Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, has died. He was 100. Schultz died Saturday at his home on the campus of Stanford University, where he was a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank, and professor emeritus at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. The Hoover Institution announced Schultz’s death on Sunday. A cause of death was not provided. A lifelong Republican, Shultz held three major Cabinet positions in GOP administrations during a lengthy career of public service. He was labor secretary, treasury secretary and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard M. Nixon before spending more than six years as President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. Schultz was the longest serving secretary of state since World War II and had been the oldest surviving former Cabinet member of any administration. Over his lifetime, Shultz succeeded in just about everything he touched, including academics, teaching, government service and the corporate world and was widely respected by his peers from both political parties. After the October 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 soldiers, Shultz worked tirelessly to end Lebanon’s brutal civil war in the 1980s. He spent countless hours of shuttle diplomacy between Mideast capitals trying to secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces there. The experience led him to believe that stability in the region could only be assured with a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he set about on an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful mission to bring the parties to the negotiating table. Although Shultz fell short of his goal to put the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel on a course to a peace agreement, he shaped the path for future administrations’ Mideast efforts by legitimizing the Palestinians as a people with valid aspirations and a valid stake in determining their future. As the nation’s chief diplomat, Shultz negotiated the first-ever treaty to reduce the size of the Soviet Union’s ground-based nuclear arsenals despite fierce objections from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Reagan’s “Strategic Defense Initiative” or Star Wars. The 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was a historic attempt to begin to reverse the nuclear arms race, a goal he never abandoned in private life. “Now that we know so much about these weapons and their power,” Shultz said in an interview in 2008, “they’re almost weapons that we wouldn’t use, so I think we would be better off without them.” Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, reflecting in his memoirs on the “highly analytic, calm and unselfish Shultz,” paid Shultz an exceptional compliment in his diary: “If I could choose one American to whom I would entrust the nation’s fate in a crisis, it would be George Shultz.” George Pratt Shultz was born Dec. 13, 1920, in New York City and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He studied economics and public and international affairs at Princeton University, graduating in 1942. His affinity for Princeton prompted him to have the school’s mascot, a tiger, tattooed on his posterior, a fact confirmed to reporters decades later by his wife aboard a plane taking them to China. At Shultz’s 90th birthday party, his successor as secretary of state, James Baker, joked that he would do anything for Shultz “except kiss the tiger.” After Princeton, Shultz joined the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of captain as an artillery officer during World War II. He earned a Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 1949 and taught at MIT and at the University of Chicago, where he was dean of the business school. His administration experience included a stint as a senior staff economist with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisers and as Nixon’s OMB director. Shultz was president of the construction and engineering company Bechtel Group from 1975-1982 and taught part-time at Stanford University before joining the Reagan administration in 1982, replacing Alexander Haig, who resigned after frequent clashes with other members of the administration. A rare public disagreement between Reagan and Shultz came in 1985 when the president ordered thousands of government employees with access to highly classified information to take a “lie detector” test as a way to plug leaks of information. Shultz told reporters, “The minute in this government that I am not trusted is the day that I leave.” The administration soon backed off the demand. A year later, Shultz submitted to a government-wide drug test considered far more reliable. A more serious disagreement was over the secret arms sales to Iran in 1985 in hopes of securing the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah militants. Although Shultz objected, Reagan went ahead with the deal and millions of dollars from Iran went to right-wing Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. The ensuing Iran-Contra scandal swamped the administration, to Shultz’s dismay. In 1986 testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he lamented that “nothing ever gets settled in this town. It’s not like running a company or even a university. It’s a seething debating society in which the debate never stops, in which people never give up, including me, and that’s the atmosphere in which you administer.” After Reagan left office, Shultz returned to Bechtel, having been the longest serving secretary of state since Cordell Hull under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He retired from Bechtel’s board in 2006 and returned to Stanford and the Hoover Institution. In 2000, he became an early supporter of the presidential candidacy of George W. Bush, whose father had been vice president while Shultz was secretary of state. Schultz served as an informal adviser to the campaign. Shultz remained an ardent arms control advocate in his later years but retained an iconoclastic streak, speaking out against several mainstream Republican policy positions. He created some controversy by calling the war on recreational drugs, championed by Reagan, a failure and raised eyebrows by decrying the longstanding U.S. embargo on Cuba as “insane.” He was also a prominent proponent of efforts to fight the effects of climate change, warning that ignoring the risks was suicidal. A pragmatist, Shultz, along with former GOP Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, made headlines during the 2016 presidential campaign when he declined to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump after being quoted as saying “God help us” when asked about the possibility of Trump in the White House. Shultz was married to Helena “Obie” O’Brien, an Army nurse he met in the Pacific in World War II, and they had five children. After her death, in 1995, he married Charlotte Maillard, San Francisco’s protocol chief, in 1997. Shultz was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1989. Survivors include his wife, five children, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
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Month: February 2021
Tens of Thousands Take to the Streets in Myanmar Following Coup
Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar took to the streets over the weekend to protest a military coup and call for the release of the country’s democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.Contributor: VOA Burmese Service
Producer: Arash Arabasadi
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Buccaneers and Chiefs to Face Off in Super Bowl
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs face off Sunday in the National Football League’s Super Bowl — one of the most watched television programs in the United States. The game itself is taking place in Tampa Bay’s Ramond James Stadium. The normal fan frenzy in the host city the week before the Super Bowl was absent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NFL has said it will permit 25,000 fans into the stadium that normally holds more than 65,000. The empty seats will be filled by 30,000 cardboard cutouts of fans. It will be the lowest attended NFL championship game in history. According to the NFL, all fans in attendance will be given personal protective equipment (PPE) kits. The league said that it was giving 7,500 vaccinated health care workers free tickets to the game. Everyone in attendance will be required to wear face coverings. The Super Bowl halftime show will feature a performance from The Weeknd. For those watching at home, U.S. health officials have warned against hosting large Super Bowl parties. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said small and large gatherings can increase the risk of spreading COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Tampa Bay is first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium since the event began in 1967. The Buccaneers are led by 43-year-old quarterback Tom Brady, who is in his first year with the team after a hall-of-fame career with the New England Patriots. Tampa Bay advanced by beating the Green Bay Packers 31-26 in the National Football Conference championship game late last month. On the other side of the field will be 25-year-old quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who last year was named the most valuable player as he led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl win. He will be trying to become the first quarterback to win two consecutive Super Bowls since Brady did so with the Patriots nearly 20 years ago. Kansas City earned its Super Bowl berth with a 38-24 win over the Buffalo Bills. The game could be a high-scoring affair. It features the top offense in the league this year in the Chiefs, with the Buccaneers ranking seventh.
