The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is set to discuss revising its strategic concept when its leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, gather Monday in Brussels.NATO last updated the document outlining its purpose in 2010. The security threats and challenges it faces have changed since then, according to the organization’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg.“For instance, in the current strategic concept, China is not mentioned with a single word. And climate change is hardly mentioned at all. And of course, our relationship with Russia was at a very different place at that time compared to where we are today,” Stoltenberg told reporters Friday. “Today, we are the low point since the Cold War in our relationship with Russia, and more sophisticated cyberattacks, and many of the challenges have evolved over these years.”NATO held off discussing changes to its strategic concept while Biden’s predecessor as U.S. president, Donald Trump, was in office.“Europeans didn’t want to open that Pandora’s Box during the Trump administration because they didn’t know what the United States would say,” said Dan Hamilton, director of the Global Europe program at the Wilson Center.Trump had a fraught relationship with the other leaders of the military alliance, repeatedly berating them to increase the size of their defense budgets — “dues” to NATO he erroneously called it — and questioning NATO’s mutual defense clause, known as Article 5.Biden, last Wednesday during a speech to U.S. Air Force personnel and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in England, said: “In Brussels, I will make it clear that the United States’ commitment to our NATO Alliance and Article 5 is rock solid. It’s a sacred obligation that we have under Article 5.”Biden arrives here Sunday ahead of the NATO meeting, as well as Tuesday’s U.S. summit with European Union leaders.Those discussions will come just ahead of Biden’s meeting Wednesday in Geneva with Russia President Vladimir Putin, thus the U.S. president “wants to have a strong wind at his back from his meeting with the NATO allies,” Hamilton told VOA.United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, greets the US Charge d’Affaires to Belgium Nicholas Berliner as he disembarks from his airplane upon arrival at Brussels Airport in Brussels, June 12, 2021.Monday’s NATO meeting also will mark the end of military operations in Afghanistan at a time the United States has completed at least half of its pullout from the country.“The question will be what is NATO’s role in Afghanistan beyond the military operations going forward?” noted Hamilton.NATO is also proposing its members’ militaries and the private sector look at cooperating on emerging technologies, along with considering an expanded partnership with like-minded democracies farther afield, including in the Indo-Pacific region, amid increasing concerns about expansionism by China.“This administration wants to showcase, both rhetorically and substantively, that there’s significant strength in the U.S. standing by its European allies. But there are still a lot of challenges in the Trans-Atlantic relationship on how to manage and confront Russia and China and deal with COVID and with climate [change],” Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Mark Simakovsky told VOA.“A better use of the president’s time would be to force a tough but necessary conversation within NATO on topics the alliance has shied away from in the past,” according to Defense Priorities Fellow Dan DePetris. “This means re-evaluating — and hopefully closing — NATO’s open-door policy, which at this point is more of a drain on the alliance and U.S. security obligations than a net benefit.”Known as Article 10, NATO’s open-door principle says any other nation can be invited to join the alliance by unanimous consent, and has become a point a contention among those who say it promotes organizational stability and those who say it risks making the organization too cumbersome, possibly compromising its mandate.“Biden should also reiterate and indeed strengthen NATO’s conflict-resolution and dialogue mechanisms with Russia, which, however troublesome, its behavior can’t simply be ignored or sanctioned away,” DePetris told VOA.Also being watched this week is renewed U.S. interest about bringing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO.Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and research director at the Brookings Institution, calls that “a very bad idea” because it runs the risk of war with Russia if and when actions by Moscow to oppose the plan go “beyond a threshold that we felt we could tolerate.”Biden’s presence at the NATO talks is meant to demonstrate a renewed commitment to U.S. leadership in the alliance.According to some analysts, the U.S. president could be met with a bit of skepticism in Brussels.“They see what’s going on here domestically, and they worry about the future of the Republican Party. They worry about what happens after Biden,” according to Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director and senior fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They worry that some of the negative language about allies and partners and the U.S. commitment to NATO and global leadership could falter again.”During Tuesday’s meeting, Biden and the European leaders “will discuss a common agenda to ensure global health security, stimulate global economic recovery, tackle climate change, enhance digital and trade cooperation, strengthen democracy and address mutual foreign policy concerns,” according to the White House.
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Month: June 2021
‘Highly Offensive’ Gag Orders in Media Subpoena Cases, Lawyer Says
Gag orders that the U.S. Justice Department imposed on lawyers representing two prominent news outlets fighting subpoena requests have raised concerns about First Amendment protections.The broadcaster CNN reported this week that its top lawyer was subjected to a gag order in 2020, when the Justice Department under then-Attorney General William Barr sought the email records of a national security correspondent.Under it, their lawyer said he was prevented from knowing what the investigation was about, what reporting it related to, and from speaking with the reporter so the broadcaster could narrow the impact on its coverage.The New York Times was placed under a similar order in March of this year, at the same time a few top executives were informed of an ongoing government effort to secure the email logs of four reporters, the Times reported last week. The newspaper said even its executive editor was unaware of the legal battle — which began in the final weeks of the Trump administration — until the gag order was lifted last week.The outlets, along with The Washington Post, all have reported in recent weeks on efforts by the Justice Department to seize journalist records as part of investigations into leaks of material. The Times reported that the department sought the reporters’ email logs in an attempt to identify their sources.Media experts and lawyers have condemned the Justice Department’s actions.“It’s hard to believe that in the year 2021 — at [a] time where we have made so many strides in this country — that the news media is still plagued by attempts at infringement on basic press freedom by our own government,” Lisa Matthews, president of the National Press Club, told VOA in an email.Theodore Boutrous, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who represented The New York Times, told VOA the gag order was “unprecedented.”“When there’s a leak investigation, usually everybody knows about it,” Boutrous said.The lawyer, who has been honored for his work representing high-profile media cases, including defending CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, after his White House credentials were revoked, said the approach by the Justice Department “is highly offensive to the First Amendment.”Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represented USAGM executives in 2020 when they filed a complaint against then-CEO Michael Pack. USAGM is the parent agency to VOA.The Justice Department declined to respond to VOA’s request to comment.Under Justice Department guidelines, the attorney general must sign off on a subpoena for reporter records and any seizures of news records should be treated as “extraordinary measures, not standard investigatory practices.” The guidelines state that a journalist or outlet must be notified unless “such notice would pose a clear and substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation, risk grave harm to national security, or present an imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm.”In the cases revealed in recent weeks, none of the outlets was informed of the subpoena requests, and two were subject to gag orders.Though a settlement was reached in the CNN case in January, executives who knew about the months-long battle for tens of thousands of emails were relieved of the gag order only this week.Leak investigationNews outlets affected by the latest subpoena requests were told the dates of the sought-after records, but not what reporting was being investigated.In the Washington Post case, the paper reported last month that it had just learned that the Justice Department obtained phone records from three national security reporters, covering a period from April to July 2017.The Post cited a Justice Department spokesperson as saying that the journalists were not the target of the investigation.Boutros said that with The New York Times, “everybody knew” the Justice Department was looking into a leak investigation related to former FBI director James Comey. An internal investigation found Comey leaked information to the media but the Justice Department in 2019 announced the former director would not be prosecuted.CNN reported that in July 2020, Barr’s Justice Department fought for Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr’s email records from 2017, but that the organization’s general counsel was unable to discuss the matter with anyone.The additional imposition of a gag order has added to concerns by experts, who point out that it prevented reporters from knowing for months that lawyers were fighting to protect their emails.“The decision to pursue gag orders is an extraordinary measure. The consequences are extensive and the practice really does run counter to the transparency the federal court system is built on,” Matthews, of the National Press Club, said.Some of the journalists affected have commented on their cases on social media.“Federal judge says pursuit of my records and CNN ‘unanchored in facts’ and I was not allowed to even be aware due to gag order,” Starr wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “#FirstAmendment today, tomorrow and always,” she added.Federal judge says pursuit of my records and CNN “unanchored in facts” and I was not allowed to even be aware due to gag order. #FirstAmendment today, tomorrow and always. https://t.co/6yLTc4925R— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) June 9, 2021Starr’s colleagues at CNN expressed similar sentiments.“The words ‘gag order’ don’t belong in the same sentence as ‘news organization’,” the network’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter wrote on Twitter.The words “gag order” don’t belong in the same sentence as “news organization.” pic.twitter.com/m7KFrM7YFf— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 9, 2021Mathews said the Justice Department’s actions are damaging to journalism.“It hurts source relationships for reporters, not to mention our democracy. The recent disclosures that the Justice Department sought and obtained secret court orders to collect email and phone records of reporters at CNN and The New York Times, based only on the representations made by the government, are alarming and undercut the foundation of openness within the justice system.”The Biden administration said it would forbid the Justice Department from seizing reporter records in attempts to identify their sources—a stark change from previous administrations of both parties.Media rights groups say that leak prosecutions ramped up under the Obama presidency, a trend that continued under the Trump administration.While many welcome Biden’s assertion that this practice would stop in his administration, free speech advocates have called for more concrete measures.Arguing that the increased prosecutions by recent administrations were “chilling investigative reporting,” the Freedom of Press Foundation warned “the devil is—of course—in the details.”“The Justice Department must now write this categorical bar of journalist surveillance into its official ‘media guidelines,’ and Congress should also immediately enshrine the rules into law to ensure no administration can abuse its power again,” the foundation’s executive director, Trevor Timm, said in a June statement. The nonprofit defends public interest journalism.“If they follow through, this commendable and vitally important decision by the Biden administration has the potential to stem the tide of more than 10 years of erosion of press freedom,” Timm added.
