Marking his first 100 days in office, U.S. President Joe Biden traveled Thursday to Georgia, a state where Democratic victories in the Senate allowed him to pursue a far more ambitious legislative agenda. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Month: April 2021
Thousands of Myanmar Villagers Poised to Flee Violence to Thailand, Group Says
Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen insurgents. Karen rebels and the Myanmar army have clashed near the Thai border in the weeks since Feb. 1, when Myanmar’s generals ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, displacing villagers on both sides of the border.”People say the Burmese will come and shoot us, so we fled here,” Chu Wah told Reuters. The Karen villager said he crossed over to Thailand with his family this week from the Ee Thu Hta displacement camp in Myanmar.”I had to flee across the river,” Chu Wah said, referring to the Salween River that forms the border in the area.The Karen Peace Support Network says thousands of villagers are taking shelter on the Myanmar side of the Salween and they will flee to Thailand if the fighting escalates.”In coming days, more than 8,000 Karen along the Salween River will have to flee to Thailand. We hope that the Thai army will help them escape the war,” the group said in a post on Facebook.Karen fighters on Tuesday overran a Myanmar army unit on the west bank of the Salween in a predawn attack. The Karen said 13 soldiers and three of their fighters were killed. The Myanmar military responded with airstrikes in several areas near the Thai border.Thai authorities say nearly 200 villagers have crossed into Thailand this week. Thailand has reinforced its forces and restricted access to the border.Hundreds of Thai villagers have also been displaced, moving from their homes close to the border, to deeper into Thai territory for safety.”The situation has escalated so we can’t go back,” said Warong Tisakul, 33, a Thai villager from Mae Sam Laep, a settlement, now abandoned, opposite the Myanmar army post attacked this week.”Security officials won’t let us; we can’t go back.”
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China’s Climate Goals ‘Realistic,’ ‘Ambitious’
At a climate summit short on specifics, China stood out.Live now! A giant screen shows news footage of Chinese President Xi Jinping attending a video summit on climate change from Beijing, China.China must shut, retrofit or put into reserve capacity as much as 364 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power, and its carbon intensity of power generation must be halved, from 672 gCO2/kWh today to 356 gCO2/kWh, according to London-based climate data provider President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.Biden set out a goal for the U.S. to cut emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels at the start of a two-day gathering that began on April 22, Earth Day, and was attended virtually by leaders of 40 countries, including big emitters India and Russia.The U.S. plan puts it on track to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 C compared with preindustrial levels. Former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement on June 1, 2017. Rejoining the Paris Agreement signed by 197 nations was one of Biden’s top priorities, and he signed an executive order initiating a 30-day process to reenter the pact hours after his inauguration on January 20.Greenhouse gases are those in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight delivers from leaving the atmosphere, according to NASA. The main greenhouse gases are water vapor, CO2, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons.The other greenhouse gases, especially methane, are also big contributors to global warming. That’s why the U.S. and the European Union countries are targeting greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, European leaders set a target for climate neutrality by 2050 that covers all emissions. China’s carbon dioxide emissions, which account for about a quarter of the world’s total, are about twice those of the United States. Scott Moore, director of the Global China Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a former U.S. official in the Obama administration, said no matter how contentious the relationship between Washington and Beijing on many fronts, climate change gave China an area for working constructively with the U.S. on a global challenge.Moore, who participated in negotiations with China on the Paris Agreement, told VOA that cooperating with the U.S. on climate change gives China an opportunity to pressure Washington on other issues.”They want to link cooperation on climate change with some type of concession on human rights or political freedom. That’s obviously a nonstarter in terms of U.S. policy,” he said.When commenting on U.S.-China cooperation on climate change in January, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the cooperation, “unlike flowers that can bloom in a greenhouse despite winter chill, is closely linked with bilateral relations as a whole.”
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In France, Chauvin Conviction Has Not Brought Comfort
The trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin made headline news in France. But much of the reporting about the trial, and its underlying themes of police violence and racism, largely zoomed in on the United States.“I think it’s viewed as an American problem with some resonance in France,” said Steven Ekovich, a U.S. politics and foreign policy professor at the American University of Paris.American University of Paris professor Steven Ekovich says the French viewed the Derek Cauvin trial in the death of George Floyd as an American problem, but with some resonance in France. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”It also feeds into a certain strain of French anti-Americanism, on the left and on the right, so that the French can moralize about the United States, and its difficulties and its flaws,” he said.That wasn’t the case last year, when George Floyd’s death caused many French to look inward. They joined spreading global protests for police accountability. Traore deathAlong with Floyd, many chanted the name of Frenchman Adama Traore, 24, whose family said he died under circumstances similar to Floyd’s, although that claim is disputed. The Black American’s death opened a broader spigot here of soul-searching about France’s colonial past and continuing injustices today.French authorities vowed zero tolerance of police racism and brutality and pledged to ban a controversial police chokehold. President Emmanuel Macron called racial profiling “unbearable.”Police representatives deny systemic racism. They say police are overworked and underappreciated as they tackle violence in tough neighborhoods, and they sometimes become targets of terrorism.David-Olivier Reverdy of the National Police Alliance union said the country’s police aren’t racist. To the contrary, he said, they’re Republican and diverse, from all ethnic origins and religions. There may be some problematic individuals, he added, but the force itself isn’t racist.Critics argue otherwise. A 2017 report by an independent citizens rights group found young Black or Arab-looking men here are five times more likely to be stopped for police identity checks than the rest of the population. Four Paris police officers were suspended last November after TV footage showed them punching a Black music producer. In January, six nongovernmental groups announced the country’s first class-action lawsuit on alleged racial profiling by police.’Struggling’ for a decade“We’ve been struggling with the state for 10 years,” said Slim Ben Achour, one of the lawyers representing the groups in the case.“The French Supreme Court convicted the state in November 2016 for discrimination, and after that we could have expected from the state … which should respect the rule of law — to do police reform. They have done nothing,” he said.Allegations of police violence and racism are an old story in France. In 2005, the deaths of two youngsters fleeing police sparked rioting in the banlieues — code word for the multicultural, working-class suburbs ringing cities here. Activists point to bigger, long-standing inequalities going far beyond policing.Some aren’t waiting for change from above. In the Paris suburb of Bobigny, youth group Nouvel Elan 93 is mentoring youngsters, helping them with schoolwork and giving them alternatives to hanging in the streets.Aboubacar N’diaye, left, helped launch a youth group in the Paris suburb of Bobigny. He says police profiling is something that could happen to him. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)One of Nouvel Elan’s founders, Aboubacar N’Diaye, said the group is trying to push youngsters to the maximum of their potential. They’re talented, he said, in sports, music, theater — everything.N’Diaye said Floyd’s death has resonated in this community and that it could happen to Blacks here like him. There’s a close relationship, he added, in the protests for Floyd and Traore.He and other activists said it would take time for the lessons from Floyd’s death — and France’s colorblind creed of liberty, equality and fraternity —to take hold.
