The armed man who tried to enter the CIA’s main complex outside of Washington has died. Officials with the FBI said Tuesday the unidentified man, who was shot multiple times after being denied entry at the CIA’s main gate, died at the hospital as a result of his injuries. The FBI has not given a motive for Monday’s incident, which tied up traffic near the CIA complex in Langley, Virginia, for several hours. “The FBI reviews every shooting incident involving an FBI special agent,” the bureau’s Washington Field Office said in a statement. “The review will carefully examine the circumstances of the shooting and collect all relevant evidence from the scene.” “As the review remains ongoing, we cannot provide any additional details at this time,” it added. The incident began late Monday, when the man drove his vehicle up to the CIA’s main entrance, which is protected by armed guards and a series of gates. FBI agents were quickly called in to assist while local law enforcement agencies helped redirect traffic. According to the FBI, after he was denied entry, the suspect “emerged from his vehicle with a weapon and was engaged by law enforcement officers.” A CIA spokesperson told VOA on Monday that the agency’s headquarters remained secure throughout the incident and referred additional questions to the FBI.
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Month: May 2021
Kenyan, Tanzanian Presidents Sign Pipeline Deal
Kenya and Tanzania have signed a deal for a gas pipeline that will run between the coastal cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. The signing took place Tuesday, as Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan made her first visit to Kenya following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli.Speaking to reporters in Nairobi after a closed-door meeting that lasted more than three hours, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said the two countries are ready to improve their relations. Relations between the two East African nations grew strained during the five years Magufuli was president of Tanzania. Magufuli died of heart disease in March and was replaced by Hassan, his vice president.Kenya Defence Forces march past the State House in Nairobi, during the official visit of Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, May 4, 2021.Kenyatta said Tuesday he and Hassan signed a gas pipeline deal that will improve the lives of his people and businesses. The pipeline will help reduce the cost of electric power, Kenyatta said, and will help transition Kenya to environment-friendly energy. Hassan said she and Kenyatta also agreed to reduce barriers to bilateral trade, in order to grow businesses and investment between the two countries.Kigen Morumbasi, who teaches international relations and security at Strathmore University in Kenya, said good relations between the two countries have the potential to spur economic growth. “When we look at the two countries, we are looking at prospects in terms of bilateral trade. So, we are supposed to see bilateral trade going up and free movement of people, which of course have an issue, especially in the region. And if we look at the trade between Tanzania and Kenya, we know both of them are port countries. The closer ties between the two countries will elevate the economic development for both countries, as well, and remove the competition that has been dogging the two countries in the past,” Morumbasi said. The two countries also agreed that health officials should work together on COVID-19 issues. That was not the case under Tanzania’s late president. Under Magufuli, Tanzanian officials denied COVID-19 was present in the country and cast doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines. Hassan said Tuesday she and Kenyatta want to see health officials cooperating to ease the movement of people and goods.
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US Spike in Domestic Terrorism ‘Keeps me up at Night,’ Attorney General Says
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Congress on Tuesday to provide more funding for investigating and prosecuting domestic terrorism, saying it poses an “accelerating” threat that keeps him up at night.Garland, who had served as a federal appellate judge and federal prosecutor before President Joe Biden nominated him to lead the Justice Department, was testifying about the department’s budget request for the 2022 fiscal year.”We have a growing fear of domestic violent extremism and domestic terrorism,” Garland told a U.S. House of Representatives budgeting subcommittee. “Both of those keep me up at night.”He did not name specific violent groups, but members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are among the more than 400 people arrested for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by former President Donald Trump’s supporters.The hearing marked Garland’s first appearance before Congress since being confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement officer in March.He told the House panel that the lethality of weapons available to both foreign and domestic terrorists has increased, and that the Justice Department is “putting its resources into defending the country with respect to both.””We have an emerging and accelerating threat,” Garland said.He highlighted in his opening remarks that the Justice Department is requesting $85 million in additional funding from Congress to bolster its efforts to combat domestic terrorism.Garland said the department is also seeking a “historic investment” of $1 billion in its Office of Violence Against Women, and that the budget proposal includes a $232 million increase in funding to help combat gun violence.
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G-7 Nations Vow to End Syrian War, Top US Diplomat Says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the Group of 7 industrialized nations have vowed to end the 10-year civil war in Syria. My @G7 counterparts and I reaffirmed our commitment to a political resolution for ending the conflict in Syria,” Blinken tweeted as he and other G-7 members attended their first in-person meetings in two years. My U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greeted on arrival by Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at the start of the G-7 foreign ministers meeting in London, Britain, May 4, 2021. (Ben Stansall/Pool via Reuters)Blinken met with Raab on Monday and said regarding China the goal is not to “try to contain China or to hold China down.” “What we are trying to do is to uphold the international rules-based order that our countries have invested so much in over so many decades to the benefit, I would argue not just of our own citizens, but of people around the world including, by the way, China,” Blinken told reporters. Raab said the United States and Britain are also looking for constructive ways to work with China “in a sensible and positive manner” on issues including climate change when possible. U.S. President Joe Biden has identified competition with China as his administration’s greatest foreign policy challenge. In his first speech to Congress last week, he pledged to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and boost U.S. technological development. Last month, Blinken said the United States was concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force. Elsewhere in the region, the United States said it is ready to engage diplomatically with North Korea to achieve the ultimate goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, following the completion of a months-long U.S. policy review on North Korea. “What we have now is a policy that calls for a calibrated practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with North Korea, to try to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies and our deployed forces,” Blinken said Monday. Raab said Britain and the United States “share the strategic paradigm,” and both countries will support each other’s efforts. On Friday, the Biden administration announced it completed the review of North Korean policy, expressing openness to talks with the reclusive communist nation. Biden is also expected to appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. North Korea lashed out at the United States and its allies on Sunday in a series of statements, saying recent comments from Washington are proof of a hostile policy. North Korea Slams Biden’s New Approach to DiplomacyUS policy remains ‘hostile,’ North says A statement by Kwon Jong Gun, head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North America Department, warns that Pyongyang would seek “corresponding measures” and that if Washington tries to approach relations with Pyongyang through “outdated and old-school policies” from the perspective of the Cold War, it will face an increasingly unaffordable crisis in the near future. “I hope that North Korea will take the opportunity to engage diplomatically and to see if there are ways to move forward toward the objective of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And so, we will look to see not only what North Korea says but what it actually does in the coming days and months,” the top U.S. diplomat added. Blinken’s remarks followed his separate meetings with Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, where the foreign ministers pledged U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain. In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks. After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior government officials. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”Chris Hannas contributed to this report.
