Tulane University began evacuating students to Houston early Tuesday and is set to close for two weeks after Hurricane Ida damaged New Orleans’ power grid. Students were required to be off campus by 5 p.m. as buses evacuated those who were on campus. The university said students would remain in Houston, with food and lodging provided by the university, until they could arrange their own flights home. “Classes will resume online only beginning September 13 through Wednesday, October 6, to give the city time to repair and reinstate power and other critical services,” the university said in a statement. More than 1 million people remain without power in Louisiana, including in New Orleans, the state’s most populous city, and in the state of Mississippi, after the Category 4 hurricane made landfall. Utility company Entergy said all eight electric transmission lines that feed New Orleans are out of service, with one tower falling into the Mississippi River. Authorities said it could be days, even weeks, before power is fully restored, raising further concerns over residents falling ill from the area’s searing late-summer heat, which forecasters say could go as high as 32-degrees Celsius this week.
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Month: August 2021
Marked by the State: Russia Ramps Up ‘Foreign Agent’ Law Ahead of Election
Dozens of Russian independent media have been labeled “foreign agents” in the run-up to parliamentary elections, which are now only three weeks away.As of August 31, the Ministry of Justice website lists 43 media outlets and journalists and 76 civil society groups as “foreign agents.” Another 46 groups have been given the label of “undesirable organization.”Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an annual nationwide televised phone-in show in Moscow, June 30, 2021.The list includes large news outlets and prominent Russian journalists who have investigated President Vladimir Putin and his allies. The U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are among those named.Russian journalists who spoke with VOA saw the labeling as an attempt by the Kremlin to destroy independent media and prevent any protests about September’s parliamentary elections or the 2024 presidential vote.The designation is also affecting an election-monitoring group and candidates for the opposition Yabloko party, who were ordered to indicate their affiliation with “foreign agents” on campaign materials.The legislation was introduced in 2012. It was amended in response to the U.S. ordering Moscow-funded news groups to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 2017.Since then, Russia has applied the label broadly to independent media outlets and critics and has told others they must indicate their connections to named agents.The Justice Ministry did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.The foreign agent label is “another mechanism” to fight dissent, Yabloko party candidate Alexei Krapukhin told VOA.Krapukhin’s election campaign has called for an end to repression and for protests over the resetting of presidential terms that would allow Putin to run for a fifth term.Russia’s New Constitution to Further Silence DebateAmendments, proposed new laws could block reporting on anything that contradicts Kremlin narrative, experts say But when Krapukhin sent a campaign video to Moscow Media, which oversees TV channels and radio stations, he was told to either remove the mention of Yabloko or indicate the party’s affiliation with registered agents.Russia’s state-run Central Election Commission said that because Yabloko nominated two candidates affiliated with “foreign agents,” the party must indicate the relationship in at least 15% of all campaign advertisements, including those on TV and voting ballots.Krapukhin successfully challenged the order. But, he told VOA, “the Kremlin is creating an information cocoon around the upcoming election.””Independent media are the lens for people to look at the state. If there are no independent journalists, there is no understanding of the country’s problems,” Krapukhin said.Tainted by labelRequirements under the foreign agent law are cumbersome and can lead to penalties and turn away potential business, some journalists said.When the Justice Ministry labeled Russia’s last independent TV channel, Dozhd, a foreign agent in August, the channel’s editorial board called the decision “insidious.” The ministry said in a statement that Dozhd received more than 130,000 euros ($153,000) from the European Commission for EU-Russia coverage and that it distributes material from foreign mass media, including VOA. In June, the station was removed from the Kremlin press pool after covering rallies for jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and it is one of the few remaining channels providing independent coverage of protests. Russian Opposition Leader Faces New Charge, More JailRussia’s Investigative Committee said Alexei Navalny’s non-profit group encouraged Russians to break the lawNow the station must indicate that every report on TV, the internet or its social media platforms was produced by a “foreign agent.” ”We are required to tag everything, even Instagram stories,” Dozhd Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzyadko said. But with a large number of posts, “there is always the possibility that we will simply skip this marking (if) someone is tired or forgets.”If that happened, Dzyadko said, the penalty would be huge, including up to two years in prison if fines for noncompliance are not paid.RFE/RL has filled a case with the European Court of Human Rights after being fined millions of dollars since January under the law. A more serious consequence, Dzyadko said, is that “business may not want to deal with us. Big money is known to love