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In France, Derek Chauvin Verdict Brings No Comfort
Reports of police violence and racial injustice resonate especially strongly in France, with its large population of ethnic Africans and Arabs. Yet cautious optimism by some in the United States and elsewhere that the guilty verdict in American former police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial might trigger societal change is less shared in France. From the Paris suburb of Bobigny, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA. Camera: Lisa Bryant, Agencies
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US Government Probes VPN Hack Within Federal Agencies, Races to Find Clues
For at least the third time since the beginning of this year, the U.S. government is investigating a hack against federal agencies that began during the Trump administration but was only recently discovered, according to senior U.S. officials and private sector cyber defenders. It is the latest supply chain cyberattack, highlighting how sophisticated, often government-backed groups are targeting vulnerable software built by third parties as a steppingstone to sensitive government and corporate computer networks. The new government breaches involve a popular virtual private network (VPN) known as Pulse Connect Secure, which hackers were able to break into as customers used it. More than a dozen federal agencies run Pulse Connect Secure on their networks, according to public contract records. An emergency cybersecurity directive last week demanded that agencies scan their systems for related compromises and report back. The results, collected Friday and analyzed this week, show evidence of potential breaches in at least five federal civilian agencies, said Matt Hartman, a senior official with the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency. “This is a combination of traditional espionage with some element of economic theft,” said one cybersecurity consultant familiar with the matter. “We’ve already confirmed data exfiltration across numerous environments.” The Ivanti logo and cyber binary codes are seen in this illustration taken April 20, 2021.The maker of Pulse Connect Secure, Utah-based software company Ivanti, said it expected to provide a patch to fix the problem by this coming Monday, two weeks after it was first publicized. Only a “very limited number of customer systems” had been penetrated, it added. Over the last two months, CISA and the FBI have been working with Pulse Connect Secure’s maker and victims of the hack to kick out the intruders and uncover other evidence, said another senior U.S. official who declined to be named but is responding to the hacks. The FBI, Justice Department and National Security Agency declined to comment. The U.S. government’s investigation into the Pulse Connect Secure activity is still in its early stages, said the senior U.S. official, who added the scope, impact and attribution remain unclear. Security researchers at U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye and another firm, which declined to be named, say they’ve watched multiple hacking groups, including an elite team they associate with China, exploiting the new flaw and several others like it since 2019. FILE – Security firm FireEye’s logo is seen outside the company’s offices in Milpitas, California.In a statement last week, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said China “firmly opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks,” describing FireEye’s allegations as “irresponsible and ill-intentioned.” The use of VPNs, which create encrypted tunnels for connecting remotely to corporate networks, has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet with the growth in VPN usage so too has the associated risk. “This is another example in a recent pattern of cyber actors targeting vulnerabilities in widely used VPN products as our nation largely remains in remote and hybrid work postures,” Hartman said. Three cybersecurity consultants involved in responding to the hacks told Reuters that the victim list is weighted toward the United States and so far includes defense contractors, civilian government agencies, solar energy companies, telecommunications firms and financial institutions. The consultants also said they were aware of fewer than 100 combined victims so far between them, suggesting a fairly narrow focus by the hackers. Analysts believe the malicious operation began around 2019 and exploited older flaws in Pulse Connect Secure and separate products made by cybersecurity firm Fortinet before invoking the new vulnerabilities. Hartman said the civilian agency hacks date to at least June 2020. Hacking the supplyA recent report by the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, studied 102 supply chain hacking incidents and found they surged the last three years. Thirty of the attacks came from government-backed groups, primarily in Russia and China, the report said. The Pulse Connect Secure response comes as the government is still grappling with the fallout of three other cyberattacks. FILE – The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, Dec. 18, 2020.The first is known as the SolarWinds hack, in which suspected Russian government hackers commandeered the company’s network management program to burrow inside nine federal agencies. A weakness in Microsoft’s email server software, named Exchange, exploited by a different group of Chinese hackers, also required a massive response effort, although there was ultimately no impact to federal networks, according to U.S. officials. Then a weakness at a maker of programming tools called Codecov left thousands of customers exposed inside their coding environments, the company disclosed this month. Some government agencies were among the customers whose credentials were taken by the Codecov hackers for further access to code repositories or other data, according to a person briefed on the investigation. Codecov, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on that case. The U.S. plans to address some of these systemic issues with an upcoming executive order that will require agencies to identify their most critical software and promote a “bill of materials” that demands a certain level of digital security across products sold to the government. “We think [this is] the most impactful way to really impose costs on these adversaries and make it that much harder,” said the senior U.S. official.
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Arrests in US Capitol Attack Surpass 430
U.S. federal agents have arrested more than 430 people in connection with the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, a senior Justice Department official told lawmakers Thursday, adding that the number of arrests continues to grow.The figure, announced by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brad Wiegmann, represents more than half of an estimated 800 supporters of former President Donald Trump who breached the Capitol to try to prevent Congress from declaring Joe Biden the winner of the November presidential election.FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, smoke fills the walkway outside the Senate Chamber as violent rioters loyal to President Donald Trump are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol in Washington.The attack, which left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and more than 100 other officers injured, triggered one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history. Justice Department officials have said the investigation could lead to charges against as many as 500 people.“As the investigation continues, and as sufficient additional evidence is gathered and other criminal perpetrators are identified, we will continue to charge additional defendants with offenses relating to the events of January 6th,” Wiegmann testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on commerce and justice.The arrestees include hundreds of Trump supporters with no known ties to extremist organizations but also several dozen members of far-right groups, as well as current and former law enforcement and military personnel.FBI Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division Jill Sanborn speaks during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration joint hearing, March 3, 2021.Jill Sanborn, the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, told the subcommittee that the number of law enforcement and military personnel under investigation for domestic violent extremism was “relatively small.”“It is primarily on individuals that are formers, not currents,” Sanborn said.According to a tally by the George Washington University Program on Extremism, 43 former and three current members of the military and nine former and four current members of law enforcement have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot.While the pace of arrests stemming from the attack has slowed considerably in recent weeks, the FBI continues to make arrests nearly every day.This week, FBI agents arrested three men — Reed Christensen of Oregon, Jonathan Munafo of New York and Landon Copeland of Utah — suspected of assaulting Capitol Police officers guarding the Capitol from the violent rioters.Christensen and Munafo, who were seen in a video punching the officers, face six criminal counts, including assaulting a law enforcement officer and engaging in violence in a Capitol building. Copeland was seen throwing a bike rack at several police officers, according to a criminal complaint. He was charged with assaulting a police officer and three other counts. Priorities for GarlandAttorney General Merrick Garland has said investigating the Capitol rioters and fighting domestic terrorism are his top priorities.Wiegmann told lawmakers that the January 6 attack was not “an isolated event,” warning that some domestic violent extremists “may have been emboldened by the attack,” as the FBI recently assessed.The FBI expects domestic violent extremists, such as violent white supremacists and anti-government militiamen, to “pose the greatest domestic terrorism threats in 2021 and likely into 2022,” Sanborn testified. Between 2015 and 2020, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists were responsible for the most deadly domestic terrorism attacks, she added.In response to the growing threat, she said, the FBI increased its domestic terrorism personnel by 260% last year when cases of domestic terrorism doubled.That does not mean the threat of international terrorism has diminished, Sanborn emphasized. In fact, for the first time in two decades, she said, “the threats from domestic terrorism, Salafi jihadism and state-sponsored terrorism are all elevated simultaneously.”
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New Zealand Criticized for ‘Five Eyes’ Alliance Stance on China
New Zealand says it is “uncomfortable” using the 70-year-old “Five Eyes” intelligence grouping, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, to criticize China. Some critics accuse the government in Wellington of selling out to Beijing..The Five Eyes alliance was formed in 1941 to share secrets during World War II. Now, however, disagreements within the U.S.-led alliance are emerging about using the spy network to exert political pressure on China. New Zealand, the group’s smallest member, has expressed reluctance to sign joint statements from its alliance partners condemning Beijing’s crackdown on the democracy movement in Hong Kong and its treatment of its minority Uyghur Muslim population in Xinjiang province. The declarations have infuriated China’s government.
