Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launched a breakaway Super League on Sunday, launching what is certain to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its lucrative revenue.The move sets up a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League competition and was condemned by football authorities and political leaders.Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the leading members of the new league, but UEFA has threatened to ban them from domestic and international competition and vowed to fight the move.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both issued statements condemning the breakaway and supporting UEFA’s position.Along with United, English Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the plans.Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain join Real. AC Milan and Inter Milan make up the trio from Italy along with Juventus.The Super League said they aimed to have 15 founding members and a 20-team league with five other clubs qualifying each season.The clubs would share a fund of 3.5 billion euros ($4.19 billion) to spend on infrastructure projects and to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than 4 billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the first chairman of the Super League.No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, expressed its “disapproval to a ‘closed European breakaway league’ outside of the international football structures.”But there was no mention of a previous threat from FIFA to ban any players taking part in a breakaway from participating in World Cups.The announcement came just hours before UEFA is to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured 36 team Champions League on Monday.UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use “all measures” to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.”The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” UEFA said.”We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”The moves were condemned by football authorities across Europe and former players such as Manchester United’s ex-captain Gary Neville who called it “an absolute disgrace” and said the club owners were motivated by “pure greed.”France’s Macron raised his voice against the breakaway.”The president of the republic welcomes the position of French clubs to refuse to participate to a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit,” the French presidency said in a statement sent to Reuters.”The French state will support all the steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to protect the integrity of federal competitions, whether national or European,” the Elysee added, citing the national, European and globally soccer governing bodies.Britain’s Johnson also opposed the move.”Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action,” he tweeted.”They would strike at the heart of the domestic game and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”There have been reports of a breakaway for several years and they returned in January with several media reported a document had been produced outlining the plans.In October, then Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club had accepted a proposal to join a breakaway league.Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn that they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
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Month: April 2021
‘No Driver’ Tesla Involved in Deadly Crash in Texas
Two men were killed in a crash in Texas while riding in a Tesla car that police said almost certainly had no one behind the wheel, U.S. media reported Sunday.The vehicle was driving at high speed late Saturday north of Houston when it slammed into a tree and burst into flames, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Harris County Sheriff Mark Herman.”Our preliminary investigation is determining — but it’s not complete yet — that there was no one at the wheel of that vehicle,” he said. “We’re almost 99.9 percent sure.”When police arrived, one of the two victims was sitting in the front passenger seat and the other in the rear seat. Herman said police had not yet determined whether the driver-side airbag had deployed and whether the car’s driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the crash.AFP was not able to reach the local police for comment.On its website, Tesla warns that the driver assistance systems it offers do not make their vehicles fully autonomous and that active driver supervision is still necessary.But videos regularly show moving Teslas with drivers asleep or without their hands on the wheel for extended periods of time.
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Chad Army Says It Has Stopped Rebel Advance Toward Capital
The Chadian military said it had halted an advance by rebels coming from neighboring Libya, but the rebel group said Sunday that it was pressing ahead after the American and British embassies warned of a possible assault on the capital in the coming days.Army spokesman Azim Bermandoa Agouna said that clashes had taken place late Saturday in the northern province of Kanem and that the rebel column from Libya was “totally decimated.””Congratulations to our valiant defense and security forces,” government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene tweeted, describing the rebel forces as “mercenaries coming from Libya.”It was not immediately possible to independently corroborate the claims given the remote location where the fighting took place. A warning issued to British citizens, though, said there were believed to be two rebel convoys — one moving from the town of Faya toward the capital, N’Djamena, and another seen headed toward the town of Mao.The rebel group known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad issued a statement Sunday on its Facebook page stating that its forces had begun “the liberation of Kanem region.””We assure all residents of the city of N’Djamena, including diplomatic staff, United Nations agents, organizations, partners, and expats working in Chad to stay calm and avoid unnecessary travel outside the city of N’Djamena,” said the statement issued by spokesman Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tabul.The rebels are believed to have crossed over into Chad a week ago on election day as President Idriss Deby sought to extend his three-decade-long grip on power. While the incumbent was all but certain to win another term, official results have not yet been released.The U.S. State Department on Saturday ordered nonessential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Chad to leave along with the families of American personnel stationed there, saying armed groups appear to be moving on the capital.”Due to their growing proximity to N’Djamena, and the possibility for violence in the city, nonessential U.S. government employees have been ordered to leave Chad by commercial airline,” the department said in a travel alert.The central African nation has had a long history of rebellions during the 30-year reign of Deby. In 2019, French armed forces intervened in northern Chad and launched airstrikes at an armed group coming in from Libya.In 2008, clashes reached the gate of the presidential palace before Chad’s army repelled rebel forces and pursued them eastward toward the Sudanese border. Chad, a former French colony, is home to France’s military Operation Barkhane, which deploys troops across the continent to fight Islamic extremism. The Chadian military also has played a major role in that effort, contributing troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.Chadian soldiers also have long battled militants from the extremist group Boko Haram, which started in northeastern Nigeria and spread to neighboring countries. About 330,000 Chadians are internally displaced, the majority in the volatile Lake Chad region where Boko Haram fighters are most active.
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Israel, Greece Sign Record Defense Deal
Israel and Greece have signed their biggest ever defense procurement deal, which Israel said Sunday would strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries as their air forces launched a joint exercise.The agreement includes a $1.65 billion contract for the establishment and operation of a training center for the Hellenic Air Force by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems over 22 years, Israel’s defense ministry said.The training center will be modeled on Israel’s flight academy and will be equipped with 10 M-346 training aircraft produced by Italy’s Leonardo, the ministry said.Elbit will supply kits to upgrade and operate Greece’s T-6 aircraft and also provide training, simulators and logistical support.”I am certain that (this program) will upgrade the capabilities and strengthen the economies of Israel and Greece and thus the partnership between our two countries will deepen on the defense, economic and political levels,” said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.The announcement follows a meeting Friday in Cyprus between the UAE, Greek, Cypriot and Israeli foreign ministers, who agreed to deepen cooperation.The Israeli and Greek air forces on Sunday launched a joint exercise in Greece, the Israeli military said.In at least one past exercise over Greece, Israeli fighter planes practiced against an S-300 posted on Crete. The Russian-made air defense system is also deployed in Syria and Iran, Israel’s foes.A source in the Hellenic National Defense Command said the S-300 had not been activated in the joint exercise that began Sunday.
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UNHCR Voices Concern After Botswana Deports Zimbabwean Refugees
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it is concerned after Botswana deported 57 Zimbabwean refugees who had lived in the host country since 2008. The refugees reportedly failed to register for voluntary repatriation, which led to their forced removal late last week.
The UNHCR’s external relations officer, Kate Pond, says the refugees, irrespective of their status, have rights and could have been allowed to remain as permanent residents.
