The State Department will offer rewards up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of anyone engaged in foreign state-sanctioned malicious cyber activity against critical U.S. infrastructure — including ransomware attacks — and the White House has launched a task force to coordinate efforts to stem the ransomware scourge.The Biden administration is also launching the website stopransomware.gov to offer the public resources for countering the threat and building more resilience into networks, a senior administration official told reporters.Another measure being announced Thursday to combat the ransomware onslaught is from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the Treasury Department. It will engage banks, technology firms and others on better anti-money-laundering efforts for cryptocurrency and more rapid tracing of ransomware proceeds, which are paid in virtual currency. Officials are hoping to seize more extortion payments in ransomware cases, as the FBI did in recouping most of the $4.4 million ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline in May.The rewards are being offered under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. It will offer a tips-reporting mechanism on the dark web to protect sources who might identify cyber attackers and/or their locations, and reward payments may include cryptocurrency, the agency said in a statement. The administration official would not comment on whether the U.S. government had a hand in Tuesday’s online disappearance of REvil, the Russian-linked gang responsible for a July 2 supply chain ransomware attack that crippled well over 1,000 organizations globally by targeting Florida-based software provider Kaseya. Ransomware scrambles entire networks of data, which criminals unlock when they get paid.Cybersecurity experts say REvil may have decided to drop out of sight and rebrand under a new name, as it and several other ransomware gangs have done in the past to try to throw off law enforcement.Another possibility is that Russian President Vladimir Putin actually heeded President Joe Biden’s warning of repercussions if he didn’t rein in ransomware criminals, who enjoy safe harbor in Russia and allied states.That seemed improbable, however, given Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s statement to reporters Wednesday that he was unaware of REvil sites disappearing.”I don’t know which group disappeared where,” he said. He said the Kremlin deems cybercrimes “unacceptable” and meriting of punishment, but analysts say they have seen no evidence of a crackdown by Putin.
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Month: July 2021
Indonesia Posted More than 54,000 New COVID Infections on Wednesday
Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest nation, is the latest hotspot for the fast-moving, highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19. The nation reported more than 54,517 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, a new single-day record, along with 991 deaths. Hospitals on Java island are overflowing with infected patients and residents scrambling to find oxygen tanks to treat family members isolating at home. Indonesia’s rising daily COVID-19 rates have begun to outstrip that of India, where the variant was first detected. India endured a disastrous outbreak earlier this year, with a peak of more than 400,000 daily cases in early May, now down to about 40,000. The Associated Press says about 1.5 million doses of the two-dose Moderna vaccine are set to arrive in Indonesia from the United States Thursday, coming on the heels of three million doses that arrived Sunday. Only 15 million of the country’s 270 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Lockdown in Victoria state, AustraliaThe delta variant outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Australia, where officials in the southern state of Victoria imposed an immediate five-day lockdown Thursday as the number of new cases there rose to 18 in just over two days. Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said the state’s six million residents, including its capital Melbourne, will only be able to leave home for medical reasons, essential work, school, grocery shopping, exercise and getting vaccinated. The lockdown is Victoria state’s third lockdown this year and its fifth since the start of the pandemic.
FILE – Essential workers walk past a ‘Heroes Wear Masks’ sign on the first day of a seven-day lockdown as the state of Victoria looks to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Australia, May 28, 2021.“We would prefer that we didn’t have to deal with these issues, but this is so infectious, this is such a challenge that we have, we must do this,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne. “You only get one chance to go hard and go fast.” The latest stay-at-home order for Victoria state comes a day after neighboring New South Wales state extended the current lockdown for its capital, Sydney, for another two weeks. People wait outside a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination center at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia, July 14, 2021.The lockdown was first imposed on June 26 after a Sydney airport limousine driver who had been transporting international air crews tested positive for the variant. More than 800 people have since been infected, including 97 new infections reported Wednesday. Two people have died in the current outbreak. Sydney’s five million residents are only allowed to leave home for work, exercise, essential shopping or medical reasons, while schools and many non-essential businesses are closed. Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 31,513 total confirmed cases and 912 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But it has proved vulnerable to fresh outbreaks due to a slow rollout of its vaccination campaign and confusing requirements involving the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the dominant vaccine in its stockpile. Overall, Australia has administered over 9.4 million doses of vaccine to its population of more than 25 million people, or less than 10%, according to Johns Hopkins. The current worldwide toll from the COVID-19 pandemic now stands at 188.4 million confirmed infections, including over 4 million deaths.
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Cameroon Says Separatists Disguised as Military Kill, Loot
Cameroonian officials say anglophone rebels are taking a new tack in their fight to break away from the country’s French-speaking-majority. Officials say the separatists have started disguising themselves as military troops to infiltrate villages and launch attacks.In a video widely circulated on social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, a group of 10 men armed with AK-94 assault rifles claim they are separatist fighters. The men, in civilian clothing, appear to brandish Cameroonian military uniforms, guns, ammunition and bulletproof vests they say they seized from Cameroon military. The men display a man’s head claiming it is that of a government soldier they killed and beheaded.Cameroon’s military says the head displayed by the fighters as a trophy is that of one of its troops deployed to Babadjou, a French-speaking commercial town on the border with the English-speaking North-West region.Awah Fonka, governor of Cameroon’s West region, where Babadjou is located, said more than 20 English-speaking separatists from Pinyin, a town in the North-West region, infiltrated the French-speaking West region Wednesday. He said the fighters attacked government troops and looted Babadjou shops.Fonka said two government troops were killed by fighters disguised in Cameroonian military uniforms to fool the government troops.Fonka visited Babadjou on Wednesday. He encouraged civilians who fled into the bush to return home.Fonka said more government troops have been deployed to Babadjou and neighboring villages to find fighters hiding in the bush or among civilians.The Cameroonian military warned both separatists and civilians against wearing military uniforms in a statement.Separatists claim on social media they are in possession of several hundred Cameroonian military uniforms removed from the bodies of government troops they have killed. The fighters said some of the uniforms were seized from military camps they have attacked in the English-speaking western regions.The military acknowledges that the fighters seized uniforms and military weapons from government troops but says the number of weapons and uniforms seized is low.Peter Ngumulah, a 38-year-old college teacher, has been living in Babadjou for two years and says he fled fighting between government troops and separatists in the town of Bambili in the North-West region. Ngumulah says the government should increase the number of its troops in Babadjou.“For heaven’s sake, how can just two soldiers be at the border [post between the West and North-West regions], knowing the sophisticated weapons the separatist fighters now possess?” he said. “Everything is going out of hand, and I pray the international community will step in and force both parties to sit at a roundtable for an unconditional dialogue.”Fonka said five troops were at the military control post at Babadjou when the fighters attacked. Three troops escaped, with one suffering injuries from the shooting. The military said he is responding to treatment in a hospital.This is not the first time English-speaking separatists have infiltrated the French-speaking region. The fighters attacked the French-speaking village of Galim three times this year and killed at least seven government troops. The military said the rebels stole weapons and deployed additional forces to kill or arrest the fighters.Cameroon’s separatists have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking country’s western regions.The conflict has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced 550,000 people to flee to French-speaking regions of Cameroon or into neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations.
