America’s lobster exporters recovered from the Trump-era trade war with China to have a good 2020. But the industry is approaching one of the most critical times of the year with trepidation because of the coronavirus.
Chinese New Year is typically one of the busiest parts of the calendar for America’s lobster shippers, who send millions of dollars worth of the crustaceans to China every year. This year the holiday is Feb. 12, and industry members said the Year of the Ox won’t necessarily be the Year of the Lobster.
That’s because shipping is complicated this winter by the threat of the virus. Mike Marceau, vice president of The Lobster Company in Arundel, Maine, said he isn’t expecting many exports.
Business would normally be booming right now, and it has ground to a halt, Marceau said. It’s disappointing because the last spring and summer were fairly strong, he said.
“It started in spring, and it held right up until a couple weeks ago,” Marceau said. “We sold a lot of product. We’ve just lost getting a Chinese New Year because of COVID.”
Lobster exports to China have been strained in the U.S. for a couple of years because of instability brought to the business by former President Donald Trump’s trade hostilities with the country, which is a huge buyer of seafood. America sent more than $140 million in lobsters to China in 2017 and 2018, but exports fell to about $51 million in 2019 because of heavy tariffs imposed during the trade war.
Trump then brokered a new deal with China in 2020 that included renewed lobster exports. The country bought about $95 million in lobsters from America in 2020 through November, federal data shows.
But now, China is currently enforcing strict rules about food importation because of the coronavirus, said John Sackton, an industry analyst and founder of SeafoodNews.com. Shipping itself is also more difficult because of the toll of the coronavirus on shipping businesses, he said.
“There are all these logistics things that are throwing sand in the gears of the seafood trade,” Sackton said. “The financial risk for the importer has gone up.”
China’s interest in American lobsters has grown exponentially in the last decade as the country’s middle class has grown. Lobster is especially popular around Chinese New Year in China because a cooked lobster is red, a color that represents prosperity.
Chinese New Year is typically a time of heavy travel in China, but that could also be different this year. China is expected to buy fewer lobsters for this year’s holiday in part because of government travel restrictions designed to prevent spread of the coronavirus, said Stephanie Nadeau, owner of The Lobster Company. Less travel means fewer celebrations and fewer festive, expensive meals.
China buys the same species of lobster from the U.S. and Canada, which has a large lobster industry in its Maritime provinces. That means competing with Canada for a potentially reduced market this year. Some lobsters that are caught by U.S. lobster fishermen, who are based mostly in New England, are also eventually shipped to Canada for processing and exportation.
American shippers are prepared for a year in which it’s going to be difficult to send lobsters to China, said Mike Tourkistas, chief executive officer of Truefoods, a Topsfield, Massachusetts, exporter.
“I think in the U.S. we are going to do less than a year ago, and I think that is mostly due to lack of air cargo,” Tourkistas said. “A lot of flights are not available to us anymore.”
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Month: February 2021
Trump’s Historic Second Impeachment Trial Starts Tuesday
The historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump starts Tuesday in the U.S. Senate, with Trump accused of inciting insurrection a month ago by urging his supporters to confront lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol as they were certifying that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated Trump in the 2020 election.The protest turned into mayhem, as about 800 supporters of Trump stormed past authorities into the Capitol, smashed doors and windows, ransacked some congressional offices and scuffled with police. Five people were left dead, including a Capitol Police officer whose death is under investigation as a homicide and a rioter shot by a police officer.The 100 senators — 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats — hearing the impeachment case against the single-term president are in a unique position: many of them were witnesses themselves to the chaos of January 6 as they fled the Senate chamber for their own safety.With a two-thirds vote needed for conviction, 17 Republicans would have to turn against Trump, their Republican colleague, for him to be convicted, assuming all 50 Democrats vote to convict. As such, Trump almost certainly will be acquitted, just as he was a year ago when he was accused of soliciting the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt against Biden ahead of last November’s election.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump looks on at the end of his speech during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Whatever the outcome, however, Trump stands alone in more than two centuries of U.S. history as the only president to be impeached twice.A week after the storming of the Capitol, the House of Representatives voted 232-197, with 10 Republicans joining all 222 Democrats, to accuse Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” Then, on January 20, Biden was inaugurated as the country’s 46th president and Trump, no longer in power, flew for the last time on Air Force One to his Atlantic coastline mansion in Florida, where he has stayed since.Trump has declined a request from Democrats to testify in his defense at his impeachment trial and is not expected to attend it. The trial could last a week or longer.FILE – House impeachment managers walk the article of impeachment against former U.S. President Donald Trump through the Rotunda of the U.S. CapitolThe nine Democratic House impeachment managers bringing the case against Trump — several of them former prosecutors — claim that Trump, by urging his supporters to contest his election defeat at the Capitol, was “singularly responsible” for the riot that ensued.Trump urged supporters to come to Washington on January 6, saying it would be “wild.” At a rally near the White House shortly before his supporters walked 16 blocks to the Capitol, Trump continued his weeks-long barrage of unfounded claims that election fraud had cost him another four-year term.At one time in speaking for more than an hour, Trump told his supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” by marching to the Capitol.But he also exhorted them, saying, “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.”