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In China, Writing About Pandemic, Cultural Heritage Can Get You Arrested
Writers sharing their experiences of the coronavirus pandemic or expressing views on their cultural heritage are at increased risk in China, which accounts for nearly one-third of all the 273 writers, academics and intellectuals in jail in 2020.The number imprisoned increased from 2019, largely because of the pandemic, according to a new index compiled by rights group PEN America. Its Freedom to Write Index, which tracks jailed writers and public intellectuals worldwide, showed China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey accounting for half of all cases. “Political leaders around the world—in autocracies and fragile democracies alike—have used the pandemic and protest movements as an excuse to further constrain rights rather than expand them,” the report said, adding that some countries have wielded laws about disinformation as a means of silencing the truth.Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of PEN America’s Free Expression At Risk Programs, said during a virtual report release last month that the situation is poor in China.“China has jailed 81 writers. This is far more than any other country, primarily due to the arrests of writers and commentators who critiqued their government’s response to COVID and other policies, as well as new information coming to light about detentions in the Xinjiang region,” she said. COVID is the disease caused by the coronavirus.The report cited the case of Li Wenliang, a doctor who was the first in China to sound the alarm over the coronavirus. He was detained by the police for spreading rumors about public health, and later died after succumbing to the virus.Whistleblower Doctor Who Died Becomes ‘Face’ of Speech Suppression in China Posters mourning Li Wenliang as a hero accuse Chinese government of trying to cover up virus Several citizen journalists, including Zhang Zhan and Chen Qiushi, were also detained by Chinese authorities for reporting and documenting the pandemic. A poet, Zhang Wenfang, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for an online poem that included vignettes of people’s experiences of the pandemic, PEN found.In addition, Xu Zhangrun, a professor at Tsinghua University Law School, was placed under house arrest for criticizing the government’s response to the pandemic. He was later detained for seven days on charges that he had solicited a sex worker in 2018, and subsequently expelled by the school. Who Is Jailed Chinese Professor Xu Zhangrun? Arrest of Chinese legal scholar draws international criticism Sarah Cook, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at the U.S. government-funded non-profit Freedom House, told VOA that aside from the risk of detention, writers can find themselves under economic pressure if authorities shut down their web pages or accounts. “Some writers who were previously able to write and share their writing through unofficial channels like WeChat or Weibo, their accounts get shut down, and that means they have to get another job,” Cook told VOA Mandarin. WeChat and Weibo are major messaging apps and social media platforms in China. Weibo is akin to Twitter.She said that this pushes people to jump the firewall and publish in more independent or critical outlets outside China. “The fact that they wrote for some of these outlets or published by some of these outlets can be perceived as subversive and get them into trouble,” Cook said.China has rejected criticism of its rights record by rights groups and accused the United States of being hypocritical, pointing to the arrests during protests in the U.S. last year.Minorities targetedAmong the 81 writers and public intellectuals jailed in China, nearly half are from the Xinjiang and Tibetan Autonomous Regions, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong.Freedom House’s Cook said the conditions for these people are much more dangerous, and the likelihood of serving time in prison is very high.“I think the situation, especially in Xinjiang, is that so many of these people, when they wrote the content it was OK. And then there’s been this retroactive punishment with things that were previously on the safe side of the red line suddenly aren’t,” Cook said. “That’s one reason you’ve seen so many Uyghur intellectuals including professors, writers and songwriters being swept up in these latest detention sweeps in 2017.”How China Uses Family Members to Pressure Uyghur JournalistsXinjiang’s rare confirmation that journalists’ relatives are detained shines light on China’s retaliation against Uyghurs “It matters a lot who you are and particularly what religious or ethnic community you are from,” she said.
In 2017, Qurban Mamut, a well-known Uyghur writer and editor-in-chief of Xinjiang Culture magazine, went missing after visiting his son in the United States. Later, his family learned that he was arrested and detained in Xinjiang’s so-called re-education or mass detention camps. Bahram Sintash, Mamut’s son, said that Beijing is trying to prevent journalists and writers like his father from recording the Uyghur culture. “Right now the atmosphere of the Uyghur society (is that they are) without their own intellectuals, without their own books, without anything to let the Uyghurs learn about their own culture and language,” he said at the press briefing. “Previous generations like my father and other intellectuals, they no longer can write about Uyghurs, and they are mostly in camps and jail.”China has denied all accusations of wrongdoing in Xinjiang and said that the mass incarceration camps are “a place for de-radicalization” and “not a prison.”PEN America’s Karlekar said attempts to remove cultural heritage by jailing writers is a worrying trend globally.“We see that writers who speak out and preserve linguistic rights, speak out about different cultures are under attack or threat. Their very writing and work is also a way of cultural preservation,” she said. “In countries that are really trying to crack down on ethnic or religious minority groups, these people are really being targeted.”The PEN report found that overall, the Asia-Pacific region jailed the most writers and intellectuals. In total, 121 – nearly half of the global count including China – were detained in Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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In Kenya, Childless Women Struggle in Society Where Having Children is Paramount
Fifty-seven-year-old Kenyan Joyce Kago’s three marriages ended when she couldn’t have children, leaving her alone and struggling to make ends meet. Joyce is one of many childless women in a society where having children is key for acceptance. Ruud Elmendorp reports from Thika, Kenya.
