The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol was forced out of his job Wednesday, after less than two years in a position that lies in the crosshairs of polarizing political debate.
Rodney Scott wrote to agents that he will be reassigned, saying he “will continue working hard to support you over the next several weeks to ensure a smooth transition.”
Scott told top agency officials during a call to discuss budgets and other issues that he had 60 days to decide whether to be reassigned or retire, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was not intended for public release.
He said he was undecided. Raul Ortiz, Scott’s deputy, will serve as interim chief, Scott told officials on the call.
Scott, a career official, was appointed head of the border agency in January 2020 and enthusiastically embraced then-President Donald Trump’s policies, particularly on building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. President Joe Biden has canceled wall construction, one of his predecessor’s top priorities.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Scott hasn’t responded to a text or phone message.
It isn’t the first time a Border Patrol chief has left with a change in presidential administration. Trump ousted Mark Morgan, a former FBI agent and the first outsider to lead the agency in its 97-year history, during his first week in office. It came less than a year after Morgan took the job during the Obama administration.
After his ouster, Morgan became a familiar face on cable television, fiercely defending Trump’s border policies and getting back in the president’s good graces before Trump brought him back to the administration. As acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Morgan appointed Scott to lead the Border Patrol.
The head of the Border Patrol leads an agency of nearly 20,000 agents, is appointed by the CBP commissioner and not subject to Senate confirmation. In April, Biden nominated Chris Magnus, the police chief of Tucson, Arizona, to lead the Border Patrol’s parent agency.
Scott, who spent much of his career in San Diego, became an agent in 1992 when San Diego was by far the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Traffic plummeted after the government dramatically increased enforcement there, but critics note the effort pushed people to remote parts of California and Arizona, where thousands have died in the heat.
San Diego was also where wall construction began in the 1990s, which shaped Scott’s belief that barriers work.
“It wasn’t, ‘Do it in San Diego and stop,'” he told The Associated Press in a 2019 interview. “It was, ‘Let’s prove what works and then let’s copy it on the southwest border so we can improve security for the whole United States.”
When Scott was named San Diego sector chief in 2017, he devoted most of his remarks at a change-of-command ceremony to how the area evolved from the early 1990s. He shared the same story, in abbreviated form, with Trump on live television when the president toured border wall prototypes four months later. Trump often cited San Diego as a model of what he hoped to achieve along the border.
Scott refused to fall in line with a Biden administration directive to stop using terms like “illegal alien” in favor of descriptions like “migrant.”
His relatively short tenure as chief was largely dominated by COVID-19 and a pandemic-related ban on seeking asylum that was introduced in March 2020 and remains in place.
U.S. authorities recorded more than 180,000 encounters on the Mexican border in May, the most since March 2000. But the numbers were boosted by the ban, which has encouraged repeat attempts to cross because getting caught carries no legal consequences.
Biden has exempted unaccompanied children, allowing them to pursue humanitarian protection in U.S. immigration courts. Nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children were picked up along the border in March, by far the highest month on record. April was second highest and May was third highest.
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Month: June 2021
US Jobless Benefit Claims Eased Slightly Last Week
Jobless benefit claims eased marginally in the United States last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The world’s biggest economy is on a path toward recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, but even so, 411,000 newly laid-off workers filed for unemployment compensation last week, down 7,000 from the revised figure of the week before, the agency said.It was the second straight week that the weekly figure topped 400,000, and the number remains well above the weekly average of less than 300,000 in 2019 before the pandemic swept into the U.S. in March 2020. US Unemployment Claims Reach Lowest in Over a YearWorld’s largest economy continues to show signs it is recovering from coronavirus pandemicState governors and municipal officials have been ending coronavirus restrictions, in many cases allowing businesses for the first time in a year to completely reopen to customers. That could lead to more hiring of workers.More than 56% of U.S. adults have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, boosting the economic recovery, although the pace of inoculations has dropped markedly from its peak several weeks ago. Officials in many states are now offering a variety of incentives to entice the unvaccinated to get inoculated, including entry into lucrative lotteries for cash and free college tuition. Still, the White House said this week it does not expect that the U.S. will meet President Joe Biden’s goal of 70% of adult Americans with at least one vaccination by the Independence Day holiday on July 4. The figure now stands shy of that at 65.6%. The U.S. added 559,000 jobs in May, more than twice the 266,000 in April. Still, about 9.3 million people remain unemployed in the U.S., according to the government. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress this week that the U.S. economy continues to show “sustained improvement” with ongoing increases in the number of available jobs. But he voiced concern that the recovery remains uneven, with joblessness hurting lower-wage workers, Blacks and Hispanics the most.Powell predicted that jobs gains “should pick up in coming months.”With the business reopenings, 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 openings. The jobless rate fell to 5.8% in May, still higher than the 3.5% rate in March 2020 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 25 of the 50 states, all led by Republican governors, have started ending participation in the federal payments program, 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.Some economists say, however, other factors prevent people from returning to work, such as lack of child care or fear of contracting the coronavirus.The economic picture in the U.S. has advanced as money from Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure has likely boosted 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. With more money in their wallets and more people vaccinated, Americans are venturing back to some sense of normalcy, going out to restaurants and spending money on items they had not purchased for a year. Biden is proposing an additional $4 trillion in government spending on infrastructure repairs and assistance for children and families, but the overall package has been met with stiff resistance from Republicans. The fate of the proposals in the politically divided Congress remains uncertain, but a group of 10 centrist Republican and Democratic U.S. senators appears to have reached a tentative infrastructure deal with the White House, and Biden is set to discuss it with them on Thursday. Biden’s other spending proposals remain in limbo.
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Germany’s Greens Dip as Christian Democrats Pledge Painless Climate Action
Germany’s Green party was riding high in opinion polls until recently, but signs are now emerging of voters worrying how climate-action policies could impact their livelihoods and lives.
And the old political tactic by traditional parties of labeling the Greens as a nagging, didactic “prohibition party” is beginning to resonate once again.
Christian Democrat leader Armin Laschet has been quick to seize on the Greens’ call for a hike in gas prices, accusing them of wanting to punish poor motorists and of being too ready to ignore the needs of less-well-off Germans living in the countryside and small towns.
The Greens are falling back in the opinion polls just weeks after overtaking Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives to become momentarily the most popular party in Germany. In May, the Greens surged past the Social Democrats to capture second place in European parliamentary elections, fueling their hopes of pulling off an era-defining performance in Germany’s September elections and even of securing the chancellorship in a coalition government.