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Chinese Spy Ship Expected to Monitor Australia-US War Games
Australian authorities are tracking a Chinese surveillance ship that is expected to monitor large-scale military exercises involving the United States off the coast of Queensland.Australia said Wednesday it “fully expected a ship of this class to arrive in our region” during military exercises with the United States. Officials have said they “had planned for its presence.”The auxiliary general intelligence Chinese ship is expected to monitor the Talisman Sabre 2021 war games that officially began Wednesday. They are designed to strengthen a decades-old military alliance and boost combat readiness. The drills include “amphibious landings, ground force maneuver, urban operations, air combat and maritime operations.”It is the largest bilateral training exercise between Australia and the U.S.In an official defense force video, Australian Air Commodore Stuart Bellingham said other countries were also taking part in the drills in Queensland state.“In addition to the United States this year will involve participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom,” he said. “Due to COVID-19, you will notice fewer international participants this year compared to the past.”The Chinese electronic spy vessel is expected to closely monitor the Talisman Sabre war games during the next two weeks.In 2019, the same type of ship was also tracked during military maneuvers in Australia.Military analyst and former Australian Defense Department Secretary Hugh White told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that such surveillance has become commonplace.“This is the kind of thing we should expect to see happen and expect to see increasingly happen as the Asia-Pacific, the Indo-Pacific becomes increasingly a theater of strategic rivalry as it is,” he said.The Chinese ship is expected to remain outside Australian territorial waters as it monitors the multinational warfighting games over the next two weeks. It is, however, expected to be within Australia’s exclusive economic zone, where it is entitled to be if it is not carrying out any economic activity.Australian officials have said they do not expect its presence to impede the war drills in Queensland. The vessel is scheduled to arrive off Australia on Friday.Relations between Australia and its largest trading partner, China, have deteriorated in recent years over various commercial and geopolitical disputes.
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7 Dead, Many Missing in Germany Floods
At least seven people have died and several people are missing in Germany after heavy flooding turned streams and streets into raging torrents, sweeping away cars and causing some buildings to collapse.Police in the western city of Koblenz said Thursday that four people had died in Ahrweiler county, and about 50 were trapped on the roofs of their houses awaiting rescue.Six houses had collapsed overnight in the village of Schuld. “Many people have been reported missing to us,” police said.Schuld is located in the Eifel, a volcanic region of rolling hills and small valleys southwest of Cologne.The full extent of the damage in the region was still unclear after many villages were cut off by floodwater and landslides that made roads impassable. Videos posted on social media showed cars floating down streets and houses partly collapsed in some places.Authorities have declared an emergency in the region after days of heavy rainfall that also affected large parts of western and central Germany, as well as neighboring countries, causing widespread damage.Police said an 82-year-old man died after a fall in his flooded basement in the western city of Wuppertal, which was among the hardest-hit.A fireman drowned Wednesday during rescue work in the western German town of Altena and another collapsed during rescue operations at a power plant in Werdohl-Elverlingsen. One man was missing in the eastern town of Joehstadt after disappearing while trying to secure his property from rising waters, authorities said.Rail connections were suspended in large parts of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. Governor Armin Laschet, who is running to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in this fall’s German election, was expected to visit the flood-hit city of Hagen later Thursday.A photo taken with a drone shows the devastation caused by the flooding of the Ahr River in the Eifel village of Schuld, western Germany, July 15, 2021.German weather service DWD predicted the rainfall would ease Thursday.Relentless rains through the night worsened the flooding conditions in eastern Belgium, where one person was reported drowned and at least another was missing.Some towns saw water levels rise to unprecedented levels and had their centers turned into gushing rivers.Major highways were inundated and in the south and east of the nation, the railway service said all traffic was stopped, adding that “alternative transport is highly unlikely.”In eastern Eupen, on the German border, one man was reported dead after he was swept away by a torrent, a local governor told RTBf network.In Liege, the main city in eastern Belgium, the Meuse River could break its banks by early afternoon and spill into the heart of the city. Police warned the citizens to take precautionary measures.Authorities in the southern Dutch town of Valkenburg, close to the German and Belgian borders, evacuated a care home and a hospice overnight amid flooding that turned the tourist town’s main street into a river, Dutch media reported.The Dutch government sent some 70 troops to the southern province of Limburg late Wednesday to help with tasks including transporting evacuees and filling sandbags as rivers burst their banks. There were no reports of injuries linked to flooding in the Netherlands.Unusually intense rains have also inundated a swath of northeast France this week, downing trees and forcing the closure of dozens of roads. A train route to Luxembourg was disrupted, and firefighters evacuated dozens of people from homes near the Luxembourg and German border and in the Marne region, according to local broadcaster France Bleu.The equivalent of two months of rain has fallen on some areas in the last one or two days, according to the French national weather service. With the ground already saturated, the service forecast more downpours Thursday and issued flood warnings for 10 regions.
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Malians Divided Over France’s Decision to Close Bases, Reduce Forces
France’s recent decision to close some of its military bases and reduce the number of its troops in Mali has sparked mixed reaction from the local population. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would start closing three military bases in northern Mali by the end of 2021. “These closures will start in the second half of 2021 and be completed by early 2022,” Macron said at a press conference following a summit with the leaders of the G5 Sahel countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger. FILE – A close-up of France’s Operation Barkhane patch worn by French troops in Africa’s Sahel region, in Inaloglog, Mali, October 17, 2017.French forces have been deployed in Mali since 2013 as part of its effort in the fight against jihadist groups in the country’s north. France’s Operation Serval, later changed to Operation Barkhane, has since expanded to include other countries in the restive Sahel region. “Our enemies have abandoned their territorial ambitions in favor of spreading their threat not only across the Sahel, but across all of West Africa,” the French president said. France would reduce its forces to 2,500 to 3,000 troops. There are currently 5,000 French troops in the region. Speaking to VOA, some Malian residents expressed their disappointment at France’s decision to reduce its military presence in the country. “I am not for their departure,” said one resident from the city of Gao, who declined to be identified for fear of retribution from jihadist groups active in the region. FILE – French soldiers of the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment search a metal case during an area control operation in the Gourma region during Operation Barkhane in Ndaki, Mali, July 27, 2019.Gao was captured by militant groups in 2012. During a campaign the following year, the city was recaptured by French forces. “They should keep troops to help our Malian troops that are deployed here,” the resident told VOA. Another resident of Gao said most people of her region “want the French to stay here, because they are doing a huge service to the population, such as emergency management and providing security for us and our properties.” Another female resident of the city said the departure of France’s Barkhane forces from parts of Mali would exacerbate the security situation in the entire country. “Right now, we sleep in peace. But if Barkhane ever leaves, then we should leave this place as well,” she told VOA. “There is nothing else on which we can rely after Barkhane’s departure. They assist the population in many areas, and so their departure would cause us a lot of trouble.” Other residents, however, believe the time has come for French troops to leave their country. “I believe the French forces must go home, because they have been unable to accomplish what was expected from them,” said one resident from a town near Mali’s border with Niger. “At their arrival, we thought they would provide security to our villages and cities, but we have realized that the situation in worsening,” he added. FILE – French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel board a U.S. Air Force C130 transport plane, in Gao, Mali, June 9, 2021.Another resident, who also asked to remain anonymous, told VOA that most Malians wish to see all French troops leave Mali. “We will take care of this crisis among ourselves. We trust the Malian armed forces. Malians are very tired of this situation,” he said. “There is all kind of military troop presence in Mali, but the situation is not improving at all.” Continued cooperation During last week’s press conference, the French president insisted that his decision to reduce the number of troops in Mali does not mean his country would abandon its African partners in the battle against militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror groups. Some analysts say Operation Barkhane has played a crucial role on the ground in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations in Mali, and in the provision of intelligence and logistics across the Sahel. “I expect that even with the end of Operation Barkhane, quite a bit of counterterrorism efforts will continue to focus on the area where the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger meet,” said Daniel Eizenga, a Research Fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington. FILE – Malian Armed Forces and French soldiers conduct an area control operation in the Gourma region during Operation Barkhane in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019.He said military cooperation between the French and the regional armed forces, namely those of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, has significantly enhanced the capacity of those forces to react quickly on the ground, reducing the threats and risks taken by their soldiers and improving their operational effectiveness. “Without joint operations, intelligence and logistics support, the armed forces will face a more challenging struggle against the militant Islamist groups operating in the region,” Eizenga told VOA. Changing strategy With reducing troops and bases in Mali, France plans to build its presence into a European task force named Takuba, which has been established as a training operation for Mali. “France continues to be a military reality in the region,” said Bakary Sambe, director of Timbuktu Institute for Peace Studies in Dakar, Senegal. “France has no interest in removing its forces from the Sahel, it’s just that it’s changing its overall counterterrorism strategy in the broader region,” he told VOA in a phone interview. With increased militant attacks in Burkina Faso, Sambe said, Islamist groups have been trying to expand their presence in other countries in West Africa, including Ivory Coast. “Terrorist groups in the Sahel are no longer staying in their traditional strongholds. They keep moving to expand their criminal networks and economic activities,” he said. VOA French Service’s Modibo Dembele contributed to this story from Washington.