New Zealand’s foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, believes the Five Eyes alliance is not the best forum to voice those concerns. “Can I say we do value the Five Eyes relationship. We receive a significant benefit from being a part of that relationship and they are close allies and friends in terms of common values and principles. But whether or not that framework needs to be invoked every time on every issue, especially in the human rights space, is something that we have expressed further views about,” said Mahuta,However, critics, including some British lawmakers and influential newspapers, have accused the government in Wellington of selling “its soul to China.” They accuse New Zealand, which earns about 29% of its export revenue from China, of choosing its economic ties with Beijing over a longstanding alliance with like-minded nations. Media commentators in New Zealand have described the dilemma; speak out against China and suffer economic damage, as Australia has found, or stay silent and see the end of a “moral foreign policy” of which the nation was proud. Australia experienced a decline in coal and wine exports to China due to tariffs and restrictions imposed by Beijing. Alexey Muraviev, head of the Department of Social Sciences and Security Studies at Curtin University in the Australian city of Perth, believes divisions within the Five Eyes network will benefit China. “When you see quarrels among long established and trusted allies, it gives China confidence that its policies divide and rule, its policies of effectively buying peoples’ and countries’ loyalties through major investment though special trade deals, through guaranteeing access to China’s tourists, China’s dollars, China’s market is working,” he said. New Zealand is insisting the Five Eyes group remains vital for its border security, defense and cyber safety. It believes a broader coalition of countries is needed to address human rights concerns in China and elsewhere. Analysts believe that divisions within the intelligence alliance show how the West is struggling to manage the economic and military rise of China. Senior Australian and New Zealand government officials are due to meet next month to discuss the Five Eyes alliance, and other bilateral issues.
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NY Governor Hopes NYC Could Open Before July 1
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday said he is hopeful New York City could open before July 1 but called it “irresponsible” to make projections.
Cuomo made the comments during his COVID-19 briefing in Buffalo, when asked about New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announcing earlier in the day the city would reopen July 1.
In a televised interview, DeBlasio cited the fact 6.3 million people have been vaccinated and other COVID-19 progress in the city as factors in his announcement. But the mayor also admitted the decision was ultimately up to the state.
Cuomo agreed, noting the pandemic in New York is managed by a statewide system, using science and data to determine when a city would open. The governor said he is reluctant to make projections “because I think they are irresponsible.” He questioned setting a July 1 reopening without knowing what is going to happen in May or June.
But Cuomo went on to say he would be hopeful the city could open sooner. He said, “I think if we do what we have to do, we could be re-opened earlier.”
Lawmakers in the state capital, Albany, have already said restrictions on bars and restaurants will be lifted in May.
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Pew Census Breakdown: Asian American Population Reached 24 Million
The Pew Research Center released Thursday an analysis of 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data showing the population of Asian Americans reached 24 million people.
The Washington-based research group previously projected that population will reach 46 million people by 2060, and that by that time Asian Americans will be the largest immigrant group in the United States.
It said Thursday nearly all the Asian American population comes from 19 Asian origin groups, and that Chinese Americans account for 23% of the Asian population.
In terms of geographical distribution, Pew said 45% percent of Asian Americans live in western states, while 24% live in southern states.
Pew reported that in 2017, about 14% of the 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States were people from Asia.
It said overall 57% of Asian Americans were born in another country.
Between 2000 and 2019, according to Pew, the number of people with Bhutanese, Nepalese and Burmese origin grew at the fastest rates, while the number of Laotians and Japanese grew at the slowest rates.
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WHO Europe Reports First Drop in COVID Cases in 2 Months
The World Health Organization’s Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge reported Thursday the number of new COVID-19 infections in the region dropped significantly in the last week for the first time in two months. Speaking from WHO regional headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge said hospitalizations and deaths were also down in the past week. He also said as of Thursday, 7% of Europeans have been totally vaccinated, more than the 5.5% of the population that has contracted COVID-19. Kluge cautioned that while that is good news, the virus remains a threat, as infection rates remain high in several areas. He said individual and collective public health and social measures remain dominant factors in shaping the pandemic’s course. A man receives his first dose of the of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, at a vaccination center in Piraeus, near Athens, April 29, 2021.But he also noted that in those areas where high-risk groups such as health and other frontline workers were prioritized with vaccines, admissions to hospitals and death rates are falling. Kluge said in the context of the pandemic, it is a combination of vaccines and strong public health measures that offer the clearest path back to normal. But noting it is European Immunization Week, the WHO regional director said he wanted to send a message beyond COVID-19 and pressed the value of vaccines in general. He said before the pandemic, vaccines had protected the world against life-threatening diseases for more than 200 years. While vaccines bring the world closer to ending the pandemic, he said they could also end measles, cervical cancer and other vaccine-preventable diseases. He said when COVID-19 interrupted routine vaccine programs around the world, the results can be other severe infectious disease outbreaks just down the line. He urged public health systems to maintain routine primary health care while continuing to control the pandemic. “Once again, vaccines are about to change the course of history — but only if we act responsibly and get vaccinated when offered the opportunity to do so,” Kluge said.
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A Gaunt Navalny Appears in Court After Hunger Strike
In his first court appearance since ending a three-week hunger strike, Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “naked, thieving king.” Navalny appeared Thursday in a video link from prison to a Moscow courtroom where he was appealing a guilty verdict for defaming a World War 2 veteran. According to news reports, Navalny appeared thin, and his head was shaved. “I looked in the mirror. Of course, I’m just a dreadful skeleton,” he said. Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, is seen in a courtroom, in Moscow, Russia, April 29, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Press Service of Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow/Handout via Reuters)Navalny began his hunger strike March 3 and ended it April 23. Later in Thursday’s hearing, he took the opportunity to attack Putin. “I want to tell the dear court that your king is naked,” he said of Putin. “Millions of people are already shouting about it, because it is obvious. … His crown is hanging and slipping.” He also reiterated his claim of innocence on the embezzlement allegations that ostensibly landed him in prison. “Your naked, thieving king wants to continue to rule until the end. … Another 10 years will come, a stolen decade will come,” Navalny said referring to Putin. Last week, authorities in Russia disbanded several regional offices of Navalny’s anti-corruption group, the Anti-Corruption Foundation. A Russian court is considering branding the group extremist. FILE – Demonstrators march during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, April 21, 2021.Last week, more than 1,900 Navalny supporters were detained during protests in cities across the country. From his Instagram account, he said he felt “pride and hope” after learning about the protests. Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany. The Kremlin denies any role in the poisoning. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in February on an embezzlement charge and was being held at the Pokrov correctional colony, which he described as “a real concentration camp.” The United States and other countries have sanctioned Kremlin officials over the poisoning, and many are calling for Navalny’s release.
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German Health Minister Says COVID-19 Infection Numbers Have Fallen
German health officials had good news for the country Thursday in terms of falling COVID-19 infection rates and record numbers of vaccinations delivered but said there is still a long way to go.
At a Berlin news conference, Germany Health Minister Jens Spahn, along with Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) President Lothar Wieler, noted the average number of new infections per 100,000 people in the country fell to 155 Thursday for the third day in a row, its lowest level in two weeks. On Monday, the rate was 169.
But to Spahn, the dropping numbers reflected a “stagnation” of rising numbers of cases, and it has yet to be determined if this was a one-time occurrence or if it reflected an actual reversal of recent trends. He said it was still not enough progress, as hospital intensive care units remain full in many cities.
Spahn also noted Germany vaccinated a record 1.1 million people Wednesday — more than 1% of the population in a single day. He said that means “now, 25.9% of Germans have had at least one vaccine, and 7.5% have had the second vaccine.”
