Germany and Norway on Thursday officially launched an undersea power cable between the two countries in a project that aids Europe’s effort to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, along with other government and industry officials, took part in a virtual ceremony to symbolically throw the switch on the more than $2.2 billion project. The 623-kilometer cable has been operational for at least a month but was formally opened Thursday.Workers on Nexans Skagerrak vessel lay a NordLink subsea interconnector power cable to connect Norway and Germany at the Vollesfjord fjord near Flekkefjord, Norway May 31, 2018.The cable, known as NordLink, allows an exchange of green energy between the two countries, allowing solar- and wind-generated electricity from Germany to flow to Norway, which will send back power generated largely from hydroelectric plants at water reservoirs. It will also fill gaps that occur because of fluctuations in wind and solar supplies.During the virtual ceremony, Merkel called it a good day for German-Norwegian cooperation. “Germany and Norway are moving closer together, and NordLink is a fantastic success for the energy cooperation of our two countries.” She said the project also represents a milestone in international energy cooperation.Interconnectivity between different countries is one of the central pillars of the European Union’s climate strategy. Similar cross-border projects are running between Norway and the Netherlands, the Netherlands and Britain, and Denmark and the Netherlands.NordLink will help Germany reach its carbon dioxide emissions reduction goals. The German government recently announced that it aims to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by 2045. Germany is closing its last nuclear plants next year and phasing out the use of coal by 2038.
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Month: May 2021
US to Make Intelligence on COVID-19 Origins Public
The United States will share the results of a new deep-dive by its top intelligence agencies into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed millions of people across the globe. Before boarding Air Force One on Thursday for a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters he would make the findings of the 90-day review public, “unless there’s something I’m unaware of.” Biden ordered the fresh review Wednesday amid growing speculation that COVID-19 might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory, with the White House promising to make additional resources available, including from the country’s national labs. President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Cleveland, May 27, 2021, in Andrews Air Force Base, Md.Top U.S. intelligence agencies said last year that their information supported “the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified” but that they would “continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence” to determine whether the outbreak began after the virus was transmitted to humans from animals in nature or as the result of a laboratory accident. FIE – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon, May 6, 2021.”Once this virus started appearing, there seems to have been a fair amount of activity or cover-up or lack of transparency, probably the best way to put it, and all of that is disturbing,” said General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ”I think that the president is exactly right, we need to get to the bottom of it.” The Wall Street Journal on Monday cited a U.S. intelligence report that researchers at a Wuhan, China, lab fell ill in November 2019, a month before the Chinese government reported to the World Health Organization the first cases of the illness that would be designated as COVID-19. “It is most likely that this is a virus that arose naturally, but we cannot exclude the possibility of some kind of a lab accident,” Dr. Francis Collins, the National Institutes of Health director, told Senate lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday. The WHO, which is to conduct the second phase of an inquiry into the virus’s origins, has faced mounting criticism for dismissing the possibility that the new coronavirus escaped from the Chinese scientific facility, a supposition that officials in Beijing have repeatedly rejected. Two months ago, the organization concluded in a report that it was ”extremely unlikely” that COVID-19 had escaped from the Wuhan lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Collins told senators that the report ”satisfied nobody” and ”this time we need a really expert-driven, no-holds-barred collection of information, which is how we’re mostly really going to find out what happened.” White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman contributed to this report.
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US Senate Republicans Set to Block Capitol Riot Inquiry Panel
Republicans in the U.S. Senate are expected Thursday to block legislation calling for the creation of a panel to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol aimed at preventing the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory over Donald Trump.Trump implored thousands of supporters who had come to Washington for a protest rally “to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat shortly before the riot that left five people dead, including a federal police officer.Republicans are expected to use a procedural tactic known as a filibuster to block the bill which would launch a bipartisan investigation into the insurrection. If Republicans get their way, it would be the first successful use of a filibuster in the Biden presidency to stop Senate legislative action.The filibuster requires a super majority of senators, meaning 60 of the upper chamber’s 100 members must support blocking the measure. Because the 100-member Senate is equally divided, Democrats would need 10 Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.That is unlikely because many Republican senators remain loyal to Trump and are expected to follow Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell, who once said Trump was responsible for “provoking” the riot, has more recently dismissed the legislation as nothing more than a “political exercise” since Senate committees are already investigating security shortcomings.The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which has 435 voting members, previously passed the legislation with some Republican support.
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France Had Role in 1994 Rwanda Genocide, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron was in Rwanda’s capital Thursday, where he acknowledged France’s role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and said he hoped for forgiveness. Speaking alongside Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the Gisozi genocide memorial in Kigali, Macron said, “I hereby humbly and with respect stand by your side today, I come to recognize the extent of our responsibilities.”Macron is the first French leader since 2010 to visit the East African nation, which has long accused France of complicity in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans. The visit follows the release in March of a French inquiry panel report saying a colonial attitude had blinded French officials, and the government bore a “serious and overwhelming” responsibility for not foreseeing the slaughter.But the report absolved France of direct complicity in the genocide, a point Macron made in his comments, saying “France was not an accomplice,” but that his nation “has a role, a history and a political responsibility in Rwanda.”Rwanda released its own report that found France was aware a genocide was being prepared and bore responsibility for enabling it by continuing in its unwavering support for Rwanda’s then president, Juvenal Habyarimana.It was the shooting down of Habyarimana’s plane, killing the president, that launched the 100-day frenzy of killings.Macron said only those who survived the genocide “could perhaps forgive, and so could give us the gift of forgiving ourselves,” and repeated, in Rwanda’s native language, the phrase “Ndibuka,” meaning “I remember.”Rwanda’s Kagame called Macron’s speech “powerful,” and said his words were something more than an apology. “They were the truth. Speaking the truth is risky, but you do it because it is right, even when it costs you something, even when it is unpopular,” he said.Macron said he proposed to Kagame the naming of a French ambassador to Rwanda, a post that has been vacant for six years. He said filling the post and normalizing relations between the nations could not be envisioned without the step he took on Thursday.