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On Social Media, Asian Hate Spreads Further, Faster
Reports of anti-Asian violence across the U.S. have filled headlines recently, but anti-Asian sentiment is also surfacing online. VOA’s Tina Trinh reports.
Producer: Tina Trinh
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Demonstrations Mark Second Anniversary of Hong Kong Uprising
Rallies rang out in dozens of cities across the globe Saturday to commemorate two years since pro-democracy activists surrounded Hong Kong’s legislature in a failed effort to thwart passage of a national security law.The law has dramatically expanded Beijing’s control of the semi-autonomous city. It’s passaged triggered months of anti-government protests and a violent crackdown by state security forces.Activists and political figures from 20 countries participated in the global campaign for Hong Kong, held across more than 50 cities, including several in the U.S., U.K, Canada and Australia. Virtual events were also scheduled in cities such as Bangkok and Taipei, due to the COVID-19 restrictions.Ted Hui, a pro-democracy activist and former Hong Kong legislator who fled the city after facing at least nine charges, called the rallies a “firm message” that Hong Kongers “have not given up.”On Saturday, Hui told VOA that he had shared with a crowd in his adopted home of Sydney “how I made my determination to devote myself to the movement, a lifelong mission in life.””I asked them to make more steps forward, keep the spirits high and preserve our Hong Kong identity to make our movement long and sustainable,” Hui, 39, said.In Germany, Hong Kong political and digital rights activist Glacier Chung Ching Kwong, who is also in self-exile, addressed gatherings in Berlin.“In two years, all the people I have worked with are either in jail or in exile,” she told the crowd. “The fear is real.”‘Sad and angry,’ yet ‘vigilant’The 24-year-old founder of Keyboard Frontline said, “We are all sad and angry, but we are also vigilant to not let this costly ordeal become a force that clouds us, limits our thinking and undermines the movement or the reason to fight for freedom and democracy at the first place.”“Hong Kong, as we know it, is dying, but the new Hong Kong is yet to be born,” part of her speech read.Outside the Chinese Consulate in Gothenburg, Sweden, demonstrators held Hong Kong pro-democracy banners and put posters on lampposts, photojournalist Dennis Lindbom, who attended the event, said.Nine cities were scheduled to hold events in Britain. At the Marble Arch in London, politician Sir Iain Duncan Smith addressed hundreds of protesters on stage with a flurry of British Hong Kong flags in the background.“You are the great people. Not people like me or politicians, it is your determination to stand for freedom,” the British MP said.Last year the British government offered up to 3 million Hong Kong residents the opportunity of residency, via the British National Overseas passport scheme.Protests were also scheduled to take place in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., on Saturday.In Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protests remain banned, muted demonstrations were held despite a heavy police presence, resulting in few arrests. Online calls to gather at Causeway Bay, a sprawling shopping district and key battleground during demonstrations in 2019, largely went unheeded.But according to local reports, the Hong Kong police had deployed at least 1,000 officers to counter any demonstrations. As the evening drew to a close, no large crowds had materialized as police officers remained, performing stop-and-search operations while cordoning off streets in the area.The political group Student Politicism was due to hold a pop-up booth in the residential district of Mong Kok — another flashpoint amid the months of unrest in 2019 — but its organizers Wong Yat-Chin and spokesperson Alice Wong were both arrested on Friday for allegedly inciting others to participate in illegal assembly leading up to the event.Wong Yat-Chin was only detained last week during a small demonstration to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing on June 4.Earlier in the day, high-profile activist Agnes Chow was released from prison. Chow was sentenced to 10 months in jail in December a day before her 24th birthday, following her guilty plea to charges over her involvement in an unauthorized assembly in June 2019.Chow served over six months of her sentence and when released on Saturday, looking slightly worn and thinner than usual, declined to speak to the scrum of media waiting as she made her way home in a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “You are doing so great.”But the activist later posted on social media that she had endured “half a year and twenty days of pain” and that she intends to have a good rest following her release.Chow, 24, may face another jail term stemming from a separate arrest under the national security law in August 2020 for which she has yet to face charges.National security lawThe national security that triggered the 2019 protests, which eventually passed in 2020, dramatically expands Beijing’s control of the semi-autonomous city, prohibiting things such as secession and subversion, putting an end to major street demonstrations. The legislation carries maximum punishments of life imprisonment and even allows Beijing to take over “serious” cases that can still include extradition to mainland China.Since ratification, authorities have cracked down on dozens of pro-democracy activists, who have been either been arrested or jailed while others have fled the in self-exile.On June 12, 2019, Hong Kong riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the huge crowds.Footage of the clashes intensified public anger and fueled what became an increasingly violent movement calling for full democracy that raged for several months.Huge crowds rallied week after week in the most serious challenge to China’s rule since Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from the United Kingdom.Beijing’s leaders continue to dismiss calls for democracy, portraying protestors as stooges of “foreign forces” trying to undermine China.Some information is from AFP.
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EU Talks Up Hope of Breakthrough at Iran Nuclear Meetings
European Union negotiators said international talks that resumed Saturday on the Iran nuclear agreement were on track to revive the deal, which crumbled after the United States withdrew in 2018.Senior diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain concluded a 90-minute meeting with Iranian representatives at a hotel in the Austrian capital.”We are making progress, but the negotiations are intense and a number of issues [remain], including on how steps are to be implemented,” EU representative Alain Matton told reporters in Vienna.The United States is not formally part of meetings that launched in Vienna this year. But the administration of President Joe Biden has signaled willingness to rejoin the deal under terms that would broadly see the U.S. scale back sanctions on Tehran and Iran return to abiding by the limits on its nuclear activity contained in the 2015 agreement.”The EU will continue with the talks with all the participants … and separately with the United States to find ways to get very close to a final agreement in the coming days,” Matton said.Complicating factorsDiplomats say complicating factors have included the sequence of the proposed measures, dealing with advances in Iran’s nuclear processing capability since the United States withdrew, and the presidential election in Iran next week.Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the 2015 deal provided Iran vital sanctions relief in exchange for a commitment to allow extensive international monitoring as it dismantled much of its nuclear program.Former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018, arguing that it handed Tehran too many concessions while failing to curb its aggression in the region and ambitions to build a nuclear weapon. U.S. sanctions that were re-imposed and intensified under Trump tipped Iran into a severe recession and enrichment of more uranium than permitted under the deal.Iranian officials have balked at the suggestion that some terms agreed to in 2015 would have to be updated, insisting that it would return to nuclear compliance as soon as Washington restored its pre-Trump sanctions policy.
