Since her birth on Senegal’s coast, the ocean has always given Ndeye Yacine Dieng life. Her grandfather was a fisherman, and her grandmother and mother processed fish. Like generations of women, she now helps support her family in the small community of Bargny by drying, smoking, salting and fermenting the catch brought home by male villagers. They were baptized by fish, these women say. But when the pandemic struck, boats that once took as many as 50 men out to sea carried only a few. Many residents were too terrified to leave their houses, let alone fish, for fear of catching the virus. When the local women did manage to get their hands on fish to process, they lacked the usual buyers, as markets shut down and neighboring landlocked countries closed their borders. Without savings, many families went from three meals a day to one or two. Ndeye Yacine Dieng poses at her home in Bargny, Senegal, Apr. 26, 2021.Dieng is among more than a thousand women in Bargny, and many more in the other villages dotting Senegal’s sandy coast, who process fish — the crucial link in a chain that constitutes one of the country’s largest exports and employs hundreds of thousands of its residents. “It was catastrophic — all of our lives changed,” Dieng said. But, she noted, “Our community is a community of solidarity.” That spirit sounds throughout Senegal with the motto “Teranga,” a word in the Wolof language for hospitality, community and solidarity. Across the country, people tell each other: “on est ensemble,” a French phrase meaning “we are in this together.” This story is part of a yearlong series on how the pandemic is impacting women in Africa, most acutely in the least developed countries. AP’s series is funded by the European Journalism Centre’s European Development Journalism Grants program, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. AP is responsible for all content. Last month, the first true fishing season since the pandemic devastated the industry kicked off, bringing renewed hope to the processors, their families and the village. The brightly painted vast wooden fishing boats called pirogues once again are each carrying dozens of men to sea, and people swarm the beach to help the fishermen carry in their loads for purchase. Fishing boats line the shore of Bargny beach, Senegal, Apr. 22, 2021.But the challenges from the coronavirus — and so much more — remain. Rising seas and climate change threaten the livelihoods and homes of those along the coast, and many can’t afford to build new homes or move inland. A steel processing plant rising near Bargny’s beach raises fears about pollution and will join a cement factory that also is nearby, though advocates argue they are needed to replace resources depleted by overfishing. “Since there is COVID, we live in fear,” said Dieng, 64, who has seven adult children. “Most of the people here and women processors have lived a difficult life. … We are exhausted. But now, little by little, it’s getting better.” Dieng and her fellow processors weathered the pandemic by relying on each other. They’re accustomed to being breadwinners — one expert estimated that each working woman in Senegal feeds seven or eight family members. Before the pandemic, a good season could bring Dieng 500,000 FCFA ($1,000). Last year, she said, she made little to nothing. Dieng’s husband teaches the Quran at the mosque next door to their home, and the couple pooled their money with their children, with one son finding work repairing TVs. Other women got help from family abroad or rented out parts of their refrigerators for storage. They survived, but they missed their work, which isn’t just a job — it is their heritage. “Processing is a pride,” Dieng said. Fatou Samba, right, carries on her head a basket filled with the remains of processed fish at Bargny beach, Senegal, Apr. 25, 2021.Most fishing in Senegal is small-scale, and carried out in traditional, generations-old methods, as old as the ways Dieng and other villagers process the fish. They refer to it as artisanal fishing. Once processed, the fish is sold to local and international buyers, and preserving it means it lasts longer than fresh and is cheaper for all who purchase it. In Senegal alone, the fish accounts for more than half of protein eaten by its 16 million residents — key for food security in this West African country. Industrial fishing is carried out in Senegal’s waters as well, via motorized vessels and trawlers instead of the traditional pirogues, and more than two dozen companies also specialize in industrial processing in the country alongside fishmeal factories and canning plants. The fishmeal factories price women like Dieng out by paying more for the fish and depleting resources — 5 kilos of fish are needed for 1 kilo of fishmeal, a lower-grade powder-like product used for farm animals and pets. Senegal’s government also has agreements with other countries allowing them to fish off the country’s coast and imposing limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what these large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult. The villages say the outsiders are devastating the local supply. Dieng has become a local leader and mentor whose neighbors increasingly come to her for advice on everything from money woes to their marriages, and she and others are now part of a rising collective voice of women in Senegal working for change along the coast and beyond. Fatou Samba, president of the association of female fish processors, poses in a makeshift tent at the processing site in Bargny, Senegal, Apr. 25, 2021.Senegal has designated land near Bargny as an economic zone in its efforts to invest in redevelopment. Dieng’s neighbor Fatou Samba is a town councilor and president of the Association of Women Processors of Fish Products, and she’s testified about the challenges in artisanal fishing. She hopes to stop much of the expansion of big industry as fishmeal companies scoop up fish and send the product to Europe and Asia. “If we let ourselves be outdone, within two or three years, women will not have work anymore,” Samba said. “We are not against the creation of a project that will develop Senegal. But we are against projects that must make women lose the right to work.” Samba also warns of the effects of climate change, with rising tides eroding Senegal’s coast and forcing fisherman to seek their catch further out to sea. Samba and Dieng have each lost at least half of their seaside homes as water gutted rooms during the rainy seasons of the past decade. In addition to their laborious work processing fish, Samba and other women handle the bulk of the work at home. “Especially in Africa, women are fighters. Women are workers. Women are family leaders,” Samba said. “Therefore, women must be empowered.” Ndeye Yacine Dieng drops embers over peanut shells covering fish as she walks amidst the smoke on Bargny beach, Senegal, Apr. 21, 2021.Dieng, Samba and other women want to be heard — by the government, and by the companies building projects near them. They want better financing, protection of their fish and processing sites, and improved health regulations. These women open their doors to family, friends, neighbors and even strangers who are eager to hear about the work they take such pride in, and which they want preserved — to help put food on the table for their families and to pay school fees for their children so they can have a future that might not involve fish. But while they’re happy to talk about the work, they hesitate to focus on themselves. Community is what they are most comfortable with. Late last month, when word spread that fishermen were finally coming back to Bargny with catches, Dieng and others hurried to meet the pirogues, tethered by ropes to the beach. It was the longest Dieng had been away from the catch. She bought enough to have her haul carried by horse-drawn cart to the plot of land she and friends claimed along acres of black sand. Then she started the work she’s known for decades. Once the fish were piled onto the ground, the women smoothed them out with a small, flat piece of wood. They covered them in light brown peanut shells, bought by the sack, and then lit embers in a bowl and placed those on the shells, which started to burn. Smoke billowed everywhere, a sign of progress. But it also made trying to breathe as brutal as toiling under the hot sun — even tougher during Ramadan, when the women are fasting. The women stoked the fire, and after feeling confident it would smoke for hours, stepped away. After a day or so, they returned to turn the fish and let it dry in the sun. Another day passed, and the women returned to clean it. Finally, the fish was packaged in vast nets, sold and taken away in trucks. Siny Gueye, center left, is joined by other women fish processors to sing a blessing and thankful song at Bargny beach, Senegal, Apr. 1, 2021.The pandemic has taught villagers a crucial lesson: Money from fish may not always be there, so it’s important to try to save some of their earnings. The pandemic also is not over, so Dieng and other women go door to door to raise awareness and urge people to get vaccinated. Like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal imposed strict measures at the start of the pandemic. The government was widely commended for its overall handling of the pandemic, and curfews have been lifted and restrictions largely eased. But the country has had more than 40,000 cases, and both volunteer and government campaigns aim to keep another wave at bay. At the end of a long day of work, and before she goes home to break fast of Ramadan with her family, Dieng stands in front of her smoking fish and records a video she hopes will to motivate the women working in the industry. “It’s our gold. This site is all, this site is everything for us,” Dieng said of the coast and its vital importance to Bargny. “All the women must rise up. … We must work, to always work and work again for our tomorrows, for our future.”