But their popularity is dipping, prompting some commentators to question whether Germans are ready to be as green as the Greens, despite a recent poll.
And the party is not being helped by new questions over the professional ethics of their co-leader, Annalena Baerbock, also the party’s candidate for chancellor in September, say commentators.
“It’s an embarrassing series of mistakes,” according to columnist Silke Mertins, writing for German daily Die Tageszeitung, a paper sympathetic to the Greens.
“It is highly unprofessional that the Greens did not put their candidate through their paces in order to find precisely such errors and to know their weak points. What did the campaign team think that the competition was throwing cotton balls?” he said. He added: “The Greens were widely praised for their professional approach. Now it turns out, however, that this praise was premature.”
The Greens’ opponents have been quick to try to capitalize on the missteps. CDU federal vice-president Thomas Strobl has reproached Baerbock for undermining her own moral standards. He said it is surprising that Baerbock forgot to report the additional party income. “That is very difficult to reconcile,” he said.FILE – Germany’s Green party co-chair, Annalena Baerbock, a candidate for chancellor, gives an interview before her party’s federal delegates’ conference, in Berlin, Germany, June 10, 2021.Baerbock was forced also to acknowledge breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare thousands of euros she received from her party in addition to her salary as a federal lawmaker. The lapses have allowed critics to cast doubt on whether the 40-year-old is ready for the highest office.
The impact has been immediate — Baerbock’s popularity has plummeted by 12% and she is now trailing the CDU’s Laschet, who only weeks ago was seen as a weak and lackluster candidate for the chancellorship. The latest monthly opinion survey by polling institute INSA puts the Greens’ voter support at 20%, well behind the CDU’s 28%.
The Greens fared poorly in a recent regional election in the impoverished eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the Greens secured just under 6% of the vote — much less than forecast. The CDU did much better than predicted.
Nonetheless earlier this month at a digital Green party conference, where members formally endorsed her as their chancellor candidate, Baerbock declared: “For the first time in decades, real change is in the air.” And she says she remains optimistic that the country is ready for a shake-up after Angela Merkel.
Merkel announced in October 2018 that she would be stepping down as chancellor in 2021. She has served as chancellor since 2005 and her decision followed a series of election reversals for the CDU. “After the pandemic, the focus must be on revitalizing this country together,” Baerbock said.
At the conference she and co-leader Robert Habeck managed to see off quietly rebellious members who wanted even more ambitious climate-action goals and much higher carbon dioxide emission pricing and taxes. FILE – North Rhine-Westphalia’s State Premier Armin Laschet, a candidate for chancellor of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, speaks at the regional CDU assembly in Duesseldorf, Germany, June 5, 2021.Habeck and Baerbock, who took over as party leaders in 2018, have been credited for maturing green policies, making them more business friendly, and for transforming the party from being an insignificant, impractical fringe player into a front-rank sophisticated political force. They have been helped by voters placing climate action high on the list of political priorities, according to polling data. The Greens are in coalition governments in 12 of Germany’s 16 state parliaments, seven of them alongside the Christian Democrats.
And party members are keen to win greater political power. “I have never seen the Greens this hungry to shape Germany’s future. After nearly sixteen years of sitting on the opposition benches, they are determined to take the chancellor’s office,” Roderick Kefferpütz, a German Green strategist, wrote in a commentary for the Atlantic Council, a New York-based think tank.
To counter accusations of being a party that wants to spoil lifestyles and upset livelihoods, the co-leaders frequently stress that the party is one of “Freiheit nicht Vorschrift” — freedom not regulation. But that has not stopped their political opponents from labeling them sticklers for tighter regulations.
As with other European Green parties, Germany’s Greens face an electoral dilemma. By proposing higher green taxes and measures that will make transportation, energy, and home heating more expensive, helping to shift the economy away from dependency on fossil fuels, they risk prompting a backlash, largely from middle-class and lower-income workers, as well as pensioners who can ill afford to bear the expense. But tempering green policies risks alienating climate-action activists and young urban supporters.
Whoever forms the next government in Germany will have no choice but to press on with climate-action measures. In April, Germany’s highest court ruled that a 2019 federal law mandating that the country reduces carbon emissions to nearly zero by 2050 does not go far enough. “The provisions irreversibly offload major emission reduction burdens on to periods after 2030” and on those who are now young, the court decided.
The law has to be revised by the end of next year, front loading cuts in emissions. Laschet has pledged to do so. Unveiling this week, the election manifesto of the CDU and its sister Bavarian party, the Christian Social Union, he said: “We combine consistent climate protection with economic strength and social security.”
The group set out brand goals to invest in technologies, from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to hydrogen and solar power, while promoting growth. But the bloc leaders also said climate policies to reduce levels of carbon dioxide “must be economical” and they ruled out higher fuel taxes, bans on diesel cars and flights and speed restrictions on highways, saying climate-neutral policies can be achieved through technological innovation.
“You can do green politics without the Greens,” Markus Söder, Bavarian state premier and CSU leader said.
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Lawyer Says Death of McAfee Surprised US Mogul’s Family
Authorities in Spain say that a judge has ordered an autopsy on the remains of John McAfee, the gun-loving antivirus pioneer, cryptocurrency promoter and occasional politician who died in a cell pending extradition to the United States for allegedly evading millions in unpaid taxes.
A court spokeswoman for the Catalonia region said Thursday that a forensic team would need to perform toxicology tests on McAfee’s body to determine the cause of death and that results could take “days or weeks.”
Authorities have said that everything at the scene indicated that the 75-year-old tycoon killed himself.
The judicial investigation is being handled by a court in Martorell, a town northwest of Barcelona with jurisdiction over the prison where McAfee died. The spokeswoman wasn’t authorized to be identified by name in media reports.
McAfee’s Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said the entrepreneur’s death had come as a surprise to his wife and other relatives, adding he would seek to get “to the bottom” of his client’s death.
“This has been like pouring cold water on the family and on his defense team,” Villalba told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Nobody expected it, he had not said goodbye.”
Although Villalba said that he had no evidence of any foul play, he blamed the death on “the cruelty of the system” for keeping a 75-year-old behind bars for economic and not blood-related crimes after judges refused to release him on bail.
“We had managed to nullify seven of the 10 counts he was accused of and even so he was still that dangerous person who could be fleeing Spain if he was released?” the lawyer said. “He was a world eminence, where could he hide?”
Spain’s National Court on Monday ruled that McAfee should be extradited to the U.S. to face charges for evading more than $4 million in the fiscal years 2016 to 2018. The judge dropped seven of the 10 counts in the initial indictment.
