U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday, affirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity “in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the State Department said in a statement.
Ukraine and Russia have been at loggerheads since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and over its support for separatist rebels fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.
Blinken “expressed concern about the security situation in eastern Ukraine and offered condolences on the recent loss of four Ukrainian soldiers,” the statement said.
Ukraine’s armed forces said last week that four soldiers were killed in shelling by Russian forces in Donbas, the highest daily death total since a cease-fire agreement was reached last July.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Ruslan Khomchak said on Tuesday Russia was building up armed forces near Ukraine’s borders in a threat to the country’s security.
The Kremlin said Wednesday it was concerned about mounting tensions in eastern Ukraine and that it feared Kyiv’s government forces could do something to restart a conflict with pro-Russian separatists.
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Month: March 2021
Economists See Biden Infrastructure Plan Powering Growth; Criticism Is Muted
President Joe Biden’s plan announced Wednesday to plow $2 trillion into an eight-year overhaul of U.S. infrastructure was met with only limited carping from many voices normally critical of government spending. Meanwhile, economists expressed broad agreement that the plan, as proposed, would power long-run economic growth.It is certainly possible that pumping that much money into the economy, with interest rates near zero and a nascent recovery already taking shape, could cause inflation, said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com.However, he said, “The other part of the discussion is, there’s clearly a huge risk from failing to address infrastructure needs. And I think most people would say that [inflation] is a risk worth taking at this point.”The proposal outlined by Biden in Pittsburgh would direct $620 billion in funding to transportation infrastructure, $300 billion to boost manufacturing, $180 billion to research and development focused on climate-science research, $174 billion to accelerate the use of electric vehicles, and hundreds of billions more to a laundry list of smaller-ticket priorities.All of this massive spending is only the first half of what officials say will be a two-part effort to invest in the country’s future, with the second piece expected next month. The elements of the Biden plan announced Wednesday would be paid for by increasing taxes on U.S. businesses, while the next round of proposals would be paid for by increasing taxes on wealthy individuals.President Joe Biden speaks about infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, March 31, 2021, in Pittsburgh.Public sector criticism largely mutedIt is a testament to the widespread agreement on the need for infrastructure investment that even groups adamantly opposed to Biden’s plan to pay for it with a tax increase or concerned about the possibility of inflation were quick to praise the proposal’s breadth and ambition.“We need a big and bold program to modernize our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and we applaud the Biden administration for making infrastructure a top priority,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a statement released by the organization. “However, we believe the proposal is dangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure.”In an analysis of the plan, Michael R. Strain, the director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, called it “admirably ambitious” even as he expressed concern about the way it was being paid for and worried about inflation.“Much of the debate about the infrastructure plans will focus on whether there is political space for another multitrillion-dollar bill,” he wrote. “I am worried about whether there is economic space.”Construction workers work in Wheeling, Ill., March 31, 2021. President Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled his nearly $2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at revitalizing U.S. transportation infrastructure, water systems, broadband and manufacturing.Too much economic juice?Strain said that a surge in spending this year and next, temporarily fueled by debt while the tax revenue was collected, could combine with the $1.9 trillion spending in the American Rescue Plan to drive inflation.“Can the economy handle a temporary deficit boost this year and next? That will depend on whether the $1.9 trillion stimulus law Biden just signed pushes the economy too hard, leading to consumer price inflation, higher interest rates and financial instability. I am worried that it will,” Strain said.However, the majority of economic analysts seemed more concerned about what might happen if the administration failed to act.“Most economists are in agreement that the costs will be paid back in the economic productiveness of the expenditures, at least in their totality, if indeed it were to be passed as proposed,” said Hamrick of Bankrate.com. “There’s an economic cost to the lack of investment, not only in infrastructure, but these other areas as well. And that needs to be part of the central argument. There’s a cost to not doing it. And there’s a benefit to doing it.”Inflation? So what?“It’s important to recognize that if the plan works as intended, it should increase the productive capacity of the economy,” said David Wilcox, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “We’re paying real costs today for our inadequate investment in infrastructure. The investments that are made under this plan should help alleviate some of the bottlenecks in the American economy, and that itself will provide a bit of a pressure relief valve against some of the concerns that have been expressed.”Wilcox, former director of the Federal Reserve Board’s domestic economics division and a senior adviser to three Fed chairs, said that Biden’s intention to pay for his infrastructure proposals with tax increases on the wealthy and on businesses should, by itself, “substantially diminish the potential for this plan by itself to contribute to any kind of worrisome overheating of the economy.”A EVgo electric vehicle charging station is seen at a shopping plaza in Northbrook, Ill., March 31, 2021. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan calls for building a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030.He added that even if increased infrastructure investment triggered higher inflation, that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.”The Fed has indicated that it not only will tolerate but indeed welcome some additional inflation,” Wilcox said. “So all of that says to me that now is a good time to err on the side of providing more relief than it might turn out that American families and businesses actually need.”Mission not accomplishedEven though the U.S. economy has begun to spring back, with the unemployment rate falling sharply from alarming highs early in the pandemic, there are still 9.5 million fewer jobs in the country than there were when employment peaked near the beginning of the pandemic.That’s about the number of job losses the U.S. suffered during the Great Recession.“So the jobs deficit, as of today, remains huge,” Wilcox said. “We’ve got a very long way to go before anybody is going to unfurl the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner on the economy being fully recovered.”Political criticismThe most vocal critics of the Biden administration plan have been Republican leaders in Congress, who claim that the plan is a cover for Democratic priorities not related to infrastructure.”It’s called infrastructure, but inside the Trojan horse it’s going to be more borrowed money, and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, echoing a criticism of the bill he has made many times in recent days, while speaking with reporters in his home state of Kentucky on Wednesday.Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, warned that Biden’s two-step infrastructure plan wasn’t really an infrastructure proposal at all.”Infrastructure means highways, roads, bridges,” he said in an interview with Fox Business News on Tuesday. “They want to do all sorts of social things. They’re talking about free community college, free day care, free senior care and then, of course, the punishing regulations of the Green New Deal. And you add on that all the taxes, that they’re talking about taxes on individuals, taxes on businesses. And they’re trying to resurrect the death tax. The difference could not be more clear.”