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Talk of Coups Unnerves France
Paris is once again full of rumblings about the political ambitions of the French military — 60 years after France’s iconic leader Charles de Gaulle saw off a coup bid by disaffected generals, who were furious at his decision to withdraw from Algeria. The country’s media and politics has been dominated for the past week by the fallout from an open letter drafted by a former captain in the gendarmerie, claiming France faces “mortal dangers” and warning that he and his fellow ex-servicemen “cannot remain indifferent to the fate of our beautiful country.” More than 2,000 former servicemen and women, among them a number of retired generals, signed the letter warning that France was in “peril” from “Islamism and the hordes from the suburbs.” The signatories said: “Those who run our country must imperatively find the needed courage to eradicate these dangers.” France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been quick to back the sentiments, and on Sunday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of steering France towards chaos, violence and economic decline. The political furor prompted by the open letter, which was published on the sixtieth anniversary of the 1961 coup bid against Charles De Gaulle, is setting the stage for a bruising presidential election next year. FILE – French Generals Jouhaud, Salan, Challe and Zeller are surrounded by photographers on the balcony of the general delegation in Algiers, after taking power against de Gaulle’s policy in Algeria, Apr. 24, 1961. (STF/AFP)Le Pen, who is within striking distance of defeating Macron in the 2022 election, has urged the military signatories to back her presidential bid, prompting one government minister, Marlène Schiappa, to accuse Le Pen of “supporting a would-be putsch.” A survey by pollsters Harris Interactive that 58% of the French population share the views expressed by the disaffected military officers. According to the poll, 49% believe it would be right for the army to intervene to maintain order in certain circumstances “even if the government did not ask for it.” French armed forces chief of staff General Francois Lecointre poses during a photo session in Paris, Apr. 27, 2021. (Photo by Joel Saget / AFP)Eighteen serving soldiers who endorsed the warning about the risk of “civil war” in France are to face sanctions for breaching army rules about political neutrality, according to the chief of staff of France’s armed forces. And Gen. François Lecointre says there will be exemplary punishment for the general and other retired senior officers who signed the letter, including a possible ban on them wearing uniforms on ceremonial occasions and even reducing their pensions. Politicians chided Some of the signatories of the letter, which warned the “hour is grave, and France is in peril,” have ties to anti-immigration movements. The signatories claim several French cities have been transformed into zones of “lawlessness” that are shaking the foundations of the French Republic and they chided politicians for timidity. Firefighters carry police officer away from clashes during the traditional May Day protests, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Paris, France, May 1, 2021.The row over the rare intervention in politics by military figures served as a backdrop to violent May Day celebrations with trade unionists attacked Sunday by masked protesters, some believed to belong to anarchist groups. More than 20 trade unionists and one police officer were injured in the fracas. Le Pen’s May Day speech took up themes struck in the open letter with the far-right leader decrying “crime and urban riots” and warning of chaos, which she says will worsen if Macron is reelected.French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party president Marine Le Pen (L) and French far-right party Rassemblement National eurodeputy Jordan Bardella lay a wreath of flowers in front of a statue of Joan of Arc in Paris, May 1, 2021.She defended the signatories, saying they had done nothing worse than “raise an alarm after a life spent serving the nation.” FILE – French Prime Minister Jean Castex delivers a press conference on the current French government strategy for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Feb. 4, 2021, in Paris.France’s mainstream parties have been quick to denounce the letter. Prime Minister Jean Castex, said the political intervention by military figures violates France’s republican principles and the “honor and duty” of the army. Benoit Hamon, the Socialist Party’s candidate for the last presidential election, says the letter amounts to a “threat of a coup.” Florence Parly, the defense minister, says two “immutable principles” should guide the actions of members of the military with regard to politics: “neutrality and loyalty.” Identity The political strife roiling the country has prompted prominent academic Pascal Perrineau to warn “France is sitting on a volcano.” In an interview with the newspaper Les Echos the renowned political scientist said France is being engulfed by three crises — socio-economic, medical and one over cultural values and what it means to be French. “The French no longer agree on what makes France,” he said. “Do we still believe in a republic organized according to the pact of laicité [government-enforced secularism]? Or do we accustom ourselves to a society in which various communities co-habit? This is a profound debate, an incredibly deep fracture, about the very nature of France.” The military’s open letter has added heat to an ongoing debate about what it means to be French. The signatories identified three trends which they say will lead to France’s disintegration — anti-racism, Islamism, and agitation against the police. The authors say anti-racism movements pose a threat because “they hide the hateful fanatics who want to start a racist war.” Macron isn’t the only European leader incurring threats from the military. Former members of Spain’s armed forces also published an open letter last year accusing the country’s Socialist-led minority government of threatening national unity. The letter signed by 271 officers, including two former lieutenant generals and an admiral, came just days after dozens of retired air force officers were discovered to have discussed fomenting a coup.
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Kenyan Women Struggle to Overcome Infertility Stigma
Fifty-seven-year-old Kenyan Joyce Kago’s three marriages ended when she couldn’t have children, leaving her alone and struggling to make ends meet. Joyce is one of many childless women in a society where having children is key for acceptance. Joyce Kago cooks as if it were for her family – but it’s for a rehabilitation center in Thika, Kenya, northeast of Nairobi.Kago was married three times but the marriages fell apart because she was unable to have children.Her last marriage ended four years ago when her husband became abusive.“When I was in marriage for four years. My husband started to drink. When he comes home, he beats me. He tells me ‘What are you doing here? There is nothing that I am benefiting from you,’” she said.As elsewhere in the world, the societal shame of being childless in Kenya is directed most heavily toward women -but not wholly.”In our society usually, parents are identified with the children they have born. You are called Mama so and so. So, Mama, and the name of the child that you have born. Or you are Baba so and so. Baba meaning the father and the child that you have born. So, if you don’t have a child, then you are ostracized,” he said.Adding to the shame, Kenya’s Obstetrical and Gynecological Society says one of the biggest causes of infertility, among five million adults, is sexually transmitted infections.To help childless Kenyans like herself to cope, and learn skills to make a living, Editah Hadassa, in 2017 started the Waiting Wombs Trust.”The first thing we strive to do is to just create a space where you are free to vent, talk about it. We listen without judging. We allow you to cry if you want to. We say it’s a place where we offer free hugs,” she said.The group has grown from 100 women five years ago to over 10,000.For women like Kago, Waiting Wombs Trust is truly like the family they never had.
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Vatican Museums Reopen After 2-Month Lockdown
With COVID-19 restrictions easing as new infections decrease in Italy, the Vatican has reopened the majestic doors of its art-filled museums this week to the public. The relaxation of restrictions in place since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy last year has brought good news to the museums and to art lovers who are now able to return after a two-month lockdown.But the museums will not be seeing the crowds of the past for some time.For now, all access to the museums will strictly require booking a specific time slot. Limited numbers will be allowed in for all time slots available and all those who enter the museums will have their temperature checked at the entrance. All staff working at the Vatican Museums have been vaccinated. A maximum number of 400 visitors will be allowed into the museums every 30 minutes so as to maintain social distancing. Masks are mandatory both inside and in the Vatican gardens.Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, is enthusiastic about the re-opening and eager to welcome visitors back to enjoy the masterpieces that have found a home here. She said that museums are a way to nourish people’s souls.She said this is the time to come to the Vatican Museums, because they are totally safe to visit and without that flow of people that existed in previous years.Gianni Crea, the museum “clavigero”, shows keys to the Vatican Museums following its reopening after weeks of closure, as COVID-19 restrictions ease, at the Vatican, May 3, 2021.With limited foreign travel still and few tourists in the Eternal City, it is mainly Italians at this time who are booking to visit.Antonio, a Rome resident, said he has been wanting to come for a long time and so immediately seized the opportunity. He added that he is delighted and looks forward to the visit.During the closures caused by the pandemic, the only way to see the works in the museums was through free virtual online tours on the museums’ website. During the closure, staff used the opportunity to carry out maintenance work and improve both its digital services and security.As Italy this year marks 700 years of the death of its famous 14-th century poet, the museums are featuring a special exhibit on Dante Alighieri titled “Dante in the Vatican Museums.”Pre-pandemic, close to an estimated seven million visitors a year visit the Vatican Museums with their magnificent frescoed ceiling of “The Last Judgement” by Renaissance artist Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, its passageway and galleries and the Vatican Gardens.
