Data missing from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website is back and updated after a four-year absence under the Trump administration.The EPA’s new Climate Change Indicators website shows that the last decade was the hottest on record; heat waves have increased in frequency from two per year in the 1960s to six per year in the 2010s; and sea levels rose as much as 8 inches in coastal areas.”With this long overdue update, we now have additional data and a new set of indicators that show climate change has become even more evident, stronger, and extreme — as has the imperative that we take meaningful action,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.The site pulls together data from 13 federal agencies, plus academics and other organizations, on everything from greenhouse gas emissions to winter ranges of birds.The usual metrics are here, including rising temperatures and sea levels and shrinking glaciers.The updated version adds a dozen new indicators including the frequency and duration of heat waves, melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, and summer energy use for air conditioning.The website shows “the public and planners the many costs that climate change has on their daily lives, public health and ecosystems that many livelihoods depend upon,” said Brenda Ekwurzel, director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists.The move to update the data is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to undo his predecessor’s sidelining of science and scientists.Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called climate change a “hoax,” had disbanded panels of scientists advising the EPA on regulations. He also limited the types of data that the agency could consider when writing rules.Trump dismissed the scientific consensus that human emissions of greenhouse gases are warming the planet. His administration sought to weaken regulations aimed at reducing them. The Trump EPA left the climate indicators website stuck in 2016 with outdated data.But agencies across the federal government continued to record how the climate was changing and the effects those changes were having on the environment and human society.”The science kept going,” Ekwurzel said. “The indicators and the data are always being collected. They were just harder to get to.”
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Month: May 2021
Germany COVID Infection Rate Falls Below Key Threshold
Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday the nation’s average COVID-19 infection rate over the past week has fallen below 100 per 100,000 residents for the first time in two months, a key threshold for lifting restrictions in the European nation.
Speaking to reporters while visiting a vaccine storage and distribution center in Quakenbruck, a city in Lower Saxony state, Spahn said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases reported the national average infection rate fell to 96.5 per 100,000, its lowest level since March 20.
He also said Germany’s vaccination program is gaining speed, with almost 36 percent of the population having received at least one shot, and more than 10 percent fully vaccinated. He said the nation set a record for vaccinations on Wednesday, with 1.35 million delivered.
A COVID-19 infection rate of 100 infections per 100,000 people is used as the threshold for imposing a nationwide “emergency brake,” imposing restrictions that include night-time curfews and limits on private gatherings. Should cases remain below this level, restrictions can be relaxed.
But Health Minister Spahn urged caution, saying care must be taken “to secure what has been achieved and not want too much too quickly, because that could backfire.” He said not all regions are rebounding evenly. He urged regional officials to wait for rates to fall below 50 per 100,000 before opening restaurants for indoor dining.
Spahn also said that, as the weather is warming and people are thinking about travel, they should prioritize going to areas with low infection rates.
Last month, the German parliament approved temporary emergency powers for the federal government, allowing it to implement nationwide restrictions like curfews in response to a third wave of infections that was sweeping the nation.
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Philippines Ignores China Fishing Ban in South Sea
The Philippine government took another step this month in opposing China by telling its vast fishing fleet to ignore Beijing’s annual fishing ban in the South China Sea, where the two countries are locked in a sovereignty dispute.
This year’s fishing moratorium “does not apply to our fishermen,” the Philippines’ South China Sea task force said on May 4, as reported by domestic media. Officials have “encouraged” fishing boats to trawl the sea, news website Philstar.com reported.
China’s moratorium from May 1 to August 16, imposed unilaterally since 1999 in the northern part of the sea, is intended to improve marine ecology, the official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing said last month. More than 50,000 Chinese vessels would suspend operations, it said.
Growing anti-China sentiment
Mounting public pressure against China in the Philippines prompted the government to reject the moratorium publicly, a potential boon to a domestic fishing industry that employs some 2 million people, experts say.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte forged a new friendship with China in 2016 by laying aside the sovereignty dispute, but Chinese vessels continue to appear in waters claimed by Manila. Duterte’s political allies, who plan to seek office next year after he steps down due to term limits, are expected to follow public opinion on China. FILE – Filipino activists march to protest against the presence of Chinese vessels in disputed parts of the South China Sea, at the Chinese Embassy in Makati City, Philippines, April 9, 2019.“There’s a lot of political heat, so the Philippine government cannot be seen to be acquiescing to Chinese pressure,” said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.
Fishing vessel operators want the government to take a “much stronger posture” toward the South China Sea, said Jay Batongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. They complain they seldom see their own country’s navy or coast guard, he said. Four Philippine Navy ships set off this week to support fishing vessels in the Spratly Islands.
“Because of the more intense public pressure, they’re responding by sending ships to show some visibility and also encouraging the fishermen to fish,” Batongbacal said.
China claims about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that’s prized for fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. It’s the most militarily advanced of the six governments that dispute sovereignty over the sea. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam call all or parts of the South China Sea their own, as well. Claimants prize the waterway for its fishing stocks and fossil fuel reserves.
The moratorium zone covers waters used by Taiwan and Malaysia as well as the Philippines.
Thinning relationship
Duterte visited Beijing in 2016 to set aside the sovereignty issue. China then pledged $24 billion in aid and investment for the developing Southeast Asian country. But Duterte has angered Filipinos since that visit by saying China was too strong at sea for the Philippines to resist.
Officials in Manila said little about previous Chinese fishing bans. Philippine fishing boats know where it’s safe and unsafe after so many years of bans, Araral said.
China has stoked public hostility by letting hundreds of its fishing vessels pass at least twice near Philippine-controlled islets in the disputed sea. A flotilla that peaked at 220 vessels moored at Whitsun Reef in the sea’s Spratly Islands in March. Philippine officials demanded that those vessels leave the unoccupied feature.FILE – In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, members of the Philippine Coast Guard use rubber boats as they patrol beside Chinese vessels moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea, April 14, 2021.Filipinos had never regarded China as a friend before 2016, allying instead with the United States militarily since the 1950s. Officials in Manila aim now to retain their Visiting Forces Agreement with Washington this year, even though Duterte had once vowed to scrap it.
“For Duterte, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that he is keen to resist China in the way he deems fit,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
China expected to be low key
China has not publicly rebutted the Philippine government for urging fishing boats to ignore the moratorium. It will probably just ask that any boats leave the no-fishing zone rather than impounding them, lest Philippine officials get even angrier, Araral said.
A frayed Sino-Philippine relationship risks pushing Manila closer to Washington. Beijing resents U.S. presence in the South China Sea, although the U.S. has no territorial claims there.
China might tell its fishing boats to leave Whitsun Reef as well as letting Philippine fishermen fish in the moratorium zone, said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila
“There can be relative stability if the fishing vessels withdraw and they don’t enforce that fishing ban on us,” he said.
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With Eye on China, India and Europe to Restart Stalled Trade Talks
The decision by India and the European Union to restart stalled talks on a free trade pact comes amid growing unease on both sides about China’s rise, according to analysts.
The decision was announced following a summit of EU leaders in Portugal last week, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined via video conference.
The meeting was held days after the EU suspended efforts to ratify an ambitious investment agreement with China following tensions that have grown between the 27-member bloc and Beijing about its treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province.
Although reviving trade negotiations that were abandoned by India and Europe in 2013 will not be easy, the move is being seen as part of efforts by both sides to build closer ties in what analysts call a new “geopolitical and geo-economic environment.”
“The kind of questions that have been raised recently about China have propelled Europe and India to look at each other with a different set of priorities,” according to Harsh Pant, head of Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and Professor of International Relations at King’s College, London.