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Flood Traps 14 Workers in Tunnel Under Construction in China
Search teams were trying Thursday to rescue 14 construction workers trapped by an overnight flood in a tunnel being built in southern China.The cause of the 3:30 a.m. flood in the city of Zhuhai is under investigation, the city’s emergency management department said in an online post.A command center was set up, and the rescue teams were mobilized from several city agencies.Zhuhai is a coastal city in Guangdong province near Macao at the mouth of the Pearl River delta.It was one of China’s early special economic zones when the ruling Communist Party started opening up the economy about 40 years ago.
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IOC’s Bach Brings Attention to Hiroshima — Some Unwanted
Many residents of Hiroshima welcome attention from abroad, which the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will bring when he visits on Friday. The western Japanese city has been in the forefront of the world peace movement and a campaigner for the abolition of nuclear weapons.But Bach will also bring political baggage — as will his vice president John Coates when he visits Nagasaki the same day — that is largely unwelcome in two cities viewed as sacred by many Japanese.Bach and Coates are using the backdrop of the cities, hit with atomic bombs by the United States in 1945, to promote the first day of the so-called Olympic Truce, a tradition from ancient Greece that was revived by a United Nations resolution in 1993. They will also be signaling the start of the Tokyo Olympics in one week. The Games are going ahead during the pandemic despite persistent opposition in Japan from the general public and the medical community.“Many Japanese believe that that IOC strictly forced Japan to have the Olympics this year,” Yasushi Asako, a political scientist at Waseda University, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Many Japanese believe that it is their (IOC’s) fault for having such an international event during the pandemic, and there is a high possibility that the pandemic becomes more severe after the Olympics.”Bach will be welcomed by Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and is expected to place a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park, visit the Peace Memorial Museum and view the Atomic Bomb Dome.He will not be welcomed by everyone.Shuichi Adachi, a former Hiroshima bar association head, submitted a strong statement earlier this week to Yuzaki and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui opposing Bach’s visit. It was written on behalf of 11 anti-Olympic and pacifist groups.“President Bach using the image of ‘a peaceful world without nuclear weapons’ only to justify holding of the Olympics by force under the pandemic is a blasphemy to atomic bombing survivors,” the group said in a statement. “An act like this does nothing but do harm to the global nuclear weapons ban movement.”FILE – In this 1945 file photo, an Allied war correspondent stands in the ruins of Hiroshima, Japan, just weeks after the city was leveled by an atomic bomb.They also noted the poor timing. The date — Friday, July 16 — marks exactly 76 years since the Trinity nuclear test took place in New Mexico that led to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki just weeks later.A separate group has also launched an online petition opposing Bach’s visit. The petition, which has garnered almost 70,000 signatures, is addressed to the government of Japan, the Japanese Olympic Committee, and the mayor and governor of Hiroshima.In ordinary times, the visits — largely photo ops — would draw little attention were it not for the pandemic and the Olympics taking place. Depending on the poll and how the question is phrased, a majority of Japanese oppose holding the Olympics.Bach defended the visit in a briefing on Wednesday, saying it was focused only on marking the first day of the Olympic Truce. He termed it an IOC offer of peace “and nothing else.”“This is the message we are going to send in the city of peace — of Hiroshima,’ Bach said. “This will have nothing to with politics. We will not politicize this visit in any way.”Reports out of Hiroshima say the security will be similar to what was in place for President Barack Obama’s visit in 2016.The official cost of the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion, though a government audit suggests it is much more. The IOC has a large financial stake in the Olympics going ahead since almost 75% of its income is from selling broadcast rights.Dr. Ran Zwigenberg, a specialist in the history of Hiroshima at Penn State University, noted that tying the games to the bombed city was not a problem at the 1964 Olympics. A 19-year man named Yoshinori Sakai — born on Aug. 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on the city — ignited the cauldron in the national stadium to open the 1964 Olympics. The image of him doing it is famous.“The problem is the controversy surrounding the Olympics, and it’s being very politicized,” Zwigenberg told AP in an interview in Japan where he is doing research. “And that’s something that a lot of people in Hiroshima don’t like. They don’t like to have the image of their city wedded to this kind of controversial visit.”Zwigenberg has written several books on Japanese history, including one focused on Hiroshima — Hiroshima: The Origins of Global Memory Culture.“I’m generalizing here, but the people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima don’t like to have their name or image used by outside bodies, especially when it’s controversial,” he added.
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‘Their Goal Is Make Me Feel Like I’m Crazy,’ Tearful Britney Spears Tells Court
Singer Britney Spears on Wednesday won the right to choose her own lawyer to help her end a 13-year-long conservatorship and tearfully pleaded for the court to oust her father immediately from the role of controlling her business affairs.Her father, Jamie Spears, has been a major figure in the conservatorship since he set it up in 2008 when his daughter had a mental health breakdown. He is currently the sole person in charge of her $60 million estate.”You’re allowing my dad to ruin my life,” Spears told the Los Angeles judge by phone. “I have to get rid of my dad and charge him with conservatorship abuse,” she added.Speaking for about 10 minutes on Wednesday, Spears, 39, said she had always been “extremely scared of my dad.”She said she was fed up with multiple psychological evaluations in the last 13 years and wanted the conservatorship brought to an end without another one.“I’m not a perfect person … but their goal is to make me feel like I’m crazy,” Spears said. Details of Spears’ mental health issues have never publicly been disclosed.Last month, she called the legal arrangement abusive and stupid in a 20-minute public address.Los Angeles Superior Court judge Brenda Penny on Wednesday approved former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart to represent Spears going forward. The singer’s court-appointed attorney stepped down last week.Rosengart, who has previously represented Hollywood stars Sean Penn and Steven Spielberg, said his goal was to end the conservatorship.“Does anybody really believe Mr. Spears’ continued involvement is in the best interest of Britney Spears?” Rosengart said. “If he loves his daughter, it is time to step aside.”Rosengart’s first job is likely to be filing a formal document asking for the conservatorship to be terminated.In June, the pop star complained of being prevented from marrying or having more children, and said she was compelled to take medication against her will.Jamie Spears’ attorney on Wednesday said that many of the singer’s complaints were not valid.“I’m not sure Ms. Spears understands she can in fact make medical decisions and can have birth control devices implanted or not,” attorney Vivian Thoreen said.Thoreen said Spears believes her father “is responsible for every bad thing that happened to her and that is the farthest from the truth.”Outside the courthouse, dozens of fans held a rally, chanting “Free Britney” and calling for the conservatorship to end. A smaller rally took place near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.”If you look at her, she looks tired. She just wants her life back and I understand that completely,” said fan Christina Goswick.Penny made no decisions on requests for 24/7 security following death threats against those involved in the conservatorship.Jodi Montgomery, who is tasked with the pop star’s personal care, Jamie Spears, Ingham and the singer’s sister Jamie Lynn Spears have all received threatening calls and messages that have escalated since the pop star’s address to the judge on June 23, according to court documents.The next hearing in the case was set for Sept. 29.