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Roadside Bomb Kills 12 Somali Soldiers
Twelve members of Somalia’s security forces were killed, and two others wounded on Sunday following a powerful roadside explosion in the central state of Galmudug, officials said. The attack occurred near the village of El Dhere, 28 kilometers west of Dhusamareb town, during a security operation, officials said. Dhusamareb is about 510 kilometers north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The chief of the intelligence agency in the town of Dhusamareb, Major Abdirashid Abdinur Qoje, was among those killed, the state’s information minister, Ahmed Shire Falagle, confirmed to VOA Somali. “A vehicle carrying the officer, Qoje, and other soldiers accompanying him were hit by a landmine; the officer and some of the soldiers died, so it was a bomb,” Falagle said. The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility. The attack marked the second confrontation between al-Shabab and Somali government forces outside Dhusamareb in the space of three days. On Friday, seven militants were killed by government forces after mortars were fired into the town as political leaders held a meeting on election management. The meeting in Dhusamareb collapsed in the early hours of Saturday after President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble failed to reach a deal on election management with the leaders of five federal member states. The lack of agreement plunges the country into political uncertainty as the president’s term ends on Monday, February 8. The United States withdrew almost all of its troops from Somalia last month following an order from then-President Donald Trump. Despite the withdrawal, the U.S. military has continued conducting airstrikes against al-Shabab. This year so far, the U.S. has carried out six airstrikes, but none since President Joe Biden came to power on January 20.
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Tens of Thousands in Myanmar Protest Military Coup
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Myanmar for a second day Sunday to protest last week’s military coup and call for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Demonstrations that began in different parts of Yangon converged on Sule Pagoda, the center of city. Large crowds were reported in other cities as well on Sunday, including Mandalay.“The military coup is a violation of our democracy and human rights. It also insults the will of the people. That’s why we are against the military coup,” one of the protest leaders, Aung San Hmaine, told VOA’s Burmese service. “It’s important to honor the election result. That’s why we have come here, staging protests.”Large crowds were reported in other cities as well on Sunday.In Pictures: Protests against Military Coup in MyanmarTens of thousands of people took to the streets in Yangon, Myanmar, to protest against the military coup and to demand the release of de fecto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically-elected lawmakers in those images provided by VOA Burmese Service.As protests grew a day earlier on Saturday, Myanmar authorities had cut internet service but the service appeared to have been restored by Sunday.Many of the protesters chanted “Long live Mother Suu,” a reference to deposed Suu Kyi, and, “We don’t want military dictatorship.” Other protesters raised a three-finger salute, a sign of resistance against tyranny in the “Hunger Games” movies.The military takeover in Myanmar began last Monday with the detention of Suu Kyi, who was the country’s de facto leader, and other senior government officials. Suu Kyi remains under house arrest at her official residence in Naypyitaw, according to party spokesman Kyi Toe.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A woman offers a face mask to a police officer during a protest against the military coup near the Sule Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 7, 2021. (VOA Burmese Service)A British colony until 1948, the country was ruled by military-backed dictators from 1962 until 2010. An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD won in a landslide. But the elected members of Parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued. Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s assassinated independence hero, Gen. Aung San, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. In 2010, Senior Gen. Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the NLD, and Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar. While popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, Suu Kyi, 75, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. In 2017, an army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine State, led hundreds of thousands of them to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, where they remain. The International Criminal Court is investigating Myanmar for crimes against humanity. (VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this story.)
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Cameroon Says Female Circumcision Resurfacing Because of COVID-19, Other Crises
Rights groups in Cameroon marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation Saturday by protesting the resurgence of the practice, also known as FGM. The government says COVID-19, the country’s separatist crisis and Boko Haram terrorism have stopped campaigns on the dangers of the practice and made providers return to FGM, which was being abandoned. Rights groups and FGM victims are pushing for an end to the practice. At least 100 women Saturday visited the Briqueterie and Tsinga neighborhoods in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, where they say female genital mutilation, or FGM, is resurging. The visit was part of activities marking the 14th International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. The government said there is a resurgence of FGM in the neighborhood because some practitioners have relocated from Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria to Yaoundé. This year’s theme for the day in Cameroon was “No excuse for inaction even in a COVID-19 context, unite, fund and act to end FGM.” Among the women was Comfort Mvoto of the NGO Action Against FGM. Mvoto says people her association had convinced three years ago to stop FGM are again circumcising girls. She says her association is again telling women who stopped female circumcision and are now resuming the practice that it is illegal and unhealthy to cut a girl’s clitoris. She says her association wants all men and women who circumcise girls to know that the practice is dangerous. She says FGM promoters should be aware that many uncircumcised girls grow up, get married and live happily with their husbands.
Mvoto said the practice was increasing in the Far North region on Cameroon’s border with Nigeria and the English-speaking Southwest region because campaigns to stop FGM have stalled due Boko Haram terrorism and separatist crisis. The Briqueterie and Tsinga neighborhoods have a high concentration of people from Kousseri on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria. They are some of Cameroon’s ethnic groups that believe in FGM as a way to keep women faithful to their husbands. Cameroon says about 20% of girls in some communities around Kousseri were circumcised in 2010. By 2015, the number of girls circumcised in Kousseri dropped to 2% but rebounded to 10% last year. Lumli Amdangtii, a 42-year-old woman says she stopped circumcising girls says in 2017 when the government and NGOs gave her $200 to start a business. She says the business has crumbled and she has gone back to FGM to earn a living from it. She says in December she began circumcision as a sign of respect to her tradition that encourages FGM and to earn a living from the practice.
She says a girl who is circumcised does not have sexual desires and remains faithful when she gets married. She says women who are circumcised are hardworking, since they are not tempted into prostitution. She says she decided to restart FGM to improve her living conditions with the money she makes and because there are many parents who want their daughters circumcised. Cameroon says the separatist crisis that has killed at least 3,000 people in its English-speaking western regions within the past four years makes it difficult to gather statistics. The government, however, says hundreds of girls and women seeking refuge in French-speaking towns within the past four years are circumcised.
The Yaoundé protest was organized by rights groups, humanitarian NGOs and Cameroon’s government.FILE – Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family, in Yaounde, Feb. 2019. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family, says weekly education campaigns against FGM along Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria have been stopped because of Boko Haram terrorism. She says FGM providers who were given funds to start other businesses are becoming poorer because Boko Haram terrorism and crisis in the English-speaking western regions have destroyed their trade.
Ondoa says COVID-19 that was first reported in Cameroon in March reduced government financial assistance to FGM providers, and they are returning to the practice.
“It is an income-generating activity, that is what they tell us, and particularly at this moment, coronavirus has brought reduction of income for most people and some find it a way to get a bit of money. So, the practice is real, and we should all join our forces to see the elimination of that practice that is detrimental to the health of women,” she said.Ondoa promised what she said will be a renewed government-led campaign to stop FGM.