“Also post the pandemic, many countries are looking closely at the issue of overreliance on China in trade and Europe, in particular, has been over dependent on China. And from India’s perspective, the West is going to be a very important partner as it re-evaluates every aspect of its foreign policy from the standpoint of the China equation,” says Pant.
India has been moving to build deeper partnerships with countries like the United States, Japan and Australia following an eight-month military standoff with China along their disputed Himalayan borders. Although the standoff eased in March, tensions are still running high over several undemarcated stretches where both countries have deployed tens of thousands of troops.
Both India and the European Union struck an optimistic note after the summit. Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said there was a strong economic rationale for relaunching trade talks as the European Union was India’s largest trading partner in 2019-20 with bilateral trade of about $ 90 billion. President of the European Council Charles Michel called it a “new important chapter” in ties.
“We agreed to resume negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement which would respond to the current challenges,” according to a joint statement by both sides.
A study by the European Parliament last year before Britain’s departure from the bloc had estimated the potential benefits of a trade deal with India for the EU at around 10 billion dollars. India is also due to start trade negotiations with Britain later this year.
The bid to deepen ties with Europe goes beyond trade – a “connectivity partnership” launched by the two sides that aims at building joint infrastructure projects in third countries including Africa, Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific is also seen as a pushback against China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
However, hammering out a trade deal will be challenging with some analysts warning that India has turned even more protectionist in recent years.
India and the EU had halted seven years of negotiations in 2013 after hitting a roadblock over key differences – Europe wanted India to lower levies on its major exports, such as wines, spirits and auto components, while New Delhi wanted greater access for Indian professionals to work in Europe.
“India is in a worse situation than in 2013 when trade talks were abandoned. Last year the government’s signal to industry was that they will be protected if they ramp up domestic production,” points out Biswajit Dhar, a professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and an expert on international trade relations. “Now the question is whether they can accommodate Europe’s demands to open up the market. It’s going to be a tall ask – for example the Indian automobile industry which is one of the country’s important industries will resist any suggestion of tariff cuts.”
But navigating the trade deal with Europe will be a key test for New Delhi as it seeks alternatives to China. In 2019 it abandoned a China-led regional trade pact – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, after it failed to address Delhi’s concerns over market access.
“For India it is a moment to underscore its credentials as a credible economic player because there are lots of questions about India’s ability to finalize trade deals,” points out Pant. “It has to show that it can walk the talk and can move forward on trade and economic matters with countries with which it has a strategic convergence.”
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Australia Plans Mega Marine Reserves
Australia plans to add an area of the Indian Ocean bigger than France or the U.S. state of Texas to its network of marine parks.A reserve would be set up around Christmas Island, which is about 1,500 kilometers west of the Australian mainland. The island houses a high-profile Australian offshore immigration center for asylum seekers and is also well known for a spectacular annual migration of millions of red crabs.The region is the only known spawning ground for the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna.The other marine sanctuary would encompass the Cocos Keeling Islands. The coral archipelago is another Australian external territory and is home to about 600 residents. The islands lie about halfway between the city of Perth and the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka.Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands are considered by experts to be biodiversity hot spots in the Indian Ocean, which is under pressure from industrial fishing, climate change and pollution.The proposed marine parks would cover a combined area up to 740,000 square kilometers of ocean. It has the support of many environmental groups.Christabel Mitchell, the national director of the Save Our Marine Life Alliance, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the group welcomes the plan.“This is a very exciting opportunity,” Mitchell said. “This commitment by the Morrison government is of global significance. These are the world’s next big marine parks. This could cover an area twice the size of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and be a huge step forward towards protecting our national marine treasures.”Australian authorities are starting talks with the island communities and the commercial fishing sector.Australia has established 60 marine parks around the country. Officials say they help conserve habitats and the various species that rely on them.
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More Justice After Floyd Case?
Inspired by the verdict in the George Floyd murder case, relatives of other alleged police brutality victims in the U.S. want their cases reopened. It’s not so clear-cut. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias looks at the complexities of their quest to seek justice. Be advised that this report contains language and video that some might find disturbing.
Camera: Veronica Balderas Iglesias Producer: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
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Thailand Virus Infections Hit Record as Vaccine Rollout Stutters
Thailand recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections Thursday since the pandemic began after Bangkok prisons were found riddled with COVID-19, threatening an extension of a partial lockdown of the country that is hammering the economy.The latest wave of the virus emerged in April, dynamized by clusters at nightspots popular with Bangkok’s rich.It has forced the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha to order restaurants and bars to close and urge people to stay at home, leaving Thailand’s tourist and services economy on the brink. The country reported 4,887 infections Thursday, a record daily high after 2,835 prisoners tested positive at two jails in Bangkok.The current outbreak has left more than 400 dead so far, with hospital beds full and the government scrambling to roll out vaccines to a public that is increasingly anxious about the double hit of a health and economic crisis just as the country was preparing to reopen to foreign tourists. This handout from the Royal Thai Government taken and released on March 16, 2021, shows Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha receiving the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Bangkok.Prayuth this week promised to vaccinate everyone, insisting “herd immunity” through inoculation was the only way through the pandemic.But health authorities say just 640,000 people out of a population of nearly 70 million have received two vaccine jabs.Thailand has approved vaccines from Moderna, Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. The kingdom will produce the AstraZeneca vaccine under a long-term license.But for now, it is racing to secure tens of millions of emergency doses to begin mass vaccinations in June, after going slow at the start of the year in its procurement when the virus appeared to be beaten back.Airport worker Sarayut Jumpa said he is one of the lucky ones to have received a second dose — in his case, the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine — administered at Bangkok’s main airport, Suvarnabhumi, where check-ins have been adapted to process inoculations.”The vaccine might not protect us 100%, but studies show the sickness will now be less severe if I contract the virus,” Sarayut said, adding that his next task was to convince his parents the vaccine is safe. The slow rollout in the kingdom has been matched by internet misinformation about the efficacy of vaccines.With upward of 4,000 airport workers vaccinated and travelers few and far between, the airport is now ready to be used by the public as soon as the government gives the order.”Before the pandemic, we used to receive 200,000 international travelers a day, now only about a thousand a day,” said Kittipong Kittikachorn, the airport’s deputy general manager.”The airport already has all the necessary amenities ready to turn into a vaccination station.”Muslim worshippers perform the morning Eid al-Fitr prayers on the street after authorities closed mosques in Thailand to prevent the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, May 13, 2021.Thailand thought it had escaped the worst of the public health crisis posed by the coronavirus through border closures and strict 14-day quarantines.Those measures instead crippled an economy that counts between a fifth and a quarter of its revenue from tourism.Thailand’s GDP withered by more than 6% last year. Hopes of a third-quarter rebound this year appear to be in jeopardy after the latest outbreak.Thai authorities are insisting on an October reopening date to vaccinated tourists, with Phuket Island aiming to reopen July 1 after a privately driven vaccination campaign. But the new wave has cast that into doubt. Hotels that have staggered on through a year of lost income have been forced to close again, while bars, restaurants and nightclubs in a country renowned for its wild nightlife have had to let staff go. The crisis is now fast becoming a serious political problem for Prayuth, an unpopular ex-army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup and has since been reinvented as an elected premier. ”Whether or not the economy can recover will depend on the number of people vaccinated,” Krid Kanjanakit, 36, a hotel owner in the resort town of Pattaya, told VOA News. ”But the problem is, this government moves slowly with everything.”Opposition MPs Thursday urged the Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate Prayuth for allegedly failing to procure vaccines on time, resulting in unnecessary fatalities.