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VOA Exclusive: Tobacco Giant’s Burkina Faso Distributor Denies Smuggling, Funding Terrorism
Two investigative reports this year accused the Burkina Faso representative of tobacco giant Philip Morris of funding terrorism through tobacco smuggling. In an exclusive interview with VOA, Apollinaire Compaoré rejects those findings. Selling cigarettes to smugglers who pay jihadists to protect their convoys. That’s the accusation leveled against the Burkina Faso representative of Phillip Morris International by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP. In a February report, the Sarajevo-based group cited officials, rivals and former colleagues of Apollinaire Compaoré who accused him of indirectly funding terrorism by working with smugglers who carry not only cigarettes, but drugs and people into Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Libya. It also accused Burkina Faso authorities and the Swiss American tobacco giant of being complicit in a vast smuggling operation centered around a warehouse in the northern town of Markoye. “Indeed, we think Phillip Morris was aware of what he was doing,” Aisha Kehoe Down, OCCRP Investigative Journalist told VOA. “There’s also clear indications that parts of the Burkinabe state, including customs, were involved in the warehouse at Markoye. In fact, the customs officer we interviewed characterized it as a mafia at the top of the state.” Burkina Faso’s customs department was not available to comment on the accusations against the agency or against Compaore, who also owns a major bank and telecom company. In a written response, Phillip Morris said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the company and no information indicating their products shipped to Burkina Faso were smuggled into neighboring countries. But a 2019 U.N. report also found that a company owned by Compaoré supplied regional smugglers, says one of the report’s authors. “He knowingly supplies those that traffic, and he must be aware of this because there’s no legal market for those cigarettes once he brings them to northern Burkina Faso,” said Ruben de Koning, United Nations Finance Expert.In an exclusive interview for VOA, Compaoré refuted all these accusations. He says the United Nations lied and that those who worked on the report for the U.N. are no longer employed by them.One of the richest men in Burkina Faso, Compaore also dismissed claims in the OCCRP report that two of his companies have never paid taxes. “Are they the director general of taxes?” he asked. He said they are all lying to harm him. “They are lies,” he insisted. When asked if there is any evidence of Compaoré being involved in cigarette smuggling, Moumouni Lougue, the general manager of Burkina Faso’s tax department, cited confidentiality laws. What is known, he said, is that the tax administration is very vigorous, very rigorous, and does not in any case let this type of fact pass it by without it going unpunished. Whether or not authorities take action, the allegation that cigarette smuggling supports Sahel terrorism is not expected to go away any time soon.
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Amnesty International Calls on Myanmar Junta to Drop Charges Against Detained Journalists
Amnesty International is calling on Myanmar’s military junta to immediately drop all charges against journalists who have been detained since the February 1 coup.The human rights organization said Thursday the “ongoing persecution, intimidation, harassment and violence” that journalists are facing is a clear attempt by military authorities “to suppress peaceful dissent and obscure violations committed by security forces.”Amnesty’s demand includes all journalists in pre-trial detention, bail, or those with outstanding warrants “solely for carrying out their work and the peaceful exercise of their human rights.”Myanmar’s military has said that authorities arrest only journalists inciting unrest.Amnesty says 88 journalists have been arrested since the military overthrew the civilian government, citing figures from the independent monitoring board Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma, with more than half still in detention.Those held include American Danny Fenster, the managing editor of news magazine Frontier Myanmar, who was detained Monday at the main Yangon International Airport while preparing to board a flight to Malaysia. He was transferred to Yangon’s Insein Prison.Frontier Myanmar publishes in both English and Burmese and is one of the country’s top independent news sites.
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US Jobless Benefit Claims Drop for 4th Straight Week
New claims for jobless benefits in the United States dropped for the fourth straight week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the world’s biggest economy continues its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 406,000 out-of-work employees filed for unemployment compensation, down 38,000 from the revised figure of the week before, the agency said. The figure was the lowest total since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic first swept into the country, although still nearly twice the pre-coronavirus weekly average of 218,000 in 2019. More than half of U.S. adults have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, boosting the economic recovery, although the pace of inoculations has dropped from its peak a few weeks ago. The continuing drop in the number of jobless benefit claims could presage more hiring, but U.S. employers only added 266,000 more jobs in April, down from the robust 916,000 figure in March. Nearly 10 million people remain officially unemployed in the U.S. With the steady recovery, many employers are reporting a shortage of workers, particularly for low-wage jobs such as restaurant servers and retail clerks. Many businesses complain they are unable to find enough applicants for the job openings, even though the jobless rate remains at 6.1%, much higher than the 3.5% rate in March of last year before the pandemic was declared. The federal government approved sending $300-a-week supplemental unemployment benefits to jobless workers through early September on top of less generous state-by-state payments. But at least 21 of the 50 states, all led by Republican governors, are now ending participation in the federal payments sooner, contending that the stipends let workers make more money than they would by returning to work and thus are hurting the recovery by not filling available job openings. The employment picture in the U.S. has been boosted as money from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure could add to hiring and consumer spending, as millions of Americans, all but the highest wage earners, are now receiving $1,400 stimulus checks from the government or have already been sent the extra cash. FILE – President Joe Biden speaks about infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, March 31, 2021, in Pittsburgh.Biden will propose an additional $6 trillion in government spending on infrastructure repairs and assistance for children and families on Friday, according to The New York Times, but the fate of the proposal in a politically divided Congress is uncertain. Numerous Republican lawmakers have voiced opposition to the size of the Democratic president’s spending plans and his proposals to pay for them with higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
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Britain’s Health Minister Denies He Lied About Pandemic
British Health Minister Matt Hancock rejected allegations Thursday he had repeatedly lied during his response to the COVID-19 pandemic made by Dominic Cummings, a former top aide of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.In testimony to lawmakers on Wednesday, Cummings accused Hancock of lying to the public and said he “should have been fired” for testing failures that saw patients with the coronavirus discharged from hospitals to nursing homes, and also for lying about the status of the pandemic to Parliament and the public. Addressing Parliament’s House of Commons, Hancock called Cummings’ allegations “serious” but “unsubstantiated and not true.” He said the government has published the full details of how his office worked with nursing homes “as much as possible to keep people safe, and we followed the clinical advice on the appropriate way forward.”The United Kingdom has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe, and experienced one of the world’s deepest recessions in 2020 as three successive lockdowns hobbled the economy.A mass vaccination campaign that started in December has brought infections and fatalities down sharply, though the U.K. is now reckoning with a more transmissible new strain of the virus first identified in India.The government said it will begin an independent public inquiry into its handling of the pandemic within the next year.