silence. And being included in the list of foreign agents means that you are an enemy of the state; you are potentially dangerous.”Dzyadko cited the case of independent news website Meduza, which lost advertising after being labeled a foreign agent earlier this year.Russia Using Foreign Agent Law to Attack Journalism, Media SayExorbitant fines, repressive accounting of all personal spending, and labels that sow distrust are part of Russia’s ‘fight against the spread of ideas,’ say those affected by legislation’People will not be silent’Since a constitutional referendum last year cleared Putin to run for a fifth term, 25 journalists and seven media outlets have been labeled foreign agents by Russia.At first the action appeared linked to the parliamentary elections, but now it seems the 2024 presidential election is the focus, said Dozhd journalist Ekaterina Kotrikadze.”The goal is to drown out liberal ideas and free speech before the elections in 2024, as the Kremlin is eager to avoid repeating the path of Belarus,” Kotrikadze said. “They are doing everything so that there are no large protests, large rallies — so that they do not have to use that much force as (Belarus President Alexander) Lukashenko.” But, she said, the Kremlin’s plan will not work. ”Russia is such a huge country, and there are many honest free journalists and political figures. People will not be silent.”In some cases, individual journalists as well as their newsrooms are listed as foreign agents.When Russia designated Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories) — an outlet known for investigating Putin and his allies — as a foreign agent, it listed six of the news group’s journalists.Those people must now register as legal entities, submit reports to authorities and add a ‘foreign agent’ label to all their public social media posts, including personal ones.”I am not a foreign agent. This law is a shame, and it’s illegal,” Dmitry Velikovsky, a Vazhnye Istorii journalist, told VOA. “I am not a media outlet, I am a (Russian) citizen who writes articles in the media and writes what he wants on Facebook.”Velikovsky believes he and his colleagues were included in retaliation for reporting on Putin’s family and allies.”All those personally listed were investigative reporters who covered the Panama Papers leaks, where Putin’s childhood friend Sergei Roldugin appears,” Velikovsky said, adding that Vazhnye Istorii also investigated the transfer of billions of dollars from Russian state banks and businessmen to the accounts of people close to Putin and large Russian companies. His colleague Irina Dolinina, who is also on the list, told VOA the label “overcomplicates life and puts personal safety at great risk.””On every post on any social media and even in public chats, I have to put this huge humiliating mark, and now I have to open a legal entity to report my personal spending to authorities,” she said. “All ‘foreign agents’ are a couple of steps away from being in prison.”Survival modeThe situation in Russia has deteriorated significantly compared with the environment during the parliamentary elections five years ago, said Vasily Vaisenberg, editor in chief of news agency Zakon.Член ЦИК Игорь Борисов предложил специально маркировать наблюдателей, которые связаны с организациями-инагентами. “Вполне допустимо, что мы не будем запрещать ОП назначать таких наблюдателей, но соответствующим образом их маркировать”— ИА Закон (@zakon_agency) August 12, 2021″In 2016, parts of the society had certain hopes,” Vaisenberg said. “There is no hope now.”The journalist also works with the election monitoring group Golos (Voice), which in August was listed as an “unregistered foreign agent.”Vaisenberg said it was unclear what restrictions authorities might place on independent observers.A few days before Golos was added to the list, Central Election Commission of Russia member Igor Borisov had proposed identifying observers associated with “foreign agent organizations.”Borisov was cited in articles saying the observers would not necessarily be banned, but “labeled accordingly.”Alexei Kurtov, president of the Russian Association of Political Consultants, told VOA that the current climate “forces all the media to be more careful, more restrained.””Many news outlets seem to have to stand on tiptoe, not knowing what direction the wind blows,” Kurtov said. He added that Russians who want uncensored information would “have to read between the lines. Again.”But in some cases, media outlets added to the Justice Ministry list have closed down.Investigative outlet The Project was shuttered after the company and some staff were added to the register in July.Maria Zheleznova, a former Project journalist who is still listed as an individual “foreign agent,” said on Facebook that the label is equivalent to “an instant ban on activities threatened by immediate prosecution for the creator.” Mikhail Rubin, former deputy editor in chief for The Project, told VOA that the previous tactic of self-censoring on some issues, such as critical coverage of Putin, is no longer enough.”A huge number of media outlets in Russia have chosen this tactic of survival. They do not touch Putin, they don’t conduct their own investigations, they don’t write about Navalny, but otherwise they are trying to conduct some kind of transparent journalism,” Rubin said. “No, guys, it doesn’t work anymore.”Rubin believes Russia will soon demand “absolute demonstrative loyalty” from all media groups.Authorities are already demanding complete loyalty, even from newspapers that are popular among the elite only, Rubin said, adding, “This is the call to the Russian elite that they should demonstrate absolute loyalty to Kremlin.”This story originated in VOA’s Russian service. Ksenia Turkova, Rafael Saakov contributed to this report.
