we do sports, computer studies, we have even religious studies,” he said.Dzever said he has been in the center for a year since he dropped his weapons and fled from a separatist camp in the English-speaking northwestern town of Ndop.Within the past 10 days, English-speaking former rebels at the DDR centers in Bamenda and the English-speaking southwestern town of Buea have been protesting. They say their living conditions are appalling. The former fighters say the government has failed in its promise to socially reintegrate them.The ex-fighters marched through the streets of Bamenda on Monday. They also went to the office of Deben Tchoffo, governor of the northwest region that includes Bamenda, to denounce what the former fighters say are poor living conditions at the DDR center.’We give them shelter’Sixtus Gabsa is director of the DDR center in Bamenda. He said he has forwarded the former rebels’ grievances to the governor and the central government in Yaounde. Gabsa said there are ongoing efforts to improve conditions at the center.“Hierarchy is currently building a befitting DDR center very close to the airport on a surface area of 14 hectares,” he said. “As I speak, two dormitories of over a capacity of 300 [people] are ready. We have been able to reintegrate [some of] the ex-fighters. In the center, we provide enough security. We give them shelter, we give them three square meals a day, and we carry out training.”Monday’s protest comes a week after ex-combatants at the DDR Center in Buea staged a protest on the streets to denounce their poor living conditions. The ex-fighters said a delegation was sent from the capital, Yaounde, with financial support for the center.Pan Africanist and peace activist Mwalimu George Ngwane is executive director of the civil society organization AFRICAphonie. He said Cameroon needs to restructure its DDR centers to stem the malaise among former rebels.”Understand that the ex-fighters are not coming to take up permanent residence at the centers,” he said. “Some of them had skills before they got into conflict. Assess and take an inventory of their various skills and use these various skills to see how you can deploy them. For example, if you know some of them came in as tailors, as seamstresses, as carpenters, as mechanics, improve the skills that they lost while they were in the bush. Lastly there are some that were in schools. See a way of how you can get them back to school.”Samson Websi, instructor of conflict management at the Yaounde-based Higher Institute of Applied Technology and Management, ISTAG, said the government finds itself in a tight situation if it has to give jobs to youths who have taken up weapons against the nation, while those who have been loyal to the state are either unemployed or underemployed.”If you treat those who first took up arms much better than the other youths who have been in civil life, those who have graduated from schools, they have not had jobs, those who have been searching for jobs without finding, you will find yourself in a tight situation because others will say, ‘For us, too, to be given that type of treatment, we also need to go and take up arms,’” he said.Websi said some separatists prefer fighting to dropping their weapons because of poor conditions at DDR centers. He said the government should invite conflict resolution experts to examine how to restructure DDR centers as an essential part of the ongoing peace process.30% unemploymentWebsi said the 30% unemployment rate in Cameroon is complicating the peace process for the government.President Paul Biya in December 2018 created a National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of former Boko Haram fighters in the far north and former separatist fighters in northwest and southwest regions.Cameroon says it has about 400 ex-separatist fighters at the DDR Centers in Buea and Bamenda. There are 260 former Boko Haram fighters at the DDR center in Mora on the northern border with Nigeria.On Feb. 5, Cameroon said a recruitment drive for troops to fight separatists and terrorists had seen, for the first time, hundreds of former rebels step forward to join. The government said it would recruit some of those qualified ex-fighters, but it did not say how many of the 2,200 former fighters that would include.
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Christo’s Personal Collection Sells for Nearly $10 Million
Artworks owned by the late artist Christo and his wife, Jean-Claude, a duo famed for wrapping landmarks in fabric, sold for $9.6 million at auction on Wednesday.The 28 lots under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Paris included drawings for the couple’s “The Umbrellas (Joint project for Japan and USA),” two spectacular installations by the couple in 1991 consisting of thousands of umbrellas erected simultaneously in Japan and Los Angeles.Less than a year after his death at the age of 84, Christo is evidently more in demand than ever, with more than three quarters of the works on sale selling above estimate.The works, snapped up by buyers in the United States, Asia and Europe, had been expected to sell for between $3 million and $4.5 million collectively.The preparatory drawings for the yellow Californian umbrellas set a new record for a work by the Bulgarian-born U.S. artist at $2 million, while the Japanese version sold for about $1.4 million.A second set of works from the couple’s private collection are due to go on sale Thursday.Christo collaborated with Jeanne-Claude, his wife of 51 years, until her death in 2009 and continued to produce dramatic pieces into his 80s.From Paris’s oldest bridge to Berlin’s Reichstag, they spent decades wrapping landmarks and creating improbable structures around the world.Their large-scale productions would take years of preparation and were costly to erect, but they were mostly ephemeral, coming down after just weeks or months.
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Thousands of Cold-stunned Sea Turtles Being Rescued in Texas
Residents, some of whom lack heat or basic amenities in their own homes due to the unusually chilly weather, have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles and taking them to a convention center in a South Texas resort town. “Every 15 minutes or less there’s another truck or SUV that pulls up,” Ed Caum, executive director of the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He said sometimes people bring one or two sea turtles, sometimes more. “We had trailers full yesterday coming in that had 80, 100, 50,” he said. The South Padre Island Convention Center started pitching in Monday when its neighbor, Sea Turtle Inc., could no longer handle the number of sea turtles being dropped off, and their mostly outdoor operation had lost power. He said the convention center itself didn’t have power or water till early Wednesday morning. He says they’ve “collected” more than 3,500 sea turtles so far. He said he hesitates to use the word rescued because “we know we’re going to lose some.” Caum said that with another cold front approaching, they don’t know when they’ll be able to return the sea turtles to the water. Temperatures in the area on Wednesday afternoon were in the 40s. He said it may be Saturday — when temperatures are expected to reach the low 60s (above 15 Celsius) — before the turtles can be released back into the Gulf. He said with power returned they have been able to bring the convention center’s temperature to 60 degrees. “We’re trying to do the best we can to save as many turtles as possible,” he said.
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Malaysian Court Orders Graft Trial of Ex-PM’s Wife to Proceed
A Malaysian court on Thursday ordered Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, to enter a defense in a corruption trial linked to a multimillion-dollar project approved while the ex-premier was still in power.Dozens of graft charges were filed against the couple after Najib lost the 2018 election, amid popular anger over alleged corruption and their opulent lifestyle after police raids revealed Rosmah owned millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry and luxury handbags.The Kuala Lumpur high court ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in proving sufficient grounds for the case to proceed.”This is my finding that the prosecution has produced credible evidence to prove every element of the offense… I now call upon the accused to enter a defense,” judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said in his ruling.Rosmah, 69, told the court that she would testify under oath when taking the witness stand during defense proceedings.Rosmah faces three charges of soliciting and receiving bribes involving a sum of $48.09 million to help a company, Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, secure a solar power project.Of that total, prosecutors accuse Rosmah of arranging for $46 million to be paid as a political donation to Najib, while also receiving two bribes of $1.6 million.If found guilty, she could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined at least five times the sum specified in the charges.In July, Najib was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 12 years in jail in the first of several trials linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He has since filed an appeal against the decision.The couple have denied any wrongdoing, saying the charges are politically motivated.