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Taiwan, Largely Spared Since 2020, Now Fighting Small COVID Cluster
Taiwan, largely spared from the global coronavirus pandemic since it began last year, is grappling with a small but still uncontained outbreak that appeared last month. Since April 20, Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center has confirmed infections of 10 pilots working for the Taiwan-based international carrier China Airlines and eight relatives of pilots. At the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, which is next to the island’s chief international airport, four employees, three of their family members and a hotel contractor have been diagnosed since April 29. On Tuesday, the command center reported two new COVID-19 cases, both airline employees. Authorities expect it will take another week or two to determine how wide the outbreak has spread. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a news conference Sunday the cluster does not qualify yet as a “community outbreak” but cautioned people to follow guidance on avoiding infections. “Until May 17 we will be in a period of high-level alert, so please everyone cooperate,” Chen told a Tuesday news conference. Command center officials have disclosed the movements of people who were recently infected so anyone who might have crossed paths can be tested for the virus. Potential infection spots include buses, convenience stores and restaurants in northern Taiwan including the capital Taipei, Centers for Disease Control deputy director Luo Yi-jun said. The command center says hundreds of contacts and potential contacts of the 24 patients confirmed through Monday had already been tested for infection. “Two days before these people showed symptoms, they were infectious, so this outbreak poses a very big challenge to the whole community,” said Chiu Cheng-hsun, vice superintendent at Linkou Chang Gung Hospital’s pediatric respiratory department. “Right now, there’s an extremely high risk, an extremely high chance, of a community [caseload].” Any more COVID-19 cases pegged to the airline, or the hotel should show up within the month, Chiu said. A wider outbreak would be Taiwan’s first runaway caseload since COVID-19 began gripping the world in early 2020. FILE – People wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus shop ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, in Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 9, 2021.Most people in Taiwan, population 24 million, are keeping their hands clean, wearing masks and disinfecting their surroundings, health professionals in Taiwan say. But they show few signs of changing their lifestyles otherwise. “I think the general Taiwanese public at this moment probably doesn’t believe Taiwan overall is so dangerous or so dire, and they’re not on such high alert, because Taiwan was a good student over the past last year, like it performed well,” said Wu Chia-yi, associate professor in the National Taiwan University College of Medicine’s nursing faculty. But she said some people feel “depressed” or “anxious,” especially if in a hospital and exposed to patients’ blood. People around Taiwan should step up disease prevention habits, such as mask wearing and hand washing, that might have slacked before the recent outbreak, Chiu said. The command center said last week it is exploring whether pilots of foreign-registered airlines set off the Novotel cluster. “Novotel teams are fully cooperating and following protocols and measurements as advised by the local authorities,” the command center said in statement. “Meanwhile, our focus is to closely monitor the progress of our staff members and guests who are currently under quarantine. The safety and wellbeing of our staff and guests are our absolute priority.” Taiwan’s success in warding off COVID-19 has allowed people to keep working and going out as usual. The government controlled the virus spread in early 2020 through inspections of inbound aircraft, strict quarantine rules and rigorous contact tracing. Taiwan has logged a cumulative 1,153 cases with 12 deaths. The most recent localized outbreak occurred in December when an infected Eva Airways pilot sparked cluster of four people. Those cases prompted a wave of event cancellations and new restrictions on inbound pilots. Almost all other cases since the start of the pandemic are Taiwan residents returning from overseas. On Tuesday, the command center said it would step up disease controls by restricting bedside visits to hospital patients. Hospitals are tightening their own precautions, particularly in emergency rooms.
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Biden’s Ambitious Legislative Agenda Faces Significant Obstacles
With the first one hundred days of his presidency now behind him, Joe Biden faces formidable battles to pass the rest of his legislative agenda on Capitol Hill. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the obstacles Democrats face to pass nearly $4 trillion in legislation.Producer: Katherine Gypson
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S. Korea Dairy Company CEO Resigns Over Virus Research Scandal
The chairman of one of South Korea’s biggest dairy companies has resigned over a scandal in which his company was accused of deliberately spreading misinformation that its yogurt helps prevent coronavirus infections. While stepping down as the company’s head, Hong Won-sik and other members of his family will retain their commanding share in Namyang Dairy Products. Namyang financed research it aggressively promoted through the media and a symposium it funded last month that claimed its Bulgaris yogurt drinks were effective in lowering the risk of coronavirus infections. Namyang’s stock price rose temporarily before the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sued the company for false advertising, saying the research was dubious and never involved any animal testing or clinical trials. Police searched Namyang’s Seoul headquarters last week. Namyang’s CEO, Lee Kwang-bum, also offered to resign following a public uproar. “I express my sincere apology for causing disappointment and anger to our country’s people with the Bulgaris-related controversy at a time when the nation is undergoing a hard time because of COVID-19,” Hong said, tearing up. He said he will take “all responsibility” by stepping down as chairman and promised not to pass on management rights to his children, which is a much-criticized practice at South Korea’s family-owned businesses.
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Mass COVID Inoculation Programs Begins in Papua New Guinea
The first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has started in Papua New Guinea, as infection numbers continue to rise. Experts say Australia’s nearest neighbor is also fighting a sea of misinformation and concerns over the safety of vaccines. Experts say misinformation about COVID-19 is spreading even faster in Papua New Guinea than the disease. Conspiracy theories and other falsehoods have found fertile ground online. Adding to a sense of mistrust are deeply held beliefs in sorcery. Aid workers have reported that the family of a health worker in Papua New Guinea, who tested positive for the virus, was tortured by relatives fearful of unexplained illness. Jonathan Pryke is the director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research organization. He says hoaxes spread on social media about the novel coronavirus add to the confusion. “Facebook is where you get all of your information from, and Facebook is just seeding misinformation and misinformation is spreading faster than the virus in that country,” Pryke said.The World Health Organization reported 11,206 COVID-19 cases and 115 deaths Tuesday in Papua New Guinea. Pryke believes the true scale of pandemic in the Pacific island nation is far worse because of a lack of testing and patients with symptoms refuse or fear retaliation from within their communities, preventing them from seeking treatment. Prior to the pandemic, sorcery-related violence against victims has been rampant in the country according to news reports. “The official statistics do not look as serious as the true picture is and, you know, there is a lot of data points you can look at that display just how serious this is. We have had a sitting member of parliament die; we have had two judges die. It is bad. It is a health system that is so stretched to breaking point that it really cannot handle the shock. We are seeing this crisis play out in front of our very eyes,” Pryke said.The pandemic has been felt differently across the Pacific. Some countries have, so far, escaped unscathed. According to the World Health Organization, Tonga has not recorded any infections since the pandemic began. Samoa has had just a single confirmed case, and three cases have been recorded in Vanuatu. Fiji has recorded more than 100 coronavirus infections and two people have died, WHO reported. A mass inoculation program is underway in French Polynesia. So far, there have been almost 19,000 cases detected and 141 deaths in the past 15 months. However, it is reopening its international borders only to vaccinated travelers from the United States, who have already tested negative for COVID. The U.S. territory of Guam has reported its latest figures with 7,700 infections and 136 deaths due to the pandemic. Currently, Guam has a 14-day quarantine period in place for all passengers entering through air or sea.