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UN’s Myanmar Envoy Warns of ‘Bloodbath,’ ‘Civil War’
The U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar warned Wednesday that “a bloodbath is imminent” and there is an increasing “possibility of civil war” in the country if civilian rule is not restored. “I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve, and prevent a multidimensional catastrophe in the heart of Asia,” Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, according to a copy of her remarks obtained by VOA. FILE – U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener arrives at Sittwe airport after visiting Maung Daw Township at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area in Rakhine state, Oct. 15, 2018.She said she fears the conflict will become bloodier as the commander in chief of the military, General Min Aung Hlaing, “seems determined to solidify his unlawful grip on power by force.” She cited the intensification of fighting in Kayin and Kachin states, and warnings of retaliation from three of the country’s armed ethnic rebel groups if attacks on protesters do not stop, as fueling her fears of civil war. “Mediation requires dialogue, but Myanmar’s military has shut its doors to most of the world,” Schraner Burgener said. “It appears the military would only engage when it feels they are able to contain the situation through repression and terror.” Myanmar has been mired in chaos and violence since the military’s overthrow of the civilian government on February 1, and the detentions of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party. The military has claimed widespread fraud occurred in last November’s election, which the NLD won in a landslide. Security forces have cracked down on demonstrators, using live ammunition and rubber bullets, shooting indiscriminately into the crowds. On Saturday, Armed Forces Day, more than 100 protesters were killed, including women and children. Anti-coup protesters run to avoid military forces during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 31, 2021.The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nongovernmental organization, estimates that 536 people have been killed by the junta since the peaceful protests began. More than 2,700 have been arrested, charged or sentenced. “This Council must consider potentially significant action that can reverse the course of events in Myanmar,” Schraner Burgener said. The U.N. Security Council has issued two statements condemning the violence, expressed support for the democratic process and emphasized the need for dialogue, but it has not imposed sanctions or other measures on the military. The special envoy’s request to the junta for her to visit Myanmar has been rebuffed, so she is planning instead to visit the region and hold consultations with members of regional bloc ASEAN. She said Wednesday that she hopes to go as soon as this week. “A robust international response requires a unified regional position, especially with neighboring countries leveraging their influence towards stability in Myanmar,” she said.
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Survey: 63% of US Jews Encountered Anti-Semitism Over Last 5 Years
At a time of growing concern about right-wing extremism in the United States, a new survey paints a troubling portrait of Jewish Americans’ experiences with anti-Semitism.The survey, released Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a prominent Jewish civil rights group based in the U.S., said 63% of American Jews had experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism over the past five years — a marked increase from the 53% of respondents who expressed the same view in last year’s ADL survey.At the same time, 59% of the respondents in this year’s survey said they felt Jews were less safe in the U.S. today than they were a decade ago, while 49% expressed fear of a violent attack at a synagogue.Impact clearly felt“What this [report] does is it gives a very broad photograph of what the American Jewish experience is like today. And it is clearly one that is affected pretty profoundly by various forms of anti-Semitism or the expressions of anti-Semitism,” said Jessica Reaves, editorial director at ADL’s Center on Extremism.The survey was conducted January 7-15 and collected responses from 503 Jewish Americans 18 years and older. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.About 4.2 million American adults identify as Jewish “by religion,” representing 1.8% of the U.S. adult population, according to a 2013 Pew Research estimate. A more inclusive estimate by the American Jewish Year Book 2019 put the number at 6.9 million. Most live in major metropolitan areas that account for the bulk of anti-Jewish hate crimes.FILE – New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center top, and other officials and community members march across the Brooklyn Bridge in solidarity with the Jewish community after recent anti-Semitic attacks, Jan. 5, 2020, in New York.Cities report declinesThe new findings came as major U.S. cities reported sharp declines in the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2020 after experiencing historically high levels in 2019, when Jews were the No. 1 target of hate crimes in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.Last year’s decline in anti-Jewish hate crimes came as social distancing restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic reduced opportunities for in-person encounters, according to experts.As a result, much of the anti-Semitism experienced by Jewish Americans took place online, with 36% of the ADL survey respondents saying they had encountered some form of online harassment. Yet only 29% reported threats and harassment to social media platforms, down from 43% in 2020, Reaves noted.“I think that’s incredibly important, because it reflects, we believe, in some ways this resignation about tech companies’ refusal to deal head-on with the rise of bigotry, the rise of racism and anti-Semitism online,” Reaves said.Social media’s responseFacebook, Twitter and other mainstream social media sites say they do not allow harassment and threats on their platforms and encourage users to report them.Anti-Semitism stirs up much of America’s far-right movement, with many right-wing extremists often viewing Jews as the villain.American white supremacists have long blamed Jews for orchestrating “white genocide,” the notion that the white race is dying, as nonwhites and immigrants grow in number.In recent years, the QAnon movement has repurposed age-old anti-Semitic tropes to promote conspiracy theories about a world-dominating Jewish cabal.”We see this resurfacing over and over again in a lot of the right-wing commentary that has become so much a part of the American political landscape these days,” Reaves said.
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ICC Upholds Acquittal of Former Ivory Coast President
Judges at International Criminal Court in The Hague have upheld the acquittal of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and youth minister Charles Ble Goude, paving the way for both to return home. The two had been accused of instigating postelection violence, and observers said there were concerns that their return could again destabilize Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer of cocoa.Gbagbo and Ble Goude were in the courtroom for the verdict. Ble Goude smiled widely as Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji read it.”The appeals chamber by majority has found no error that could have materially affected the decision of trial chamber in relation to either of the prosecutors’ two grounds of appeal,” Eboe-Osuji said. “It therefore rejects the prosecutor’s appeal, and confirms the decision of the trial chamber.”The judge also revoked all remaining conditions on the men’s release. Gbagbo, who has been staying provisionally in Belgium, has said he wants to return to Ivory Coast, where he remains a heavyweight in the opposition against current President Alassane Ouattara.In a statement, Gbagbo’s defense team hailed the acquittal, saying justice had been done.Supporters of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude celebrate their acquittal outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 31, 2021.In 2019, ICC judges acquitted Gbagbo and Ble Goude of crimes-against-humanity charges related to postelectoral violence in Ivory Coast in 2010 and 2011. The vote saw Ouattara defeating Gbagbo, who refused to concede. Following an investigation of alleged atrocities that included perpetrating murder and rape, Gbagbo became the first former head of state to be arrested on orders of the ICC.The prosecution appealed the initial acquittal on procedural grounds, all of which were dismissed by the appeals judges, with two of them dissenting.In some cases, Eboe-Osuji offered particularly strong criticism of prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s arguments, including her apparent suggestions that the first court had hadn’t fully considered all the evidence before coming to its verdict.”Judges of the ICC … are presumed to act with integrity and impartiality. The appeals chamber would expect evidence of a very clear nature to support such a serious allegation as was made,” Eboe-Osuji said.Wednesday’s ruling amounted to yet another setback for the ICC prosecution. Judges previously acquitted on appeal former Democratic of Republic of the Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Prosecutor Bensouda earlier dropped crimes-against-humanities charges against Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta.Bensouda is also under U.S. sanctions for launching an investigation into war crimes by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. However, champions of the 20-year-old ICC argue that its mission — as a court of last resort taking on extraordinarily difficult cases against powerful figures — is extremely challenging from the start.Bensouda’s nine-year term is up in June. British prosecutor Karim Khan will succeed her.