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Protests Sweep Myanmar to Oppose Coup, Support Suu Kyi
Tens of thousands of people rallied across Myanmar on Sunday to denounce last week’s coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in the biggest protests since the 2007 Saffron Revolution that helped lead to democratic reforms.In a second day of widespread protests, crowds in the biggest city, Yangon, sported red shirts, red flags and red balloons, the color of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD).”We don’t want military dictatorship! We want democracy!” they chanted.On Sunday afternoon, the junta ended a day-long blockade of the internet that had further inflamed anger since the coup last Monday that has halted the Southeast Asian nation’s troubled transition to democracy and drawn international outrage.Massive crowds from all corners of Yangon gathered in townships, filling streets as they headed towards the Sule Pagoda at the heart of the city, also a rallying point during the Buddhist monk-led 2007 protests and others in 1988.People rally in a protest against the military coup and to demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar, Fe. 7, 2021.A line of armed police with riot shields set up barricades but did not try to stop the demonstration. Some marchers presented police with flowers as a sign of peace.Protesters gestured with the three-finger salute that has become a symbol of protest against the coup. Drivers honked their horns and passengers held up photos of Suu Kyi.”We don’t want a dictatorship for the next generation,” said 21-year-old Thaw Zin. “We will not finish this revolution until we make history. We will fight to the end.”There was no comment from the junta in the capital Naypyitaw, more than 350 km (220 miles) north of Yangon and state-run television news carried no mention of the protests.An internal note for U.N. staff estimated that 1,000 people joined a protest in Naypyidaw while there were 60,000 in Yangon alone. Protests were reported in the second city of Mandalay and many towns and even villages across the country of 53 million people that stretches from Indian Ocean islands to the fringes of the Himalayas.The demonstrations have largely been peaceful, unlike the bloody crackdowns seen in 1998 and 2007. But shots were heard in the southeastern town of Myawaddy as uniformed police with guns charged a group of a couple of hundred protesters, live video showed. Pictures of protesters afterwards showed what appeared to be rubber bullet injuries.Police officers hold riffles as they continue to disperse protesters outside the No. 1 Basic Education High School, in Myawaddy, Myanmar, Feb. 7, 2021 in this still image obtained from a video.”Anything’s possible””Anti-coup protests show every sign of gaining steam. On the one hand, given history, we can well expect the reaction to come,” wrote author and historian Thant Myint-U on Twitter.”On the other, Myanmar society today is entirely different from 1988 and even 2007. Anything’s possible.”With no internet and official information scarce, rumors swirled about the fate of Suu Kyi and her cabinet. A story that she had been released drew crowds out to celebrate on Saturday, but it was quickly quashed by her lawyer. Suu Kyi, 75, faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkies and is being held in police detention for investigation until Feb. 15. Her lawyer said he has not been allowed to see her.She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for campaigning for democracy, and spent nearly 15 years under house arrest during decades of struggling to end almost half a century of army rule before the start of a troubled transition to democracy in 2011.Myanmar citizens show the three-finger salute during a protest against the military coup in Myanmar outside United Nations venue in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 7, 2021.Army commander Min Aung Hlaing carried out the coup on the grounds of fraud in a Nov. 8 election in which Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide. The electoral commission dismissed the allegations of malpractice.More than 160 people have been arrested since the military seized power, said Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar.”The generals are now attempting to paralyze the citizen movement of resistance – and keep the outside world in the dark – by cutting virtually all internet access,” Andrews said in a statement on Sunday.”We must all stand with the people of Myanmar in their hour of danger and need. They deserve nothing less.”
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Russians Growing American-Style Football League
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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Cameroon Recruits Apply for Elite Unit to Fight Separatists, Boko Haram
Cameroon said a recruitment drive for troops to fight separatists and terrorists has seen 10 times the number of needed applications, including — for the first time hundreds of former rebels.More than 1,000 youths applauded in Yaoundé on Friday as a sign that they will be patriotic if they are recruited into the Rapid Intervention Battalion, Cameroon’s elite military force.But it will take more than patriotism to make the cut. Colonel Alain Mvogo, a doctor in Cameroon’s military, outlined some of the medical requirements.He said doctors and nurses are finding out if the vision, hearing and blood pressure level of all candidates meet the requirements spelled out by Cameroon military hierarchy. He said they are screening out candidates who are overweight.Cameroon said about 21,000 youths have applied for the 2,200 positions available. In 2017, about 15,000 applied for 2,000 places.That year, separatists attempting to create an English-speaking state in western Cameroon warned English speakers against joining the army and attacked family members of those who applied. On social media, the separatists said that death awaited any English Cameroonian who joined the military.Despite the threats, the military said at least 4,000 English-speaking Cameroonians have registered to be recruited this year, including several hundred former insurgents.Nineteen-year-old former fighter Gerald Minang said he wants to combat the separatists who he said are deceiving young people to carry weapons against Cameroonians. He said he escaped from a separatist camp in the northwestern town of Ndop in March 2020 and relocated to Yaoundé.”I do not want to hide myself in the bush, taking drugs and killing people,” he said. “I want to stop the burning of schools, destroying of properties and all the rest.”Lieutenant Colonel Ekosso Lysonge Francis is deputy national director of the Centers for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration. On a visit to the towns of Bamenda and Buea last month, he said the recruitment of former separatists shows President Paul Biya meant it when he promised pardons for fighters who drop their weapons.He said President Biya has given firm instructions that fighters who have dropped their weapons, are of good conduct and are patriotic should be recruited into the military. He said some of the former separatists will be trained as drivers and mechanics. The DDR centers are already compiling documents to issue national identity cards to former fighters who either destroyed their identification papers or do not have them, he said.Francis did not say how many former fighters will be recruited for the Rapid Intervention Battalion. The re-integration centers in Bamenda and Buea have about 530 members. Many of them complain that the government has not carried out its promise to give all of them jobs.
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US Health Officials: ‘Watch Super Bowl with the People You Live With’
Millions of fans are getting ready to watch the televised annual U.S. football game known as the Super Bowl. Health officials, afraid that the viewing could become a COVID-19 superspreader event, have urged people to watch the game only with “the people you live with.”Traditionally, family and friends gather in homes, bars and restaurants to watch the game and cheer on their favorite football team. That behavior, however, would likely result in an uptick in coronavirus infections, health care officials warn.The U.S. already has more COVID-19 cases than any other country, with almost 30 million cases by early Sunday and more than 460,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Following the U.S. in the number of infections are India, with nearly 11 million cases, and Brazil, with 9.4 million.More than 59 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday. More than 39 million doses of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines had been administered by Saturday morning, with more than 30.2 million people receiving the first inoculation according to the CDC. More than 8 million people received their second dose.A Chinese couple wearing face masks walks amid Chinese Lunar New Year decorations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 7, 2021.Australia, now three days without any locally transmitted coronavirus infections, is set to begin the Australia Open tennis tournament on Monday in Melbourne. Tennis players in the first grand slam of the year had to undergo a two-week hotel quarantine when they arrived in January.Cuba’s economy has been hammered by the pandemic. In an effort to recover from the economic slump, the island nation has announced that it will allow an increasing number of small private businesses to operate. Cubans have been strictly limited in the kinds of private businesses they could run, but the government is reported to have widely expanded the list of possibilities.With the world in a race between the spread of coronavirus variants and vaccinating millions, AstraZenaca announced Saturday that early data shows its vaccine does provide limited protection against the South African variant of the virus.The test group was small, about 2,000 people, and young, with a median age of 31. But none of the study’s participants were hospitalized or died, according to The Financial Times, the first to report the results.“We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease,” an AstraZeneca spokesperson said. He added that the company has not been able “to properly ascertain its effect against severe disease and hospitalization, given that subjects were predominantly young healthy adults.”Maria de Lourdes, 101, grimaces as she receives a dose of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-thru vaccination site in the Sambadrome, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 6, 2021.The pharmaceutical company will publish the study results Monday.AstraZeneca has begun adapting its vaccine against the South African variant, the spokesperson said.China approves second vaccineChina has conditionally approved the use by the general public of a second COVID-19 vaccine.The National Medical Products Administration said in a statement Saturday that regulators approved the use Friday of CoronaVac, developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd.It’s the second vaccine approved for public use in the East Asian country. The first, a vaccine developed by a Chinese institute affiliated with the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, Sinopharm, was approved two months ago.The Sinovac vaccine, which is being administered in at least five other countries, was given emergency approval last July for high-risk people, such as health care workers and employees of state-owned companies.Conditional approval of the vaccine allows its use for the general public, while research continues. The company must submit current data and reports of any adverse effects after the vaccine is sold on the market.A third candidate vaccine from Sinopharm has been administered to high-risk groups in China, while a fourth candidate from CanSino Biologics is being administered to military personnel.