“UNHCR remains concerned that Zimbabweans who have been in Botswana for over a decade have been removed to Zimbabwe in less than voluntary circumstances. Irrespective of their status they still have certain rights, and UNHCR had aimed for alternative solutions, like those provided to Zimbabweans who have family links in Botswana and may be able to remain in the country as permanent residents,” Pond said.
One of the deported refugees, speaking on condition of anonymity, says they were rounded up Thursday and told to board a bus which took them to Zimbabwe’s border.
“We left Botswana on empty stomachs. We were deported to the border and we didn’t get any assistance. We wanted to remain in Botswana; that’s why we did not register [for repatriation]. We have nothing, we don’t know where to start. We had children going to school. It will be difficult without documents like passports and identity cards,” the refugee said.
The deportees had been living at the Dukwi refugee camp. Botswana’s government had warned that refugees who did not register would be deported.
Last month, Botswana sent back more than 200 other Zimbabweans who had registered for voluntary repatriation.
The repatriated refugees had initially refused to do so, citing fears of persecution in their homeland.
Most were opposition activists whose homes were burned down during a deadly presidential election campaign in 2008.
But one of the returnees, Bheki Weza, says they have surprisingly been well received in Zimbabwe despite their earlier safety concerns.
“We are very happy about the situation. As we speak, I am now home still trying to settle down and adjust to the difficult economic conditions here in Zimbabwe. But I am happy because there is still peace surrounding us. I have met with the chiefs and even met with people that we fought with before I left. So far so good,” Weza said.
The UNHCR says it will continue to assist refugees who were repatriated. Each person received $520 and a food package. But the agency says there will be no such assistance for the deported refugees.
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Russia Expels 20 Czechs After Blast Blamed on Skripal Suspects
Moscow expelled 20 Czech diplomats on Sunday in a confrontation over Czech allegations that two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind an earlier explosion at a Czech ammunition depot that killed two people.On Saturday, Prague ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave the country, prompting Russia to vow Sunday to “force the authors of this provocation to fully understand their responsibility for destroying the foundation of normal ties between our countries.”Moscow gave the Czech diplomats just a day to leave, while Prague had given the Russians three days.The Czech Republic said it had informed NATO and European Union allies that it suspected Russia of causing the 2014 blast, and European Union foreign ministers were set to discuss the matter at their meeting Monday.The U.S. State Department commended Prague’s firm response to “Russia’s subversive actions on Czech soil.”The row is the biggest between Prague and Moscow since the end of decades of Soviet domination of eastern Europe in 1989.It also adds to growing tensions between Russia and the West in general, raised in part by Russia’s military buildup on its western borders and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, after a surge in fighting between government and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s east.Russia said Prague’s accusations were absurd as it had previously blamed the blast at Vrbetice, 300 kilometers (210 miles) east of the capital, on the depot’s owners.It called the expulsions “the continuation of a series of anti-Russian actions undertaken by the Czech Republic in recent years,” accusing Prague of “striving to please the United States against the backdrop of recent U.S. sanctions against Russia.”Arms shipmentCzech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the attack had been aimed at a shipment to a Bulgarian arms trader.”This was an attack on ammunition that had already been paid for and was being stored for a Bulgarian arms trader,” he said on Czech Television.He said the arms trader, whom he did not name, had later been the target of an attempted murder.Bulgarian prosecutors charged three Russian men in 2020 with an attempt to kill arms trader Emilian Gebrev, who was identified by Czech media as the same individual. Reuters was unable to reach Gebrev for comment.Czech police said two men using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov had traveled to the Czech Republic days before the arms depot blast.FILE – A still image taken from video footage and released by Russia’s RT international news channel Sept. 13, 2018, shows two Russian men identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov during an interview at an unnamed location.Those names were the aliases used by the two Russian GRU military intelligence officers wanted by Britain for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury in 2018. The Skripals survived, but a member of the public died.The Kremlin denied involvement in that incident, and the attackers remain at large.Czech Interior and acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said police knew about the two people from the beginning, “but only found out when the Salisbury attack happened that they are members of the GRU, that Unit 29155.”Hamacek said Prague would ask Moscow for assistance in questioning them but did not expect it to cooperate.‘Dangerous and malign’British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that the Czechs “have exposed the lengths that the GRU will go to in their attempts to conduct dangerous and malign operations.”A NATO official said the alliance would support the Czech Republic as it investigated Russia’s “malign activities,” which were part of a pattern of “dangerous behavior.””Those responsible must be brought to justice,” added the official, who declined to be named.The United States imposed sanctions against Russia on Thursday for interfering in last year’s U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other actions, prompting Moscow to retaliate.On Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington had told Moscow “there will be consequences” if Alexey Navalny, the opposition figure who almost died last year after being given a toxin that Western experts say was Novichok, dies in prison, where he is on hunger strike.The 2014 incident has resurfaced at an awkward time for Prague and Moscow.The Czech Republic is planning to put the construction of a new nuclear power plant at its Dukovany complex out to bid.Security services have demanded that Russia’s Rosatom be excluded as a security risk, while President Milos Zeman and other senior officials have been supporting Russia’s case.In a text message, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek, who was previously in favor of including Russia, told Reuters: “The probability that Rosatom will participate in the expansion of Dukovany is very low.”
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Police Search for Motive in Indiana FedEx Shooting
Authorities are searching for a motive in the shooting death of eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, Thursday.
Police released the names of the eight victims. Four were identified as Sikhs: Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Amarjeet Johal, 66; and Jaswinder Singh, 68.
The other victims were identified as Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Karlie Smith, 19 and 74-year-old John Weisert. Seven people were also injured.The deceased victims have been identified as 32-year-old Matthew R Alexander, 19-year-old Samaria Blackwell, 66-year-old Amarjeet Johal, 64-year-old Jaswinder Kaur, 68-year-old Jaswinder Singh, 48-year-old Amarjit Sekhon, 19-year-old Karlie Smith, and 74-year-old John Weisert.— IMPD (@IMPDnews) April 17, 2021Police also said Saturday that the gunman, 19-year-old Brandon Hole, a former employee of the facility who took his own life after shooting the victims, legally bought the two assault rifles used in the attack, despite a “red flag” law in Indiana designed to prevent violent and unstable individuals from buying firearms.
Last year, police seized a gun from Hole’s home after his mother called the authorities, worried that he may try to commit “suicide by cop,” the Associated Press reported. That is when an individual behaves in a threatening manner and tries to provoke police to kill him or her.
FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan said in a statement Friday that the FBI had interviewed Hole in April 2020 and “no racially motivated violent extremism ideology” was identified during the investigation.Aasees Kaur, legal client and community services manager of the Sikh Coalition, reads a statement on the shooting at a FedEx facility at the Sikh Satsang of Indianapolis, April 17, 2021.The Sikh community, many of whose members wear turbans and are often confused for Muslims, have been the targets of hate crimes across the United States since the September 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic extremists on the U.S. The most notable Sikh attack was the fatal shooting of seven Sikhs at the Oak Creek Gurdwara, or Sikh house of worship, in Wisconsin in 2012.