Villalba said that McAfee had learned about the ruling shortly after on Monday and that his death on Wednesday didn’t come in the heat of the moment. He also said that the legal team had been preparing with him an appeal to avoid being extradited.
A penitentiary source told AP that McAfee was sharing a cell in the Brians 2 jail where he had been put in preventive detention since he was arrested in October last year on a U.S. warrant, but that at the moment of his death he had been alone.
Prosecutors in Tennessee accused McAfee of failing to report income from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, earnings made in speaking engagements and for selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. The criminal charges carried a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
The British-born entrepreneur led an eccentric life after selling his stake in the antivirus software company named after him in the early 1990s. He twice made long-shot runs for the U.S. presidency.
McAfee often professed his love for drugs and guns in public remarks. And some of his actions landed him in legal trouble beyond Tennessee, from Central America to the Caribbean. In 2012, he was sought for questioning in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime.
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US Hong Kongers Reflect on Changes to the Island Since 1997
July 1 marks the 24th anniversary of the moment when Hong Kong reverted from a British colony back to Chinese rule. While changes to the financial hub were gradual at first, China has been quickly reshaping Hong Kong in the past year. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more.Camera: Songlin Zhang, Suli Yi
Produced by: Elizabeth Lee
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US, Germany Launch Effort to Counter Holocaust Denial
The United States and Germany are partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said will “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.”Speaking Thursday at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.”“That’s why we have to find innovative ways to bring the history of the Holocaust to life, not only to understand the past, but also to guide our present and to shape our future,” Blinken said.He and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas signed a document on the partnership. Blinken said the two governments would work to strengthen education and counter denial and distortion, helping public servants and young people understand the Holocaust and antisemitism in depth and to feel a responsibility to stop atrocities.“This dialogue will help us remember all that can be lost, but also help us to see all that we can save if we choose — if we choose — to stand up rather than stand by,” Blinken said.Libya conferenceEarlier Thursday, Blinken and Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba held talks in Berlin on the heels of an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government. “I’m so pleased to have this opportunity to see you, to see the foreign minister, to see your delegation, especially after the very good, good day we had yesterday, which I think demonstrated again the very strong support on the part of the international community, the United Nations for Libya, for a strong, positive future as a unified, independent, stable country without any foreign interference,” Blinken said at the start of Thursday’s meeting. Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December. A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters Wednesday that the elections are important “not just to legitimize a long-term, credible Libyan government,” but also to help achieve the goal of carrying out an existing call for all foreign fighters to leave the country. “A fully empowered, legitimate Libyan government will be in a much stronger position to turn to some of these foreign actors and say, ‘Thank you very much, it’s our country now and we’d like to be the ones to define the security cooperation relationships that we’re going to have and not have them imposed on us,’” the official said. An official statement from conference attendees said, “all foreign forces and mercenaries need to be withdrawn from Libya without delay,” but on that point Turkey noted its reservations. The senior State Department official said Turkey sees its personnel in Libya acting as trainers based on an agreement it had with a previous interim government, the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord. Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days. ‘Real world’ solution
At a news conference following Wednesday’s conference, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said there was progress toward the exit of the foreign fighters and that “hopefully within the coming days mercenaries from both sides are going to be withdrawn.” A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters that achieving that goal is an important step that now “has to be made operational.” “There’s a process here, and saying, ‘All means all and they all leave tonight – why haven’t they left tonight? Will they leave tomorrow night?’ is not, frankly, a realistic approach in a real-world situation such as Libya,” the official said. Next stop France, then Italy
Blinken is on a multi-nation tour that next brings him to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron, following up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meetings with allies in the region to boost transatlantic relations.“This is really an opportunity for Secretary Blinken to reiterate the president’s message and speak with our oldest ally about areas of cooperation, including global security, again, recovery from the pandemic, and repairing and modernizing our alliances,” Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told reporters Monday. Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of a conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Rome. The top U.S. diplomat will also participate in a ministerial meeting in Italy to discuss Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Reeker said the agenda includes combating climate change and human trafficking.
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China to Challenge Australia Anti-dumping Measures at WTO
China said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization challenging Australia’s anti-dumping measures on a range of goods, marking further escalation in tensions between the two countries.The suit — regarding Chinese exports of train wheels, wind turbines and stainless-steel sinks — comes a week after Canberra challenged Beijing’s crippling tariffs on Australian wine exports.It aims to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said at a regular briefing Thursday.“We hope that Australia will take concrete actions to correct its wrong practices, avoid distortions in the trade of related products, and bring such trade back to the normal track as soon as possible.”Australia has imposed tariffs on Chinese-built train wheels and wind turbines since 2019.Trade Minister Dan Tehan told reporters in Canberra that Australia will “vigorously defend the duties that we have put in place.”He said although Canberra wanted a “constructive engagement with the Chinese government” the measures were implemented “after a rigorous analysis.”“Why they’ve taken this action now is a question that you would have to ask China,” he added.China in November announced tariffs of up to 218% on Australian wines, which it said were being “dumped” into the Chinese market at subsidized prices.The crackdown virtually closed what had been Australia’s biggest overseas wine market, with sales falling from Aus$1.1 billion (US$ 840 million) to just Aus$20 million, according to official figures.Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that his government would respond forcefully to countries trying to use “economic coercion” against Australia.The decision last week “to defend Australia’s winemakers” came six months after Canberra lodged a separate protest at the WTO over tariffs on Australian barley, exports of which to China had been worth around U.S. $1 billion a year.Beijing has imposed tough economic sanctions on a range of Australian products in recent months, ranging from high tariffs to disruptive practices across several agricultural sectors and tourism.On Monday, Gao said China “opposes the abuse of trade remedy measures, which not only damages the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but also hurts the solemnness and authority of WTO rules.”But the tit-for-tat measures are widely seen in Canberra as punishment for pushing back against Beijing’s operations to impose influence in Australia, rejecting Chinese investment in sensitive areas and publicly calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.Earlier this month a summit of the G-7 advanced economies echoed Australia’s call for a tougher stand against China’s trade practices and its more assertive stance globally.The leaders’ meeting ended with the announcement of U.S.-led plans to counter China’s trillion-dollar “Belt and Road Initiative,” the hallmark of its efforts to extend economic influence around the world.