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Suspect Arrested in New York Attack on Asian Woman
A man suspected of assaulting an Asian woman in New York has been arrested after surveillance video of the attack drew condemnation.
Police said Brandon Elliot, 38, is the man in the video assaulting the woman in midtown Manhattan on Monday. They said Elliot was living at a hotel that doubles as a homeless shelter a few blocks from the scene of the attack.
Elliot was convicted in 2002 of stabbing his mother to death in the Bronx when he was 19 years old. He was released in 2019 and is now on lifetime parole.
According to police, Elliot now faces charges of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault in Monday’s attack.
The victim in the video has been identified as Vilma Kari, a 65-year-old woman who immigrated from the Philippines.
Kari was walking to church in midtown Manhattan Monday when police said a man kicked her in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, stomped on her face, shouted anti-Asian slurs and told her, “you don’t belong here” before walking away.
Monday’s attack is the latest in a national wave of suspected anti-Asian hate crimes , including a mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight dead, six of whom were women of Asian descent.
The recent surge of anti-Asian violence has been linked in part to misplaced blame for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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South Sudan Road Attacks Leave Nearly 30 Dead
A string of deadly road attacks in South Sudan, including one on a governor’s convoy returning from the scene of an earlier attack, have left nearly 30 people dead.
Officials in Eastern Equatoria state say gunmen killed a bodyguard of Governor Louis Lobong Lojore and a woman on Monday, a day after armed youths allegedly from the town of Kapoeta attacked an area called “Camp 15” where members of the ethnic Buya community reside.
Governor Lojore said the motive behind Sunday’s incident was believed to be retaliation for an attack in 2020 on the SPLM-In Opposition cantonment site in the town of Lowuareng.
“There was an incident in Lowuareng where a small cantonment site which was there was turned into a small market and it was attacked by people suspected to be youth from Buya community killing five people, so it was based on that,” Lojore told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.
Lojore traveled to Camp 15 on Monday to calm tensions following Sunday’s attack on the trading center. A short time after the governor’s convoy left the camp to return to the state capital Torit Monday evening, gunmen attacked the convoy, killing two people and injuring three others, said state information minister Patrick Oting.
“They fell in an ambush and were attacked by the same Buya youths in Camp 15,” Oting told South Sudan in Focus. The governor was uninjured.
Oting said Lojore’s convoy returned to Camp 15 after the attack.
“They withdrew from that place, the governor and all the dignitaries that were with him on the convoy including the commander of army in Torit, General Robert Okimo, back to the barracks in Camp 15 after the ambush,” said Oting.
With the presence of soldiers on the ground, Othing said the governor and his peace delegates hoped to continue their peace mission to the three communities of Buya, Didinga and Toposa in Eastern Equatoria.
In Central Equatoria state, gunmen killed another 10 people in two separate incidents on the same road. Four commuters including three drivers were killed Sunday while traveling on the Juba-Yei Road and six more travelers were killed by unknown gunmen on Monday.
At a Juba news conference Monday, Central Equatoria state officials accused National Salvation Front (NAS) rebels led by Thomas Cirillo of carrying out the attacks.
State information minister Paulino Lukudu said NAS forces also launched attacks in Lasu and Lata of Yei River County last week.
On Tuesday, NAS spokesperson Suba Samuel denied his group is responsible for the recent deadly attacks.
“We are not aware of these road attacks or road ambushes whatsoever. What we know is our forces are engaging [South Sudan army forces] south of Juba, in Otogo, in Mugo and yesterday it was in Mukaya,” Samuel told South Sudan in Focus.
Lukudu said he hopes Cirilo will actively engage in peace talks between the government and holdout groups under a coalition called the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance in Naivasha, Kenya.
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Beijing-Led Electoral Reforms for Hong Kong Redefine ‘Democracy,’ Critics Say
Hong Kong’s legislature will undergo major changes to its format and structure as a result of Beijing’s approval of a political shakeup that will expand its control over the semiautonomous city.China’s National People’s Congress, the Communist Party’s rubber-stamp legislative body, passed a resolution earlier this month proposing the overhaul, which would make it harder for candidates from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition to be elected.The revamp, signed into law Tuesday by President Xi Jinping, reduces the number of directly elected seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and increases the number of pro-Beijing voices.Those seeking office will face strict vetting by a special committee, which critics expect to shut out pro-democracy forces and ensure that “patriots” govern the Chinese city.Lee Cheuk Yan, a veteran pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker, told VOA that it’s a “disastrous act” for Hong Kong.“I think it’s closer to the National People’s Congress, which also have the candidates before any election takes place. There will not be any more credibility for this Legislative Council in the future,” he said.Fewer selections by publicIn its current form, the Legislative Council has 70 members, of which 35 are selected every four years by popular vote from various municipal constituencies and district councils.FILE – The Legislative Council is shown in session in Hong Kong, March 17, 2021.Under the reforms, Legislative Council seats will increase to 90, of which the public will vote for only 20, down from 35. The lawmaking body’s Election Committee, which is heavily pro-Beijing and tasked with appointing Hong Kong’s chief executive, will be expanded to 1,500 members from 1,200.Lee said during his time as a Legislative Council lawmaker from 1995 to 2016, the aim was to gradually increase the number of seats to be filled by public elections.”Don’t go too quick, too fast — we have to make a gradual step,” he said. “The debate was always about the speed, never about the direction. But now this time, the direction is backwards and it’s really a shock to us.”The former lawmaker believes those seeking greater democracy will have to wait for more opportunities in the future.“I think we have to prepare ourselves to be outside the system for some time to come, for years to come, wait it out,” Lee told VOA. “Wait for Hong Kong people to continue [voicing protest], if possible on the street, to work it out in civil society.”Lee is due in court Thursday to learn his fate on a charge of illegal assembly in relation to pro-democracy protests in 2019. He has four cases outstanding.Political analyst Joseph Cheng said the changes make Hong Kong’s Legislative Council a “rubber stamp” system and that the future of a natural pro-democracy opposition is bleak.“It is likely that most critical pro-democracy candidates will be disqualified, hence the candidates’ qualifications committee. But the Hong Kong government will try to persuade some moderates to run as acceptable pro-democracy candidates,” Cheng told VOA.No ‘single model’ of democracyCarrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, told a news conference on Tuesday there is not “only one single model of democracy” and that if candidates pass security checks and uphold the city’s Basic Law — Hong Kong’s constitutional guarantee meant to keep the city semiautonomous until 2047 — they can run to be elected.FILE – A man walks past a government advertisement promoting the new Hong Kong electoral system changes, in Hong Kong, March 30, 2021.“For people who hold different political beliefs, who are more inclined towards more democracy, or who are more conservative, who belong to the left or belong to the right, as long as they meet this very fundamental and basic requirement, I don’t see why they could not run for election,” she said.Avery Ng, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, disagrees.”The Beijing government is redefining the terms ‘election’ and ‘democracy,’ ” he told VOA. “The new system cannot be considered as democracy when the government can control who can run and who can nominate. Together with the screening committees, the system only fits one, not all.”Lam confirmed that the next legislative elections under the new system would be held in December. The city was scheduled to hold elections last September, but they were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.After a century and a half under British colonial rule, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 under the Basic Law agreement, but Beijing’s influence over the city grew over the years, sparking pitched pro-democracy demonstrations that have simmered since 2019.In June 2020, China passed the National Security Law for Hong Kong, limiting autonomy and making it easier for dissidents to be punished. Dozens of high-profile pro-democracy activists have been arrested and jailed. The law carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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Italy Expels Two Russian Diplomats Accused of Espionage