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G-7 Foreign Ministers Discussing China, Russia, Myanmar and Syria
Foreign ministers representing the Group of 7 industrialized nations have a busy day of meetings Tuesday in London discussing a range of world issues, including relations with China and Russia, the coup in Myanmar, the Syrian conflict, and the situation in Afghanistan. Britain’s foreign office said in Tuesday’s sessions Foreign Secretary Dominic Rabb “will lead discussions on pressing geopolitical issues that threaten to undermine democracy, freedoms and human rights.” Raab said the talks are “an opportunity to bring together open, democratic societies and demonstrate unity at a time when it is much needed to tackle shared challenges and rising threats.” He is expected to urge G-7 members to sanction individuals and entities connected to Myanmar’s military junta, to support arms embargoes and to boost humanitarian aid to the people of Myanmar. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Raab on Monday and said regarding China the goal is not to “try to contain China or to hold China down.” “What we are trying to do is to uphold the international rules-based order that our countries have invested so much in over so many decades to the benefit, I would argue not just of our own citizens, but of people around the world including, by the way, China,” Blinken told reporters.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, walks with Dominic Raab, Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs into Downing Street ahead of a press conference at No 9 Downing Street in London, May 3, 2021.Raab said the United States and Britain are also looking for constructive ways to work with China “in a sensible and positive manner” on issues including climate change when possible. U.S. President Joe Biden has identified competition with China as his administration’s greatest foreign policy challenge. In his first speech to Congress last week, he pledged to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and boost U.S. technological development. Last month, Blinken said the United States was concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force. Elsewhere in the region, the United States said it is ready to engage diplomatically with North Korea to achieve the ultimate goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, following the completion of a months-long U.S. policy review on North Korea. “What we have now is a policy that calls for a calibrated practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with North Korea, to try to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies and our deployed forces,” Blinken said Monday. Raab said Britain and the United States “share the strategic paradigm,” and both countries will support each other’s efforts. On Friday, the Biden administration announced it completed the review of North Korean policy, expressing openness to talks with the reclusive communist nation. Biden is also expected to appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. North Korea lashed out at the United States and its allies on Sunday in a series of statements, saying recent comments from Washington are proof of a hostile policy. A statement by Kwon Jong Gun, head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North America Department, warns that Pyongyang would seek “corresponding measures” and that if Washington tries to approach relations with Pyongyang through “outdated and old-school policies” from the perspective of the Cold War, it will face an increasingly unaffordable crisis in the near future. “I hope that North Korea will take the opportunity to engage diplomatically and to see if there are ways to move forward toward the objective of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And so, we will look to see not only what North Korea says but what it actually does in the coming days and months,” the top U.S. diplomat added. Blinken’s remarks followed his separate meetings with Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, where the foreign ministers pledged U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain. In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks. After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior government officials. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”
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Armed Man Shot Trying to Enter CIA Headquarters
An armed man was shot by FBI agents Monday after a standoff of several hours at the entry gate to the CIA headquarters, the federal investigation agency said. The unidentified man was prevented from driving past the initial gate into the CIA’s sprawling wooded compound just outside Washington early Monday afternoon. Security personnel reportedly tried to negotiate with the man to surrender for several hours. The FBI said in a statement that the individual “emerged from his vehicle with a weapon and was engaged by law enforcement officers.” “The subject was wounded and has been transported to a hospital for medical attention.” JUST IN: @FBI reviewing “agent-involved shooting” at @CIA’s main gate at abt 6pm”An individual…emerged from his vehicle w/a weapon & was engaged by law enforcement officers” per statement “The subject was wounded & has been transported to a hospital for medical attention” pic.twitter.com/hN1CuI6TeN— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) May 4, 2021Earlier, a CIA spokesperson said they were aware of the situation outside the compound’s secure perimeter, several hundred meters from the agency’s main building. “Our compound remains secured, and our Security Protective Officers working the incident are the only agency personnel directly involved,” they said. Security has grown in recent years at the CIA, which sits in Langley, Virginia, just off a busy road. In 1993, a Pakistani man, Mir Aimal Kansi, shot and killed two agency employees and wounded three others as they sat in their cars waiting at a stoplight to enter the compound. Kansi had escaped back to Pakistan and was found and arrested four years later. He was extradited to the United States, where he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2002.
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Biden to Quadruple Refugee Cap
U.S. President Joe Biden, who initially decided to keep intact his predecessor’s historically low number of annual refugee admissions, Monday announced he is quadrupling this year’s total. “I am revising the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year,” the president said in a statement Monday afternoon. “This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees. The new admissions cap will also reinforce efforts that are already under way to expand the United States’ capacity to admit refugees, so that we can reach the goal of 125,000 refugee admissions that I intend to set for the coming fiscal year.” President Joe Biden speaks at Tidewater Community College, in Portsmouth, Va., May 3, 2021.Two weeks ago, the White House announced that the cap for the current fiscal year would be kept at 15,000, the level set by former President Donald Trump. That announcement came despite Biden’s promise that after his inauguration in January he would significantly expand the program. The move prompted a backlash from some of his fellow Democrats in Congress, as well as refugee advocates. White House officials have acknowledged that the previous announcement, issued when opposition Republicans were criticizing Biden for an influx of migrants at the U.S. southern border, did not send the right message. Monday’s announcement, they say, reinforces that admitting refugees is critical to America’s place in the world. “It is important to take this action today to remove any lingering doubt in the minds of refugees around the world who have suffered so much, and who are anxiously waiting for their new lives to begin,” said Biden in his statement. “The sad truth is that we will not achieve 62,500 admissions this year. We are working quickly to undo the damage of the last four years. It will take some time, but that work is already under way.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a joint news conference in London, May 3, 2021.Shortly after the president’s announcement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated: “It is in our DNA as a nation to open our door to those seeking refuge, and it remains in our national interest to treat individuals applying for these programs fairly and with dignity and respect.” Refugees International President Eric P. Schwartz called it “a proud and historic moment.” He added, “At a time of great humanitarian need, welcoming refugees is not only a moral imperative, but also promotes U.S. national security, bolsters our economy, enriches our communities, and demonstrates that we’re willing to work together with other governments on some of the world’s most complex problems.” While raising the refugee cap is welcome, “the reality is that this is coming too late in the year to make a real impact,” according to Alex Nowrasteh, Cato Institute director of immigration studies. “Refugee agencies are so overburdened that we’ll be lucky if one-quarter of the new 62,500 cap is filled this year.”FILE – People are detained by a U.S. Border Patrol agent after crossing the Rio Bravo River to turn themselves in to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 29, 2021.There is a “need for systematic reform, expansion and privatization of the refugee system so that a future administration like Trump’s won’t have the ability to kill such an important program at the stroke of a pen,” Nowrasteh told VOA. Republican lawmaker Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, noting Biden had committed last month to keeping Trump’s cap in place, calls the president’s decision to increase the number of refugees “a direct threat to our national security and public health safety.” The Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House of Representatives, objected to the move.”During the highest influx of illegal immigration our country has seen in 20 years, @JoeBiden just raised the refugee cap over 400%. Let’s be clear: this self-inflicted crisis is absolutely intentional,” it posted on Twitter. Trump, during his four years as president, had pared the size of the refugee program, which is distinct from the asylum system for migrants. “The most powerful thing we can do as a country is to lead by example,” said Andrew Albertson, executive director of Foreign Policy for America. “Today’s announcement from President Biden makes it clear that the United States is ready to lead again.” The chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, said Biden’s announcement is “an important step in continuing our proud, bipartisan tradition of providing refugees protection through resettlement.”