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Month: May 2021
US Government Working to Aid Top Fuel Pipeline Operator After Cyberattack
The White House was working closely with top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline on Sunday to help it recover from a ransomware attack that forced the company to shut a critical fuel network supplying populous eastern states. The attack is one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes reported and has prompted calls from American lawmakers to strengthen protections for critical U.S. energy infrastructure from hacking attacks. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the pipeline fix was a top priority for the Biden administration and Washington was working to avoid more severe fuel supply disruptions by helping Colonial restart as quickly as possible its more than 5,500-mile (8,850 km) pipeline network from Texas to New Jersey. “It’s an all hands on deck effort right now,” Raimondo said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” program. “We are working closely with the company, state and local officials, to make sure that they get back up to normal operations as quickly as possible and there aren’t disruptions in supply.” Colonial said on Sunday its main fuel lines remain offline but some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational. Neither Raimondo nor the company gave an estimate for a full restart date and Colonial declined further comment on Sunday. U.S. gasoline futures jumped more than 3% to $2.217 a gallon, the highest since May 2018, as trading opened for the week and market participants reacted to the closure. Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline and other fuels from refiners on the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States. Its extensive pipeline network serves major U.S. airports, including Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport, the world’s busiest by passenger traffic. A Charlotte Douglas International Airport spokesperson said the airport had supply on-hand and was “monitoring the situation closely,” adding that the complex is supplied by another major pipeline as well as Colonial. Retail fuel experts including the American Automobile Association said an outage lasting several days could have significant impacts on regional fuel supplies, particularly in the southeastern United States. During previous Colonial outages, retail prices in southeastern states have risen substantially. Offices of governors in several of the U.S. states most vulnerable to fuel shortages – including Tennessee, Georgia and Maryland – were not immediately available for comment. Cybercriminals suspectedWhile the U.S. government investigation is in the early stages, a former U.S. official and three industry sources said the hackers are suspected to be a professional cybercriminal group called DarkSide. DarkSide is one of many ransomware gangs extorting victims while avoiding targets in post-Soviet states. The groups gain access to private networks, encrypt files using software, and often also steal data. They demand payment to decrypt the files and increasingly ask for additional money not to publish stolen content. In the Colonial attack, the hackers took more than 100 gigabytes of data, according to a person familiar with the incident. As the FBI and other government agencies worked with private companies to respond, the cloud computing system the hackers used to collect the stolen data was taken offline Saturday, the person said. Colonial’s data did not appear to have been transferred from that system anywhere else, potentially limiting the hackers’ leverage to extort or further embarrass the company. Cybersecurity firm FireEye is among those dealing with the attack, industry sources said. FireEye declined to comment. Colonial said it was working with a “leading, third-party cybersecurity firm,” but did not name the firm. Messages left with the DarkSide hackers were not immediately returned. The group’s dark website, where hackers regularly post data about victims, made no reference to Colonial Pipeline. Colonial declined to comment on whether DarkSide hackers were involved in the attack, when the breach occurred or what ransom they demanded. Biden briefed on hack President Joe Biden was briefed on the cyberattack on Saturday morning, the White House said, adding that the government was working to try to help the company restore operations and prevent supply disruptions. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana who sits on the Energy Committee, said lawmakers are prepared to work more with privately held critical infrastructure companies to guard against cyberattacks. “The implication for this, for our national security, cannot be overstated. And I promise you, this is something that Republicans and Democrats can work together on,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Another fuel pipeline serving the same regions carries a third of what Colonial does. Any prolonged outage would require tankers to transport fuels from the U.S. Gulf Coast to East Coast ports. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is issuing a temporary hours of service exemption to truckers transporting refined products to 17 southern and east coast states including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New York. Complicating the fallback plans, according to one industry source familiar with the federal response, was that the ranks of fuel-truck drivers for the main road transportation companies, which could pick up some of the pipeline volume, are down by 25% or more because of coronavirus infections. Oil refining companies contacted by Reuters over the weekend said their operations had not yet been impacted. Some were working to find alternative transport for customers. The privately held, Georgia-based company is owned by CDPQ Colonial Partners L.P., IFM (US) Colonial Pipeline 2 LLC, KKR-Keats Pipeline Investors L.P., Koch Capital Investments Company LLC and Shell Midstream Operating LLC.
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Amid Opposition, Japan PM Says has ‘Never Put Olympics First’
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday that he has never “put the Olympics first”, the same day an opinion poll showed nearly 60% of people in Japan want the Olympics cancelled less than three months before they begin. Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo until the end of May and is struggling to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases, raising further questions about whether the Games should go on. Its vaccination rate is the lowest among wealthy nations. International Olympic officials, Tokyo planners and Suga himself have insisted the Games will go on in “a safe and secure” way. Foreign spectators have been barred and planners issued an elaborate playbook of rules last month aimed at preventing coronavirus infections. But a public opinion survey, conducted from May 7-9 by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily, showed 59% wanted the Games cancelled as opposed to 39% who said they should be held. “Postponement” was not offered as an option. Another poll conducted at the weekend by TBS News found 65% wanted the Games cancelled or postponed again, with 37% voting to scrap the event altogether and 28% calling for another delay. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition to cancel the Games in roughly five days since it was launched. Asked in a parliamentary committee meeting whether the Games will continue even if COVID-19 infections spike, Suga replied: “I’ve never put Olympics first”. “My priority has been to protect the lives and health of the Japanese population. We must first prevent the spread of the virus,” he added. He repeated that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the final say on the fate of the Games and that the government’s role is to take steps so they can be held safely. Several test events with foreign athletes have been successfully held, most recently on Sunday. Arrangements are being made for IOC head Thomas Bach, who had been widely expected to visit Japan in mid-May, to visit in June, with the lifting the state of emergency a prerequisite, media reports said. Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said last week that it would be “difficult” for Bach to visit in the middle of a state of emergency. An official in western Okayama prefecture said on Monday they were considering keeping the Olympic torch relay off public roads when it passes through next week. Though other prefectures have taken similar steps, they were under states of emergency or other restrictions at the time. Top Olympic official John Coates said on Saturday that while Japanese sentiment about the Games “was a concern” he could foresee no scenario under which the sporting extravaganza would not go ahead. But on Sunday, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka said that even though she has waited her whole life to take part in the Olympics, the risks of holding the Tokyo Games should be carefully discussed. The Games are set to open on July 23 and run until Aug 8.