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Homeland Security Chief Cites Progress at US-Mexico Border
The Biden administration is promising a comprehensive response to youth migration now that the immediate crisis of unaccompanied minors overwhelming U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations appears to be under control.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 | 15 MB720p | 31 MB1080p | 59 MBOriginal | 206 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioHomeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told U.S. lawmakers Thursday that the Biden administration has reduced the number of unaccompanied minors held at border stations from the thousands to the hundreds, and cut the average holding time from more than five days to less than 24 hours.
“The challenge is not behind us, but the results are dramatic,” Mayorkas told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, adding that migrant children are being united more quickly with parents or legal guardians in the U.S.Chanel, 7, and her sister Adriana, 10, both unaccompanied minors traveling alone from Honduras, wait with other asylum-seeking children in La Joya, Texas, May 6, 2021.Tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors have crossed America’s southern border so far this year in what has become an early and thorny challenge for President Joe Biden, who since taking office on January 20 has reversed some of former President Donald Trump restrictive immigration policies.
While Mayorkas noted that the increase in migrant arrivals at America’s southern border began last year during the final months of the Trump administration, Republicans insisted the situation has grown far more dire on Biden’s watch.
“The crisis today is unprecedented, far worse than it was last year, and even substantially worse than 2019 when everyone considered it a crisis,” Republican Senator Rob Portman said.“I’d often say the first step in solving any problem is admitting you have one. And it just does seem like we’re in an utter state of denial,” Republican Senator Ron Johnson said.While touting improvements in processing times for migrant youths, Mayorkas said the administration is focused on longer-term solutions to the phenomenon of uncontrolled migration.Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., asks a question during a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 27, 2021.“We are building legal pathways for children and others to come to the United States if they qualify under the laws that Congress passed many years ago, so that they do not think that they have to take the dangerous journey north,” he said.
The administration’s proposed spending plans for next year include $861 million in aid to Central America to fight corruption, violence and poverty — factors many migrants cite as compelling them to trek to the United States. Overall, the White House envisions a multibillion-dollar four-year effort to reduce the impetus of people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to migrate north.
Mayorkas said a sustained effort is needed because “surges arise periodically,” and “migration is a very dynamic and fluid challenge that we have faced for many, many years.”
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Kenyan Court Slams Brakes on President’s Constitutional Changes
Kenya’s High Court ruled Thursday that a drive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to change the constitution was illegal, stopping what his critics have called a political move designed to check his deputy, whom he has fallen out with publicly.Parliament has already passed the proposed amendments, popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative, which mark the biggest change to the East African nation’s government structure since a new constitution was adopted in 2010.But issuing a ruling on several challenges lodged by various parties, a five-judge bench of the court said Kenyatta had used a constitutional provision reserved for citizens to initiate the changes, making the process illegal.”The president cannot be both player and umpire in the same match,” said Jairus Ngaah, one of the judges.The government, which wants to hold a referendum after Kenyatta signs the bill into law, said it will appeal the ruling.Kenyatta says the bill promotes the sharing of power among competing ethnic groups to reduce cyclical election violence and is not targeting anyone.It will create 70 new constituencies, return the role of Cabinet ministers to elected members of Parliament and create several powerful new posts: a prime minister, two deputies and an official leader of the parliamentary opposition.Kenyatta initiated the changes with the backing of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, after the two made peace in January 2018 following a divisive presidential election the previous year in which the president beat Odinga.The rapprochement isolated Kenyatta’s deputy, William Ruto, who wants to succeed his boss when he steps down next year after serving the constitutionally allowed two, five-year terms.The constitutional amendments are partly designed to tame Ruto’s political ambitions by making it possible to cobble together an alliance against him, said John Githongo, a prominent anti-graft campaigner.”It is very clear that some of these alignments are to sideline him,” he said.Ruto’s allies have loudly opposed the constitutional changes bill in Parliament and outside.”I don’t think we have a constitutional problem in Kenya. … The biggest problem in Kenya is an economic problem,” Ndindi Nyoro, a pro-Ruto lawmaker, said on local Citizen TV.
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Europe Emerging From Dark Coronavirus Months
After dark months struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, Europe is finally hitting its stride, with vaccinations and economies picking up, countries emerging from lockdowns, and even opening their borders to foreign tourists.For Maison Nomade, the recent journey under France’s lockdown has been tough.Now, this vegetarian restaurant in northern Paris is finally reopening. Staff members idled by the pandemic are scrambling to get things ready.Staff at Maison Nomade restaurant prepare for its reopening next Wednesday. The EU has notched up the region’s growth predictions for this year. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)“It’s been pretty hard to be closed for that long, but we’re very excited, a little bit stressed, and we’re really looking forward to opening the restaurant again,” said Allison Lamotte, the restaurant’s co-owner.”And we hope this time it will last forever, and we won’t have to close again, because it’s been hard.”That’s a sentiment shared by many other French businesses, as coronavirus restrictions start easing. Next Wednesday, outdoor terraces of restaurants and bars are reopening for the first time in months — although at half capacity — along with museums and shops.Other European countries are reopening even faster … sparking celebrations in Spain … and preparations in Greece to welcome vaccinated international tourists starting Saturday.Parisians walk past the Louvre Museum which will soon be open to visitors. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)That’s a big change from earlier this year. As the United States and Britain saw COVID-19 cases fall as they ramped up their vaccination campaigns, European Union numbers kept growing.Vaccine delivery delays left EU governments struggling to put shots into citizens’ arms, sometimes fighting over supplies. The 19-member eurozone slipped into a double-dip recession.With the vaccine bottleneck easing, Brussels predicts it will meet its goal of inoculating 70% of European adults this summer. EU economic growth forecasts also are also rosier — at 4.2% this year, up from previous estimates.Overall, says Rosa Balfour, director of the Carnegie Europe policy institute, things are looking better.“The economy is opening up — this has been partly a consequence of the acceleration of the vaccine drive, but also because some Mediterranean states in particular have been pushing very hard to get tourism back on track,” Balfour said.The EU hopes to facilitate travel within the bloc through special COVID-19 certificates for citizens who are vaccinated, recovered from the virus or test negative for it.Christophe Decloux, Managing Director of the Paris Region Tourism Board, is confident Americans and other tourists will be back. But it might take time. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)France’s international borders are set to reopen June 9. But reclaiming its spot as the world’s leading tourist destination may take time. Christophe Decloux, managing director of the Paris Region Tourism Board, says the Paris area alone lost 33 million visitors last year—more than two-thirds of its usual numbers.“Tourists will come back — I don’t know how many and how much time — but at the end, the Eiffel Tower always attracts,” Decloux said. “But at the end, the big issue is the business travelers. And why should they choose Paris rather than London, Berlin or Milan or whatever—that’s the issue.”The message to travelers, he says: France is a safe destination. People here are hoping that stays true.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 20 MB720p | 42 MB1080p | 81 MBOriginal | 228 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio
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Europe Emerges from Dark Coronavirus Months
After dark months struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, Europe is finally hitting its stride with vaccinations and economies picking up and countries emerging from lockdowns and reopening their borders to foreign tourists. But as Lisa Bryant reports from Paris, there is still a lot of uncertainty.