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US Envoy Heads to Horn of Africa
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is sending his special envoy for the Horn of Africa to the region Tuesday in a bid to de-escalate tensions.In a statement, Blinken said Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman will visit Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan through May 13.The special envoy will meet with officials from those governments, as well as the United Nations and the African Union, in addition to political stakeholders and humanitarian groups.“The special envoy’s travel underscores the administration’s commitment to lead a sustained diplomatic effort to address the interlinked political, security and humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa, and he will coordinate U.S. policy across the region to advance that goal,” Blinken said.Displaced children from Western Tigray gather at meal time to receive food outside a classroom in the school where they are sheltering in Tigray’s capital Mekele, Ethiopia, Feb. 24, 2021.Former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn told VOA Monday that Feltman’s travel to Eritrea is significant because “it’s the first time in a number of years that a senior American official has been allowed to meet with senior Eritrean officials.” “That in itself is a good thing,” Shinn said. The United States has been pressing Ethiopia to end the conflict in its Tigray region, which has been raging for six months. U.S. officials are also calling for allied Eritrean troops to withdraw from the region. “If they don’t return to Eritrea, I think there will be an increasing tendency by the United States to look upon Eritrea as something of a pariah nation in the Horn of Africa,” said Shinn, who is now teaching at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has been the epicenter of hostilities since November, when fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked army bases in the region, according to the federal government. The attack, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, prompted his government to launch a military offensive to push the group out.The fighting has left at least 4.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, according to the interim administration. The United Nations has appealed for $1.5 billion to assist 16 million people in Tigray and across Ethiopia this year.This frame grab from a video obtained from the Ethiopian Public Broadcaster on July 24, 2020, shows an aerial view of water levels at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Guba, Ethiopia.Separately, tensions have also been rising among Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, close to the border with Sudan.Egypt and Sudan want a legal agreement in place with Ethiopia before Addis Ababa begins filling the reservoir behind the mega dam. But Ethiopia began filling it last year, a move the other two countries see as directly threatening their water and electricity supplies.The African Union has been in the lead trying to resolve the simmering dispute among the three neighbors.VOA’s Nike Ching contributed to this report from Washington.
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East of Burkina Faso: ‘Several Dozen Dead’ in Attack
“Several dozen” people were killed on Monday in an attack by suspected jihadists in Kodyel, a locality in Komandjari province in eastern Burkina Faso, sources told Agence France-Presse. “A large number of armed individuals attacked the village of Kodyel in the commune of Foutouri this morning, killing dozens of civilians,” a joint regional security source told AFP. The official of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian auxiliary engaged in the anti-jihadist fight alongside defense and security forces, confirmed the attack, speaking of a “very heavy toll,” at minimum, “20 to 30 deaths.” “It is still a provisional assessment because people have fled the village,” said the official, who also reported “about 30 dead men and women.” He said there were also “about 20 injured,” several of them seriously. The VDP official said that “this massacre could have been avoided” because “warnings had been given a few days ago about the presence of terrorists in the area. Some individuals had already threatened the villagers, whom they accused of denouncing them.” “An operation to secure populations and track down these individuals was launched as soon as the alert was given by the VDP,” the source added. He told AFP that “the attack took place early this morning while some were still in their homes. Dozens of men broke into the village and set houses on fire for a while. … They opened fire on people without distinction.” “The terrorists also injured around 15 people, some of whom were evacuated to the Fada N’Gourma hospital center for treatment,” he added. The attack, one of the deadliest in the eastern region, comes a week after an ambush against a mixed anti-poaching unit on the Fada N’Gourma-Pama axis, during which two Spanish journalists and an Irish conservationist were killed. A poor country in West Africa, Burkina Faso has been plagued by recurrent jihadist attacks since 2015, like its neighbors Mali and Niger.
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US Appeals Court to Consider Idaho Transgender Athletes Ban
An appeals court on Monday will consider the constitutionality of the first law in the nation banning transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case that will likely have far-ranging consequences as more states follow conservative Idaho’s lead. Idaho passed its law last year, and more than 20 states have considered such proposals this year. Bans have been enacted in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. Florida lawmakers passed a bill, and South Dakota’s governor issued an executive order. On Monday, conservative Republican lawmakers in Kansas failed to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s school sports. Supporters say such laws are needed because transgender female athletes have physical advantages. Opponents say the law is discriminatory and in Idaho, an invasion of privacy because of the tests required should an athlete’s gender be challenged. Lawmakers in Idaho have argued that allowing transgender athletes on girls’ and women’s teams would negate nearly 50 years of progress women have made since the 1972 federal legislation credited with opening up sports to female athletes. The state’s law prohibits transgender students who identify as female from playing on female teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. It does not apply to men’s teams. The American Civil Liberties Union and Legal Voice women’s rights group sued last year over the Idaho law, contending it violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because it is discriminatory. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law from taking effect, and Idaho appealed in September.
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Biden Pushes Education Spending at Stops in Virginia
President Joe Biden traveled Monday to coastal Virginia to promote his plans to increase spending on education and children, part of his $1.8 trillion families proposal announced last week. Visiting Tidewater Community College with first lady Jill Biden, the president discussed his $109 billion proposal to provide Americans with two years of tuition-free community college. He’s also seeking more than $80 billion for Pell Grants to help college affordability and $62 billion for programs that could improve completion rates at community colleges and institutions that predominantly serve disadvantaged students. The president said that education was the key to the country’s dominance and that people needed classes beyond high school for the nation to be globally competitive. “When America made 12 years of public education universal in America in the early 1900s, it made us the best educated nation in the world,” Biden said. “The rest of the world has caught up to us. They’re not waiting. And 12 years is no longer enough to compete with the world in the 21st century and lead the 21st century.” Community college is an issue of personal importance to the Bidens. The first lady is an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria. “My students, like all the students here, I’m sure, come from every walk of life,” she said. “They show up, they don’t complain, and all they ask is for one thing in return: the chance to work hard and build a good life for themselves and their families.” Biden joked that advocacy for community colleges was crucial for his own marital happiness. “I have to admit if I didn’t have these positions, I’d be sleeping on Lincoln bedroom,” the president teased. There is uncertainty about Biden getting an ambitious set of spending programs through narrow Democratic majorities in Congress. He has proposed a combined $4.1 trillion to be spent on infrastructure, broadband, new school buildings, electric vehicle charging stations, the power grid, child tax credits and child care, among other programs. All of that would be mostly financed by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, an idea that has met immediate opposition from Republicans. The Bidens began their trip by touring a fifth-grade class at Yorktown Elementary School. The president went around asking the students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “A fashion designer,” one student responded. “A chef,” another said, to which Biden replied, “Holy mackerel, I’ll be darned!” “A hairdresser,” one student said. Biden quipped: “I could use some, some hair, I mean.”