Italy says it expelled two Russian diplomats and arrested an Italian navy captain Tuesday for their alleged involvement in espionage. The diplomats were expelled Wednesday, according to news reports. Italian police say the captain and a Russian Embassy official were arrested in a parking lot in Rome and were accused of “serious crimes tied to spying and state security.” Reuters reported that an Italian police official told them the captain was named Walter Biot and that he was accused of passing information in exchange for $5,900. Italian news agency Ansa reported that some of the documents seized were NATO documents. Italian police said the arrests were the result of a lengthy investigation by national security and military officials. The Russian Embassy in Rome, March 31, 2021.After the arrests, Italy summoned the Russian ambassador, and two Russian officials allegedly involved in the incident were expelled. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio characterized the incident as “extremely grave,” Reuters reported. “During the convocation of the Russian ambassador to Italy at the Foreign Ministry, we let him know about the strong protest of the Italian government and notified the immediate expulsion of the two Russian officials involved in this extremely grave affair,” the minister’s Facebook post said, according to CNN. Biot, 54, was reportedly working at the defense ministry in a department charged with developing national security policy and maintaining relations with Italy’s allies, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, Russian news agencies said the two expelled officials worked in the embassy’s military attaché office. They did not say if the person arrested in the parking lot was one of those expelled. Russian news agency Interfax reported that a Russian politician said it would reciprocate for the expulsions. But a Kremlin spokesman downplayed the incident. “At the moment, we do not have information about the reasons and circumstances of this detention,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to CNN. “But in any case, we hope that the very positive and constructive character of Russian-Italian relations will be preserved.” Both Bulgaria and the Netherlands have expelled Russian officials over spying allegations in recent months.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Governor’s Mask Mandate
The Supreme Court in the state of Wisconsin Wednesday struck down Governor Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate, ruling that the Democrat exceeded his authority by unilaterally extending the mandate for months through multiple emergency orders.
The conservative-controlled court voted 4-3 to strike down the “safer at home” order, saying that his health secretary did not have the authority to issue such an order.
Announcing the decision for the majority, Justice Brian Hagedorn said, “The question in this case is not whether the governor acted wisely; it is whether he acted lawfully. We conclude he did not.”
The ruling comes after Republicans in the state legislature voted to repeal the mask mandate in February, only to see Evers quickly re-issue it. State law says governors may issue health emergencies for 60 days at which point the legislature must approve an extension.
Evers has argued he may issue new emergencies because the coronavirus pandemic’s threat has changed.
The court last May struck down the governor’s attempts to limit capacity in bars, restaurants and other indoor places.
The new ruling comes on the same day as a White House COVID-19 advisor called on all state governors to maintain or re-instate mask mandates in their states as new virus cases continue to rise in the nation.
Earlier this month, five states allowed their mandates to expire, joining another 11 states that never implemented mask mandates at all.
At a White House briefing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky said the most recent figures show the U.S. seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is up by 12% over the previous week.
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‘Falling Like Flies’: Hungary’s Roma Community Pleads for COVID-19 Help
Coronavirus infections are ravaging Hungary’s 700,000-strong Roma community, according to personal accounts that suggest multiple deaths in single families are common in an unchecked outbreak fueled by deep distrust of authorities.Data on infections in the community is unavailable but interviews with about a dozen Roma, who often live in cramped and unsanitary conditions, reveal harrowing stories of suffering and death and of huge health care challenges.”Our people are falling like flies,” said Aladar Horvath, a Roma rights advocate who travels widely among the community.When asked by phone to describe the overall situation, he broke down sobbing and said he had learned an hour before that his 35-year-old nephew had died of COVID.Another Roma, Zsanett Bito-Balogh, likened the outbreak in her town of Nagykallo in eastern Hungary to an explosion.”It’s like a bomb went off,” she said.”Just about every family got it. …People you see riding their bikes one week are in hospital the next and you order flowers for their funerals the third.”Bito-Balogh, who herself recovered twice from COVID-19, said that at one point she had 12 family members in hospital. She said she had lost two uncles and her grandmother to the virus in the past month, and a neighbor lost both parents, a cousin and a uncle within weeks.She says she is now rushing to organize in-person registration points for vaccines and plans to have the network up and running in a few weeks.Despite the challenges in persuading many Roma to turn to health authorities for medical care and vaccinations, Roma leaders are urging the government to do more to intervene and tackle what Horvath describes as a humanitarian crisis.Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said vaccinations would be rolled out to Roma but that the community needed to volunteer for their shots.”Once we get to that point, the younger Roma should get in line,” Gulyas said in answer to Reuters questions. The Roma community is predominantly young, which means their vaccinations are scheduled later than for older Hungarians.The government’s chief epidemiologist did not respond to requests for comment.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 46 MB1080p | 89 MBOriginal | 102 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn northern Hungary, one of the European Union’s poorest regions, many Roma who live with hardship in the best of times are facing hunger as the coronavirus brings the economy to a halt.Decades of mistrustBarely 9% of Roma want to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a survey carried out at Hungary’s University of Pecs in January but published here for the first time. It was conducted by Zsuzsanna Kiss, a Roma biologist and professor at Hungary’s University of Pecs.Kiss said the Roma have mistrusted doctors and governments for decades because of perceived discrimination.However, gaining Roma trust is not the only challenge.Hungary’s 6,500 general practitioners are leading the vaccine rollout, but 10% of small GP clinics are shut because there is no doctor to operate them, mostly in areas with high Roma populations, government data shows.Although the government has deployed five “vaccination buses” that tour remote areas, people must first register for inoculations.”The rise in cases (among the Roma) is clearly proportionate to vaccine rejection,” said former Surgeon General Ferenc Falus.”This more infectious virus reaches a population whose immune system has weakened greatly during the winter months. If they go without vaccines for long, it will definitely show in extra infections and fatalities among the Roma.”Hungary currently has the world’s highest weekly per capita death toll, driven by the more contagious variant first detected in Britain, despite a rapid vaccination rollout, data from Johns Hopkins University and the European Union indicates.”We never trusted vaccines much,” said Zoltan Varga, a young Roma also from Nagykallo.