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Moscow Orders New Restrictions as COVID-19 Infections Soar
Moscow’s mayor on Saturday ordered a week off for some workplaces and imposed restrictions on many businesses to fight coronavirus infections that have more than doubled in the past week.The national coronavirus task force reported 6,701 new confirmed cases in Moscow, compared with 2,936 on June 6. Nationally, the daily tally has spiked by nearly half over the past week, to 13,510.After several weeks of lockdown as the pandemic spread in the spring of 2020, the Russian capital eased restrictions and did not reimpose any during subsequent case increases. But because of the recent sharp rise, “it is impossible not to react to such a situation,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.He ordered enterprises that do not normally work on weekends to remain closed for the next week while continuing to pay employees. Food courts and children’s play areas in shopping centers also are to close for a week beginning Sunday, and restaurants and bars must limit their service.People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus ride a subway car in Moscow, Russia, June 10, 2021.Mask, glove enforcementEarlier in the week, city authorities said enforcement of mask- and glove-wearing requirements on mass transit, in stores and in other public places would be strengthened and that violators could face fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($70).Although Russia was the first country to deploy a coronavirus vaccine, its use has been relatively low; many Russians are reluctant to get vaccinated.President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said 18 million Russians had received the vaccine — about 12% of the population.For the entire pandemic period, the task force has reported nearly 5.2 million infections in the country of about 146 million people and 126,000 deaths. However, a report from Russian state statistics agency Rosstat on Friday found more than 144,000 virus-related deaths last year alone.The statistics agency, unlike the task force, counts fatalities in which coronavirus infection was present or suspected but was not the main cause of death.The agency’s report found about 340,000 more people died in 2020 than in 2019; it did not give details of the causes of the higher year-on-year death toll.The higher death toll and a lower number of births combined to make an overall population decline of 702,000, about twice the decline in 2019, Rosstat said.
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Nigerians Mark Annual Democracy Day With Protests
Protesters hit Nigeria’s streets Saturday to say democracy is under threat from rising insecurity and bad governance. The Democracy Day demonstrations came as President Muhammadu Buhari has been struggling to control terrorism, criminal abductions and separatist movements. Last week, Buhari suspended Twitter after it deleted a controversial tweet of his. Protesters blasted the act as a dictatorial punishment against free expression.The protests started early Saturday across many Nigerian states, including Abuja, Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Port Harcourt.The protesters were holding placards marked #Buharimustgo and demanding an end to insecurity and what they called systemic oppression.Tear gas, gunshotsSome protests in Abuja were dispersed by security agents who fired tear gas canisters and gunshots into the air, according to eyewitnesses.Their banners and placards were also seized by state security operatives, said Cletus Uba, who was at Gudu junction, one of the protest venues.”I was here when all these protesters were around, and I know what they’re agitating for, the insecurities in the country,” Uba said. “When they were here protesting, police, soldiers, civil defense started shooting tear gas and guns into the air.”Police stand by during a Democracy Day protest at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, in Ojota, Lagos, Nigeria, June 12, 2021.There was a heavy presence of armed security men and women all over the Abuja metropolitan region on Saturday, and the same was seen in many states across the country.But 15 kilometers from Gudu — the spot in Abuja where protesters were dispersed — hundreds of government supporters gathered in a counteraction.The inscription on their green-and-white vests read, “I stand with Buhari.”President’s ‘great worry’The president on Saturday morning addressed the nation through the government broadcaster and said he was fixing insecurity issues.”Let me assure my fellow citizens that every incident, however minor, gives me great worry and concern, and I immediately order security agencies to swiftly but safely rescue victims and bring perpetrators to justice,” he said.Buhari, a former military general, was elected in 2015 on a vow to root out security threats and grow the economy.But his administration has been plagued by reckless attacks carried out by insurgents and bandits, as well as a booming kidnapping-for-ransom market. His cabinet has been severely criticized for not addressing those issues sooner.Rising insecurity was not the only reason protesters were marching in the streets. They said last week’s Twitter ban was an attempt to gag free speech.Ariyo Dare of the Nigeria Center for Liberty, one of the protesting groups, said, “The banning of the Twitter platform in Nigeria is undemocratic, irresponsible, thoughtless and very insensitive. Nigeria should be a leading light in terms of democracy in Africa.”Nigerian authorities, who say social media has been used to promote comments that threaten the existence of the state, are now in talks with Chinese officials to create an internet firewall, according to Nigeria’s Foundation for Investigative Journalism.But as the country marked Democracy Day, many protesters and critics said Buhari was Nigeria’s biggest threat to democracy.
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Police Arrest 1 of 2 in Austin Mass Shooting That Wounded 14
Police arrested one suspect and were searching for another Saturday after a mass shooting on a crowded downtown Austin street left 14 people wounded earlier in the day, two critically.The Austin Police Department said in a news release that the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force had assisted in making the arrest, but it provided no other details, other than to say it was continuing to follow up on leads for the suspect still at large.Interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon said the shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. on a street packed with bars and barricaded off from vehicle traffic. He said investigators believed it began as a dispute between two parties. Chacon said both suspects are male, but he declined to disclose details such as whether both fired shots, saying the investigation was ongoing.”Most of the victims were innocent bystanders, but we’re still sorting out all of the victims to see what their involvement is in this case,” Chacon said.One of three shootingsThe mass shooting — one of at least three in the U.S. overnight — sparked panic along 6th Street, a popular nightlife destination in the city that’s home to the University of Texas.One witness, Matt Perlstein, told KXAN-TV that he was waiting with a friend to enter a bar when gunfire erupted.”Everything was totally fine,” Perlstein said, then gunfire erupted. “We just heard like … a bunch of gunshots going off. Everyone got on the ground. We couldn’t even comprehend what was going on at the time.”Chacon said his officers responded quickly to the area.“They were able to immediately begin lifesaving measures for many of these patients, including applications of tourniquets, applications of chest seals,” he said.Because of the chaos on the barricaded street, police drove six of the wounded to hospitals in their squad cars. Ambulances transported four people and the other four made their own way to hospitals, he said.Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement thanking police and other first responders and offering prayers to the victims.Abbott said the state Department of Public Safety was assisting in the investigation, and Chacon said the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also assisting.
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Denmark’s Eriksen Taken to Hospital After Collapsing at Euro 2020
Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen was taken to a hospital Saturday after collapsing on the field during a match at the European Championship, leading to the game being suspended for more than 90 minutes. The governing body of European soccer said Eriksen has been stabilized and the Danish soccer federation said he was awake. “Christian Eriksen is awake and is undergoing further examinations at Rigshospitalet,” the Danish federation wrote on Twitter. The Euro 2020 match between Denmark and Finland had been halted in the 43rd minute with the score 0-0 but was to resume at 8:30 p.m. local time. UEFA said both teams had held an emergency meeting before deciding to continue playing. The players came back out onto the field at around 7:15 p.m. to a huge ovation as they started warming up for a second time. Eriksen was given urgent medical attention on the field for about 10 minutes after collapsing near the end of the first half. He was then carried off on a stretcher. UEFA then announced the game had been suspended “due to a medical emergency.” Eriksen had just played a short pass when he fell face-forward onto the ground. His teammates immediately gestured for help and medics rushed onto the field. Eriksen was given chest compressions as his Denmark teammates stood around him in a shielding wall for privacy. Eriksen’s partner, Sabrina Kvist Jensen, went onto the field and was comforted by Denmark captain Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. The Finland players huddled by their bench and eventually walked off the field while the Inter Milan midfielder was still getting treatment, as did the referees. Eriksen was eventually carried off to a loud ovation, with his teammates walking next to the stretcher. Inter Milan team physician Piero Volpi told The Associated Press that the Italian club was in contact with the Danish soccer federation. “We’re in contact with the Danish federation, the team manager, the team physician. But we still don’t know anything yet,” Volpi said. “We heard what UEFA said and we’re all happy that he’s been stabilized. But that’s all we know.” Volpi added that Eriksen never contracted COVID-19, has no medical conditions that he’s aware of and has passed every medical exam without problem since joining Inter in January 2020 from Tottenham. “But we’ll talk about that when the time is right,” Volpi added of Eriksen’s medical history. “Right now, the important thing is that he recovers.” Eriksen is one of Denmark’s biggest stars and the incident brought an instant sense of shock to the Parken Stadium, where about 15,000 fans fell into hushed silence. Some supporters could be seen crying and hugging in the stands. As the fans in the stadium were waiting for updates, Finland supporters started chanting “Christian,” which was then answered by the Danish fans shouting “Eriksen.” A huge roar then went up from all supporters when the stadium announcer said Eriksen was “stable and awake.”