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Biden’s Medicare Pick Would Be 1st Black Woman to Hold Post
President Joe Biden has picked a former Obama administration official to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency oversees government health insurance programs covering more than 1 out of 3 Americans and is a linchpin of the health care system.If confirmed by the Senate, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure would be the first Black woman to head CMS, which has under its umbrella Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare.” The programs cover more than 130 million people, from newborns to nursing home residents.Brooks-LaSure has a long track record in government, having held health policy jobs at the White House, in Congress, and at CMS during the Obama administration. Most recently she led the Biden transition’s “landing team” for the Department of Health and Human Services, laying the groundwork for the new administration. Before her return to government service, Brooks-LaSure was a managing director at the Manatt Health consultancy.Her nomination was confirmed by a person familiar with the White House decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.CMS also plays a central role in the nation’s $4 trillion health care economy, setting Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors, labs and other service providers. Government payment levels become the foundation for private insurers. The agency also sets standards that govern how health care providers operate.Brooks-LaSure “gets the imperative of securing greater affordability for beneficiaries, taxpayers, and Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA marketplaces,” said Chris Jennings, a longtime health policy adviser to Democrats. “She is well-respected and liked by the department veterans who have worked with her in the past.”Years ago, Brooks-LaSure worked with Biden’s nominee to run HHS, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. She was a staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee and he was a senior member of the panel during the 2009-10 drive to pass President Barack Obama’s health care law. Senate committees will hold hearings next week on Becerra’s nomination.Under Biden, Brooks-LaSure will be expected to grow Obamacare enrollment by promoting HealthCare.gov and trying to persuade holdout states to adopt Medicaid expansion. She’s also expected to roll back Trump administration policies allowing states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, as well as insurance rules seen as undermining Obamacare.Throughout her career, Brooks-LaSure has worked on Medicaid policy, and that program has now grown to become a mainstay of coverage for many low-income working people. At CMS she’ll have to confront Medicare’s long-term financial problems, aggravated by a decline in payroll tax collections because of COVID-related job losses.Prescription drugs will be a tricky policy area for Brooks-LaSure. Biden wants to legally authorize Medicare to negotiate prices with drugmakers, but he may not be able to marshal enough support in a closely divided Congress. Brooks-LaSure will be tasked with finding ways to use the agency’s rule-making powers to rein in prices.Biden’s pick was first reported by The Washington Post.
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Facebook Blocks Australians From Accessing News on Platform
Facebook announced Thursday it has blocked Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform because of proposed laws in the country to make digital giants pay for journalism.Australian publishers can continue to publish news content on Facebook, but links and posts can’t be viewed or shared by Australian audiences, the U.S.-based company said in a statement.Australian users cannot share Australian or international news.International users outside Australia also cannot share Australian news.”The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook regional managing director William Easton said.”It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter,” Easton added.The announcement comes a day after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg described as “very promising” negotiations between Facebook and Google with Australian media companies.Frydenberg said after weekend talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, he was convinced that the platforms “do want to enter into these commercial arrangements.”Frydenberg said he had had a “a constructive discussion” with Zuckerberg after Facebook blocked Australian news.”He raised a few remaining issues with the Government’s news media bargaining code and we agreed to continue our conversation to try to find a pathway forward,” Frydenberg tweeted.But communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the government would not back down on its legislative agenda.”This announcement from Facebook, if they were to maintain this position, of course would call into question the credibility of the platform in terms of the news on it,” Fletcher told Australian Broadcasting Corp.”Effectively Facebook is saying to Australians, ‘Information that you see on our platforms does not come from organizations that have editorial policies or fact-checking processes or journalists who are paid to do the work they do,’” Fletcher added.The Australian Parliament is debating proposed laws that would make the two platforms strike deals to pay for Australian news.The Senate will consider the draft laws after they were passed by the House of Representatives late Wednesday.Both platforms have condemned the proposed laws as unworkable. Google has also threatened to remove its search engine from the country.But Google is striking pay deals with Australian news media companies under its own News Showcase model.Seven West Media on Monday became the largest Australian news media business to strike a deal with Google to pay for journalism.Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has since announced a wide-ranging deal.Rival Nine Entertainment is reportedly close to its own pact and ABC is also in negotiations.News plays a larger part in Google’s business model than it does in Facebook’s.Easton said the public would ask why the platforms were responding differently to the proposed law that would create an arbitration panel to set a price for news in cases where the platforms and news businesses failed to agree.”The answer is because our platforms have fundamentally different relationships with news,” Easton said.Peter Lewis, director of the Australia Institute’s Center for Responsible Technology think tank, said Facebook’s decision “will make it a weaker social network.””Facebook actions mean the company’s failures in privacy, disinformation, and data protection will require a bigger push for stronger government regulation,” Lewis said. “Without fact-based news to anchor it, Facebook will become little more than cute cats and conspiracy theories.”
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Coronavirus Variant Could Overwhelm Hospitals, Zimbabwe Authorities Warn
Zimbabwean authorities say the more contagious coronavirus variant that was first spotted in South Africa now accounts for 61 percent of Zimbabwe’s new cases. Public health experts say they fear the variant could overwhelm Zimbabwe’s collapsed health care system.Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters late Tuesday that officials would tighten lockdown enforcement because the variant had become more common.Zimbabwe Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, pictured in Harare in July 2020, says the government will review its lockdown regulations in March 2021. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“Results of the genomic sequencing recently conducted indicated the disappearance of the type of COVID-19 virus that the nation had in 2020,” Mutsvangwa said. “There is now a 61% dominance of the new South African variant of the COVID-19 virus, which spreads faster and has a higher fatality rate. Accordingly, the nation now needs to be more vigilant than before and adhere to COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Our security personnel have therefore been directed to intensify monitoring and enforcement in order to enhance compliance.”While the claim of a higher fatality rate of the variant has been contested, it has been proven to be more contagious.