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US Will Support Inclusive, Credible Haitian Government, State Department Official Tells VOA
The United States will support an inclusive, credible Haitian government, Laura Lochman, the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, told VOA on Wednesday.Lochman was part of a U.S. delegation President Joe Biden dispatched to Haiti on July 11 in response to a request from the government of Haiti for assistance after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last week.The U.S. delegation met with Haitian acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph, Prime Minister-designate Ariel Henry and Senator Joseph Lambert.The senator posted a message on Twitter, saying he had met with the U.S. delegation and that they “appreciate” the Haitian Senate resolution naming him as provisional president of Haiti.“It’s up to the Haitians to come up with the solution to this political process at this point so we rely on them and give them all the support that we can to work conclusively, to work together to form a consensus government. And the United States will definitely, along with our international partners, support an inclusive, credible government,” Lochman told VOA in response to a question about who the United States will support as Haiti’s leader.Haitian politicians float their own plansIn Port-au-Prince, a commission comprised of representatives of all sectors of Haitian civil society plans to meet Thursday to sign a political accord that will name a new president.Ted Saint Dic, one of the organizers of the upcoming meeting, told reporters the group plans to meet with the 10 Haitian senators whose terms have not expired.“We will present a plan based on discussions we have already had, that we will make public during the meeting. With regards to the proposal to name Senator Lambert president of the republic, we believe that before making such a decision, there must be consultations. That’s where we are right now,” Saint Dic said.He described the effort as a “society effort” that would not be rushed.“We’re not in a hurry. We want to allow the country to find a way to enter into dialogue and agree on solutions that fundamentally address the biggest preoccupations of the Haitian people,” Saint Dic said. “The people have what it takes to decide who their leader will be.”Elsewhere in the capital, several political leaders held press conferences Tuesday to discuss their efforts to solve the current political void.Former Senator Steven Benoit discussed his plan during a press conference.“I told Senator Lambert that we need to organize as soon as possible a national dialogue with representatives of all sectors of society, including the religious sector, to decide what we are going to do,” Benoit said. “The constitution has been ignored (by President Moise) since January 2020, so today we need a political accord. And I’ve asked Senator Lambert to meet with the different political parties, which he has begun to do, as well as members of civil society, to discuss the issues and come up with a Haitian solution.”Political leader Dieudonne Lherisson of the PLANSPA (Platfom Nasyonal Sekte Popile Ayisyen) Party also held a press conference Tuesday to call for a national dialogue.“Everyone knows there were (only) 11 elected officials in the country — President Moise and the 10 senators. President Moise is dead now, so 10 elected officials remain, who were elected by the people. It is time for them to take responsibility and organize a national dialogue — not to mess around — but rather to find the best formula to reestablish order, fight insecurity and organize elections to allow the people to choose their leader in a democratic fashion,” Lherisson said.“We’re very happy to hear that they’re moving in that direction,” said Lochman told VOA.ElectionsFormer Senator Benoit is pushing for an 18-month transition period, ending with presidential and legislative elections in September or October 2022. But Lochman said the United States would like to see elections held this year.“We have always believed and in fact continue to believe very strongly, that it’s imperative to hold elections for both president and the legislature this year and that is because there has been a vacuum in democratic governance in Haiti that is not serving the needs of the Haitian people,” Lochman said.In fact, the parliament has been out of session since January 2020 when the terms of most of the legislature expired. Elections have not been held to elect new members due to mass protests, the coronavirus pandemic and uncontrolled gang violence.Lochman stressed the need for Haiti’s executive, legislative and judicial branches of government to be fully operational.“You need to have all branches of government in place and working together and working in the pursuit of providing services to the Haitian people that they deserve. And we the U.S. government as well as our international partners have been working with them and will continue to stand with them to improve their democratic governance and institutions,” she told VOA.Troop requestThe question of whether the U.S. will send troops to Haiti has been a hot topic both inside Haiti and in the U.S. since President Moise’s assassination.“The Haitian acting prime minister did send a letter both to the United Nations and the United States prior to last weekend, asking for asking for assistance in maintaining some of their critical infrastructure as well as helping in election security and with the investigation of the assassination,” Lochman told VOA.Pressed about whether the U.S. has decided to send troops to Haiti, she said the conversation is ongoing.“To be clear we are working with them now to get a very clear idea of exactly what their needs are and how we can best respond to those. And while nothing is being taken off the table at this point, we are trying to understand better the fundamental issues they are grappling with,” Lochman said.Renan Toussaint and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this story.
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EU Leaders Push Most Ambitious Climate Legislation Yet
European Union leaders on Wednesday introduced the bloc’s most comprehensive plans yet to combat climate change, with a new goal of reducing carbon emissions to 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.Unveiled by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, the legislation would make the bloc’s goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 legally binding and completely overhaul its energy system.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a press conference that the “Fit for 55” plan would act as a road map of concrete actions necessary to achieve the bloc’s climate goals.“Our package aims to combine the reduction of emissions with measures to preserve nature, and to put jobs and social balance at the heart of this transformation,” von der Leyen said.The sweeping proposal would involve every sector of the EU’s economy in its Emissions Trading System, which incentivizes companies to lower their emissions by taxing the carbon they produce.New taxes on previously exempt sectors are proposed for aviation and shipping fuels. The plan also calls for increasing existing carbon taxes to the transportation, manufacturing and power sectors.FILE – Cars sit at a standstill during morning rush hour on a main artery in the European Quarter of Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019. The European Union on July 14, 2021, unveiled new legislation to help meet its pledge to cut climate-changing emissions.Border taxOne of the package’s most noteworthy aspects is a first-of-its-kind tax on the carbon produced by foreign imports, which in turn likely would raise prices for consumers.This border tax — known officially as the carbon border adjustment mechanism — would ensure the EU is reducing emissions across the board, and it would protect domestic companies against price competition from foreign companies without the same environmental restrictions.In April, environmental leaders from China, India, South Africa and Brazil spoke out against such a tax, asserting that a carbon border adjustment would be discriminatory against developing countries that lack the resources to focus on cutting emissions.The commission also is planning to completely phase out the sale of combustion-engine cars by 2035, effectively bringing new car emissions to zero.Other proposals include shifting millions of buildings in the EU toward renewable energy by 2030 via renovation and implementation of a carbon tax on road transport.“Emission of CO2 must have a price, and we know that carbon pricing works,” von der Leyen said. “Our existing emission trading system has already helped significantly to reduce emissions in industry and in power generation.”European Commissioner for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, July 14, 2021.Fairness, accessibilityThe commission emphasized a focus on making the transition to renewable energy fair and accessible to everyone, particularly low-income individuals and member states whose economies are more reliant on polluting industries.Environmental taxes that target the individual have caused controversy in the past, as seen with the massive yellow vest movement in opposition to the French government’s raising fuel taxes.Since energy prices are expected to rise, the commission proposed creating a $85.2 billion fund that citizens of member states could access to help mitigate the costs of switching to energy-efficient housing and transportation.The commission’s plan comes six years after the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement signaled a worldwide commitment to mitigating the impact of climate change and keeping global temperatures from increasing significantly.Additionally, since the EU produces only 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, the plan is intended to push other world powers to follow suit and produce more concrete plans for reaching climate neutrality.In coming years, the commission’s plan will be the subject of scrutiny and negotiation as the leaders from the 27 member states convene in the European Parliament and Council to implement the laws across the EU.