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Biden Points to Slow Job Growth in Push for Economic Recovery Plans
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with lawmakers this week to find common ground on his economic recovery plans, which include spending on infrastructure, child care and education. The talks come as the United States reported weaker than expected recovery in hiring. Michelle Quinn reports.Produced by: Mary Cieslak
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Myanmar Poet Dies in Military Detention, Family Says
A Myanmar poet whose work promoted resistance against the military junta has died, his family said Sunday. Khet Thi and his wife, Chaw Su, were both taken in for questioning on Saturday in the town of Shwebo in the Sagaing region, family members said. Chaw Su was released but Khet Thi was not. “They called me in the morning and told me to meet him at the hospital in Monywa,” Chaw Su told BBC Burmese language news. “I thought it was just for a broken arm or something. … But when I arrived here, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out.” Family members told reporters that his body was missing some organs and showed signs of torture when they went to identify him at the morgue. The army released the body to the family, Reuters reported. Khet Thi, who penned the line, “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know the revolution is in the heart,” was in his 40s, according to his Facebook page. The military junta, which seized power in a coup in February, has not publicly commented on the poet’s detention or death. Calls to a spokesman for the junta seeking comment were not answered, Reuters reported. Khet Thi is at least the third poet to die since the coup, according to Reuters. Khet Thi had been friends with K Za Win, 39, a poet who was shot during a protest in March.A woman lights a candle while others flash the three-fingered sign of resistance during a candlelight vigil to remember those who died in the military junta’s violent response to anti-coup demonstrations in Yangon, Myanmar, April 16, 2021.With the coup approaching its 100th day, protests have continued, aided by strikes by students and civil servants throughout the country. The military, known as the Tatmadaw, has killed 780 demonstrators since February, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a non-profit human rights group based in Thailand. The Tatmadaw has justified the coup by claiming, without evidence, that the 2020 general elections that delivered the ruling National League for Democracy a second term were riddled with fraud. It has promised to hold new elections sometime after a one-year state of emergency, though many expect it to delay and to disqualify the widely popular NLD from running candidates. Many top NLD leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, have remained in custody since their arrests on the morning of the coup, while others are in hiding. Fighting between the Tatmadaw and some ethnic armed groups has also increased. Cultural figures, such as Khet Thi, and celebrities have been vocal supporters of the protests. An engineer until 2012, Khet Thi quit his job to focus on poetry and sell cakes and ice cream, Reuters reported. He expressed his frustration recently, saying he didn’t want to be a “hero,” a “martyr,” “a weakling” or a “fool.”
“My people are being shot and I can only throw back poems,” he wrote. “But when you are sure your voice is not enough, then you need to choose a gun carefully. I will shoot.” Esha Sarai contributed to this report.
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Famous German Architect Killed in Illinois Bike Accident
Helmut Jahn, a prominent German architect who designed an Illinois state government building and worked on the design of the FBI headquarters in Washington, was killed in a bicycle accident outside Chicago. Jahn, 81, was struck Saturday afternoon while riding north on a village street in Campton Hills, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Chicago. Jahn failed to stop at a stop sign at an intersection and was struck by the two vehicles, headed in opposite directions, Campton Hills Police Chief Steven Miller said in a news release. Jahn was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Authorities say the driver of one of the vehicles that struck Jahn was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A profile posted on the website of his firm, Jahn, says he was born in Germany in 1940 and graduated from Technische Hochschule in Munich. He moved to Chicago in 1966 to study under legendary architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a creator of modernist architecture, at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Jahn’s professional career began in 1967 when he joined CF Murphy Associates, which later became Murphy/Jahn. He worked on several major projects, including Chicago’s McCormick Place and the United Airlines terminal at O’Hare International Airport, which includes a walkway famous for its colorful lighting. He also had a hand in the design of the J Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI headquarters in Washington. Jahn’s work internationally includes the Sony Center in Berlin and the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. “Helmut had an exceptional career both for its length and for the consistent quality of the work,” Reed Kroloff, dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, told the Chicago Tribune on Sunday. “At his height, he was one of the most influential architects in the world. Not only formally, but technically. He engaged early on with building-skin technologies that were very advanced. He created buildings of every variety.” One of his more controversial buildings was the James R. Thompson Building, a glass-sheathed, Illinois government office building in Chicago’s Loop that opened in 1985. It was put up for sale last week. State officials say the 17-story building is a drain on state finances because it is inefficient to operate and in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs. Jahn taught at the University of Illinois Chicago, Harvard University, Yale University and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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Somali Police Officers Killed in Bombing
Five police officers are among at least six people killed Sunday evening in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said.Major Sadiq Aden Ali, a spokesman for Somali police,confirmed to the media that two police commanders are among those killed.Major Ahmed Abdullahi Bashane, the commander of Mogadishu’s Waberi district,and Major Abdibasid Mohamud Agey, the former deputy commander of Weliyow Adde police department, were killed along with three other police officers. A civilian who lived next to the station also died the explosion.The explosion was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest who approached the officers outside the Waberi district station around 9:30 p.m.& local time, witnesses said.Six other people were injured in the explosion, according to the police.A witness who could not be named for security reasons said Bashane died at the scene while Agey died of his injuries after being evacuated for medical treatment.Three hours before the explosion, Bashane posted a Mother’s Day tribute to his mother on his Facebook page.“May Allah protect her and give her health, amen,” the message read.Bashane was new to the job. He transferred from another police station within Mogadishu less than a month ago, officials said.
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Gunman Attacks Birthday Party, Kills 6 Adults, Himself, Colorado Police Say
A man fatally shot six adults, including his girlfriend, and then himself at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, early Sunday, sparing the children who were present, officials said. “The suspect, a boyfriend of one of the female victims, drove to the residence, walked inside and began shooting people at the party before taking his own life,” a statement released by the Colorado Springs Police Department said. A motive has yet to be determined. The massacre took place about 110 km (70 miles) south of Denver and is the latest in a resurgence of mass shootings in the United States after such incidents seemed to recede during the height of coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Among the incidents this year was one in Boulder, Colorado, where a man has been charged with 10 counts of murder in a shooting spree at a supermarket about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Denver. These are the locations of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, as of April 16, 2021.Two other deadly rampages have taken place in Colorado, both in the Denver area: the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School that killed 15 people including the two perpetrators, and the 2012 shooting in a movie theater that killed 12 people and wounded about 70. That gunman is serving a life sentence. Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said “my heart breaks for the families” in Sunday’s attack and promised to support them. “My vow to this community and to the families who have lost someone today, is that this department will do everything we can to find you the answers you deserve and be here for you with an unwavering support,” Niski said in the police statement. Police said they withheld releasing details of the shooting for several hours “in order to properly and respectfully notify family members of the deceased and ensure support was in place.” The names of the victims will be released later, the statement said.