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Biden Fires Head of US Federal Housing Finance Agency After Court Ruling
U.S. President Joe Biden has fired the head of the agency that oversees major mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after a Supreme Court ruling made it easier for a president to do so.In a 7-2 ruling Wednesday, the court said a rule that the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency could only be removed “for cause” was unconstitutional.“The removal power helps the President maintain a degree of control over the subordinates he needs to carry out his duties as the head of the Executive Branch, and it works to ensure that these subordinates serve the people effectively and in accordance with the policies that the people presumably elected the President to promote,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.Justices made a similar ruling involving the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau last year.Shortly after the ruling, FHFA Director Mark Calabria said in a statement, “I respect the Supreme Court’s decision and the authority of the President to remove the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director.”Calabria was appointed to lead the agency by former President Donald Trump and confirmed to the post in 2019 for a five-year term.The agency issued a statement Wednesday saying Biden had named Sandra Thompson to serve as the acting head of the FHFA.Thompson had been serving as the deputy director of the agency’s Division of Housing Mission and Goals, and said she was honored to take the acting director role until a permanent director is confirmed.
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Campaigners Urge Australia to Rescue Former Interpreters in Afghanistan
Australia is being urged to agree to an immediate emergency evacuation of Afghans who worked for its military during the long conflict in Afghanistan.Campaigners this week released a list of the names of nine Afghans who worked for Australia during the conflict in Afghanistan and were allegedly murdered as “traitors” by the Taliban in reprisal attacks. This is despite a recent announcement the Taliban made pledging they would not retaliate against Afghans who worked with foreign groups.Islamic militants are attempting to retake control of Afghanistan as foreign forces leave.Interpreters played a key role during the conflict. Campaigners have said about 1,000 Afghans are still going through Australia’s visa process, but they say it is taking too long.Stuart McCarthy, an ex-Australian soldier who was deployed to Afghanistan twice, has been an advocate for former Afghan interpreters and other staff. He said he believes the closure last month of the Australian Embassy in Kabul has made it much harder for the interpreters to leave Afghanistan safely.He has submitted an emergency evacuation plan to the Australian government.McCarthy told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the rescue mission should be undertaken without delay.“It could still be conducted very rapidly, very effectively and in my view, it would be a very good way for us to end our 20-year-long military commitment to Afghanistan, and in my view now if we are not making these sorts of decisions today or tomorrow essentially what we will be doing is allowing these civilians to be slaughtered by the Taliban,” he said. “And our own government, including our prime minister, would have blood on their hands.”Senior foreign affairs officials in Canberra have conceded that locals who worked with the Australian military in Afghanistan are in danger.Australia’s Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has tried to assure Afghan interpreters waiting for a protection visa they were being given “the highest priority in the humanitarian program.”Hawke said 180 visas had been issued since April, but he would not reveal how many applications were still being assessed because of “operational and security reasons.”Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie told the Federal Senate that it was “absolutely shameful” to leave the interpreters without protection.“The world,” she said, “is watching how we treat our mates.”
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Thai Protesters Return to Streets Demanding Constitutional Changes
Hundreds of Thai pro-democracy protesters took to the streets on Thursday, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and constitutional changes that would curb the influence of the country’s powerful monarchy.The rally, which defied a ban on public gatherings due to the pandemic, comes as Prayuth’s government faces public criticism over its handling of coronavirus outbreaks, a slow economic recovery and a vaccine policy that involves a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.“The constitution must come from the people,” protest leader Jatupat “Pai Daodin” Boonpattararaksa told the crowd in the capital, Bangkok.Youth-led demonstrations last year attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country, but they stalled after security forces began cracking down on rallies, detaining protest leaders and after new waves of COVID-19 infections broke out.Protesters had broken traditional taboos by criticizing the king, risking prosecution under a strict lese majeste law that makes insulting or defaming the king, queen, heir and regent punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Most of the protest leaders have been released on bail.In March, several dozen were injured when police fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a protest.Thursday’s rally, which also included some former Prayuth supporters, marks the day when Thailand declared an end to absolute monarchy on June 24, 1932.“In 89 years since the end of absolutism we have not got anywhere,” Jatupat said.About 2,500 police officers had been deployed to maintain order, said the deputy head of Bangkok police, Piya Tavichai.“A gathering at this time in not appropriate because it could lead to further spread of the virus.”
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Final Edition for Hong Kong’s Apple Daily
Hong Kong’s Apple Daily has printed its last edition as national security law charges leveled against its founder and executives force the paper out of business. VOA’s Jessica Jerreat has details.
Camera: VOA Mandarin Producer: Miguel Amaya
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US Lawmakers in Marathon Debate on Big Tech Regulation Bills
U.S. lawmakers debated into the night Wednesday over details of legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech firms with a sweeping reform of antitrust laws.The House Judiciary Committee clashed over a series of bills with potentially massive implications for large online platforms and consumers who use them.The legislation could force an overhaul of the business practices of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, or potentially lead to a breakup of the dominant tech giants. But critics argue the measures could have unintended consequences that would hurt consumers and some of the most popular online services.Rep. David Cicilline, who headed a 16-month investigation that led to the legislation, said the bills are aimed at restoring competition in markets stymied by monopolies.”The digital marketplace suffers from a lack of competition. Many digital markets are defined by monopolies or duopoly control,” Cicilline said as the hearing opened.”Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are gatekeepers to the online economy. They bury or by rivals and abuse their monopoly power conduct that is harmful to consumers, competition, innovation and our democracy.”The bills would restrict how online platforms operate, notably whether tech giants operating them could favor their own products or services.The measures would also limit mergers or acquisitions by Big Tech firms aimed at limiting competition and make it easier for users to try new services by requiring data “portability” and “interoperability.”The fate of the bills remained unclear, with some Republicans and moderate Democrats expressing concerns despite bipartisan support.Clash points included whether it is right to target laws at four big tech companies and whether government agencies will hobble them instead of letting them adapt to competition.”The interoperability measure is a huge step backwards,” said Oregon Republican Cliff Bentz. “Big Tech is certainly not perfect. This bill is not the way to fix the problem.”Representative Zoe Lofgren said she hoped the bill would include more measures for data privacy and security but endorses the concept.“The big platforms have all your information. And if you can’t move it, then you’re really a prisoner of that platform,” she said. “Who wants to leave a platform if they’ve got all your baby pictures and all of your videos of your grandchildren, locked up?”As the session stretched into the night, some members of the body lobbied to adjourn and resume the work another day.’They make it worse’Republican Representative Ken Buck, a supporter of the overhaul, said the legislation “represents a scalpel, not a chainsaw, to deal with the most important aspects of antitrust reform,” in dealing with “these monopolists (who) routinely use their gatekeeper power to crush competitors, harm innovation and destroy the free market.”But Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican, criticized the effort, renewing his argument that Big Tech firms suppress conservative voices.”These bills don’t fix that problem — they make it worse,” Jordan said. “They don’t break up Big Tech. They don’t stop censorship.”Steve Chabot, another Republican, called the initiative “an effort for big government to take over Big Tech.”The panel approved on a 29-12 vote a bill that was the least controversial, increasing merger filing fees to give more funding for antitrust enforcement.Tech firms and others warned of negative consequences for popular services people rely on, potentially forcing Apple to remove its messaging apps from the iPhone or Google to stop displaying results from YouTube or Maps.Apple released a report arguing that one likely impact — opening up the iPhone to apps from outside platforms — could create security and privacy risks for users.Forcing Apple to allow “sideloading” of apps would mean “malicious actors would take advantage of the opportunity by devoting more resources to develop sophisticated attacks targeting iOS users,” the report said.Amazon vice president Brian Huseman warned of “significant negative effects” both for sellers and consumers using the e-commerce platform, and reduced-price competition.”It will be much harder for these third-party sellers to create awareness for their business,” Huseman said.”Removing the selection of these sellers from Amazon’s store would also create less price competition for products, and likely end up increasing prices for consumers. The committee is moving unnecessarily fast in pushing these bills forward.”The measures may also impact other firms including Microsoft, which has not been the focus of the House antitrust investigation but which links services such as Teams messaging and Bing search to its Windows platform, and possibly other firms.
