Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders attended Anzac Day dawn services Sunday to honor their armed forces, a year after marking the solemn occasion from the isolation of their driveways.Both countries largely returned to in-person services after the cancellation of marches and ceremonies in 2020 because of coronavirus restrictions that led many to observe the annual memorial day at home.Anzac Day marks the 1915 landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, in what is now Turkey, during World War I to face the German-backed Ottoman forces.While most nations commemorate military victories, New Zealand and Australia focus on the ill-fated, eight-month campaign that cost the young nations more than 11,000 lives.At a gathering at the War Memorial Museum in Auckland early Sunday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern highlighted the sacrifices of women in war.”They were courageous and passionate during the most appalling conditions,” she said. “These were the women who paved the way for women to be fully integrated into our defense force we know today, in our air force, our navy and in our army.”Commemorations broadenedThe commemorations now extend to every conflict the countries have joined in the ensuing decades, including wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this year a “chapter in our history is coming to a close” after the announcement last week the country would withdraw its remaining troops from Afghanistan in line with the U.S. timetable to leave by September.Speaking at an official memorial in Canberra, Morrison said Australia’s longest war had come at “great cost” to the nation.”Forty-one Australian lives lost in Afghanistan, whom we especially remember and honor this morning,” he said.”More than 39,000 Australians have served on operations in support of Australia’s mission in Afghanistan, many carrying the wounds and scars of war, seen and unseen.”The two nations’ success in containing the spread of COVID-19 allowed many public remembrance services and parades to go ahead, though with limited crowds in Australia and ceremonies canceled in the locked-down city of Perth.
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Month: April 2021
Thai Activists Gravitate to Clubhouse After Crackdown
After a youth movement to reform Thailand’s monarchy erupted onto Bangkok’s streets last year, many dissidents have been The icon for the social media app Clubhouse is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Feb. 9, 2021.Launched in April 2020, Clubhouse had nearly 14 million downloads globally in the first quarter this year, according to market data company Statista.As of February, Europe, the Middle East and Africa held the largest share of global downloads of the app, followed by Asia.The app was banned in China, after users discussed sensitive topics such as Beijing’s placement of Uyghurs in concentration camps in Xinjiang, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.In the Middle East, it is blocked on certain mobile networks in Jordan, while in the United Arab Emirates, users have described unexplainable glitches.In Thailand, authorities have warned users not to distribute disinformation after Kyoto University’s associate professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun’s talk of the palace and King Maha Vajiralongkorn quickly drew thousands of listeners.Moving onlineSurachanee Sriyai, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations has contributed to Clubhouse’s boom.Thailand’s pro-democracy protesters, mostly school and university students, have been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the rewriting of the country’s constitution, and reform of the monarchy.The movement drew tens of thousands to the streets at its peak last year. Since then, it has struggled to maintain its momentum. Authorities met protesters with water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas.Critics contend the authorities’ most powerful weapon is Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law, written to shield the monarchy from criticism. Those found guilty of violating the law, known as Article 112, could face up to 15 years in prison.At least 82 people — some just 16 years old — have been summoned or charged under Article 112 since the youth protests began in July 2020, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Key student leaders have been repeatedly denied bail as they await trial, according to the legal group.“Thai politics is at a precarious, sensitive juncture,” Surachanee told VOA. “Going out in the streets has become increasingly riskier … making it necessary to retreat online again.”Promises, pitfallsFor years, different protest groups in Thailand have used social media to expand their bases and amplify their messages, according to Sombat Boonngamanong, a veteran pro-democracy activist, who is based in Bangkok.In 2013-14, critics of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra used a “check-in” feature and shared pictures on Facebook when they joined street demonstrations to call for her resignation.Last year, the youth movement, which has adopted a flat rather than hierarchical leadership structure, migrated to Facebook, Twitter and Telegram to organize street rallies and flash mobs.“Pro-democracy activists have found Clubhouse to be effective and a significant number of them have used it as a base,” said Sombat, 53, who was drawn to Clubhouse after Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared on the app on Feb. 1.Sombat believes that Clubhouse has untapped potential for political activism. The app’s instantaneous interactive feature could help pro-democracy activists expand their reach more effectively and change the way they spread their agenda or exchange information, he said.In an experiment on April 18, Sombat and some 100 members used the picture of Myanmar’s popular actor/model Paing Takhon — who was arrested April 7 by the military during an anti-democracy crackdown — as their profile pictures.Together, they joined an ongoing chat room about Myanmar’s situation, pulling off a stunt that resembled a flash mob crossed with a photobomb, which the host described as a show of solidarity.After a human rights lawyer sent a distress letter from police detention, Thai Unity Club members sprang into action to express concern about the safety of the lawyer and other activists as they awaited trials.Rakchanok Srinok and members of Thai Unity Club, a group formed on Clubhouse, submitted a letter to bring attention to the condition of jailed political activists in March 2021. (Courtesy Thai Unity Club)“Some members proposed that we hand deliver a letter [to ask a Thai parliamentary committee to investigate] … then everyone pitched in to make it happen” online and then in real life, said Rukchanok. “It became real activism outside of Clubhouse.”Despite what the activists see as successes using Clubhouse and social media, Surachanee, the political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said she remains skeptical about the ability of Clubhouse to drive a social movement.“It’s too early to say that Clubhouse can fuel a large-scale movement,” she said. “We have yet to see it, but it’s more common to see Clubhouse being used to organize smaller, lower-risk political activities.”Clubhouse is not immune to the drawbacks that color much of social media — accessibility, the echo-chamber effect and slacktivism, according to Surachanee, who studies digital politics and political communication.For now, Clubhouse is only accessible on iOS, the mobile operating system for iPhone and iPad. That means Android users in Thailand, who account for about 70% of the population, remain excluded.Some Clubhouse users may feel less enthusiastic to join protests or other on-the-ground activism when they can click for information and discussions online, Surachanee said.Arthittaya, a Clubhouse early adopter, said she was aware of the pitfalls. The 32-year-old freelancer is in demand to moderate discussions on the app but makes sure she shows up on the street.“Clubhouse is a great tool to brainstorm, strategize and build consensus, but it’s certainly still very important to join protests” she said. “We need an on-the-ground show of force to empower the people and to gain more political leverage.”This story originated in VOA’s Thai Service.