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Top House Republican Says He Backs Ousting Cheney From No. 3 Job
Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy on Sunday publicly endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik for the post of No. 3 leader, cementing party support of the Donald Trump loyalist over Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of the former president for promoting discredited claims that the 2020 election was stolen. House Republicans could vote as early as Wednesday to remove Cheney, the highest-ranking woman in the Republican leadership and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and replace her with Stefanik, whose ascension has received Trump’s backing. Asked in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” whether he supported Stefanik, R-N.Y., for the job of Republican Conference chair, McCarthy responded: “Yes, I do.” “We want to be united in moving forward, and I think that is what will take place,” he said in response to a question about whether he had the votes to oust Cheney, R-Wyo. McCarthy said the leadership post must focus on a message “day in and day out” on what he said were the problems of the Biden administration. FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the House Republican Conference chair, speaks with reporters following a GOP strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 20, 2021.Cheney has taken on Republicans, including McCarthy, R-Calif., saying on Twitter that those who indulge Trump’s false claims of a stolen presidential election are “spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.” In an opinion essay Wednesday in The Washington Post, she denounced the “dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality,” and warned her fellow Republicans against embracing or ignoring his statements “for fundraising and political purposes.” She also said McCarthy had “changed his story” after initially saying Trump “bears responsibility” for the January 6 attack on the Capitol. McCarthy initially criticized Trump’s actions, and in a private call during the insurrection, had reportedly urged the then-president to call off the rioters. The GOP leader now says he does not believe Trump provoked the riot. McCarthy said that efforts by Republicans to remove Cheney are not based on her views of Trump or her vote to impeach Trump over the January 6 riot. He said she was distracting from Republicans’ bid to win back the House in 2022 and successfully oppose President Joe Biden’s agenda, goals that McCarthy believes will need Trump’s support. McCarthy complained last week that he had “lost confidence” in Cheney and “had it with her” over her continuing remarks about Trump, according to a leaked recording of his exchange on “Fox and Friends.” Cheney has a more conservative voting record in the House than Stefanik, a onetime Trump critic who evolved into an ardent ally. She previously opposed Trump’s tax cuts. “You have this real battle right now in the party, this idea of let’s just put our differences aside and be unified,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who also voted to impeach Trump. “They’re going to get rid of Liz Cheney because they’d much rather pretend that the conspiracy is either real or not confront it than to actually confront it and maybe have to take the temporary licks to save this party and in the long term this country,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” The second-ranking House Republican leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, has announced his support for Stefanik.
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About 120 Ex-peacekeepers from Ethiopia Seek Asylum in Sudan, UN says
Around 120 former peacekeepers from Ethiopia, where several regions including northern Tigray are hard-hit by inter-ethnic conflict, have sought asylum in Sudan, the United Nations said Sunday. The personnel were set to be repatriated as part of the phased withdrawal of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, from western Sudan’s Darfur region after its mandate ended December 31. “As of now, 120 former UNAMID peacekeepers who were due to be repatriated have sought international protection,” a U.N. peacekeeping spokesperson told AFP via email. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, also confirmed the former peacekeepers have applied for asylum in Sudan. They “will be taken to a location where they can be safely undertaken for their refugee status to be determined,” it said without elaborating, for “protection purposes.” It was not immediately clear whether all the former peacekeepers seeking asylum originated from Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The Tigray conflict broke out last November between Ethiopia’s federal forces and leaders of the region’s ruling party, killing thousands. The fighting sent about 60,000 refugees fleeing into neighboring Sudan, a nation struggling with economic woes and a rocky transition since the April 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, is also grappling with ethnic violence in other regions, including Amhara, Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz. UNAMID, deployed in Darfur since 2007, began in January to withdraw its armed and civilian personnel, which number about 8,000. The endeavor is to be completed within six months. Darfur was the scene of a bitter conflict between ethnic African minority rebels, complaining of marginalization, against Bashir’s Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. The fighting killed some 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million, according to the U.N.
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British Fugitive Arrested in Dubai on Drug-trafficking Charges
One of Britain’s most wanted fugitives, a 35-year-old suspected of involvement in a plot to traffic huge quantities of cocaine, has been arrested in Dubai, authorities said Sunday. Michael Paul Moogan, from Liverpool, had been on the run for eight years since a raid on a Rotterdam cafe that is suspected of being a front for meetings between drug traffickers and cartels. The cafe was “central to a plot to bring hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the U.K. every week,” Dubai police said in a statement. Moogan used different identities to elude capture and entered the emirate under a false name and nationality. After he was tracked down, he was put under surveillance before being taken into custody April 21. “This arrest is the result of years of investigation involving a range of law enforcement partners in the U.K., Europe and Middle East,” Nikki Holland, director of investigations at the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA), said in a statement. The NCA said it had targeted Moogan and his associates over suspicions they were involved in plans to import drugs from Latin America to the European Union. Its investigators linked Moogan and two other British men to Rotterdam’s Café de Ketel, which was open to the public but could only be entered via a security system. At the time of the raid, only one of the men, Robert Hamilton, a 71-year-old from Manchester, could be found, it said. He was jailed for eight years in 2014. “The other man, Robert Gerard, 57, from Liverpool, handed himself in to the NCA after three years on the run, claiming the pressure was too much,” the NCA said, adding that Gerard was sentenced to 14 years. “We are extremely grateful to those partners for their assistance in ensuring Moogan now faces justice,” Holland said. “He will be returned to the United Kingdom to face trial.”
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More Than 1,200 Migrants Reach Italian Island in Boats in 12 Hours
More than 1,200 migrants in several decrepit, overcrowded fishing boats on Sunday reached a tiny Italian island in a span of 12 hours, as human traffickers exploited calm seas and warm weather to launch multiple vessels, the mayor said. The first of the migrants arrived at 5 a.m., Lampedusa Mayor Salvatore Martello told Sky TG24 TV at 5 p.m. It was the biggest number of migrants to come ashore this year in a single day at an Italian port. “I’ve said all you need is a day of good weather to see (all) these boats,” Martello said. He appealed to Premier Mario Draghi to put migration on the agenda even as the government is heavily focused on guiding Italy’s economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. By late afternoon, at least nine boats full of migrants disembarked on the island, which has an initial processing center for migrants coming ashore and requesting asylum. Italian news reports said Italian coast guard and customs police boats escorted the vessels to Lampedusa after they were spotted in the Mediterranean a few kilometers offshore. The island, which lives off tourism and fishing, is closer to northern Africa than to the Italian mainland. A newspaper in Sicily, Il Giornale di Sicilia, said they arrived on wooden or metal boats. Many the migrants were reported to be from Bangladesh and Tunisia. Most of those reaching Lampedusa were men, but there were some women and children, including a newborn, the newspaper said. Late spring, when weather is generally good, has seen Libya-based migrant traffickers launch many unseaworthy vessels toward European shores. In recent years there have been surges in the number of migrant arrivals, either being rescued at sea, escorted by military vessels or sailing unassisted directly to Italian shores when seas are calm. In recent years, a few thousand migrants rescued at sea arrived in one day. Right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, whose anti-migrant League party is part of Draghi’s coalition government, pressed Draghi to take action. “A meeting with Draghi is needed, with millions of Italians in difficulty we can’t think about thousands of clandestine” migrants, Salvini tweeted. He added that some 12,000 migrants have arrived so far this year, many in recent weeks. The last few governments before Draghi have insisted, largely in vain, that fellow European Union nations take in more of the migrants that step ashore in Italy. Many of the migrants, including those rescued at sea by charity boats, cargo ships or military vessels in the waters north of Libya, are economic migrants who are unlikely to be granted asylum. Because Italy has so few repatriation agreements with countries whose citizens seek asylum, many of the migrants wind up staying in Europe, some of them heading north from Italy to other countries.