Zimbabwe shares a border with South Africa, which authorities say helped the virus – and the variant – to spread.Zimbabwe police are pictured at a checkpoint in Harare, Feb. 16, 2021, enforcing a lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)While international health authorities are urging countries to heed COVID-19 measures, rights groups say some countries, like Zimbabwe, are using the restrictions to silence opposition.The head of Human Rights Watch in southern Africa, Dewa Mavhinga, said Zimbabwe’s government should instead focus on helping those in need.Dewa Mavhinga, pictured in Harare in December 2020, head of Human Rights Watch in southern Africa, fears Zimbabwe’s tighter enforcement of COVID-19 lockdown regulations will be an excuse to crack down on government critics. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“The government needs to step in and support [those] who are in need and at risk of starvation,” Mavhinga said. “That the government is intensifying the enforcement of regulations by the security forces is in itself not a solution. … There is need for the government to ensure that there is no excessive use of force by the security forces as they monitor the lockdown. People should not be arrested and detained. Places of detention are already crowded and present a huge risk for the rapid spread of the COVID-19.”If the variant’s spread is not brought under control, Zimbabwe’s public health experts say, it could quickly overwhelm the country’s hospitals.Dr. Pamela Magande, president of Zimbabwe’s College of Public Health Physicians, said, “We already had a health system that was in need of improvement before COVID. I think we have a window for us as a country to make sure that our health system [gets] to where it is supposed to be. … A good number of our district hospitals cannot even give our patients oxygen.”Inoculation programZimbabwe on Thursday will launch its COVID-19 inoculation program, with the Chinese government having donated 200,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine. Zimbabwe’s government says that once enough vaccine doses have been acquired, it plans to eventually immunize 60 percent of the country’s estimated 14 million people in an effort to achieve herd immunity. Zimbabwe had more than 35,400 confirmed infections and 1,418 deaths from the infection as of early Thursday local time, according to the Johns Hopkins University Corornavirus Resource Center in the U.S.
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Iran’s Khamenei Demands ‘Action’ From Biden to Revive Nuclear Deal
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded “action, not words” from the United States if it wants to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, challenging new U.S. President Joe Biden to take the first step toward a thaw.
Iran has set a deadline of next week for Biden to begin reversing sanctions imposed by his predecessor, Donald Trump, or it will take its biggest step yet to breach the deal — banning short-notice inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
“We have heard many nice words and promises, which in practice have been broken and opposite actions have been taken,” Khamenei said in a televised speech. “Words and promises are no good. This time [we want] only action from the other side, and we will also act.”
The United States on Wednesday urged Tehran to reverse and refrain from steps harming its pledges under the accord.
Biden aims to restore the pact under which Iran agreed to curbs on its disputed uranium enrichment program in return for the lifting of sanctions, a major achievement of the Obama administration that Trump scrapped in 2018, calling the deal one-sided in Iran’s favor and reimposing a wide range of sanctions.
Iran and the United States are at odds over who should make the first step to revive the accord. Iran says the United States must first lift Trump’s sanctions while Washington says Tehran must first return to compliance with the deal, which it began violating after Trump launched his “maximum-pressure” campaign.
Highlighting the urgency of a diplomatic solution to the standoff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a rare phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in which she urged Tehran to take steps ensuring its return to full compliance.
“It is now time for positive signals that create trust and increase the chances of a diplomatic solution,” Merkel told Rouhani, according to a statement by the chancellor’s spokesman.
Iran has accelerated its breaches of the deal’s restrictions in recent months, culminating in an announcement that it will end snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Feb. 23.
Such inspections, which can range anywhere beyond Iran’s declared nuclear sites, are mandated under the IAEA’s “Additional Protocol” that Iran agreed to honor under the deal. It signed up to the Protocol in 2003 but has not ratified it.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press briefing that Washington was aware of Tehran’s plan to cease snap inspections.
“As we and partners have underscored, Iran should reverse these steps and refrain from taking others that would impact the IAEA assurances,” Price said, adding: “The path for diplomacy remains open.”FILE – This photo released Nov. 5, 2019 by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran shows centrifuge machines at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.More advanced centrifuges on tap
An IAEA report on Wednesday said Iran had informed the IAEA of plans to install more of its advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its main underground enrichment plant at Natanz, in a further move apparently meant to pile pressure on Washington.
The IAEA reported on Feb. 1 that Iran had brought a second cascade, or cluster, of IR-2m machines online at Natanz, and was installing two more. The 2015 deal says Iran can only enrich with far less efficient, first-generation IR-1 centrifuges.
Iran recently began enriching uranium to 20% fissile purity at another site, Fordow, well above its previous level of 4.5% and the deal’s 3.67% limit, though still well below the 90% that is weapons grade. Iran had enriched to 20% before the deal.
Refining uranium to high levels of fissile purity is a potential pathway to nuclear bombs, though Iran has long said it its enrichment program is for peaceful energy purposes only.
European parties to the deal, which have called on Tehran not to halt snap inspections, will discuss the issue with the United States on Thursday, the French Foreign Ministry said.
Rouhani played down the importance of the snap inspections, saying that ending them would not be a “significant step,” as Iran would still comply with obligations under a so-called Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.
“We will end the implementation of the Additional Protocol on February 23 and what will be implemented will be based on the safeguards,” Rouhani said at a televised cabinet meeting. “The Additional Protocol is a step beyond safeguards.”
Iran’s envoy to the IAEA said on Wednesday that the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, would visit Tehran on Saturday to discuss the country’s plan to scale back cooperation with inspectors next week.