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Fires Threaten Indigenous Lands in Desiccated US Northwest
Karuk tribal citizen Troy Hockaday Sr. watched helplessly last fall as a raging wildfire leveled the homes of five of his family members, swallowed acres of forest where his people hunt deer, elk and black bear, and killed a longtime friend.Now, less than a year later, the tribal councilman is watching in horror as flames encroach on the parched lands of other Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest that already are struggling to preserve traditional hunting and fishing practices amid historic drought. At least two tribes have declared states of emergency amid the devastation.After last year’s Slater Fire near Happy Camp, California, “We got spread out all over the place,” said Hockaday, who said about 200 homes, including many belonging to Karuk citizens, were burned. “Some people have already sold their property and given up. But the tribe as a whole, we’re trying to build ourselves back and be strong.””It’s hard to watch the devastation of what a fire can do nowadays. It’s just crazy — and we just started July,” he added.Blazes in Oregon, California, and Washington state were among nearly 70 active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through about 4,047 square kilometers in a dozen mostly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have swept the region, making wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the American West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center moved the Pacific Northwest region up to the highest alert level Wednesday — rare for this time of year — as dry, gusty winds were expected in parts of Oregon and new fires popped up.In California, a fire was rapidly expanding Wednesday in the Feather River Canyon, about 16 kilometers from Paradise, the foothill town largely destroyed by a 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people. State fire officials said the new blaze, which erupted late Tuesday afternoon, covered 4.8 square kilometers. There was zero containment of the Dixie Fire and two tiny Butte County communities were warned to be ready to evacuate.The largest fire in the U.S. on Wednesday was burning in southern Oregon, to the northeast of the wildfire that ravaged Hockaday’s tribal community less than a year ago. The lightning-caused Bootleg Fire was encroaching on the traditional territory of the Klamath Tribes, which still have treaty rights to hunt and fish on the land, and sending huge, churning plumes of smoke into the sky visible for miles.The blaze, which has burned an area larger than New York City, has destroyed about 20 homes and 2,000 more are under evacuation, but much of it was burning in remote areas of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. On Wednesday, the fire was 5% contained.The Bootleg Fire smoke plume grows over a single tree on July, 12, 2021, near Bly, Ore.But even when the flames don’t enter densely populated areas, the impact of the increasingly intense fires around the U.S. West is felt directly by Native American tribes, who have managed the land for millennia.”We couldn’t do ceremonies because of the fire and our hunting grounds, we could not hunt there,” said Hockaday of last year’s fire. “About 40 square miles (103 square kilometers) of our original territory is closed to us right now.”Members of the Klamath Tribes in Chiloquin, Oregon, are concerned the Bootleg Fire will affect their ancestral territory as well.”There is definitely extensive damage to the forest where we have our treaty rights. I am sure we have lost a number of deer in the fire,” said Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribal Council in Chiloquin, Oregon.Gentry said although the active fire was 40 kilometers from the tribe’s administrative headquarters, the council declared a state of emergency Wednesday because of its erratic behavior and rapid growth.Veterinarian Tawnia Shaw, with The Happy Pet Vet team, examines horses that had been left during a Level 3 evacuation during the Bootleg Fire, July 13, 2021, near Sprague River, Ore.”With the severity of the fire, we’re really concerned about where the fire might go from here, so we have a lot of concern about the future,” he said Wednesday.The Klamath Tribes have been affected by wildfires before, including one that burned 60 square kilometers in southern Oregon last September. That fire damaged land where many of Klamath tribal members hunt, fish and gather. The fire also burned the tribes’ cemetery and at least one tribal member’s house.This year’s blaze is another blow for the tribe, which has already seen water levels fall so low in a local lake that federally endangered fish species central to their culture and heritage could not spawn this spring. Farmers who also draw much of their irrigation water from the same lake also got no irrigation this summer as extreme drought reduced flows to historic lows.Farther north, in north-central Washington, hundreds of people in the town of Nespelem on Colville tribal land were ordered to leave because of “imminent and life-threatening” danger as the largest of five wildfires caused by dozens of lightning strikes Monday night tore through grass, sagebrush and timber.Seven homes burned, but four were vacant, and the entire town evacuated safely before the fire arrived, said Andrew Joseph Jr., chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which includes more than 9,000 descendants of a dozen tribes.Monte Piatote and his wife grabbed their pets and managed to flee but watched flames burn the home where he had lived since he was a child.”I told my wife, I told her, ‘Watch.’ Then boom, there it was,” Piatote told news station KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington.The tribes declared a state of emergency Tuesday and said the reservation was closed to the public and to industrial activity.