“And we fight,” he said. “We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”Ahead of the trial, the House impeachment managers said in a legal brief, “President Trump’s responsibility for the events of January 6 is unmistakable” and that the former president’s “conduct must be declared unacceptable in the clearest and most unequivocal terms,” even though he is no longer in office.The U.S. Constitution allows for the removal of officials found guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Trump’s two experienced trial lawyers he hired — David Schoen and Bruce Castor — have argued that since Trump is no longer president, and therefore could not be removed from office, his impeachment trial is unconstitutional.The Senate, however, has conducted impeachment trials of former officials, not allowing them to avoid a trial for possible wrongdoing by resigning, as happened in an 1876 case, or in Trump’s case, by leaving office as his term ended. Moreover, the House impeachment lawyers argue that Trump incited the insurrection and was impeached by the House while he was still in office.FILE – In this image from video, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., makes a motion that the impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump is unconstitutional in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 26, 2021.Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a staunch Trump supporter, attempted to block the trial on such constitutional grounds, but five Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting 55-45 to proceed with the trial. But the vote also signaled Trump’s seeming Republican support for acquittal remains significant, more than enough to block his conviction.Paul says there is a “zero chance of conviction.” If Trump were to be convicted, the Senate, on a simple majority vote, could bar him from ever holding office again.On Tuesday, as the trial starts in earnest, lawyers for Trump and the House managers prosecuting him again are expected to debate the constitutionality of holding the trial. But assuming the Senate votes to go ahead with it, House managers would begin to present their case on Wednesday, likely showing some of the clips of hours of videos of the mayhem.FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, supporters of President Donald Trump are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol in Washington.Then the president’s lawyers would respond with his defense. Later in the week, the Senate could debate whether to call witnesses if the House managers decide they want to have witnesses testify how they felt Trump had urged them on to confront lawmakers certifying Biden’s victory.Trump’s lawyers have mounted a vigorous defense and contend that the former president bears no responsibility for what occurred January 6.In a brief filed Monday, they contended that the case against him amounts to “political theater” brought by anti-Trump Democrats. Trump’s lawyers suggested that he was simply exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech when he disputed the election results and argued that he explicitly encouraged his supporters to engage in a peaceful protest.”Instead, this was only ever a selfish attempt by Democratic leadership in the House to prey upon the feelings of horror and confusion that fell upon all Americans across the entire political spectrum upon seeing the destruction at the Capitol on Jan. 6 by a few hundred people,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead of acting to heal the nation, or at the very least focusing on prosecuting the lawbreakers who stormed the Capitol, the Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) and her allies have tried to callously harness the chaos of the moment for their own political gain.”In response, the House Democrats prosecuting Trump said, “We live in a nation governed by the rule of law, not mob violence incited by presidents who cannot accept their own electoral defeat.”“The evidence of President Trump’s conduct is overwhelming,” the managers wrote. “He has no valid excuse or defense for his actions. And his efforts to escape accountability are entirely unavailing. As charged in the Article of Impeachment, President Trump violated his Oath of Office and betrayed the American people.”
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Zimbabwean Incarcerated Journalist Turns to Protest Music
Zimbabwe’s often-arrested anti-corruption journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has turned to protest music and a song he released on social media is going viral. The song, “Dem Loot,” has also been covered by other artists and linked in numerous posts, but some are warning Chin’ono may be arrested for it.
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Somali Opposition Refuses to Recognize President Farmajo as Term Expires
Somalia’s international partners, including the United States, have raised concerns about the political impasse that has delayed the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo four-year term in office expired on Monday, February 8, and the coalition of the opposition presidential candidates through their spokesman Ridwan Hajji said they will not recognize Farmajo as the head of state. “Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo must respect the constitution and give up his responsibilities as the head of state,” Hajji said. “We call on all stakeholders or participants in political process to build a transitional council that includes the presidents of the people’s assembly.” However some lawmakers like Abdi Shire believe the Farmajo is still legally president until he is replaced or re-elected, as per a resolution approved the two houses of parliament last year.Shire said the existing resolutions passed by the national assembly say that if elections are not conducted in the stipulated time, all the constitutional office holders including the President will be in power until they are replaced through elections. Somalia was scheduled to hold indirect parliamentary elections late last year before president elections in February. But the process has been held up by disagreements between political stakeholders on who will serve on the commission overseeing the polls. Professor Afyare Elmi is associate professor of Security Studies at Qatar University. He said if both sides do not conduct themselves in a mature manner, there might be security setbacks in Somalia in coming weeks.On Sunday, 12 members of Somalia’s security forces were killed in an explosion near the town of Dhusamareb. Al-Shabab militants claimed responsibility. “The security implications could be problematic if there is no solution within the next few weeks because there is polarization within the political class and for the last four years the president and his administration was not helpful in terms of managing the diversity of Somali political groups,” Elmi said. President Farmajo made no comments Monday but on Saturday he addressed the parliament, saying his administration will try to implement a September agreement on holding the elections. That implies he will remain in office until parties can agree on a way to choose his successor.