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Australian Adviser Detained in Myanmar
Australia says it has “serious concerns” about an economic adviser to Myanmar’s former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been detained by police. The military overthrew the elected government in the Southeast Asian nation Monday, alleging fraud in a Nov. 8 poll.Sean Turnell, an Australian academic, has been a key economic aide to Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in an election last November with more than 80% of the vote.Suu Kyi and Turnell have been detained along with others by the military, which seized power in Myanmar on Monday.Turnell is an associate economics professor at Sydney’s Macquarie University. Its website says he is “away for an extended period after taking up the post of senior economic adviser to the government of Myanmar.”In a message to the Reuters news service, he said he was “fine and strong, and not guilty of anything,” along with a smile emoji. Earlier, he wrote on Twitter that the military takeover was “gut-wrenching and heartbreaking [and an] utter catastrophe for the economy.”Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said in a statement her government was “deeply concerned about reports of Australian and other foreign nationals being detained arbitrarily in Myanmar.”Myanmar’s ambassador to Canberra has been called in by the federal government.“I was talking to Sean the day before – or a couple of days before – when the coup had happened and I was basically saying to him, ‘Listen, mate, you had better get out of there, you know. Be safe, you know,’” said Tim Harcourt from the University of New South Wales Business School, a friend of Turnell’s. “And he seemed more concerned for his Burmese friends and colleagues, you know, Aung San Suu Kyi and all his colleagues. He said no, he’s fine, he’s been treated well, he’s all fine and then the next day I heard he was detained. DFAT [Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] had arranged for Sean to fly out and they were about to accompany him to the airport and, basically, the military got there first.”Myanmar was controlled by a repressive military government from 1962-2011.A government effectively led by Suu Kyi came to power after elections in 2015.The overthrow of her administration prompted thousands of people to gather Saturday in Yangon, the nation’s biggest city, to condemn the military takeover and demand the release of their elected leaders.
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Biden Administration Suspends Trump Asylum Deals with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
The Biden administration said on Saturday it was immediately suspending Trump-era asylum agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, part of a bid to undo his Republican predecessor’s hard-line immigration policies.In a statement, State Department Secretary Antony Blinken said the United States had “suspended and initiated the process to terminate the Asylum Cooperative Agreements with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as the first concrete steps on the path to greater partnership and collaboration in the region laid out by President Biden.”The so-called “safe third country” agreements, inked in 2019 by the Trump administration and the Central American nations, force asylum seekers from the region to first seek refuge in those countries before applying in the United States.Part of a controversial bid by Trump to crack down on illegal immigrants from Central America who make up a large part of migrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border, the policies were never implemented with El Salvador and Honduras, the State Department said on Saturday.Transfers under the U.S.-Guatemala agreement have been paused since mid-March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the statement added.The moves announced Saturday came after Biden unveiled a host of measures last week aimed at revamping the U.S. immigration system, including a task force to reunite families separated at the United States-Mexico border and another to increase an annual cap on refugees.One of the orders called for Blinken to “promptly consider” whether to notify the governments of the three countries that the United States intended to suspend and terminate the safe third country deals. It also called on the Secretary of Homeland Security and the attorney general to determine whether to rescind a rule implementing the agreements.
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Biggest Protests in Myanmar Since 2007 Draw Tens of Thousands
Tens of thousands of people marched for a second day in Myanmar’s biggest city on Sunday, and thousands more assembled across the country to protest the military junta’s coup and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week.The protests, which took place despite an internet blackout and restrictions on phone lines, were the biggest demonstrations in the country since the 2007 Buddhist monk-led Saffron Revolution.Crowds in Yangon, the commercial capital, carried red balloons, the color representing Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD), and chanted, “We don’t want military dictatorship! We want democracy!”Myanmar’s military seized power in the early hours of Monday, bringing the Southeast Asian nation’s troubled democratic transition to a sudden halt and drawing international outrage.On Saturday, tens of thousands took to the streets in the first mass protests since the coup.On Sunday morning, massive crowds from all corners of Yangon converged on Hledan township, some walking through stalled traffic, and marched under bright sunshine in the middle of the road.They waved NLD flags and gestured with the three-finger salute that has become a symbol of protest against the coup.Drivers honked their horns and passengers held up photos of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi.The scenes broadcast on Facebook were some of the few that have come out of the country since the junta shut down the internet and restricted phone lines on Saturday. Speaking as he filmed the streets, the broadcaster said getting information out might help keep the protesters safe.There was no comment from the junta in the capital Naypyitaw, more than 350 kilometers north of Yangon.”They already started shutting down the internet — if they rule more they will repress even more on education, business, and health,” said Thu Thu, a 57-year-old who was arrested by a previous junta during pro-democracy protests in the late 1980s.”This is why we have to do this,” he said.”We cannot accept the coup,” said a 22-year-old who came with 10 friends, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. “This is for our future. We have to come out.”By mid-morning about 100 people had taken to the streets on motorbikes in the coastal town of Mawlamyine in the southeast, and students and doctors were gathering in the city of Mandalay in central Myanmar.Another crowd of hundreds spent the night outside a police station in the town of Payathonzu in Karen state in the southeast, where local NLD lawmakers were believed to have been arrested. They remained outside in the morning, singing pro-democracy songs.With no internet and official information scarce, rumors swirled about the fate of Suu Kyi and her cabinet. A story that she had been released, which drew huge crowds onto the streets to celebrate overnight on Saturday, was quickly quashed by her lawyer.More than 160 people have been arrested since the military seized power, said Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar.”The generals are now attempting to paralyze the citizen movement of resistance — and keep the outside world in the dark — by cutting virtually all internet access,” Andrews said in a statement on Sunday.”We must all stand with the people of Myanmar in their hour of danger and need. They deserve nothing less.”