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UNHCR to Help Identify Migrants in Mexico Eligible to Enter US
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will work to identify the most needy migrants waiting in Mexico and help them complete paperwork to pursue asylum claims in the United States, a U.S. official told VOA.Mirroring the UNHCR’s role in facilitating refugee resettlements around the world, the U.N. agency will work with the Biden administration to address the plight of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers the former Trump administration forced to remain in Mexico while awaiting U.S. immigration court dates under an initiative known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or the “remain in Mexico” policy.”UNHCR is working to select the most vulnerable people or those who have more time in the MPP program to cross [into the United States],” Roberta Jacobson, coordinator for the southwest border on the White House National Security Council, told VOA.The Biden administration, which has moved to end MPP, is expected to begin processing asylum claims February 19.There are approximately 25,000 migrants with active MPP cases.UNHCR screening of asylum seekers is expected to reduce the need to detain migrants who are allowed to enter the United States. Instead, most will be permitted to stay with sponsors or family members already in the U.S.“We don’t have in mind detaining the majority of these persons,” Jacobson said. “We are going to start with a very small number to ensure that everything works well.”Despite the UNHCR’s assistance, the United States will continue to decide who ultimately is granted asylum and allowed to legally remain in the country.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stressed that the policy shift does not mean the border is “opening for people to migrate irregularly to the United States.”DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the initiative shows the administration’s commitment to immigration reform, but added that, due to capacity constraints at the U.S.-Mexico border exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, change will take time.“Individuals who are not eligible under this initial phase should wait for further instructions and not travel to the border,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “Due to the current pandemic, restrictions at the border remain in place and will be enforced.”President Joe Biden suspended MPP within days of his inauguration last month. Until this week, it was unclear what would replace it and when the new policy would go into effect.”This new process applies to individuals who were returned to Mexico under the MPP program and have cases pending before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR),” DHS said in a recent press release. “Individuals outside of the United States who were not returned to Mexico under MPP or who do not have active immigration court cases will not be considered for participation in this program and should await further instructions.”A migrant puts on her shoes after crossing the Rio Bravo river to turn herself in to a U.S. Border Patrol agent to request for asylum in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Feb. 8, 2021.The former Trump administration launched MPP in 2019 to deter mass migration to America’s southern border and ease overcrowding at U.S. detention facilities. The Trump White House defended the policy as both necessary and humane in that it persuaded many migrants not to make an arduous and dangerous journey northward.Backers of the program called MPP a success.“MPP was a game changer,” said Lora Ries, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington. “And it was because migrants learned that just claiming fear wasn’t the golden ticket to get into the U.S.”Immigrant rights groups contend the policy forced many migrants into makeshift camps in northern Mexico where they endured hunger, disease and threats to their physical safety from criminal gangs.Human Rights First reported that migrants have been kidnapped, tortured, and sexually assaulted by cartels that operate along the U.S.-Mexico border.Last week, the Biden administration indicated that migrants will need to register with international organizations online or over the phone and then await instructions.U.S. officials said migrants will be tested for COVID-19 before being allowed to enter the United States and will be required to wear face masks and comply with social distancing guidelines. Jorge Agobian contributed to this story.
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Dozens of Students Kidnapped in Central Nigeria, Officials Say
Nigerian officials said dozens of high school boys were abducted Wednesday in Niger state by gunmen disguised in military uniforms. Reports said the kidnappers killed at least one student who tried to escape during the attack, the second in Nigeria in just two months.Authorities said the attack occurred about 2 a.m. local time at the Government Science Secondary School Kagara. A teacher who escaped the raid at the boarding school for boys said hundreds of gunmen on motorcycles herded many abductees into a nearby forest and one student was killed in the process.A state government spokesperson said Wednesday that 27 people had been kidnapped, dismissing initial claims that hundreds might have been taken.A viral video released showed captives with abductors demanding about $1.4 million as ransom.Nigerian security officials did not respond to requests for an interview, but security expert Kabir Adamu said criminal gangs operating in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions were to blame.Kidnapping for ransom”It’s a kidnap-for-ransom situation where they’re able to gather this number of persons,” Adamu said. “It will be almost easy for them to now take over and then use them to negotiate some form of ransom.”The government secondary school in Kagara where the attack happened has about 1,000 students. Authorities are currently profiling the students for further updates.President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered troops with aerial surveillance to go after the captors and rescue the students, according to a statement released Wednesday by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu.But experts say lack of government control over the crisis-ridden regions is the reason incidents reoccur.”The locations where these schools are are vulnerable locations; they are remote locations usually that are close to these ungoverned spaces that exist in Nigeria that these criminals use as haven,” Adamu said. “Then the schools’ physical security is almost very weak, the fencing, sometimes the perimeter walls.”Nigeria’s northwest and central regions have been recording growing insecurities often carried out by criminal gangs known as bandits, kidnapping for ransom.Last December, a similar attack occurred in Katsina state but the more than 300 boys were released six days later through negotiations.
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Forced to Pledge Allegiance, Hong Kong Civil Servants Wary About Future
Hong Kong’s government has given employees at public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) until Thursday to decide whether to sign an oath of loyalty to the Chinese special administrative region, VOA has been told. Amid political unrest that has rocked the city in recent years, the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) officially announced last month that Hong Kong civil servants were required to declare their allegiance to the government this month. This includes pledges to uphold the Basic Law, bear allegiance, be dedicated to their duties and be responsible to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).A spokesman for the RTHK program “Staff Union” told VOA the oath-taking is “in conflict with the duties of a public broadcaster” and that it can potentially be a “legal tool to criminalize civil servants expressing criticisms against current policies”.According to local reports, conduct that does not uphold the Basic Law includes advocating for Hong Kong’s independence, refusing to recognize China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong, soliciting intervention by external forces or activities that endanger national security.The union spokesman admitted RTHK is in a “dilemma” because of the undefined interpretation of the law with the oath raising questions over the future of RTHK’s editorial independence.“As members of the press, it will be hard to avoid reporting on misconduct, and mishaps of the administration. Even if we are just relaying messages, or relaying opinions of people’s criticism of the administration, it could be a problem,” the spokesman said.“We are now in a difficult position, but RTHK would still strive to serve the public under the professional standards of journalism,” the spokesman added. But several RTHK staff members, who chose to stay anonymous, admitted that because of the pandemic, most people would sign the declaration.“My guess is 80% will sign, because of financial reasons,” one told VOA, while another employee indicated there were “two people” who would not be signing the oath.Under the “one country, two systems” agreement signed by Britain and China in 1997, after the city was transferred back to Chinese rule, Beijing promised that Hong Kong would retain a high degree of autonomy until 2047.Public Broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), will suspend a long-running political satirical television show “Headliner” after it received a government reprimand on insulting the Hong Kong police officers.But after widespread anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing wanted to make sure such unrest would never happen again. Hong Kong’s national security law was implemented and penalizes anything China considers to be acts of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces — carrying sentences of up to life in prison.RTHK has come under continuous pressure from the government in recent years. In March of last year, the government criticized a reporter for going against the “One China” policy after an interview with a World Health Organization (WHO) during which an official was asked whether the organization would reconsider Taiwan’s membership.In April, the Communications Authority (CA) criticized a television show for being biased against the police, and in May, a well-known satirical show was suspended following further complaints from the government.Journalists within the government-funded broadcaster also have come under scrutiny. In November, freelance producer Bao Choy was arrested for allegedly violating regulations while using a government database to conduct research for a documentary.RTHK Arrest in Hong Kong Is Further Blow to Press FreedomArrests, chilled climate since National Security Law came into effect may leave Hong Kong media deciding between self-censorship or revealing the truthAnd anchor Nabela Qoser has recently had her civil service contract terminated, as investigations continue to review complaints about the journalist’s tough questioning and conduct toward government officials.One RTHK employee said signing the oath puts employees in jeopardy of having the same “fate” as Qoser.“If they can treat Nabela [Qoser] in that way, the government can treat us the same way. So many colleagues are worried about that,” the employee said.Changes within the RTHK are set to continue, with many staff uncertain about the future. Leung Ka-wing, the director of broadcasting, is set to leave his position in August, leaving employees expecting a change in both management and style.“We expect someone [who is] really pro-China to take charge,” one staff member said.But the uncertainty of the boundaries of the national security law already has created a nervous atmosphere in the company.“I am aware people are starting to become silent, not criticizing the SAR government or management as openly as before. We never know who will report you later on,” the employee said.RTHK recently followed the decision by China’s broadcasting regulator National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) to ban BBC World News.Beijing claims the BBC has been removed for “seriously violated regulations,” according to state news agency Xinhua. China has previously criticized the BBC over its reporting on COVID-19 and the treatment of ethnic minority Uighurs.The RTHK Union spokesman said it “could be the first instance that a Hong Kong media outlet follows the decision by the NRTA.”One staff member understood the decision but admitted concerns about the media’s future if Hong Kong continues to follow Beijing’s model.“I can kind of understand because there is a national security law now. My concerns are quite big if we continue to work under these measures. I think more people will turn away from journalism,” the staff member added.Beijing’s move concerning the BBC comes after British media regular Ofcom had previously stripped China Global Television Network (CGTN) of its license after an investigation discovered its license holder wasn’t solely responsible for the output of the network.