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Kenya Company Wants Buses, Utility Vehicles to Go Green by 2030
The United Nations Environment Program on Monday marked the official end of toxic leaded gasoline use in vehicles worldwide. A company in Nairobi, where the UNEP is headquartered, is working on the next step — converting all buses and utility vehicles to electric power by 2030.Lucy Mugala goes about checking on the energy levels of battery modules lined neatly on a workshop table. Mugala is an engineer at Opibus, a privately owned four-year-old Nairobi company that converts cars and public transport vehicles to run on electricity.Today, Mugala and fellow engineer Esther Wairimu are fine-tuning plans to outfit a public transport bus with lithium batteries. Mugala said converting this bus reduces the effects of greenhouse emissions responsible for global warming.“A lot has been done currently in terms of mitigating the effects of greenhouse gases in Kenya, but very little is being done in the electrical vehicle sector, and that is the gap we are trying to fill at Opibus. We are looking at maximizing impact by targeting the largest sector, which is the public transport sector, and with this, we will be able to step by step be able to achieve a low carbon economy in Kenya and in Africa at large,” said Mugala.Douglas Agwata has been in the public transport industry for 15 years. On average, Agwata spends around $80 on fuel daily, a cost he’d like to see come down.However, Agwata said that drivers like him may find it challenging to adapt to electric vehicles.He said that converting the engines from gasoline to electric is quite costly and that one may also find that there is a scarcity of charging stations, and this may prove to be quite challenging.Joshua Anampiu is the strategy and planning manager at the National Environment Trust Fund, or NETFUND, a state corporation that raises funds for sustainable environmental management in Kenya.Anampiu said shifting toward clean energy requires investment from the government, but he argues that the investment will be worth it.“No matter how costly it looks right now, we know in the long run it will be more effective towards preserving our environment, which is an existential threat right now if we do not take care of our environment. So, yes, there are areas we need to put up infrastructure. We need to change the entire mechanisms of the infrastructure, and this obviously is costly. And so, going forward, maybe invest now, put in a bit more cash, and then we’ll reap the benefits in the future,” he said.The global end of leaded gasoline use has been lauded as a milestone by the United Nations Environment Program.Jane Akumu is a program manager at UNEP. Akumu adds that a lot more needs to be done to ensure efficacy in abolishing the use of leaded gasoline.“You know, we need a lot of awareness for people to be able to know why it’s important to have cleaner fuels or cleaner vehicles. Policymakers need to also come in, and especially … standards bodies. It’s important for them to set regulations in place because the industry is pushed by regulation. What we’ve noticed is that in some of the countries where there’s no regulation, poor fuel quality, poor vehicle qualities, are imported,” said Akumu.For Mugala and other clean energy champions, the challenge will be to reduce the costs of going electric and encourage consumers to go green.