But Wieler said it is too early to talk about lifting restrictions across the country. He said the numbers show that cases are continuing to rise among those under the age of 60, and cases among children are “going up drastically.”
He said that while children are less likely to get sick or get a severe case, there are now studies showing children experiencing long-term COVID-19 side effects, where symptoms of the infection continue beyond the infection itself.
Parts of Germany imposed tougher lockdown rules last weekend after Chancellor Angela Merkel drew up legislation to give the federal government more power after some of the 16 federal states refused stricter measures.
The new law enables the government to impose curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in districts where cases exceed 100 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days. The rules also include stricter limits on private gatherings and shopping.
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Biden’s First 100 Days See Few Big Moves on Africa
U.S. President Joe Biden has focused most of his energy in his first 100 days in office on taming the coronavirus pandemic on home soil. But in this short, frantic period, he has made a few important gestures that have been welcomed in Africa. On his first day in office, he halted the U.S.’s plan to exit the World Health Organization. Biden’s reversal of his predecessor’s controversial decision to withdraw from the global body was greeted with near-universal approval, especially from African health experts, who said it could portend a more equitable world order. Biden also pledged an additional $2 billion to the COVAX facility, which aims to provide equitable vaccine access to poorer nations. And then, on April 20 — day 90 of his administration — he spoke words that echoed across the ocean. “We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done,” he said on the eve of the verdict in the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in police custody. “We have to look at it, we have to, we have to look at it as we did for those nine minutes and 29 seconds. We have to listen. ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ Those were George Floyd’s last words. We can’t let those words die with him. We have to keep hearing those words.” FILE – A demonstrator holds a placard during a Black Lives Matter protest, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, June 9, 2020.Floyd, who was African American, was born in Houston and died in Minneapolis — but the African continent watched anxiously as a jury in April handed a guilty verdict to his killer, ex-policeman Derek Chauvin. Floyd’s slow suffocation the year before, pinned painfully under Chauvin’s knee as he cried for out for help and for his loved ones, sparked protests and calls for police reform in the U.S. African analysts, like Asanda Ngoasheng, a Cape Town-based diversity trainer and gender and race scholar, welcomed Biden’s admission that the U.S. has a racial justice problem. South Africa is also struggling to overcome its own racial justice issues after centuries of colonialism and the brutal, racist apartheid government.She also said Vice President Kamala Harris’ status as a powerful Black female leader lends weight to Biden’s desire to address racial justice — but said she wants to see more from the administration and from American institutions. “We praise Kamala and I think it’s great that we praise her, but people of color in institutionally racist institutions very rarely are able to make any change,” she said. “And so, unless and until we deal with the systems and the structures that keep prejudice in place, we are not going to see many changes in the United States and globally. And so, yay and great for America and Biden. But can you please talk about the institutional change that they are going to make?” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, April 28, 2021.Johannesburg-based commentator Brooks Spector said that while Biden hasn’t made any big changes to Africa policy, the fact that he isn’t making radical, impulsive changes — as critics accused former president Donald Trump of doing — is a welcome change in itself. Spector recommends that Biden work to strengthen and maintain the African Growth and Opportunities Act, a U.S. trade program. “Much of what has to happen is going to be demonstrated by doing things on the ground in a slow, steady, consistent pattern, rather than these hectic policy changes of chopping and changing,” he said. “If you want to demonstrate your support for economic growth on the continent, then you carry out the policies that encourage economic growth.” Spector, who served as an American diplomat overseas for several decades, says time will tell in Biden’s impact on Africa. Presidential legacies, he said, are built over years, not days — even 100 of them.
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Greek and Turkish Cypriots Remain Far Apart on Reunification
U.N. efforts to restart talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus have hit an impasse as Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders remain apart on the key issues. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened three days of informal meetings seeking a pathway to revive the dormant Cyprus reunification talks. The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain shared their views. Despite great efforts, Guterres acknowledged not enough common ground was found to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem. “As you can imagine, this was not an easy meeting. And we conducted extensive consultations in a succession of bilateral meetings and plenary meetings in order to try to reach common ground,” he said. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island, following a Greek-backed military coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece. Three U.N.-mediated negotiations to reunite the island since 2004 have failed. Guterres says the positions of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots remain far apart. He says the Turkish Cypriots oppose reviving past efforts to set up a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in Cyprus. Instead, he says they want Cyprus to have two separate, equal states cooperating with each other. The Greek Cypriots, he says, remain steadfast in their demand for a federation. While these contrary positions pose obvious difficulties, Guterres says he is not giving up efforts to reconcile the two sides. “My agenda is strictly to fight for the security and well-being of the Cypriots, of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, that deserve to live in peace and prosperity together,” he said. The U.N. chief says he got the parties to agree to meet again in the near future. In the meantime, he says, the U.N. will consult with the parties, in hopes of creating a better environment for the next meeting. That process, he says, is likely to take two to three months.
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Cameroon Military Says It Pushed Boko Haram Fighters into Nigeria
Cameroon’s military said Wednesday its troops pushed back about 80 terrorists from Fotokol, a town on the border with Nigeria. The statement said the Boko Haram fighters were from the Nigerian town of Wulgo in Borno State. Cameroon’s military said it killed several fighters in clashes this week, but Boko Haram escaped with all but two of the bodies. The military said it destroyed six war jeeps and seized a large arsenal, including machine guns and assault rifles. The military said Monday’s operation was led by troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.A military spokesperson, Navy Captain Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, said the operation freed several civilians who had been abducted by the militants. Nineteen-year-old Zumbaisi Babale, who witnessed the abductions, said the fighters took away his elder sister and a man with whom she was seeking refuge in their village church. He said he hid under a bench until the fighters left, then the military took him to their base for protection. FILE – Villagers are seen gathered in Maroua, northern Cameroon, April 18, 2016. Cameroonian officials are calling on villagers to be on alert for suspected Boko Haram militants hiding near the border.Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, said Boko Haram fighters are still lurking near the border, and civilians should report strangers in their towns and villages.He said via a messaging app from the northern town of Maroua that the military has been mobilized to be alert all along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria and Chad. All travelers and their goods will be checked to protect Cameroon’s territory from Boko Haram and any rebel group that attempts to penetrate, Bakari added. Monday’s attack came a week after Chad announced the death of its president, Idriss Deby. Conflict resolution specialist Joseph Vincent Ntouda Ebode of the University of Yaounde said the terrorists may have mobilized thinking that Chad had called back its troops and there were fewer soldiers fighting Boko Haram.
He said the terrorists know that Chad, which contributes a significant number of troops to combat Boko Haram, is now concentrating on stopping its internal security threats. For that reason, he said, Cameroon and Nigeria should remobilize their troops because Boko Haram terrorists will intensify attacks since they are aware that Chad has other priorities.It is not known if the Transitional Military Council in Chad will be as devoted as Chad’s late president in fighting Boko Haram, Ebode added. There are about 8,000 troops in the multinational joint task force fighting Boko Haram. The task force has not indicated whether Chad withdrew its troops.