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‘Drastic’ Declines in Cambodia’s Endangered Wildlife
Deep in the deciduous tropical forests on the Srepok River banks, Bun Tropin has a routine as he stations himself at the Mereuch Base for the armed forest rangers of Cambodia’s Ministry of the Environment.The base has a long history of combat dating to the pivotal A red muntjac. (World Wildlife Fund)But Bun Tropin, 27, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) biodiversity research assistant, knows his way around the restricted sanctuaries in Mondulkiri province because he manages more than 200 camera traps as part of the conservation group’s effort to capture evidence of the presence of wildlife. Bun Tropin asked that his real name not be used to protect his family from threats by poachers.Bun Tropin and his team guided the journalists through chest-high grasses to check the cameras installed through the areas.“When you trek like this, you hardly see any of those bantengs, elephants, tigers and others,” the soft-spoken Bun Tropin told VOA Khmer. “But each time I spot them on camera, I am always wowed. Each time, I just could not take my eyes off them.”Drastic declinesWWF Cambodia released a report on Jan. 15 saying the ungulate populations in two sanctuaries –- Srepok and the neighboring Phnom Prich –- had An Eld’s deer. (World Wildlife Fund)Between the late 1960s and the early 1990s, Cambodia’s total banteng population fell by 95%, according to the WWF.In the neighboring Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), another conservation group, also documented a dramatic drop in ungulate population over the past 10 years.”Five out of six monitored ungulate species either show significant population declines or have been assessed by experts as being in decline within [Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary],” the WCS said in the report released in September 2020.Seng Teak, director of WWF Cambodia, said the findings were “concerning,” citing the ongoing hazards of habitat losses, poaching and snares.“If the snares remain throughout in the forest, there’s a chance forests of the future won’t have any wildlife,” he told VOA Khmer.A regulatory overhaul introduced in 2016 was designed to distinguish between the overlapping authority of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture’s Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Environment has been implemented.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 3 MB480p | 4 MB540p | 6 MB720p | 15 MB1080p | 25 MBOriginal | 65 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe Forestry Administration oversees economic land concession planning. The Ministry of Environment protects vast biodiverse areas and wildlife sanctuaries with an embattled crew of armed and uniformed rangers; there are only 51 Environment Ministry rangers in the two preserves, and 1,200 rangers throughout Cambodia. Their numbers are unlikely to increase soon due to austerity measures imposed as combatting the coronavirus pandemic consumes the national budget.Yet the mountainous province is preparing to welcome a new airport, more tourists and more new residents to areas that need protection.Powerful business interestsThe London-based Environment Investigation Agency found rampant deforestation was masked by powerful business interests, according to a 2018 case study. It found timber logged in Cambodia’s northeast, the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, was illegally exported to Vietnam.“EIA investigations between September 2017 and March 2018 uncovered illegal logging operations on an unprecedented scale within the wildlife sanctuary, along with large-scale corruption implicating various elements of the Cambodian Government,” the report found.A wild pig. (World Wildlife Fund)Disgraced logging tycoon Soeng Sam Ol was arrested in 2019 with five senior environment, and forestry officials in the province were summoned for questioning by a national-level ad hoc investigatory team. Among them were Keo Sopheak, head of the provincial Department of Environment, and Paet Pheaktra, director of the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary.The five were later cleared of any wrongdoing.’Strict legal enforcement’Paet Pheaktra told VOA Khmer during the press tour that “strict legal enforcement” is the best way to protect endangered wildlife.“Implementing the law will be an effective method,” Paet Pheaktra said as he showed VOA reporters the snares used by the poachers. “People will respect if we use the laws accordingly.”He said “considerable” number of snares remain in the forests. He blamed both Vietnamese from the east of the sanctuaries and the local people who lived on the edge of the protected areas as key actors in harvesting the wildlife in the areas.“High-tech snares are mostly imported from the neighboring country [Vietnam],” said Paet Pheaktra, reflecting the traditional animosity between Vietnam and Cambodia.“If everyone is committed, I think it’s not too late to save the wildlife,” he said, adding that to save the forests, “it will be too late if you wait until the next 10 or 15 years.”WWF Cambodia is introducing a number of programs to assist the rangers and the nearby communities to find alternatives to logging and poaching as a bid to save the ungulates and other endangered species living in the two sanctuaries.That includes convincing the locals to stop poaching, a tall order given they consume most of the animals.Phan Phonna, 49, a mother of seven moved to the area in 1994 from her home province of Tboung Khmun. At the time, forests and wildlife were abundant, but that is no longer true.“We choose to raise pigs and poultry to make a living instead of consuming wild meats in fears of health dangers,” she said.“You cannot just go there as they monitor your activities all over the jungles,” Phonna added.‘Endless job’Seng Teak, who heads WWF Cambodia, remains hopeful, said the pace of loss among ungulates has slowed over the past three years. He credits conservation efforts, saying those coupled with combating of forestry and wildlife crimes will lead to revivals of currently endangered species.“Wildlife need a quiet habitat free of snares, guns, chainsaws and other types of intrusion,” he said. “They need a safe haven so that they can reproduce fast.”Back in Mereuch, Bun Tropin sees no end to his mission – documenting and preserving the ungulates in both north-eastern sanctuaries.“It is just an endless job,” Bun Tropin said. “It will keep going and new things will keep coming up – new species, new evolvement — and that requires more follow-up.”
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Former Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks Dies at 67
Leon Spinks, who won Olympic gold and then shocked the boxing world by beating Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight title in only his eighth pro fight, has died. He was 67. Spinks, who lived his later years in Las Vegas, died Friday night, according to a release from a public relations firm. He had been battling prostate and other cancers. His wife, Brenda Glur Spinks, and a few close friends and other family members were by his side. A lovable heavyweight with a drinking problem, Spinks beat Ali in a 12-round fight in 1978 to win the title. He was unranked at the time and picked as an opponent because Ali was looking for an easy fight. He got anything but that, with an unorthodox Spinks swarming over Ali throughout the fight on his way to a stunning win by split decision. The two met seven months later at the Superdome in New Orleans, with Ali taking the decision this time before a record indoor boxing crowd of 72,000 and a national television audience estimated at 90 million people. “It was one of the most unbelievable things when Ali agreed to fight him because you look at the fights he had up to then and he was not only not a top contender but shouldn’t have been a contender at all,” promoter Bob Arum said Saturday. “He was just an opponent but somehow he found a way to win that fight.” Spinks would lose the rematch to Ali in New Orleans and fought for the title only once after that, when he was stopped in the third round in 1981 by Larry Holmes. He continued fighting on and off into the mid-1990s, finishing with a record of 26-17-3. Spinks, with a big grin that often showed off his missing front teeth, was popular among boxing fans for both his win over Ali and his easygoing personality. But he burned through his earnings quickly and at one point after retiring was working as a custodian at a YMCA in Nebraska, cleaning locker rooms. He later was part of a group of ex-fighters who allowed studies of their brains by the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Spinks was found to have brain damage caused by a combination of taking punches to the head and heavy drinking, though he functioned well enough to do autograph sessions and other events late in his life. “He was a good soul,” said Gene Kilroy, who was Ali’s business manager when he fought Spinks and became friends with the fighter. Spinks won the light heavyweight division at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, beating Sixto Soria of Cuba in an upset to become one of five U.S. fighters to win gold. His brother, Michael, who would later become heavyweight champion himself, won the middleweight gold, and Sugar Ray Leonard took the welterweight title. Spinks was hardly spectacular after turning pro, winning six of his first seven fights. Just four months before he met Ali, he could manage just a draw with journeyman Scott LeDoux and he wasn’t on anyone’s radar in the heavyweight title picture. But Ali was coming off a brutal fight with Earnie Shavers and wasn’t looking forward to what would have been a mandatory bout against Ken Norton, whom he had already fought three times and who seemed to have Ali’s number. Instead, he sought an easy mark for a fight that was to be nationally televised on ABC, even knowing he would be stripped of one of his titles for taking another fight. Enter Spinks, who was such a big underdog most sports books didn’t even take bets on the fight. “In that fight everything clicked,” Arum said. “He came in with a game plan and he beat Ali. It wasn’t that Ali wasn’t at his best, but Leon shocked everybody with how good Leon was.” Arum was in the dressing room with Ali after the fight, and said Ali directed him to sign Spinks to a quick rematch. The two fought seven months later in a prime-time fight on CBS that set television viewing records at the time, with nearly half the country tuning in. Ali took the rematch more seriously than he did the first fight, winning a decision though Spinks was competitive. Spinks might have been better, Arum said, but enjoyed the life of being heavyweight champion too much and partied much of the time between fights. “Leon posed in a bathtub with a glass of champagne smoking a cigar. He suddenly had an entourage as big as one that Ali had,” Arum said. Among the notable people in Spinks’ entourage was Lawrence Tureaud, who would later be known as the actor Mr. T and served as bodyguard for the champion. Spinks was born July 11, 1953, in St. Louis, raised in poverty along with his brother Michael. After discovering boxing both brothers became top amateurs, culminating in the 1976 Olympics where Leon won the light heavyweight gold and Michael won the middleweight gold. After moving to Las Vegas, Spinks was married to Brenda Glur Spinks in 2011. The two were often seen at boxing-related activities, including Spinks’ 2017 induction into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. “He was happy go lucky, the salt of the earth,” Arum said, chuckling at the memories. “Leon was nutty but you couldn’t get angry at the guy. He never meant any harm to anyone. You couldn’t help but love him even though you shook your head at how he acted.”