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China Appears to Block Popular Clubhouse App
After a brief honeymoon, China appears to have blocked a popular, invitation-only audio app called Clubhouse.The iPhone-only app had seen a surge in users over the weekend as users were able to discuss taboo topics like reunification with Taiwan and the plight of the Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.But on Monday, users began reporting difficulty connecting, fueling speculation the app had been blocked by the so-called Great Firewall.“Clubhouse created the space many Chinese yearn for – the means to communicate with each other and the world outside of the Great Firewall unconstrained by censorship,” said Angeli Datt, a senior research analyst at Freedom House. “The Chinese government swiftly blocked Clubhouse because it knows the most effective way to control free speech is to swiftly clamp down on the channels and tools used to communicate rather than policing individual conversations.” The user surge started last week when Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla appeared on the app unexpectedly and held a discussion with Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, the app instrumental to the GameStop drama. Chinese media covered the conversation.According to Bloomberg, Clubhouse was a hot topic on Chinese social media, and some were even selling invitations to the app on Alibaba’s online retailer. Some of the invites were going for as much as $44.60, according to Bloomberg.As with many banned apps, Chinese users can still access Clubhouse using a virtual private network (VPN), and CNN reported that many were doing so. One such user was Susan Liang, a 31-year-old from Shenzhen.”It is too rare an opportunity. Everyone has lived under the Great Firewall for so long, but on this platform, we can talk about anything,” she told CNN. “It’s like someone drowning and can finally breathe in a large gulp of air.”She said she feared a crackdown as VPNs not approved by the government are illegal.Clubhouse has so far not responded to media inquiries, Reuters reported.While Clubhouse was fully accessible, VOA Mandarin observed several Chinese-language clubs where users joined discussions on wide-ranging and sensitive topics including Uighur rights, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan’s independence, China’s national identity and gender issues. In a club conversation titled “Politically Incorrect Reporters,” users engaged in a heated debate about the continuing influence of former U.S. President Donald Trump. In another people were chatting about women’s rights in different places In the “room of silence” chat, the description read, “Today is the death anniversary of Dr. Li Wenliang. We remember him not because he’s a hero, but because everyone of us could be him.” Li was a Chinese whistleblower doctor who died from the coronavirus a year ago.Chinese Whistleblower Honored on Anniversary of His DeathDr. Li Wenliang, 34, was one of eight whistleblowers whom local authorities punished early on for ‘spreading rumors’ about a SARS-like virus; it turned out to be COVID-19, which eventually killed him Graham Webster, editor of the DigiChina project at the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center, told VOA Mandarin that Chinese netizens had seized the rare chance to hold open, free discussions with their peers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. “[The conversations] were open and people were having a really interesting engagement in a way that they might not be able to in writing, which is a much more censorship and surveillance intensive form,” he said. He added that the app was helping people working across the Chinese border to have connections with one another when travel is difficult because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A netizen said in a Chinese language chat room that he/she valued the platform mostly because it offered people from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan a chance to sit down and just talk about anything. “I think it’s a rare ecology, it’s quite Utopian,” the user said, “I want to learn more and get more information from it.” Datt said it is unlikely that China will unblock the app, adding, “Even if the developers of the app comply with Chinese censorship and surveillance laws, which would be difficult for a small startup, there is no guarantee that censors would unblock Clubhouse.” Adam Xu and Lin Yang of VOA Mandarin contributed to this report.