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For Native Americans, Harvard and Other Colleges Fall Short
When Samantha Maltais steps onto Harvard’s campus this fall, she’ll become the first member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe to attend its prestigious law school. It’s a “full-circle moment” for the university and the Martha’s Vineyard tribe, she says.More than 350 years ago, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, an Aquinnah Wampanoag man, became the first Native American to graduate from the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university — the product of its 1650 charter calling for the education of “English and Indian youth of this country.””Coming from a tribal community in its backyard, I’m hyper aware of Harvard’s impact,” said Maltais, the 24-year-old daughter of her tribe’s chairwoman. “It’s a symbol of New England’s colonial past, this tool of assimilation that pushed Native Americans into the background in their own homelands.”Maltais will arrive on campus at a time when Native American tribes, students and faculty are pushing the Ivy League institution and other colleges to do more for Indigenous communities to atone for past wrongs, much in the way states, municipalities and universities are weighing and, in some cases, already providing reparations for slavery and discrimination against Black people.FILE – An image of a Native American, right, is featured in the artwork of Johnston Gate, Harvard University’s first and largest gate heading to its campus, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 23, 2021.In Minnesota, 11 tribes have called on the state university system to return some of the lands taken from tribes, provide tuition waivers to Native American students and increase the number of Native American faculty, among other demands.Tadd Johnson, the University of Minnesota’s director of tribal relations and a Chippewa tribe member, said the university will establish a “truth and reconciliation” process to document the historical wrongs and determine ways to make amends. “We’re listening,” he said. “We’re acting on virtually everything that has been thrown at us.”Meanwhile in Colorado, state lawmakers are weighing legislation to grant in-state tuition to students from certain federally recognized tribes.And in California, Native American students want tuition waivers and other tangible restitution, after most state schools have issued statements acknowledging their fraught history with tribal land, according to Tori McConnell, a 21-year-old member of the Yurok Tribe who graduates from the University of California, Davis in June.”It’s only right that they do these things,” she said. “Actions speak louder than words.”Ryan King, a university spokesperson, said officials are “working diligently” to continue supporting Native students and tribal communities. He cited the creation of an advisory council to the university president that includes tribal leaders and scholars, among other recent efforts.Many American universities are a product of the Morrill Act, a law signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 that funded the creation of public colleges through federal land sales. But an investigation by High Country News last year suggested nearly 11 million acres designated for so-called land grant colleges were actually taken from roughly 250 tribes.At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Harvard, Native American students this past semester dug into the renowned school’s Native American legacy, including how it continues to benefit from its status as one of the nation’s original land grant colleges.Luke Bastian, a 22-year-old Navajo student from Phoenix, stands for a photograph, May 13, 2021, on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass.Luke Bastian, a 22-year-old Navajo student from Phoenix, says he and other students presented their class projects to MIT’s president earlier this month as they urge the institution to create a Native American studies program. University officials say conversations with Native students are ongoing and Bastian is optimistic they’ll make progress. Students have already successfully lobbied for a designated campus space for Native students and convinced MIT to drop Columbus Day in favor of celebrating Indigenous People’s Day, he said.Some universities have taken laudable steps in recent years to prioritize the needs of Native students, say Indigenous community advocates.Colorado State University offers the in-state tuition rate to students from any federally or state recognized tribe. And South Dakota State University uses private donations to provide scholarships to local tribal members and revenue from the college’s land grant trust to enhance Native American programming, research and other efforts.”We can’t change the past, but we can change the future for these young people,” says Barry Dunn, the university’s president and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who launched the Wokini Initiative in 2017.The call for colleges to do more comes at a critical time, as the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated higher education challenges for Native students, who already had the lowest college graduation rates in the country, said Cheryl Crazy Bull, president of the American Indian College Fund, which awarded Maltais a full scholarship to Harvard Law. During the pandemic, Native students experienced the sharpest college enrollment decline of any racial or ethnic group, as economic hardships, health disparities and the challenges of remote learning in isolated tribal communities forced many students to quit school, said Crazy Bull.At Harvard, there’s concern that Native students are being asked to take temporary leave from campus due to poor grades at rates higher than those of the overall student population, according to Emily Van Dyke, president of Harvard’s Native American alumni group.That suggests Native students are struggling to adjust once they arrive on campus, said the 39-year-old Seattle resident and member of the Siksika Nation in Canada. The number of Native students enrolled in the school of more than 6,700 undergraduates has dropped in recent years, from 45 in the 2009-2010 school year to 16 in 2019-2020, according to university data.Students and alumni are also pushing Harvard to formally acknowledge that it stands on land once inhabited by Indigenous peoples, Van Dyke said. It’s a basic, initial step many colleges have taken, including MIT and the University of California, Davis.”We’re nowhere near where other colleges are at,” Van Dyke said. Harvard spokespeople declined to comment on the concerns, but Joseph Gone, an anthropology professor who heads the school’s Native American program, said the university is in preliminary talks with local tribes to develop a land acknowledgement statement. A member of the Gros Ventre Tribe in Montana, Gone also argues Harvard has made strides since his days as an undergraduate in the 1990s. He’s one of three tenured Native American professors and roughly 10 Native American courses are now offered each semester.The school’s famous Peabody Museum, meanwhile, is also working to repatriate scores of artifacts to Native American tribes, Gone said, though some Native American groups have recently criticized the process.For her part, Maltais says Harvard and other schools should ensure Native students coming from remote tribal communities acclimate to college life by investing more in student groups, mentorship programs, counseling and other support services. The Dartmouth graduate, who recently served in the Peace Corps in Tonga, also supports the idea of free or discounted tuition for Native students, but stresses that shouldn’t be the only solution.”Not everyone needs a fancy degree,” she said. “Sometimes the only reparation for land is land.”