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Poland Could Declare State of Emergency at Belarus Border
The Polish government has asked President Andrzej Duda to declare a state of emergency along the Poland-Belarus border. Poland accuses Belarus of using migrants as political pawns by pushing them into the European Union in retaliation over EU sanctions. According to a recent BBC report, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Poland of starting a “border conflict” and violating his country’s territory. The state of emergency would create a three-kilometer-wide zone around the border that would prohibit outsiders from entering. FILE – Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks in Gdansk-Westerplatte, Sept. 1, 2020.”Please expect Poland’s security to be strengthened in the nearest time through acts of law, and also through subsequent actions on Poland’s border,” Duda said. The country’s parliament would need to approve the emergency declaration, and Duda said he thinks it would. About 30 migrants, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan, have been in limbo at the border for weeks. So far, Poland’s response has been to deploy troops to the border and install a barbed wire fence. Last week, it said it had provided tents, blankets and power generators to the migrants, who remain on Belarusian territory. Also last week, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, called for Poland to provide medical and legal support to the migrants. Some refugee rights groups say several migrants are sick. One group reportedly tried to cut a hole in the barbed wire fence. About 3,000 migrants have attempted to enter Poland from Belarus this month, The Associated Press reported. Poland is not alone in accusing Belarus of using migrants as political pawns. Other Baltic states have said Minsk is pushing migrants toward them in response to the EU sanctions following a crackdown against those protesting the disputed reelection of President Lukashenko in August 2020. Last week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, said it was monitoring the situation. “We firmly reject attempts to instrumentalize people for political purposes,” spokesman Christian Wigand said in Brussels. “We cannot accept any attempts by third countries to incite or acquiesce in illegal migration” to the EU. Some information in this report comes from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Turkish Officials Say Deportation Centers Packed With Afghan Refugees
Under a small bridge more than 100 kilometers from the Turkish border with Iran, a small group of boys and young men waits quietly for a smuggler. They are unwashed, exhausted and hungry. Most of them are under 18, and they are all from Afghanistan. When the Taliban began taking over their towns and villages, they fled their homes with almost nothing. Currently, after more than two months of travel, they have even less. “I brought shampoo, soap, money, my phone and a watch,” says Saboon Afghan, 24, the oldest in the group and its de facto leader. “I used up some and the rest was stolen. Now, I just have these clothes and an empty bag.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Zaki Wassim, 17, at right, sits beside his brother under the bridge. Both of them are trying to reach Istanbul for the second time, after being sent back to the Iranian border by Turkish police a few weeks ago. (VOA/Yan Boechat)”We were walking openly on the streets for an hour when the police arrested us last time,” says Zaki Wassim, 17, from Kabul, explaining what happened when he tried to enter Turkey from Iran about a month ago. “The next evening, they took us in a bus to the border and shouted, ‘Don’t come back to Turkey.'” Influx angers some Turks Earlier this month, the Taliban swept into Kabul after taking over vast swaths of Afghanistan in a matter of days. Since then, mass evacuations have left the Kabul airport in chaos, and Islamic State suicide bombers have killed at least 170 people and 13 U.S. service members. The country is on edge, waiting to find out what will happen now that the United States has met its self-declared August 31 deadline to pull out of Afghanistan completely. Afghan refugees detained in a Turkish deportation center watch journalists touring their facility with Turkish officials in Van, Turkey, Aug. 30, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Turkish officials also are waiting to see what happens next, saying it may be weeks or months before they can resume deportations. Turkey currently has 25 deportation centers, all filled to capacity with mostly Afghan refugees, and it plans to build eight more. “We cannot send them back because of human rights issues,” says Omurcu. “But if things go well, we will resume normal deportations.” Soldiers patrol the Turkish-Iranian border trying to prevent Afghans refugees from entering Turkey, on Aug. 30, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Many Turkish people are angered by the influx of Afghan refugees, saying their country is being damaged economically and socially by the crisis. Turkey already hosts more than 4 million refugees and asylum-seekers, more than any other country in the world, including 3.6 million Syrian refugees. During the tour, officials express sympathy for the detainees, showing playrooms for children, Turkish language classes, and a line of young men picking up what appears to be a healthy meal. They also express sympathy for the angered Turkish nationals, who want refugees out of their country. “Illegal entries are out of control in Turkey,” Omurcu continues. “It is too much.” Asylum claims The process for becoming a legal refugee in Turkey involves applying for asylum via government officials. In most countries, the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, processes the claims, but Turkey relieved the agency of that responsibility in 2018. Under the bridge, the boys do not seem to know much about the process, saying first they were driven from their homes by crushing poverty. Later, they explain the poverty was a result of war and violence. Both the United Nations and Turkey are clear: fleeing violence and danger can make you eligible for refugee status. Fleeing poverty does not, even if the two are intertwined. At the deportation center, some refugees point out that no one plans to become a refugee, so it is reasonable that some people do not know how to organize their tragic stories in order to fit into a legal definition. Soraya, 19, fled her home in the western part of Afghanistan when the Taliban was getting closer. She left with her sister and five nephews and nieces, After crossing Iran and entering Turkey they decided to go to the police and seek asylum, pictured Aug. 30, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Soraya, 19, was in her third semester at a university when she ran from her home in western Afghanistan. She was studying physics and chemistry, hoping one day to become a doctor. When the Taliban took over her town, she and her sister fled with her nieces and nephews. Besides the violence of the war, they feared they would be in danger, just for being educated women. And while she hopes Turkey will help her find a safe place to live, outside of the detention camp, she doesn’t see it as Turkey’s responsibility. “This is my request for the whole world,” she says. “Please pave the way for us. We escaped the battles ourselves. Now we need help.” Mohammad Mahdi Sultani contributed to this report.