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Australian PM: Multibillion Dollar Military Spending Not a Warning to China
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says multibillion-dollar investments in military bases in northern Australia are designed to enhance regional peace, rather than as a deliberate response to China’s growing assertiveness. In response, officials in Beijing have called Australian politicians the “real troublemakers.”Australia is beefing up its military bases in the Northern Territory, including facilities to train aboriginal recruits, and others that host joint exercises with U.S. Marines stationed in the region. Speaking at the Robertson army barracks in the Northern Territory, Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted a 10-year $6 billion plan to improve defense facilities was meant to keep the peace in an “uncertain” region rather than preparing for conflict. He was responding to questions from the media about recent tensions with Beijing over Taiwan.“All of our objectives here through the activities of our defense forces are designed to pursue peace. That is the objective of our government,” he said. Morrison denied huge investment in military bases in northern Australia was aimed at sending a message to China. Government ministers and analysts have said Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea and its crushing of democratic dissent in Hong Kong have been of great strategic concern to Canberra.A Chinese Coast Guard patrol ship is seen at South China Sea, in a handout photo distributed by the Philippine Coast guard, April 15, 2021.Morrison has also, though, defended comments by Australia’s new defense minister, Peter Dutton, who said the possibility of conflict with China over Taiwan should not be “discounted.”Dutton’s remarks have further inflamed diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Beijing, already strained by geopolitical and trade disputes.Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Wednesday called Australia’s politicians the “real troublemakers” and declared Australia’s concerns about the threat posed by China as “unethical.”Beijing has, in the past, accused Australia of peddling “anti-China hysteria.”Bilateral ties are now so bad that it is reported that Australian government ministers have for months been unable to speak with their Chinese counterparts, who refuse to take their calls.Caitlin Byrne, the director of the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University, argues that a more measured and delicate approach is needed.“I think not just cautious and careful diplomatic language, but also, you know, sometimes we need to potentially work quietly and less with a megaphone,” said Byrne.Australia has had to juggle commitments to a longstanding military alliance with the United States with valuable commercial ties with China, its biggest trading partner.Political squabbles with Beijing have had damaging economic consequences.Canberra’s call last year for a worldwide investigation into the origins of COVID-19 that was first detected in China caused fury in Beijing. There followed sweeping tariffs and restrictions on a range of Australian exports to China, including wine, beef and coal.
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What is So Special About a US President’s First 100 Days?
More than three months after being sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, President Joe Biden will soon pass a milestone: his first 100 days in office.
On Friday, April 30, administration officials, reporters, the general public and Biden himself will mark the benchmark. But many Americans and people overseas may be wondering what is so special about a president’s first 100 days.
Despite the attention to the day, nothing in U.S. law or the U.S Constitution gives any significance to a president’s first 100 days.
In fact, there is nothing inherently more important about a president’s first 100 days in office than, say, the second 100 days or any other time differentiation of a president’s four-year term, which totals 1,461 days.
However, while the 100-day mark is mostly an arbitrary milestone, it has nevertheless become an important symbolic marker when news organizations, political analysts and academics consider how a new president’s administration is doing. The first 100 days often gives an indication of a president’s management style, priorities and speed in implementing campaign promises.
Why 100 days?
For more than 150 years of American presidential history, no one was particularity interested in a president’s first 100 days. That changed, however, during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was first elected in 1932, during the Great Depression.
Roosevelt set out to make significant and quick changes in economic and social policy, through both legislative and regulatory actions.
On taking office, he summoned the U.S. Congress to a three-month special session and, by the end of his first 100 days, had passed 76 new laws, mostly aimed at easing the effects of the Depression.
Shortly after taking office, Roosevelt also gave the first of many so-called “fireside chats” in which he spoke directly to the American public over the radio and explained in simple terms how he was trying to solve the country’s problems.
In one fireside chat, the president noted how busy and important his first 100 days had been. The term stuck.
A high bar
Since then, U.S. presidents have understood they will be measured by how ambitious and successful their first 100 days in office are.
While the 100-day milestone is mostly arbitrary, the early days of a presidency can be a choice time for new presidents to make big gains in their agenda. A new president is usually still popular with the public, and lawmakers often have incentive to cooperate with a new leader, creating an opportunity for a president to pass major legislation.FILE – President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his annual message to Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 7, 1943.While many presidents have pushed through legislation at the beginning of their first term, historians have found that no modern president has done as much in the first 100 days as Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Roosevelt faced the unique circumstances of entering office during the Great Depression, the likes of which other presidents had not encountered.
As a result, many presidents try to lower expectations about what they can do in their first 100 days. As President John F. Kennedy said at his 1961 inauguration ceremony, “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
One of President Barack Obama’s senior advisers, David Axelrod, called the 100-day benchmark the “journalistic equivalent of a Hallmark holiday” because it attracts a lot of fanfare but has no real significance.
Biden’s report card
Like Roosevelt, Biden also took office during a time of crisis — with the coronavirus pandemic gripping the world — and has sought to quickly act as president.
In his first 100 days, Biden has signed a host of executive orders relating to the pandemic and pushed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill through Congress.
Biden’s goal of administrating 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days was met early, allowing the president to double his promised doses.
According to an Associated Press tracker, Biden has fulfilled or started to fulfill all his key campaign promises concerning fighting the coronavirus. Overall, the AP finds Biden has fulfilled 25 out of 61 promises and has started on 33 others.
In terms of the number of laws passed, Biden has signed 11 bills in his first 100 days, according to the website GovTrack, a relatively low number, with only George W. Bush signing fewer in modern history. The presidents who passed the most laws in their first 100 days after Roosevelt were Harry Truman, with 53, Kennedy, with 26, and Bill Clinton, with 22.
Biden has signed the most executive actions, which do not require passage through Congress, after Roosevelt, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The project says Biden has signed more than 100 executive orders, memoranda or proclamations since taking office. Before Biden, former President Trump held the No. 2 spot, with more than 85.
Remaining term
While a president’s first 100 days are an important indication of how a president is faring, they do not always indicate what actions a leader will take later in their term.
In fact, many observers point out that the major issues previous presidents faced often came much later in their terms. For example, George W. Bush had been president for more than 200 days when terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. President Ronald Reagan was in his second term when he famously called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Roosevelt was also equally defined by events happening later in his presidential term: In 1941, he led the United States into World War II.
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Biden Rallies Skeptical Allies to Get Tougher on China
Through his first 100 days in office, U.S. President Joe Biden has preserved many key aspects of his predecessor Donald Trump’s tougher approach toward China. Some U.S. allies in Asia, though, are still deciding whether to join Washington’s effort to counter Beijing, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul.