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Turkey’s Opposition HDP Faces Ban
The future of Turkey’s second-largest opposition party is hanging in the balance, with mass arrests and growing calls for its closure. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the pro-Kurdish HDP of militant links, but the party says it’s a victim of increasing government authoritarianism. The HDP claims it’s facing an unprecedented legal crackdown with 16,000 members detained and dozens of deputies ousted from parliament and jailed under Turkey’s anti-terror legislation. Erdogan routinely refers to the HDP as the “pro-PKK party.” The PKK is a Kurdish insurgent group waging a decades-long war for minority rights in Turkey and is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. The progressive left pro-Kurdish HDP, which denies PKK links, secured six million votes in the 2018 election and 67 parliamentary deputies, making it Turkey’s second-largest party. FILE – Turkish police officers in riot gear block supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as they try to gather for a rally in Istanbul, June 17, 2020.The HDP local elected representatives are facing the brunt of the legal crackdown. Sixty out of the 65 mayors have been jailed or replaced by trustees appointed by the Interior Ministry under anti-terror legislation. “When you can’t see ahead clearly, this affects your work in a negative way,” said Adalet Fidan, HDP mayor for Silopi in Turkey’s predominant Kurdish southeast, “because you are continuously thinking that at any moment there can be a trustee appointed to take over.”But the HDP’s existence is now in question. “Opposing the closure of the HDP means undermining justice and the fight against terrorism,” said Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner. FILE – Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli delivers a speech in Istanbul, Turkey, May 18, 2018.Bahceli, a hardline Turkish nationalist, is widely seen as the driving force behind the crackdown against the HDP. Erdogan has in the past voiced reluctance in supporting calls to ban the pro-Kurdish party. But last month’s launching of a far-reaching prosecution against key members of the HDP is being interpreted by some observers as preparing the ground for the party’s closure. Turkey’s chief prosecutor’s office indicted 108 people for initiating fatal protests in 2014. The unrest was sparked by Ankara’s failure to offer support to Kurdish fighters besieged by the so-called Islamic State group, in the Syrian town of Kobane, on Turkey’s border. FILE – Turkish Kurds and others rally in support of Kurdish fighters who have gone to defend the Syrian town of Kobane against Islamic State extremists, in the central Turkish city of Ankara, Nov. 1, 2014.Prominent and former senior members of the HDP face life imprisonment without parole. “What we see in the indictment is a lot of tweets and politicians’ speeches which are then used to suggest and hold politicians responsible for the murder of 37 people during violent protests in 2014,” said Emma Sinclair Webb, senior Turkey researcher for the New York-based Human Rights Watch. “Bottom line, through tweets, they committed murder, which is extraordinary,” she added. Sinclair Webb also voiced concern about HDP politicians being indicted with leading PKK members. “It shows the government sees the HDP party as no different from an armed organization, the PKK, and that is completely unacceptable as a way at looking at a democratic party which is playing by the rules of democratic elections.” Strained relations with EUThe indictment threatens to exacerbate already strained Ankara-European Union relations. Among the accused is former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, who has been held in pre-trial detention since November 2016 on anti-terror charges. FILE – Supporters of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) hold masks of their jailed former leader Selahattin Demirtas during a rally in Ankara, Turkey, June 19, 2018.The European Court of Human Rights in December ruled for Demirtas’s immediate release, saying his imprisonment was for an “ulterior political purpose.” “The Turkish prosecutorial authorities with this latest indictment are flouting the ECHR decisions which calls for the immediate release of Selahattin Demirtas from jail,” said Sinclair Webb. While Turkey is beholden to comply with European Court decisions, Erdogan in December dismissed the Demirtas ruling as “politically motivated” and “hypocritical.” But the escalating HDP crackdown comes at an inopportune time for Erdogan, as he is seeking to improve ties with the EU, promising a new chapter in relations. Later this month, Erdogan is scheduled to announce a raft of democratic and legal reforms. Analysts warn Brussels views Erdogan with deep skepticism. “The Turkish president’s reputation is at stake; this is the problem,” warned Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute. “The Europeans expect from Turkey no more words, but deeds; Turkey should act.” Electoral predictionWith Erdogan’s ruling AKP slipping in opinion polls, observers say he is becoming increasingly reliant on the support of his nationalist MHP coalition partner, which is pressing for a tougher stance against the HDP. Electoral calculations have added importance with growing speculation that the 2023 vote could be called as early as the end of the year. Analysts point out that if the HDP were to be closed down, Erdogan could secure an electoral advantage, given the vote in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast is traditionally split between the HDP and the AKP. Fidan acknowledges she could well be living on borrowed time as HDP mayor for Silopi. “Most of the people I campaigned with during the local elections, who became mayors, some were even lawyers themselves, were taken from their post for nonsense reasons,” said Fidan. “And I fear the same thing can happen here as well, but all you can do is keep working.”
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Netherlands Freezes International Adoptions
The Netherlands says it is freezing international adoptions after a government commission discovered children had been stolen or bought from their parents.
In cases going back to the 1960s, the commission found abuses such as “the falsification of documents, the abuse of poverty among the birth mothers and the abandonment of children for payment or through coercion.”
The commission was formed as adopted adults found their documents had been either lost or fake or that their adoption was illegal.
The commission reviewed cases from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Colombia between 1967 and 1998. However, it found that the abuse had been going on before and after this time period.