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Niger’s Government Says Military Coup Attempt Thwarted
Niger’s government says an attempted military coup was stopped Wednesday, two days before the new president is due to take office. An army unit in the West African country tried to seize the presidential palace in Niamey overnight in an attempted coup, says the government. According to three security sources, the assailants came from a nearby air base and fled after the presidential guard attacked them with heavy shelling and gunfire. “Several people have been arrested and others linked to the events are being actively sought,” said a statement from government spokesman Abdourahmane Zakaria. Zakaria added that “the government condemns this cowardly and retrogressive act that aims to endanger democracy and the rule of law to which our country is resolutely committed.” The U.S. Embassy in Niamey said on Twitter that it will be closed Wednesday “due to gunshots heard near our neighborhood.” President Mahamadou Issoufou, who completed two five-year terms, is stepping down this week in what is to be Niger’s first-ever peaceful transfer of power. President-elect Mohamed Bazoum, the ruling party candidate, will be sworn in Friday following an election victory disputed by his opponent, Mahamane Ousmane. The coup attempt follows a surge in attacks by Islamist extremists, including massacres in villages near Niger’s troubled border with Mali. An attack on March 21 killed an estimated 137 civilians.
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Botswana to Proceed with Elephant Hunts Despite Red List
Authorities in Botswana say the elephant hunting season will go ahead as planned, despite a world conservation body listing African elephants as endangered. Botswana’s government argues its elephant population – the world’s largest – is growing too fast and leading to human-wildlife conflict.The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this month listed Africa’s Savannah elephants as endangered and its forest elephants as critically endangered.But Botswana’s Director of Wildlife and National Paks, Kabelo Senyatso said the authorized elephant hunts will begin on April 6 as planned.Senyatso said his government uses IUCN’s red list as one of the tools to implement conservation programs.However, he said IUCN’s latest report notes Botswana’s elephant population is growing, not declining. The country has an estimated 130,000 elephants within its borders.Senyatso said Botswana lifted a hunting ban in 2019, mainly to generate sustainable income for communities, and not as a way to control the elephant population.The co-chairperson of the IUCN’s Elephant Specialist Group, Ben Okita-Ouma, said the red list is meant to guide authorities as to the status of various species.FILE – A combination photo shows dead elephants in Okavango Delta, Botswana, May-June, 2020.He said the organization’s report acknowledges there are some countries where elephant populations are thriving.”The entire African population has declined significantly. When it comes to specifics there are places that are probably doing ok than others. There are places that require much more intervention. Places like KAZA, we are seeing that population of savanna elephants are doing ok,” he said.KAZA is shorthand for Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, home to the world’s largest elephant populations.Conservationist Neil Fitt said the move to declare the two elephant species as under extreme threat is long overdue.The IUCN blames poaching and habitat fragmentation for the decline in populations.However, Fitt argues Botswana has a stable elephant population which means the country can continue with its elephant management programs.“The ones in Botswana and KAZA are still extremely stable if not increasing over the geographically area. I am not too sure how that will affect the hunting in Botswana and Namibia. Usually IUCN allows the countries to manage their own populations as long as they have scientific facts and if the population is increasing or stable,” he said.The IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group found that in the past 50 years, savanna elephants have declined by more than 60 percent, while forest elephants are down by an alarming 86 percent in just three decades.
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BBC Journalist Leaves China Over Concerns for His Safety
A British Broadcasting Corporation journalist has relocated from China to Taiwan out of concerns for his safety, the broadcaster and a journalist group said Wednesday.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said John Sudworth left China last week “amid concerns for his safety and that of his family.”
Sudworth’s relocation came because China has been critical of the BBC’s coverage of alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, according to the BBC.
Sudworth has not been credited in the reports, but China’s foreign ministry and the Communist Party-supported media has, nevertheless, criticized him.
Sudworth, who was based in China for nine years, won a George Polk Award in 2020 for reporting on internment camps for Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
China has rejected allegations of abuses at the camps, maintaining they were vocational training centers.
“John’s work has exposed truths the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know,” the BBC tweeted.
In an interview with BBC radio, Sudworth said he left the country after being subjected to surveillance, obstruction, intimidation, and threats of legal action.
“We left in a hurry, followed by plainclothes police all the way to the airport through the check-in,” Sudworth said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing that the government was at a loss over Sundworth’s departure.
“We never threatened him,” she said. “We don’t know why he left because he didn’t say goodbye.”
The BBC said Sudworth would maintain his position as its China correspondent.
Sudworth’s wife, Yvonne Murray, a correspondent for Irish broadcaster RTE, departed the country with him, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said.
China expelled 18 journalists employed by U.S. media outlets last year, when there was a “rapid decline in media freedom,” the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a report released earlier in March.