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Ukraine: YouTube Blocks Access to Ukrainian TV Channels Tied to Kremlin Ally
Three Ukrainian television channels linked to an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin were blocked from broadcasting on Google’s YouTube on Saturday, the Ukrainian government said, following its request to YouTube to have the channels taken down.The YouTube channels of ZiK, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne did not play their content and instead showed a blank screen with a message saying the channel was not available.”We are pleased such an influential American company is willing to cooperate when it concerns issues of Ukrainian national security and Russian disinformation,” Ukraine’s embassy to Washington said in a tweet.YouTube did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.The move comes after weeks of tensions between Kyiv and Moscow over the conflict in eastern Ukraine and a Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders that had alarmed Ukraine’s Western backers and the NATO military alliance.Russia said it began withdrawing its troops on Friday.Backed by the United States, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government blocked the three channels from airing on Ukrainian television in February, accusing them of being instruments of Russian propaganda and partly financed by Russia.The government also asked YouTube to shut down the channels on its platform.The listed owner of the channels is Taras Kozak, a lawmaker from the Opposition Platform — For Life party.Kozak is an associate of Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent opposition figure who says Putin is godfather to his daughter. The Kremlin has said its contacts with Medvedchuk represent Russia’s efforts to maintain ties with “the Russian world.”Medvedchuk and Kozak did not respond to requests for comment, but Kozak and Medvedchuk have both previously described the crackdown on the channels as illegal.Medvedchuk earlier this year told Reuters the clampdown was designed to silence criticism of Zelenskiy’s political blunders, saying Zelenskiy was “infuriated” by what the TV channels reported.Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko on Saturday thanked YouTube for the ban, calling the channels “part of Russia’s propaganda war against Ukraine.”
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Jihadists Kill at Least 11 in Northeast Nigeria Attack
At least 11 civilians were killed when IS-aligned jihadists invaded a town in northeast Nigerian Yobe state, an official and residents told AFP on Saturday.Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in eight trucks fitted with machine guns stormed the town of Geidam as residents were preparing to break their Ramadan fast on Friday, leading to a gunfight with troops from a nearby base.”We lost 11 people in the terrorist invasion and the gunmen are still in the town,” Ali Kolo Kachalla, Geidam political administrator, said.”Our people are trapped in the town and soldiers have been prevented from leaving,” Kachalla said by phone from the state capital Damaturu.The victims were killed when a projectile hit two adjoining homes in the Samunaka neighborhood of the town during the fighting between troops and the militants, residents said.”A projectile fell on the two houses, killing all the 11 occupants, six from one house and five from the other,” said resident Babagana Kyari.The militants destroyed telecom masts in the town, save a few from a mobile carrier, making communications limited.”The insurgents looted provision stores before setting them on fire,” said resident Ari Sanda, adding the fighters seized a military armored vehicle and destroyed three trucks.Soon after they entered the town on Friday, a fighter jet deployed and engaged the militants who hid among the civilian population to evade aerial attack, the sources said.On Saturday the jihadists came out of hiding and were joined by more of their comrades who arrived in the town in trucks, the residents said.”They are still in the town, they are camping under trees, with some of them sleeping,” said Kyari.Despite assurances they would not harm civilians, residents remained indoors while some tried to flee.Troops have blocked the road out of town, preventing panicked residents from leaving, prompting some to trek into the bush while others took boats to the other side the river to escape, said residents.”Our people want to leave town, but soldiers are preventing them without chasing the insurgents out, leaving our people in danger,” Kachalla said.Geidam, around 130 kilometers from Damaturu, has been repeatedly raided by the jihadists, including the military base where they killed troops and carted away weapons.The jihadist conflict which started in 2009 has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the U.N.
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Armenians Mark Anniversary of Ottoman-era Genocide in Middle East, Yerevan
Armenians in the Middle East, in modern-day Armenia and in other parts of the world on Saturday marked the 106th anniversary of the beginning of what historians call the Armenian genocide.Hundreds gathered at the Armenian Patriarchate north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for the observance. The head of the Armenian Orthodox Church of Cilicia, Aram I, delivered a eulogy for the victims. Paul Haidostian, president of Haigazian University in Beirut, told VOA he attended the three-hour memorial service, in which the patriarch expressed his thanks to U.S. President Joe Biden for recognizing the mass killings of Armenians as genocide.Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.The genocide, said Haidostian, officially began with the arrests of leading Armenian political figures and intellectuals in the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, in 1915.”The reason they mention April 24 [is] symbolic, in a way, because in Constantinople a few hundred leaders and politicians — Armenian leaders and intellectuals — were arrested and deported and killed, and then it was followed by systematic attacks all over the country,” he said.Country’s character changedHaidostian added that “the end result was that Armenians were either killed or kicked out of their historic lands … basically changing the character of eastern Turkey and Anatolia … and leaving a very different country with a totally different people.”The large Armenian community in Aleppo, Syria, commemorated the mass killings, while a marching band paraded through the streets of the city and waved burning torches as dusk fell over the region. Armenians also marked the event in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the mostly Armenian town of Kessab, near the Turkish border.People line up to lay flowers at the monument to the victims of mass killings by Ottoman Turks, to commemorate the 106th anniversary of the massacre, in Yerevan, Armenia, April 24, 2021.Demetrios Orologas, a Greek writer living in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, told VOA that Armenians paid tribute at the genocide memorial, laying wreaths and playing music to honor the victims.Parts of Orologas’ own Greek family were also expelled from the formerly Greek city of Smyrna, which Kemal Ataturk, a military leader who became the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, burned in 1923. Orologas’ mother and her family were forced into exile in Greece after the calamity.”Not only the event was terrible, but also the wars that came after … [my family] became refugees, they became outcasts, they lost their homes, they lost their fortunes and they lived for years under a regime that was not friendly to them,” he said.Biden officially recognized the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide in a statement Saturday, 106 years to the day after the first Armenians were killed.
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Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide a Century Ago
U.S. President Joe Biden recognized Saturday the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Biden’s recognition of the mass killings fulfills a campaign promise and came on the same day that Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was observed in Armenia and by the Armenian diaspora.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement. “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”Later Saturday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield to Ankara, according to a ministry statement.The ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal told Satterfield that Ankara rejected Biden’s comment and “found it unacceptable and condemned it in the stongest terms.” The statement added that it caused a “wound in ties that will be hard to repair.”During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”In a letter Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the killings as genocide.“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments and speak the truth.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 12 MB480p | 17 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 44 MB1080p | 88 MBOriginal | 111 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioTurkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week that Biden’s recognition of the killings as genocide would harm relations between the NATO allies.
Cavusoglu said Saturday in a statement that Biden’s recognition “distorts the historical facts, will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship.”