Rights minister Sander Dekker said he “understood that this will be painful for some people but let us not forget … we are protecting children and their biological parents.”
Dekker said the job falls on the next administration to decide whether or not to renew an international adoption process without abuses.
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Zimbabwe Journalist Makes News by Turning to Protest Music
Zimbabwe’s often-arrested anti-corruption journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has turned to protest music, and a song he released on social media has gone viral. The song, “Dem Loot,” has also been covered by other artists and linked in numerous posts, but some are warning Chin’ono may be arrested for it.
In his song, Chin’ono is singing to Zimbabwean youths, telling them that corruption is the cause of their country’s poor economy and the average citizen’s poverty.
Several versions of the song – set to a reggae beat – have been released since its launch and fans have posted their amateur videos.
Chin’ono, who until now was known as a journalist, says he is happy with the development. He has an emphatic “no” to critics who say he is now getting into politics.
“I think we have a role in society, as citizens, to ask the most important and pertinent questions about why things are the way they are. It’s not just about the song. The song is just an entry point into the Zimbabwean discourse. Now people are asking: Why is it there is a broken state in Zimbabwe? Why is it the roads are bad? Why is it people do not have clean drinking water? Why is it 95% of Zimbabwe’s potential work force is not going to work?”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has arrested Chin’ono three times since July on charges that he abused social media – not for speaking out against corruption. Tendai Chirau, spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party’s youths, says Hopewell Chin’ono is grandstanding to get sympathy ahead of his pending trial, not taking a stand to oppose corruption. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Tendai Chirau, youth spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, says Chin’ono sang just to get sympathy ahead of his pending trial – not to oppose corruption.
“Any talk of corruption without taking evidence to institutions fighting corruption like ZACC and courts is mere grandstanding. We call anyone in Zimbabwe who has evidence of corrupt activities to approach responsible institutions,” Chirau said.
ZACC is the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission which arrested several politicians for graft. But critics say it’s mainly targeting enemies of Mnangagwa.
Alexander Rusero, a former journalism and international relations lecturer at Harare Polytechnic college says he is not surprised Zimbabwe’s government and its supporters have condemned Hopewell Chin’ono’s song. (Skype screenshot; Columbus Mavhunga)Alexander Rusero, a former senior journalism and international relations lecturer at Harare Polytechnic college, says he is not surprised by the way the government and its sympathizers have condemned Chin’ono’s song.
“Hopewell’s messages have since proved to be effective because of the wider audience, the wider reach in terms of fighting corruption, government-instigated corruption. And the government is frustrated because it does not have strategies and methodologies of countering such effective method where information about corruption is relayed at an alarming and faster pace than any other time before.”
“Dem Loot” has attracted hundreds of thousands of views and comments on social media. As fans continue to enjoy the song, some are warning Chin’ono – through their versions – that he may go back to jail because of it.
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Kenyan Acrobats Endure Pandemic Economy by Performing in Nairobi Traffic
With COVID guidelines banning large audiences, some Kenyan performers have taken to the streets to earn a living. One group, the Clan Acrobats, has been entertaining motorists stuck in traffic with juggling, balancing, and tumbling. Mukelwa Hlatshwayo reports from Nairobi.Camera: Robert Lutta
Producer: Jason Godman
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Pandemic Forces Restaurateur to Reinvent Herself
Like many other entrepreneurs in America, former star restaurateur Carlie Steiner lost her business due to the pandemic. But as Maxim Moskalkov reports from Annapolis, Maryland, she turned to woodworking as her new purpose.Camera: Andrey Degtyarev
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Rescue Ship With 422 Migrants on Board Docks in Sicilian Port
A rescue ship with 422 migrants picked up off the coast of Libya, received permission from the Italian authorities to dock in the Sicilian port of Augusta late Sunday.
Eight of the passengers tested positive for COVID-19 in health checks conducted onboard by the crew of Ocean Viking which patrols the Mediterranean Sea.
The French-based SOS Mediterranee group, which operates the vessel said passengers included pregnant women, babies, children, and unaccompanied minors.
The Ocean Viking has picked up a total of 798 people since January 11, when it returned to sea after Italy had blocked it for five months.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 95,000 migrants and asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean in 2020 in search for a better life in Europe. More than 1,200 did not survive the perilous journey.