Indiana is home to an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Sikh Americans, according to reports.
“Given everything our community has experienced in the past – the pattern of violence, bigotry, and backlash we have faced – it is impossible not to feel that same pain and targeting in this moment,” a statement released by eight Gurdwaras in the Indianapolis area read.
“We expect that the authorities will continue their full investigation and share what they learn when they can, and they will take this into account.”Latest Update: Eight Indianapolis-area gurdwaras release joint statement on Thursday night’s shooting at the FedEx facility. pic.twitter.com/nKE8ssecXf— Sikh Coalition (@sikh_coalition) April 17, 2021
The statement also notes that the targeted FedEx facility is well known for having a largely Sikh workforce.
Police said Hole shot randomly at people outside the facility before entering the building and shooting at employees. Police said the shooting lasted only a couple of minutes and was over by the time officers arrived on the scene.
Thursday’s shooting in Indianapolis is the latest in a recent spate of mass shootings in the United States that began on March 16, when a gunman shot eight people to death, including six Asian woman, at three Atlanta-area day spas.
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Malawi’s Ex-President Says Government Politically Persecuting Him
Malawi’s former president, Peter Mutharika, has accused the government of politically persecuting him. During a televised news conference at his residence in Mangochi district Saturday, Mutharika cited the freezing of his bank accounts and arrests of his party officials over corruption allegations as examples. But authorities say they are only following the law.
Mutharika, who lost to President Lazarus Chakwera during last year’s elections, faces legal action for administrative blunders committed when he was in office.
The latest is the case in which he is expected to pay about $87,000 in legal fees by wrongly forcing Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda and Justice of Appeal Edward Twea on leave during his administration.
And in August, Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau froze bank accounts of Mutharika and his wife, Gertrude, as part of investigations into his role in a scandal in which bags of cement worth about $6.6 million entered the country without being taxed.
Various efforts by Mutharika’s lawyers to have his bank accounts unfrozen have proven unsuccessful.
Mutharika told reporters the freezing of his accounts is persecution of the highest form.
“The aim is simply to create hardship on me. Even the account where my retirement package comes in, that account is closed. So, my retirement benefits cannot come in. The idea is to make me totally incompetent financially to make me impossible to support the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party), and therefore to destroy the DPP and make a one-party dictatorship,” he said.
Banging on a table as he spoke, Mutharika called on the government to end what he said was a tendency of persecuting former presidents.“Persecuting former heads of state should stop in this country. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. It doesn’t happen in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Rwanda, anywhere else. It’s only in this country where this kind of stupidity continues to go on. I want it to stop,” Mutharika said.
Latim Matenje, a political analyst with the Political Science Association of Malawi, says Mutharika is justified to think that the government is persecuting him, considering the time his accounts have been frozen.
“From my perspective, freezing the accounts of somebody right from August up to April, I mean, it’s inhumane. One would wonder what that person is eating. So, for him to claim that I am not surprised,” he said.
Matenje said the government can prove Mutharika is wrong by letting him access his bank accounts as the probe into the case progresses. Matenje, however, faulted Mutharika for making similar comparisons to a former president.“The call itself is justifiable but not from him. It is surprising it’s him doing so because he did the same to Dr. Joyce Banda because she left Malawi; she went outside because of persecution here,” Matenje said.In 2014, Banda, who was Mutharika’s predecessor, fled the country after being implicated in what became known as the Cashgate scandal, in which government officials siphoned off millions of dollars of public money.Reacting to Mutharika’s accusations, government spokesperson Gospel Kazako said Mutharika is wrong by alleging persecution.Kazako, who also serves as the minister of information, says the government is only following the laws of the country.
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Suspect on the Run in Texas Fatal Shooting of 3
A manhunt was under way Sunday for a former sheriff’s deputy wanted in the fatal shooting of three people in Austin, Texas. An official said it wasn’t known if the suspect was still in the city.Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said those who live near where the shooting happened late Sunday morning no longer had to shelter in place, but he said they should “remain vigilant.” He said officials were transitioning the search for Stephen Broderick, 41, from the area to a “fugitive search.””The victims were all known to this suspect,” Chacon said. “At this point, we do not think this individual is out there targeting random people to shoot. That does not mean he is not dangerous. “Earlier in the day, nearby residents had been asked to shelter in place and to call their neighbors to check on them. Chacon had said earlier officials were concerned Broderick “might possibly take a hostage and be himself sheltered somewhere waiting for us to leave.”Chacon said Broderick is 1.7 meters (5 feet, 7 inches) tall and Black. He was wearing a gray hoodie, sunglasses and a baseball cap. Chacon said police do not know if he’s in a vehicle or on foot.He said that Broderick was a former deputy with the Travis County sheriff’s office, which is based in Austin. No further information was immediately provided about Broderick, including his tenure as a deputy.Chacon said Broderick is suspected in the killing of two Hispanic women and one Black man. He said Broderick knew the victims but didn’t elaborate on how or provide a motive for the shootings. Chacon also said a child was involved but that the child has been located and is safe.Brenda Torres said she was driving by when she saw a little boy flag down a car and a Black man lying face down on the ground.”I saw the little boy point down the street,” Torres said. “There was someone lying on the ground. I thought someone had just fallen down or something. As my light turns green and I’m driving, I see cop car after cop car after cop car rushing toward where I just was.” Chacon said the three were not shot in a building but did not give any further details.Following the shooting, there was a large presence of emergency responders at the scene, including dozens of police cars, several ambulances, two SWAT trucks and two police helicopters. Later Sunday, law enforcement began leaving the area.The area includes a strip mall containing several retail stores and large apartment complexes situated near wooded rolling hills.Police said a portion of a nearby highway would be shut down in both directions.