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Hungarian Plans for First Chinese University in Europe Prompt Security, Propaganda Fears
Hungary has announced plans to open a branch of a Chinese University in Budapest. Critics fear the development — the first of its kind in Europe — will be used by Beijing to spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda and could pose a threat to national security. The so-called “Student City” will be built on the site of a former wholesale market outside the nation’s capital, with its centerpiece a branch of the prestigious Shanghai-based Fudan University. Hungary said it will raise the standard of higher education, offer courses to 6,000 students from Hungary, China and further afield, while bringing Chinese investment and research to the country.
For China, it’s a significant milestone, said professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “Until relatively recently, China was importing foreign universities onto Chinese soil, having branches in China. Now, they are exporting a Chinese university branch on European soil, a member of the European Union. This is, I think, tremendously important from their perspective in how it shows that China has risen,” Tsang told VOA.
FILE – A view of the site where the construction of a top Chinese university, the Fudan’s campus, is planned, in the 9th district of Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 23, 2021.Two years ago, Hungary’s famous Central European University, which is backed by Hungarian-born, U.S.-based financier George Soros, was effectively forced out of the country through changes to education law and has since relocated to Vienna.Hungary’s government accuses Soros of political interference in the country, which he denies.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a member of the opposition Dialogue for Hungary Party, said Hungarians are being betrayed. “Let’s put the two [universities] next to each other,” he said. “There was something which has offered an open education, did not cost a penny for Hungarian taxpayers, was a well-established university in Hungary and was exiled. And now, the government brings in another one which represents the ideology of the [Chinese] Communist Party and costs the Hungarian taxpayers billions,” he told The Associated Press. Leaked government documents published by the Hungarian investigative journalism organization Direkt36 estimate the cost at $1.8 billion, which is more than Hungary spent on its entire higher education system in 2019. The documents suggest most of the funding will come from a Chinese bank loan, and construction will be carried out using mostly Chinese materials and labor. FILE – A man sits front of the building of the Central European University, a school founded by U.S. financier George Soros, in Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 9, 2018.Fudan ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. Its expansion into Europe is part of Beijing’s efforts to control the narrative on China, Tsang said. “When we are dealing with the humanities and social sciences side of the curriculum, it is clear that the Communist Party will keep control of it. It was only in the last two years that Fudan University changed clearly its instructions on its relationship with the [Chinese] party state, now clearly declaring that its first mission is not to uphold academic integrity but to follow the leadership of the party,” Tsang said. Hungary’s government has pursued a strategy it calls “Eastern Opening,” seeking increased cooperation and trade with countries such as China and Russia. It has taken a $2 billion loan from China’s Exim Bank to build a railway line between Budapest and Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, as part of China’s global Belt and Road initiative. Hungary is also the only country in the European Union to have approved the Chinese-made “Sinopharm” COVID-19 vaccine. Karacsony is among many who fear the Fudan University development could pose a threat to national security through Chinese espionage. “While the Hungarian government visibly enjoys the benefits of European Union membership — since, for example, it will receive an astronomical amount of EU support in the coming months — it is meanwhile a kind of advanced bastion of eastern great powers,” he said. FILE – Local district mayor Krisztina Baranyi walks across the site where the construction of a top Chinese university, the Fudan’s campus, is planned, in the 9th district of Budapest, Hungary, April 23, 2021.In an email to VOA, a Hungarian government spokesperson said, “According to the prestigious QS World University Ranking, Fudan is the 34th best university in the world. … The Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary and the Chinese Ministry of Education concluded an interministerial agreement finalized in February this year to support Fudan University in establishing a world-class, research-oriented, multidisciplinary university in Budapest. “From George Soros to President Obama, a lot of people have given lectures at Fudan University, and it is one of the best universities in the world that will not be engaged in ideological education but will provide economic courses,” the spokesperson said. The EU has yet to officially respond to the university plans. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticized Hungary Monday for what he called an “absolutely incomprehensible” decision to block an EU statement criticizing Beijing for the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. “I think everybody can work out for themselves what the reasons are, because there are good relations between China and Hungary,” Maas told reporters, following a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest expressed concerns over the plans to open a branch of Fudan University in Hungary, “given Beijing’s proven track record of using academic institutions to advance a malign influence agenda and stifle intellectual freedom.” The Fudan University branch is expected to be completed by 2024.
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Indonesian Villagers Demand ‘Firm Action’ After Terror Attack Kills 4
Hundreds of Christians attended a mass funeral in a remote village of Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province Wednesday to mourn four people killed by militants linked to the Islamic State group.Indonesian police told VOA that five militants attacked coffee farmers during harvest Tuesday and killed four of them in Kalemago village in Poso regency.”These five people, one of whom is recognized by the witness, are in the Wanted List [for their membership] in the East Indonesian Mujahedeen,” said Didik Supranoto, a senior commissioner and spokesperson for Central Sulawesi Regional Police.The East Indonesian Mujahedeen, also known as Mujahedeen Indonesia Timur (MIT), has been active in mountainous Poso district since 2010. The United Nations, Indonesia and the United States have labeled MIT a terrorist organization.The group’s founder, Abu Wardah Santoso, pledged allegiance to IS in 2014.Indonesian forces killed Santoso during a jungle gunbattle in July 2016. Ali Kalora replaced him to keep MIT active in Poso district, an area that has been a hotbed for religious conflict for years.Residents of Kalemago village in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province mourn for four farmers killed May 11, 2021, by East Indonesia Mujahedeen. (Yoanes Litha/VOA)While there are no official data on the number of MIT members, the group is known to operate with a small group of recruited fighters. In 2015, the U.S. State Department described the group as becoming “increasingly bold” in its explosives and shooting attacks against security forces.Last November, local media reported that MIT militants burned several houses and killed four people in an attack on a village in Sigi district.Tuesday’s assault prevented the farmers of Kalemago from attending to their coffee and coco plantations because of fear of more violence from MIT, according to the village’s secretary, Otniel Papunde.”Our hope for the government, the president, is to resolve this. If not, we will no longer be able to go out to earn a living,” Papunde told VOA, adding that the remote village, home to 735 people, has been a victim of militant violence for years.“Frankly, we feel that no one is paying attention to us,” said Papunde.
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CDC Says Vaccinated People Can Go Back to Normal Life
Health officials are recommending lifting most COVID-19 restrictions for people who are fully vaccinated.That means no more masks or social distancing, indoors or outdoors, according to updated guidance from the U.S. FILE – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2021.For now, masks are still required on planes, trains and buses. Walensky said the CDC would be updating travel guidance soon, as well as recommendations for schools, camps and other settings.Walensky left it up to local leaders to decide whether businesses and other gathering places should continue to require masks. The number of cases and the number of people vaccinated in an area should guide the choice, she said.Experts said the announcement was mostly good news.”The science on this is pretty clear. Vaccinated people rarely get sick and don’t do much transmitting,” Brown University School of Public Health Dean Ashish Jha wrote on Twitter.This is realAnd its correctAnd its goodThe science on this is pretty clear. Vaccinated people rarely get sick and don’t do much transmittingCDC to announce that fully vaccinated folks no longer need to mask up or physically distance in most circumstancesGet the shot Thomas Lo, 15, receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the coronavirus disease at Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, May 13, 2021.Walensky also noted that new research published in the past couple of weeks has shown how effective the vaccines are in the real world, not just in controlled clinical trials, and how they even prevent infection with the variants circulating in the United States. And in the rare cases in which vaccinated people still get infected, their infections are milder and are less likely to spread to others than infections in unvaccinated people.The announcement comes as vaccination rates are dropping in the United States. Just under 2 million doses a day are being administered on average, down from more than 3 million in mid-April.For those still facing barriers to access, health officials are stepping up efforts to make getting vaccinated easier, including delivering doses to more than 20,000 local pharmacies and offering free rides to vaccination sites through ride-sharing companies.For those hesitant or skeptical about getting the vaccine, the CDC is working with “trusted messengers” to spread the word and deliver shots, including local doctors and places of worship.Walensky encouraged everyone to get vaccinated.”Your health and how soon you return to normal life … are in your very capable hands,” she said.