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Cambodia’s Rangers Risk Lives Protecting Environment
The 20 or so very fit men gathered deep in the forests of northeast Cambodia at the Tropaing Tear Base in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary.On their uniforms, a patch richly embroidered with the map of Cambodia and its protected landscapes, elephants, tigers, one of the national flowers and the Ministry of Environment logo did little to counter their overall don’t-mess-with-us attitude.“I live in the forest more than my home,” said Reth Phearun, a 26-year-old ranger who commands the Chas Yang Base in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary. Half a century ago, the region rivaled the East African savannah for its diversity and abundance of wildlife — banteng, Asian elephants, Eld’s deer, Indochinese tigers, leopards and more.Today, those beasts exist in critically low numbers, but the recent and increased protection effort “leaves hope that, at some point in the future” wildlife populations in the region “can be restored to their former glory,” Reth Phearun, park ranger, speaks to VOA Khmer in Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuary in Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek district on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)Nationwide, Cambodia employs some 1,200 rangers to guard endangered species on more than 7.3 million hectares of protected forests, according to the Ministry of Environment. In the critical 6,000-square-kilometer bioregion of the Srepok and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, there are just 51 rangers, 46 wildlife guards and 588 community patrol teams.These vast areas swallow this protection. In Mondulkiri province, there is less than one ranger per 100 square kilometers, far below the international standard of eight rangers for that amount of territory.Although few Cambodians want to become rangers, those who do see the job as a calling, putting themselves in danger and sacrificing home life.The rangers patrol Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary four times a month on trips over four days and three nights, according to Reth Phearun.“It is very challenging at night in some areas. We get no sleep at night, and must help each other patrol until morning,” he said.Reth Phearun worries about encounters with poachers and loggers, saying, “If they see us, they will definitely shoot us. They are not afraid of us at all.”One of his colleagues, Cheng Chanty, was sleeping near a creek in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary when poachers arrived around 3 a.m. Jan. 29, 2019.“They were on motorbikes,” said Cheng Chanty, 42. “We told them to stop, but they didn’t. We followed them and they shot at us. I was shot in my front abdomen and the bullet went through to my buttock.” The wound took four months to heal.Park rangers show forest patrols to reporters in Cambodia’s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Nhek district Mondulkiri on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)All of the alleged poachers remain at large. Cheng Chanty remains on the job.The attack on Cheng Chanty was not unusual.An Environment Ministry ranger, a Wildlife Conservation Society staffer and a military police officer were killed by Cambodian armed forces aligned with illegal loggers Park rangers show forest patrols to reporters in Cambodia’s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Nhek district Mondulkiri on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)His solution is to take one day off “when I miss my son,” he said.Kroeurng Tola, a representative of the Bunong indigenous community, acknowledged the rangers’ efforts but said they are limited.An activist who exposes misuse of natural reserves, Kroeurng Tola said, “Our rangers have strong will in protecting the forest and wildlife, but their job is still being limited when there are orders from the higher level not to arrest any culprit.”Reth Phearun remains passionate about protecting the forests and its endangered wildlife.”I want to improve my (ranger) base” with a bigger building fully supplied with electricity and linked into the mobile network, he said, adding a better road to improve accessibility and more rangers would be good, too.“I want to see wildlife and forest increase” he said. “And I want to see tourists coming in and out in the future. If there are tourists, we will benefit from them.”
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Wyoming Republicans Censure Rep. Liz Cheney Over Impeachment Vote
The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.Only eight of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee stood to oppose censure in a vote that didn’t proceed to a formal count. The censure document accused Cheney of voting to impeach even though the U.S. House didn’t offer Trump “formal hearing or due process.””We need to honor President Trump. All President Trump did was call for a peaceful assembly and protest for a fair and audited election,” said Darin Smith, a Cheyenne attorney who lost to Cheney in the Republican U.S. House primary in 2016. “The Republican Party needs to put her on notice.”Added Joey Correnti, GOP chairman in Carbon County where the censure vote was held: “Does the voice of the people matter and if it does, does it only matter at the ballot box?”Cheney in a statement after the vote said she remained honored to represent Wyoming and will always fight for issues that matter most to the state.”Foremost among these is the defense of our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees. My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution,” Cheney said.Cheney will remain as the third-ranking member of the House GOP leadership, however, after a 145-61 vote by House Republicans on Wednesday to keep her as conference committee chair.Trump faces trial in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday over allegedly inciting insurrection when a mob of supporters stormed into and rampaged through the Capitol after a nearby rally led by Trump and close allies.
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German Firm to Remove Dangerous Material From Beirut Port
A German company is ready to remove hazardous materials stored in dozens of containers at Beirut’s port, Germany’s ambassador to Lebanon said Saturday, following efforts to secure the facility after the August 4, 2020, explosion that devastated the port and much of the city.Ambassador Andreas Kindl tweeted that the treatment at Beirut’s port for 52 containers of “hazardous and dangerous chemical material” has been completed. He added that the material was ready to be shipped to Germany.The decision to remove the material followed the August explosion that was triggered by nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertilizer component, that had languished at the port for years. The blast killed 211 people, wounded more than 6,000 and destroyed parts of the capital.In November, Lebanon signed a deal with Germany’s Combi Lift to treat and ship abroad the containers consisting. The deal is worth $3.6 million, toward which port authorities in Lebanon will pay $2 million with the German government covering the rest.Kindl said the material that was treated had been a threat to people in Beirut.Since the August blast and a massive fire at the port weeks later, authorities have been concerned about dangerous material still at the facility. A month after the blast, the Lebanese army said military experts were called in for an inspection and found 4.35 tons of ammonium nitrate that was removed and destroyed.