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US Government Working to Help Top Fuel Pipeline Operator after Cyberattack
U.S. government officials were working closely with top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline on Sunday to help it recover from a ransomware cyberattack that forced the company to shut a critical fuel network supplying populous eastern states.The attack is one of the most disruptive digital ransom operations reported and has prompted calls from American lawmakers to tighten protections for critical U.S. energy infrastructure against hackers.Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Washington was working to avoid more severe fuel supply disruptions and to help Colonial restart as quickly as possible its more than 5,500-mile (8,850 km) pipeline network from Texas to New Jersey.”It’s an all hands on deck effort right now,” Raimondo said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” program. “We are working closely with the company, state and local officials, to make sure that they get back up to normal operations as quickly as possible and there aren’t disruptions in supply.”Colonial said on Saturday it was “continuing to monitor the impact of this temporary service halt” and to work to restore service. Neither Raimondo nor the company gave an estimate for a restart date and Colonial declined further comment on Sunday.Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline and other fuels from refiners on the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States.Its extensive pipeline network serves major U.S. airports, including Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport, the world’s busiest by passenger traffic.Retail fuel experts including the American Automobile Association said an outage lasting several days could have significant impacts on regional fuel supplies, particularly in the southeastern United States.While the U.S. government investigation is in the early stages, a former U.S. official and two industry sources said the hackers are likely a professional cybercriminal group and that a group called DarkSide was among potential suspects.DarkSide is known for deploying ransomware and extorting victims while avoiding targets in post-Soviet states. Ransomware is a type of malware designed to lock down systems by encrypting data and demanding payment to regain access.Cybersecurity firm FireEye has also been brought in to respond to the attack, according to the two industry sources. FireEye declined to comment.Colonial has said it was working with a “leading, third-party cybersecurity firm,” but did not name the firm.Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter, reported late on Saturday that the hackers are part of DarkSide and took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of Colonial’s network on Thursday ahead of the pipeline shutdown. Messages left with the DarkSide hackers were not immediately returned. The group’s dark website, where hackers regularly post data about victims, made no reference to Colonial Pipeline.Colonial declined to comment on whether DarkSide hackers were involved in the attack, when the breach occurred or what ransom they demanded.Biden briefed on hackPresident Joe Biden was briefed on the cyberattack on Saturday morning, the White House said, adding that the government was working to try to help the company restore operations and prevent supply disruptions.Another fuel pipeline serving the same regions carries a third of what Colonial does. Any prolonged outage would require tankers to transport fuels from the U.S. Gulf Coast to East Coast ports.The privately held, Georgia-based company is owned by CDPQ Colonial Partners L.P., IFM (US) Colonial Pipeline 2 LLC, KKR-Keats Pipeline Investors L.P., Koch Capital Investments Company LLC and Shell Midstream Operating LLC.Gasoline futures and diesel futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Friday after the outage was reported. In previous Colonial outages, retail prices have risen substantially, if briefly.Oil refining companies contacted by Reuters on Saturday said their operations had not yet been impacted. Some were monitoring developments and working to find alternative transport for customers.
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Afghan Taliban Chief Hails Troop Exit as Kabul Bombing Death Toll Soars
The leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency Sunday praised the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the country, as officials in Kabul raised the death toll to more than 60 from the previous day’s multiple blasts outside a girls’ school in the capital.
“We consider the withdrawal of forces by America and other foreign countries a good step and strongly urge that all parts of the Doha agreement be implemented,” said Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada. FILE – In this undated photo taken at an unknown location, the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, poses for a portrait.The Taliban chief was referring to the February 2020 landmark peace-building pact the United States negotiated with the insurgents in Qatar’s capital, Doha, to pull all U.S. and coalition troops from the country to close America’s longest war, now in its 20th year.
“Unfortunately, the American side has so far violated the signed agreement repeatedly and caused enormous human and material loss to civilians,” Akhundzada alleged in a statement he issued in connection with the annual Muslim festival of Eid starting this week.
The foreign military drawdown was supposed to be concluded by May 1 in line with the deal, but U.S. President Joe Biden missed the deadline, citing logistical reasons and announcing last month that all U.S. troops would be out by September 11. That would be the 20th anniversary of the terrorist strikes against the U.S.
The Taliban denounced the delay and threatened to break their cease-fire with international forces that has been in place since the signing of the deal. U.S. commanders say the troop drawdown has been under way smoothly. Washington also alleges the insurgent group has not lived up to its commitment to ease violence and engage in a “genuine peace process” with Afghan rivals.
The Taliban have intensified battlefield attacks since the foreign troop withdrawal started, inflicting heavy casualties on Afghan government forces and capturing new territory.
The Afghan army chief said on Saturday his forces had also “killed and injured 1,000″ Taliban fighters in the past week.
Afghan adversaries often issue inflated casualty tolls for the other side, which are impossible to verify from independent sources.
U.S. officials have blamed the Taliban for the latest rise in violence and called on all warring parties to reduce hostilities and resume stalled peace talks, known as intra-Afghan negotiations.
The peace process, which stemmed from the U.S.-Taliban deal, started in Doha last September, has mostly been deadlocked, with both Afghan rivals accusing the other of delaying and trying to subvert the dialogue.
“We prioritize negotiations and understanding… However, the Kabul administration has repeatedly tried to sabotage the ongoing political process through various means and continues to engage in such activity,” Akhundzada said Sunday.
A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rejected the accusations while responding to the statement by the Taliban chief.
“If the Taliban are sincere in what they say, then they must stop killing Afghan civilians and return to the negotiation table to discuss peace,” Mohammad Ameri told VOA. A young man try to identify dead bodies at a hospital after a bomb explosion near a school west of Kabul, Afghanistan, May 8, 2021.Meanwhile, officials and victims’ families told media that the death toll had risen to at least 63 from Saturday’s multiple blasts outside a girls’ school in Kabul’s western Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood, mostly populated by ethnic Hazara Shi’ite Muslims.
More than 150 people had sustained injuries and doctors were said to be struggling to save the lives of some of those critically wounded. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
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The victims were mostly schoolgirls leaving for home after finishing classes.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said attackers detonated a car bomb and two improvised explosive devices during the evening rush hour.
No one has taken responsibility for the carnage in Dasht-e-Barchi, which has previously experienced such incidents. Past attacks were claimed by Islamic State.
Afghan officials accused the Taliban of plotting the attack on the girls’ school. It was one of the deadliest in Kabul in recent months. The insurgent group denied involvement, saying it condemns any violence against Afghan civilians.
In a video message released Sunday, Ghani against pointed a finger at the Taliban, saying the insurgents “should know that they will not achieve their evil goals through war.” He said the Taliban “will be crushed” by Afghan security forces.
The president declared Tuesday as a national day of mourning for the victims of the Kabul attack and other recent bombings against civilians.
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Chad Military Claims Victory Over Rebels in North
Chad’s military claimed victory on Sunday in its weeks-long battle with northern rebels that led to the death of President Idriss Deby on the battlefield. The rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) did not respond to a request for comment. The transitional military authorities have previously said they have defeated the rebels only for fighting to continue. The fighting and broader political instability are being closely watched. Chad is a key power in central Africa and a longtime Western ally against Islamist militants across the Sahel region. Crowds in the capital N’Djamena cheered on Sunday as soldiers returned from the front line in a column of tanks and armored vehicles. “The triumphant return of the army to the barracks today heralds the end of operations and Chad’s victory,” the army’s Chief of the General Staff Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud told reporters. At an army base in N’Djamena, dozens of captured rebels sat in the dirt, on display for the assembled press. FACT fighters crossed the border from Libya in April to take a stand against Deby, whose 30-year rule they opposed. His subsequent death while visiting troops plunged the country into crisis. On Saturday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse a protest against the ruling military council. Led by Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Itno, the council seized power after the former’s death, promising to oversee an 18-month transition to elections. Opposition politicians and civil society have denounced the takeover as a coup and called for supporters to take to the streets. At least five people were killed during a protest on April 27. They had planned a further protest on Sunday, but postponed it out of fear the authorities planned to suppress it violently, Mahamat Nour Ibedou, a prominent human rights activist, told Reuters. The military council had given permission for a protest on Sunday.