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Spain’s Matadors Fight Back After COVID-19 Nearly Kills Their Art
For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, crowds are expected to return on Sunday to Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, the spiritual home of this controversial spectacle. Six matadors will do battle with bulls in front of 6,000 cheering aficionados amid tight health restrictions that included limiting ticket sales to 25% of capacity. However, for lovers of what is known in Spain as the fiesta nacional it will be a huge emotional boost after a year in which rings across the country have remained closed. The charity bullfight will raise money for matadors and some of the 200,000 people who work in this sector who have been hard-hit by the coronavirus. In normal times, the bloody spectacle generates $4.8 billion for the economy annually, almost 1% of GDP, according to the National Association of Organizers of Bullfights. Regarded as an art by admirers in Spain, bullfighting has met with increasing criticism in recent years from a growing animal rights lobby which has been supported by left-wing parties. Fighting back Now, after the pandemic has pushed the industry onto the ropes financially, the men who wear the colorful “suit of lights” are staging a fight back. “For bullfighting this will be hugely symbolic. It will be the first time we return to Las Ventas, the world home of bullfighting, since before the start of the pandemic,” Antonio Lorca, bullfighting critic of El País, one of Spain’s major newspapers, told VOA. “The hope is that this will be the start of many more fights. It will be in aid of those who work in the industry. They have all struggled to get through the past year.” Victorino Martín, president of the Foundation of Fighting Bulls that represents breeders, believes this weekend’s contest will mark the start of a recovery for an industry which, he says, has cultural as well as economic importance for Spain. “This bullfight will be strategically important as it will mark the start of a series of similar fights in Madrid next month,” he told VOA. “This industry has suffered economically but it is also a part of Spanish culture, a little like theatre.” Tradition and politics The pandemic has accelerated the decline of a spectacle which in the past has inspired artists including Francisco de Goya, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. In 2012, there were 1,997 fights but this fell to 1,425 by 2019, according to Spain’s ministry of culture which deals with bullfighting as it is considered an art form. After the financial crisis of 2008, many local councils, which traditionally pay for bullfights, cut their budgets. A younger generation are attracted as much to Tik Tok or YouTube as a paying to see a spectacle which is seen by some as old fashioned. Bullfighting has recently become an increasing political issue. Rocio Monasterio, the candidate for the far-right Vox party in regional elections in Madrid on May 4, took on a bull in the ring – with the aid of a real matador – to kick off her campaign. Vox, which is the third largest party in the Spanish parliament with 52 deputies, supports countryside pursuits. “I wasn’t scared at all. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. It was great in spite of the nonsense of the totalitarians who oppose bullfighting,” she told VOA afterwards. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the current conservative president of Madrid who polls suggest will win, has promised to organize 18 bullfights in small towns in coming months and pledged $3.63 million in subsidies. Spaniards have been split over the issue of bullfighting in recent years with some considering it an art, while others see it as cruelty. FILE – People hold banners reading in Spanish: “92% of Spain, don’t attend the bullfights” during a protest against bullfighting in downtown Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 12, 2020.A 2019 poll for the online newspaper El Español found 56.4% of Spaniards opposed bullfighting while 24.7 per cent supported it and 18% were indifferent. José Zaldivar has been campaigning to ban bullfighting but holds out little hope of success – at least in the short term. He works from an office that contains an arsenal of the weapons which matadors use to battle with the bull, from the sword which ends the animal’s life to the banderillas which are punctured into its back to weaken it during the duel. “What the animal goes through in terms of stress and pain cannot be anything else but torture,” said Zaldivar, who is president of the Association of Veterinarians for the Abolition of Bullfighting. He believes as long as bullfighting is protected as part of Spain’s cultural heritage it will be impossible to deal the estocada – the sword thrust in which the matador kills the bull. In 2013, the then conservative government passed a law which established the “indisputable” cultural character of bullfighting. This meant that in 2016 the Constitutional Court was able to annul a ban on bullfighting by regional authorities in Catalonia and in the Balearic Islands.
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AP Fact Check: Biden Skews Record on Migrants; GOP on Virus
Taking a swipe at his predecessor, President Joe Biden gave a distorted account of the historical forces driving migrants to the U.S. border, glossing over the multitudes who were desperate to escape poverty in their homelands when he was vice president.In his speech to Congress on Wednesday night, Biden also made his spending plans sound more broadly supported in Washington than they are.The Republican response to Biden’s speech departed from reality particularly on the subject of the pandemic. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina tried to give the Trump administration credit for turning the tide on the coronavirus in what was actually the deadliest phase.A look at some of the claims:The sun rises as asylum-seeking migrant families from Honduras and El Salvador walk towards the border wall after crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States from Mexico on a raft, in Penitas, Texas.IMMIGRATIONBIDEN: “If you believe in a pathway to citizenship, pass (immigration legislation) so over 11 million undocumented folks, the vast majority who are here overstaying visas, pass it.”THE FACTS: He’s making an unsubstantiated claim.There is no official count of how many people entered the country legally and overstayed visas. The government estimates that 11.4 million were living in the country illegally as of January 2018 but doesn’t distinguish between how many entered legally and stayed after their visas expired and how many arrived illegally.Robert Warren of the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a former director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s statistics division who has studied visa overstays for decades, has done the most recent work on the issue. He estimated that, as of 2018, 46% of people in the country illegally overstayed visas — not a majority, let alone a “vast majority.”BIDEN: “When I was vice president, the president asked me to focus on providing help needed to address the root causes of migration. And it helped keep people in their own countries instead of being forced to leave. The plan was working, but the last administration decided it was not worth it. I’m restoring the program and I asked Vice President Harris to lead our diplomatic effort to take care of this.”THE FACTS: That’s wrong.Biden led Obama’s efforts to address a spike in migration from Central America, but poverty and violence have been endemic for decades. Hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. aid have gone to Central America annually, even during Donald Trump’s presidency, but migration from Mexico and Central America has continued unabated with periodic spikes.In March, the number of unaccompanied children encountered by U.S. border authorities reached nearly 19,000, the highest number on record in the third major surge of families and children from Central America since 2014 under both Democratic and Republican administrations.Biden championed aid during what Obama called “a humanitarian crisis” of Central American children at the border in 2014. But while assistance fell under Trump, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed in every year. Biden has proposed $861 million in Central American aid next year as a first installment on a $4 billion plan, compared with annual outlays of between $506 million and $750 million over the previous six years.A painter works on steel support beams underneath the Manhattan Bridge, part of New York’s aging infrastructure, April 6, 2021.SPENDINGBIDEN, on his economic proposals: “There’s a broad consensus of economists — left, right, center — and they agree that what I’m proposing will help create millions of jobs and generate historic economic growth.”THE FACTS: He’s glossing over the naysayers. Some economists, also bridging the ideological spectrum, say he’s spending too much or in the wrong way. Biden’s pandemic relief plan did enjoy some bipartisan support, even getting a general seal of approval from Kevin Hassett, who was Trump’s chief economist. But his policies have also drawn bipartisan criticism.For one, Larry Summers, who was Barack Obama’s top economist and Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, warned that Biden’s relief package risks rates of inflation not seen in a generation.Biden’s latest proposals on infrastructure and families would require substantial tax increases on corporations and wealthy investors — leading to criticism by many CEOs and more conservative economists that growth could be compromised. Biden’s economics team says the resulting programs and infrastructure would boost growth.The plan to increase capital gains taxes drew the scorn of Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and Republican adviser. He said the White House is wrong to focus on the sliver of people being taxed and what matters is how much of the economy would be taxed.“The wealth taxes are a draconian tax on the annual return to that capital,” he said. “What matters is the amount of economic activity that is taxed, not the number of people.”BIDEN: “We kept our commitment, Democrats and Republicans, sending $1,400 rescue checks to 85% of all American households.”THE FACTS: Republicans made no such commitment.Republicans in both the U.S. Senate and House opposed the bill containing the $1,400 stimulus checks, known as the American Rescue Plan, portraying it as too big and too bloated.All but one Democrat supported the legislation.While no Republicans voted for this year’s coronavirus bill, they supported sending checks to Americans in previous rounds of relief legislation. A relief law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in December, when Trump was still president, provided $600 checks to many Americans.Some Republicans have boasted to their constituents about programs created by the coronavirus bill despite voting against it.FILE – A prescription is filled at a pharmacy in Sacramento, Calif. On Friday, May 11 2018, Trump is scheduled to give his first speech on how his administration will seek to lower drug prices.DRUG PRICESBIDEN, arguing that Congress should authorize Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. “And by the way, that won’t just help people on Medicare — it will lower prescription drug costs for everyone.”THE FACTS: That may be a bit of wishful thinking.Under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill, private insurers that cover working-age Americans and their families would indeed be able to get the same discounts as Medicare. But while Pelosi should be able to drive her legislation through the House, the situation in the Senate is different.If just a few Democratic senators have qualms about her expansive approach, Biden may have to settle for less. So there’s no guarantee that a final bill would lower prescription drug costs for everyone.Sen. Tim Scott delivers the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress, April 28, 2021, in Washington.REPUBLICAN RESPONSESOUTH CAROLINA SEN. TIM SCOTT: “This administration inherited a tide that had already turned. The coronavirus is on the run! Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines.”THE FACTS: That’s a real stretch.Biden took over in the midst of the winter wave of COVID-19, the worst to hit the nation. It’s true that cases and deaths had begun to decline from their peak in the second week of January, but the tide had far from turned. Daily cases were averaging more than three times higher than they are now.And while the Trump administration shepherded the delivery of two highly effective vaccines, the supply of doses was short of meeting demand and several state governors were complaining about jumbled signals from Trump’s team.Trump was focused on his campaign to overturn the election results and did not devote much public attention to the pandemic as his term came to an end.SCOTT: “Just before COVID, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime. The lowest unemployment rates ever recorded for African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. And a 70-year low nearly for women. Wages were growing faster at the bottom than at the top — the bottom 25% saw their wages go up faster than the top 25%. That happened because Republicans focused on expanding opportunity for all Americans.”THE FACTS: His statistics are selectively misleading.Nothing is false on its face in terms of numbers. Yet the gains reflected the longest expansion in U.S. history — something that started during Obama’s administration and simply continued under Trump without much change in growth patterns.The labor force participation for women was below its 2001 peak, so the unemployment rate claims by Scott tell an incomplete story. The Black and Hispanic unemployment rates were lower because the total unemployment rate was lower. Yet both still lagged those of white workers by a large degree.Scott also neglects to credit the Federal Reserve, which kept interest rates near historic lows to support growth and keep the recovery from the Great Recession going.