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Egypt: At Least 11 Killed, About 100 Injured in Train Crash North of Cairo
Egyptian authorities say a passenger train accident Sunday north of Cairo has killed at least 11 people.Railway authorities say that at least four train wagons ran off the tracks at the city of Banha in Qalyubia province.The Health Ministry said in a statement that at least 98 others were injured. Around 60 ambulances were sent to the scene and the injured taken to nearby hospitals, the ministry added.Videos on social media showed railcars overturned and passengers escaping to safety along the railway.The train was travelling to the Nile Delta city of Mansoura from the Egyptian capital.Soldiers are seen at the scene of a train accident north of Cairo in Egypt’s Qalyubia province, April 18, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)Salvage teams could be seen searching for survivors and removing the derailed cars. It was not immediately clear what caused the train to derail. Prosecutors said they were investigating the causes of the crash.Last week, at least 15 people were injured when train carriages derailed in the Nile Delta province of Sharqia.Sunday’s train accident came three weeks after two passenger trains collided in the province of Sohag, killing at least 18 people and injuring 200 others, including children.Prosecutors said they found gross negligence by railway employees was behind the deadly March 25 crash, which caused public outcry across the country.Investigators examine the scene after eight rail cars flipped over April 18, 2021, in Egypt’s Qalyubia province. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)Train wrecks and mishaps are common in Egypt, where the railway system has a history of badly maintained equipment and mismanagement. The government says it has launched a broad renovation and modernization initiative. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in March 2018 that the government needs about 250 billion Egyptian pounds, or $14.1 billion, to overhaul the run-down rail system. Hundreds of train accidents are reported every year. In February 2019 an unmanned locomotive slammed into a barrier inside Cairo’s main Ramses railway station, causing a huge explosion and fire that killed at least 25 people. That crash prompted the then-transportation minister to resign.Onlookers are seen at the site of Sunday’s train crash north of Cairo. In March, another rail accident killed at least 20 people and injured 200 about 275 kilometers south of Cairo. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)In August 2017, two passenger trains collided just outside the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing 43 people. In 2016, at least 51 people were killed when two commuter trains collided near Cairo.Egypt’s deadliest train crash was in 2002, when more than 300 people were killed after a fire broke out in an overnight train traveling from Cairo to southern Egypt.Egyptian Minister of Transportation Kamel El-Wazir (C) and several parliamentarians arrived at the scene a few hours after the crash in Qalyubia province, Egypt, April 18, 2021. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)
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US, China Pledge Urgent Climate Control Measures
China and the United States, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, have reached a new agreement to take urgent measures to curb climate change.The two countries said in a joint statement late Saturday that they “are committed to cooperating with each other” and other nations to deal with the climate crisis “with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.”U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry and Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua reached the agreement during three days of talks last week in Shanghai, just days ahead of the virtual summit on the issue being hosted this week by U.S. President Joe Biden.Kerry told reporters in Seoul on Sunday that he considers the language of the document to be “strong” and that China and U.S. agreed on “critical elements on where we have to go.”But Kerry, a former U.S. secretary of state and the losing Democratic candidate for president in 2004, added, “I learned in diplomacy that you don’t put your back on the words, you put on actions. We all need to see what happens.”China, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, and the second worst, the United States, emit nearly half of the fossil fuel fumes that are warming the planet’s atmosphere. Their cooperation would be crucial in combating man-made pollution.The U.S., the world’s biggest economy, and No. 2 China, are trade rivals across the globe and have contentious relations on human rights and China’s territorial claims surrounding Taiwan, which the U.S. supplies with military weapons even as it continues its “one China” policy, recognizing Beijing as the sole Chinese government.Kerry noted that China is the world’s biggest coal user and discussed ways to transition to other forms of energy.“I have never shied away from expressing our views shared by many, many people that it is imperative to reduce coal, everywhere,” he said.Su Wei, a member of the Chinese negotiation team, told state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday that the two countries reached a consensus for future cooperation on climate issues. Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to the climate summit on Thursday and Friday. Biden’s Earth Day Summit Aims for Reset on Climate ChangeStakes are rising, but delivering will not be easyThe U.S. and other countries are expected to announce further targets to cut carbon emissions ahead of or at the summit, and pledge financial help for climate control by poorer countries. It appears unlikely that China will set new environmental control targets.Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told the Associated Press on Friday, “For a big country with 1.4 billion people, these goals are not easily delivered. Some countries are asking China to achieve the goals earlier. I am afraid this is not very realistic.”But Xi on Friday said China remained committed to climate goals he had announced last year, while adding that the climate issue should not be “a bargaining chip for geopolitics” or “an excuse for trade barriers,” an apparent reference to ongoing disputes with the United States. “This is undoubtedly a tough battle,” Xi said in a conference call with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, according to an account of the meeting released by the Chinese foreign ministry.“China is sure to act on its words, and its actions are sure to produce results,” Xi said. “We hope that the advanced economies will set an example in momentum for emissions reductions, and also lead the way in fulfilling commitments for climate funding.”It is not clear whether Xi will join Biden’s summit, but Kerry Sunday said, “We very much hope that (Xi) will take part.”Within hours of taking office, Biden rejoined the 2015 Paris climate accord, reversing the withdrawal by his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump.The U.S.-China statement from the Shanghai meetings said the two countries would enhance “their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.”It said both countries intend to develop individual pollution control strategies before the planned U.N. climate conference in Glasgow in late 2021 and take “appropriate actions to maximize international investment and finance in support of” the energy transition in developing countries.Both China and the U.S. have set goals to become carbon-neutral in the coming decades.Xi said last year that China would be carbon-neutral by 2060 and is aiming to reach a peak in its emissions by 2030.Biden says the U.S. will switch to an emissions-free power sector by 2035 and have an emissions-free economy by 2050.