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Gender-Based Violence Cases Quintuple in Kenya During Pandemic
Kenya’s Department of Gender says reported cases of gender-based violence have nearly quintupled during the COVID-19 pandemic. But campaigners note that stigma and fear of reporting abuse means the number of cases that go unreported is many times higher. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.
Camera: Robert Lutta
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Actor John Cena Faces Backlash in China over Taiwan Comment
Actor and professional wrestler John Cena has apologized to fans in China after he called Taiwan a country in a promotional interview for his upcoming film and became the latest celebrity to face the fury of Chinese nationalists.
In a short video posted Tuesday on Chinese social media site Weibo, Cena did not refer to Taiwan or go into much detail about the incident, which occurred earlier this month when he was doing a promotion for “Fast & Furious 9” with Taiwanese media.
“In one interview, I made a mistake,” he said in heavily accented Mandarin Chinese. “I need to say now that this is very, very, very, very, very important. I love and respect China and the Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry. As for my mistake, I really apologize for it.”FILE – Actor John Cena attends the Road to “Fast & Furious 9” Concert at Maurice A. Ferre Park in Miami Beach, Fla.In his interview with TVBS, a Taiwanese cable channel, Cena was also speaking in Mandarin when he said Taiwan would be the first “country” to be able to see the film. That led to an uproar in China, which considers the self-governing democracy its own territory to be taken back by force if necessary.
It was unclear if Cena’s apology worked, as many comments on Chinese social media in response to his video were negative. Likewise, Cena was also facing scorn back in the United States, where Sen. Tom Cotton called the apology “pathetic” and others lashed out at him on social media as a “coward.”
Global companies and celebrities seeking to maintain access to the lucrative Chinese market have to tread a fine line on many issues as online nationalistic outrage can spark boycotts.
China has increasingly pressured foreign firms over their statements on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, the South China Sea and other issues Beijing considers sensitive.
Airlines and other multinational companies have been pushed to refer to Taiwan as a part of China on their websites or risk damage to their business in China.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cut ties with the NBA for a year in response to a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey backing pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, even though the post was quickly deleted.
News about Chloe Zhao, a Chinese director, winning an Oscar was censored in April after old interviews surfaced where she said that she grew up in a place where there were “lies” everywhere.
Brands including Swedish retailer H&M, Adidas and Nike have been targeted for consumer boycotts after state media criticized them for expressing concern about reports of forced labor in China’s western region of Xinjiang.
Meanwhile, “Fast & Furious 9” — the latest in the Hollywood franchise — appeared to be doing well in China despite the uproar. The film has taken in $155 million at the box office in China since it opened on May 21, according to local media reports.
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As Tensions Rise Again, Turkish and Greek Officials to Meet
Turkey’s foreign minister is scheduled to hold talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart Monday in the latest efforts to deescalate tensions between the two NATO members.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rebuked his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias at a press conference in Ankara last month. The very public argument over who was to blame for the lack of progress in resolving the countries’ differences underscores the scale of the ministers’ task when they meet in Athens Monday, says Cengiz Aktar of the Athens University. “I think the Greeks are very realistic,” he said. “They, of course, prefer to talk, that’s what they said right from the beginning. But what we know is that the disagreements are there to stay. There is no development whatsoever on the numerous, countless issues and the problems that exist between the two countries.”Turkey and Greece are contesting territorial waters between the countries which are believed to have vast energy reserves. Last year, the Greek and Turkish navies faced off against each another. FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks with Turkish drilling ship, Fatih, in background, in Istanbul, Aug. 21, 2020.In a sign of renewed tensions, Turkey has announced it may resume drilling for energy in waters claimed by Greece. Adding to the friction, Ankara accuses Athens of breaking international law by pushing back refugees entering Greek waters from Turkey. Greece denies the charge, accusing Turkey of reneging on a refugee deal with the European Union. Earlier this month, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar accused Greece of sabotaging diplomatic efforts to resolve differences. Akar said Turkey is in favor of a peaceful resolution of these problems within the framework of international law and good neighborly relations by talking and negotiating with its Greek neighbors. However, he accused those neighbors of — in his words — “doing their best to sabotage the positive state of affairs with their actions and discourse.” A Turkish presidential advisor says he believes Greece is increasingly emboldened because of growing support from Washington. The U.S. has traditionally played the role of an honest broker between the NATO members. But U.S.-Turkish relations are currently strained over Turkey’s deepening ties to Moscow.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.Ilhan Uzgel, an analyst for the Turkish news portal Duvar, says the expanding military cooperation between Greece and the United States could usurp Turkey as the primary host for U.S. military bases in the region, a prospect Ankara fears could change the balance of power. “What Washington is trying to do, is [say] that ‘you are not irreplaceable,’ that Turkey can be substituted that [there] may be some alternatives. The United States can have a military base in Alexandroupoli in Greece and in Crete. This psychology diminishes the bargaining power of Turkey,” he said. The Turkish military dwarfs its Greek counterpart, but Athens is embarking on a modernization of its military, including the United States’ latest F-35 fighter jet, which Washington refuses to sell to Turkey because of Ankara’s purchase of a Russian missile system.