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Top EU Diplomat Accused of Falling Into Russian Propaganda Trap
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell came under scathing criticism Saturday for his visit to Moscow, which several of the bloc’s member states had urged him to cancel, fearing the Kremlin would manipulate the three-day trip to its advantage.His critics, including former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, along with Western diplomats, say their worst fears were realized during Borrell’s Friday joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which Borrell said no EU member state had yet to propose new sanctions over the recent imprisonment of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, Alexey Navalny.Just moments before the press conference, Kremlin officials announced their decision to expel three EU diplomats — from Germany, Poland and Sweden — for allegedly taking part in the unsanctioned Navalny rallies, a move possibly timed to humiliate Borrell.Critics say that the propaganda trap is likely to embolden Russian authorities to persist in their brutal paramilitary-style crackdown on internal dissent and civil society activists who’ve rallied for Navalny’s release.Time to resign?”Borrell has to think about resigning,” tweeted EU lawmaker Rasa Juknevičienė, a former Lithuanian defense minister, condemning the overall tenor of Borrell’s message that the EU and Russia “can cooperate despite misunderstandings.”Although it was clear before Borrell’s arrival in Moscow that the Kremlin would “mock him,” Juknevičienė tweeted, the whole of the EU has instead been ridiculed.FILE – People clash with police during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In a statement released Saturday summarizing his visit, Borrell said: “Diplomatic channels need to remain open, not only to de-escalate crises or incidents, but to hold direct exchanges, deliver firm and frank messages, all the more so when relations are far from satisfactory.”Borrell’s visit, which was planned before Navalny demonstrations erupted in more than 100 cities and towns across Russia, prompted some EU member states to lobby Brussels to cancel the event, fearing it was badly timed and would expose EU impotence. The Baltic states, alongside Poland and Romania, called instead for a new set of sanctions to be imposed on Russia. Their fear was that a dialogue with the Kremlin over the Navalny case at this stage would be a hopeless endeavor that would undermine EU credibility.Borrell, who went to Moscow on his own initiative in the first high-level EU trip of its type in four years, suggested he was accepting a long-standing invitation from Lavrov.Before Friday’s press conference, Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister, warned his Russian counterparts that Navalny’s treatment had brought EU-Russian relations to a “low point,” and he reiterated EU demands for Navalny’s release.Message undercutThat message was undercut, however, when Borrell told Lavrov that no EU member state had proposed extra sanctions on Russia for now, which other EU officials said was inaccurate.Navalny was detained upon his January return to Moscow for parole violations, which his supporters say is a spurious charge, after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.His arrest has triggered the largest anti-Kremlin protests seen in Russia since 2011, and more than 10,000 of his supporters have been detained by police amid allegations of police brutality, according to rights monitors.Borrell is also drawing fire for standing silently by Lavrov’s side as the Russian foreign minister dubbed the EU an “unreliable partner” and accused European leaders of lying about Navalny, dismissing the West’s conclusion — confirmed by laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, along with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — that Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent.FILE – Former Belgium Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is pictured during a media conference in Brussels, March 6, 2012.”This is simply appalling,” tweeted Verhofstadt, who slammed Borrell for being ill-prepared. “Not just that Russia makes a fool of the EU but that we let it happen.”Borrell “should simply not have gone to Moscow without a message of EU strength & a mandate for sanctions to back it up,” Verhofstadt tweeted.Borrell was also criticized for failing to protest more forcefully the Kremlin’s last-minute decision to expel the trio of EU diplomats.“As expected, Lavrov outplayed Borrell,” one senior EU diplomat told FILE – A nurse displays a vial of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 during a vaccination campaign inside River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb. 2, 2021.Pro-democracy activists said the Kremlin was swift to market Borrell’s visit for propaganda purposes and to discredit Navalny. During Friday’s press conference, Borrell also praised Russia’s development of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.”I take the floor just to congratulate Russia on this success,” Borrell said of the vaccine, which doesn’t yet have Europe’s scientific approval. “It’s good news for the whole of mankind.”Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a video shortly afterward, which begins with a clip of Navalny last year criticizing Russian authorities for prematurely authorizing Sputnik V, ahead of full testing, with the footage then cutting to Borrell praising Russia for developing Sputnik V.
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Chinese Whistleblower Honored on Anniversary of His Death
The message was tucked into a bouquet of chrysanthemums left by a mourner at the back of Wuhan Central Hospital to honor a Chinese whistleblower doctor who died from the coronavirus a year ago. It was simply the number of a Bible verse: Matthew 5:10.”Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” the verse reads.A year ago Sunday, Dr. Li Wenliang died from the virus first detected in this Chinese city. A small stream of people marked the anniversary with visits to the hospital Saturday, some leaving flowers.’Spreading rumors’The 34-year-old ophthalmologist was one of eight whistleblowers whom local authorities punished early on for “spreading rumors” in a social media group about a SARS-like virus. His situation, eventually made public in media reports, made him a potent symbol for the perils of going against official messaging in China.The Chinese public embraced Li, whose presence online had painted a picture of an ordinary person. His wife was pregnant, and he was soon to be a father. He shared the information because he wanted to warn others.The public also watched as he fell ill with the disease he was warning them about. His condition eventually worsened, and he died.Li’s death was initially reported by Chinese state media on the night of February 6, 2020, but the outlets quickly withdrew their reporting. Some hours later, in the early morning of February 7, Wuhan Central Hospital announced his death.FILE – Coronavirus whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang, whose death was confirmed on February 7, 2020, is shown in his protective mask, at the Wuhan Central Hospital, China.Chinese people grieved over his death, online and offline. Mourners brought flowers to the hospital, while online some people were furious and demanded freedom of speech — posts that were quickly censored.Li’s death seemed to raise a challenge to the central government, as public anger swelled.”A healthy society should not have just one type of voice,” Li had said in an interview with the Chinese business magazine Caixin last year.Central government authorities investigated Li’s death, concluding that the officer who punished the doctor should be reprimanded. One police officer was given a demerit, while another was given an official warning, state media later reported.At the conclusion of the investigation, authorities published a Q&A, in which they noted: “Li was a Communist Party member, not a so-called ‘person who was against the system.’ ” It said those who labeled him that way were “enemy forces.”Since then, the epidemic has largely been controlled within China’s borders, and the narrative has shifted to one of triumph. China just released a film — “Days and Nights in Wuhan” — that celebrates China’s official line that the measures it took, including the unprecedented lockdown it imposed on the city, bought precious time for the world to prepare for the pandemic.FILE – Residents attend an exhibition on the city’s fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, Jan. 23, 2021.That victorious narrative has been underscored more by the devastation the pandemic has wreaked in many other countries. However, many have questioned China’s response to the virus and its level of transparency during the initial weeks.It wasn’t until last month that China finally allowed a WHO team into the country to investigate the pandemic.Wuhan for the most part has returned to normal, with shopping malls and streets crowded, and there is little visible evidence of the suffering the city went through. Still, a few of its residents mourn quietly.No large-scale tributeLi’s death is still a sensitive topic, and his family has refrained from giving media interviews. While his Weibo profile has been left up, there has been no large-scale public memorial.The person who left the flowers and Bible verse Saturday declined to be interviewed, saying it was inconvenient.Another couple who laid a bouquet at the front of the hospital were told by plainclothes security to take their flowers to the back of the building, where there was a garden.A small collection of bouquets, some with messages tucked deep in the flowers, had been laid there by Saturday evening.”Thank you, Dr. Li Wenliang,” read one.