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Sunday is Mother’s Day in US
Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States.The second Sunday in May is a day especially designated to show moms and other mother figures how much they are loved and appreciated. It is a day full of cards and flowers, telephone calls and acts of kindness for moms. Many moms enjoy breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.The origins of Mother’s Day in the U.S. began before the Civil War when Ann Reeves Jarvis, who lived in West Virginia, began Mother’s Day Work Clubs to teach women the intricacies of taking care of their children.After the war, Jarvis organized Mothers’ Friendship Day. On this day, women from the clubs met with former Union and Confederate soldiers in the spirit of reconciliation.Jarvis died in 1905, but her daughter, Anna, campaigned for a national holiday honoring motherhood. She also argued that American holidays honored male achievements, while ignoring the achievements of women.In 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson officially designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. After a few years, Anna Jarvis became disillusioned with the commercialization of the day, which is not a federal holiday in the United States.By the time Anna Jarvis died in 1948, she had disowned the occasion and lodged lawsuits against groups that used the term “Mother’s Day.”There are Mother’s Day commemorations in other countries, celebrated on different days.
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China to Create ‘Line of Separation’ at Everest Summit on COVID Fears
China will set up “a line of separation” at the summit of Mount Everest to prevent the mingling of climbers from COVID-hit Nepal and those ascending from the Tibetan side as a precautionary measure, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.Everest base camp on the Nepalese side has been hit by coronavirus cases since late April. The Nepalese government, starved of tourism revenue, has yet to cancel the spring climbing season, usually from April to early June before the monsoon rains.It was not immediately clear how the line would be enforced on the summit, a tiny, perilous and inhospitable area the size of a dining table.A small team of Tibetan climbing guides will ascend Everest and set up the “line of separation” at the summit to stop any contact between mountaineers from both sides of the peak, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the head of Tibet’s sports bureau.A group of 21 Chinese nationals are en route to the summit on the Tibetan side, Xinhua reported.The Tibetan guides will set up the separation line ahead of their arrival, the state-run news agency said, without describing what the line would look like.It was also unclear whether the Tibetan guides would be the ones enforcing the “separation”, or whether they would remain in the so-called death zone, where many lives have been lost due to a dearth of oxygen, to hold the line. The top of the 8,848-metre peak is a small mound of snow with barely enough space for half a dozen climbers and guides at any one time.China has not allowed any foreign climbers to ascend from the Tibetan side since the outbreak of the new coronavirus last year due to infection concerns.Tourists in the Everest scenic area in Tibet are also banned from visiting the base camp on the Tibetan side.Mainland China on Sunday reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on May 8 – all of which involved travelers arriving from overseas – up from seven a day earlier. Nepal reported 9,023 new cases on Friday, the country’s biggest one-day increase.
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UN Condemns Ugandan Bill to Criminalize Same-Sex Relations
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling on Uganda to amend a bill to ban same-sex relations that it says would violate human rights standards and undermine public health.The bill passed by the Ugandan Parliament this past week, but not yet final, has been under development since 2015 and gone through several significant changes. Human rights officials say they are deeply troubled by this latest iteration, which would criminalize entire groups of people. Under the bill, they note consensual same-sex relations would be harshly punished, as would sex workers and those infected with HIV. A spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner, Rupert Colville, notes the bill’s punishment for consensual same-sex relations has been reduced to 10 years in jail instead of life imprisonment. Nevertheless, he says the Sexual Offences Act raises serious human rights concern. “The fact remains that such relations are still criminalized. This, in a country where stigma, discrimination, and violence against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity is widespread and often committed with impunity, given that victims are frequently too afraid to report any attack against them,” he said. Colville says other alarming provisions in the Act include mandatory and forced HIV testing of defendants. “Such provisions not only violate Uganda’s human rights obligations and also risk undermining public health, leaving people afraid to come forward for essential testing and treatment, and so affecting critical HIV prevention and treatment efforts. They are also risking further fueling HIV in Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. UNAIDS, the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, says it fears driving people infected with HIV underground will undo much of the progress Uganda has made in reducing the impact of the disease. Since 2010, it says, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 60% and new HIV infections have dropped by 43%. Colville says the bill provides much needed protection on sexual violence, which is something women’s groups and gender-based violence groups have advocated for some time. However, the bill in general, he says, does not comply with international law and standards, and must be amended.
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Chinese Rocket Safely Re-Enters Earth’s Atmosphere Over Indian Ocean
The remnants from an out-of-control Chinese rocket have safely reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, according to Chinese state media. The bulk of the rocket was destroyed once it reentered Earth’s atmosphere. Space experts were unsure about where or when the debris would land and what would happen upon landing. There was speculation that the debris could land on the ground, potentially harming humans and the environment. Aerospace Corp. and Space-Track.org followed the rocket’s descent. Debris from the rocket landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives after reentering the atmosphere at approximately 2:30 a.m., Universal Time, Chinese state media reported. Space-Track.org had estimated Saturday evening that the rocket would reenter the atmosphere over the North Atlantic at 2:04 a.m. Universal Time, give or take one hour. Aerospace Corp, put it at 3:02, give or take two hours. The Aerospace Corp. is a nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center committed to space enterprise, according to its website. Space-Track.org says it provides critical space situational awareness data for a worldwide space community. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday that the rocket is unlikely to cause damage. Wang told reporters in Beijing that the rocket will mostly burn up on reentry and “the probability of this process causing harm on the ground is extremely low.” He said China was closely following the rocket’s path toward Earth and will release any information about it in a “timely manner.” The Long March 5B rocket was launched April 29 from Hainan Island. It was carrying a module for a planned Chinese space station. After the unmanned Tianhe module separated from the rocket, the nearly 21,000-kilogram rocket should have followed a planned reentry trajectory into the ocean. Because that did not happen as planned, the rocket had an uncontrolled reentry, and no one knew precisely where the debris would land. “U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth’s atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry,” Lieutenant Colonel Angela Webb, of U.S. Space Command Public Affairs, told CBS News. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that “this rocket debris” is “almost the body of the rocket, as I understand it, almost intact, coming down, and we think Space Command believes, somewhere around the 8th of May.”In May 2020, debris from another Long March 5B rocket fell on parts of Ivory Coast, causing damage to some buildings. Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters that the debris could fall as far north as New York or as far south as Wellington, New Zealand. Speaking with reporters Thursday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the United States had no plans to try to shoot down the rocket. “We have the capability to do a lot of things, but we don’t have a plan to shoot it down as we speak,” Austin said. “We’re hopeful that it will land in a place where it won’t harm anyone. Hopefully in the ocean, or someplace like that,” he added. The launch of the Tianhe module is the first of 11 planned missions to build the Chinese space station.