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Watchdog: FBI Greatly Mishandled Nassar-USA Gymnastics Case
The FBI made numerous serious errors in investigating sexual abuse allegations against former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar and didn’t treat the case with the “utmost seriousness,” the Justice Department’s inspector general said Wednesday. The FBI acknowledged conduct that was “inexcusable and a discredit” to America’s premier law enforcement agency.The long-awaited watchdog report raises serious questions about how the department and the FBI handled the case, and it highlights serious missteps at the FBI between the time the allegations were first reported and Nassar’s arrest.The inspector general’s investigation was spurred by allegations that the FBI failed to promptly address complaints made in 2015 against Nassar. USA Gymnastics had conducted its own internal investigation and then the organization’s then-president, Stephen Penny, reported the allegations to the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis. But it took months before the bureau opened a formal investigation.At least 40 girls and women said they were molested over a 14-month period while the FBI was aware of other sexual abuse allegations involving Nassar. Officials at USA Gymnastics also contacted FBI officials in Los Angeles in May 2016 after eight months of inactivity from agents in Indianapolis.Insufficient responseThe inspector general’s office found that “despite the extraordinarily serious nature” of the allegations against Nassar, FBI officials in Indianapolis did not respond with the “utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required.”When they did respond, the report said, FBI officials made “numerous and fundamental errors” and also violated bureau policies. Among the missteps was a failure to conduct any investigative activity until more than a month after a meeting with USA Gymnastics.Agents interviewed by phone one of three athletes, but never spoke with two other gymnasts despite being told they were available to meet.The watchdog investigation also found that when the FBI’s Indianapolis field office’s handling of the matter came under scrutiny, officials there did not take any responsibility for the missteps and gave incomplete and inaccurate information to internal FBI inquiries.FILE – Victims and others look on as Rachael Denhollander speaks at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar, a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, in Lansing, Mich., Jan. 24, 2018.The FBI rebuked its own employees who failed to act in the case and said it “should not have happened.””The actions and inactions of certain FBI employees described in the report are inexcusable and a discredit to this organization,” the agency said in a statement.”The FBI has taken affirmative steps to ensure and has confirmed that those responsible for the misconduct and breach of trust no longer work FBI matters,” the statement said. “We will take all necessary steps to ensure that the failures of the employees outlined in the report do not happen again.”The inspector general interviewed an FBI supervisory special agent last September who said the original allegations reported by Penny and USA Gymnastics were “very vague” and who questioned Penny’s credibility, describing him as “kind of a snake oil salesman kind of guy.”‘Multiple policies’ violatedThat special agent also told investigators that the Indianapolis field office didn’t appear to have jurisdiction to investigate because the alleged crimes did not take place in Indiana. That agent and an FBI supervisor in the office said they told Penny to contact local law enforcement — a claim contradicted by Penny and the chairman of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors.The FBI said the supervisory special agent “violated multiple policies” and that the agency took immediate action when it learned that the agent did not properly document the sexual abuse complaints, had mishandled evidence and had failed to report abuse.Nassar was ultimately charged in 2016 with federal child pornography offenses and sexual abuse in Michigan. He is now serving decades in prison after hundreds of girls and women said he sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment when he worked for Michigan State and Indiana-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.The inspector general’s office said it reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed more than 60 witnesses, including several victims, their parents, prosecutors, and current and former FBI employees.The FBI’s handling of the case was strongly condemned by members of Congress, and some senators called for the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland to testify about the case.”We are appalled by the FBI’s gross mishandling of the specific warnings its agents received about Larry Nassar’s horrific abuse years before he was finally arrested,” said Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
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US Drug Overdose Deaths Hit Record in 2020
More than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. last year, a record experts said was partly triggered by the isolation that many experienced during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.The government reported Wednesday that the 2020 total easily surpassed the previous record of about 72,000 deaths in 2019.“This is a staggering loss of human life,” Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends, told The Associated Press. He said the United States was already faced with an overdose epidemic but that the pandemic “has greatly exacerbated the crisis.”Health experts said that while prescription painkillers once played a key role in U.S. drug overdose deaths, heroin and in recent years fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid, proved exceptionally lethal.Fentanyl was developed to legitimately treat intense medical pain but now is sold illicitly and mixed with other drugs.The government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its studies showed fentanyl was involved in more than 60% of the overdose deaths last year.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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On Australian Campuses, Chinese Students Fear Beijing’s Surveillance
Chen Yun, a Chinese student at the University of Melbourne, has always been curious about different political systems. After she arrived in Australia, she started posting on social media about the push for democratic reforms in China.Then came the harassment. She started receiving emails warning that she should be “careful” because if she returns to China, someone would “give her a lesson.”“I thought I could talk about whatever I want after coming here. I thought I could show my support for democracy but I didn’t expect I actually don’t have that freedom,” she told VOA Mandarin, asking to use a pseudonym due to fear of retaliation by the Chinese government.Chen’s experience is not unique. Following the deterioration of relations between Canberra and Beijing over the past two years, there has been growing concern in Australia about China’s influence on higher education, and whether it has undermined academic freedom on campus.The concern was echoed in a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report, titled “They Don’t Understand the Fear We Have,” pointed out that pro-democracy Chinese students and scholars enrolled in Australian universities have experienced harassment and intimidation if they speak out in classes and on campus. “Pro-democracy students from mainland China and Hong Kong experience direct harassment and intimidation from Chinese classmates—including threats of physical violence, being reported on to Chinese authorities back home, being doxed online, or threatened with doxing,” the report said, adding these threats can occur both in person and online. Doxing, also known as doxxing, is publicly identifying or publishing private information about a person to punish them or for revenge. According to the report, the Chinese embassy and its consulates in Australia encourage students to report on activities by their classmates that might pose a threat to China’s national security. The Chinese embassy in Canberra did not respond to VOA Mandarin’s request for comment on the HRW report.For Wu Lebao, 38, the monitoring has led to stress, anxiety, and real impact on his daily life.Wu is a mathematics student at the Australian National University. He started to participate in pro-democracy movements in China before arriving in Australia and has been harassed by the secret police when he’s in Beijing. “Yet the nightmare continues here,” Wu told VOA Mandarin by phone.“At first it’s just verbal attacks online, but since last year, I’ve been receiving messages from someone, who claimed that he/she knows which dorm I’m in,” Wu said. “I would receive text messages at midnight, saying someone would ‘come and get me.’ Honestly, I think this person lives in the same building as me, whenever I speak out on our online group, he/she soon responds with some kind of harassment.””Now I couldn’t really sleep at night,” he said.Many Chinese students who want to keep a low profile said they find themselves self-censoring to avoid being reported by their classmates to Chinese authorities. Many of the students who spoke with VOA Mandarin said they had heard rumors, but had no evidence, that students received payment for reporting other Chinese students or teachers. Yang Xin, who is in the fourth year of his studies, told VOA Mandarin via phone that he needs to be careful about what he says in class to make sure it cannot be interpreted as “not patriotic enough.” He asked to use a pseudonym to avoid government retaliation.“There was this discussion on Taiwanese culture. I personally find Taiwanese culture unique and fascinating but I didn’t say that in the classroom,” he said. “Why? Because I know that will be framed as pro-Taiwan independence. Then I might be questioned when I go back to China and even my relatives might be impacted.”For Yang, the worst part is not knowing who’s watching him. “It creates a lot of anxiety and fear, because anyone around you could be the one that’s reporting you to the authorities,” he said.According to Australia’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE), as of April 2021, there are over 150,000 students from mainland China studying at Australia’s universities, where they represent close to 30% of all international students.“University officials are acutely aware of the financial impact full fee-paying international students have on their institutions and how reliant they have become on their fees, which accounted for 27 percent of total operating revenue for the Australian university sector by 2019,” according to HRW. U.S. colleges and universities have been similarly dependent on Chinese students, according to World Education News * Reviews.More than half, or 62% of Chinese students returned home during the COVID-19 pandemic and switched to online learning. This posed new challenges to faculties at universities, according to HRW, as “Course material designed for Australian campuses was now being accessed by students behind the ‘Great Firewall’ of China, which posed new and difficult security risks for students and academics alike. Despite this, many academics said their university had not offered any official guidance on teaching Chinese students remotely and the security considerations.”American sociologist Salvatore Babones is an associate professor at the University of Sydney where he focuses on China’s global economic integration. He said restrictions hinder his students in China.If he assigns work that requires using sources from major media like the BBC or the New York Times, “it’s illegal for the students in China to access those media. So it makes it very difficult for them to do their work. I can’t require them to use credible sources when the credible sources are blocked,” he told VOA by phone.Babones added that in order to protect students in China, he had allowed them to use sources readily available to them even though the material sometimes doesn’t meet the academic requirements of his class.It’s a predicament well understood by Kuo Mei-fen, a lecturer at the Department of Media and Communications at the Macquarie University in Sydney who switched to online teaching last year.“There are a few students who are taking online courses in China. Some of them don’t talk at all in class, while others are speaking in line with the Chinese official tones,” she told VOA Mandarin via phone. “I think there’s a consensus among us teachers not to put too much pressure on Chinese students during these online classes, because that might put them in danger.”