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In Pakistan, Clashes Between Police, Islamists Reportedly Leave 2 Dead
Clashes between a recently banned Islamist party and police in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, reportedly left at least two people dead and scores of others wounded Sunday.Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was demanding that Pakistan expel the French ambassador over the French president’s remarks defending freedom of expression regarding caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Police from Punjab province said Sunday’s action was in response to the TLP attacking a police station, trapping officers and Rangers, members of a paramilitary force, inside, kidnapping a senior police officer, and stealing an oil tanker containing 50,000 liters of fuel. “The miscreants were armed and attacked Rangers/Police with patrol bombs,” a tweet from Punjab police’s official Twitter handle said. The entire episode unfolded on social media as the mainstream news outlets, especially the country’s dozens of 24/7 television channels, were ordered not to report it. “Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP,” tweeted senior journalist Hamir Mir, the anchor of a prime-time current affairs show on Pakistani Geo News TV channel. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority banned coverage of TLP TV channels are not covering the operation against TLP in Lahore but all information and videos are available on social media so PEMRA ban is now useless media will lose its credibility https://t.co/5Yi0ozVjhL
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) FILE – The coffin of slain teacher Samuel Paty is carried away in the courtyard of the Sorbonne university during a national memorial event, Oct. 21, 2020 in Paris.The incident came days after Paty showed his class controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet in a discussion on freedom of expression. The cartoons had been published in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which came under a terrorist attack in January 2015. Many Muslims considered the images blasphemous. The October incident took place less than a month after a Pakistani immigrant stabbed two people outside Charlie Hebdo’s old Paris headquarters. In both cases, the suspects appeared to retaliate against the publication of the cartoons, which originally inspired the 2015 attack. French President Emmanuel Macron called Paty a hero and vowed to defend the country’s liberal values and freedom of expression, including the right to mock religion. His statement caused an uproar in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, where the TLP led the charge in demanding Pakistan boycott French products and sever diplomatic ties with the country. After banning the TLP in his country, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday demanded the Western nations criminalize insulting Islam’s prophet in the same way that some countries make it a crime to deny the Holocaust occurred. Those in the West, incl extreme right politicians, who deliberately indulge in such abuse & hate under guise of freedom of speech clearly lack moral sense & courage to apologise to the 1.3 bn Muslims for causing this hurt. We demand an apology from these extremists.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 17, 2021
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Russian Opposition Calls for Protests as Navalny’s Health Worsens
Allies of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny announced nationwide protests for this Wednesday — after the opposition figure’s family and personal doctors released blood analysis results that suggested Navalny was at high risk of cardiac arrest or kidney failure barring immediate care. The planned protests fall on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address from just outside the Kremlin — all but ensuring a tense standoff between Navalny supporters and police in the capital, Moscow. Navalny’s chief strategist, Leonid Volkov, announced the protests in a post to YouTube — arguing there was no time to lose. “They’re murdering Alexey Navalny — in a terrifying way right before our eyes,” said Volkov. Over the weekend, Navalny’s doctors said that blood tests — provided by the opposition figure’s lawyers to his family — showed Navalny’s potassium count had reached a “critical level.” “This means both impaired renal function and that serious heart rhythm problems can happen any minute,” said the letter, which was signed by Navalny’s personal physician, Anastasia Vasilyeva, and three other doctors. “If they don’t start treating Navalny, he will die within days,” warned his other physician, Alexander Polupan. As of Sunday afternoon, prison authorities had yet to respond to their appeal for emergency medical care. A still image from CCTV footage published by Life.Ru shows what is said to be jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny speaking with a prison guard at the IK-2 corrective penal colony in the town of Pokrov, Russia, in this image released Apr. 2, 2021.Also sounding the alarm is a group of leading western academics and cultural figures — including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Hollywood director J.J. Abrams, award-winning author Salmon Rushdie, and Radiohead singer Thom Yorke — who published an appealFILE – National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington.On Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program that “there will be consequences” if Navalny dies. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden called the Kremlin’s treatment of Navalny “totally unfair and totally inappropriate.” The Kremlin has rebuffed Western demands and sanctions as attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs. Authorities in Moscow also maintain that any questions regarding Navalny’s treatment are to be directed to the prison authorities but said that his basic needs will be met.
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Germany Calls for Unity as it Mourns COVID Dead
Germany held a national memorial service on Sunday for its nearly 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, with the president urging the country to put aside deep divisions over COVID restrictions to share the pain of grieving families. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction, before attending a ceremony later at the capital’s Konzerthaus concert hall. “Today, as a society, we want to remember those who died a lonely and often agonizing death during this dark time,” said Steinmeier. “I have the impression that we as a society do not make ourselves aware that behind all the numbers there are human fates, people. Their suffering and their deaths have often remained invisible to the public,” he said. With pandemic curbs still in force restricting the number of people who can attend, the ceremonies were being broadcast live on public television. As debate raged in Germany over measures put in place by Merkel’s government, including the limitation of social contact to halt contagion, Steinmeier said it was a “bitter truth” that such COVID restrictions had “also brought about suffering.” Besides the pain of losing a loved one, restrictions in place mean that relatives are often unable to even hold their family members’ hands as they lay dying. Others have been left grieving on their own, as funerals or memorials are curtailed. “We have restricted our lives to save lives. That is a conflict where there can be no way out without contradiction,” admitted Steinmeier. But he also defended the actions, saying that “politicians must make difficult, sometimes tragic decisions to prevent an even greater catastrophe.” “My request today is this: let us speak about pain and suffering and anger. But let us not lose ourselves in recriminations, in looking back, but let us once again gather strength for the way forward.” Candles of hope
Anita Schedel, the widow of a 59-year-old doctor who died from the virus, spoke of the ordeal of watching her husband first be hospitalized and then succumb to the disease. “After he arrived in hospital, my husband phoned me to say ‘Don’t worry, I’m in good hands. We’ll see each other again’. Those were his last words,” she said at the ceremony. “Until today, my memory is haunted by those long hospital corridors, the beeping machines and my husband marked by the illness,” she said. Regional leaders had urged citizens to join in the remembrance including by lighting candles by their windows from Friday to Sunday. “We want to be aware of what we lost, but we also want to find hope and strength together,” the premiers of Germany’s 16 states said in a statement. ‘Only makes it worse’ Sunday’s ceremony comes as health authorities warn that many more will succumb to the virus. Europe’s biggest economy had come out of the first wave relatively unscathed but has struggled to take decisive action to end the current one fueled mainly by the more contagious British variant. Another 19,185 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the disease control agency RKI, with the numbers of deaths also rising by 67 to 79,914. Merkel’s government is seeking greater powers to impose tougher measures such as night-time curfews, in a bid to circumvent Germany’s powerful regional authorities, some of whom have resisted implementing tough restrictions. But the amendment still has to be approved by parliament, where opposition parties like the pro-business FDP have vowed to vote against it. Even junior coalition partner SPD is still seeking modifications, including for people to be allowed to go on walks during curfew hours. Merkel urged swift and decisive action. “The virus doesn’t let you negotiate with it — it only understands one language, the language of resolve,” she told the Bundestag lower house on Friday at the start of a debate on the law amendment.
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Pope Calls on Russia, Ukraine to Seek Reconciliation
Pope Francis on Sunday voiced apprehension over a recent Russian troop buildup near the border with Ukraine and called for efforts to ease tensions in the 7-year conflict in eastern Ukraine pitting Ukrainian forces against Russia-backed rebels.Ukrainian authorities say cease-fire violations have become more frequent in recent weeks, with nearly 30 troops killed this year. They accused Russia of fueling tensions by deploying 41,000 troops near the border with eastern Ukraine and 42,000 to Crimea, where Russia maintains a large naval base.”I observe with great apprehension the increase of military activities,” Francis said in remarks to the public gathered in St. Peter’s Square.”Please, I strongly hope that an increase of tensions is avoided, and, on the contrary, gestures are made capable of promoting reciprocal trust and favoring the reconciliation and the peace which are so necessary and so desired,” Francis said.”Take to heart the grave humanitarian situation facing the population, to whom I express my closeness and for whom I invite prayers,” the pope said before praying aloud for his intentions.Ukraine accuses Russia of fueling tensions with its troop deployment, while Russia has sought to justify the buildup as part of readiness drills organized in response to what it claims are NATO threats.The United States and NATO say the concentration of Russian troops is the largest since 2014, when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula and fighting broke out between Ukrainian forces and the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Beside contending there are threats from NATO, Russia has cast the buildup as a necessary security precaution amid what it described as Ukraine’s provocations along the line of control.