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Australians to Receive Vaccination Certificates in Mass Inoculation Program
Australians will receive a certificate as proof of receiving a coronavirus vaccine when a mass inoculation program starts later this month. Foreign travelers are also likely to need similar confirmation of a COVID-19 shot when Australia’s international borders finally reopen. Australia has spent millions of dollars on public health campaigns urging the community to have a COVID-19 inoculation. There is hesitation in some quarters because of the speed with which treatments have been developed, but authorities expect the vast majority of Australians to be vaccinated. The elderly and other priority groups will start to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine later this month, while the AstraZeneca drug is expected to be approved by Australian regulators within weeks. Recipients will be given proof that they have received the treatment. Vaccine certificates are expected to allow Australians easier access to nursing homes and hospitals, which have strict disease controls because of the vulnerability of residents and patients.The so-called virus passports could also give Australians permission to cross state internal borders in the event of future lockdowns. Many were closed during the pandemic to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but families were separated and businesses disrupted. The documents could also assist with international travel. The government hopes to offer all Australians a vaccination by the end of October.A sign leading to a COVID-19 testing station in Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 4, 2021.Government Services Minister Stuart Robert says the documentation will be easily accessible. “The key thing for Australians to know is they will have a record. They will have a digital and paper certificate. For some 89 percent of Australians who have a smartphone, they will be able to access that digital certificate in their smartphone, download it onto their phone as a permanent record. They will be able to print it out. Every Australian will have a record of their vaccination should they need it,” Robert said.Opposition politicians are wary of the government’s competence to deliver the passports properly. They insist it has a poor track record of delivering COVID-19 support services online. Foreign travelers are also likely to need similar confirmation of a coronavirus injection when Australia’s international borders finally reopen. They were closed last March. Australian citizens and permanent residents are allowed to return home, but face between 14 and 24 days in mandatory hotel quarantine at their own expense when they return. Australia has recorded 28,850 coronavirus infections, and 909 people have died, according to the health department. It estimates there are 52 active cases across the country. The nation’s virus strategy has relied on mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing, strict lockdowns and restrictions on international travel.
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Asian Markets Surge as Hopes Rise on Passage of Massive US Economic Stimulus Bill
Asian markets soared Monday as investors are increasingly optimistic about the chance of U.S. lawmakers approving a massive coronavirus recovery bill, and recent strong corporate earnings reports. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished 2.1% higher. The S&P/ASX index in Australia rose 0.5%. Shanghai’s Composite index gained just over one percent, and Taiwan’s TSEC index was up 0.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.2% in late afternoon trading, while Mumbai’s Sensex is 1.2% higher. South Korea’s KOSPI index closed down 0.9%. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,810.80 an ounce, down 0.1%. U.S. crude oil is selling at $57.51 per barrel, up 1.1%, and Brent crude oil is up 1.2%, selling at $60.07 per barrel. All three major U.S. indices are trending higher in futures trading.
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US to Rejoin UN Human Rights Council
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce Monday the United States will return to the U.N. Human Rights Council as an observer. The United States left the council in 2018, with the Trump administration saying the council was biased against Israel, needed a number of reforms, and had among its members countries that have been accused of human rights abuses such as China, Cuba and Venezuela. A senior U.S. official told reporters Sunday that the Biden administration believes the council is still in need of reforms, but that the best way to push for improvements is to be present and “engage with it in a principled fashion.” Officials also said the United States would later seek to upgrade from nonvoting observer status to holding a member seat. The next elections for member seats take place later this year.
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US Urges Yemen’s Houthis to Halt Attacks
The United States is calling on Yemen’s Houthi rebels to avoid any new military offensives inside Yemen, and to halt attacks affecting civilian areas in Saudi Arabia. In a statement late Sunday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States is “deeply troubled by continued Houthi attacks.” “We urge the Houthis to refrain from destabilizing actions and demonstrate their commitment to constructively engage in UN Special Envoy Griffiths’ efforts to achieve peace,” Price said. “The time is now to find an end to this conflict.” U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths began two days of talks in Iran Sunday as he pushes for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict in Yemen, which began in late 2014 with the Houthis seizing the country’s capital. Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign in defense of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in early 2015.Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Feb. 7, 2021.The U.S. call for the Houthis to cease attacks comes days after the Biden administration ordered an end to U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition, which has come under criticism from rights groups for airstrikes that have struck civilian areas in Yemen. President Biden called Yemen’s conflict a “humanitarian and strategic catastrophe.” He also notified Congress last week that his administration would remove the Houthis from a list of foreign terror organizations, reversing the designation made in the final days of the administration of former President Donald Trump. Humanitarian organizations had warned that such a designation would harm efforts to get badly needed relief to Yemen. The United Nations calls the situation there the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
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China Charges Chinese-Australian Journalist with Supplying State Secrets
Australia’s foreign minister says an Australian television journalist who has been detained in China since last August has been formally arrested. Foreign Minister Marise Payne told reporters Monday that Cheng Lei was arrested last Friday and charged on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas. The Chinese-born Cheng anchored a business show on CGTN, the English-language channel of China’s state-owned CCTV. Cheng emigrated to Australia as a child and worked in finance before returning to China and joining CCTV. Payne said Canberra had raised “serious concerns” with Beijing about Cheng’s “welfare and conditions of detention.” “We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms,” she said. Two Australian journalists based in China, Bill Birtles and Michael Smith, left the country after they were questioned by authorities about Cheng. Cheng’s arrest came amid an increasingly bitter rift between the two regional neighbors. Beijing has imposed heavy tariffs and restrictions on Australian agricultural imports in apparent retaliation for Australia’s push for an independent probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus, which was first detected last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Another Chinese-born Australian national, spy novelist Yang Hengjun, has been held in China since January 2019 when he was arrested on suspicion of espionage.