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Britney Spears Tells Judge: ‘I Want My Life Back’
After 13 years of near silence in the conservatorship that controls her life and money, Britney Spears passionately told a judge Wednesday that she wants to end the “abusive” case that has made her feel demoralized and enslaved.Speaking in open court for the first time in the case, Spears condemned her father and others who control the conservatorship, which she said has compelled her to take birth control and other medications against her will and has prevented her from getting married or having another child.”This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good,” the 39-year-old Spears said. “I deserve to have a life.”She spoke rapidly and sprinkled profanity into the written speech that lasted more than 20 minutes as her parents, fans and journalists listed to an audio livestream. Many of the details Spears revealed have been carefully guarded by the court for years.Spears told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny that “I want to end this conservatorship without being evaluated.”Penny thanked the pop star for her “courageous” words but made no rulings. A long legal process is likely before any decision is made on terminating the conservatorship.Spears said she wants to marry her boyfriend Sam Asghari and have a baby with him, but she is not allowed to even drive with him.”All I want is to own my money and for this to end and for my boyfriend to be able to drive me in his (expletive) car,” Spears said.”I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” Spears said, adding at another point, “I want my life back.”‘Exploiting my life’When an attorney representing her co-conservator said the hearing and transcript should be kept sealed if private medical information was to be revealed, Spears shouted her down, saying her words should be public.”They’ve done a good job at exploiting my life,” Spears said, “so I feel like it should be an open court hearing and they should listen and hear what I have to say.”She went on to say she was forced to take lithium — which made her feel “drunk” — after rehearsals broke down for a Vegas residency in 2019, which was subsequently canceled.She said all she had done was disagree with one part of the show’s choreography.”I’m not here to be anyone’s slave,” she said. “I can say no to a dance move.””Not only did my family not do a goddamn thing, my dad was all for it,” Spears said.She accused her father of relishing his power over her, as he showed when she failed a series of psychological tests in 2019 and forced her to go into a mental hospital.”I cried on the phone for an hour, and he loved every minute of it,” Spears said. “The control he had over someone as powerful as me, as he loved the control to hurt his own daughter 100,000%.”Spears said she felt forced to do the Las Vegas residency on the heels of a tour, and felt like a great weight was lifted when it was canceled. She has not performed or recorded since.Spears also said several nurses often watch her every move, not even letting her change her clothes in private.’I am traumatized’Vivian Thoreen, attorney for Spears’ father James Spears, gave a brief statement on his behalf after conferring with him during a recess.”He is sorry to see his daughter suffering and in so much pain,” Thoreen said. “Mr. Spears loves his daughter and misses her very much.”James Spears serves as co-conservator of his daughter’s finances, and also had control of her life decisions for most of the conservatorship. He currently serves as co-conservator of her finances.Britney Spears said her years-long public silence has falsely created the impression that she approved of her circumstances.”I’ve lied and told the whole world, ‘I’m OK, I’m happy,'” she said. “I’ve been in denial, I’ve been in shock. I am traumatized.”More than 100 fans from the so called #FreeBritney movement gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing, holding signs that read “Free Britney now!” and “Get out of Britney’s life!”Fan Marissa Cooper was inside the courtroom and cried and occasionally clapped during the remarks.”It was insane,” Cooper said outside court. “Everyone that’s been following this has been called crazy since the beginning, and conspiracy theorists, so it just feels really, really good to actually hear it from her.”Spears said she has not felt heard in any of her previous appearances before the court, all of which were sealed from the public.Her court-appointed attorney, Samuel Ingham III, said he made no attempt to “control, or filter, or edit” his client’s words. He said Spears has not officially asked him to file a petition to end the conservatorship.Spears said she had done research that showed her conservatorship could be ended without further evaluation of her. But under California law, the burden would be on her to prove she is competent to manage her own affairs, and an intensive investigation and evaluation is probably inevitable before it can come to an end.The conservatorship was put in place as she underwent a mental health crisis in 2008. She has credited its initial establishment with saving her from financial ruin and keeping her a top-flight pop star.Her father and his attorneys have emphasized that she and her fortune, which court records put at more than $50 million, remain vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. Under the law, the burden would be on Spears to prove she is competent before the case could end.
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US Restricts Exports to 5 Chinese Firms Over Alleged Rights Violations
The United States on Wednesday restricted exports to five Chinese companies that it said were implicated in Chinese human rights violations, including large producers of polysilicon for the solar panel industry.The companies added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List include Hoshine Silicon Industry Co.; Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co., a unit of Daqo New Energy Corp.; Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., a subsidiary of Shanghai-based manufacturing giant East Hope Group; Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Co.; and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).At least some of the companies are major manufacturers of monocrystalline silicon and polysilicon that are used in solar panel production.The companies were listed over human rights violations and abuses of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, according to a government filing on Wednesday. The department said the firms were accepting or utilizing forced labor.U.S. officials had suggested that the Biden administration was considering restrictions on Chinese solar producers in Xinjiang, where much of the global supply of polysilicon used in solar panels is sourced.”It is my understanding that the Biden administration is right now in the process of assessing whether or not that will be the target of sanctions,” Biden climate envoy John Kerry told the U.S. House of Representatives in May, referring to solar products in Xinjiang.Powerful unitThe XPCC was sent to Xinjiang in the 1950s to build farms and settlements. It remains powerful in the region’s energy and agriculture sectors, operating almost like a parallel state.Foreign governments and human rights activists say it has been a force in the crackdown and surveillance of Uyghurs in the region, running some detention camps. The U.S. Treasury Department last year sanctioned XPCC for “serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities.”In March, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on two more Chinese officials — including Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Party Committee of XPCC — in connection with serious human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, where Washington said ethnic Muslims have been the victims of genocide.