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Malawi Expresses Regret Over Expulsion of Its Diplomats From South Africa
Malawi’s government said Saturday that it had received news of its diplomats’ alleged misconduct in South Africa with regret and that it would punish those involved when they returned home.South Africa on Friday declared all Malawian diplomats persona non grata for abusing diplomatic privileges and gave them 72 hours to leave the country. South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations said in a statement that the action followed an investigation that found the diplomats had been buying duty-free alcohol with cash and then reselling it to retailers.A Malawi government spokesperson, Gospel Kazako, told local media Saturday that the government had already talked with some of its South Africa-based diplomats.“What they are saying is that they are being accused of abusing the tax privileges that they had,” Kazako said. “You know, according to the Vienna Convention of 1961, diplomats have certain privileges, and one of the privileges is that of not paying tax in the hosting country on certain items and certain services. Alcohol is one of those items, so there was abuse, according to South African government.”The South African Revenue Service said the scandal, which also involved diplomats from other countries including Rwanda, Burundi and Lesotho, had led to the estimated loss of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes every month. It has not yet been determined how long the illegal enterprise was operating.Not ‘normal consumption’John Chikago, Malawi’s former high commissioner to South Africa, told VOA the matter was strange and surprising.“We buy with the diplomatic card, and you can’t just buy any amount, unless you have a party at your house or there is national day [celebration] for your country,” he said. “But if it is normal consumption, you should buy only one bottle or two bottles. But they were buying cartons. How? So, it appears there was a syndicate.”Chikago said the issue could tarnish the image of Malawian diplomats in other embassies.“That is the image we are giving to South Africa — that we are corrupt people, because embassies are the image of Malawi — so it must stop,” he said.Sheriff Kaisi, a political science lecturer at Blantyre International University, dismissed fears that the incident would affect diplomatic relations between Malawi and South Africa. But he said the image of ordinary Malawians living in South Africa could be affected.“We have quite a number of citizens living in South Africa,” he said. “They will be seen as people who are not trustworthy, people who cannot follow rules of the game.”However, Malawi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday evening that the Malawi government had conveyed regret to the South African government about the conduct of the diplomats involved, and that it would take appropriate action when the diplomats returned to Malawi.
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Biden, Putin to Meet for First Time in Geneva
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time in Geneva Wednesday amid deteriorating relations between the world powers.The meeting takes place in the final hours of Biden’s first trip abroad as president that also has him attending the 47th G7 summit in the English city of Cornwall.In an interview with NBC News, portions of which aired Friday, Putin said U.S.-Russia ties had deteriorated to their “lowest point in recent years.”The White House said Saturday only Biden would speak to the media after the meeting, denying the media and other observers the chance to compare Wednesday’s post-meeting developments with those of Trump and Putin together following their 2018 summit in Helsinki.During their post summit news conference, Trump agreed with Putin, instead of his own intelligence agencies, that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the intent of helping Trump win.“A solo press conference is the appropriate format to clearly communicate with the free press the topics that were raised in the meeting — both in terms of areas where we may agree and in areas where we have significant concerns,” a White House official said.The White House also said it expects the Biden-Putin meeting “to be candid and straightforward” and that Biden will bring up ransomware attacks originating in Russia, the Kremlin’s aggression toward Ukraine, the imprisonment of dissidents and other issues. The two leaders are also expected to cover strategic nuclear stability and souring relations between Russia and the West.
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UN: Thousands of Tigray Children Risk Death from Starvation, Malnutrition
United Nations agencies are warning that tens of thousands of children in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray province are at risk of death from starvation and malnutrition-related illnesses because aid agencies cannot reach the region with humanitarian relief.Conflict-ridden Tigray remains off-limits to United Nations and private aid agencies despite Ethiopian government promises they would have unfettered access to the region.UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters Friday in Geneva the region is on the brink of famine, adding that, without immediate assistance, Tigray will face a crisis not seen in a decade.Food Aid Not Reaching Tigray, People Dying, UN Says More than 350,000 people are facing near famine-like conditions and many will not survive without immediate humanitarian assistance, World Food Program warns“We are seeing more and more young children and babies slide dangerously close to sickness and potential death from malnutrition, so we have rung alarm bells and alarm bells and here we are now,” he said. “We now have the largest number of people classified as food-insecure in a decade since Somalia. And, as I say that, [there is the] very real risk of deaths of tens of thousands of children.”An estimated quarter-million people died in the devastating 2010-2011 Somali famine, more than half of them children under the age of five. The United Nations says more than 350,000 people in Tigray are on the verge of famine. It warns an estimated 33,000 severely malnourished children in inaccessible areas are at high risk of death.The World Health Organization says its teams and mobile health clinics are ready to go into Tigray and administer care but have been turned away by the warring parties.WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said access to the region is key to tackling what she called a public health emergency.“Malnourished children are more likely to contract … any of the infectious diseases, and die of it, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and measles. Malaria and malnutrition is a lethal combination,” she said. “So, we are over 350 severe acute malnutrition cases among children under five years of age last week only. That was just last week, 18 of them with complications.”Harris said the WHO is kicking off a cholera vaccination campaign Saturday, as the disease thrives during the rainy season, which begins this month. She said 4,000 people will be inoculated as a preventive measure as Tigray has had outbreaks in the past.But the campaign’s success requires safe access by health workers, she added.Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered troops into the region in November to neutralize leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which ruled the continent’s second most populous country for nearly three decades.Ahmed, recipient of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said he sent troops to the area in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps.The prime minister promised the violence would be short-lived, but the fighting continues and atrocities such as rape are increasing.
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Taliban Rejects Foreign Military Role in Guarding Kabul Airport After Troop Exit
The Taliban warned Saturday that it would be “unacceptable” to them and a “mistake” on the part of any nation to retain a military presence in Afghanistan to guard airports or other installations after the departure of U.S.-led NATO troops from the warn-torn country.
The insurgent group’s warning raises questions for Washington, other world countries, and aid groups with missions in Kabul about how to safely evacuate their personnel from the landlocked South Asian nation should fighting intensify and engulf the Afghan capital once all international forces withdraw by a September 11 deadline.
Turkey, with about 500 soldiers still in Afghanistan, has offered its services to guard and run Kabul’s international airport beyond the withdrawal deadline set by U.S. President Joe Biden. Ankara reportedly floated the proposal at a NATO meeting last month.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that talks between different allies, including Turkey, were underway on exactly how to ensure security and safe administration of the Kabul international airport. NATO Chief Admits Afghan Withdrawal ‘Entails Risks’Despite ‘lot of uncertainty,’ Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance will continue to support the Afghan government, even when the last of its troops have left the country
But the Taliban vowed to resist deployment of any foreign military in the country after all international forces leave.
“The presence of foreign forces under whatever name or by whichever country in our homeland is unacceptable for the Afghan people and the Islamic Emirate [the name of the Taliban’s ex-government in Kabul],” the insurgent group cautioned Saturday in a policy statement sent to journalists.
The Taliban insisted that security of airports, foreign embassies and diplomatic offices is the responsibility of Afghans, saying that “no one should hold out hope of keeping military or security presence” in Afghanistan.