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Ethiopia Detains Tigrayans Amid War
Ethiopia has swept up thousands of ethnic Tigrayans into detention centers across the country on accusations that they are traitors, often holding them for months and without charges, the AP has found. The detentions, mainly but not exclusively of military personnel, are an apparent attempt to purge state institutions of the Tigrayans who once dominated them, as the government enters its sixth month of fighting in the Tigray region. Detainees, families and visitors spoke of hundreds or even more than 1,000 people in at least nine individual locations, including military bases and an agricultural college. The government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed acknowledges that it has locked up a small number of high-level military officials from the Tigrayan minority. But the AP is reporting for the first time that the detentions are far more sweeping in scope and more arbitrary, extending even to priests and office workers, sometimes with ethnic profiling as the sole reason. A military detainee told the AP he is being held with more than 400 other Tigrayans, and lawyers are not allowed to contact them. Even families can’t visit. The AP is not using his name for his safety but has seen his military ID. “They can do what they want,” he said on a smuggled phone. “They might kill us….We are in their hands, and we have no choice but to pray.” Many of the military personnel were not combatants but held jobs such as teachers and nurses, according to interviews with 15 detainees and relatives, along with a lawyer and a camp visitor. Civilian employees of state-owned companies also have been held. The arbitrary locking up of non-combatants is against international law, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has met with family members of detainees but declined to answer questions. Conditions vary, but some detainees are given just one meal a day and crowded dozens to a room in sweltering metal shelters, at a time when COVID-19 infections are rapidly rising in Ethiopia. Families worry that needed medications are withheld. Detainees and families the AP tracked down did not directly witness beatings or other such physical abuse, but almost all asked not to be identified out of fear for their lives. Once detained, the Tigrayans often end up in Ethiopia’s opaque military justice system. That means they can lose the right to private lawyers and face judges who one lawyer said tend to hand out the maximum penalty. With fewer means to challenge their detention, detainees say they feel helpless, their fate in the hands of the people who accuse them of treason. One Tigrayan living in the United States said she could understand war between soldiers but objected to the detention of two cousins with non-combat roles in communications and peacekeeping. One hasn’t been seen or heard from since November. “Is the danger in their blood? In their DNA?” she asked. “I thought they were Ethiopians.” The mass detentions and house arrests are an extension of the war in the Tigray region marked by massacres, gang rapes, expulsions and forced starvation, which witnesses call a systematic effort to destroy the Tigrayan minority of more than 6 million. The detentions are all the more striking because Abiy was once praised for releasing thousands of political prisoners in a country long known for locking up people deemed a threat. Tigrayans are further targeted by state media reports amplifying the government narrative of pursuing Tigray “criminals” and their supporters. Family members of detainees are sometimes stripped of their jobs, kicked out of military housing and subjected to frozen bank accounts. Tigray leaders were prominent in Ethiopia’s repressive government for nearly three decades and are blamed by Abiy and others for fostering sometimes deadly ethnic politics, but they were sidelined when he took office in 2018. After national elections were delayed last year, they held their own vote in Tigray and called Abiy’s government illegitimate. Ethiopia then accused Tigray fighters of attacking a military base and launched an offensive, unleashing a war that has killed thousands. Ethiopia’s government is “only after the top leadership” of Tigray’s former rulers, the minister for public diplomacy at the country’s embassy in Britain, Mekonnen Amare, told the AP. “So there is no such thing as mass detention or mass abuse of rights.” But in a leaked video posted online earlier in the war and verified by the AP, a senior military official said of Tigrayans, “We had to clean out our insides. … Even if there may be good people among them, we can’t differentiate the good from the bad. To save the country, we made it so they were excluded from doing work.” Now the security forces were “completely Ethiopian,” Brig. Gen. Tesfaye Ayalew said in what appeared to be an internal briefing. Ethiopia’s attorney general’s office, which has said it would set up a hotline to report ethnic profiling, did not respond to questions from the AP, and neither did a military spokesman. The U.S. State Department said it could not confirm reports of people detained in camps, but noted that it has paused most security assistance to Ethiopia because of concerns over the Tigray crisis. Another Tigrayan who spoke to the AP from custody, his voice hushed on a borrowed phone, said he is being held without charges along with more than 30 pilots, technicians and other military personnel. He said families at times have no idea where relatives are, and his own mother still thinks he’s working, just far away. He despairs of justice in military court. “If peace comes, maybe they’ll release us,” he said. “If not, we don’t have any future. I fear even they may kill us.” Then he hurriedly ended the call. Estimates of the number of detainees and camps vary. More than 17,000 Tigrayans were in the military alone when the war began and have been detained, according to an estimate given to a researcher by Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe, a former senior Ethiopian official and Tigrayan who founded the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University. Along with the at least nine centers cited by detainees, families and visitors, the AP obtained three separate lists that allege several others across the country. One detainee who escaped a center in Mirab Abaya in southern Ethiopia estimated that more than 1,500 people were held there alone. A man who visited two other centers said detainees had counted 110 people in one, mostly military commanders, and 270 in the other, many of them commandos and air force officers. Some had served in the military for more than 30 years with no history of misconduct, he said. The visitor described 40 to 50 people living in a room made of metal sheets. The detainees told him they were not allowed to speak in groups or have family visits or phone calls, and they didn’t get enough food. “The area is very hot, extremely hot…..they don’t look good,” said the visitor, whom the AP is not identifying further to preserve his access to the centers. He said detainees alleged that people are held in at least 20 places across the country. “It’s scary, you know?” he said. “These people were serving their country as military personnel but were attacked by their own government….They have been identified as treasonous by the community, so they’re seriously worried about their families.” Their families also are worried about them. A man in the capital, Addis Ababa, wept as he described not seeing or speaking to his brother, a human resources staffer with the military, for three months. His brother’s family has been evicted from military housing, he said, sharing photos of their items strewn outdoors. “He was serving his country honestly,” the man said. “The situation is not good, not only for me but for all the Tigrayan people.” Another detainee had been serving in a neighboring country on a peacekeeping mission when he was called home to Ethiopia and seized, his son said. He was freed on bail, and the AP has seen the federal court document for his release. But then he was sent to a military camp, accused of creating instability although he wasn’t in the country. “I spoke with him yesterday. He sounded stressed,” his son said. “People with the military gave him the phone in secret. He’s a proud person. It’s unsettling to hear him like that.” His father has lost about 10 kilograms (22 pounds) because of the lack of proper food, he said. The transfer of people into the military system after being released on bail in the federal courts is illegal, said a lawyer in the capital, Tadele Gebremedhin, who has worked on more than 75 cases involving detained Tigrayans from the military and federal police. He said detainees at one center he visited on the outskirts of the capital sleep about 25 to a room, get food once a day and are denied family visits. “They are innocent,” the lawyer said. “The only thing is, they’re Tigrayans.” Civilians have been held, too. One employee with state-owned Ethiopian Airlines said he fled the country after being released on bail. “We need you very badly today,” he