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Russia Registers Vaccine to Protect Animals from COVID-19
Russia says it registered the world’s first vaccine for animals against the COVID-19 virus on Wednesday — with government officials hailing an inoculation labeled ‘Carnivac-Cov’ as a victory in the global race to protect both animals and humans from further mutations of the coronavirus.“The clinical trials of Carnivac-Cov, which started last October, involved dogs, cats, Arctic foxes, minks, foxes and other animals,” said Konstantin Savenkov, Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agricultural watchdog agency, in a statement announcing the vaccine.“The results allow us to conclude that the vaccine is harmless and provides high immunity, in such as the animals who were tested developed antibodies to the coronavirus in 100% of cases,” added Savenkov.Savenkov added that the shot currently provided immunity of up to 6 months — and could be in production in the coming weeks.The Russian announcement came just a day after the World Health Organization issued a report exploring the origins of COVID-19 in China. The WHO study offered no firm conclusions but suggested the most likely source lay in animals — specifically, a bat.The U.S. has expressed reservations about what some US officials believe are the Chinese government’s efforts to skew the report’s findings.Studies have repeatedly documented select cases of COVID-19 infecting both domesticated and captive animals around the globe — including common household pets such as cats and dogs, as well as farmed mink and several animals in zoos.Mutation fearsScientists have raised concerns that the virus could subsequently mutate to other host animals — and eventually circulate back to humans.Last November, Denmark ordered the mass extermination of 15 million mink after a mutated variation of COVID-19 was discovered on more than 200 farms in the region.Danish officials noted the measure was grim necessity after a dozen people were found have been infected by a mutated COVID-19 strain.Rosselkhoznadzor’s Savenkov said the new Russian vaccine was intended primarily to protect household pets and farmed captive animals important to the global economy — as well as the humans in contact with them.“People and animals we live together on one planet and both are in contact with a great number of infections,” said Tatiana Galkina, a lead researcher behind Carnivac-Cov in a promotional video released to Youtube.“Of course in the future, we’re not insured against new viral infections. Therefore science should keep advancing and be a step ahead,” added Galkina, while petting a purring cat.Another video released to social media shows officials administering the vaccine to a plump white mink at a Russian fur farm.В России зарегистрировали первую в мире вакцину для животных от коронавируса
Препарат получил название «Карнивак-Ков». Клинические испытания препарата провели на кошках, собаках, песцах, норках, и лисах. В Россельхознадзоре даже показали, как прививают на примере норок pic.twitter.com/igQQZ38tIZ
— ФедералПресс (@FederalPress) March 31, 2021While the inoculation will face further peer review, Carnivac-Cov appears the latest example of Russia’s flexing its scientific muscle in the global race against the coronavirus pandemic.Last August, President Vladimir Putin claimed his nation was first to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 for humans with its Sputnik V inoculation. The announcement faced heavy skepticism for claiming a Russian victory before standard third phase trials had even begun.Subsequent international reviews later showed the Russian vaccine with an efficacy rate of over 90%.
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Indonesia Officials Recover Voice Recorder from January Plane Crash
Officials with Indonesia’s transport ministry said Wednesday they have recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the Sriwijaya Air jet airliner that crashed into the Java Sea nearly three months ago. The ministry announced the discovery and displayed the so-called “black box” during a news conference at a port in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. The officials say Indonesian navy divers recovered the CVR Tuesday and say they hope it will help them determine what caused the Boeing 737-500 to suddenly nose-dive into the ocean shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on January 9. The say the recorder was discovered on the seabed not far from where the first flight recorder was found shortly after the accident. While the first recorder contained data from the ill-fated flight, the CVR contains actual conversations of the flight crew. National Transport Safety Committee chief Soerjanto Tjahjojo told reporters the voice recorder had lost its beacon and after about a month and a half of searching with their usual detection equipment, they decided to change their methods. He said they ended up using a dredge that “worked as a vacuum cleaner” and finally found it after searching a 90 x 90 square meter area. Tjahjojo said it will take up to seven days to dry and clean the device and to download its data. Then they we will read and transcribe it to match it with the flight data in hopes of determining what happened in the cockpit as the accident occurred.A preliminary report by the agency suggested an imbalance in the engine thrust may have forced the aircraft into a roll, but the investigation is continuing.The 26-year-old jet had been out of service for almost nine months because of flight cutbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic, officials previously said.It resumed commercial flights in December.
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US Federal Employees Asked to Volunteer and Assist at Southern Border
Faced with the challenge of caring for thousands of migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is asking workers from other federal agencies to volunteer to go to the border region on temporary assignments.During deployments of between 30 and 120 days, the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement wants the volunteers to help with tasks such as supervising children and collecting contact information for their relatives inside the United States so that they can be handed to over to their family’s care while they go through immigration proceedings.Children who are taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection are transferred to HHS facilities until they can be placed with a sponsor. Health and Human Services says in more than 80 percent of cases, a child has a family member in the United States, and that about half of those are a parent or legal guardian.There are currently about 18,000 children in custody, including at HHS facilities located in convention centers in Dallas, Texas, and San Diego, California.While authorities expel most adults who cross the U.S.-Mexico border under a public health order that former President Donald Trump issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Joe Biden’s administration has not reinstated expulsions of unaccompanied migrant children. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 20 MB720p | 45 MB1080p | 79 MBOriginal | 241 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioChanges to US Immigration Policy Triggers Migrant InflowAdam Fernandez, vice president of policy and strategic engagement at Lawyers for Good Government, said that divided policy, often referred to as Title 42, “keeps people from entering the U.S. as a family, and it leads to an effective family separation.”Fernandez told VOA the background for the current effort to recruit volunteers to help with HHS operations at the border is a 1997 agreement that calls for unaccompanied migrant children to be quickly placed with a sponsor.“They’re trying to abide by that and to try to get them out of immigrant attention,” Fernandez said. “But if you really want to solve the problem, you need to get rid of Title 42 to keep families together, and allow them to apply for asylum together.”The Department of Health and Human Services says its preference is for volunteers to be federal workers who are proficient in Spanish or familiar with indigenous dialects spoken in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador. They will also have to undergo child care background checks. VP Harris, Guatemala’s Giammattei Discuss ImmigrationPresident Joe Biden has named Harris to lead U.S. efforts with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to try to stem the flow of migration, which has climbed sharply in recent weeksMiriam Abaya, senior director for immigration and children’s rights at First Focus on Children, said there are federal workers who have specific expertise, such as experience working with children or having gone through the immigration themselves, that is important to have as the government works to ensure the children are properly cared for.“Absolutely I think language skills are important. I think that people who have prior experience working with children, who have an understanding of child development, of childhood trauma, of child medical care and mental health services,” Abaya told VOA. “I think all of that experience is important to bring to bear and to make sure that those who are caring for children see these children as children first and are able to meet their specific needs.”During the Trump administration, there were several initiatives involving sending more people to the southern border as the president declared a national emergency existed there.Those efforts involved the Defense Department sending up to 4,000 personnel, mostly National Guard troops, to support Department of Homeland Security operations. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that there has been no additional request for assistance.Two years ago, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked for federal workers at her agency and others who were not involved in operations at the border to volunteer to help with border security.Employees at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, were among those who received the memo issued last week seeking volunteers for the current border effort. Yolanda López, VOA’s acting director, said in a note to staff members Tuesday that in order to avoid any conflicts of interest, VOA journalists are not eligible to participate.Carla Babb and Chris Hannas contributed to this report.