“If anyone does make such a mistake, the Afghan people and the Islamic Emirate shall view them as occupiers and shall take a stance against them as they have taken against invaders throughout history,” the statement said.
Stoltenberg said the security of the Kabul airport and other “critical” infrastructure” would be discussed at Monday’s NATO summit in Brussels.
“Because this is important not only for NATO but … for the whole international community, for a diplomatic presence of all countries, and of course, also for development aid and different aid organizations. So, NATO allies are addressing these issues as we speak.”
While the Taliban regularly attacked U.S. and allied troops during their nearly two-decade long stay in Afghanistan, Turkish forces remain unharmed.
Turkey is the only Islamic country serving under NATO’s non-combatant Resolute Support mission, which is mandated to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces battling the insurgents.
The U.S.-led military drawdown is an outcome of the February 2020 agreement Washington signed with the Taliban in return for counterterrorism guarantees and pledges the group would negotiate a political settlement to the war with the Afghan government.
But the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue, which started last September in Qatar, has met with little success and mostly has been stalled, with each side blaming the other for the deadlock.
Afghan battlefield hostilities have particularly intensified since the foreign forces formally began pulling out from the country on May 1.
The Taliban has captured at least 15 new districts in recent days, while hundreds of combatants on both sides and Afghan civilians have been killed.
Meanwhile, Islamic State militants have stepped up attacks, targeting Afghan forces and civilians, mainly those from the minority Hazara Shi’ite community.
Officials said Saturday bomb blasts struck two buses in the western part of Kabul, killing at least seven people. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
The surge in violence has raised concerns Afghanistan will see more bloodshed in coming months, which could plunge the country into another round of civil war once all international forces leave.
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G-7 Split on Biden’s Anti-China Push
G-7 leaders appear to be split on U.S. President Joe Biden’s call to take more aggressive action against China, including on its forced labor practices, unwillingness to play by international trade rules and problematic global infrastructure financing mechanism.
“There were some interesting discussions and a little bit of a differentiation of opinion,” said a senior Biden administration official while briefing reporters following G-7 plenary sessions in Cornwall, England. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
G-7 leaders agreed the threat of an increasingly assertive China is real but differ on how aggressive the response should be, the official said. Italy, Germany, and the European Union appear reluctant to take as tough a stance on China, and instead would rather focus on the “cooperative nature of the relationship.”
The U.S., Britain, Canada, and France, on the other hand, want to be more “action-oriented” to different degrees. Japan appears to be the most ambivalent of the group. US to Offer Alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative Biden to push G-7 countries to take ‘action against Chinese forced labor’ Build Back Better World
Biden and this year’s G-7 Summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, are anxious to announce an infrastructure financing mechanism for low- and middle-income countries, designed to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative—the global infrastructure development investment strategy in dozens of countries that is central to Beijing’s foreign policy.
The initiative, called “Build Back Better World,” or “B3W,” aims to mobilize existing development finance mechanisms and the private sector to narrow the gap in infrastructure financing needs in the developing world, while meeting labor, environmental and transparency standards.
The administration says B3W will “collectively catalyze hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure.” The timeline, structure, and scope of the financing to be committed by the U.S., though, is still unclear.
“It’s fair to ask whether this is going to be actually new funding, new capacity to build infrastructure in the region, or is this a repurposing and repackaging of resources that are also available,” said Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.
To expand its sphere of influence, Beijing is known to give BRI loans to countries for projects that are not considered creditworthy by established international lenders.
“That raises the question of whether this new program is going to be less risk averse,” Daly said, noting that if these projects were bankable, lenders such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank would have funded them already.
Xinjiang forced labor
Sino-U.S. tensions are set to be raised further as Biden lobbies G-7 partners to come out with a strong statement and concrete action against Chinese forced labor practices targeting the Uyghur Muslims from Xinjiang and other ethnic minorities. Human Rights Watch Calls Out China’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ Toward Uyghurs Group calls for coordinated international action against those responsible
Since 2018, humanitarian organizations have documented evidence of Beijing implementing a mass detention and forced labor program. The program includes transferring Uyghur and other Chinese minorities from Xinjiang, forcing them to work under harsh conditions in factories across the country, many of which are in the supply chains of global brands.
Biden characterizes the practices as “an affront to human dignity and an egregious example of China’s unfair, economic competition,” according to an administration official. The president wants the G-7 to speak out forcefully in a unified voice against Beijing’s forced labor practices but it is uncertain whether he will have the necessary support to include it in the final G-7 communique to be released Sunday.
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Armed Conflict Spreading Across Myanmar as Violence Escalates
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet says armed conflict is intensifying and spreading across parts of Myanmar in opposition to the military coup in February and could result in the heavy loss of life.Violence and gross human rights abuse continues to escalate against civil society opposed to the military takeover of the country’s democratically elected government.Rather than efforts to de-escalate the crisis, U.N. rights chief Bachelet says the military leaders are building up troops in key areas. That is happening primarily in areas with significant ethnic and religious minority groups, including Kayah State, Chin State and Kachin State.Myanmar Communities Take Up Arms to Resist JuntaPeaceful protests against the junta are giving way to scattered firefights, targeted killings and a spate of bombings, raising fears of a sweeping civil warThe high commissioner’s spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, says state security forces continue to use heavy weaponry, including airstrikes against armed groups and civilians, as well as civilian objects, including Christian churches. “Credible reports indicate that security forces have used civilians as human shields, shelled civilian homes and churches … and they have blocked humanitarian access, including by attacking humanitarian actors,” said Shamdasani. “Already, more than 108,000 people have fled their homes just in Kayah State over just the last three weeks. Many into forest areas with little or no food, water, sanitation or medical care.”Shamdasani says the high commissioner’s office has received credible reports that military armed forces have occupied, fired upon, and damaged hospitals, schools, and religious institutions in military action.She says at least 860 people reportedly have been killed by security forces since protests erupted against the military coup on February 1.“Meanwhile, sweeping arrests of activists, journalists and opponents of the regime have continued across the country, with credible sources indicating that at least 4,804 people remain in arbitrary detention,” said Shamdasani. “The high commissioner is deeply troubled by reports of detainees being tortured, and of collective punishment of family members of activists.”High Commissioner Bachelet says Myanmar’s military has a duty to protect civilians. She says the international community must demand that it stop the outrageous use of heavy artillery against civilians and civilian objects and hold Myanmar’s leaders responsible for their actions.She notes in just over four months, Myanmar has gone from being a fragile democracy to a human rights catastrophe. She adds the military leadership is responsible for the crisis and must be held to account.
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Algeria Holding Early Parliamentary Elections After 2 Years of Political Unrest
Algerian voters are casting their ballots Saturday in early parliamentary elections, after two years of political unrest, although pro-democracy activists have called for a mass boycott.The vote is the first parliamentary elections since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019 after 20 years as president, facing protests over corruption, joblessness and repression.Pro-government parties have called for broad participation, branding the vote “crucial” for restoring stability.The early elections were called as President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has promised a “new Algeria,” attracting young candidates and others from outside the political elite.More than 20,000 candidates are competing for the 407-seat parliament. Upwards of 50% of them are running as independents and the remainder are on party lists.Voting stations will close at 7:00 p.m. local time.