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First Ladies Exert ‘Soft Power’ with Fashion Choices
First ladies are not elected, but once their husband becomes president, they are expected to represent the nation and to look good while doing it. Although they have no overt political power, VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports that modern first spouses have turned to “fashion diplomacy” to get their point across.
Camera: Mike Burke
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Three North Koreans Indicted in Sony Hack
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted three North Korean computer programmers for trying to extort and steal more than $1.3 billion as part of a global cyber scheme that included the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment.A Canadian American who allegedly laundered some of the stolen money also pleaded guilty in the scheme.North Koreans Park Jin Hyok, Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.Park, a computer programmer for North Korea’s intelligence service, was charged two years ago for his role in the Sony hack.That hack erased corporate data, obtained sensitive company emails among top Hollywood executives and forced the company to rebuild its entire computer network.The motivation for the hack was believed to be retaliation for the 2014 movie “The Interview,” which ridiculed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and even portrayed an assassination plot against him.As part of the scheme, the Justice Department said, the three plotted to steal more than $1.2 billion from banks in Vietnam, Mexico, Malta and other places. They also stole $75 million from a Slovenian cryptocurrency company and $11.8 million of digital currency from a New York financial services company.”The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” Tracy L. Wilkison, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “The conduct detailed in the indictment are the acts of a criminal nation-state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and obtain money to prop up its regime.”The three are also believed to have been behind the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack, which affected computers in 150 countries and most notably crippled the computer network of Britain’s National Health Service.The three North Koreans are unlikely to ever appear in a U.S. courtroom.
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Three North Koreans Charged in Sony Hack
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday indicted three North Koreans for their alleged role in the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a scheme that involved efforts to steal and extort more than $1.3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency.A Canadian American who allegedly laundered some of the stolen money also pleaded guilty in the scheme.North Koreans Park Jin Hyok, Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.Park, a computer programmer for North Korea’s intelligence service, was charged two years ago for his role in the Sony hack.That hack erased corporate data, obtained sensitive company emails among top Hollywood executives and forced the company to rebuild its entire computer network.The motivation for the hack was believed to be retaliation for the 2014 movie “The Interview,” which ridiculed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and even portrayed an assassination plot against him.As part of the scheme, the Justice Department said, the three plotted to steal more than $1.2 billion from banks in Vietnam, Mexico, Malta and other places. They also stole $75 million from a Slovenian cryptocurrency company and $11.8 million of digital currency from a New York financial services company.”The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” Tracy L. Wilkison, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “The conduct detailed in the indictment are the acts of a criminal nation-state that has stopped at nothing to extract revenge and obtain money to prop up its regime.”The three are also believed to have been behind the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack, which affected computers in 150 countries and most notably crippled the computer network of Britain’s National Health Service.The three North Koreans are unlikely to ever appear in a U.S. courtroom.
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European Court of Human Rights Calls on Russia to Free Navalny
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is calling on Russia to release top Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. ECHR said in a press release Wednesday that it “grants an interim measure in favor of” Navalny and “asks the Government of Russia to release him.” The court’s ruling demanded that Navalny be released immediately, warning that failure to do so would mark a breach of the European human rights convention.The court pointed to Rule 39 of its regulations, citing “the nature and extent of risk to the applicant’s life.” FILE – This photo shows the inside of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, eastern France, Feb. 7, 2019.Navalny, 44, has been jailed since his return to Russia last month. Moscow said he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from a poisoning attack. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction ECHR has ruled to be unlawful. Navalny was treated in Germany following a nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia last August. He blamed Russia for the poisoning, a charge denied by the Kremlin. Several western countries have called for Navalny’s release, threatening to impose sanctions against Russia over the case. The Russian Justice Ministry warned in a statement that the ECHR’s demand would represent a “crude interference into the judicial system” of Russia and “cross the red line.” ECHR is the international court of the Council of Europe, Europe’s main human rights forum. As a member of the EU, Russia is a member of the court. In the past, it has complied with ECHR’s rulings to compensate Russian citizens who contested verdicts in Russian courts, but it has never faced a demand by the court to release someone who has been detained.