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Talks Fail to End Somali Electoral Impasse
Somalia’s parliament on Saturday ruled out a possible term extension for incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.Parliament Speaker Mohamed Mursal Sheikh said there was no plan by the national assembly to extend Farmajo’s term beyond its Monday expiration date.Mursal spoke after talks that included the president, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and the regional leaders of the five Somali states failed Friday to agree on a procedure for selecting a new president.Mursal said the role of parliament, for now, was seeking de-escalation of the political crisis, not a term extension.Speaking to parliament, Farmajo said his administration would embark on the implementation of the September 17, 2020, electoral agreement, which would allow 101 delegates to select members of parliament, who would choose the next head of the state.Two regional states, however, have refused to take part in the process. Jubbaland and Puntland have objected to issues including how electoral management bodies should be appointed and delegates selected. That includes delegates from the breakaway region of Somaliland, which considers itself an independent country though it is not internationally recognized.Farmajo said his administration was ready to apply the electoral agreement and he requested that the parliament spearhead efforts to reach out to other political stakeholders in the country, including the state leaders who rejected the agreement, for a solution.More calls for dialogueOpposition presidential candidates, led by former head of state Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, reiterated calls for dialogue to resolve issues surrounding the selection process.Ahmed said the opposition political parties were ready to take part in negotiations to avoid action that might harm peace and stability in the Horn of Africa nation.The international community, led by the U.N. office in the country, is also trying to bring the sides together to avert security setbacks.Somalia has had peaceful changes of leadership every four years since 2000, and it has the distinction of having Africa’s first democratically elected president to peacefully step down, Aden Abdulle Osman, in 1967.But the goal of a direct, one-person-one-vote election in Somalia remains elusive. It was meant to take place this time. Instead, the federal government and states agreed on another “indirect election,” with senators and members of parliament elected by community leaders — delegates of powerful clans — in each member state.Members of parliament and senators then elect Somalia’s president.Opposition leaders and civil society groups have objected, arguing it leaves them no say in the politics of their own country.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Biden Gives California Woman Pep Talk in Weekly Address Revival
President Joe Biden gave a pep talk to a California woman who was laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic, during a conversation the White House said was part of an effort to help him engage more consistently with regular Americans.The White House on Saturday released a 2½-minute video of Biden’s long-distance telephone conversation with Michele Voelkert, identifying her only as Michele.After losing her job at a startup clothing company in July, she wrote Biden a letter. He read it, then called her.The Roseville, California, woman told Biden “it’s been a tough time” trying to find work.Biden, who spoke from his Oval Office desk, replied that his father used to say a job is about dignity and respect as much as it is about a paycheck. He described his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, which calls for $1,400 payments to people like Voelkert, and other economic aid for individuals and small businesses. There’s also money to help distribute coronavirus vaccines.”I’ve been saying a long time, the idea that we think we can keep businesses open and moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic is just a nonstarter,” Biden said.’Riding high’The Sacramento Bee said it spoke to Voelkert, 47, after the call.”It was the opportunity of the lifetime,” she said. “I’m still riding high.”The conversation is part of an effort to help Biden, who has largely limited his travel because of the pandemic, communicate directly with Americans, the White House said. Biden did fly to Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday to spend the weekend at home with his family.”There is a time-honored tradition in the country of hearing from the president in this way,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday in previewing the video. She referenced Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” and Ronald Reagan’s establishment of a weekly radio address.The radio address eventually grew to include a video version viewed over the internet.Psaki said Biden’s weekly address would be produced in a variety of forms.
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Iran Warns Nuclear Deal in Danger if US Does Not Ease Sanctions
Iran’s foreign minister warned that the Iran nuclear deal could be further jeopardized if the U.S. does not ease sanctions against the Middle Eastern power by Feb. 21.Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview published Saturday in the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri, said recently passed legislation compels the government to harden its position on the issue. He also noted the possible June election of a hardline president could further endanger the pact.“Time is running out for the Americans, both because of the parliament bill and the election atmosphere that will follow the Iranian New Year,” Zarif said.Iran’s new year starts on March 21, three months after a parliament led by hardliners passed legislation establishing a two-month deadline for easing the sanctions.In 2018, former U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal signed in 2015 by Iran and several other world powers, alleging it failed to curb Iran’s missile program and its growing influence in the Middle East.Iran announced last month it had resumed enriching uranium up to 20% purity at its Fordow enrichment plant, a level it attained before the agreement was reached. Iranian officials said last week enrichment capacity was increased at its Natanz facility.Biden Wants US Back in Iran Nuclear Deal President-elect Joe Biden says he would like for the US to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, but experts say domestic and international concerns may make that easier said than doneU.S. President Joe Biden, who has long criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact, has vowed to re-enter the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, if Tehran resumes strict compliance. Under the deal, some sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for reducing its nuclear activities. Iran has demanded that the U.S. ease sanctions before it resumes compliance and rejected talks on broader security issues.Biden has said little publicly about Tehran since winning the presidency, but some U.S. media reports suggest his administration is quietly working to address Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, as well as Tehran’s regional activities, with the intent of determining whether and how to rejoin the agreement.According to CNN, Robert Malley, Biden’s special envoy for Iran, is among several high-level officials seeking solutions to the dilemma. Malley is developing a team of experts with different perspectives on Iran, while reaching out to members of Congress. Blinken Discusses Iran with UK, French, German Ministers The high-level conversation is the latest step by President Joe Biden’s new administration to explore how to restore the 2015 nuclear dealSecretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with European allies on Friday, as the White House National Security Council held a high-level meeting to discuss Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities and next steps of action.The Biden Administration is also exploring ways to relieve the financial pain the harsh U.S. economic sanctions have inflicted on Iran without lifting them. Options include providing support for Tehran to receive coronavirus relief loans from the International Monetary Fund and easing sanctions that have thwarted efforts to get international coronavirus aid into the country, according to four people familiar with the administration’s plans who spoke with Bloomberg News.The sources also said Biden could sign an executive order reversing Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement. Waiving sanctions to allow the oil-rich country to sell oil on the global market is not under consideration, the sources said.Reversing Trump’s decision to pull out of the agreement may become even more difficult on Feb. 21, the date on which Tehran has threatened to stop complying with a series of voluntary measures that allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.Moving to rejoin the pact is opposed by many Republicans in Congress. This week, 52 GOP lawmakers signed a letter urging Biden to continue the Trump Administration’s “maximum pressure” policy. The letter claimed the strategy has emboldened protesters within Iran and shifted the power balance in the Middle East, including several countries normalizing ties with Israel.
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Central African Republic Leader to Stick by 2019 Peace Pact Despite Coup Bid
Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera Saturday said he would honor a 2019 peace pact with 14 rebel groups despite a recent bid by six of them to topple him.One of the world’s poorest countries, the CAR has been locked in violence since 2013, when its then president, Francois Bozize, was overthrown.Touadera won reelection in the first round of a much-troubled December ballot on a turnout of just 35 percent.Rebel groups launched an offensive against the capital Bangui in December, as they banded together under the name Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) to try to prevent Touadera’s re-election.”It has been two years since I engaged our country to the accord for peace and reconciliation,” Touadera told a news conference.”This accord aims to create conditions for a sincere dialogue,” he said. “Many see it as a sign of weakness … but I remain convinced that this accord will usher in lasting peace,” he said.The accord calls for the formation of an inclusive government with posts reserved for rebel groups.”The accord still exists and we will continue to apply it,” Touadera said.Eight years into a civil war, rebels control around two-thirds of the country. That meant many districts were unable to hold the December 27 ballot when Touadera was re-elected in the first round.But the presence of the 12,000-strong, well-armed and -equipped UN peacekeeping force, MINUSCA, has kept the CPC far from the capital, with help from hundreds of Rwandan troops and Russian paramilitaries sent to shore up the country’s ragged army.On Friday, the CAR parliament approved a six-month extension to a state of emergency declared by the government to help combat armed groups it accuses of seeking to mount a coup.The state of emergency was first declared for two weeks on January 21, after militia groups tried to advance on Bangui.
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