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Buoyed by Big Election Win, Scottish Nationalists Demand Independence Vote
The leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon, has vowed to start the push for a second referendum on Scottish independence as her party made major gains in elections this weekend for Scotland’s devolved Parliament, but fell short by one seat of securing an overall majority. Sturgeon is wasting no time in laying down the gauntlet to London. She told Britain’s ruling Conservatives not to pick a fight with the Scots and not to seek to obstruct an independence referendum she aims to hold before the end of 2023. Hailing the election result as “historic,” and highlighting the fact that the SNP had won more votes and a higher share votes cast than any party since Scottish devolution in 1999, she said, “To any Westminster politician who tries to stand in the way of that, I would say you’re not picking a fight with the SNP, you’re picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people. “The only people who can decide the future of Scotland,” she added, “are the Scottish people, and no Westminster politician can or should stand in the way of that.” Election staff members count votes for the Scottish parliamentary election at a counting center in Glasgow, Scotland, May 8, 2021.Despite failing to secure an overall parliamentary majority, Sturgeon can count on the backing of the Scottish Greens, which will give her control of 72 seats in the 129-seat parliament, sufficient to pass legislation authorizing an independence plebiscite. The Scottish Parliament oversees public services, education and policing north of the English border, but has no powers over defense and foreign affairs issues. Scots voted in 1997 to transfer some powers from the British Parliament in London. The stage is now set for a monumental struggle between Edinburgh and London, one that could herald the breakup of the United Kingdom, which itself would have untold international repercussions for Britain, politicians and analysts say. Buoyed by his own election triumph in local and regional government elections in England in which his ruling Conservatives routed the main opposition Labour Party in northern England and the Midlands, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for a summit with the leaders of the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, saying the United Kingdom is “best served when we work together.” Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at Jacksons Wharf Marina in Hartlepool following local elections, Britain, May 7, 2021.Johnson has consistently expressed uncompromising opposition to holding yet another referendum on Scottish independence. The last plebiscite was held in 2014 when 55% voted to remain part of the U.K. Scotland remains evenly split now on the central issue of secession, according to opinion polls, although a slim majority in most recent surveys appear to back breaking away. Brexit — Britain’s exit from the European Union — is seen as a key driver of support for the SNP. The Scots (and Northern Irish) never wanted to leave the EU and voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum to stay in the bloc, in Scotland’s case overwhelmingly by 62% to 30%. Sturgeon has used Brexit to argue that Scotland should get another opportunity to hold a plebiscite on independence, nicknamed Indyref2. Earlier this year Johnson said there should be a 40-year gap between the first and a second Scottish independence referendum — similar to the interval between British referendums on Europe in 1975 and 2016. “Referendums in my experience, direct experience, in this country are not particularly jolly events,” he told the BBC. “They don’t have a notably unifying force in the national mood, they should be only once-in-a-generation,” he added. FILE – A Yes campaign sign for the Scottish independence referendum stands backdropped by Edinburgh Castle, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sept. 18, 2014.The British parliament would have to endorse holding another referendum, according to constitutional lawyers. However, the SNP is exploring legal avenues, and a prolonged struggle in the courts and acrimonious political tussle is in the offing. The SNP has steered clear of suggesting it would call a wildcat referendum along the lines of what Catalonian separatists did in Spain in 2017, which triggered a violent standoff between Madrid and Barcelona. Nationalists currently recognize that a nonlegal vote could easily be sabotaged by a boycott campaign the British government would almost certainly mount that would call on union-supporting Scots to ignore the vote. Nonetheless, Britain seems likely to be thrust into another time-consuming and energy-sapping political and constitutional fight just as it is trying to plot a new diplomatic and trade course for itself in the wake of Brexit, analysts and U.S. diplomats say. U.S. officials say privately they are concerned with the prospect of Britain, a key foreign-policy and defense ally, being preoccupied by more domestic upheaval. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is banking on London to assist it in strengthening Western democracy. There are also Washington worries about the implications for Britain in the event that Scotland does break away. A diminished Britain might struggle to keep its permanent U.N. Security Council seat and there are major questions about what would happen to Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines, based in Scotland. Opponents of Scottish independence are seizing on the SNP’s failure to win an outright parliamentary majority to argue against Sturgeon’s aim of holding a second independence referendum. “Her failure to win an overall majority reduces her ability to claim a mandate for a second independence referendum,” argued Sunday Times columnist Alex Massie. “The SNP has won another battle, but the war goes on and the path to a fresh plebiscite on the national question is neither clear nor easy,” he wrote. “The SNP strategy,” he added, “is clear and built for the long term: depict Boris Johnson as an ‘overlord’ and the unionist parties as ‘democracy deniers’ frustrating the manifest preferences of the Scottish people. This is, the nationalists suggest, less an argument about the merits of independence than one about basic democratic principles.” Speaking on Britain’s Sky News, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, would not say whether the British government would challenge in the courts a move by the Scottish Parliament to hold a referendum in court. “We are not going to go there. It’s not an issue for the moment,” he said. He said there are more important priorities for the U.K. “The priority for politicians has to be the recovery from the pandemic,” he said, adding, “instead of concentrating on the things that divide, let’s concentrate on the things that unite.”
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Fifteen Killed in Landslide at Guinea Gold Mine
A landslide at an artisanal gold mine has killed at least 15 people in northeastern Guinea, the government said on Sunday. The disaster took place on Saturday in remote Siguiri province, 800 km (500 miles) from the capital Conakry. The zone holds some of the West African country’s largest gold reserves.In a statement the government said it had launched an investigation.The bodies of those killed have been recovered and two women were among the casualties, a local resident said by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.The artisanal gold mines of Siguiri are notoriously dangerous with diggers working in narrow shafts without much protection.
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Russia Rolls out Military Might for Victory Day Amid Tensions with West
Russia showed off its military might with parades across the country on Sunday to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. President Vladimir Putin reviewed the main Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square, featuring some 12,000 troops, nearly 200 pieces of military hardware, and aircraft and helicopter flyovers. Putin watched the display with Soviet war veterans from a review platform. Since coming to power two decades ago, Putin has sought either as president or prime minister to restore symbols of the Soviet and Russian past to boost patriotism. Russian President Putin takes part in a commemoration ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Victory Day, in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2021. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)Putin, during his address on the 76th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, vowed that Russia will defend its national interests and denounced what he asserted was the return of “Russophobia.” “We will firmly defend our national interests to ensure the safety of our people,” Putin said. This year’s parade comes as the ruling United Russia party faces parliamentary elections in September, with polls showing declining support for the pro-Kremlin party to 27 percent.
Russia’s relations with the West have also nosedived over everything from the fate of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to the conflict in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, the United States and Russia have expelled each other’s diplomats in a series of retaliatory moves, while Moscow and EU member states been involved in similar tit-for-tat diplomatic disputes.
The military parades come after Russia recently deployed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and in annexed Crimea. The buildup prompted alarm in Western capitals over Moscow’s intentions amid an uptick in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.
Russia has since withdrawn most of the troops but left behind some military equipment and continues to conduct naval exercises in the Black Sea.