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Why Diverse Children’s Books Matter to America’s Future
The United States is becoming an increasingly diverse country. With whites expected to account for less than 50-percent of the population by 2045, there’s a push to make books for children as diverse as the nation itself. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, experts say the success level of future American adults could be at stake.Camera: Griffin Harrington
Producer: Marcus Harton
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White House: VP Harris, Guatemala’s Giammattei Discuss Immigration
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed to work together to address the root causes of migration to the United States, the White House said in a statement. “They agreed to explore innovative opportunities to create jobs and to improve the conditions for all people in Guatemala and the region, including by promoting transparency and combating crime,” the statement said. President Joe Biden has named Harris to lead U.S. efforts with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to try to stem the flow of migration, which has climbed sharply in recent weeks. Harris thanked Giammattei for his efforts to secure Guatemala’s southern border, the White House said.Guatemala’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, speaks during February 2020 news conference in Guatemala City, March 31, 2021.Guatemala’s government, in a statement, said that during the call Giammattei underlined his interest in Guatemalan citizens living in the United States being granted temporary protected status. Temporary protected status allows nationals of certain countries, often facing armed conflict or major natural disasters, who are already in the United States to remain and work there.Harris also accepted an invitation by Giammattei to visit the Central American country at a future date, Guatemala said. Several hundred Hondurans set off on Tuesday for the Guatemalan border, seeking to reach the United States, according to local media and a Reuters witness. But by afternoon they had largely dispersed. Other recent caravans have been broken up by Guatemalan authorities and this relatively small one appeared to dissolve before reaching the Guatemala border. The group was the second large caravan to set out from Honduras this year, following catastrophic flooding in November from two hurricanes that battered an already struggling economy.
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Italian Naval Officer, Russian Detained on Spying Charges
Italian authorities said Wednesday they have arrested an Italian Navy captain on spying charges after he was allegedly caught giving classified documents to a Russian embassy official in exchange for money. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador, Sergey Razov, after the sting operation late Tuesday caught the two in what police said was a “clandestine operation” to exchange the goods. Italy’s Carabinieri paramilitary police said in a statement that the Italian official, who is a frigate captain, had been arrested. The Russian, a member of the Russian armed forces stationed at Moscow’s embassy to Italy, has been detained but his status is “under consideration” given his diplomatic position, the statement said. Italy’s special operations forces in Rome staged the operation “during a clandestine operation between the two, surprising them red-handed immediately after the handing over of classified documents by the Italian official in exchange for a sum of money,” the statement said. The Carabinieri said both were accused of “serious crimes concerning espionage and state security.” The Russian Embassy in Rome confirmed the detention of a diplomat who was part of the military attache’s office but wouldn’t comment on the incident. “In any case, we hope that it wouldn’t affect bilateral ties,” it said in a statement.
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Trial of Officer Charged in George Floyd’s Death Enters Third Day
The trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, continues Wednesday in the U.S. state of Minnesota with more testimony from a firefighter who expressed her frustration at not being allowed to use her training to help Floyd. Genevieve Hansen was among several people who testified Tuesday about their frustration and anger as they witnessed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck outside a convenience store last May. According to witnesses and video recorded by bystanders, Hansen identified herself to police as a firefighter and repeatedly urged them to allow her to check Floyd’s pulse.Murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, March 31, 2021.Prosecutors said Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. The officer is facing charges of murder and manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty. Chauvin’s defense lawyers have argued he was following his training and that other factors such as heart disease and drug use caused Floyd to die. Floyd’s death and a video from the scene that was shared widely on social media and news programs sparked protests in numerous areas across the United States and other parts of the world against police brutality. The city of Minneapolis recently agreed to pay Floyd’s relatives $27 million in damages to settle their claims of abuse in the case.
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Germany Limits Use of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Because of Fears of Blood Clots
Germany has limited the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people 60 years of age and older due to concerns that it may be causing blood clots. Federal and state health authorities cited nearly three-dozen cases of blood clots known as cerebral sinus vein thrombosis in its decision Tuesday, including nine deaths. The country’s medical regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, says all but two of the cases involved women between the ages of 20 and 63. The nationwide order was made after several local governments, including Berlin, Munich and the states of Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, had already decided to limit the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to older residents. Health authorities say younger people who belong to a high-risk category for serious illness from COVID-19 can still get the vaccine, while people 60 and younger who have received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot can still receive the second shot as planned. About 2.7 million Germans have been inoculated with the vaccine. The decision is likely to further slow down Germany’s already sluggish vaccination campaign, and marks another setback for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has had a troubled rollout across the world. Several European countries had briefly stopped use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because of similar reports of blood clots, until the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Union’s drug approval body, declared the vaccine as safe.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Health Minister Jens Spahn brief the media after a virtual meeting with federal state governors at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 30, 2021.Germany’s decision came a day after Canada said it would stop offering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to people under age 55 because of concerns of serious blood clots, especially among younger women. Also on Tuesday, the United States and 13 other nations issued a statement raising “shared concerns” about the newly released World Health Organization report on the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19. The statement, released on the U.S. State Department website, as well as the other signatories, said it was essential to express concerns that the international expert study on the source of the virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples. The WHO formally released its report earlier Tuesday, saying while the report presents a comprehensive review of available data, “we have not yet found the source of the virus.” The team reported difficulties in accessing raw data, among other issues, during its visit to the city of Wuhan, China earlier this year. The researchers also had been forced to wait days before receiving final permission by the Chinese government to enter Wuhan. The joint statement by the United States and others went on to say, “scientific missions like these should be able to do their work under conditions that produce independent and objective recommendations and findings.” The nations expressed their concerns in the hope of laying “a pathway to a timely, transparent, evidence-based process for the next phase of this study as well as for the next health crisis.” Along with the United States, the statement was signed by the governments of Australia, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and Slovenia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday further study and more data are needed to confirm if the virus was spread to humans through the food chain or through wild or farmed animals. Tedros said that while the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, the matter requires further investigation. WHO team leader Peter Ben Embarek told reporters Tuesday that it is “perfectly possible” COVID-19 cases were circulating as far back as November or October 2019 around Wuhan, earlier than has been documented regarding the spread of the virus.