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Myanmar Border Gun Seizures Stoke Fears of Illicit Post-Coup Arms Trade
Guns and ammunition bought under Thai police and army discount plans and siphoned into the black market have been seized by Thai customs on the Myanmar border, stoking fears of a new illicit arms trade driven by Myanmar’s post-coup collapse into chaos.Myanmar’s army seized power from the civilian government Feb. 1, setting off a chain reaction of protests, bloody crackdowns and a revival of dormant conflicts with ethnic militias across the country.As democracy activists flee to jungle camps to train in armed resistance, Thai border officials fear the conflict next door is spurring a cross-border gun trade.On May 27 Thai customs seized 27 guns — including pistols, semiautomatic M12s, M4 rifles and telescopic sights — and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, in a truck attempting to cross into Myanmar at the Mae Sai border crossing in western Thailand.“The majority of the seized guns are ‘welfare guns,’” Somsak Tangcharoentam, the Mae Sai customs director told VOA, referring to the so-called welfare guns list, a fluid online catalog of guns available to the police and military, and other government officials, at a discount.“They’re guns that can be bought legally by government officers, police and soldiers, so their price is lower than the market value,” he said.Thai customs officials arrested Kyaw Phoy, a Myanmar national, and Jam Namwong, who had a Thai identification card but who is a member of the Shan ethnic group, living on both sides of the border, according to a customs press release.“This is the first time that we’ve found guns at the border, usually it’s only drugs and counterfeit goods,” Somsak said.Although it does not manufacture its own weapons, Thailand is awash with guns.A key route for weapons to reach the black market is the welfare list, which is aimed at law enforcement and other government officials, but loopholes allow the guns to seep into the black market, officials have told VOA.“If you want to buy a rifle, all you have to say is that you’ll need it for sports. The deadlier the weapon, the harder obtaining the license is, but you can pay your way in,” an army captain said, requesting anonymity.“These ‘welfare guns’ are mostly for war and conflict zones and they’re 30% to 70% cheaper than market price.”Open bordersOn March 28, border officials at Mae Sai seized over 100 hand grenades en route via courier to Tachileik, across the border in Myanmar.Like the May gun haul, the shipment was found after random checks at an official border post in an area with a long, unpoliceable frontier with Myanmar.“You can see the pattern,” a senior Thai police source at Mae Sai, also refusing to be named, said.“It’s the second time in a few months and we’re worried this route might be used to fight the conflict in Myanmar,” he said.Even before the coup, Myanmar’s borderlands were blistered by ethnic insurgencies, funded by drug trafficking and racketeering in ungovernable zones packed with casinos, prostitution and other illicit businesses.The army’s unexpected February power grab has pitched Myanmar into chaos, fragmenting delicate alliances with rebel groups reigniting fighting between ethnic militias and the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military.In addition, scores of young, urban protesters made desperate by the violence of Myanmar’s army, have headed to the jungle camps near the Thai border to undergo military training.Their aim is to return to the cities, where peaceful protests have taken on an increasingly militant edge to fight back against soldiers who have been firing indiscriminately at demonstrators, killing, by best estimates, well over 800.To fight Myanmar’s army, they will need a supply of weapons — readily available from neighboring Thailand, where the coronavirus pandemic has crushed the economy.“The crisis in Myanmar will almost certainly act to revive an arms black market in Thailand,” said Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based security analyst for Jane’s Defense publications.“Handguns for use in areas of urban conflict will be in great demand and given the depressed economic conditions that Thailand is now facing there will be no shortage of gun owners ready to sell weapons they are licensed to hold,” he said.Meanwhile the “incentive” for government officials to sell licensed guns “onto the black market will be even greater,” he added.Border officials in Mae Sai say they are stepping up patrols, but there is realistically little they can do to stop the supply, given the size of the border.“We are under pressure” from Myanmar to stop the illegal cross-border arms trade, the police source in Mae Sai said, although there is a limit on what they can do.“We’re on the border and we are separated by just a few meters and a shallow stretch of water,” the source said.
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Aboriginal Family Takes Australian Prison Death Case to UN
An Aboriginal mother in Australia will take a human rights claim over her son’s 2015 death in custody to the United Nations.“I can’t breathe,” were among the last words spoken by David Dungay Jr.Video shown at an Australian inquiry into his death six years ago documented his final moments. He was struggling to breathe as he was held face down by a group of guards at Sydney’s Long Bay jail and injected with a sedative. The 26-year-old Indigenous man was being restrained by officers trying to stop him from eating biscuits because of fears he could fall into a diabetic coma.The inquest later found that none of the guards should face disciplinary action. No criminal charges have ever been filed over Dungay’s death.His mother, Leetona Dungay, and a team of high-profile lawyers have argued Australia violated her son’s human rights and failed to protect his life.Having campaigned vociferously in Australia, they are taking their case to the United Nations, filing a complaint with its Human Rights Commission.Leetona Dungay says the U.N. must be told about a “crisis” in Australia’s criminal justice system.“I will not stop until I get justice for my son,” she said. “My heart bleeds for him every day. The so-called justice system in my country, Australia, has failed; failed me, my son, my family and my people. I am going to keep fighting until we live in the country where Black lives matter.”Leetona Dungay’s legal team is also seeking to put pressure on the government in Canberra over its record on Indigenous deaths in custody.Aboriginal Australians are among the most incarcerated people in the world.They make up about 3% of Australia’s population, but almost a third of prison inmates.While Indigenous prisoners do not die at a greater rate than non-Aboriginal people in custody, they are vastly overrepresented in the criminal justice system.Since a historic inquiry into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991, at least 474 Indigenous people have died behind bars.Australia’s Attorney General’s Department has said that 78% of the royal commission’s 339 recommendations had been fully or mostly implemented. However, those statistics are disputed by some Aboriginal organizations.
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Lobster Diver Survives Getting Caught in Whale’s Mouth
A commercial lobster diver who got caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Friday morning said he thought he was going to die.Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet, told WBZ-TV after he was released from Cape Cod Hospital that he was about 14 meters deep in the waters off Provincetown when “all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark.”He thought he had been attacked by a shark, common in area waters, but then realized he could not feel any teeth and he wasn’t in any pain.“Then I realized, ‘Oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth … and he’s trying to swallow me,’” he said. “And I thought to myself, ‘OK, this is it — I’m finally — I’m gonna die.’” His thoughts went to his wife and children.He estimates he was in the whale’s mouth for about 30 seconds but continued to breathe because he still had his breathing apparatus in.Then the whale surfaced, shook its head, and spit him out. He was rescued by his crewmate in the surface boat.His sister, Cynthia Packard, originally told the Cape Cod Times that her brother broke a leg, but he said later that his legs are just bruised.Charles “Stormy” Mayo, a senior scientist and whale expert at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, told the newspaper that such human-whale encounters are rare.Humpbacks are not aggressive, and Mayo thinks it was an accidental encounter while the whale was feeding on fish, likely sand lance.
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China, US Diplomats Clash Over Human Rights, Pandemic Origin
Top U.S. and Chinese diplomats appear to have had another sharply worded exchange, with Beijing saying it told the U.S. to cease interfering in its internal affairs and accusing Washington of politicizing the search for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.Senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi and Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call Friday that revealed wide divisions in several contentious areas, including the curtailing of freedoms in Hong Kong and the mass detention of Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region.Calls for a more thorough investigation into the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 are particularly sensitive for China because of suggestions that it might have have escaped from a laboratory in the central city of Wuhan, where cases were first discovered.Yang said China was “gravely concerned” over what he called “absurd” stories that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab.China “firmly opposes any despicable acts that use the epidemic as an excuse to slander China and to shift blames,” Yang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.“Some people in the United States have fabricated and peddled absurd stories claiming Wuhan lab leak, which China is gravely concerned about,” Yang said. “China urges the United States to respect facts and science, refrain from politicizing COVID-19 origin tracing and concentrate on international anti-pandemic cooperation.”The State Department said Blinken “stressed the importance of cooperation and transparency regarding the origin of the virus, including the need for (World Health Organization) Phase 2 expert-led studies in China.”The U.S. and others have accused China of failing to provide the raw data and access to sites that would allow a more thorough investigation into where the virus sprung from and how it initially spread.Equally contentious were the issues of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Taiwan and accusations that China has arbitrarily detained two Canadian citizens in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of an executive of Chinese communications technology giant Huawei, who is wanted by U.S. law enforcement.The U.S. has “fabricated various lies about Xinjiang in an attempt to sabotage the stability and unity in Xinjiang, which confuse right and wrong and are extremely absurd. China is firmly opposed to such actions,” Yang said.FILE – People walk by a billboard reading ‘All people participate in building a line of defense against the epidemic, please get the vaccine in time’ in Beijing, May 24, 2021.“Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs,” and those found in violation of a sweeping national security law imposed on the former British colony “must be punished,” Yang said.Blinken, on the other hand, underscored U.S. concern over the deterioration of democratic norms in Hong Kong and the ongoing “genocide and crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang,” the State Department said.He also urged Beijing to ease pressure against Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy China claims as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.According to Xinhua, Yang said Taiwan involves China’s “core interests” and that Beijing “firmly defends its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”The tone of the phone call seemed to echo contentious talks in March in Alaska, when the sides traded sharp and unusually public barbs over vastly different views of each other and the world in their first face-to-face meeting since President Joe Biden took office.At that meeting, the U.S. accused the Chinese delegation of “grandstanding,” while Beijing fired back, saying there was a “strong smell of gunpowder and drama” that was entirely the fault of the Americans.Relations between them have deteriorated to their lowest level in decades, with the Biden administration showing no signs of deviating from the established U.S. hardline against China over trade, technology, human rights and China’s claim to the South China Sea.Beijing, meanwhile, has fought back doggedly against what it sees as attempts to smear its reputation and restrain its development.On Thursday, its ceremonial legislature passed a law to retaliate against sanctions imposed on Chinese politicians and organizations, threatening to deny entry to and freeze the Chinese assets of anyone who formulates or implements such measures, potentially placing new pressure on foreign companies operating in the country.