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Corruption Alleged in Malawi Committee Vote on Anti-Graft Chief
Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera said Wednesday that efforts to fight corruption would be delayed because a parliamentary panel rejected his choice to head the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.Addressing Parliament, Chakwera said he was dismayed and disappointed by the committee’s rejection of his nominee, Martha Chizuma, a day earlier.”Not only does this decision deny Malawians the services of a strong warrior, but it also delays our plan to empower the ACB to recruit additional prosecutors and implement the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II of 2019-2024,” he said.The Public Appointments Committee of Parliament said Tuesday that Chizuma failed to get the scores required for confirmation.Half of the lawmakers on the committee gave her low marks after an assessment interview. The aggregated results showed Chizuma with just 15 points out of a possible 25, below the minimum pass figure of 17.Chakwera called on lawmakers to, in his words, put political and personal interests aside and do their part in accelerating the change Malawians have sought.Since he won the presidency a year ago, Chakwera has conducted an anti-corruption campaign in which several key figures, including the security aide to former President Peter Mutharika, have been arrested.FILE – Malawi Ombudsman Martha Chizuma works at her desk before giving an interview with Agence France-Presse in her office in Lilongwe, Malawi, Sept. 9, 2019.’Iron lady’Chakwera said he believed the appointment of Chizuma, known as the “iron lady,” would advance that goal. Chizuma, who is Malawi’s ombudsman, removed five top officials from posts at Malawi’s communications regulator, saying they had been illegally employed during the former Mutharika administration.Lawmaker Ashems Christopher Songwe, who belongs to Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party, said Wednesday that there were allegations that opposition lawmakers were unduly influenced to reject Chizuma. Local media reports said one allegation was that opposition lawmakers pocketed money from corrupt business persons to vote against her.Lawmaker Shadreck Namalomba of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, the former ruling party, denied the accusation and said some pro-government lawmakers voted against the nominee as well.“It is actually that side that is against appointment of Martha Chizuma,” Namalomba said. “DPP members in the Public Appointments Committee are only five. The rest are from that side. I would want Malawians to know that what we are doing today is being orchestrated by that side over there.”Political analyst Vincent Kondowe said that by rejecting Chizuma, the lawmakers had not committed any mistakes.“For me, whatever has transpired is the failure of President Chakwera and his strategists to lobby and gain consensus of the Public Appointments Committee to confirm Martha Chizuma,” he said.In the meantime, Parliament has passed a motion directing the Public Appointments Committee to submit a detailed report to the House by next Tuesday on why it turned down Chizuma.Legal experts said that if the decision stood, the president would either resubmit Chizuma’s name or announce a new nominee.
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‘Don’t Panic’ at the Pumps, Biden Appeals to Drivers
After a six-day distribution pinch that prompted panic at the gasoline pumps in parts of the country, fuel is flowing again through the most important U.S. East Coast pipeline which was crippled by a ransomware attack blamed on Russian hackers. “Don’t panic,” U.S. President Joe Biden appealed to motorists on Thursday. “This is a temporary situation. Don’t get more gas than you need in the next few days.” The president also warned gas station operators not to engage in price gouging. FILE – A customer helps pump gas at Costco, as others wait in line, in Charlotte, N.C., May 11, 2021.“Do not try to take advantage of consumers during this time,” he said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. “Nobody should be trying to use this situation for financial gain.” Colonial Pipeline “has made substantial progress in safely restarting our pipeline system and can report that product delivery has commenced in a majority of the markets we service,” the company saidFILE – A man loads 5-gallon gasoline tanks in his car at a Wawa gas station, in Tampa, Florida, May 12, 2021.Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million to hackers last Friday, according to Bloomberg News, which said that in exchange for the ransom in cryptocurrency the company received a tool to decrypt its scrambled files, which did not work. The company has not commented on whether it paid the ransom. “I have no comment on that,” replied Biden when asked by a reporter on Thursday whether he had been briefed about any ransom payment. “I have no knowledge of whether a ransom was paid,” said Brandon Wales, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Biden, in response to reporters’ questions following his prepared remarks, said that according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Russian government were not involved in the malware attack on Colonial Pipeline. FILE – Tanker trucks are parked near the entrance of Colonial Pipeline Company, May 12, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C.Noting that “criminal hackers” have been able to disrupt infrastructure, Biden said the United States needs to modernize and secure key sectors in order to effectively compete with China this century. “The likelihood is increasing almost every day” for a catastrophic-level cybersecurity incident, Wales told a group of defense writers on Thursday. “We’re seeing the prelude to that today.” Concerning ransomware hacks similar to the one that crippled the pipeline, Wales said, “This is a scourge that is not going to be easily eradicated. Wales praised an executive order Biden signed on Tuesday hardening the federal government’s responses to cybersecurity incidents. The CISA official said, beyond that, “we need Congress to take certain actions” to require private industry to notify government authorities of cyberattacks. FILE – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press briefing at the White House, March 1, 2021.To ease fuel supply constraints, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday evening signed a rare waiver to the Jones Act, allowing non-U.S. ships to transport fuel between American ports.
“In the interest of national defense, I have approved a temporary and targeted waiver request to an individual company,” explained Mayorkas in a statement. “This waiver will help provide for the transport of oil products between the Gulf Coast and East Coast ports to ease oil supply constraints as a result of the interruptions in the operations of the Colonial Pipeline.”
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Judge Postpones Trial for 3 Ex-Cops Charged in George Floyd Death
The trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd will be pushed back to March 2022, a judge ruled Thursday.
Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao were scheduled to face trial Aug. 23 on charges they aided and abetted both murder and manslaughter. The officers’ co-defendant, Derek Chauvin, has already been convicted of murder and manslaughter counts. All four officers also face federal charges that allege they violated Floyd’s civil rights during his May 25 arrest.
Judge Peter Cahill said he changed the date so the federal case can go forward first. He also said he felt the need to put some distance between the three officers’ trial and Chauvin’s due to all the publicity around the case.
The news that the trial was being pushed back came during a Thursday hearing on pretrial motions. Defense attorneys for all three former officers agreed to the postponement. The state, via Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank, did not support the delay. It wasn’t made clear at Thursday’s motions hearing who originally sought the change.
Cahill also weighed Thursday a request that prosecutors be sanctioned after media reports that Chauvin had planned to plead guilty a year ago, and allegations that they haven’t disclosed information about the alleged coercion of a witness.
Attorneys for Lane, Kueng and hao have said they want the court to require prosecuting attorneys to submit affidavits under oath that they aren’t responsible for the leak to the media. In a filing late Wednesday, Thao’s attorney also alleged that the Hennepin County medical examiner was coerced to include “neck compression” in his findings — and that prosecutors knew of it.
The former officers waived their right to appear at Thursday’s hearing.
Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the officers, has said allegations that his office was involved in a leak are false. His office had no immediate comment on the allegations of coercion. A spokeswoman for Dr. Andrew Baker, the medical examiner, said they could not comment due to the pending case.
Chauvin, who was seen in widely viewed bystander video pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck as the Black man said he couldn’t breathe, was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. He’s to be sentenced June 25.
Lane, Kueng and Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Their trial was separated from Chauvin’s to comply with COVID-19 courtroom spacing restrictions.