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US Sikh Community Calls for Gun Reforms after FedEx Shooting
Members of Indianapolis’ tight-knit Sikh community joined with city officials to call for gun reforms Saturday as they mourned the deaths of four Sikhs who were among the eight people killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse.At a vigil attended by more than 200 at an Indianapolis park Saturday evening, Aasees Kaur, who represented the Sikh Coalition, spoke out alongside the city’s mayor and other elected officials to demand action that would prevent such attacks from happening again.“We must support one another, not just in grief, but in calling our policymakers and elected officials to make meaningful change,” Kaur said. “The time to act is not later, but now. We are far too many tragedies, too late, in doing so.”The attack was another blow to the Asian American community a month after authorities said six people of Asian descent were killed by a gunman in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.About 90% of the workers at the FedEx warehouse near the Indianapolis International Airport are members of the local Sikh community, police said Friday.Kiran Deol, who attended the vigil in support of family members affected by the shooting, said loopholes in the law that make it easier for individuals to buy guns “need to be closed now,” and emphasized that anyone who tries to buy a firearm should be required to have their background checked.“The gun violence is unacceptable. Look at what’s happened … it needs to be stopped,” Deol said. “We need more reform. We need gun laws to be harder, stronger, so that responsible people are the ones that have guns. That’s what we want to bring awareness to.”Satjeet Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s executive director, said the entire community was traumatized by the “senseless” violence.“While we don’t yet know the motive of the shooter, he targeted a facility known to be heavily populated by Sikh employees,” Kaur said.There are between 8,000 and 10,000 Sikh Americans in Indiana, according to the coalition. Members of the religion, which began in India in the 15th century, began settling in Indiana more than 50 years ago.One of the victims of Thursday night’s shooting was Amarjit Sekhon, a 48-year-old Sikh mother of two sons who was the breadwinner of her family.A body is taken from the scene where multiple people were shot at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis, April 16, 2021.Kuldip Sekhon said his sister-in-law began working at the FedEx facility in November and was a dedicated worker whose husband was disabled.“She was a workaholic, she always was working, working,” he said. “She would never sit still … the other day she had the (COVID-19) shot and she was really sick, but she still went to work.”In addition to Sekhon, the Marion County Coroner’s office identified the dead as: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74.Kuldip Sekhon said his family lost another relative in the shooting — Kaur, who was his son’s mother-in-law. He said both Kaur and Amarjit Sekhon both began working at the FedEx facility last year.“We were planning to have a birthday party tonight, but now we’re here instead. This … this is tough for us,” Sukhpreet Rai, who is also related to Kaur and Sehkon, said Saturday. “They were both very charming.”Komal Chohan, who said Amarjeet Johal was her grandmother, said in a statement issued by the Sikh Coalition that her family members, including several who work at the FedEx warehouse, are “traumatized” by the killings.“My nani, my family, and our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere. Enough is enough — our community has been through enough trauma,” she said in the statement.The coalition says about 500,000 Sikhs live in the U.S. Many practicing Sikhs are visually distinguishable by their articles of faith, which include the unshorn hair and turban.The shooting is the deadliest incident of violence collectively in the Sikh community in the U.S. since 2012, when a white supremacist burst into a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and shot 10 people, killing seven.In Indianapolis, police said Brandon Scott Hole, 19, a former worker at the FedEx facility killed eight people there before killing himself. Authorities have not released a motive.This photo released, April 16, 2021, by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows Brandon Scott Hole.Hole was in possession of two assault rifles, which he purchased legally in July and September of 2020, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Police said Hole was witnessed using both rifles during the assault. Hole’s family said in a statement Saturday they are “so sorry for the pain and hurt” his actions caused.Paul Keenan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, said Friday that agents questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop.” He said agents found no evidence of a crime and that they did not identify Hole as espousing a racially motivated ideology.Samaria Blackwell, of Indianapolis, was a soccer and basketball player who last year graduated from Indy Genesis, a Christian competitive sports organization for homeschooled students. Her parents said Saturday in a statement that she was an outgoing “people person” who will be missed “immensely” by them and her dog, Jasper.“As an intelligent, straight A student, Samaria could have done anything she chose to put her mind to, and because she loved helping people, she dreamed of becoming a police officer. Although that dream has been cut short, we believe that right now she is rejoicing in heaven with her Savior,” they said.Matthew Alexander, of Avon, just west of Indianapolis, was a former Butler University student and a 2007 graduate of Avon High School. Relatives and several of his former teammates on Avon’s baseball team attended a game Saturday in his memory. They carried his former uniform, No. 16, onto the field, where they hugged and cried.Albert Ashcraft, a former FedEx driver, said Alexander dispatched drivers to locations for deliveries, prepared their paperwork and was well-liked because he looked out for the drivers, even making sure they got treats.“People would bring doughnuts in and he was always sticking doughnuts back for his drivers,” he told The Indianapolis Star.
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Chad’s President Poised to Extend his 30 Years in Power
Partial provisional results in Chad’s April 11 election released Saturday show President Idriss Deby leading and appearing to be headed for another term in office, extending his three-decade rule.Preliminary results are expected April 25.Deby is viewed in Europe and the U.S. as a key ally in the fight against terrorism in West and Central Africa. Within the country, though, there have been signs of growing discontent over his handling of Chad’s oil wealth.Opposition leaders had called on supporters to boycott the vote.In addition, a group of Libya-based rebels, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, has been launching attacks. The group attacked a Chadian border post in the north on election day.Chad’s army said Saturday that it had “completely destroyed” the convoy of rebels that attacked the country.The British government said that two of the rebel group’s convoys were approaching the capital, N’Djamena, Saturday.The U.S. Embassy in Chad issued a security alert Saturday, ordering nonessential staff to leave the country because of potential violence in the city.Britain also told its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
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Nearly 700 Patients Evacuated in Johannesburg Hospital Fire
Nearly 700 patients were evacuated Saturday from Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, where a fire blazed through parts of the facility in South Africa’s largest city.No injuries or casualties have been reported. The fire has been contained but the hospital has been closed for seven days, said David Makhura, premier of Gauteng province where Johannesburg is located.Early Saturday morning the fire caused the third floor of the hospital’s parking garage to collapse.Sixty firefighters battled the blaze through the night. The fire started Friday morning and had been doused by the afternoon but then it reignited in the evening and continued burning overnight.The fire has caused extensive damage to the hospital, which has more than 1,000 beds and serves Johannesburg, a city of 6 million people, and the surrounding Gauteng province. It is one of the biggest public hospitals in the country.It is also a designated treatment center for COVID-19 in Gauteng. According to Makhura, the hospital had 13 COVID-19 patients, two in ICU and 11 in general wards at the time of the fire. They have all been transferred to other hospitals.”The fire has been contained into some areas. We are shutting down the hospital as a precautionary measure because there is a lot of smoke that went into other areas, including wards,” said Makhura.The fire started in a storeroom for dry surgical supplies, according to officials.Firefighters reported that the blaze re-started from smoldering medical supplies, including supplies of personal protective equipment used by staff treating patients with COVID-19, Makhura said. An investigation into the fire will be launched, he said.”Our firefighters have been receiving help from others in neighboring municipalities. It has been a tedious process trying to move patients. At first, we moved them to wards that were far away from the fire but we started to evacuate them,” said Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana. “That is still a process that is ongoing, we are now referring all patients to other hospitals.”