“We call on the U.S. President to correct this grave mistake, which serves no purpose other than to satisfy certain political circles, and to support the efforts aiming to establish a practice of peaceful coexistence in the region, especially among the Turkish and Armenian nations, instead of serving the agenda of those circles that try to foment enmity from history,” Cavusoglu added.
Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.
Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.
Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. It says many of the victims were casualties of the war or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.
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New Chinese Decree Tells Religious Leaders to ‘Support the Communist Party’
The Chinese government is implementing a new decree on May 1 that will require all religious leaders to “follow the lead of and support the Communist Party.”The decree, “FILE – Uyghurs and other members of the faithful walk under an arch with security cameras as they leave after prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, April 19, 2021.The USCIRF said the Sinicization effort particularly targets Christians, Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists because the Chinese government believes these groups maintain foreign connections. The USCIRF reported continuing use by the Chinese government of advanced technology to monitor, track and control religious minorities such as the FILE – Chinese acolytes pray during a Holy Saturday Mass on the evening before Easter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Beijing, March 31, 2018.Fenggang Yang, a sociology professor at Purdue University who oversees the Center on Religion and the Global East, said that China’s religious policy has changed significantly in the last two or three years to further limit the freedom of religious professionals.“In principle, the Chinese Communist Party adheres to Marxism-Leninism, which includes atheism,” Yang told VOA Mandarin. “There are logical problems when the Chinese authorities require religious professionals to embrace the Communist Party and atheism for their leadership or domination.”Yang said that any religion introduced to a new country would adapt to the local sociopolitical system and culture, but in China people must beware of religion being manipulated by the CCP as a tool to further its own ends.Xu, who has been tried, detained and denied his state pension because of his faith, said religious professionals and believers were “not afraid of crackdowns. … We will still be able to serve the Lord, and we’re very confident about that.”Adrianna Zhang and Mo Yu contributed to this report.
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Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide
President Joe Biden has recognized that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago was genocide. As VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, with the White House statement Saturday, Biden became the first American president to do so. VOA’s Armenian Service, VOA’s Turkish Service and Bojan Klima contributed to this report.Camera: Dilge Timocin, Aram Avetisyan.
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China Points Toward Asteroid Defense System, Comet Mission
China will discuss building a defense system against near-Earth asteroids, a senior space agency official said Saturday, as the country steps up its longer-term space ambitions.Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, did not provide further detail in his opening remarks at a ceremony for China’s Space Day in the eastern city of Nanjing.China has made space exploration a top priority in recent years, aiming to establish a program operating thousands of space flights a year and carrying tens of thousands of tons of cargo and passengers by 2045.The European Space Agency last year signed a deal worth 129 million euros ($156 million) to build a spacecraft for a joint project with NASA examining how to deflect an asteroid heading for Earth.China is pushing forward a mission where one space probe will land on a near-Earth asteroid to collect samples, fly back toward Earth to release a capsule containing the samples, and then orbit another comet, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Ye Peijian, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.The mission could take about a decade to complete, Ye said. China and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding last month to set up an international lunar research station.
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Malawi Rejects WHO Call to Use Expired COVID Vaccine
Malawi’s government says it will go ahead with plans to destroy thousands of expired COVID-19 vaccine doses, despite calls from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centre for Disease Control not to destroy them.The WHO and Africa CDC this week urged African countries not to destroy COVID-19 vaccines that may have passed their expiration dates, saying they are still safe to use. However, Malawi’s government says the appeals have come too late to prevent the destruction of thousands of doses of expired COVID vaccines.
Officials said the 16,440 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that expired April 13 have already been removed from cold storage.
Thursday, the WHO and the Africa CDC had urged African countries not to destroy the vaccine that may have expired, saying it is still usable.
“And it’s also a requirement that every vile manufactured, has an expiry date beyond which it cannot be used,” said Dr. Charles Mwansambo, Malawi’s secretary for health. “In this case, we cannot proceed to use these because the vile clearly states the expiry date. And any doctor, any physician would not be forgiven in the event of anything happening after knowingly used a vile that is clearly having labeled as having expired.”
The expired vaccine is part of the 102,000-dose donation the country received in March from the African Union.
Malawi and South Sudan earlier announced plans to destroy about 70,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that expired last month.
Mwansambo also said using the expired vaccine would scare people from taking the jabs from the remaining stock.
“If we leave or store these expired vaccines that will be big blow to our vaccination drive people will not come. Now even though we are not using them people have been hesitant to come because they feel that we might be given the expired vaccines,” he said.
Mwansambo said the country may be considering extending the shelf life of the remaining stock of vaccine received through the COVAX facility and from the Indian government that expires in June and July.
George Jobe, the executive director for the Malawi Health Equity Network, said using the expired COVID-19 vaccine would create a negative attitude in people.
“We can have phobia from Malawians which we should not. If the [expired] vaccines are safe, the CDC can take the expired vaccines, or WHO, and donate to the developed countries. But we have to witness the day the vaccines are leaving Malawi.”
Mwansambo said destroying the expired vaccine is in line with Malawi government guidelines on expired pharmaceutical products.
He said the government will soon announce the date when it will publicly destroy the expired vaccine in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
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Biden Recognizes Atrocities Against Armenians as Genocide
U.S. President Joe Biden recognized Saturday the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Biden’s recognition of the mass killings fulfills a campaign promise and came on the same day that Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was observed in Armenia and by the Armenian diaspora.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement. “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”
During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”
In a letter Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the killings as genocide.
“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We urge you to follow through on your commitments and speak the truth.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week that Biden’s recognition of the killings as genocide would harm relations between the NATO allies.
Cavusoglu said Saturday in a statement that Biden’s recognition “distorts the historical facts, will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship.”
“We call on the U.S. President to correct this grave mistake, which serves no purpose other than to satisfy certain political circles, and to support the efforts aiming to establish a practice of peaceful coexistence in the region, especially among the Turkish and Armenian nations, instead of serving the agenda of those circles that try to foment enmity from history,” Cavusoglu added.
Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.
Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.
Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. It says many of the victims were casualties of the war or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.
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Rocky US-Pakistan Ties Scrutinized as Foreign Troops Set to Exit Afghanistan
Officials in Pakistan appear upset over U.S. military assessments warning of a possible resurgence of terrorism in the South Asian country after the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and calling into question Islamabad’s commitment to peace in the war-torn neighboring country.
Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, shared the assessment in his congressional testimony this week in Washington. The CENTCOM chief also highlighted long-running U.S. complaints the Taliban continue to maintain their sanctuaries on Pakistani soil and direct insurgent attacks in Afghanistan from there.
McKenzie spoke a week after President Joe Biden announced the last remaining 3,000 or so U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11 to end what he said was America’s “forever war.”