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Myanmar’s Descent into Chaos to Further Fuel Mekong Drug Trade: UN
The chaos in Myanmar could see a surge in meth production across the’ Golden Triangle’, the United Nation’s organized crime agency said Tuesday, as ethnic militias seek quick cash to firm up their positions in lawless borderlands whose fragile equilibrium has been disrupted by the coup. Drug lords entwined with rebel groups in Myanmar’s ungovernable border zone with Laos, Thailand and China – the notorious Golden Triangle – have been pumping record amounts of methamphetamine across Southeast Asia. They churn out precursor chemicals and yaba ‘crazy medicine’ pills and the more addictive – and expensive – crystal meth to a regional market worth up to an estimated $70 billion a year. The February 1 coup in Myanmar has stoked instability in border regions where complex alliances among rebel groups, drug lords and affiliates of Myanmar’s army have kept an uneasy order, where skirmishes can be smoothed over by a shared interest in keeping the narco money flowing. But those alliances have been put in jeopardy after Myanmar’s army – known as the Tatmadaw – unexpectedly seized power, tipping the country into violent instability and flatlining the economy as pro-democracy protests defy a violent crackdown across the country. “The economy in Myanmar is grinding to a halt, we now see the past week several arms groups making a push to strengthen their position, so fundamentally they need money,” Jeremy Douglas of the UNOCD told VOA news. “Either they’re involved (in) or are taxing the drug trade… so what we’re looking at is the fastest way to make big money is the drug trade.” Instability could push the rebel groups who control the drug labs into increasing production.This screengrab provided via AFPTV and taken from a broadcast by Myitkyina News Journal on March 27, 2021 shows security forces crack down protesters during a demonstration against the military coup in Myitkyina in Myanmar’s Kachin state.Already Myanmar’s army has launched airstrikes against ethnic majority areas bordering Thailand for the first time in many years, spurring thousands of Karen refugees to flee towards the frontier. Route Laos The drug trade of the Golden Triangle has morphed over the last two decades from heroin and opium to focus on methamphetamine. It relies on virtually open borders to reach Southeast Asia’s vast markets – and as far as Australia and New Zealand. One of the top networks, the ‘Sam Gor,’ was dealt a blow when its alleged leader Tse Chi Lop was arrested in Amsterdam on a warrant from Australian police. One of his top lieutenants, Hong Kong citizen Lee Chung Chak, was arrested in October last year on an exclusive Bangkok street. But the meth trade pivots on the ready availability of precursor chemicals – including P2P and pseudoephedrine. The commonly used chemicals come from factories in China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. They are hard to separate from their legitimate use in medicine and agriculture and are easily disguised as different compounds and smuggled across borders marshaled by low-paid law enforcement. Last year Laos seized more than 70 tons of precursors as the drug gangs use the country as a run through from Vietnam to the drug labs of Myanmar, a police source in the Communist-run country who requested anonymity to discuss the matter, told VOA news. The huge hauls were blocked in Bokeo province, the border to Myanmar’s Shan State, where drug labs produce meth and then send it back hidden in tea packets destined for Thailand, Malaysia and beyond. “It’s impossible to estimate how much meth these chemicals could have made,” the police source said. Thai drug officials fear further insecurity in Myanmar will play out into more drugs heading south. “The more serious the situation and the more money is needed… the production capacity always needs to match the demand and Thailand will certainly be caught in any overflow of drugs,” said Suriya Singhakamon Deputy Secretary General of the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). In a region already awash with labs, precursors and drug networks skilled in the logistics of moving tons of product to the market, Myanmar’s fast-forwarded descent into instability is a cause of concern. “We don’t know what’s about to happen, but we all know it’s not going to be good,” says Douglas of the UNODC. We don’t know how many drugs are coming, but they’re going come.”
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US Orders Non-Essential Personnel to Evacuate Myanmar as Military Escalates Crackdown on Protesters
The U.S. State Department has ordered all non-essential personnel and their family members to leave Myanmar as the military’s bloody crackdown against anti-coup demonstrations continues. “The Burmese military has detained and deposed elected government officials,” the department said in a written statement ordering the evacuations, using Myanmar’s former name. “Protests and demonstrations against military rule have occurred and are expected to continue.” The State Department’s order updates an advisory issued just last month that allowed non-emergency U.S. personnel to leave if they wanted. Myanmar security forces have killed at least 512 civilians since the February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The death toll includes more than 100 people on Saturday as the regime staged a major show of might for Armed Forces Day, which commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II. AAPP puts Saturday’s death toll at 141. “What has happened on the national day of armed forces was horrendous,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference Monday.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken participates in a virtual meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from the State Department in Washington, on March 29, 2021.Two more people were killed Tuesday as thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets again. The civil disobedience movement employed another tactic as residents in Yangon threw garbage on intersections throughout the city. Three of the country’s armed ethnic rebel groups, meanwhile, threatened the junta Tuesday with retaliation if it does not stop killing protesters. “If they do not stop and continue to kill the people, we will cooperate with the protestors and fight back,” the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army said in a joint statement. The military expanded its crackdown by launching airstrikes against ethnic Karen rebels in eastern Myanmar in response to rebel attacks on military and police stations in recent days. The airstrikes prompted thousands of people to flee through the jungle and over the border into neighboring Thailand. Thailand has denied accusations by humanitarian aid agencies that its soldiers had forced refugees to return to Myanmar. The United Nations Security Council will hold a closed door meeting Wednesday on the situation in Myanmar. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for Secretary-General Guterres, told VOA’s Margaret Besheer that “what we would like to see, is a very strong and unified message from Security Council members to the military in Myanmar to go back on the actions that have taken place, to stop the violence, to release the political prisoners, to return the country to the people of Myanmar, and to push for the travel of our Special Envoy to Myanmar.” Former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) led Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but Myanmar’s military contested last November’s election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence. On February 1, the military removed the NLD government, detaining Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Martial law has been imposed in townships across Myanmar.
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