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Philippine Troops Kill Egyptian, 2 Filipino Militants
Philippine troops killed a suspected Egyptian would-be suicide bomber and two local Abu Sayyaf militants in what military officials said Saturday was a setback that would make it harder for gunmen linked to the Islamic State group to stage suicide attacks.Army troops gunned down the three militants in a 10-minute firefight Friday night near a hinterland village off the mountainous Patikul town in southern Sulu province. They also recovered three assault rifles and bandoliers of ammunition, army brigade commander Col. Benjamin Batara Jr. said.Military officials did not indicate how the three were tracked down but military chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana suggested that troops were helped by intelligence provided by villagers. “The support of the public in our peace and security operations is much, much needed,” Sobejana told The Associated Press.The Egyptian, who was identified by the military only as Yusop, was the son of an Egyptian militant Reda Mohammad Mahmud who used the nom de guerre Siti Aisyah and was killed when she detonated a bomb and was shot by troops two years ago at the gate of an army detachment in Sulu’s Indanan town. His Egyptian stepfather was killed in a gunbattle with troops at a military checkpoint in Indanan, also in 2019, the military said.”This is one less suicide bomber,” army Maj. Gen. William Gonzales said. “Without them, the possibility of another attack is slimmer.”Gonzales said without elaborating that the killing of the Egyptian would cut off foreign financial support to the Abu Sayyaf. The small but violent group has long been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines for ransom kidnappings, beheadings of hostages and deadly bombing attacks.Aside from Yusop, troops also killed suspected bomb maker Abu Khattab Jundullah and another still-unidentified militant.They belonged to an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Mudzrimar Sawadjaan, who has been blamed for a series of suicide attacks, including the January 2019 bombings by an Indonesian militant couple of a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu that killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 others, Batara said.Gonzales said troops were hunting down the remaining militants and expressed optimism that Sawadjaan, one of the most wanted Abu Sayyaf commanders, “will soon meet his end.”Military intelligence indicates there may be four remaining foreign militants with the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu, a poverty-wracked Muslim province, including an Egyptian and two Indonesians, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.Abu Sayyaf, one of a handful of small but violent militant groups aligned with the Islamic State group, has been considerably weakened by battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism but remains a national security threat.From hundreds of armed fighters in the 1990s, only about 60 to 70 Abu Sayyaf combatants remain in Sulu and outlying island provinces. Since January, about 60 Abu Sayyaf militants have surrendered, seven captured and three killed in military offensives in Sulu, where thousands of troops have been deployed in recent years, military officials said.Despite considerable setbacks, desperate Abu Sayyaf militants “could be looking to take new hostages, simply out of financial straits,” according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, which assesses insurgencies and other violent conflicts in the region. The Jakarta-based think tank said a likely target are Indonesian-crewed Malaysian fishing vessels plying across the Sulu Sea’s richest fishing areas “where Abu Sayyaf group kidnappers lie in wait.”
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SKorea, US Show Differences over Japan’s Fukushima Plans
South Korea raised concerns over Japan’s decision to release contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea with visiting U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, its foreign ministry said, but Kerry reaffirmed Washington’s confidence in the plan’s transparency.Kerry arrived in Seoul on Saturday to discuss international efforts to tackle global warming on a trip that included a stop in China ahead of President Joe Biden’s virtual summit with world leaders on climate change on April 22-23.South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong sought to rally support behind the country’s protest of the Fukushima plan at a dinner meeting with Kerry, the ministry said. Under the plan, more than 1 million tons of water will be discharged from the plant wrecked by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 into the nearby sea off Japan’s east coast.Seoul strongly rebuked the decision, with the foreign ministry summoning the Japanese ambassador and President Moon Jae-in ordering officials to explore petitioning an international court.”Minister Chung conveyed our government and people’s serious concerns about Japan’s decision, and asked the U.S. side to take interest and cooperate so that Japan will provide information in a more transparent and speedy manner,” the ministry said in a statement.But Kerry, at a media roundtable on Sunday, said Tokyo had made the decision in a transparent manner and will continue following due procedures.”The United States is confident that the government of Japan is in very full consultations with the IAEA,” he said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.”The IAEA has set up a very rigorous process and I know that Japan has weighed all the options and the effects, and they’ve been very transparent about the decision and the process.”The former U.S. secretary of state added that Washington would closely monitor Japan’s implementation “like every country, to make certain there is no public health threat.”The South Korean foreign ministry said Chung and Kerry also agreed to work together to boost international cooperation to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, a goal pledged by South Korea, Europe and others.Kerry told the roundtable that Biden aims to urge countries to commit to more ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets, including China, such as by revamping their power initiatives or speeding up transitions to renewable energy.The United States is expected to announce its own new emissions target for 2030 this week.”I think Korea has set an ambitious target and Korea is trying to do a lot, it’s not easy for any country,” Kerry said.”We need to be smarter, so do I think it’s possible for additional steps? I do think there are some things that could happen.”
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US, China ‘Committed to Cooperating’ on Climate Crisis: Joint Statement
The United States and China are “committed to cooperating” on the pressing issue of climate change, the two sides said in a joint statement Saturday, following a visit to Shanghai by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.”The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” said the statement from Kerry and China’s special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua.Kerry, the former U.S. secretary of state, was the first official from President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China, signaling hopes the two sides could work together on the global challenge despite sky-high tensions on multiple other fronts.The joint statement listed multiple avenues of cooperation between the United States and China, the world’s top two economies, which together account for nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.It stressed “enhancing their respective actions and cooperating in multilateral processes, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.”Biden has made climate a top priority, turning the page from his predecessor Donald Trump, who was closely aligned with the fossil fuel industry.Biden has rejoined the 2015 Paris accord, which Kerry negotiated when he was secretary of state and committed nations to taking action to keep temperature rises at no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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Chad’s Deby Takes Early Election Lead, Partial Results Show
Chad President Idriss Deby has taken a strong early lead and appeared poised to extend his three-decade rule, partial provisional results of the April 11 presidential election released by the election commission showed.Deby has won a majority in all but one of the 51 departments announced so far, and he secured a plurality in the other, with 61 departments remaining, according to the Independent National Election Commission (CENI).Kilmapone Larme, head of logistics at the CENI, said they had still not received more than 30% of results.A group of Libya-based rebels, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), attacked a Chadian border post in the north of the country on election day.The U.K. government said two FACT convoys were heading toward the capital, N’Djamena, on Saturday. One convoy had passed the town of Faya, 770 kilometers (478 miles) northeast of N’Djamena, and another was seen approaching the town of Mao, around 220 kilometers to the north, the U.K. government said on its travel advisory website, advising its citizens to leave the country.The Associated Press reported that the U.S. State Department ordered nonessential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy and families of American personnel stationed in Chad to leave the African nation because of potential insurgent attacks on the capital. The department said in a travel alert issued Saturday that it had taken the step because armed groups from the northern part of the country had moved south and appeared headed toward the city.Chad’s army said in a statement that it had destroyed a rebel convoy in the north of Kanem province on Saturday afternoon.An ally of Western powers in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa, Deby is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, but there are signs of growing discontent over his handling of the nation’s oil wealth.Chad’s government has been forced to cut public spending in recent years because of the low price of oil, its main export, sparking labor strikes.Opposition leaders called on their supporters to boycott last week’s polls.”Until midday, the polling stations were almost empty in almost all towns in the country, but CENI has just concocted fictitious results to deceive Chadians,” Yacine Abderaman Sakine, the head of the opposition Reform Party, told Reuters. “We do not recognize this result.”