NATO allies have promised to match the action and withdraw thousands of their forces, as well. Biden’s announcement is in line with a troop withdrawal agreement the U.S. negotiated with the Taliban a year ago.
The drawdown, due to start May 1, has raised fears of intensification in the war between Afghan government forces and the Taliban insurgency in the conflict-torn nation, which shares about 2,600-kilometers of border with Pakistan, because the two adversaries have failed to reach a peace deal after months of talks.
“I think the country that’s going to be the most affected frankly is going to be Pakistan because of the possibility of unconstrained refugee flow because of the possibility of renewed terrorist attacks in Pakistan that could ramp up as a result of this,” McKenzie told lawmakers Tuesday while articulating the possible impact on neighboring countries after U.S. troops complete their Afghan exit.
In testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the general noted that Islamabad was interested in a stable Afghanistan, but he cautioned it’s going to be “very difficult” for that stability to remain post-U.S. troop withdrawal.
“I think Pakistan will be very concerned by that. I would say frankly that it’s a situation they have not been terribly helpful on over the last 20 years so that’s unfortunate for them that some of this is now gone come back home in a way that they perhaps did not anticipate,” McKenzie said.FILE – Marine General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, speaks with U.S. troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2019.A senior Pakistani official who deals with national security matters has dismissed the U.S. charges, saying his country in the last three years has made all possible efforts to facilitate the Washington-led efforts to promote peace and reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban.
The official, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, urged U.S. officials to desist from “starting a new blame game” at a time when Afghans need support from all sides to find peace for their turmoil-hit nation.
“It will be extremely unfortunate to blame Pakistan for continued disagreements among Afghan stakeholders and the inability of the United States to appreciate Pakistan’s unqualified, relentless efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan,” said the official who is not authorized to speak to the media.
Despite its long-running skepticism, Washington credits Islamabad with facilitating talks between U.S. and Taliban interlocutors that culminated in the signing of the February 2020 peace agreement between the two adversaries.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, when asked for his reaction to McKenzie’s remarks, insisted his country facilitated “in good faith” the U.S.-Taliban peace process.
“It is out of our legitimate security concerns and well wishes for the safety and security of Afghan people that we call for an orderly and responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan leaving no security vacuum that could be exploited by spoilers,” Chaudhri told VOA.
“It is, therefore, important that the withdrawal coincides with the progress in the peace process.”
Chaudhri went on to underscore that Islamabad’s “historic and longstanding” relations with Washington have “always served mutual interests” of both countries.
The Biden administration has also attempted to brush aside suggestions of strains in relations with Pakistan.
“The United States looks forward to working together with Pakistan on a range of issues including addressing the climate crisis through improving access to energy, promoting efficient agricultural practices and supporting innovative climate adaptation measures all while growing our economies in sustainable ways,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
Micheal Kugelman, deputy Asia program director at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said McKenzie’s comments “don’t portend well” for U.S.-Pakistan relations.
“He appears to acknowledge that the withdrawal will impact Pakistan’s stability deleteriously but doesn’t give any indication that the U.S. would be prepared to work with Pakistan to help reduce its risks of destabilization,” Kugelman told VOA.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, the chairman of foreign affairs committee of the upper house of the Pakistani parliament, criticized McKenzie’s remarks as “confusing” and an attempt to blame Pakistan for U.S. military failures in Afghanistan.
“The only clarity seems to be a readiness to scapegoat Pakistan, if and when things go wrong in Afghanistan, [convenient way of passing the buck!]. Accepting defeat for any army isn’t always easy, especially the American military in yet another land war in Asia. So, the easy way out: blame Pakistan!,” Hussain asserted.
Pakistan’s military bases and ground and air lines of communication played a crucial role in facilitating and sustaining the U.S.-led military invasion of landlocked Afghanistan 20 years ago.
The punitive military action was launched to oust the Taliban from power days after the deadly September 11, 2001 strikes on America that were plotted by al-Qaida leaders from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan at the time.
Pakistan has long retaken control of its bases from the U.S. military, but the country’s airspace and land routes are still being used to ferry non-lethal military supplies for international forces across the Afghan border.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his military leadership have vowed repeatedly in recent months that their country will not participate in any future U.S. military action and only play the role of a “peacemaker,” if required.
McKenzie told lawmakers during his testimony the U.S. is engaged in “a significant” diplomatic effort to determine where it would base a counterterrorism force in the region to deter terrorist groups after all American troops leave the country. However, no such understanding currently exists with any of Afghanistan’s neighbors for housing the proposed anti-terrorism forces, the general said.
“This may also be meant to signal to Pakistan that if the U.S. is to help Pakistan with its security needs, Islamabad will need to offer something in return, such as the use of Pakistani military bases to house U.S. counterterrorism forces focused on terror threats in Afghanistan that threaten the U.S. and Pakistan alike,” said Kugelman while referring to McKenzie’s criticism of Islamabad.Chaudhri called for a meaningful engagement of the international community for promoting reconstruction and economic development in the post-conflict Afghanistan for ensuring sustainable peace and stability.Pakistan still hosts around three million Afghan refugees who have fled four decades of civil war, persecution and poverty. Chaudhri called stressed the need for arranging a time-bound and well-resourced plan for repatriating the displaced population that Pakistani officials maintain has served as a hiding place for insurgents. VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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3 Arrested as France Investigates Paris-Area Stabbing Attack
French authorities have arrested three people in connection with the stabbing death of a police worker outside Paris Friday, as they explore possible terrorism motives of the assailant, who was killed by police.
Media report the three people detained include a father and two people who sheltered the 36-year-old Tunisian, who stabbed a police worker and mother of two Friday in the quiet town of Rambouillet, 60 kilometers from Paris.
Police shot the man dead. The police worker, who had been stabbed in the throat, died of her wounds. France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said the assailant had made comments indicating a terror motive. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” or “God is great,” in Arabic before the stabbing, according to media reports.
The incident comes after France has weathered a string of attacks, including an attack in Paris last year, a beheading of a French schoolteacher in the suburbs for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and the stabbing of three people at a church in the southern city of Nice, also by a Tunisian. This latest assailant arrived in France illegally more than a decade ago, but eventually got residency papers according to a police source who spoke to the media. He had only recently moved to Rambouillet.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country would never give in to Islamist terrorism in a tweet he posted Friday.
Visiting the stabbing site Friday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex echoed the president, saying the government was all the more determined to fight terrorism.
French police have been targeted in several past attacks.