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Florida Education Department Withholds Funding from Local Schools That Require Mask-Wearing
The agency that governs public education in the U.S. state of Florida said Tuesday it has withheld funding from two local school districts that require the wearing of masks in classrooms in defiance of the governor’s ban on mask mandates.Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said he withheld an amount equal to monthly school board member salaries in Alachua and Broward counties at the request of the State Board of Education, which oversees the state education department.Governor Ron DeSantis has banned mask mandates, despite a ruling Friday by a Florida state judge that the ban was unconstitutional and could not be enforced.Oregon Becomes Latest US State to Reintroduce Indoor Mask Mandate Governor cites health concerns related to the coronavirus’s delta variant Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper said his ruling would not take effect until it is finalized in writing, which is expected by Monday. The governor’s office has said the state would appeal the ruling. DeSantis, a Republican who may run for the U.S. presidency in 2024, had warned for weeks he would financially penalize local school boards. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he would allocate federal funding to cover any such costs. Corcoran said funding would continue to be withheld until the districts comply.Broward County Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said in a statement that its school board believes it is complying with the law and would “continue to mandate masks, knowing the data show they help minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.”The school districts in Broward and Alachua counties were the first of 10 districts to require all students to wear masks unless they had a medical exemption. Slightly more than half of the nearly 3 million public school students in Florida live in those two districts.The Associated Press and Reuters provided information for this report.
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Family Vows to Win Freedom of US Journalist Held in Myanmar
The parents and brother of an American journalist who has been detained in Myanmar for 100 days vowed Tuesday to never stop working to secure his release.Danny Fenster, 37, is managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, an independent online news outlet based in Yangon, the Southeast Asian nation’s largest city. He was detained May 24 while trying to board a flight to visit his family who live in the Detroit area, and is being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison.”We’re just trying to stay tough — as tough as Danny is — and we’re not going to stop until we bring him home,” Buddy Fenster, his father, said during a news conference held via Zoom.Myanmar’s military-installed government accuses Fenster of incitement, saying he spread false or inflammatory information. If convicted, Fenster could be imprisoned for up to three years.Military officials say they are not suppressing press freedom by holding the journalist, but that limits on publishing information are needed to prevent violence and disorder. The junta has detained dozens of journalists since it took power in February this year.Fenster’s next hearing is scheduled for next week, according to his brother, Bryan Fenster.His family wanted to raise awareness about his detention and call for his immediate release on humanitarian grounds.Danny Fenster told his lawyer in July that he believed he had COVID-19, but prison authorities denied he was infected. The Fensters say they have not spoken to Danny since Aug. 1. During that conversation, they came to believe that he had indeed contracted the coronavirus.”He still was having some brain fog, loss of taste and smell, some fatigue,” mother Rose Fenster said, adding that her son has not been vaccinated against COVID-19.The U.S. government and press freedom associations have been pushing for Danny Fenster’s release.”It’s 100 days, and he’s not home, which is frustrating,” Bryan Fenster said Tuesday. “But we know that at the highest levels this is a top priority. And resources are being used to secure his release.”Michigan Rep. Andy Levin said he is in regular contact with the U.S. State Department and the Fenster family, whom he represents in Congress. The Democrat from suburban Detroit predicted that Fenster eventually will be freed.”We will get Danny out, because the Fensters will not give up,” Levin said.The National Press Club announced Monday that Danny Fenster will receive the 2021 John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, which recognizes journalists who bravely push to disclose the truth in trying circumstances.