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McAfee Antivirus Software Creator Found Dead in Spanish Prison
John McAfee, creator of the McAfee antivirus software, has been found dead in his cell in a jail near Barcelona, a government official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Hours earlier, a Spanish court issued a preliminary ruling in favor of the 75-year-old tycoon’s extradition to the United States to face tax-related criminal charges.
Security personnel at the Brians 2 penitentiary near the northeastern Spanish city tried to revive him, but the jail’s medical team finally certified his death, a statement from the regional Catalan government said.
The statement didn’t identify McAfee by name, but said he was a 75-year-old U.S. citizen awaiting extradition to his country. A Catalan government source familiar with the event who was not authorized to be named in media reports confirmed to the AP that the dead man was McAfee.
Spain’s National Court on Monday ruled in favor of extraditing McAfee, who had argued in a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the U.S.
The court’s ruling was made public on Wednesday and could be appealed. Any final extradition order would also need to get approval from the Spanish Cabinet.
Tennessee prosecutors charged McAfee with evading taxes after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consultancy work, as well as income from speaking engagements and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. The criminal charges carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
The entrepreneur was arrested last October at Barcelona’s international airport. A judge ordered at that time that McAfee should be held in jail while awaiting the outcome of a hearing on extradition.
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‘Dangerous’ Heat Warning Issued for US Pacific Northwest
The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) is warning that extreme heat will strike portions of the U.S. Pacific Northwest later this week, and that temperatures could exceed 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 F) for only the third time in history, in a region where many lack air conditioning.The NWS Weather Prediction Center on Wednesday described the coming heat wave as “record-breaking and dangerous.” It is expected to impact much of Washington state, Oregon, northwestern Idaho and northern California.⚠️Record-Breaking and Dangerous Heatwave coming to the West. Over 80 sites are forecast to break daily high temperature records starting this weekend. All-time June monthly records could also be broken in some locations in the Pacific Northwest. https://t.co/L4FyvSS6ljpic.twitter.com/ouyIvWG3Fd— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) June 23, 2021The weather service says more than 80 sites are forecast to break daily high temperature records late this week, and all-time June monthly records could also be broken in some Pacific Northwest locations.Areas of Washington state and Oregon are facing a high risk of excessive heat, particularly Saturday and Sunday, the weather service said, warning that heat-related illnesses are likely for some and expressing concern for residents without adequate air conditioning. The region, which usually sees very mild temperatures, is particularly poorly equipped to handle extreme heat. The Seattle Times newspaper, citing census data, says Seattle, in Washington state, is the least air-conditioned city in the U.S., with cooling systems in only about a third of its homes. Portland, in the state of Oregon, to the south, comes in third.The NWS predicts that the heat wave will extend into next week. More than 55% of the western U.S. is experiencing an extreme or exceptional drought, according to The Washington Post.
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Supreme Court Rules in Student’s Favor in Free-speech Case
In a high-profile free speech case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a school can’t regulate most off-campus speech by its students. In its 8-1 ruling, the court said, “While public schools may have a special interest in regulating some off-campus student speech, the special interests offered by the school are not sufficient to overcome B.L.’s interest in free expression in this case.”The case stems from the actions of former Pennsylvania high school cheerleader Brandi Levy, who lashed out at her school on Snapchat on a Saturday in 2017 after not making the varsity team.Using coarse language, she expressed her disdain for school, cheerleading, softball and “everything.”In response, her school said she’d violated the code of conduct and suspended her from cheerleading for a year.Justice Stepen Breyer, writing for the majority, however, said a school could intervene in some cases, such as speech that involves bullying or threats to teachers or students.Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.School district’s positionThe Mahanoy Area School District in which Levy was enrolled argued that with the spread of technology and the prevalence of remote learning brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the lines between on-campus and off-campus speech had been blurred.Levy’s parents asked her school to lift the suspension, but when it refused, they filed a federal lawsuit saying the school was violating their daughter’s free-speech rights. A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled in favor of the parents as did the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said students “have the right to find their voices without being unduly chilled,” adding that “government may not penalize speech because listeners find it offensive or even disagreeable.”Levy, who is now in college, said she’d sent the message to vent her frustration.”I was a 14-year-old kid expressing my feelings and that’s how kids do it, over social media,” she said, NBC News reported.
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Somalia’s First Female Taekwondo Athlete to Compete in Tokyo
With the Olympics in Tokyo now just a month away, Somalia is set to send its first female taekwondo athlete to the games in Japan.
No athlete representing Somalia has ever a won a medal at the Olympics, but 20-year-old Munirah Warsame is working hard to be the first when she competes at the summer games.
The taekwondo athlete was born in Britain after her parents fled violence in Somalia.
Warsame says flying the flag of her home country in Japan will be a proud moment.
“Feelings of representing my country in the Olympics for the first time is unreal as I have dreamed about this my whole life since literally the age of six when I first started Taekwondo. And also it is such an exciting experience; I foresaw it representing my home country for my first at the Olympics and, inshallah (God willing), I will do myself and my country proud,” Warsame said.
According to the Somali Olympics committee, at least six athletes will represent the country in Tokyo in three categories: taekwondo, boxing, and track and field.
Taekwondo coach Dudley Ricardo says his team is very well prepared despite its financial challenges.
“The potential of the Somali national team is looking quite bright and promising. I believe we have a small but strong current team with up-and-coming young team members and we will be able to see much more results in future competitions. The only restraints we have is funding to allow the athletes’ valuable ring time and more competitions and training camps,” Ricardo said.
Taekwondo is not a well-known sport in Somalia. But Ahmed Issa, the vice president of the Somali Taekwondo Federation says it is conducting and outreach and awareness campaign in the country to find more capable athletes like Warsame who could represent Somalia in international competitions.
“[The] Somali taekwondo federation is planning to recruit more youth to take the sport especially in universities, colleges, and schools. We try to do our free training sessions and hire special coaches from the international level so people are really interested to be part of [the] taekwondo sport,” Issa said.