Francois Bercani, senior member of a local police union in the Yvellines department, where Rambouillet is located, told France-Info radio that police were understaffed. He called for beefing up their numbers and more protection for police stations, saying police were being targeted as representatives of the French state.France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said security at police stations will be stepped up. Lawmakers are also finishing work on a bill pushed by Macron’s government to fight Islamist extremism.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, however, told French TV the government’s response was insufficient. She questioned why the Rambouillet suspect had legal papers.
Government officials have in turn accused Le Pen of politicizing the issue. She is considered Macron’s top opponent in next year’s presidential vote.
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US Government Funds Mental Health Crisis Teams to Stand In for Police
When police respond to a person gripped by a mental health or drug crisis, the encounter can have tragic results. Now a government insurance program will help communities set up an alternative: mobile teams with mental health practitioners trained in de-escalating such potentially volatile situations.
The effort to reinvent policing after the death of George Floyd in police custody is getting an assist through Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people and the largest payer for mental health treatment. President Joe Biden’s recent coronavirus relief bill calls for an estimated $1 billion over 10 years for states that set up mobile crisis teams, currently locally operated in a handful of places.
Many 911 calls are due to a person experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis. Sometimes, like with Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, the consequences are shocking. The 41-year-old Black man died after police placed a spit hood over his head and held him to the pavement for about two minutes on a cold night in 2020 until he stopped breathing. He had run naked from his brother’s house after being released from a hospital following a mental health arrest. A grand jury voted down charges against the officers.
Dispatching teams of paramedics and behavioral health practitioners would take mental health crisis calls out of the hands of uniformed and armed officers, whose mere arrival may ratchet up tensions. In Eugene, Oregon, such a strategy has been in place more than 30 years, with solid backing from police.
The concept “fits nicely with what we are trying to do around police reform,” Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said. The logic works “like a simple math problem,” he adds.
“If I can rely on a mechanism that matches the right response to the need, it means I don’t have to put my officers in these circumstances,” Skinner explained. “By sending the right resources I can make the assumption that there are going to be fewer times when officers are in situations that can turn violent. It actually de-conflicts, reducing the need for use of force.”
Eugene is a medium-size city about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Portland, known for its educational institutions. The program there is called Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, or CAHOOTS, and is run by the White Bird Clinic.
CAHOOTS is part of the local 911 emergency response system but operates independently of the police, although there’s coordination. Crisis teams are not sent on calls involving violent situations.
“We don’t look like law enforcement,” White Bird veteran Tim Black said. “We drive a big white cargo van. Our responders wear a T-shirt or a hoodie with a logo. We don’t have handcuffs or pepper spray, and the way we start to interact sends a message that we are not the police and this is going to be a far safer and voluntary interaction.”
CAHOOTS teams handled 24,000 calls in the local area in 2019, and Black said the vast majority would have otherwise fallen to police. Many involve homeless people. The teams work to resolve the situation that prompted the call and to connect the person involved to ongoing help and support.
At least 14 cities around the country are interested in versions of that model, said Simone Brody, executive director of What Works Cities, a New York-based nonprofit that tries to promote change through effective use of data.
“It’s really exciting to see the federal government support this model,” Brody said. “I am hopeful that three years from now we will have multiple models and ideally some data that shows this has actually saved people’s lives.” Portland, Oregon, launched its own crisis teams in February and the program has already expanded to serve more areas of the community.
About 1,000 people a year are shot dead by police, according to an analysis by the Treatment Advocacy Center, which examined several publicly available estimates. Severe mental illness is a factor in at least 25% of such shootings, it estimated. The center advocates for improved mental health care.
Mobile crisis teams found their way into the COVID-19 relief bill through the efforts of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who chairs the Finance Committee, which oversees Medicaid.
“Too often law enforcement is asked to respond to situations that they are not trained to handle,” Wyden said. “On the streets in challenging times, too often the result is violence, even fatal violence, particularly for Black Americans.”
Wyden’s legislation includes $15 million in planning grants to help states get going. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the program could take a couple of years to fully implement. The $1 billion will be available to states for five years, beginning next April. Wyden said it’s a “down payment” on what he hopes will become a permanent part of Medicaid.
The idea may be well-timed, said Medicaid expert MaryBeth Musumeci, of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened society’s pervasive mental health and substance abuse problems. At the same time, protests over police shootings of Black people have created an appetite for anything that could break the cycle.
“All of those things coming together are putting increased focus on the need for further developing effective behavioral health treatment models,” Musumeci said.
In Rhode Island, nurse turned malpractice lawyer Laura Harrington is helping coordinate a grassroots campaign to incorporate crisis teams into the state’s 911 system. She said she’s been surprised at the level of interest.
“I don’t want to get into blaming,” Harrington said. “We could blame social services. We could blame people who don’t take their medications. We could blame the police. I want to move forward and solve problems.”
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Indonesia Military Says Missing Submarine Sank
An Indonesian submarine that went missing off the coast of Bali has sunk, the country’s navy said Saturday, dashing hopes that its 53 crew would be saved.
The navy’s chief said a search party had recovered fragments from the KRI Nanggala 402 including items from inside the vessel, whose oxygen reserves were already believed to have run out.
Warships, planes and hundreds of military personnel have been searching for the stricken vessel. Authorities had said the German-built craft was equipped with enough oxygen for only three days after losing power.
That deadline passed early Saturday.
“We have raised the status from submiss to subsunk,” navy chief Yudo Margono told reporters, adding that the retrieved items could not have come from another vessel.
“(The items) would not have come outside the submarine if there was no external pressure or without damage to its torpedo launcher.”
Navy officials displayed several items including a piece of a torpedo and a bottle of grease used to lubricate a submarine’s periscope.
They also found a prayer mat used by Muslims.
The submarine – one of five in Indonesia’s fleet – disappeared early Wednesday during live torpedo training exercises off the Indonesian holiday island.
An oil spill spotted where the submarine was thought to have submerged pointed to possible fuel-tank damage, fanning fears of a deadly disaster.
There were concerns that the submarine could have been crushed by water pressure if it sank to depths reaching 700 meters – far deeper than what it was built to withstand.A military official displays items retrieved during the search for the missing KRI Nanggala sub, at a press conference at Ngurah Rai Military Air Base in Bali, Indonesia, April 24, 2021. (Courtesy: Indonesian military via VOA’s Indonesian Service)Few explanations
The vessel was scheduled to conduct the training exercises when it asked for permission to dive. It lost contact shortly after.
Authorities have not offered possible explanations for the submarine’s sudden disappearance or commented on questions about whether the decades-old vessel was overloaded.
The military has said the submarine, delivered to Indonesia in 1981, was seaworthy.
Neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, as well as the United States and Australia, were among nations helping in the hunt with nearly two dozen ships deployed to scour a search zone covering about 34 square kilometers.
Australia’s HMAS Ballarat arrived on Saturday with a US P-8 Poseidon aircraft also helping to look for the craft.
Singapore’s MV Swift Rescue — a submarine rescue vessel — was expected later Saturday.
Indonesia’s military said earlier it had picked up signs of an object with high magnetism at a depth of between 50 and 100 meters, fanning hopes of finding the submarine.
But Saturday’s announcement means the Southeast Asian archipelago joins a list of countries struck by fatal submarine accidents.
Among the worst was the 2000 sinking of the Kursk, the pride of Russia’s Northern Fleet.
That submarine was on maneuvers in the Barents Sea when it sank with the loss of all 118 aboard. An inquiry found a torpedo had exploded, detonating all the others.
Most of its crew died instantly but some survived for several days before suffocating.
In 2003, 70 Chinese naval officers and crew were killed, apparently suffocated, in an accident on a Ming-class submarine during exercises.
Five years later, 20 people were killed by poisonous gas when a fire extinguishing system was accidentally activated on a Russian submarine being tested in the Sea of Japan.
And in 2018, authorities found the wreckage of an Argentine submarine that had gone missing a year earlier with 44 sailors aboard.
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US-Japan Statement Raises Issue of Taiwan Defense Against China
A joint statement by U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga from their recent meeting at the White House has left officials and analysts in Taiwan wondering how far Japan might be willing to go to help defend the island against an attack from China.The White House said April 16 on its website that Suga and Biden “underscore the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”Some analysts say the joint statement signals Tokyo’s willingness to help defend Taiwan against China if needed, but only in support of a U.S.-led campaign.Taiwan quickly welcomed the joint statement.“Our government is happy to see that the United States and Japan are concerned about the current situation of regional security,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Taipei said in a statement April 17.“We will build on existing solid foundations and work closely with the United States, Japan and other countries with similar ideas to defend the democratic system, shared values and a rule-based international order and work together to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” the ministry’s statement said.China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, a leftover issue from the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and it has threatened to take the island by force if needed.Regular Chinese military flights in a corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over the past eight months have sparked worries about a possible attack by China, which maintains the world’s third strongest armed forces, after the United States and Russia. A 1979 congressional act allows the United States to help defend Taiwan militarily.Backup for U.S. forcesAs Suga faced questions at home after the Biden visit about his designs for Taiwan, officials in Tokyo reportedly clarified on Wednesday that Japan would not send troops but could offer logistical support to the United States in the event of a conflict.In response to a question Tuesday from a member of the Japanese Diet about Japan’s commitment to Taiwan, Suga said the joint statement with Biden “does not presuppose military involvement at all,” the Jiji Press news service reported.Japan and the United States still honor a 70-year-old treaty that commits both countries to act against common dangers. Both see Taiwan as a friendly Asia Pacific buffer against Chinese naval expansion.“Taiwanese leaders would be thankful for Japan Prime Minister Suga’s goodwill and friendliness,” said Chen Yi-fan, assistant diplomacy and international relations professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “However, based on [the] U.S. Japan security treaty, Japan will only offer logistical support to the U.S. military forces.”Japan spars with China over sovereignty in parts of the sea between them and bicker about leftover World War II issues. However, Japanese officials hope to avoid irritating China now as they pursue post-pandemic economic recovery, Chen said. China is Japan’s largest trading partner.Japan might wait for the United States to request military aid, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center in Washington.“As for whether Japan will aid Taiwan in the event of a contingency, the United States has not provided such strategic clarity yet and it will be far off to speculate if Japan will,” Sun said. “To a large extent, Japan’s involvement in a Taiwan contingency depends on what the U.S. will do and also ask Japan to do.”Jeffrey Kingston, a history instructor at the Japan campus of Temple University, called the U.S.-Japan statement on Taiwan “much ado about nothing.”After Suga agreed to the Taiwan Strait statement in Washington last week, Kingston said, “I think Japan was like just laughing up its sleeve thinking, ‘Wow, the Americans, they’re satisfied with that?’”U.S. allies marshaling near ChinaThe Biden-Suga consensus is unlikely to stop at just the United States and Japan, or at Taiwan, some scholars say. They note that four U.S.-allied Western European countries have sent vessels or planned voyages this year to date to the South China Sea, a disputed waterway near Taiwan where China has alarmed much of Asia by building up tiny islets for military use.A U.S. aircraft carrier group joined an amphibious-ready group for drills in the sea earlier this month. Japan’s Maritime Self-defense Force held anti-submarine drills in the sea last year.Taiwan contests sovereignty over the sea, as do four Southeast Asian governments.“We’re going to see more of that occurring in the South China Sea,” said Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia. “It’s the beginning of a full-court press.”
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Canada Top Court Rules US-based First Nation has Cross-border Rights
Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that U.S.-based descendants of the Sinixt Indigenous nation maintained ancestral land rights in Canada, a landmark decision that opens the door to other groups with similar ties to assert their rights on matters from hunting to environmental concerns.The ruling means any U.S.-based Indigenous group whose ancestors lived in Canada before first contact with Europeans could claim rights laid out in Canada’s constitution.The case was brought by Rick Desautel, a Sinixt descendant who lives in Washington state. In 2010, he shot an elk without a hunting license on traditional Sinixt lands in British Columbia, intending to force the question of whether his ancestral ties would be recognized across the border.Canada’s constitution guarantees the right of Indigenous people to hunt in their traditional lands.In 1956, Canada declared the Sinixt “extinct” because members of the nation had either died or were no longer living in the country.Rodney Cawston, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state, whose members trace their lineage back to the Sinixt in Canada, said the ruling validated what they had always known — that the Sinixt were not extinct.”What’s most important to me is that our future generations will be able to go up into Canada and receive that recognition and respect as a Canadian First Nation,” he said.The court said the Canadian government may also have to consult U.S.-based Indigenous peoples with ties to Canada when they reach out to domestic-based Indigenous groups on issues — although the court specified the onus was on U.S. groups to make the Canadian government aware of their potential claim.The ruling “will have a huge effect,” said Bruce McIvor, a Vancouver lawyer who intervened in the case on behalf of the Indigenous Bar Association.”The border is the ultimate symbol of colonization for Indigenous people,” McIvor said. It has divided families and territories, he said, adding that Friday’s ruling means their rights “can’t simply be wiped away” by an imposed border.Canada’s government is “reviewing the decision, analyzing impacts and next steps,” a spokesperson for the ministry of Indigenous Relations said.Federal prosecutors argued the Sinixt were not protected by the rights in Canada’s constitution because they no longer were present in the country.But the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts and dismissed the federal appeal, ruling that as long as a nation could prove ties to the land from before first contact with Europeans, they did not have to consistently use that land for their rights to apply.Refusing rights to Indigenous people who were forced to leave Canada “would risk perpetuating the historical injustice suffered by Aboriginal peoples at the hands of Europeans,” the court said.Desautel said he was inspired to pursue the court claim after visiting his ancestors’ land in British Columbia, where he was told that the Sinixt people were extinct.”There’s a plaque right over there that says you’re extinct,” he said. “That’s crazy. No, I’m not.”Desautel said he felt “relieved and jubilation” at the ruling and looked forward to a family gathering later Friday to celebrate.”It’s a long time coming,” he added.