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Eyeing Reelection Bid, Macron Looks to Repair French Economy
President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for bringing France out of the pandemic aren’t just about resuscitating long-closed restaurants, boutiques and museums. They are also about preparing his possible campaign for a second term.A year before the next presidential election, Macron is focusing on saving jobs and reviving the pandemic-battered French economy as his country inches out of its third partial lockdown.The centrist president’s ability to meet the challenge will be significant for his political future and for France — which is among the world’s worst-hit nations with the fourth-highest number of reported COVID-19 cases and the eighth-highest death toll at more than 106,000.While he has not officially declared his candidacy, Macron has made comments suggesting he intends to seek reelection. And he has pushed recent legislation on issues that potential rivals on the right and the left hold dear, from security to climate change.Pollsters suggest Macron, who four years ago became the youngest president in French history, has a good chance of winning the presidency again in 2022 despite his government’s oft-criticized management of the pandemic and earlier challenges to his policies, from activists protesting what they see as social and economic injustice to unions angry over retirement reforms.An Existential Choice? France’s Communist Party Eyes Presidential Race Leader Fabien Roussel says he wants to offer a program of hope The coronavirus reopening strategy Macron unveiled this month calls for most restrictions on public life to be lifted June 30, when half of France’s population is expected to have received at least one vaccine shot. With up to 3 million people in France getting vaccinated each week, the government plans to allow outdoor areas of restaurants and cafes, as well as museums and nonessential shops, to resume operating on May 19.In an interview with French media, Macron said he would visit France’s regions over the summer “to feel the pulse of the country” and to engage with people in a mass consultation aimed at “turning the page of that moment in the nation’s life.”“No individual destiny is worthwhile without a collective project,” he said, giving the latest hint about a potential reelection bid.At the moment, all opinion polls show Macron and Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader he beat in a presidential runoff election in 2017, again reaching the runoff next year. The polls also forecast that Macron would defeat National Rally leader Le Pen again, though by a smaller margin.Macron, 43, a former economy minister under his predecessor, Socialist President Francois Hollande, has characterized his policies as transcending traditional left-right divides. He was elected on a promise to make the French economy more competitive while preserving the country’s welfare system.Macron’s government includes major figures previously belonging to conservative party The Republicans, including his prime minister and the finance and interior ministers.French politics expert Luc Rouban, a senior researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research. said the president’s immediate goal “is to show he is still able to continue implementing his project, which has more or less been stopped by the health crisis.”Macron’s recent priorities demonstrate he also is trying to attract voters from the moderate right and the moderate left, the same ones who helped him win the first time, Rouban said.Macron is “undermining the field of The Republicans by strengthening security laws, taking measures to protect the French against terrorism, reinforcing security also in urban areas, increasing police and justice staff,” he said.At the same time, Macron needs to show he is addressing inequality, economic mobility and other social justice issues that are important to France’s left wing, Rouban said.Last month, the president decided to do away with France’s elite graduate school for future leaders, the Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He said his alma mater would be replaced with a more egalitarian institution.In the French newspapers interview, Macron also praised the country’s benefits for low-income workers, who since 2019 have received up to 100 additional euros ($120) per month.Macron’s public image appears to have partially recovered from drubbing it took at the height of the “yellow vest” movement, which started in late 2018 to oppose a fuel tax and grew into a weekly anti-government protest targeting alleged social and economic injustice. At the time, critics angry over Macron eliminating a wealth tax labeled him the “president of the rich.”But Macron’s popularity in recent months has remained relatively stable, with an approval rating between 30% and 46%, higher than his predecessors Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy had after four years in office.Frédéric Dabi, deputy director-general of the polling organization IFOP, said Macron’s support appears “very solid.” Polls show his policies are satisfying most of his 2017 supporters, and 30% to 50% of voters from the traditional right- and left-wing parties.During the virus crisis, Macron applied a “whatever it takes” strategy based on state intervention to save jobs and businesses, including a massive partial unemployment program and subsidized child care leave. The government also approved a two-year 100 billion-euro ($120 billion) rescue plan to revive the economy.Macron promised there would be no tax increases to repay the debt, which soared last year to 115.7% of gross domestic product.Despite strong opposition from unions about planned changes to the pension system and unemployment benefits, he has pledged to keep reforming “until the last quarter of hour” of his five-year term, which runs out in May 2022.Recent polls show no strong rival emerging so far from mainstream French parties amid divisions on both the right and the left. But at this stage, the field remains wide open.As Macron himself proved in 2017, when he shot from a wild-card candidate to the presidency in less than four months, anything could happen in the next year.
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Myanmar’s Junta Cool on Commitment to ASEAN’s Plan for Stabilizing Country
The Myanmar junta’s equivocal reaction to a plan it agreed to with its regional neighbors for pulling the country back from the brink of collapse is raising doubts about the junta’s commitment to follow through anytime soon. Since Myanmar’s military toppled the country’s elected civilian government February 1, the junta has shot and killed hundreds of mostly peaceful and unarmed protesters and sent thousands fleeing to neighboring India and Thailand seeking refuge. United Nations officials and envoys are warning of a pending humanitarian crisis and all-out civil war. In a bid to keep the crisis from spiraling out of control, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, met in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 24 with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. A statement from the current chair of the bloc, Brunei, said the leaders reached a “five-point consensus” including a call for an immediate end to the violence and talks “among all parties concerned.” Trainees take part in military exercises with the Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 6, an armed rebel group in eastern Karen state on May 9, 2021, amid a heightened conflict with Myanmar’s military following the February coup.In addition to ending the violence and holding talks, Brunei said the leaders agreed that the bloc would provide humanitarian assistance and that Brunei would appoint a special envoy to facilitate the talks and to visit Myanmar to meet with “all parties concerned.” The chair’s statement offers no timeframe or details on when or how to put the plan into action. Analysts say that gives Myanmar’s military, or Tatmadaw, plenty of room to decide how that happens. “It’s exploiting the vagueness of the deal and the lack of agreed timeframe to its own advantage, as opposed to rejecting the deal outright. And it will try to sort of delay this as much as it can and ensure that in the meantime the Tatmadaw’s own kind of blueprint for how the country should run prevails,” said Hervé Lemahieu, Myanmar and Southeast Asia analyst at Australia’s Lowy Institute. The Tatmadaw has justified the coup by claiming, without evidence, that the 2020 general elections that delivered the ruling National League for Democracy a second term were riddled with fraud. It has promised to hold new elections sometime after a one-year state of emergency, though many expect it to delay and to disqualify the widely popular NLD from running candidates. One of the key questions the five-point plan leaves unanswered is the precise meaning of “all parties concerned.” Brunei’s statement sets no boundaries, leaving many to wonder whether it includes the NLD, any of the many ethnic minority-based parties and associated armed groups in the country, or the National Unity Government, which they have forged since the coup to challenge the junta. Myanmar Classifies Resistance Government as ‘Terrorist Organization’ ‘We ask the people not to … support terrorist actions, nor to provide aid to the terrorist activities of the GUN and the CRPH,’ state TV says“We don’t know, and that will also be up to the Tatmadaw largely to determine,” Lemahieu said. “The Tatmadaw really has control over the timing and then control over how you operationalize this plan.” Many top NLD leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, have remained in custody since their arrests on the morning of the coup, while others are in hiding to keep from joining them. Fighting between the Tatmadaw and some ethnic armed groups has also spiked. “It’s not very clear who [are the] stakeholders in the statement. Without a clear definition and commitment from the regime, it will still be difficult to implement,” said Min Zaw Oo, who heads the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, a local think tank. He said that at some point an ASEAN envoy may visit and humanitarian aid might arrive. Given what the junta has said and done since the meeting in Jakarta, though, he said he does not expect the Tatmadaw to let the five-point plan blow it far off the course it has already set for the country. “I don’t think there will be any radical change different from the course the regime is steering in Myanmar, which is the new election and probably changes [for a] new electoral system,” he said. “The regime is forcing it through within one or two years, very likely two years, so I don’t think the ASEAN decision … will have a major impact on the regime’s major roadmap to where it is leading to.”
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