recalled federal police saying as they took him from his home without explanation. He said he saw almost 100 high-ranking military officials during his two months in detention, from late November to late January. Dozens of Tigrayan priests and deacons were detained in the capital, most for a month, according to Lisanewerk Desta, who leads the library and museum department of the Ethiopia Orthodox Church. He also said he has spoken with a detainee at a center near Harar who estimated that more than 2,000 military personnel were held there. “I don’t have words. How to explain this kind of hatred?” he asked. Beyond the camps, an unknown number of Tigrayans are under house arrest. A man described how one parent, a nurse in the military, has been barred from work since the war began and is under a curfew. The United Nations human rights office said it was aware of reports of arbitrary detention of Tigrayans but did not have reliable estimates “given the lack of transparency.” The government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission did not answer questions, instead sharing recent statements on Tigrayan detainees and ethnic profiling. In a statement this week, the commission said the denial of fair trials, family visits and medical treatment is “still rife” at several detention centers, and detainees are often unable to tell families where they are. The commission spoke earlier this year with 21 detainees at a federal police center in the capital, with some describing “lengthy pre-trial detention periods and being subjected to insults, threats, beatings and to physical injuries from shots fired at the time of their capture.” However, the commission said detainees were in good health and the conditions of detention met acceptable standards. Tigrayans dispute that. In neighboring South Sudan, more than a dozen members of the United Nations peacekeeping mission refused to board a flight home in February when their stay ended. For detainees, it is unclear what happens next. Two people told the AP that a campaign to “re-educate” them has begun, including lectures promoting Abiy’s political party. One person said their cousin had gone through the training, and another said their relative had been told it would start soon. The risk for the government is that the detentions could turn Tigrayans who once swore their loyalty into active opponents. Teklebrhan Weldeselassie, an air force pilot, said he and colleagues were accused of being in contact with Tigray’s now-fugitive leaders. He escaped house arrest and fled Ethiopia, but he said colleagues have told him they are among an estimated 1,000 Tigrayans detained near the air force headquarters in Debre Zeit. Once shocked by being suspected as a traitor, he is so horrified by Ethiopia’s treatment of Tigrayans that he now says he would consider taking up arms. “Before, I didn’t plan to fight on the side of Tigray,” Teklebrhan said. “At this time, if I get a chance, yeah, of course I would defend my people.”
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China Launches Main Part of Its 1st Permanent Space Station
China on Thursday launched the main module of its first permanent space station that will host astronauts long term, the latest success for a program that has realized a number of its growing ambitions in recent years. The Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony,” module blasted into space atop a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan, marking another major advance for the country’s space exploration. The launch begins the first of 11 missions necessary to complete, supply and crew the station by the end of next year. China’s space program has also recently brought back the first new lunar samples in more than 40 years and expects to land a probe and rover on the surface of Mars later next month. Minutes after the launch, the fairing opened to expose the Tianhe atop the core stage of the rocket, with the characters for “China Manned Space” emblazoned on its exterior. Soon after, it separated from the rocket, which will orbit for about a week before falling to Earth, and minutes after that, opened its solar arrays to provide a steady energy source. The space program is a source of huge national pride, and Premier Li Keqiang and other top civilian and military leaders watched the launch live from the control center in Beijing. A message of congratulations from state leader and head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping was also read to staff at the Wenchang Launch Center. The launch furthers the “three-step” strategy of building up China’s manned space program and marks “an important leading project for constructing a powerful country in science and technology and aerospace,” Xi’s message said. The core module is the section of the station where astronauts will live for up to six months at a time. Another 10 launches will send up two more modules where crews will conduct experiments, four cargo supply shipments and four missions with crews. At least 12 astronauts are training to fly to and live in the station, including veterans of previous flights, newcomers and women, with the first crewed mission, Shenzhou-12, expected to be launched by June. When completed by late 2022, the T-shaped Chinese Space Station is expected to weigh about 66 tons, considerably smaller than the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and will weigh about 450 tons when completed. Tianhe will have a docking port and will also be able to connect with a powerful Chinese space satellite. Theoretically, it could be expanded to as many as six modules. The station is designed to operate for at least 10 years. Tianhe is about the size of the American Skylab space station of the 1970s and the former Soviet/Russian Mir, which operated for more than 14 years after launching in 1986. The core module will provide living space for as many as six astronauts during crew changeovers, while its other two modules, Wentian, or “Quest for the Heavens,” and Mengtian, or “Dreaming of the Heavens,” will provide room for conducting scientific experiments including in medicine and the properties of the outer space environment. China began working on a space station project in 1992, just as its space ambitions were taking shape. The need to go it alone became more urgent after was excluded from the International Space Station largely due to U.S. objections over the Chinese program’s secretive nature and close military ties. After years of successful rocket and commercial satellite launches, China put its first astronaut into space in October 2003, becoming only the third country to independently do so after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Along with more crewed missions, China launched a pair of experimental, single-module space stations — Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace-1,” and its successor, Tiangong-2. The first burned up after contact was lost and its orbit decayed, while the second was successfully taken out of orbit in 2018. The Tiangong-2 crew stayed aboard for 33 days. While NASA must get permission from a reluctant Congress to engage in contact with the Chinese space program, other countries have been far less reluctant. European nations and the United Nations are expected to cooperate on experiments to be done on the completed Chinese station. The launch comes as China is also forging ahead with crewless missions, particularly in lunar exploration, and it has landed a rover on the little-explored far side of the moon. In December, its Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the U.S. missions of the 1970s. Meanwhile, a Chinese probe carrying a rover is due to set down on Mars sometime around the middle of next month, making China only the second country to successfully accomplish that after the U.S. The Tianwen-1 space probe has been orbiting the red planet since February while collecting data. Its Zhurong rover will be looking for evidence of life. Another Chinese program aims to collect soil from an asteroid, a key focus of Japan’s space program. China plans another mission in 2024 to bring back lunar samples and has said it wants to land people on the moon and possibly build a scientific base there. No timeline has been proposed for such projects. A highly secretive space plane is also reportedly under development. China has proceeded in a more measured, cautious manner than the U.S. and Soviet Union during the height of the space race. One recent setback came when a Long March 5 rocket failed in 2017 during development of the Long March 5B variant used to put Tianhe into orbit, but that caused only a brief delay.
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In Address to Congress, Biden Defends Government and Democracy
In his first address to the joint session of Congress Wednesday night, President Joe Biden pitched his ambitious infrastructure and jobs plan while casting government as a force for good. The American presidential tradition was noticeably different in many ways, due to COVID-19 protocols. VOA’s White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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