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Myanmar Junta Chief Arrives for Southeast Asian Leaders Summit on Crisis
Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders seeking try to forge a path to end the violence in the impoverished nation.The gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbors China, India and Thailand. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN.With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the “deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN’s determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation.””We hope that tomorrow’s (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar,” she said.It’s unusual for the leader of a military government in Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit — usually the country has been represented by a lower-ranked officer or a civilian. Min Aung Hlaing was seen disembarking after arriving on a special flight from Naypyitaw, the Myanmar capital, according to footage on the official video channel of Indonesia’s presidential palace.Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many ASEAN leaders want a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, who monitors say have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement emerged to challenge his Feb. 1 coup against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.”This is what Myanmar must avoid: geographical, political, social and national disintegration into warring ethnic parts,” said Philippines Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin on Twitter. “Myanmar on its own must find peace again.”Min Aung Hlaing, on his first foreign trip since the coup, will address the summit later on Saturday along with each of the participants before more informal discussions begin, said three sources familiar with procedures.The summit will be held in a “retreat” format, with leaders sitting in a circle and only one or two officials assisting each one, said Usana Berananda, a Thai foreign ministry official.Push for dialogueASEAN officials and diplomats have also worked on an initiative to send a humanitarian aid mission to Myanmar and appoint an envoy to encourage dialog between the junta and the ousted lawmakers and armed ethnic groups who have formed an opposition National Unity Government (NUG).The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei have confirmed their attendance, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines.ASEAN has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members, which include Myanmar.While that makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly.The summit, called for by Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo last month, is a departure from the tightly choreographed leaders’ meetings that are typical of ASEAN, said Evan Laksmana, a Jakarta-based security analyst.”There is no precedent, especially given the expressed intent to discuss the problems of one member state.”A spokesperson for the NUG, which is not attending the summit, told Reuters the group had “been in contact with ASEAN leaders.”Dr. Sasa, an international envoy for the NUG, who goes by one name, said ASEAN should insist the military stops killing civilians, halts the bombing of villages in ethnic minority areas, releases political prisoners and hands power to the NUG.
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HIV Drugs Run Short in Kenya as People say Lives at Risk
Kenyans living with HIV say their lives are in danger due to a shortage of anti-retroviral drugs donated by the United States amid a dispute between the U.S. aid agency and the Kenyan government.The delayed release of the drugs shipped to Kenya late last year is due to the government slapping a $847,902 tax on the donation, and the U.S. aid agency having “trust” issues with the graft-tainted Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, activists and officials said.Activists on Friday dismissed as “public relations” the government’s statement on Thursday that it had resolved the issue and distributed the drugs to 31 of Kenya’s 47, counties. The government said all counties within five days will have the drugs needed for 1.4 million people.”We are assuring the nation that no patient is going to miss drugs. We have adequate stocks,” Kenya Medical Supplies Authority customer service manager Geoffrey Mwagwi said as he flagged off a consignment. He said those drugs would cover two months.The U.S. is by far the largest donor for Kenya’s HIV response.Kenya’s health minister, Mutahi Kagwe, told the Senate’s health committee earlier this week that USAID had released the drug consignment that had been stuck in port. Patients are expected to receive them during the week.He said USAID had proposed using a company called Chemonics International to procure and supply the drugs to Kenyans due to “trust issues” with the national medical supplies body.Bernard Baridi, chief executive officer of Blast, a network of young people living with the disease, said the drugs would last for just a month.He said the delay in distributing the drugs, in addition to supply constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic, meant that many people living with HIV were getting a week’s supply instead of three months.Many of those who depend on the drugs travel long distances to obtain them and may find it difficult to find transport every week, and if they fail to take them they will develop resistance, Baridi said.”Adherence to medication is going to be low because of access. … If we don’t get the medication, we are going to lose people,” he said.According to Baridi, children living with HIV are suffering the most due to the shortage of a drug known Kaletra, which comes in a syrup form that can be taken more easily. Parents are forced to look for the drug in tablet form, crush it and mix it with water, and it’s still bitter for children to ingest.Baridi urged Kenya’s government and USAID to find a solution on who should distribute the drugs quickly, for the sake of the children.On Thursday, about 200 people living with HIV in Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, held a peaceful protest wearing T-shirts reading “My ARV’s My Life” and carrying posters that read “A sick nation is a dead nation” and “A killer government.”Some 136,000 people live with HIV in Kisumu, or about 13% of the city’s population, said local rights activist Boniface Ogutu Akach.”We cannot keep quiet and watch this population languish just because they can’t get a medicine that is lying somewhere, and that is happening because the government wants to tax a donation,” he said.Erick Okioma, who has HIV, said the government’s attention has been diverted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected even community perception.”People fear even getting COVID than HIV,” Okioma said, asserting that local HIV testing and treatment centers were empty.