More than 11,000 athletes from around the world are expected to participate in the Tokyo games, which were rescheduled from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Ethiopia Vote Concludes Amid Fresh Violence in Tigray
Long before sunrise on June 21, 2021, Ethiopians in the capital queued to vote in the country’s first election in six years. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said it would be the country’s “first attempt at a free and fair election.” “I came early to vote for whom I believe will bring us a bright future,” said Tenaye Melkamu, wearing a pink knit hat and thick scarf. Now, officials are tallying the ballots in the prime minister’s first electoral contest after more than three years in office. And as the country awaits results, the northern Tigray region is once again plagued by violence as it approaches eight months of war.Ethiopian officials said voting was finishing and preliminary results would be known in five days, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 22, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)”No one is moving now,” one young man told VOA from his home in Tigray, after describing a day and a half of chaos and fear. He cannot be named for security reasons. Three different militaries have controlled his town in the past two days, where several houses have been destroyed and three people have been killed, he said. In another part of Tigray, witnesses reported a bomb dropped by a plane killed dozens of people and wounded dozens more, according to Reuters news. The road to the regional capital, Mekelle, is also closed, preventing wounded patients from reaching the main hospital. Many voters arrived at polling stations before the 6 a.m. start time, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)In the capital, Addis Ababa, the roads were calm and people seemed somewhat relieved on Wednesday. Voting had been tense with many people waiting long hours because of missing ballots and election workers. By Monday night, after the polls were supposed to close, millions of would-be voters were still waiting to cast their ballots across several regions. “I’m exhausted,” said Eden Hagos, a voter in central Addis Ababa, after waiting for about 10 hours on Monday evening. “Maybe I will go without voting. I have two children who have been at home all day.” Not voting But by Tuesday evening, officials said almost all of Ethiopia’s polling stations that had opened had finished accepting ballots. Preliminary results are expected within the coming days. About a fifth of country’s 547 parliamentary constituencies, however, were not voting. Opposition leaders said the election had hundreds of irregularities, such as missing ballots and, in some places, monitors being intimidated, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)The ballot was postponed in some areas for security reasons. In the Oromia region, two major opposition parties boycotted the election; in Tigray, there is no plan to reschedule the poll. “We already voted for our leaders,” said Belay Abera, a 67-year-old farmer who fled his home in Tigray at the beginning of the war. He was referring to local elections in 2020 when Tigrayans voted in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Tensions quickly escalated in the region as the government declared the Tigray election illegal, and soon war broke out. The government has since designated the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for almost two decades until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed in 2018, as a terrorist organization. Many voters said they were hopeful this election would turn out to be more free and fair than any previous Ethiopian elections, in Addis Ababa, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Postponed elections are expected to take place in September, but analysts say the war needs to be resolved before an election can be held in Tigray. “Of course, the people have the right to be represented, said Kiya Tsegaye, a lawyer and political analyst. “At the end of the day these people are part of Ethiopia and they have to see their representatives in the Ethiopian federal parliament.” However, he says, the 38 unfilled seats for Tigray are not enough to skew the electoral math, and he believes a government will be formed after results are announced. Many voters across the country waited long hours to cast their ballots, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)The conflict in Tigray has displaced about two million people and forced tens of thousands to flee the country. The African Union is investigating allegations of mass murders and rapes. Aid organizations say parts of the region are suffering from famine and millions of people are in danger of starvation. “The situation is set to get worse in the coming months, not only in Tigray, but in Afar and Amhara, as well,” said United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock, after informing colleagues that famine was already under way in Tigray. Future of government On Monday, Abiy spoke to reporters at the polls, saying, “You can see how it is a free and fair election … I hope it will be the best election in our history.” “There is no hunger in Tigray,” he said, adding: “There’s a problem in Tigray and the government is capable of fixing that.” Dr. Tawfik Abdullahi, a former ambassador and current parliamentary candidate, says the economy and security are the main issues on Ethiopian voters’ minds, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 22, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Abiy is widely expected to retain his seat after results are announced, and many voters say they have high hopes for his coming years as in office. All voters interviewed — regardless of who they supported — said the country needs peace and financial stability. “The problems we have are economical, which is inflation — two-digit inflation,” explained Dr. Tawfik Abdullahi, a former ambassador and current parliamentary candidate with the ruling Prosperity Party. “We have unemployed youth. We should strive to systematically and continuously create job opportunities. So, for this we need peace and tranquility.”
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Ethiopia’s Delayed Vote Concludes Amid Fresh Violence in Tigray
Officials are tallying the ballots in Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s first electoral contest after more than three years in office amid reports of new violence in the northern Tigray region. VOA’s Heather Murdock has more from Addis Ababa.Camera: Yan Boechat
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EU Chief Vows Action Against Hungary’s Anti-LGBT Measure
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday slammed an anti-LGBT measure passed by Hungary’s Parliament as “a shame” that goes against the fundamental values of the European Union. FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks in Ankara, Turkey, April 6, 2021.The bill, approved last week by Hungary’s right-wing ruling coalition in Parliament, would ban any educational programs, advertisements, books, movies or television programs depicting homosexuality or other gender minorities in a positive light. All except one right-wing opposition party boycotted the vote. The ruling party defends the legislation, saying it is designed to prevent pedophilia. But human rights groups say it will be used to harass and stigmatize Hungarian citizens based on sexual orientation and gender identities. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, von der Leyen said the Hungarian bill clearly discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation. She has asked commissioners of the EU’s executive branch to write a letter to Hungarian officials expressing the commission’s concerns before the bill enters into force. Von der Leyen said this is a matter of fundamental human rights, and she “will use all the powers of the commission to ensure that the rights of all EU citizens are guaranteed, whoever you are and wherever you live.”
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Myanmar’s Junta Leader Attends Military Conference in Moscow
The leader of Myanmar’s military junta on Wednesday attended an international conference in Moscow, an appearance that reflected Russia’s eagerness to develop ties with it despite international opprobrium.
The military in Myanmar ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, saying her party’s landslide victory in elections last November resulted from massive voter fraud. It has not produced credible evidence to back its claim.
Security forces have brutally suppressed widespread popular protests against the military takeover, killing hundreds of protesters and carrying out waves of arrests.
The junta’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, claimed in Wednesday’s speech at the conference organized by Russia’s Defense Ministry that it was trying to consolidate a democratic system in the country that has “degraded.”
On Tuesday, Min Aung Hlaing met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who hailed strong military cooperation between the countries.
“We pay special attention to this meeting as we see Myanmar as a time-tested strategic partner and a reliable ally in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region,” Shoigu said at the start of the meeting.