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Hong Kong Schools Record Exodus of Students as Families Leave City
Primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong are facing a steady exodus of students in the wake of a draconian national security law that has ushered in a citywide crackdown on public criticism of the authorities, according to a major teachers’ union.According to a recent poll of 180 schools by the city’s Professional Teachers’ Union, hundreds of pupils look set to leave schools in Hong Kong by the summer vacation.More than half of schools said more than 10 of their students were leaving, while four schools noted an exodus of more than 50 students during this semester.PTU head Fung Wai-wah said many parents are emigrating overseas amid safety concerns, as a newly established force of national security police have been arresting people for peaceful political activities deemed harmful to Hong Kong.In January, 47 pro-democracy activists and former opposition lawmakers were arrested on suspicion of “subversion” under the national security law, for taking part in a democratic primary election that was designed to maximize the number of opposition seats in the Legislative Council.Chief Executive Carrie Lam responded by postponing the LegCo elections until December, prompting the mass resignation of the rest of the opposition camp.The government has also imposed requirements on the city’s schools to “educate” students about the national security law, and to monitor students and teachers alike for any sign of dissent in or outside the classroom.”Decisions in education are now being made based on the whim of the … government, rather than on professional considerations,” Fung said. “Subjects and teaching materials are being changed all the time, there is interference with the assessment process.””Teachers can lose their teaching license if someone complains about their professional conduct, so they are under huge political pressure,” he said.”The [government] needs to work much harder to reassure parents.”PTU vice president Ip Kin-yuen said some students are even being taken out of school in the middle of the academic year.’A lot of headache'”The people leaving are evenly distributed across different age groups, so it is really affecting the structure of schools, and causing a lot of headache for management,” Ip said.Fung called on the authorities to dial back their interference in the day-to-day running of schools, and to start treating teachers with more respect, if they want to regain parents’ trust.”The government is actually turning a blind eye to the issue, by denying that there is a problem,” Fung said. “They have to take this more seriously … and take constructive steps to try to remedy the situation.”Between 13,100 and 16,300 Hong Kong holders of British National Overseas passports and their families look set to emigrate to the U.K. under a fast-track program extended by the U.K. government in response to the national security law.Meanwhile, a new visa program for people wanting to settle in Canada has attracted some 6,000 applications since its launch in February, Bloomberg reported.Applications to police for certificates of no criminal record, a prerequisite for some emigration programs, reached 11,700 in the first four months of this year.Statistics from Hong Kong’s education bureau showed that the number of primary and secondary school students fell by 19,379 compared with the same time last year, while 5,285 students had recently left private schools during the same period.Many want to leaveEducator Dion Chen, who is currently chairman of Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, said its schools were also losing students at a rapid rate.”It’s not just about the national security law, but also about the overall situation in Hong Kong over the past couple of years,” Chen said.”Large numbers of people want to emigrate … and they have a much bigger incentive now that certain countries have relaxed the immigration rules for people from Hong Kong,” he said.Yeung Tze-chun, a former liberal studies teacher, said direct subsidy schools have been harder hit, as families are more likely to have the financial resources to leave.He said the exodus from Hong Kong’s schools could prompt competition and poaching of students among elite schools in the city.”I can only see the situation getting worse in future,” Yeung told RFA.
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Australian Academic Faces Espionage Trial in China
Australia is urging China to apply “basic international standards of justice” to the case of a Chinese-born Australian writer on trial in Beijing for espionage.After more than two years in detention, Australian Yang Hengjun will be tried Thursday for espionage in a closed court in China.Yang has been held in custody since January 2019 after flying into the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou for the Lunar New Year. He was placed under investigation for allegedly harming China’s national security, but was later charged with spying, although officials have given no specific details about his alleged crimes.Yang is a former Chinese diplomat but became an Australian citizen and was based in Sydney. During his incarceration in China, the Australian government said the writer had been held in “harsh conditions.”Yang has denied any wrongdoing.Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Australia is hoping for a fair hearing but has not been given any explanation or evidence by Beijing for the charges.“I very much hope that we have a transparent and open process,” she said. “We are not interfering in China’s legal system. The concerns that we have raised are legitimate ones, but we do expect those basic international standards of justice to be met.”Yang’s family said they were “nervous and worried” about the trial because of recent diplomatic tensions between the two nations.There have been disputes over human rights, Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea and the suppression of democracy protests in Hong Kong. Australia’s call for a global inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus, which was first detected in China, also aggravated Beijing, which, in apparent retaliation, has imposed a range of economic sanctions on Australian exports.Chinese officials have, in the past, accused Australia of “anti-China hysteria.”In a letter written in prison, Yang suggested his prosecution was “revenge” by China for his outspoken online commentary about Chinese politics.Media reports have previously suggested that if convicted he could face years in prison or the death penalty.
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Are UFOs a Threat? Pentagon Due to Deliver Report to Congress
Videos of Navy pilots pursuing flying objects with amazing capabilities have struck a nerve in Washington. Matt Dibble looks into the latest UFO mystery.
Producer: Matt Dibble
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Biden Urges Cease-fire in Ethiopia’s Tigray, Says Rights Abuses ‘Must End’
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the six-month conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region Wednesday, calling for a cease-fire and declaring that human rights abuses “must end.””I am deeply concerned by the escalating violence and the hardening of regional and ethnic divisions in multiple parts of Ethiopia,” Biden said in a White House statement. “The large-scale human rights abuses taking place in Tigray, including widespread sexual violence, are unacceptable and must end.”Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed initially sent troops into Tigray in November after accusing the once-dominant regional ruling party of orchestrating attacks on federal army camps.Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, declared victory later that month when the army entered the regional capital, Mekele.But fighting continues and the half-year conflict has sparked allegations of massacres and rape by Ethiopian forces and troops from neighboring Eritrea.”Belligerents in the Tigray region should declare and adhere to a cease-fire, and Eritrean and Amhara forces should withdraw,” Biden said, referring to the Amhara region, which borders Tigray to the south.Threat of famineEarlier this week, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warned the Security Council that “there is a serious risk of famine if assistance is not scaled up in the next two months.”Based on the warning, Biden said, “all parties, in particular the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, must allow immediate, unimpeded humanitarian access to the region in order to prevent widespread famine.”For the first time on Wednesday, Abiy’s government disclosed the toll of attacks by Tigrayan forces, who federal officials have long claimed would be unable to mount an effective insurgency.Ethiopia said it had recorded 22 dead officials, 20 others who had been “kidnapped,” and four more who were “wounded and hospitalized.”Some of the conflict’s worst atrocities, including mass rapes and massacres, are believed to have left hundreds dead.”The government of Ethiopia and other stakeholders across the political spectrum should commit to an inclusive dialogue,” Biden said, urging the country’s leaders and institutions to “promote reconciliation, human rights and respect for pluralism.””The United States is committed to helping Ethiopia address these challenges,” Biden said, indicating that US special envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman would return to the region next week.