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Phnom Penh’s Floating Fishing Community Faces Eviction
On Wednesday morning, Marn Neang stood on the bank where the Tonlé Sap and Mekong rivers converge on the east side of Phnom Penh. Most days at this hour she would be out fishing with her husband, but today Marn Neang has gathered with neighbors under a rustling canopy to discuss an eviction order from local authorities.Their view is the same as that of the 5-star Sokha Hotel towering just above and behind them on the Chroy Changvar peninsula. On the river’s opposite bank, the pre-World War I Royal Palace, with its French-influenced formal gardens, presides beneath a skyline framed by tall cranes and taller buildings.The hotel, with elegantly appointed air-conditioned rooms offering Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs, overlooks the settlement of wooden huts and fishing boats where many Khmer Islam, or Irregular construction near the banks of the Mekong River in Sangkat Chroy Changva, Khan Chroy Changva, Phnom Penh, June 9, 2021. (Vicheika Kann/VOA)Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesperson, said that the decision by the local authorities “is in adherence with the Cambodia National Assembly and is not motivated by politics or discrimination against anyone.”Marn Neang told VOA Khmer that she doesn’t know what’s going to happen. “We have to remove both our huts and boats.” She said she cannot afford to relocate or buy a plot of land. She is also concerned about keeping her family fed if they’re not fishing on the river and worries that her children won’t be able to return to the school they know.”We are used to living here no matter how bad it is,” she told VOA Khmer. “I don’t know where I can go.”And because of COVID-19 fears, people in nearby villages won’t let her move in with the family boat. “It is very difficult. I don’t know what to do with my five children.”Marn Neang added that if she were not allowed to live on the water, she would want to ask the authorities for a small plot of land. But she wouldn’t dare make the request.A man sits on a fishing boat on the Mekong River in Sangkat Chroy Changva, Khan Chroy Changva, Phnom Penh, June 9, 2021. (Vicheika Kann/VOA)Matt Zen, a 66-year-old with curly hair, was fixing a fishing boat as he spoke with VOA Khmer. He said that he lives on his boat with three children and unless authorities find him a new location, he cannot afford to relocate.”My home is on the boat. I sleep here, eat here and also earn my living here,” Matt Zen told VOA Khmer. “If they want me to leave my boat and not allow me to live on the boat, then the government has to provide a place for me because I am poor and I have no money to buy land.”Some 10 kilometers north of the Chroy Changvar peninsula, in the Reussey Keo district, the authorities are already disassembling floating homes and illegal fish farms.Sai Sokha, a resident of a floating house in Sangkat Chrang Chamres II, Khan Russey Keo, Phnom Penh, June 5, 2021. (Malis Tum/VOA)District resident Sai Sokha, 59, grows morning glories around her 30-square-meter floating home. She is Cambodian and lives with her Vietnamese husband and her teenage granddaughter, who has meningitis.Sai Sokha spoke to VOA Khmer as she returned from selling morning glories at the market, saying she received an eviction order but would not be able to relocate with a week’s notice even if she had the money to pay for moving help.”I will wait on the others. I am old now. What can I do? If they want to destroy my house tomorrow, let them do it themselves. I cannot move in one week on my own as they want,” she said.Her neighbor, Oum Sreypich, lives with four children and two other families in a floating home smaller than Sai Sokha’s. Packing is under way, with stacks in a corner awaiting transfer off the water. Moving off the water will be a challenge.”I can use the water freely when I live on the river. Electricity is not really a problem. So, when I move to the ground, I have to pay for all utilities, food, and place to sleep. I cannot afford those,” said Oum Sreypich.A fishing boat is docked near the Tonle Sap River bank in Sangkat Chroy Changva, Khan Chroy Changva, Phnom Penh, June 9, 2021. (Vicheika Kann/VOA)Vu Quang Minh, the Vietnamese ambassador to Cambodia, expressed disappointment via Facebook the day after City Hall issued the eviction notices.According to the ambassador, about a thousand families from Vietnam live in the floating houses in Phnom Penh, and ordering them to leave within seven days is asking the impossible. The families are poor Vietnamese and Khmer-Islam families, he pointed out, adding that all have legal residence permits and many have lived on the river for generations. Even without a surge in COVID-19 cases, moving would be difficult, he added.Seoung Senkarona, the spokesperson for local rights group Adhoc, said he supports the eviction order, but the authorities should listen to the requests from the river people and give them enough time to relocate.”If it is rushing or abusing their rights, it is not a good solution. … So, there should be a proper talk and negotiation,” he said.But for now, the eviction order stands. And as for Marn Neang, she must, as she says, “float like water lettuce, with no clear direction or ending. Only follow the wind.”