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Two Gay Men Returned to Chechnya Face ‘Mortal Danger,’ Rights Group Says
Two gay men seized near Moscow and sent back to their native Chechnya, a region accused of brutal persecution against homosexuality, face “mortal danger,” a rights group said Saturday. The LGBT Network rights group helped the two Chechen men, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, flee Muslim-majority Chechnya for Nizhny Novgorod east of Moscow in June last year after they were reportedly tortured by Chechen special police. The two men were detained for unknown reasons in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday and have been sent back to the North Caucasus region, the group said in a statement. LGBT Network spokesman Tim Bestsvet said the men were detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) domestic intelligence agency and had arrived at a police station in Chechen town of Gudermes on Saturday. “They are tired and frightened,” he told AFP Saturday. “All this time they were being pressured to refuse a lawyer,” Bestsvet said, adding that a lawyer with the LGBT Network was in Gudermes trying to get access to the men. “There have been cases when relatives brought back to Chechnya people that we had evacuated and then these people would die or, we can say, were probably murdered,” Bestsvet said, adding that Magamadov and Isayev faced “mortal danger.” The interior ministry’s Chechnya branch and the FSB were not immediately available for comment Saturday. While Magamadov is older than 18, Bestsvet said that because Isayev is 17 he can only refuse legal representation via his parents. He added that Isayev’s father was brought to the police station Saturday and was facing pressure to refuse to let his son have an attorney. Magamadov and Isayev were arrested and tortured by Chechen special police in April 2020, Bestsvet said, officially for running an opposition Telegram channel, but “initially because of their sexual orientation.” The two men later recorded a video apology in which they said “they weren’t men,” before the LGBT Network helped them flee, Bestsvet said. They were also forced under torture to learn passages of the Quran as well as Russian and Chechen anthems, he added. Russia’s volatile republic of Chechnya has been under fire over alleged gay persecution since 2017, when gay men said they were tortured by law enforcement agencies. In 2019, the LGBT Network reported a second wave of persecution against gay people in the majority Muslim region, including two killings. Chechen officials regularly dismiss the reports and strongman chief Ramzan Kadyrov claims the region’s population is exclusively heterosexual. Kadyrov, 36, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron grip since 2007 and oversaw vast redevelopment and Islamization in the war-torn region, is loathed by rights campaigners who accuse him of ordering kidnappings and extrajudicial killings.
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Amanda Gorman, in a First, Brings Poetry to Super Bowl
Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who stirred America at the inauguration of President Joe Biden last month, again commanded the spotlight on one of the country’s biggest stages, the Super Bowl.Gorman read an original poem Sunday during the pregame festivities in Tampa, Florida. The poem, titled “Chorus of the Captains,” was a tribute to three people for their contributions during the pandemic: educator Trimaine Davis, nurse manager Suzie Dorner and Marine veteran James Martin.Gorman didn’t perform on the field but appeared in a taped video message that combined Gorman’s reading with images of Davis, Dorner and Martin. Recited Gorman:”Let us walk with these warriors,Charge on with these champions,And carry forth the call of our captains.We celebrate them by acting,With courage and compassion,By doing what is right and just.For while we honor them today,It is they who every day honor us.”That Gorman brought poetry to the Super Bowl was an almost unthinkable collision of grace and glitz. But if the Super Bowl, an annual rite of excess, was an unlikely platform for a poet, it showed just how much Gorman has seized the nation’s spotlight since the inauguration.Gorman, previously the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, was the youngest person to ever recite a poem at the U.S. presidential inauguration. Her reading of “The Hill We Climb” at the Capitol immediately became a sensation. An illustrated book of her poem quickly zoomed to the top of bestseller lists. Shortly after the inauguration, she signed with IMG Models, an agency that represents supermodels, tennis star Naomi Osaka and playwright Jeremy O. Harris. This week, she is on the cover of Time Magazine, in an interview conducted by Michelle Obama.Gorman’s Super Bowl appearance had been planned before the inauguration. She seemed to grasp the unlikeliness of her pregame reading, the first in Super Bowl history. And with potentially 100 million viewers on the CBS telecast, it made for one very well-attended poetry recital.”Poetry at the Super Bowl is a feat for art and our country, because it means we’re thinking imaginatively about human connection even when we feel siloed,” Gorman said Sunday on Twitter. “I’ll honor three heroes who exemplify the best of this effort. Here’s to them, to poetry and to a Super Bowl like no other.”Poetry at the Super Bowl is a feat for art & our country, because it means we’re thinking imaginatively about human connection even when we feel siloed. I’ll honor 3 heroes who exemplify the best of this effort. Here’s to them, to poetry, & to a #SuperBowl like no other 💛— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) February 7, 2021
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Lawmakers to Tackle Economic Relief, Trump Impeachment Trial
This week, Washington will tackle two important issues – the $1.9 trillion economic relief package President Joe Biden has proposed and the Senate impeachment trial of his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump. VOA’s Michelle Quinn reports.