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Protesters in Myanmar Stage Largest Demonstrations Against Junta
An apparent record number of people demonstrated in Myanmar Wednesday against the military since it’s Feb. 1 coup, despite a ban on gatherings of at least five people. Protesters took to the streets in the capital of Naypyitaw, the country’s second largest city of Mandalay and in Yangon, where the turnout appeared to be one of the biggest since the military takeover. Scores of private and public sector employees and civil servants joined the mass demonstrations against the coup by walking off their jobs, despite a military order to return to work and threats of action against them. There were no reports of significant violence, but protesters blocked police and military vehicles in Yangon by continuing the practice of blocking major thoroughfares with vehicles parked in mid-street with their hoods raised while using engine trouble as an excuse. Protesters also streamed into the streets of Mandalay, where security forces two days earlier pointed guns at about 1,000 demonstrators and attacked them with sticks and slingshots. Local news accounts said police also fired rubber bullets into a crowd, injuring several people. In Naypyitaw, engineers and bank employees joined thousands of people in a march down the city’s major streets, chanting for the release of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. One motorist told VOA’s Burmese Service that he joined the “broken-down car campaign” to disrupt transportation. An organizer of the civil disobedience movement said some government workers are reluctant to participate, leaving it to the youth to engage in tactics like the broken-down car campaign. But one railway worker told VOA’s Burmese Service that he (she) and his (her) colleagues do not care about the consequences of joining the movement as they demand a return to the civilian government they voted into office. The leader of the pro-democracy group 88 Generation Students, Min Ko Naing, distributed an audio message urging protesters to continue demonstrating Wednesday with the intent of eventually disrupting the military government. Wednesday’s demonstrations came one day after the United Nations warned of “the potential for violence on a greater scale.” Security forces have grown increasingly aggressive against the protesters, firing warning shots, rubber bullets and water cannons in an effort to disperse the crowds. The country’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners group said more than 450 arrests had been made since the coup, many of them in night-time raids. Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said Tuesday in a written statement that such troop movements during the previous junta “preceded killings, disappearances, and detentions on a mass scale.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 11 MB720p | 28 MB1080p | 47 MBOriginal | 51 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio“I am terrified that given the confluence of these two developments — planned mass protests and troops converging — we could be on the precipice of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar,” Andrews said. The regime briefly shutdown Internet services Tuesday for a third consecutive night. The military has cited widespread fraud in last November’s general elections, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in a landslide, as justification for the takeover. Those claims were rejected by Myanmar’s electoral commission. The junta has declared a one-year state of emergency and has promised to hold a new round of elections. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest at her official residence in Naypyitaw since the coup. Authorities filed a second charge Tuesday against Suu Kyi in an apparent legal maneuver that could keep her detained indefinitely. Suu Kyi’s lawyer told reporters in Naypyitaw after meeting with a judge that she was charged with violating the country’s COVID-19 containment restrictions. She was previously charged with illegally possessing imported walkie-talkie radios without a license. Violating the law is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison. President U Win Myint is also under house arrest. Western nations have strongly condemned the coup in Myanmar, and even China has begun to express concern about the situation. Chen Hai, Beijing’s ambassador to Naypyitaw, said Tuesday that current state of affairs is “absolutely not what China wants to see.”
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Russia Alleges US, Not Taliban, Breaching Afghan Peace Deal
A top Russian diplomat says the Taliban insurgency is “flawlessly” adhering to the terms of a 2020 peace deal with the United States to help end the war in Afghanistan and is urging Washington not to renege on its commitments.Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan, spoke ahead of Wednesday’s NATO conference aimed at determining whether to meet a May 1 deadline agreed to with the Taliban for the withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan. He also spoke as the number of attacks carried out by the Taliban continue to rise.The meeting in Brussels of NATO defense ministers comes amid increased allegations the Islamist insurgent group has committed serious breaches of the February 29, 2020, pact by not reducing Afghan battlefield violence and not cutting ties with international terrorist groups.A new U.S. Department of Defense report said Wednesday that the Taliban’s links remain intact with al-Qaida.“The Taliban continues to maintain relations with al-Qaida … [the terror network’s] members were integrated into Taliban forces and command structures” said Sean O’Donnell, the department’s acting inspector general.And on Monday, the U.N. mission in the country published a new report that points to a sharp increase in targeted killings of Afghan human rights defenders and journalists in recent months.’Much higher’ Taliban violenceThe Taliban have denied they are behind the assassination spree, but Afghan officials blame the insurgents, and independent observers also say the group’s denial is not convincing.“Taliban violence is much higher than historical norms,” General Scott Miller, the head of U.S. forces and the NATO-led noncombat Resolute Support mission, told Reuters on Wednesday. “It just doesn’t create the conditions to move forward in what is hopefully a historic turning point for Afghanistan.”The increase in violence prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to review the deal before deciding on whether to bring home the remaining 2,500 American soldiers from the South Asian nation to close what has been the longest military intervention in U.S. history.Despite that, the Russian state-owned Sputnik News Agency quoted Kabulov as saying, “The Taliban adhere to the agreement almost flawlessly — not a single American soldier has died since the agreement was signed — which cannot be said about the Americans.”The Russian envoy accused the U.S. military of “repeatedly” carrying out airstrikes against Taliban-held Afghan area positions “under various pretexts.”NATO Chief: No Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘Before the Time Is Right’ Washington has reduced the number of US forces in the country to 2,500 from nearly 13,000 a year agoKabulov also downplayed the presence of al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan, saying the terror network has about 500 militants in the country and they do not constitute a major security challenge.“If the new [U.S] administration decides not to withdraw [the troops], it will violate the agreement with the Taliban. It doesn’t look good for anyone. The Taliban have announced the war will continue [if foreign troops extend their stay],” said Kabulov.Through an “open letter,” the Taliban also urged the Biden administration on Tuesday to stick to the troop withdrawal agreement, describing it as “the most effective way of ending” the war in Afghanistan.American officials maintain the U.S. has reduced its forces in Afghanistan from nearly 13,000 a year ago to 2,500 to meet its obligations outlined in the agreement. They also acknowledge the U.S. military has suffered no casualties since the signing of the accord with the Taliban that bound insurgents not to stage attacks against foreign troops.Meeting soughtKabulov said Moscow is trying to host a multination meeting this month on how to nudge the Afghan warring parties back to the negotiating table for peace talks that stemmed from the U.S.-Taliban agreement but have been suspended since early last month.The Taliban and Afghan government negotiators have accused each other of dragging their feet in the talks that started last September but failed to produce tangible results.Kabulov said China, the U.S., Iran and Pakistan have been invited to the proposed meeting to develop a “collective mechanism to push the warring Afghan sides to return to table” and “declare a cease-fire at least for the period of the negotiation process.”The Russian envoy said he would travel to Islamabad this week for “consultations” with Pakistani officials on the Afghan peace process. A Pakistani foreign ministry source told VOA the Russian diplomat was scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday.Taliban Urges US Public to Demand Early Pullout From AfghanistanBiden administration is reviewing whether the Taliban is honoring its commitments before deciding to withdraw remaining 2,500 US troopsKabulov blamed the Afghan government for delaying the start of the intra-Afghan talks that were originally scheduled to begin last March.“The Kabul administration has already done a lot of stupid things: It delayed the start of negotiations in anticipation of a change of administration in Washington, thinking that the next administration would behave differently,” alleged Kabulov.He went on to assert the delay in starting the negotiations had allowed the Taliban to expand their influence to “three-quarters of the territory of Afghanistan” and “strengthen their negotiating position.”Criticism of Taliban defenseA senior Afghan interior ministry official, Sediq Sediqqi, criticized Kabulov for defending the Taliban. “No one should just close their eyes and say that the Taliban adhered to the terms. If that was the case, Afghans would have lived in a cease-fire and peace, the talks would continue and there would have been a solution. Taliban are the main violator and they at war with Afghans,” Sediqqi tweeted.Critics acknowledge Biden faces a tough challenge in deciding how to proceed in Afghanistan, but they say abandoning the timelines agreed upon with the Taliban will have consequences.”If the U.S. extends its military presence beyond May 1, there’s a good chance the Taliban will declare the Doha deal null and void, its war against the U.S. will be back on, a nascent and fragile intra-Afghan dialogue will fall apart, and we will be back to square one,” said Michael Kugelman at Washington’s Wilson Center.