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US Commission Proposes $117B Plan to Improve Northeast Rail
A U.S. government commission Wednesday proposed a $117 billion, 15-year plan to remake the Northeast Corridor, the Boston-to-Washington rail route — the nation’s busiest — with the goal of improving service by cutting travel times and boosting capacity.The Northeast Corridor Commission — created by Congress and made up of state and federal transportation officials and officials with the National Railroad Passenger Corp., better known as Amtrak — said the route carried 800,000 passengers per day before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.In their statement, commission members argued the plan would help the economy by creating 1.7 million jobs and generating $90 billion in earnings between now and 2035 throughout the United States. They said it would also aid the climate change fight by eliminating the equivalent of 2.9 million car trips annually, replacing them with lower-carbon-emitting train travel.The improvements would include repairs or upgrades to railroad tracks, tunnels, bridges and stations and offer faster train trips.In its statement, the commission accounted for only $17 billion of the proposed $117 billion cost, saying the rest would “be shared between the federal government and states.”The proposal came as the U.S. Senate was considering a bipartisan infrastructure spending plan. It is unclear if that deal would cover the funding gap in the rail proposal, though The Associated Press reported that analysts thought it could be a good start.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Somalia’s Only Female Presidential Candidate Says Time for Women to Lead
Somalia’s top leaders, all men, have struggled for years to tame the Horn of Africa nation’s insecurity and corruption. Lawmaker Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam says it’s time for a woman’s touch and on Tuesday announced her candidacy for president. But getting enough support from Somalia’s lawmakers, the vast majority of them men, will be a challenge.
Fawzia says she will bring a new lease on life to the country, if elected, by prioritizing security, economic empowerment and education. Her male counterparts, she says, have failed to do so.
“We have been waiting for men for so long to sort out the problems of Somalia but till today we see there are no solutions so I have decided to stand for president and I have no doubt I will do a much better job than men,” Fawzia said. “Islam does not stop women from going to politics or becoming head of state or in higher positions. If you go to Bangladesh, for the last 50 years almost there are women leaders replacing each other and it is the most conservative country in the Muslim world. The most populous country is Indonesia, there was a lady who was in charge, in Pakistan, we have so many other Muslim women [in charge] including Tanzania and Singapore,” she added.
Somalia’s indirect elections, scheduled for October, will see members of parliament selected by clan delegates. Members of parliament then decide who will be the next president.
Some citizens, like Abdirahman Omar in Mogadishu, believe that if given the opportunity, Fawzia, a former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, can bring change.
He says I am happy to welcome a female to run for the office of the president in Somalia. He says Mrs. Fawzia was tested and has knowledge and vision for leadership. “Likewise, women have been entrusted with various positions and if females are elected as president they will lead to positive change,” he added.
Somalia is a Muslim nation with conservative traditions that make a majority of its citizens reject female leadership.
Omar Hussein is among those who thinks along traditional lines. He says he does not back the idea of a female to contest for a leadership position in Somalia. Somali culture as well as Islamic traditions bar women from holding such high positions with immense responsibilities, he added.
Analyst Anwar Abdifatah, a lecturer at Somalia’s National University, says it is not impossible for Fawzia to win the presidential election in parliament, but she will have to overcome longstanding traditions.
“It is democratic maturity to see women vying for the head of state in Somalia, considering the support of the expected 30% of women parliamentarians and few men who support a new leadership. However, despite her ambitions, Mrs. Fawzia will face a stiff challenge from strong Islamic and deep-rooted Somali culture that regards men as the only custodians of leadership,” Abdifatah said.
Somalia’s presidential and parliamentary elections were delayed last year following disagreements among political leaders about the process. Lawmakers briefly extended the term of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, only to withdraw the extension in the face of international and Somali opposition.
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Boris Johnson Promises Measures to Protect Soccer Players from Online Abuse
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed Wednesday to enact measures to protect British professional soccer players from online abuse. Punishment for someone found guilty of such abuse could include banishment from games. The move comes after online abuse, some of it racist, was directed at three Black players for the English national team who missed their penalty shots in the Euro 2020 final shootout on Sunday, leading to an Italian win. According to the Guardian newspaper, an analysis of 585,000 social media posts directed at the English team during the entire Euro 2020 tournament found that 44 messages were explicitly racist. More than 2,000 were “abusive.” “I do think that racism is a problem in the United Kingdom, and I believe it needs to be tackled. And it needs to be stamped out with some of the means that I’ve described this morning,” Johnson told Parliament as he announced his plan. “I repeat that I utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on Sunday night. And so, what we’re doing today is taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed, so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online of footballers, then you will not be going to the match — no ifs, no buts, no exemptions and no excuses,” he added. But it’s unclear how much of the online abuse actually comes from the U.K. The Daily Mail reported that the Premier League, the top division of professional soccer in England, found that roughly 70% of online abuse directed at British professional soccer players comes from outside the U.K. According to Yahoo News, the Greater Manchester Police said they had arrested a man Wednesday for social media posts directed at players for England’s national team. Johnson added that in addition to going after internet trolls, his government would potentially fine social media companies if they failed to quickly remove offensive content. “Last night, I met representatives of Facebook, of Twitter, of TikTok, of Snapchat, of Instagram, and I made it absolutely clear to them that we will legislate to address this problem in the Online Harms Bill. And unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues,” Johnson said. Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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Chinese Parents, Abducted Son Reunited After 24 Years
After 24 years of heartache and searching, a Chinese couple were reunited with their son who was abducted as a toddler outside their front gate.
Guo Gangtang and his wife, Zhang Wenge, hugged their 26-year-old son with tears in their eyes Sunday at a reunion organized by police in their hometown of Liaocheng in the eastern province of Shandong, according to a video recording released by police.
The story of their reunion after Guo crisscrossed China by motorcycle searching for his son and became an activist who helped police return other missing children to their parents prompted an outpouring of public sympathy and condemnation of abductions.
Guo Xinzhen, then age 2 1/2, was grabbed by a woman and her boyfriend who took him northwest to Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, the Chinese capital, according to police. From there, he was sold to a couple in central China.
Abductions of children for sale are reported regularly in China, though how often it happens is unclear.
The problem is aggravated by restrictions that until 2015 allowed most urban couples only one child. Boys are sold to couples who want a son to look after them in old age. Girls go to parents who want a servant or a bride for an only son.
Police experts found Guo Xinzhen in June by searching databases for images of people who looked like he might as an adult, according to a police ministry statement. His identity was confirmed by a DNA test.
The woman and her boyfriend, identified only by the surnames Tang and Hu, were caught and confessed to trafficking three boys, according to the ministry. They have yet to stand trial, but potential penalties range up to death.
Blood samples from Guo Xinzhen’s parents were added to an “anti-abduction DNA system,” but no matches were found with boys who were believed to have been abducted, the police ministry said.
Kidnappers target children who are too young to know their names or hometowns and sometimes even that they were abducted.
“So happy for Mr. Guo,” said a post signed Ding Dalong on the Zhihu social media platform. “He found his long-lost son and can move on with his own life.”
Others called for buyers of trafficked children to be punished. There was no word on whether the couple who bought Guo Xinzhen would face penalties.
Guo Xinzhen grew up in Henan province, according to police, but no other details of his life have been reported. It isn’t clear whether he knew he was abducted.
His mother, Zhang, described her despair in a 2015 television interview.
“What use is it for me to live?” she said. “It was me who lost the child.”