Bob Paule, Thao’s attorney, said in a court filing Wednesday that Baker initially said there was no physical evidence that Floyd died of asphyxiation. But after talking twice to Dr. Roger Mitchell – a former medical examiner in Washington, D.C. – he amended his findings to include neck compression as a factor, according to Paule.
Paule said that in one of the conversations, Mitchell called Baker and told him he was going to submit an opinion piece critical of Baker’s findings to the Washington Post. When Baker released final autopsy findings June 1, they included neck compression, Paule wrote, and Mitchell never submitted his piece to the newspaper.
Mitchell, now chairman of the Department of Pathology at the Howard University College of Medicine, did not immediately respond to a phone message left at the department after hours.
Paule also took aim at Mitchell’s criticism of Dr. David Fowler, a key defense witness for Chauvin who testified that the former officer was not responsible for Floyd’s death. Mitchell sent a letter — signed by 431 doctors from around the country — to the Maryland attorney general, saying Fowler’s conclusions were so far outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice that all his previous work could be questioned.
Maryland officials then announced they would review all in-custody death reports during Fowler’s tenure. Paule said Mitchell’s accusations had a chilling effect on Thao’s ability to find medical experts unafraid to testify on his behalf.
He said prosecutors have yet to give the defense evidence about Mitchell’s actions. He’s asking that the case against Thao be dismissed.
Paule also said in a court filing in February that he wants an order sanctioning the state for “its role — directly or indirectly — in the leaking of highly prejudicial information related to potential plea agreements of co-defendants.”
The New York Times reported Feb. 10 that Chauvin was ready to plead guilty to a third-degree murder charge last year but then-Attorney General William Barr rejected the agreement. The Associated Press published a similar report the next day, citing two law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the talks. Paule alleged that the leaks came from the state, and asked that anyone who did so be barred from participating in the trial. Tom Plunkett, Kueng’s attorney, echoed his statements.
Ellison earlier dismissed Paule’s motion as “completely false and an outlandish attempt to disparage the prosecution.”
Earl Gray, Lane’s attorney, has a motion asking Judge Peter Cahill to compel the state to disclose all use-of-force reports over the past 50 years in which a Minneapolis police officer used force and another officer intervened verbally or physically. Gray said it’s necessary to show the jury that no such intervention has been made in the past 50 years, which would call into question the state’s expert testimony about the duty of officers to intervene.
Prosecutors have said that request should be denied. They’ve noted that department policy requires officers to intervene when excessive force is used, and say Gray hasn’t shown how the testimony of experts could be called into question by a lack of interventions.
All four officers have also been indicted on federal charges alleging they violated Floyd’s civil rights.
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Rights Group Condemns Jail Term for Cameroon Transgender Women
Rights activists in Cameroon have condemned a five-year jail sentence given to two transgender women for “attempted homosexuality” and public indecency. A lawyer for the two, who were arrested for wearing women’s clothing in a restaurant, say they are preparing an appeal. In a statement, Human Rights Watch describes the jail sentence issued by the court as harsh. Police arrested Njeuken Loic, also known as Shakiro, and Mouthe Roland, also known as Patricia, in the coastal city of Douala on February 8. Police said they were wearing typically female clothing while eating in a restaurant.Prosecutors charged them with attempted homosexual conduct, public indecency, and non-possession of their national identity cards. They pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted homosexuality. Tamfu Richard, one of the lawyers defending Shakiro and Patricia, says justice was not done during the trial. “We consider the decision to be too severe against these accused persons because no evidence was produced before the court to sentence our clients on charges of attempted homosexuality, public indecency, non-possession of ID cards,” Richard said. “So our next action will be to file an appeal before the appeal court and we hope that, before the court of appeal, we will be able to make sure justice is done at that level.” HRW said that after Shakiro and Patricia were arrested in February, they were taken to the overcrowded Douala central prison, where they reported being beaten and insulted by guards and other inmates. Activists say that for transgender women, five years in a Cameroonian men’s prison can amount to a death sentence. HRW calls on Cameroon authorities to release Shakiro and Patricia and vacate the charges immediately. Rights lawyer Alice Nkom says the sentence indicates how LGBTQ people continue to be persecuted in Cameroon. She says the international community should intervene to force Cameroon to respect the rights of its citizens. “We are waiting to obtain a copy of the (court) decision to know the motivations that allow these results,” Nkom said. “We have 10 days to file an appeal and the dateline of doing so expires on May 21. The judge did not apply any attenuating circumstance, neither the numerous violations of the laws, nor the violation of the general principle of law, nor the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court.” HRW says Shakiro and Patricia are the latest victims of a system plagued by absolute disregard for the due process rights of people targeted based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It calls on Cameroon to repeal its anti-homosexuality laws and stop interfering in the private lives of Cameroonians. Contacted by phone, Cameron’s Ministry of Communication and Government spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, declined to comment on the sentence.
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Millions of African Muslims Mark Eid Holiday Amid Uncertain Times
Eid al-Fitr is a special time of year for the nearly half of Africa’s population who are adherents of Islam. But this year’s celebration is different amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic and the devastation it has caused across the continent.Last year’s festival was overshadowed by lockdowns and pandemic restrictions worldwide. Some of the same restrictions are in place this year, said Sheikh Mohammed Isaak, an imam at Nairobi’s prominent Jamia Mosque, but they have adapted.“This is a great challenge,” he told VOA. “But despite that, we thank Allah that this year we are able to pray together the last 10 days of Ramadan and also today, Eid-al Fitr, we have celebrated or prayed together as a community. And this is something that we should not take for granted — we have to thank Allah, and this is much better compared to last year, and we hope that the following years will be much better than this year.”Congregant Swaleh Mohammed agrees.“For now it’s very difficult,” he said. “I can just say, maybe, to the world, my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters wherever they are, as we take care as we celebrate this holiday, let’s put in consideration the government regulations, the world regulations — whatever, so that we can keep safe. The only important thing is to keep safe.”Revelers gather for funfair after Eid prayers, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, at the Darasalam garden in Mogadishu, Somalia, May 13, 2021.In multiethnic South Africa, Yusuf Mohamed, head of the South Africa branch of global charity Islamic Relief, said this year’s Eid will be very different compared to the harsh lockdown that dimmed last year’s celebrations.“It was strange not to be able to go to the mosque, especially in the evenings to pray the late night prayers and not to be able to even go to mosque on the day of Eid,” he told VOA via Google Hangouts, from Cape Town. “That was very strange. This year we hope that we’ll be able to in fact, unless we have a severe spike in the infection rate, we look forward to being able to attend the mosque, our normal prayers, although with the necessary protocols in place. So this year we’re excited.”But the festival is also a time to practice zakat, giving alms to the less fortunate. That value has been vaulted to the front this year, as Islamic Relief has stepped up to provide food parcels to those in need — and not just for fellow Muslims, Mohamed stressed. He said the charity sees a bump in donations during Ramadan.“Throughout Africa, you find communities that are experiencing extremely trying times, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns in many of these countries,” he said. “So we find because of Islamic Relief having a presence globally in over 40 countries around the world — in Africa, especially in western and eastern Africa, countries such as Niger, Chad, Mali, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya — all of these countries there is an increased need.”The Ramadan fast is normally broken by the eating of sugary dates, per Muslim tradition. But this year is bittersweet, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who joined a recent iftar in Cape Town.”As this sacred month draws to a close, I want to call on the Muslim community to join hands with us, join hands with us in the national recovery and reconstruction effort,” he said.That hope is echoed from Senegal to Kenya to Ethiopia and South Africa as millions mark the end of this holy month.