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Red Cross: 48,000 People Confirmed Missing Across Africa
The International Committee of the Red Cross says more than 48,000 people are missing across Africa, and at least 21,600 are minors. Most of the registered disappearances — widely believed to be a fraction of the continent’s wider, undocumented humanitarian tragedy — are linked to armed conflict, violence, disasters and migration across the continent. The International Committee of the Red Cross says the number of people coming forward to report missing persons is on the rise in Africa. Amaya Fernandez, the humanitarian organization’s adviser on the missing and their families for Western Africa, says the cause of the increasing numbers is two-fold. “On one hand, [it’s] due to the fact we are trying to register more systematically cases of missing persons throughout the region. But also, certainly, [it’s] due to the increased violence and conflict experienced on the continent, which increases at the same time the likelihood of people going missing. Looking at our figures, almost half of the missing persons have been recorded underage and most of them are men. Among the women … we can see that the majority are minors,” she said.The ICRC finding shows that 39,360 of the 48,000 missing people are from seven countries with armed conflicts. According to the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute, 20 countries in Africa have armed conflict. Out of the 20, 10 are witnessing high-intensity armed conflicts. Fernandez says the ongoing conflict in some African countries has created more pain and suffering for families of missing persons. “Humanitarian consequences… caused by protracted armed conflicts are often… reflected in most of the interviews. For instance, half of the families interviewed in Nigeria reported that their relatives had gone missing in 2014-2015. [In] South Sudan, [the] majority of the families were looking for people that went missing between 2013 and 2016. In Libya, families reported that they were looking for missing relatives from the late ’70s until the present day, and the same goes for families in Ethiopia and Uganda,” she said. Some experts see the need to train community workers and security agencies on the importance of information sharing to help locate missing persons. Zimbabwe’s assistant police commissioner Crispen Lifa says his country and the region need a data management system to follow up on the missing person cases. “There is a need to have a database which should be continuously updated so that all missing persons, and even those that are deceased… is captured in a database by police stations. At the end of the day, that information has to be put in place… [so] if you want to check across the country the number of missing persons, [you] would quickly get that information from a central point,” he said. Fauziya Hussein’s brother went missing in June after a Kenyan court released him. The 39-year-old was accused of terrorism-related issues, but the court found him innocent and ordered the police to release him. His sister, Fauziya Hussein, says they never saw him again. “I know they still have him. At every point [of his detention], my brother got a chance to make a phone call. He called my mother. So, if he was released, why didn’t he call my mother? So, I know for a fact they did not release him,” she said. According to Hussein, police told her they released her brother. The ICRC calls on African governments to prevent disappearances and help with search and identification, and addressing families’ needs.
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Nigeria Fighting Cholera Outbreak; Death Toll Nears 1,800
Nigerian health officials say nearly 1,800 people have died from cholera this year, with cases found in more than 20 states around the country. To combat the bacterial disease that is spread by dirty water, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment is urging proper hygiene and organizing mass cleanups in affected areas. Timothy Obiezu reports from the capital, Abuja.Camera: Emeka Gibson
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EU to Meet to Discuss Preventing Uncontrolled Migration From Afghanistan
European Union ministers will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss preventing uncontrolled migration from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s seizure of the country, according to a statement drafted for the meeting.EU member states hope to prevent a refugee crisis like the one fueled by Syria’s civil war in 2015. The EU was unprepared for the influx of more than a million refugees and migrants that created splits among members, while also energizing far-right parties, as camps in Greece, Italy and other countries became filled.A wave of migrants from Afghanistan is likely to escalate tensions among EU members. The draft says the member nations likely will fund the housing for refugees in countries bordering Afghanistan to prevent them from coming to Europe.In a letter sent to EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson before the meeting, Amnesty International said the 27-nation bloc “must refrain from extremely damaging responses that put emphasis on keeping the EU’s border ‘protected’ and proposing or adopting measures that shift the responsibility for the protection of refugees to third countries.”The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warns that up to a half-million Afghans could flee their home country by the end of the year. The International Rescue Committee estimates 2.6 million Afghan refugees already are being hosted primarily by Iran and Pakistan.Thousands of others were evacuated before the U.S.-imposed August 31 deadline to withdraw in a massive airlift conducted by military forces from Western nations.