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Cambodian Americans Seeking Safety Unprepared for Anti-Asian Sentiment
For many Cambodians, racial discrimination was an unanticipated part of their experience as new Americans.Vesna Nuon arrived in the U.S. in 1982 after surviving the brutal Khmer Rouge reign under FILE – Nou Moeur, a Cambodian refugee, carries his daughter on his shoulders as his wife, Orrin, right, and his children, and brother Nou Samean, sister Nou Yat, rear, are shown outside their row home in Harrisburg, Pa., March 17, 1983.Joining the wave of Vietnamese refugees who fled to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon in 1975, Cambodians arrived over the next 20 years until there were about 1 million refugees from Southeast Asia, included Laotians and Hmong, in the U.S. It was, according to the International Rescue Committee, the largest resettlement effort in the U.S. until that time.Vesna Nuon and his family arrived in the same year the U.S. Census announced that the 1980 count had found Asians were the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation.That year, 1982, was also the year when two out-of-work Detroit autoworkers upset by the advances of Japanese carmakers into the U.S. market beat Vincent Chen, a Chinese immigrant, with a baseball bat. Convicted of manslaughter, the autoworkers were sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. The case “forced Asian Americans into the civil rights discourse,” Roland Hwang, co-founder and former president of American Citizens for Justice, told Chhaya Chhoum is executive director of Mekong NYC, a nonprofit organization that helps the Southeast Asian community in the Bronx, N.Y.Chhaya Chhoum is executive director of Mekong NYC, a nonprofit organization that helps the Southeast Asian community in the Bronx and the other four boroughs of New York City. She told VOA Cambodian that some people do not report incidents because of a lack of trust in the police and others remain silent because they fear deportation due to their immigration status. The victims prefer to seek help within their communities, a path that contributes to the underreporting of anti-Asian crimes.Charles Song, a community organizer in Long Beach, told VOA that after experiencing racial discrimination, while he finds it difficult to remain calm, his wifeCharles Song, a community organizer in Long Beach, Calif.reminds him that people who use discriminatory language may be doing it to provoke a fight.Some Cambodian Americans told VOA that in the past they were unclear on the definition of racism and weren’t aware their rights were being violated.Mannrinh Tran, 68, a retiree in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said, “When I first arrived in the U.S., I worked for 7-Eleven. Some customers saw me and told me to go back to China. I experienced [discrimination], but I thought it was just a tiny thing. I didn’t think it was racism.”But the Atlanta shootings made him “more aware of racism.”Chhay Kunnida, a financial analyst from Lawrenceville, Ga.Chhay Kunnida, 43, a financial analyst from Lawrenceville, Georgia, said her parents told her to keep her head down, so when she was young, she did not know how to react to racism.“I was surprised. … I could only tell the teacher that someone pulled my hair or kicks me from behind, but I did not know the word ‘racism,’ ” she said.
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Italy’s Salvini to Stand Trial for 2019 Migrant Standoff
A judge on Saturday ordered former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to stand trial on kidnapping charges for having refused to let a Spanish migrant rescue ship dock in an Italian port in 2019, keeping the people onboard at sea for days.Judge Lorenzo Iannelli set September 15 as the trial date during a hearing in the Palermo bunker courtroom in Sicily.Salvini, who attended the hearing, insisted that he was only doing his job and his duty by refusing entry to the Open Arms rescue ship and the 147 people it had saved in the Mediterranean Sea.”I’m going on trial for this, for having defended my country?” he tweeted after the decision. “I’ll go with my head held high, also in your name.”FILE – Former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini leaves the Senate prior to a vote on lifting his immunity for a trial on the August 2019 Open Arms case, in Rome, July 30, 2020.Palermo prosecutors have accused Salvini of dereliction of duty and kidnapping for having kept the migrants at sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa for days in August 2019. During the standoff, some migrants threw themselves overboard in desperation as the captain pleaded for a safe, close port. Eventually after a 19-day ordeal, the remaining 83 migrants still on board were allowed to disembark in Lampedusa.Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party, had maintained a hard line on migration as interior minister during the first government of Premier Giuseppe Conte, in 2018-19. While demanding that European Union nations do more to take in migrants arriving in Italy, Salvini argued that humanitarian rescue ships were only encouraging Libyan-based human traffickers. He claimed that his policy of refusing them port actually saved lives by discouraging the risky trips across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.His lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, said she was serene despite the decision, saying she was certain the court would eventually determine that there was no kidnapping.”There was no limitation on their freedom,” she told reporters after the indictment was handed down. “The ship had the possibility of going anywhere. There was just a prohibition of going into port. But it had 100,000 options.”‘Historic’ decisionOpen Arms, for its part, hailed the decision to put Salvini on trial and confirmed it has registered as a civil party in the case, along with some survivors of the rescue, the city of Barcelona where Open Arms is based, and other humanitarian aid groups.The group’s founder, Oscar Camps, said the decision to prosecute Salvini for actions taken when he was interior minister was “historic,” showing that European political leaders can be held accountable for failing to respect the human rights of migrants.”This trial is a reminder to Europe and the world that there are principles of individual responsibility in politics,” Camps told a press conference Saturday. The decision to prosecute shows “it’s possible to identify the responsibility of the protagonists of this tragedy at sea.”Salvini is also under investigation for another, similar migrant standoff involving the Italian coast guard ship Gregoretti that he refused to let dock in the summer of 2019.The prosecutor in that case in Catania, Sicily, Andrea Bonomo, recommended last week that Salvini not be put on trial, arguing that he was only carrying out government policy when he kept the 116 migrants at sea for five days.Italy and other southern EU nations like Spain and Greece have long argued that other members of the 27-nation bloc must do more to help them cope with an influx of migrants.
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