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Hungary’s Plan to Build First Chinese University in Europe, Prompts Security, Propaganda Fears
Hungary has announced plans to open a branch of a Chinese University in Budapest. Critics fear the development — the first of its kind in Europe — will be used by Beijing to spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda and could pose a threat to national security. The so-called “Student City” will be built on the site of a former wholesale market outside the nation’s capital, with its centerpiece a branch of the prestigious Shanghai-based Fudan University. Hungary said it will raise the standard of higher education, offer courses to 6,000 students from Hungary, China and further afield, while bringing Chinese investment and research to the country. FILE – A view of the site where the construction of a top Chinese university, the Fudan’s campus, is planned, in the 9th district of Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 23, 2021.For China, it’s a significant milestone, said Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “Until relatively recently, China was importing foreign universities onto Chinese soil, having branches in China. Now, they are exporting a Chinese university branch on European soil, a member of the European Union. This is, I think, tremendously important from their perspective in how it shows that China has risen,” Tsang told VOA. Two years ago, Hungary’s famous Central European University, which is backed by Hungarian-born, U.S.-based financier George Soros, was effectively forced out of the country through changes to education law and has since relocated to Vienna.FILE – A man sits front of the building of the Central European University, a school founded by U.S. financier George Soros, in Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 9, 2018.Hungary’s government accuses Soros of political interference in the country, which he denies. Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a member of the opposition Dialogue for Hungary Party, said Hungarians are being betrayed. “Let’s put the two [universities] next to each other,” he said. “There was something which has offered an open education, did not cost a penny for Hungarian taxpayers, was a well-established university in Hungary and was exiled. And now, the government brings in another one which represents the ideology of the [Chinese] Communist Party and costs the Hungarian taxpayers billions,” he told The Associated Press. Leaked government documents published by the Hungarian investigative journalism organization Direkt36 estimate the cost at $1.8 billion, which is more than Hungary spent on its entire higher education system in 2019. The documents suggest most of the funding will come from a Chinese bank loan, and construction will be carried out using mostly Chinese materials and labor. Fudan ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. Its expansion into Europe is part of Beijing’s efforts to control the narrative on China, Tsang said. “When we are dealing with the humanities and social sciences side of the curriculum, it is clear that the Communist Party will keep control of it. It was only in the last two years that Fudan University changed clearly its instructions on its relationship with the [Chinese] party state, now clearly declaring that its first mission is not to uphold academic integrity but to follow the leadership of the party,” Tsang said. Hungary’s government has pursued a strategy it calls “Eastern Opening,” seeking increased cooperation and trade with countries such as China and Russia. It has taken a $2 billion loan from China’s Exim Bank to build a railway line between Budapest and Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, as part of China’s global Belt and Road initiative. Hungary is also the only country in the European Union to have approved the Chinese-made “Sinopharm” COVID-19 vaccine. Karacsony is among many who fear the Fudan University development could pose a threat to national security through Chinese espionage. “While the Hungarian government visibly enjoys the benefits of European Union membership — since, for example, it will receive an astronomical amount of EU support in the coming months — it is meanwhile a kind of advanced bastion of eastern great powers,” he said. In an email to VOA, a Hungarian government spokesperson said, “According to the prestigious QS World University Ranking, Fudan is the 34th best university in the world. … The Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary and the Chinese Ministry of Education concluded an interministerial agreement finalized in February this year to support Fudan University in establishing a world-class, research-oriented, multidisciplinary university in Budapest. “From George Soros to President Obama, a lot of people have given lectures at Fudan University, and it is one of the best universities in the world that will not be engaged in ideological education but will provide economic courses,” the spokesperson said. The EU has yet to officially respond to the university plans. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticized Hungary Monday for what he called an “absolutely incomprehensible” decision to block an EU statement criticizing Beijing for the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. “I think everybody can work out for themselves what the reasons are, because there are good relations between China and Hungary,” Maas told reporters, following a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest expressed concerns over the plans to open a branch of Fudan University in Hungary, “given Beijing’s proven track record of using academic institutions to advance a malign influence agenda and stifle intellectual freedom.” The Fudan University branch is expected to be completed by 2024.
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Myanmar Military Court Sentences DVB Reporter to 3 Years in Prison
A 51-year-old reporter for a now-banned online and broadcast news agency in Myanmar was sentenced Wednesday by a military court to three years in prison for his reporting, his employer said.
Min Nyo, a correspondent for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) is apparently the country’s first journalist since the army’s February takeover to be convicted under a recently revised provision in the Penal Code that critics charge criminalizes free speech.
It makes punishable by up to three years in prison any attempt to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health and conduct” of soldiers and civil servants and cause their hatred, disobedience or disloyalty toward the military and the government.
Three DVB journalists who fled Myanmar were arrested earlier this week in northern Thailand for illegal entry. Rights groups and journalists’ associations are urging Thai authorities not to send them back to Myanmar, where it is feared their safety would be at risk from the authorities.
Myanmar’s junta has tried to smother all independent news media, and on March 8 revoked DVB’s TV license and banned it from broadcasting on any platform. Like many other banned media outlets, it has continued operating.
About 80 journalists have been arrested since the army seized power on February 1, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Roughly half are still detained and most of them are being held under the same charge for which Min Nyo was convicted, as are many activists opposed to the military regime.
A statement issued by DVB said Min Nyo had been covering a March 3 anti-junta protest in the town of Pyay, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Yangon when he was arrested and severely beaten by police. It said he had been allowed to see a lawyer, but not his wife and two children.
Min Nyo had previously served seven years in prison under a previous military government after his arrest in 1996 for alleged ties to a militant student opposition group.
Min Nyo’s wife, Nyomee Moe, told The Associated Press that both then and now, he was unjustly imprisoned.
“It is inhumane to be beaten and arrested. He never violated journalistic ethics. That is why I want to say that there is no justice in Myanmar,” she said, adding that she is consulting with lawyers about appealing the verdict.
Rights group Amnesty International said Min Nyo’s case showed the ruthlessness of the junta and the risks faced by journalists exposing the junta’s abuses.
“Min Nyo’s conviction must be quashed, and he should be released immediately – along with all other journalists, activists and human rights defenders imprisoned and detained solely for their peaceful opposition to the military coup,” Amnesty Deputy Regional Director Emerlynne Gil said in a statement.