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Parents Plea For Release of Belarus Opposition Activists
The parents of the young opposition activist and blogger detained in Minsk after the passenger jet he was on board was forced to land in the Belarusian capital earlier this week are pleading for the international community to help free their son.“I’m asking, I’m begging, I’m calling on the whole international community to save him,” Raman Pratasevich’s mother, Natalia, told AFP. Speaking from her home in Poland, she added, “Please save him. They’re going to kill him there.”“They sent a fighter jet to get this young man! It’s an act of terrorism — I don’t think you can call it anything else. He’s been taken hostage. This is an act of pure revenge!” she said.Her husband, Dmitry Pratasevich, a former soldier, said: “His lawyer tried to see him today but she was turned down. She could not see him. We still don’t know if he is in there, what his condition is, how he is feeling.”Their anguish was matched by the mother of Sofia Sapega, another opposition activist, who was also removed from the Ryanair flight in Minsk. A video of Sapega, a Russian national and friend of Pratasevich, was released Tuesday by Belarusian authorities as they announced she would be held for at least two months.FILE – Student Sofia Sapega is pictured in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019.In the video, Sapega, according to her mother, appears to be confessing to editing an opposition Telegram channel that publishes personal information of Belarusian policemen. Her mother said it appeared she was speaking under duress for the video, in which she provides her personal details and says she edited a platform “which publishes the personal information of officials from internal affairs bodies.”Sofia’s mother, Anna Dudich, told Russian television she was “shocked” by the video. “Either I’m confused, or it’s a dream, or it’s a setup,” Dudich said. She told Western media outlets that her daughter was talking in an unusual manner. “She sways, eyes in the sky — as if afraid of forgetting something.” Dudich added: “We are now packing warm clothes. We will go to Minsk. I want to try to give her a parcel. I saw she only had a thin jacket.”Sapega and Pratasevich were detained Sunday when the Ryanair plane they were flying on from Athens to Vilnius was diverted by Belarus authorities to land in Minsk. Western countries, including the United States, have accused Belarus of committing air piracy and hijacking the Ryanair plane after it was rerouted over a false bomb threat.FILE – The Boeing 737-8AS Ryanair passenger plane that was intercepted and diverted to Minsk by Belarus authorities lands at Vilnius International Airport, its initial destination, in Lithuania, May 23, 2021.Sapega’s lawyer, Alexander Filanovich, told RBC, a Russian news outlet, that Sapega was interrogated Tuesday and charged with criminal offenses. Russian foreign ministry officials say she’s being charged with “committing crimes under several articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus during the period from August to September 2020.” That was during the height of nationwide protests against the fifth re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.The Belarusian opposition and Western nations have condemned the election as rigged.Sapega’s mother said her daughter was in Lithuania at the time and wasn’t involved in the demonstrations in Belarus. Sapega, who is also a student at the European Humanities University, EHU, in Lithuania, and Pratasevich, 26, face stiff penalties if convicted. Pratasevich, whom Belarusian authorities have placed on a terrorism list on the ground that he incited mass protests, could be handed a death sentence, opposition groups fear. Some analysts say a 15-year prison term is more likely.TortureExiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told a news conference Tuesday that a video of Pratasevich released by Belarusian authorities suggested he had been tortured. “He said that he was treated lawfully, but he’s clearly beaten and under pressure. There is no doubt that he was tortured. He was taken hostage,” she told reporters in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko takes his oath of office during his inauguration at the Palace of the Independence in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 23, 2020.Both activists are being held in the Okrestina pre-trial detention center in Minsk, where thousands of anti-Lukashenko protesters and activists have been detained the past few months. Belarusian and international rights groups, including Amnesty International, say many detainees arrested for protesting are beaten and tortured in the center, which is overseen by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, part of the country’s interior ministry.Rights groups have documented three rapes. And in October 2020, opposition groups released a video purportedly showing fresh detainees being beaten in so-called “welcome parades.”At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, leaders of the 27 European Union member states called for all EU-based airlines to cease all flights over Belarus, and they promised further economic sanctions.Ukraine’s responseSeparately, Belarusian neighbor Ukraine has suspended all air travel with Belarus, and the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmygal, has ordered all Ukrainian airlines to avoid flying in Belarusian airspace, which will add, according to Ukrainian Airlines, 40 minutes to flights from Kyiv heading to the Baltic states and Finland.”Belarusian authorities stop at nothing in persecuting dissenters. Even its airspace is unsafe now,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “Ukraine has always been interested in a democratic Belarus where human rights are respected.”The EU and Ukraine air bans will result in a loss to Belarus of about $70 million in overflight fees, civil aviation associations reckon.
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Kenya’s Gender-Based Violence Cases Quintuple During Pandemic
Kenya’s Department of Gender says reported cases of gender-based violence have nearly quintupled during the COVID-19 pandemic. But campaigners note that stigma and fear of reporting abuse means the number of cases that go unreported is many times higher. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.
Camera: Robert Lutta
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Family of US Journalist Jailed in Myanmar Calls for His Safe Return
U.S. journalist Danny Fenster was imprisoned in Yangon on Monday. His family has been given no information as to why the editor of Frontier Myanmar was detained. Fenster is one of dozens of journalists arrested since Myanmar’s military seized power in February.Producer: Esha Sarai. Contributor: Jessica Jerreat.