He added that “cooperation in the military and military-technical field is an important part of relations between Russia and Myanmar” and praised Min Aung Hlaing for strengthening the country’s military.
Shoigu said that Russia would work to expand ties with Myanmar based on “mutual understanding, respect and trust.”
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After Cameroon Government Ban from Western Regions, MSF Says Thousands Lack Healthcare
Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says tens of thousands of people in Cameroon’s western regions have been deprived of lifesaving healthcare since December, when authorities stopped their services. Cameroon accused the aid group of being too close to anglophone separatists, which the group denies. Doctors Without Borders says over 1.4 million people in Cameroon’s restive western regions need humanitarian support, with access to healthcare extremely limited.The coordinator for the group’s operations in Central Africa, Emmanuel Lampaert, said that’s due to insecurity, lockdowns, and the targeting of health facilities.He said mortality among vulnerable groups, such as women and children, has increased, and the government’s suspension of their support since December has made the situation even worse.”Humanitarian and health needs have surges due to the armed violence and notably for the population and several hundreds of thousands of them who have to flee their houses, and who have barriers to access health care. Concretely speaking, this means suffering from malaria or diarrhea for children in the bush, women in labor who are unable to reach health facilities, people suffering from acute respiratory infections, women victims of sexual violence and so on,” said Lampaert.Cameroon’s government in 2020 accused Doctors Without Borders of being too close to separatists who are fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French speaking country.Lampaert denied the accusation and said their only goal is to save lives.”Responding to urgent health needs is our mere and only concern. Viruses, bullets, and infections do not care which side of the crisis one is on and neither do the Doctors Without Borders. That is our DNA and that is the DNA of principled humanitarian medical action,” he said.When contacted by a reporter, Cameroon officials would not say when the aid group, known by its French initials MSF, might be allowed to resume work in the western regions.Cameroon’s health ministry last week reported about 30 percent of hospitals in the regions are no longer functioning due to separatist attacks.The health ministry said several hundred health care workers have fled the separatist conflict areas in the past month alone.Philip Ambe is a government health worker who fled flighting in the northwest town of Bafut last Sunday.Speaking from the town of Dschang, he said MSF’s work was professional and authorities should allow them to resume saving lives.”The government does not need to stay mute on this issue [over asking MSF to resume work] again. The situation is very pathetic. People can no longer live in the comfort of their bedrooms. People were kidnapped. Some are in the bush. It is moving from bad to worse. The only way out is dialogue so that things should come back to normal.”MSF was one of the few groups offering free emergency care to Cameroon’s northwest and southwest populations since 2018.MSF says community health workers it supported last year conducted over to 150,000 consultations for communities in both regions.And a free ambulance service it initiated transported over a thousand women in labor to hospitals.Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2017 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.The military reacted with a crackdown and separatist groups took up arms, claiming that they were protecting civilians.The U.N. says 3,000 people have since been killed and more than 750,000 displaced both internally and to neighboring Nigeria.
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Warning Shots Fired at British Destroyer in Black Sea, Russia Says
Russian forces said they fired warning shots Wednesday at a British Royal Navy destroyer taking part in a U.S.-led naval exercise in the Black Sea near Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.Russia’s Defense Ministry said the action was taken because the HMS Defender entered 3 kilometers into Russia’s territorial waters. Britain says no shots were fired toward the vessel.According to a Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson, a Russian patrol boat fired the shots at the destroyer and a Su-24M warplane dropped four high-explosive fragmentation bombs near the ship. The action came just hours after Russian officials condemned the war games, code-named Sea Breeze, involving vessels from 32 countries, including the United States, other NATO members and Ukraine.Britain’s Ministry of Defense dismissed Moscow’s characterization of the incident and denied any warning shot had been fired at the HMS Defender. British defense officials told reporters in London that as far as they are concerned the Russians were engaging in a gunnery exercise and that the Royal Navy warship was “conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.”In a statement posted before the incident on the Twitter account of the Russian embassy in Washington, officials said, “The scale and aggressive nature of the ‘Sea Breeze’ exercises in no way helps with the real challenges of ensuring security in the Black Sea region.” The tweet also warned the exercise would “increase the risk of unintentional incidents.”Valery Gerasimov, head of the Russian army’s general staff, also had warned Britain and the United States against the “provocative” presence of NATO warships near Russia’s borders. During a conference on international security in Moscow Wednesday, he said British warship HMS Dragon, a guided missile destroyer, had flouted international maritime rules by sailing in what Russia claims as territorial waters near Crimea in October.Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, left, speaks with Russia’s ambassador to the United States before a news conference after the U.S.-Russia summit, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.British officials said it was “categorically untrue” that the HMS Dragon broke any maritime laws and denied Russian claims that it had been chased away by Russian forces. Gerasimov also accused the USS John S. McCain, an American destroyer, of trespassing in Russian waters in the Sea of Japan off Vladivostok in November.At the same conference, Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, warned of growing tensions between Moscow and Western countries. “The world is rapidly plunging into a new standoff,” he said at the conference being attended by officials from Armenia, Belarus, Serbia and some African states.In a statement about Wednesday’s incident, Russian defense officials claimed the HMS Defender, a guided missile destroyer, was instructed to turn back but that it failed to respond. Moscow said it had summoned the British defense attaché at the Britain embassy in the Russian capital over the incident.“The destroyer was warned in advance that weapons would be fired in case of a violation of the Russian state borders. It disregarded the warning,” the ministry said in the statement. “As a result of joint actions of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service, HMS Defender left the territorial sea of the Russian Federation at 12.23 p.m.” The incident occurred near Cape Fiolent off the Crimean coast.Warships from the U.S. Sixth Fleet, based in Naples, Italy, have been leading the annual Sea Breeze exercise in the Black Sea. This year’s drill, the 21st, is the biggest to date. More than 30 ships have been deployed, along with 40 aircraft and 5,000 troops. It concludes July 10.“The United States is proud to partner with Ukraine in co-hosting the multinational maritime exercise Sea Breeze, which will help enhance interoperability and capabilities among participating nations,” Kristina Kvien, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, said Monday. “We are committed to maintaining the safety and security of the Black Sea,” she added.On Monday, Britain’s Defense Ministry announced it is transferring two minesweepers to the Ukrainian Naval Forces, as part of a $1.7 billion agreement with Kyiv to upgrade Ukraine’s navy. The memorandum for the deal was signed on board the HMS Defender. Under the deal, Britain is to help Ukraine build two naval bases, one in the Azov Sea and one in the Black Sea.
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