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Reporter’s Notebook: The Ups, But Mostly Downs of Traveling From West Virginia to Rome During COVID
“All changed, changed utterly,” Ireland’s WB Yeats once lamented in a poem. Being caught between the past and something as yet undefined being born is indeed discomfiting. Everything is familiar yet different. Yeats came to mind during my two-day journey this month back to my European home from the United States.I am not sure I want to repeat the experience.The halcyon pre-COVID days of international travel are over — at least for the time being, and maybe for longer than we are willing to accept.“I call it COVID-crazy,” a JetBlue pilot lamented the night before I flew out from New York’s JFK airport. He agreed with President Joe Biden’s recent remark that the U.S. is on the move again — but he had a different perspective on it.Many shops at New York’s JFK airport remain shuttered but some outlets are trying to drum up business. (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)“There are a lot of people traveling who don’t normally travel and don’t now how to behave. There were fisticuffs at my gate today,” he added. Apparently passengers were over-keen to board first so they could grab seats near the front, presumably so they could be among the first to disembark at the destination.Airport hotels have seen a surge in bookings the past month. The Hilton hotel at JFK is running at around 50 percent occupancy during the week and is fully booked at weekends. “People just want to travel,” a receptionist told me.But while domestic U.S. travel may be picking up now that isn’t the case yet with international travel. The EU still has a ban in place for leisure travel form the U.S., although several south European countries are planning re-opening for vaccinated American tourists.America is on the move — domestic travel is picking up at New York’s JFK airport. (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)The upside to my journey from the wilds of West Virginia to Rome was in fact the scarcity of other passengers. The Airbus was empty. The downside was virtually everything else, including the form-filling and database registrations to enter New York, the European Union and Italy.I had opted for a so-called COVID-safety flight to Rome with Delta Air Lines from New York, which meant I wouldn’t have to endure a period of quarantine on arrival. But that entailed having three COVID tests: a PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before departure at a cost of $220, a rapid antigen test taken no more than 4.5 hours before boarding, and then another antigen test on arrival at Rome’s airport.With complicated pandemic restrictions international flights remain empty. (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)The journey also involved carrying more paperwork than I recall having to have in past times when entering the document-obsessed Soviet Union or any of its equally guarded communist satellites in Central Europe. At JFK airport we all struggled — passengers and staff included — with the forms and database requirements.The EU’s passenger locator form, which had to be completed online, challenged everyone’s efforts to tell the truth. The database gleefully rejected passport numbers and the details of residency cards and driving licenses. Phone numbers and addresses were also blocked routinely for being erroneous. Head-scratching Italians and non-Italians, baffled residents and non-residents alike, were all stumped by a computer that just wanted to say, “no.”Rome’s airport remains deserted and silent. (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)In the end as the line of desperate passengers became ever more agitated we struck on the idea that we needed to be economical with the truth and offer anything we could come up with to coax affirmative reactions. The struggle with the malfunctioning database doesn’t augur well for when (and if) the EU’s fractious member states strike an agreement on digital vaccine passports, something that has so far eluded them.Everyone had their own story to tell about why they were traveling — from work demands to celebrating a landmark birthday of an elderly relative who they hadn’t seen for more than a year. Retirees who had bought houses just before the pandemic had lost patience with a long delay to their carefully planned post-work lives.Others had more immediately gloomy reasons for the trip. “I am trying to get to Sardinia to see my 89-year-old mom before she dies from COVID,” confided Carmella, a dark-haired Italian woman. She only just made the flight having to secure a hurried PCR test and a rapid antigen test at the same time at the gate.With few arriving passengers at Rome’s airport, taxi and limousine drivers are disconsolate. (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)On arrival Rome’s normally crowded airport was eerily deserted and silent. The process for our rapid antigen tests took about an hour — and there was yet another encounter with a database, this time a trouble-free one run by the regional Lazio health authority. In the immigration hall, bored officials almost competed for the few passengers to process. Outside in the bright sunshine we were heavily outnumbered by taxi drivers anxiously touting for a fare.Not the end yetItalians — especially those in the hospitality and tourism sectors — are desperate for foreign travel to start up again. But while the average number of cases and deaths reported each day has fallen the last few weeks, with infections 35% of the peak reported in November, the country is still struggling to finish with a devastating third wave of infections.A view of the Alitalia check-in counter at Fiumicino International Airport as talks between Italy and the European Commission over the revamp of Alitalia are due to enter a key phase, in Rome, Italy, April 15, 2021.Italian authorities reported 144 coronavirus-related deaths Sunday with a daily tally of new infections of 9,148. That is down from the day before when more than 12,000 new cases were reported. Hardly surprisingly authorities are highly cautious. Italy has registered 121,177 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the pandemic’s outbreak last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh highest in the world.The coalition government led by Mario Draghi has begun relaxing some of its pandemic restrictions after a stringent lockdown over Easter, but not for well regions. The rate of infections still remains stubbornly high in the south of the country and six regions, including Calabria and Puglia, remain under lockdowns, being deemed red zones.And despite protests and lobbying by cash-strapped tourism-related businesses, the government has so far refused to relax strict rules on international travel and other trips deemed non-essential.A near empty bar is seen in Capri, a southern Italian island that relies heavily on foreign tourism, despite the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions in much of the country, April 27, 2021.An ordinance last month extended quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from other EU countries and tightened the rules on people arriving from the pandemic-hit Indian sub-continent.Government ministers say they hope to allow tourism to resume by early next month, but they stress it will all depend on the progress of the vaccination campaign, which as in the rest of the EU has been sluggish.The risks of international travel remain clear. While all the passengers from my U.S. flight proved negative on arrival, that wasn’t the case last week with two flights from India. On Wednesday, 23 passengers on a flight from New Delhi tested positive on arrival and on Thursday 30 passengers and two crew members tested positive from an Air India flight from Amritsar.Italy has now tightened restrictions on all travel from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Under the new rules, only Italian citizens who live permanently in Italy are allowed to enter from any of the three countries. Previously foreign nationals resident in Italy had also been allowed to return.And anyone allowed to enter from those three countries must now spend ten days in a so-called “COVID hotel” where they are monitored by local health authorities.