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COVID-19 Cases Increase in Tanzania, Despite Government Denial
Tanzania’s government insists there are no cases of COVID-19 in the country, but residents and doctors point to a growing number of illnesses and deaths. Opposition politicians say the government’s stance is endangering lives.Nasa Kiwanga visits the grave of his daughter, Tully, who died earlier this month.Tully passed away in a hospital in Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital, one week after falling sick.Doctors told her family she died of pneumonia, but Tully’s father Nasa Kiwanga believes his daughter died of COVID-19.What sent his daughter to the hospital, he said, was that she started having breathing difficulties when at home. After that, she was sent to the hospital on Saturday morning. Kiwanga said she lived for only two days with oxygen support, adding that, when the oxygen finished at the hospital, the life of my daughter ended there.According to a doctor who asked not to be identified, Kiwanga is correct – his daughter died of COVID-19.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Belivers attend the Sunday Mass without wearing masks and social distancing at Ufunuo na Uzima Church in Dar es Salaam, Feb. 7, 2021.Mbatia said he is one of the victims in his clan and their family. He said they had many deaths because of the problem; all of the symptoms are of the coronavirus. He added that they requested testing and the results come out positive that it’s the coronavirus. So, who are we deceiving? Mbatia asks, and why are we deceiving ourselves?Tanzania’s health ministry has touted the use of traditional medicine in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases. The ministry also backs the president’s recent dismissal of COVID-19 vaccines.“For now, the government has no plans to receive the COVID vaccine being distributed in other countries,” she said. Gwajima emphasizes that it should be known that the government, through the Ministry of Health, has its procedures to follow when you receive any health product. And this is done when the government is satisfied with the product, she added.Meanwhile, Nasa Kiwanga and his family are collecting his daughter’s belongings, as they prepare to leave Dodoma for his home in the southern highlands of Tanzania.Kiwanga said he worries about those who might suffer the same fate as his daughter, victims of COVID-19 that no one is allowed to admit.
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EU To Get Millions More Pfizer-BioNTech Coronavirus Doses
The U.S.- German pharmaceutical partners Pfizer-BioNTech announced Wednesday they have struck a deal with the European Commission — the European Union’s executive branch – for another 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses.
In a statement Wednesday, the companies said the agreement is in addition to one signed with the EU last year for 300 million doses through 2021.
The additional doses are expected to be delivered in 2021, with an estimated 75 million to be supplied in the second quarter.
Including the option for 100 million doses, the EU has now potentially stockpiled 600 million doses for use through this year. The regional bloc is being criticized by some of its member states for its slow rollout of the vaccine program.
Last week, in comments to the European Parliament, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen apologized for some of the decisions that contributed to delays, but she expressed no regrets for the extra time taken to ensure the vaccines were efficient and safe before they were approved.
Through its drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU has so far approved three vaccines for use among its member states. Along with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, the EMA has given emergency approval to vaccines produced by Moderna and AstraZeneca.
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As Biden Mulls North Korea, Some Urge Arms Control Approach
Former U.S. President Donald Trump tried threats of “fire and fury,” followed by personal letters and made-for-TV summits to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons. As U.S. President Joe Biden now maps out his own strategy for North Korea, many former U.S. officials want the White House to base its approach on a less flashy but in some ways even more provocative idea: that North Korea has no plans to abandon the nuclear program it spent decades building.President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House after stepping off Marine One, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington.The United States has long demanded the complete denuclearization of North Korea, even as a wide range of Korea watchers agreed that will likely never happen. For many, the alternative is simply unfathomable; recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state could convince other nations to pursue the bomb, leading to a regional or global arms race.But with or without recognition, North Korea has made steady progress on its nuclear and missile programs. According to recent estimates, North Korea possesses anywhere from 15-60 nuclear warheads. It also has an increasingly diverse array of ballistic missiles, including some that may be able to reach anywhere in the continental United States. Given the trajectory, a growing number of observers advocate what they say is a more pragmatic approach that would aim to cap or reduce the threat of North Korea’s arsenal, even if the immediate goal isn’t full denuclearization. More pragmatic“A reality check is overdue,” said Markus Garlauskus, a former U.S. intelligence official, in an article this month published by the U.S. Institute for Peace. Garlauskas is not just any analyst; until June he was the U.S. government’s top intelligence officer for North Korea. FILE – A man walks past a TV screen showing a local news program about North Korea’s reported firing of an ICBM, at Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, July 5, 2017.Though North Korea’s nuclear program has made impressive technological advances in recent years, some analysts argue it’s still worth freezing at the current stage. According to nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who has visited North Korean nuclear facilities, North Korea still needs to do more nuclear and ICBM tests to be able to reach the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.Not a perfect fixBut the idea of an arms control approach doesn’t sit well with some U.S. allies in the region. Many fear it would result in a de facto recognition of North Korea’s nuclear program. “I get the rationalist argument that national or regime survival will mean that Kim won’t de-nuke,” a senior military official of a U.S.-allied nation told VOA. “But if the U.S. accepts this premise, the consequences across the region would be most significant.”An even implicit U.S. recognition of North Korea could make it easier for other countries, such as Japan and South Korea, to eventually develop their own nuclear weapons. There would also be implications for countries like Iran, who may conclude that they can develop their own nuclear weapons and eventually even achieve some degree of relations with the United States, if they persevere through a period of sanctions. Another commonly expressed concern: North Korea could decide to sell its nuclear technology to other countries or even terrorist groups.Given those concerns, some say it’s better for the United States to publicly push for denuclearization, even if it may never happen.“In some ways it is the polite fiction that must be maintained while [U.S. officials] try and reverse the trend of an expanded nuclear capability,” said the military official. Experts: Biden Thought Likely to Reverse Trump’s North Korea Policies But experts say Pyongyang remains determined to become a recognized nuclear powerFew signs from BidenBiden, who is consumed with domestic issues like the coronavirus and the economy, has given few hints about the direction of his new policy. In a briefing last week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the denuclearization of North Korea remains a “central premise” of the U.S. approach. But even Secretary of State Antony Blinken has at times in the past called for an interim agreement with North Korea. In a New York Times editorial in 2018, Blinken argued that Trump should use the Iran nuclear deal as a model when negotiating with Pyongyang.Earlier this month, Blinken said the United States would consider both sanctions and diplomacy as part of the administration’s wide-ranging North Korea policy review.But it may not be the right strategic moment to apply more sanctions. Not only are there humanitarian concerns about tightening sanctions during a global health emergency, there are questions about how effective economic pressure would be, considering North Korea has already voluntarily sealed itself from the rest of the world to contain the novel coronavirus. But the North’s pandemic calculation could eventually change, says Duyeon Kim, a Korea specialist at the Center for New American Security.“The longer the pandemic persists, the more Pyongyang will desire sanctions relief when the pandemic subsides,” she says. “The more desperate North Korea becomes for sanctions removal, the more leverage the Biden administration could have.”