Guo Gangtang, now 51, started his search carrying a flag with his son’s photo and details, including “a scar on his left little toe.”
Guo wrote on his social media account that he wore out 10 motorcycles riding through 30 of China’s 34 provinces and regions.
According to news reports, he operates a shop in Beijing that sells artwork. He received financial help from his father, who kept working into his 70s, and other relatives.
Guo started a website in 2012 and a charity in 2014 to help other parents of abducted children, according to news reports.
“Thank you for participating in anti-trafficking activities for 24 years and helping more than 100 children return home,” the police ministry said on its social media account.
Guo’s search inspired the 2015 movie “Lost and Love,” written by Sanyuan Peng and starring Hong Kong heartthrob Andy Lau.
“Only when I am on the road do I feel like a father,” the character based on Guo was quoted as saying in the movie’s advertising.
The couple had two more sons, but reporters said Guo wanted them to think Xinzhen was an only child. That would add to the emotional impact of his search.
In a video on his social media account, Guo said he was worn out from public attention and wanted to give no more interviews.
In the 2015 TV interview, Guo said he nearly fell over a cliff when he was blown off his motorcycle in a rainstorm.
Guo Xinzhen said he will stay in Henan but plans to visit his biological parents regularly, according to news reports.
“He is a great father,” Guo Xinzhen was quoted as saying to reporters. “I am proud of him.”
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Deaths Soar as Migrants Attempt to Reach Europe by Sea
The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that deaths among maritime migration routes to Europe have more than doubled in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2020.The organization said Wednesday that at least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe in the first six months of 2021. Most of those who died were attempting to cross the Mediterranean.The total number of attempted crossings is also on the rise. More than 31,500 people were intercepted or rescued by North African authorities in the first half of 2021, compared to just over 23,000 in the same period last year. FILE – Migrants queue to embark on a ferry to the mainland, in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, June 23, 2021.Many of the migrants departed from Tunisia, headed for Italy. Italy’s interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, said on Italian national television that arrivals from Tunisia multiplied in July due to that country’s deep economic crisis. Because they are economic migrants, she added, they cannot stay in Italy and will be repatriated, likely in early August.Lamorgese added that areas have been identified where the migrants can be tested for COVID-19 and placed in quarantine, including on a large ship.The IOM data shows that the migrant deaths occurred because of insufficient search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands, even though interceptions off the North African coast have increased for the second consecutive year. IOM Director General Antonio Vitorino called on countries to take urgent measures to prevent loss of life, such as increasing search and rescue efforts and ensuring access to safe and legal migration pathways.The IOM also said over 15,300 people were returned to Libya in the first six months of 2021, almost three times higher than the same period last year. However, the organization said, migrants who are returned to Libya are subjected to arbitrary detention, extortion, disappearance and torture.
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Pope Francis Returns to Vatican Following Surgery
Pope Francis returned to the Vatican Wednesday, after more than 11 days in the hospital where he underwent intestinal surgery.
The Pope Francis arrived at the Vatican via automobile and stepped out slowly but unassisted. He shook hands and chatted with military personnel and police officers before entering the Vatican gates.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, in a statement, said Francis stopped to pray at the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore before returning to the Vatican. Francis normally does this at the end of each foreign trip to give thanks to the Madonna.
From his Twitter account Wednesday, Pope Francis wrote to thank “all those who have been close to me with prayer and affection during my hospital stay. Let us not forget to pray for the sick and for those who assist them.”
I thank all those who have been close to me with prayer and affection during my hospital stay. Let us not forget to pray for the sick and for those who assist them.— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 14, 2021Francis underwent three hours of planned surgery July 4 to treat “severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” or a hardening of the sacs that can sometimes form in the lining of the intestine. The surgery required the removal of a large section of the pope’s colon.
Francis had been considered healthy overall, and this is the first time he has been admitted to the hospital since he became pope in 2013, though he lost the upper part of one lung in his youth because of an infection. He also suffers from sciatica, or nerve pain, that makes him walk with a pronounced limp.
The Vatican has continued normal operations in his absence, though July is traditionally a month when the pope cancels public and private audiences.
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As Delta Variant Spreads in Indonesia, Hospitals Seek Oxygen
As the Delta variant spreads in record numbers in Indonesia, hospitals are overwhelmed. The situation is forcing many residents to care for sick families themselves. VOA’s Ahadian Utama reports.Producer: Eva MazrievaAhadian Utama contributed to this report.
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Sydney, Australia to Remain Under Coronavirus Lockdown for 2 More Weeks
Residents in Sydney, Australia will remain under lockdown for another two weeks as officials continue to struggle to contain a growing outbreak of the delta variant of COVID-19.The lockdown was first imposed on June 26 after a Sydney airport limousine driver who had been transporting international air crews tested positive for the variant. More than 800 people have since been infected, including 97 new infections reported Wednesday. Two people have died in the current outbreak.”It always hurts to say this, but we need to extend the lockdown at least a further two weeks,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Wednesday in Sydney, the state capital. The city’s five million residents are only allowed to leave home for work, exercise, essential shopping or medical reasons, while schools and many non-essential businesses are closed.People queue in line to wait for coronavirus testing at a testing site in Seoul, South Korea, July 8, 2021.South Korea dealing with new outbreak
South Korea is also dealing with a stubborn outbreak of new COVID-19 cases triggered by the delta variant. Officials with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 1,615 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, a new single-day record. The majority of the new infections came from the capital, Seoul, and immediate surrounding neighborhoods. The outbreak has prompted authorities to enforce strict restrictions and social distancing rules across much of South Korea, including a ban on private gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m. in the Seoul area, with bars and restaurants closing by midnight. South Korea now has 171,911 total COVID-19 cases, including 2,048 deaths. Only 30.6 percent of its 52 million citizens have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. US Experiencing New COVID Surge Surge of new infections blamed on fast-moving delta variant, low rates of vaccinations and political oppositionThe CDC has banned most cruising from U.S. waters since March 2020. Companies have been working with the health agency to resume sailings under its conditional sail order — a set of guidelines for cruise companies wishing to resume sailing in the U.S., including test cruises and vaccine requirements.Norwegian Cruise Lines, which is set to resume cruises from Florida on August 15, said in the complaint that it wants to resume operations “in a way that will be safe, sound, and consistent with governing law,” according to court documents obtained by CNN.
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US Experiencing New COVID Surge
The United States is experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 infections thanks to a combination of the more infectious delta strain of the coronavirus and low vaccination rates in several states.
Among the dozens of states that are reporting a steady increase in new COVID-19 infections is the midwestern state of Missouri, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation. About 45% of all Missourians have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, far behind the national average of at least 55%. The situation is far worse in the state’s rural areas, where fewer than 25% of residents have been inoculated.
Officials in St. Louis County say the rate of new coronavirus cases have soared 63% in the last two weeks.
The worsening situation in Missouri prompted the Biden administration to deploy a “surge response team” made up of experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies to help local officials with testing and vaccination efforts.
The surge of new coronavirus infections have been blamed on a general distrust of vaccines along with rising political opposition in some states.
In the southeastern state of Tennessee, Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the director of the state government’s vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs, said she was fired this week amid a backlash from conservative state lawmakers over her efforts to raise awareness among teenagers and young Tennesseans about the COVId-19 vaccines.
Fiscus said a memo she wrote suggesting some teenagers might be eligible for vaccinations without their parents’ consent triggered her dismissal.
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