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Hope Fades for Missing Indonesian Submarine as US Assists Search
The United States is deploying a P-8 Poseidon aircraft to assist in the search and rescue operation for a missing Indonesian navy submarine lost in the Bali Sea, as hopes fade for the 53 crew who are expected to have run out of oxygen early Saturday.The Indonesian navy said it was sending search helicopters and ships to the area where contact was lost with the 44-year-old KRI Nanggala-402 submarine on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.Australia has also deployed a sonar-equipped frigate with a helicopter to help the submarine hunt, while a deep submergence rescue vessel is on route from India, as concerns grow that the submarine might have been crushed by water pressure.”The possibility of it having fallen underneath its maximum diving depth thereby leading to the implosion of the submarine will have to be considered,” said Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies.If the submarine was still intact, Indonesian officials said on Friday it would only have enough air to last until around dawn on Saturday if equipment was functioning properly.”So far we haven’t found it… but with the equipment available we should be able to find the location,” Achmad Riad, a spokesperson for the Indonesian military, told a news conference.Koh said the assumption that the submarine had 72 hours of oxygen was optimistic given the submarine’s limited ability to generate oxygen due to its conventional power generation.”So, there’s a possibility…oxygen might have already run out,” said Koh.Indonesia’s navy said it was investigating whether the submarine lost power during a dive and could not carry out emergency procedures as it descended to a depth of 600-700 meters, well beyond its survivable limits.An object with “high magnetic force” had been spotted “floating” at a depth of 50-100 meters, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said on Friday, and an aerial search had earlier spotted an oil spill near the submarine’s last location.The diesel-electric powered submarine could withstand a depth of up to 500 meters, but anything more could be fatal, navy spokesperson Julius Widjojono said.Experts like Koh say Indonesia will have to expand the area of search again if the magnetic anomaly is proven not to be the vessel and warn that if the submarine is lost at an “extreme depth,” it might be possible to retrieve.The Bali Sea can reach depths of more than 1,500 meters.One of the people on board was the commander of the Indonesian submarine fleet, Harry Setiawan.Late Friday, the Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto and offered additional support, which could include undersea search assets.
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Biden Urges World Leaders to Keep Promises on Climate Following Summit
U.S. President Joe Biden praised world leaders for coming together on climate change and urged them to make good on promises as he closed a virtual climate change summit hosted from the White House.“The commitments we’ve made must become real,” Biden said Friday on the last day of the two-day summit that involved 40 world leaders.Biden pledged during the summit to cut U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030. Japan and Canada also raised climate commitments during the summit while the European Union and Britain announced stronger climate targets earlier this week.John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, said that more than half the world’s economy has now pledged action to stop warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.Kerry said Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared Friday, “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioLeaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam participated in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hundreds of Israeli start-ups are working to improve battery storage for renewable energy.Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, renewed her government’s pledge to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.The new U.S. target for greenhouse gas pollution is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach them include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions.Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.The two-day summit was part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.“Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.”World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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Biden Wraps Climate Summit Focusing on the Positive
President Joe Biden aimed to accentuate the positive as he wrapped up his Leaders Summit on Climate Change on Friday. Biden highlighted the economic benefits the fight against climate change offers. But his plans still face an uphill battle at home. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more.
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US, West Wary of Russian Claims That Military Buildup Near Ukraine Is Over
Claims that Russian troops are beginning to pull back from positions in Crimea and along the Russian border with Ukraine are being met with caution in the West, where officials are demanding that Moscow be more transparent and refrain from additional saber-rattling.Western officials said Friday that they were watching the situation “very, very closely” but cautioned against taking Russian assurances “at face value.””We’ve seen the Russian comments about how they’re ending the exercises,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Friday. “It’s too soon to tell with any specificity.””[We] continue to call on Russia to cease their provocations, to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and to not contribute to activities that only make the stability along the border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea less stable than it already is,” he said.Refrain from aggressionU.S. diplomatic officials Friday likewise urged the Kremlin to do more to reduce tensions.”We’ve made clear in our engagement with Russia, with their government, that they need to restrain — refrain from their aggression and escalatory actions, and they need to immediately cease all of their aggressive activity in and around Ukraine,” said State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter. “And that includes their recent military buildup in occupied Crimea as well as along Ukraine’s border.”European officials said this week that more than 100,000 Russian troops had massed along the border with Ukraine in recent weeks, calling it Moscow’s “highest military deployment” to the region and warning that the “risk of further escalation is evident.”Bigger Than 2014: US Calls Out Russian Military Buildup Along Ukraine BorderThe Pentagon’s assertion that Moscow is massing more forces than it did when it invaded and annexed Crimea follows EU assessment that 150,000 Russian troops are now in the regionU.S. defense officials declined to comment on specific numbers, though the Pentagon said the Russian buildup was larger than the one it mounted in 2014 before it invaded and seized Crimea.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday that military exercises involving troops along the border with Ukraine were over and that they would return to their permanent bases by May 1.Later that day, a NATO official told VOA the alliance had taken note of the Russian announcement, adding, “Any steps towards de-escalation by Russia would be important and well overdue.””NATO remains vigilant, and we will continue to closely monitor Russia’s unjustified military buildup in and around Ukraine,” the official said. “We continue to call on Russia to respect its international commitments and withdraw all its forces from Ukrainian territory.”
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US Preparing for Taliban Attacks as Afghanistan Drawdown Gets Under Way
The United States is positioning more firepower in the Middle East and South Asia to provide cover for U.S. troops as they prepare to leave Afghanistan.The Pentagon on Friday announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the region for “a period of time.” Long-range bombers are also headed to the region, and two U.S. Air Force B-52s are already in place.”We want to make this a safe, orderly and deliberate drawdown,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters. “That means giving the commander on the ground … options to make sure that our forces and our troops and those of our allies are protected as they move out.”U.S. President Joe Biden announced last week that he was pulling the approximately 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops out of Afghanistan beginning May 1, and that the withdrawal would be completed by early September.U.S. allies, who have another 7,000 or so troops in Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO, are also leaving, along with thousands of contractors, under the same timeline.Taliban threatsDespite the planned pullout, Taliban officials have repeatedly threatened to target U.S. and coalition forces if they fail to leave Afghanistan by the start of May — the deadline under an agreement signed between the Taliban and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.”It would be foolhardy and imprudent not to assume that there could be resistance and opposition to the drawdown by the Taliban given their staunch rhetoric,” Kirby told reporters about the threats, leaving open the possibility that additional steps could be coming.”It’s entirely possible there will be a temporary increase of some ground forces and enablers, not just for force protection but also for logistical and engineering support.”During a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., raised concerns about the ability of Afghan forces to hold off the Taliban once U.S. troops leave. But he also warned the insurgent group against going after U.S. or coalition forces in the interim.”I believe it is probably the Taliban’s intent to conduct military operations,” McKenzie said, adding that they have “never stopped fighting.””I would advise the Taliban we will be prepared to defend ourselves,” he said.US General Warns Afghan Forces Facing Possible FailureThe commander of US forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan tells lawmakers that Afghan forces may not be able to ‘hold on’ against the Taliban without help from US, NATO troops on the groundThe U.S. is also finalizing plans to remove equipment and supplies from Afghanistan, much of which will be flown out of the country.But the Defense Department said not all of it would be coming home.”Some of it will be inspected, cleaned and deployed elsewhere in the region. Some of it will be provided to our Afghan partners, if it makes sense,” the Pentagon’s Kirby told reporters. “And some of it will be destroyed.”
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