Video editor: Mary Cieslak
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Morocco Defeats Mali in African Nations Football Championship
Morocco became the first back-to-back winners of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) when it defeated Mali 2-0 in the final football match in Yaounde Sunday.Soufiane Bouftini broke the deadlock at 69 minutes with a header and captain Ayoub el Kaabi doubled the lead 10 minutes later to ensure the north Africans created history.It was the second CHAN final loss for Mali.Morocco won five of six matches at the tournament reserved for home-based players, scored 15 goals and conceded only three as they matched the Democratic Republic of Congo as two-time champions.Morocco went into the title game as favorites having scored 12 goals against Uganda, Zambia and hosts Cameroon in their previous three matches.Mali had managed just one goal in their last three outings, eliminating Congo Brazzaville and Guinea in penalty shootouts after goal-less quarter-final and semi-final stalemates following extra time.
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DRC Confirms Ebola Death
The Democratic Republic of Congo reported Sunday that a woman has died of Ebola, three months after the country declared the end of the previous outbreak.
The woman’s husband had contracted the disease and survived in the previous outbreak in 2020. Samples from the hospital in Butembo, in the northeastern part of the country, were being sent to the capital, Kinshasa, to determine whether her illness is linked to the previous outbreak or constitutes a new one.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the previous outbreak in the northwestern state of Equateur over in November of last year, after 55 people in the state died of the disease.
More than 2,200 people died of Ebola in the region between 2018 and 2020.
“It is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak,” the WHO said Sunday.The patient was the wife of an #Ebola survivor. Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, #DRC for genome sequencing to determine link to the previous outbreak. It is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak. pic.twitter.com/YVAMuOmvFn— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) February 7, 2021Still, extensive contact tracing in connection with the victim is already under way, according to the WHO.
The news comes as the country, like much of the world, battles the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ebola virus, formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe and often fatal illness that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids, triggering severe vomiting and diarrhea.
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Women Gaining Ground in Ivory Coast Rugby
In Ivory Coast, girls and women increasingly are taking to the rugby field. M’ma Camara reports on how girls are tackling this rough and tumble game.
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Sicily Offers 422 Migrants Safe Port Before Storm
A vessel carrying 422 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya has been given permission to dock in Italy after issuing an urgent appeal for shelter from a looming storm, its operator said Sunday.The SOS Mediterranee group, which operates the Ocean Viking rescue ship, said it had received the green light to bring the migrants ashore in the Sicilian port of Augusta after several earlier appeals went unheeded.It said it expected the vessel to arrive in Sicily on Sunday evening.The French-based group said its passengers included babies, children, pregnant women and unaccompanied minors.”They must urgently be disembarked in a safe port,” Luisa Albera, the head of the group’s rescue operations, had earlier urged, warning that weather conditions in the central Mediterranean were deteriorating.She described the health of several of the migrants as fragile.Eight tested positive for COVID-19 and were isolating aboard the ship, she added.Libya has become a key jumping off point for irregular migration to Europe in the chaotic years since the 2011 overthrow and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising.While many migrants have drowned in rubber dinghies and rickety fishing boats, thousands have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and returned to Libya, with the support of Italy and the EU.NGOs have criticized those returns, arguing that Libya is not safe for the migrants. Since the Ocean Viking returned to sea on January 11 after being blocked in Italy for five months it has picked up a total of 798 people.On Jan. 21-22, it rescued 374 people at sea off Libya and took them to Augusta.Of 424 people who boarded the Ocean Viking on Thursday and Friday, a pregnant woman and her partner were flown by helicopter to nearby Malta.More than 1,200 migrants and asylum-seekers died while crossing the Mediterranean in 2020, according to the International Organization for Migration.
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American-Style Football Gaining Traction in Russia
Sunday’s Super Bowl could have an unexpected audience of fans — in Russia. The Federation of American Football in Russia says the number of enthusiasts of the sport there runs in the tens of thousands and there are teams playing American-style football in almost every region of the country. Genia Dulot has the story.
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