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French Lawmakers to Vote on Controversial Climate Bill
France’s centrist government has released a video ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the so-called Climate and Resilience bill, with Ecological Transition Minister Barbara Pompili explaining how it will lead to cleaner air, more insulated buildings and a greener France overall.Polls find many French citizens support the spirit of the massive legislation, which aims to meet the country’s goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. A recent report by the EU’s climate service found 2020 was Europe’s hottest year on record, and the region was warming faster than the rest of the world.The French bill’s dozens of measures include limiting the most polluting vehicles in urban areas, slapping ecotaxes on truck transport, banning heated restaurant terraces and capping rent on insulated housing.The National Assembly is expected to pass the legislation before it heads to the Senate.But the bill is deeply controversial, with industry saying it’s too constraining, and green groups saying it doesn’t go far enough.Graffiti near the Place de la Bastille in Paris calling for climate action. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Chloe Gerbier, legal officer for environmental NGO Notre Affaire a Tous (Our Shared Responsibility), said the legislation in no way meets the urgency of the climate crisis. She and others said it drastically waters down proposals made by a citizens’ climate convention set up by President Emmanuel Macron.Earlier wording in the bill, for example, that made serious environmental abuses a crime now tags them as lesser misdemeanors. Green groups also want a bigger category of short-haul domestic flights banned in favor of train transport.France’s airline industry, hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, doesn’t want any flight bans. Nicolas Paulissen, managing director of the Union of French Airports, says it doesn’t make sense to penalize French airlines, when much of the industry’s growth is happening in Africa and Asia.Paris climate protesters before France’s rolling coronavirus lockdowns. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)“We do rather believe in the greening of aviation through technological innovation, for instance, and that’s why we encourage the French government to finance the research for new technologies allowing the aviation to be greener than in the future,” Paulissen said.Pompili acknowledges a slew of criticism, but says the legislation is balancing sharply opposing interests to bring everyone on board.Earlier this year, a Paris court convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and for not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouses emissions. The government is appealing the ruling.
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Bobby Unser, 87, Indy 500 Champ in Great Racing Family, Dies
Bobby Unser, a beloved three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and one of the only two brothers to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has died. He was 87.He died Sunday at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of natural causes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway said Monday.Unser was one of the greatest racers in the history at the speedway, capturing the race in 1968, 1975 and 1981.”He is part of the Mount Rushmore of Indy,” said Dario Franchitti, another three-time Indy 500 winner.Younger brother Al Unser is one of three drivers to win the Indy 500 four times — 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987. The Unser family tradition stretched to Al Unser’s son, Al Unser Jr., who won the Indy 500 in 1992 and 1994.”Bobby was a ferocious competitor on the track, and his larger-than-life personality made him one of the most beloved and unique racers we have ever seen,” said Roger Penske, the current speedway owner but the team owner for Unser’s winning car at the 1981 Indy 500.”Beyond his many wins and accomplishments, Bobby was a true racer that raised the performance of everyone around him. He was also one of the most colorful characters in motorsports.”Bobby Unser was born Feb. 20, 1934, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and moved with his family as a child to New Mexico. His father owned a garage along Route 66 and he and his three brothers grew up riding around in old cars before he quit high school at age 15 and began racing at the Roswell New Mexico Speedway.After two years in the U.S. Air Force from 1953 to 1955 — in which he took pride — Unser turned to racing full time in what became a stellar career.He was one of 10 drivers to win the 500 at least three times, and Unser and Rick Mears are the only drivers to win the 500 in three different decades. Unser was one of six members of the Unser family to race in the Indianapolis 500.Franchitti spent time each year at the speedway or at dinner with other past winners and said Unser was “always the largest personality in pretty much any room.””He showed up at the speedway and regardless of when he last raced, he still understood the race and what it took to win the race and he was still so very insightful,” Franchitti said. “He loved the Indy 500 so much. He loved coming back.”Unser’s final Indy 500 victory in 1981 came in one of the most contentious outcomes. Unser won from the pole position, the most favorable position at the start, and beat Mario Andretti by 5.18 seconds, but officials ruled Unser passed cars illegally while exiting the pit lane under caution — drawing a penalty that docked him one position and moved Andretti to winner.Penske and Unser appealed and after a lengthy process the penalty was rescinded in October of that year. It was the 35th and final victory of Unser’s career.”When you mention icons in racing, and particularly the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bobby Unser was a legend,” said Doug Boles, president of the speedway. “He could drive, and win, in any type of car and on any type of track. And he was magical at Indy.”After his driving career, Unser moved to a 20-year broadcasting career and won an Emmy Award as part of the ABC Sports broadcast team for “Outstanding Live Sports Special” for its coverage of the 1989 Indianapolis 500.He was in the booth in 1987 when he called brother Al’s record-tying fourth 500 victory, and again in 1992 when nephew Al Unser Jr. won Indy for the first time in the closest 500 finish. When his TV career ended, Unser continued to visit the speedway every May. He was a driver coach who assisted on race strategy in 1998 and 1999 when son Robby Unser finished fifth and eighth.Unser is survived by his wife, Lisa; sons Bobby Jr. and Robby; and daughters Cindy and Jeri.
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US Calls on North Korea to ‘Engage Diplomatically’
The United States said it is ready to engage diplomatically with Pyongyang to achieve the ultimate goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, following the completion of a months-long U.S. policy review on North Korea. “What we have now is a policy that calls for a calibrated practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with North Korea, to try to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies and our deployed forces,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday during a virtual joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in London.Raab said the U.K. and the U.S. “share the strategic paradigm,” and both countries will support each other’s efforts.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with South Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong during a bilateral meeting as part of the G7 foreign ministers meeting, in London, May 3, 2021.Blinken arrived Sunday in London for meetings with his counterparts from G-7 nations, with the coronavirus pandemic, China and Russia high on the agenda, during three days of formal meetings and side discussions. “We also discussed China. I think it’s fair to say we see eye-to-eye on the need to stand up for our values, holding Beijing to the commitments that they’ve made, whether it’s in relation to Hong Kong under the (Sino-British) Joint Declaration or wider commitments,” Raab said during Monday’s press conference.He added that the U.S. and U.K. are also looking for constructive ways to work with China “in a sensible and positive manner” on issues including climate change when possible.Senior U.S. officials had said it is not Washington’s purpose to try to contain China or to hold China down but to uphold an international rules-based order.Biden has identified competition with China as his administration’s greatest foreign policy challenge. In his first speech to Congress last Wednesday, he pledged to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and boost U.S. technological development.Last month, Blinken said the U.S. was concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force.Iran and North Korea, two nations whose nuclear programs have been the focus of negotiations in recent years, were set to be discussed at a working dinner Monday night.Blinken’s other sideline meetings Monday included talks with Bruneian Foreign Minister II Dato Erywan Yusof and Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.The G-7 ministerial talks are laying the foundation for a summit of leaders from those countries in June, also in Britain.In addition to Britain and the United States, the G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea and Brunei are also taking part in this week’s talks.After the G-7 meetings, Blinken is scheduled to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior government officials.State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will “reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.”(VOA’s Chris Hannas contributed to this story.)
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