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Poll: More Americans Believe Anti-Asian Hate Rising
A majority of Americans across racial and ethnic groups believe discrimination has worsened in the last year against Asian Americans, who became the target of attacks after being unfairly blamed for the coronavirus pandemic. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 60% of Americans say discrimination against Asian Americans has swelled compared with a year ago, including 71% of Asian Americans, 66% of Black Americans, 59% of white Americans and 55% of Hispanic Americans. Nearly half of Americans believe Asian Americans encounter “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of discrimination in the U.S. today. The poll also finds about 6 in 10 Americans say racism in the U.S. in general is a “very” or “extremely” serious problem. And a majority of Asian Americans say they feel unsafe in public because of their race. Susan Lee of Sacramento, California, said friends initiated conversations with her about racism as random attacks on Asians became more frequent, but the 72-year-old Chinese American noted a key difference between friends who were Asian and non-Asian. FILE – People hold placards as they gather to protest anti-Asian hate crimes, racism and vandalism, outside City Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 28, 2021.”My non-Asian friends are probably more astonished that this is occurring,” Lee said. “I think Chinese or ‘Asians’ have always been looked at as a positive asset. I think they are puzzled by that situation.” Barbara Canchola, 76, of El Paso, Texas, said she would have answered “not at all” if she had been asked pre-pandemic if Asian Americans face racism. Canchola, who identifies as Hispanic, said she associated anti-Asian discrimination as something way in the past like Japanese American internment camps during World War II. “I really wouldn’t think they are facing any kind of discrimination because I happen to think they’re very well educated — most of them — and they don’t face that much scrutiny,” Canchola said. “However, ever since the pandemic began and it was labeled a ‘China thing,’ that’s where it all began.” She attributes her new outlook to all the television coverage “where the people are being assaulted on the street out of the blue.” Renee Tajima-Pena, an Asian American Studies professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-producer of the PBS docuseries “Asian Americans,” isn’t surprised some people have never thought of Asian Americans as victims. The dominant narrative has always been they are successful, don’t speak up and, therefore, encounter little racism. “The model minority myth is such a drug for Americans,” Tajima-Pena said. Between March 2020 and this past March, more than 6,600 anti-Asian hate incidents have been documented by Stop AAPI Hate, a national reporting center. The encounters range from verbal harassment to attacks that ended fatally, including the March 16 Atlanta-area shootings that killed six Asian women. The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that Asian-targeted hate crimes in the largest U.S. cities rose 145% in 2020 compared with 2019, even though hate crimes overall declined 6%. In the first quarter of this year, anti-Asian crimes reported to police in 16 major cities and counties jumped 164% from the same time period last year. “That’s why people understand now the violence Asian Americans face,” Tajima-Pena said. “People couldn’t avoid it in the press or the national conversation. People are gathering data and talking about it.” FILE – Members of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles drive with signs reading “#Stop Asian Hate,” in a caravan around Koreatown, March 19, 2021.Fifty-seven percent of Asian Americans say they feel unsafe in public “often” or “sometimes” because of their race, similar to the share of Black Americans and higher than the share of Hispanic or white Americans. Because the survey was conducted in English and Spanish, it is representative of the English-speaking Asian American population but may not include those who primarily speak a language other than English. Glendon Yuri-Sweetland, 34, of Brewer, Maine, blames former President Donald Trump for the increased discrimination against Asian Americans. Trump’s constant referrals to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and other racist terms are still embedded in a lot of minds, he said. “As my husband would say, ‘It’s only stirring the pot,'” Yuri-Sweetland said. “But I think that even just having that platform for a while, our former president probably has had enough exposure to get his message out.” Close to half of Americans are “very” or “extremely” concerned that incidents of violence targeting Asian Americans have increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the poll, including about two-thirds of Asian Americans. President Joe Biden last week signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The legislation will put a Justice Department official in charge of a review of anti-Asian hate crimes and will allot federal grants for law enforcement training and hate crime hotlines. Tajima-Pena believes the visibility of Asian Americans outside of their communities has fundamentally changed in the past year and it isn’t going to fade. And videos like the one showing the brutal beating of a Filipino American woman in New York City as three people stood by and watched have undoubtedly contributed to the greater awareness. “I think the narrative is shifting,” Tajima-Pena said. “It’s like 2020 was really the year where our response was ‘Stop AAPI hate’. … The flip side of it is in 2021, people are really looking at solutions and solidarity.”
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Anti-Asian Hate Predates Pandemic
U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law hate crime legislation in response to the recent rash of violence against Asian Americans. But residents in Southern California’s Little Saigon say racism against Asians is nothing new. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee examines the media’s recent focus on anti-Asian hate.Camera: Elizabeth Lee, Roy Kim, Michelle Quinn Produced by: Robert Raffaele
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US Expected to Move Only Aircraft Carrier in Asia-Pacific Region to Middle East
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected Thursday to approve moving the only aircraft carrier based in the Asia-Pacific region to the Middle East, two defense officials told VOA. The rare movement of the USS Ronald Reagan, which is based in Yokosuka, Japan, and usually deploys around the Pacific, would support the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to the officials. The deployment of the USS Ronald Reagan will likely mean the U.S. won’t have an aircraft carrier based in the region, at least for part of the carrier’s deployment. But Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier strike group, which is hosting hundreds of U.S. Marines and 10 of the Marine Corps’ F-35 fighter jets, is currently en route to the Pacific region. According to USNI News, this will be the first time the Japan-based strike group and air wing will operate in the Middle East since 2003, when the USS Kitty Hawk, now a decommissioned carrier, deployed to the Persian Gulf to provide air support for the war in Iraq. The Pentagon has frequently said it is placing greater focus on the Indo-Pacific region in accordance with the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which made near-peer competition with China and Russia its top priority. Need for air supportBut President Joe Biden’s announcement in April that the U.S. would pull its troops out of Afghanistan by September 11 has increased the need for a continued carrier presence in the Middle East to provide additional air support. The USS Ronald Reagan will relieve the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which has been deployed for more than three months. Officials would not confirm how long the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower would remain in the region after its replacement’s arrival. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby declined to confirm the deployment, saying the Pentagon does not talk about ship movements in advance. “The only thing I would add is … the secretary wants to make sure that General (Austin “Scott”) Miller has the right options at his disposal to make sure that the withdrawal from Afghanistan is done in a safe, orderly and deliberate way,” Kirby said. Last week, the Navy announced that the USS Ronald Reagan had left Japan for a deployment “in the Indo-Pacific region.” The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the carrier’s rare move.