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Popular News Outlet Took On Lukashenko; Belarus Responded with Arrests, Raids and a Shutdown
For many Belarusians, a typical day began with Tut.by. Founded in 2000, the web portal quickly became one of the country’s leading independent news services, with over 1.8 million unique visitors daily.Today, the news organization’s website is shut down by government order, although its staff continue to distribute news as best they are able on other platforms.The success of the Minsk-based outlet, founded by the late businessman and philanthropist Yuri Zisser, was based on its independence.”It was the media market’s standard-bearer,” said Nikolai Khalezin, a journalist and the co-founder of the London-based Belarus Free Theater, which produces shows on social justice and human rights. ”This was in large part because Yuri Zisser was successful in maintaining a political balance without taking any one side.”As a result, Khalezin said, Tut.by became the country’s biggest internet-based platform, offering news, email service, sales listings for real estate and more. “All of this made it a market darling,” Khalezin said.”Tut.by would have been the equivalent of, say, The New York Times,” said Uladzimir Matskevich, a former journalist and renowned Belarusian philosopher and methodologist. “(But) with content easily accessible and free to all.”All that changed in August last year, when mass protests spilled across Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in a contested election. Members of the opposition were jailed or forced into exile, protesters violently suppressed, and media targeted.Tut.by, which has had previous run-ins with Lukashenko’s government, has not been spared. Its offices have been raided; its reporters detained. The Ministry of Information stripped the outlet of its official media status in December, and last month it blocked access to Tut.by’s news website, claiming it was in violation of the country’s mass media law.Even as the pressure increased last year, Tut.by’s journalists remained committed to reporting on rights violations.One of those was Katerina Borisevich, whose reporting on Roman Bondarenko, an activist who died in November in police custody, countered the official account.Up to that point, the state had claimed Bondarenko was drunk and involved in a street fight.But Borisevich reported that details from his medical records showed that Bondarenko had no alcohol in his system. Witnesses and friends of the activist had also said that men believed to be plainclothes police officers had beaten Bondarenko unconscious in the courtyard of his apartment building.Borisevich’s coverage on Tut.by did not go unnoticed.”The evening of November 19, I left home to go to the store, and I never returned,” Borisevich told VOA. “Or, more accurately, I returned with seven strangers, and my home was searched while my 17-year-old daughter watched. I had no illusions. From the time of the first questioning, I knew that I would be convicted.”A court in March sentenced Borisevich to six months in prison for divulging medical secrets. The doctor who provided the medical records was handed a suspended sentence.Borisevich was released on May 19. But her news outlet’s troubles were far from over.In late May, security forces raided the home of Yulia Chernyavskaya, the widow of Tut.by’s founder, and searched the news outlet’s offices.Authorities say the company is under investigation for mass tax evasion.Belarusian authorities detained more than a dozen journalists, confiscated computers and searched homes. They questioned and detained at least four employees before releasing them under nondisclosure agreements. They placed Chernyavskaya under house arrest, froze her daughter’s bank accounts and blocked access to the news website.Retaliatory actionsIt comes as no small irony to Khalezin that Tut.by’s death blow came in the form of criminal tax-evasion charges.The company was based in Minsk’s High-Tech Park, an economic zone set up by Lukashenko in 2005 that is sometimes called the Belarusian Silicon Valley. Companies based there are exempt from value-added tax and real estate and corporate taxes.”It was the government that originally allowed Tut.by to be part of High-Tech Park and to take advantage of various tax breaks, and now it’s the government accusing it of tax evasion,” Khalezin said.Analysts believe the government’s harassment of Tut.by and other independent news outlets is in retaliation for their coverage of the months of unrest and violent suppression after the elections.At a May 21 briefing, Natalia Belikova, project coordinator for Press Club Belarus, described the raid as “a purging of the Belarusian media space.””With so many other information resources blocked, Tut.by served as a window to the world,” Matskevich, the philosopher, told VOA. “But now that window has been slammed shut.”Tut.by co-founder Kirill Voloshin also believes the legal cases are driven by retaliation.”The cause of the crackdown is our conscientious and honest coverage of events related to what the majority of the electorate believed was election fraud, as well as the ensuing violence and endless arrests,” Voloshin said.”We covered everything in an uncompromising, honest and efficient manner. When there were different interpretations of the same event, we always gave the other side an opportunity to have its say. But even this approach did not satisfy the powers that be.”Voloshin says Lukashenko’s “assassination of the portal” is made evident by those targeted in the tax-evasion case that put it out of operation: reporters, editors, programmers, the founder’s wife, and Sergei Povalishev, director of Hoster.by, which hosted Tut.by.”It’s unfathomable that these people are somehow being accused of tax evasion,” Voloshin said, adding that Tut.by was vigilant about submitting business plans and financial documentation to remain eligible for its High-Tech Park exemptions.Under attackTut.by’s experiences reflect the wider troubling climate for media since the elections. Hundreds of media workers have been arrested, with around 30 still detained, and more than 60 cases of violence against the press were recorded by the Belarusian Association of Journalists.The government has blocked access to more than 50 websites in Belarus, and many outlets and their staff have been forced into exile.Media outlets and bloggers with big followings have been singled out, including Raman Pratasevich, who ran the popular Telegram channel Nexta. On May 23, Belarus ordered a passenger plane in its airspace to divert to Minsk so it could arrest Pratasevich.According to Matskevich, the Nexta Telegram channel was of major concern to Lukashenko. When the country’s internet was shut down and hundreds of protesters were beaten, it was Nexta — whose office is based in Poland — that provided timely information on what was happening through videos and photos sent in by people on the streets.It acted as a news crowdsourcing project which, by the speed of its distribution, outflanked other media outlets in the process.While Matskevich does not see a direct link between the Tut.by crackdown and the Pratasevich arrest, he calls it all part of a “widespread crackdown on all information services.”After the arrest of Pratasevich, Lukashenko signed into law a decree that allows the shutdown of the internet if national security is threatened.While the decree conveys a sense of adjudication and finality, some, including Khalezin, refuse to believe Lukashenko holds the winning hand.”He has gambled and lost,” he told VOA. “Diplomatic relations with Latvia are severed; airspace over Belarus is shut down.”Latvia completely froze relations with Belarus over the flight diversion.Tut.by is facing huge pressure, but it has no plans to stop.Before the May raids, the outlet’s Telegram channel had close to 300,000 subscribers. It now has more than half a million.The editors plan to continue — at least on social media. Its co-founder Voloshin said he plans to ask the Belarusian Ministry of Information which articles allegedly violated a law, in a bid to eventually have the site restored. But he doubts Tut.by will be permitted a comeback.”We don’t have any access to the servers,” he said. “For me, at least, the future won’t seem bright until democracy reaches our shores.”Still, Voloshin maintains the team has no regrets.”Our job was to carry forward the mission first advanced by Yuri Zisser: that of transparent, multifaceted and timely coverage of events taking place in our country,” he said. “Tut.by has never abandoned that mission and doesn’t intend to now. We should not regret that we told people the truth.”
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Germany’s Merkel to Visit Biden at White House on July 15
U.S. President Joe Biden will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington on July 15 in what will likely be her farewell visit to the United States after almost 16 years at the helm of Europe’s largest economy.The announcement was made Friday on the first day of the Group of Seven summit in England. Biden has hosted two other world leaders since taking office, Japan and South Korea.White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and Merkel “will discuss their commitment to close cooperation on a range of common challenges, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the threat of climate change, and promoting economic prosperity and international security based on our shared democratic values.”A standoff over the completion of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline piping Russian gas to Europe has strained ties at a time when Berlin and Washington are eager to rebuild relations after former U.S. President Donald Trump’s term.The United States waived sanctions last month on the company behind the pipeline, Russian state energy firm Gazprom, giving Berlin and Washington three more months to resolve the dispute.It will probably be Merkel’s farewell visit to the United States since she plans to step down after a September national election, regardless of how her Christian Democrats fare in the polls.The trip is scheduled just days after a July 10 deadline for Europe and the United States to settle a nearly 17-year-old dispute over government subsidies to Airbus and Boeing.U.S. and European Union officials are upbeat about reaching an agreement before currently suspended tariffs go back into effect on July 11.Stormy-Annika Mildner, executive director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin, said two leaders would likely focus on shared goals, such as ending the coronavirus pandemic and combating climate change, as well as digitalization and trade.China and a proposed waiver of intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organization – a move backed by Washington but opposed by Berlin – would also be on the agenda, she said.The trip will underscore the importance of the transatlantic and German-U.S. relationship at a time when many Germans remain on edge after the tumult of the Trump administration, she said.”Merkel will be sending a message in both directions – towards the United States … and toward us here in Germany – that this is a window of opportunity,” she said.“There’s still a lot of mistrust in the German population towards the United States. There is the fear that after Biden, there might be another Trump. And even with regard to Biden that he will not be able deliver because of internal restrictions, and the very small majorities that Democrats have in Congress.”
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Putin Hopes Biden Less Impulsive Than Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced hope Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden would be less impulsive than his predecessor, Donald Trump, ahead of his first summit with the new U.S. leader. In an interview with NBC News, Putin described Biden as a “career man” who spent his life in politics. “It is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse-based movements on behalf of the sitting U.S. president,” he said, according to a translation by NBC News. Biden plans to raise a range of U.S. complaints, including over purported Russian election interference and hacking, in the summit with Putin on Wednesday in Geneva at the end of Biden’s first foreign trip. Putin had openly admitted that during the 2016 vote he supported Trump, who expressed admiration for the Russian leader and who, at their first summit, appeared to accept his denials of election interference. Biden has said he is under no illusions about Putin, whom he described as “a killer” in light of a series of high-profile deaths, including that of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. Asked if he is “a killer,” Putin said the term was part of “macho behavior” common in Hollywood. Such discourse “is part of U.S. political culture, where it’s considered normal. By the way, not here. It is not considered normal here,” he said.
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