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US Jobless Benefit Claims Dropped Again Last Week
New claims for jobless benefits in the United States dropped again last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the world’s biggest economy continues to recover in fits and starts from the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 473,000 out-of-work employees filed for unemployment compensation, down 34,000 from the revised figure of the week before, the agency said. The figure was the lowest total since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic first swept into the country, although still more than twice the pre-coronavirus weekly average of 218,000 in 2019. A man checks-in for his COVID-19 vaccine showing QR code on mobile phone in Los Angeles, at a vaccination clinic setup by Los Angeles Football Club, partnering with the LA county Department of Public Health and USC Pharmacy, May 7, 2021.More than 45% of U.S. adults have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, boosting the economic recovery, although the pace of inoculations has dropped from its peak a few weeks ago. Economists say the continuing drop in the number of jobless benefit claims could presage more hiring, but U.S. employers only added 266,000 more jobs in April, down from the robust 916,000 figure in March. FILE – A member of the wait staff delivers food to outdoor diners along the sidewalk at the Mediterranean Deli restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., Apr. 16, 2021.Even so, more Americans are re-engaging in public, going out to eat, traveling and spending on consumer goods they had stopped buying during the worst of the pandemic, spending partly fueled by government assistance sent to all but the biggest wage earners. Even as health experts continue to urge caution about the coronavirus, some state governors are revoking orders for people to wear face masks and allowing businesses to fully reopen or setting dates in coming weeks when they say businesses can ramp up. Still, crowds at most sporting events remain curtailed, at-home work is commonplace and the number of full school re-openings with in-class instruction is spotty throughout the country, although most school districts are promising to fully reopen in August and September. The employment picture in the U.S. has been boosted as money from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure could add to hiring and consumer spending, as millions of Americans, all but the highest wage earners, are now receiving $1,400 stimulus checks from the government or have already been sent the extra cash. Biden has proposed an additional $4 trillion in government spending on infrastructure repairs and assistance for children and families, but the fate of the proposals in a politically divided Congress is uncertain. Numerous Republican lawmakers have voiced opposition to the size of the Democratic president’s spending plans and his proposals to pay for them with higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. The number of vaccinations against the coronavirus has now also dropped to 2.2 million a day, down from more than 3 million daily a few weeks ago. Some people remain skeptical about getting a shot, which in turn could limit the country’s economic recovery. All adults in the U.S. are eligible to get a shot if they want one, with teenagers now being inoculated, too. More than 117 million Americans are fully inoculated with one of the three available vaccines.
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Champions League Final Moved from Istanbul to Porto Due to COVID-19 Risks
The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29 has been moved from Istanbul to Porto to allow English fans to travel under COVID-19 restrictions, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday.
The final was scheduled for Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, but Turkey was last week put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’, meaning that no English fans would be able to attend the game. It will now be held in FC Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.
UEFA said that each club would receive 6,000 tickets which are expected to go on sale from today. The final capacity for the match has yet to be confirmed.
There had been discussions over moving the final to London’s Wembley Stadium but UEFA said that despite “exhaustive efforts on the part of the (English) Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.”
“I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
“Fans have had to suffer more than twelve months without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final is the pinnacle of club football.
“To deprive those supporters of the chance to see the match in person was not an option and I am delighted that this compromise has been found,” he added.
Portugal was placed on the UK government’s “green list” from May 17, which means fans of the English clubs will be free to travel to the game.
The country is in the last phase of easing a lockdown and expects to lift travel restrictions from May 17.
Turkish Football Federation officials told Reuters on Wednesday they expected to host the 2023 Champions League which would be part of the Republic’s centenary celebrations
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Spain Promises Ambitious Vaccine Diplomacy in Latin America
Spain has promised to donate 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Latin American and Caribbean countries this summer as its vaccine diplomacy contrasts with the more cautious approach taken by the United States. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged to ship between 5% and 10% of the country’s total vaccine supply in an effort to combat a third wave of the pandemic that is raging in a number of Latin American nations. Spain’s leftist government is confident that 70% of its population of 47 million will be inoculated by the end of August. Sanchez said this week the country was “100 days away from herd immunity,” and will send surplus vaccines to donate to Latin America. The vaccines that Madrid will send are AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen. FILE – People receive a dose of the AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 26, 2021.In Spain, more than 29% of the population has had at least one dose while 13.3% has had both as the vaccine program picks up pace. Going further Sanchez supported U.S. President Joe Biden’s initiative to drop patent rights to COVID-19 vaccines to reduce costs for poorer countries but wants to go further. “Spain is proposing a comprehensive initiative to facilitate the transmission of the necessary technology and expertise, lift all barriers to ramping up production and accelerate vaccine production,” Sanchez wrote in Britain’s Financial Times Wednesday. In contrast, and as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to travel to Mexico and Guatemala next month, the United States has faced calls to do more to help Latin American nations with scant vaccine resources. U.S, Democrats have called on the Biden administration to make Latin America a priority. US response The U.S. State Department said the government was working on plans to share vaccines when they became available, but that the priority is vaccinating American citizens. “Right now, this administration is focused first and forecast foremost? on ensuring that Americans have access to the safe and effective vaccine. At the same time, we understand that for Americans to be truly safe from this virus both now and over the long term we need to demonstrate leadership, because as long as the virus is in the wild, it will continue to mutate, it will continue to pose a threat to Americans back here at home,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said last month.The scarcity of vaccines has prompted wealthier Latin Americans to travel to the U.S. to be inoculated, something which the U.S. government has discouraged. Shortages of vaccines or materials to make them are crippling for many Latin American states. Brazil, which recorded 425,000 deaths from COVID-19, will run out of the raw materials to produce the Chinese Sinovac vaccine by Friday, after a shipment was held up in China, authorities in Sao Paulo state said. Alicia Martinez holds her vaccination card while resting after her second shot of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the outdoor patio of a home for the elderly in Santiago, Chile, March 5, 2021.In Chile, where the vaccine program is one of the fastest in the world, this progress has been muted by a sharp rise in coronavirus cases last month, reaching 9,000 in one day. It forced the government to bring in a quarantine for 80% of the population. Pleas President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic called on Biden to release U.S. stocks of the AstraZeneca vaccine.“President @JoeBiden, less-developed countries and traditional allies of the USA, like Dominican Republic, have approved the AstraZeneca vaccine and we need it urgently,” he tweeted.Euclides Acevedo, the foreign minister of Paraguay, pleaded with Washington to come to its help as COVID-19 cases mounted. “What use is fraternity if now they don’t give us a response?” he said. FILE – Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a media briefing at San Carlos Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 26, 2021.Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya criticized the U.S. for delaying a response on sharing vaccines. “Europe has recently exported 200 million doses of vaccines to the world. Countries like the United States have still not exported any. This has to change,” she told eldiario.es, a Spanish online newspaper this week. The U.S. government refutes this claim, saying it has so far shared 4 million vaccines with Canada and Mexico. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week that Washington planned to send another 60 million doses from its supply over the next two months. He did not specify the countries. The U.S. has contributed $2 billion to the COVAX, an initiative involving the World Health Organization and others to facilitate the sharing of vaccines by richer countries with poorer nations. COVAX has sent a total of 6.5 million doses with Latin America. Blinken has pledged another $2 billion to the program.However, the U.S. offer to share vaccines and the supplies from the COVAX initiative is small compared to the vast Latin American and Caribbean regions, whose populations total 650 million. Politics Spain wants to take a leading role among European powers when it comes to vaccine diplomacy, while Biden is under domestic political pressure to prioritize U.S. citizens — at the moment at least. “Sanchez’s gesture is a change for Spain to show solidarity with Latin America and to show that Europe cares about the problems of vaccine supply which countries there are facing,” Carlos Malamud, a senior investigator at the Real Elcano Institute, a Madrid research organization, told VOA. “However, Biden may be under more domestic pressure to change the America First policy of the Trump era but not to open its hand straight away,” Malamud said. It comes as Chinese vaccines dominate Latin American efforts to combat the pandemic, with Beijing sending more than half of the 143.5 million doses of the vaccine which have been sent to the continent’s 10 largest countries. FILE – Trucks carrying Chinese Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines against the COVID-19 disease leave the San Oscar Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 28, 2021.China’s Sinovac has delivered 78.5 million finished doses or ingredients to make the vaccine, while AstraZeneca and Pfizer are the two main Western suppliers who have sent 59 million doses. Ana Ayuso, a Latin America analyst at the CIDOB think tank in Barcelona, believes the U.S. may have to use vaccine diplomacy to stem the tide of migrants who are crossing the border to be inoculated. “At present the U.S. may not be shipping many vaccines to Latin America but this may change as a way to stop people crossing into the U.S. to get the jab,” she told VOA.
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