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French Energy Company Suspends Payments to Myanmar Army
Myanmar’s army has lost a source of revenue as French energy giant Total said Wednesday that cash payments to a joint venture with the army have been suspended due to unrest in the country. Total has come under pressure from pro-democracy activists to “stop financing the junta” since a military coup in February which has been followed by a brutal crackdown on dissent. More than 800 people have been killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group. Total said in a statement that the decision to suspend payments was made at a May 12 meeting of shareholders of Moattama Gas Transportation Company Limited (MGTC), the joint venture which owns a pipeline linking the Yadana gas field and Thailand. The suspension was proposed by Total, which holds a 31 percent stake in MGTC and US partner Chevron (28 percent). Thai firm PTTEP holds a quarter of the company while 15 percent is held by military-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). MOGE generates annual revenues of around $1 billion from the sale of natural gas. “In light of the unstable context in Myanmar… cash distributions to the shareholders of the company have been suspended” effective from April 1, Total said. It added that it “condemns the violence and human rights abuses occurring in Myanmar” and would comply with any potential sanctions against the junta from the EU or U.S. The MGTC pipeline brings gas from the offshore Yadana field operated by Total to Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Total said it would continue to produce gas so as not to disrupt electricity supply in either country. Total paid around $230 million to the Myanmar authorities in 2019 and another $176 million in 2020 in the form of taxes and “production rights,” according to the company’s own financial statements. French newspaper Le Monde detailed Total’s involvement in MGTC in early May, also reporting that the company was based in tax haven Bermuda. “The colossal profits of the gas operations do not pass through the coffers of the Myanmar state, but are massively recuperated by a company totally controlled by the military,” Le Monde found. Days after publishing the story, Le Monde said Total pulled several adverts it had planned to run in its pages in the following weeks. Foreign firms NGOs have urged foreign companies to review their presence in Myanmar as the military dramatically ramped up its use of lethal force against protesters. The junta has vested interests in large swathes of the country’s economy, from mining to banking, oil and tourism. French energy giant EDF suspended activities in the country, where it is involved in a $1.5 billion project to build a hydroelectric dam. Japanese automaker Suzuki also halted operations at its two local plants shortly after the military coup. The factories assembled 13,300 vehicles in 2019, primarily for the domestic market. But Suzuki, present in Myanmar since 1998, reopened the facilities again a few days later and intends to build a third production site in the country. Myanmar is also a key manufacturer in the clothing industry and groups such as Italy’s Benetton and Sweden’s H&M have suspended all new orders from the country. Japanese brewer Kirin said it would cut business ties with the military with which it operates two local breweries, accusing the junta of acting “in contradiction” to its principles on human rights. But the firm said it currently has no intention to pull out completely from a market that accounts for around two percent of its overall turnover.
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Blinken’s Visit to Jordan Ends Tour to Solidify Mideast Cease-fire
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday ended his Middle East tour to bolster the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip by praising Jordan’s King Abdullah’s “crucial” leadership in helping to secure the truce.“Jordan’s recent contributions to help bring an end to the conflict in Israel demonstrate the kingdom’s enduring role as a force for peace in the region, which is one of the reasons our relationship is so strong and so vital,” Blinken told reporters after meeting with King Abdullah in Amman.Regarding recovery efforts in hard-hit Gaza, Blinken said, “The most urgent thing is humanitarian assistance for the people in Gaza, and particularly water, sanitation, electricity. We all have to come together to answer those immediate needs. Beyond that, reconstruction, rebuilding.”Blinken arrived in Jordan, where half the population of 10 million are of Palestinian origin, after meeting earlier in the day in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.Egypt was heavily involved in achieving the cease-fire in the recent conflict.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the Heliopolis Presidential Palace on May 26, 2021.During his meetings in Egypt, Blinken said he spoke with el-Sissi about the release of Americans who have been detained in Egypt.Accent on human rights”I certainly raised this in, in my meeting today, and will continue to do so until Americans are reunited with their families,” Blinken said. “More broadly, I think you know that President Biden takes the issue of human rights and our commitment to human rights very seriously. Indeed, he’s asked us to put it at the heart of our foreign policy.”Blinken began Wednesday by meeting with Israeli President Reuben Rivlin, closing the first leg of his first trip to the Middle East since becoming the top U.S. diplomat.“The Secretary and President Rivlin discussed ways to promote coexistence and tolerance among all citizens of Israel regardless of heritage or background,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “They reaffirmed the importance of the steadfast U.S.-Israel partnership and the need to promote peace and stability for all.”Price also said Blinken invited Rivlin to visit the United States in the coming weeks.FILE – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pauses while speaking during a joint statement with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, May 25, 2021, in Ramallah, West Bank.After talks Tuesday in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken said he would ask the U.S. Congress for $75 million in assistance for Palestinians in Gaza.”We know that the last round of violence is symptomatic of a larger set of issues that we have to address if we’re going to prevent its recurrence, and that’s what we talked about today,” Blinken said. “We welcome the cease-fire that continues to hold, but that’s not enough. We have to build on the cease-fire and try to move things in a genuinely positive direction.”Two-state solution seen vitalBlinken also reiterated Tuesday the Biden administration’s belief that a two-state solution “is the only way to truly assure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. And, of course, to give the Palestinians the state that they’re entitled to.”He said the United States would reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, which the Trump administration closed in 2019, and provide $5.5 million in immediate disaster assistance and more than $32 million for a U.N. emergency humanitarian relief campaign.FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken shake hands during a press conference in Jerusalem, May 25, 2021.Blinken said the consulate’s reopening was “an important way for our country to engage with and provide support to the Palestinian people.”Of the U.S.-designated terror group that controls Gaza, Blinken said, “We will work to ensure that Hamas doesn’t benefit from these reconstruction efforts.”Earlier in the day, the secretary of state underscored Israel’s right to defend itself as he visited Jerusalem as part of an effort to build on the cease-fire.Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken said that both Israel and the Palestinians had experienced “profound” losses during the fighting, and that there was a lot of work ahead to restore hope, respect and trust.”Casualties are often reduced to numbers, but behind every number is an individual human being — a daughter, a son, a father, a mother, a grandparent, a best friend,” Blinken said. “And as the Talmud teaches, to lose a life is to lose the whole world, whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli.”Blinken also pledged help to expand economic opportunities for Palestinians both in Gaza and in the West Bank, saying that doing so would provide for a more stable environment that would benefit both Palestinians and Israelis.Netanyahu thanked the United States for its show of support, while warning the militants to maintain the cease-fire.”If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel, our response will be very powerful,” he said.
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