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Sudan Recalls Envoy to Ethiopia As Tensions High
Sudan Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Ethiopia, the foreign ministry said, as tensions between the two countries run high over a border region and Addis Ababa’s controversial Blue Nile dam.
“Sudan has recalled its ambassador to Addis Ababa for consultations over Sudanese-Ethiopian relations,” foreign ministry spokesman Mansour Boulad told AFP.
He said the envoy would return to his post after the “completion of consultations”, without elaborating on the nature of the discussions.
Khartoum’s move comes amid rising tensions with Addis Ababa over the Al-Fashaqa border region, where Ethiopian farmers cultivate fertile land claimed by Sudan.
The two neighboring countries have been trading accusations of violence in the area and territorial violations.
On Sunday, Khartoum claimed that Ethiopia had allowed its troops to enter Sudanese territory in an act of “aggression” and “regrettable escalation”.
Last month, Ethiopia alleged that Sudanese forces were pushing further into the border region.
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Britain Says UAE Should Show That Dubai’s Sheikha Latifa Is Alive
Britain wants to see proof that Sheikha Latifa, one of the ruler of Dubai’s daughters, is still alive after the BBC showed a video in which she said she was being held against her will in a barricaded villa, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
“It’s deeply troubling and you can see a young woman under deep distress,” Dominic Raab said.
In the video, shown as part of the BBC’s Panorama current affairs programme, Latifa, 35, said: “I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail.”
She said she was making the video in the bathroom of the villa, the only room she could lock herself into, adding: “All the windows are barred shut, I can’t open any window.”
Asked whether he would support seeing some kind of proof from the United Arab Emirates that Sheikha Latifa was alive, Raab told Sky News television: “Given what we’ve just seen, I think people would just at a human level want to see that she’s alive and well.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the United Nations was looking into the situation.
“That’s something obviously that we are concerned about but the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is looking at that,” he told reporters. “I think what we’ll do is wait and see how they get on. We’ll keep an eye on that.”
The Dubai government’s media office referred questions about the video to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s law firm, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded.
Free Latifa” Campaign
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum drew international attention in 2018 when a human rights group released a video made by her in which she described an attempt to escape Dubai.
Last March, a London High Court judge said he accepted as proved a series of allegations made by Sheikh Mohammed’s former wife, Princess Haya, in a legal battle, including that the sheikh ordered the abduction of Latifa. The sheikh’s lawyers rejected the allegations.
Asked if Britain would impose sanctions on the UAE after the video, Raab said: “It’s not clear to me that there would be the evidence to support that.”
The Free Latifa campaign, which has lobbied for her release, said it had managed to smuggle a phone to Latifa, which had been used to send a series of secret video messages taken over the past two years.
Before Tuesday, the only time Latifa had been seen since she was brought back to Dubai was when her family released photos of her sitting with Mary Robinson, a former Irish president and a United Nations high commissioner for human rights, in late 2018.
But Robinson told the BBC she had been “horribly tricked” during the visit and never asked Latifa about her situation, fearing it would exacerbate a mental condition she was told the princess had.
Mohammed has a vast horse racing stable in Britain and has been pictured with Queen Elizabeth at Royal Ascot horse races.
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Protesters in Myanmar Stage Largest Demonstration Against Junta in Yangon
The United Nations is warning of “the potential for violence on a greater scale” in Myanmar as protesters stage their biggest demonstration to date against the military’s overthrow of the civilian government. Thousands of demonstrators gathered Wednesday in the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, despite a ban on gatherings of more than four people imposed by the military. Roads and bridges leading into and through Yangon were blocked by cars with their hoods up, making them appear to have engine trouble, a new tactic employed by protesters to keep out police and military vehicles. Protesters have filled the streets of Myanmar’s biggest cities every day since de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking government officials were detained in the February 1 coup. The protesters have displayed placards with pro-democracy slogans, many of them with pictures of Suu Kyi, and adopted a three-fingered salute as a sign of resistance against tyranny depicted in the popular “Hunger Games” films.Protest against the military coup in Yangon, Feb. 17, 2021.Scores of private and public sector employees and civil servants have joined in the mass demonstrations against the coup by walking off their jobs. The military has ordered civil servants back to work and threatened action against them. Security forces have grown increasingly aggressive against the protesters, firing warning shots, rubber bullets and water cannons in an effort to disperse the crowds. The country’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners group said more than 450 arrests had been made since the coup, many of them in night-time raids. Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said Tuesday in a written statement that such troop movements during the previous junta “preceded killings, disappearances, and detentions on a mass scale.’ “I am terrified that given the confluence of these two developments – planned mass protests and troops converging – we could be on the precipice of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar,” Andrews said. The regime briefly shutdown Internet services Tuesday for a third consecutive night. The military has cited widespread fraud in last November’s general elections, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in a landslide, as justification for the takeover. Those claims were rejected by Myanmar’s electoral commission. The junta has declared a one-year state of emergency and has promised to hold a new round of elections. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest at her official residence in Naypyitaw since the coup. Authorities filed a second charge Tuesday against Suu Kyi in an apparent legal maneuver that could keep her detained indefinitely. Suu Kyi’s lawyer told reporters in Naypyitaw after meeting with a judge that she was charged with violating the country’s COVID-19 containment restrictions. She was previously charged with illegally possessing imported walkie-talkie radios without a license. Violating the law is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison. President U Win Myint is also under house arrest. Western nations have strongly condemned the coup in Myanmar, and even China has begun to express concern about the situation. Chen Hai, Beijing’s ambassador to Naypyitaw, said Tuesday that current state of affairs is “absolutely not what China wants to see.”
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