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BBC Reporter Leaves Russia After Credentials Withdrawn in Row With Britain
BBC journalist Sarah Rainsford left Russia Tuesday after Moscow abruptly refused to extend her permission to work in a tit-for-tat disagreement with Britain over the treatment of foreign media.Russian authorities earlier this month told Rainsford, one of the British broadcaster’s two English-language Moscow correspondents, to leave the country in retaliation for what it called London’s discrimination against Russian journalists working in Britain.Russian authorities accused London of mistreating a Russian journalist working for the state TASS news agency in London, who they said was forced to leave in 2019 after his visa was not extended without explanation.They said they had tried and failed to get Britain to remedy the situation before deciding to retaliate in kind.The BBC has called the expulsion of Rainsford a “direct assault on media freedom,” and the British government had without success urged Russian authorities to reconsider their decision.Rainsford, who has said she was devastated by the move posted pictures Tuesday on Twitter from a Moscow airport before she boarded a flight out of the country.”I have to leave Russia,” she wrote.Our correspondent @sarahrainsford reports on her expulsion from Russia. pic.twitter.com/QIE5kVUZx7— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) August 31, 2021Russia’s foreign ministry has made clear it will not allow the BBC to send her back or replace her with someone else until Britain gives a visa to a Russian state journalist.
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Johnson & Johnson’s HIV Vaccine Fails Mid-Stage Africa Study
Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday its experimental vaccine failed to provide sufficient protection against HIV in sub-Saharan Africa to young women who accounted for a large number of infections last year.The results from the mid-stage study are the latest setback to efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV or human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS that had infected over 37 million people globally as of 2020.”Although this is certainly not the study outcome for which we had hoped, we must apply the knowledge learned from the … trial and continue our efforts to find a vaccine that will be protective against HIV,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Shown Less Effective Against VariantsPreliminary study at New York University suggests a second shot may help Despite the discovery of effective treatments that can put the virus in remission, experts say an HIV vaccine is critical to eradicating the virus.The mid-stage study testing the J&J vaccine included 2,600 women participants across five Southern African countries, where women and girls accounted for over 60% of all new HIV infections last year.Researchers found that 63 participants who received placebo and 51 who were administered the J&J vaccine got HIV infection, resulting in a vaccine efficacy of 25.2%.The vaccine was found to be safe with no serious side effects reported, but the study will not continue based on the efficacy data, J&J said.The trial of the vaccine was supported by the NIAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.J&J said it was studying the safety and efficacy of a different experimental HIV vaccine among men who have sex with men, and transgender persons. The trial, conducted in the Americas and Europe, is expected to be completed in March 2024.
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Biden to Address Nation After Last US Troops Leave Kabul
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to address the nation Tuesday following the withdrawal of the last American troops from Afghanistan and the end of a two-decade war that leaves the Taliban in power.Biden said in a brief statement Monday that he would specifically speak about his decision not to extend the U.S. troop presence in Kabul beyond the August 31 deadline he set.For weeks, Biden and other members of his administration discussed the possibility of staying longer, balancing the challenges and benefits of a massive operation to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan civilians against credible security threats.“It was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned,” Biden said. “Their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead.”“The Taliban has made commitments on safe passage and the world will hold them to their commitments,” he added.Biden’s decision to stick to the withdrawal deadline drew criticism from political opponents, and from some allies. The U.S. exit comes days before the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks that prompted the United States to send troops into Afghanistan to go after the al-Qaida terrorists who planned the attacks and the Taliban militants who harbored them.
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Kenya Hails Anti-Poaching Efforts in First Wildlife Census
Kenya has hailed its efforts to crack down on poaching as it released the results of the country’s first-ever national wildlife census, calling the survey a vital weapon in its conservation battle. According to the census released late Monday, the country has a total of 36,280 elephants, a 12% jump from the figures recorded in 2014, when poaching activity was at its highest. “Efforts to increase penalties on crimes related to threatened species appear to be bearing fruits,” the report, which counted 30 species of animals and covered nearly 59% of Kenya’s land mass, said. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned in March that poaching and habitat destruction, particularly due to land conversion for agriculture, was devastating elephant numbers across Africa. The population of African savanna elephants plunged by at least 60% in the last half century, prompting their reclassification as “endangered” in the latest update to the IUCN’s “Red List” of threatened species. FILE – Giraffes are seen at the Loisaba conservancy in Laikipia, Kenya.The census said the numbers of lions, zebras, hirolas (Hunter’s antelopes) and the three species of giraffes found in the country had also gone up, but did not provide comparative figures from earlier years. The state-funded survey counted 1,739 rhinos including two northern white rhinos, 897 critically endangered black rhinos and 840 southern white rhinos, and said the tourist magnet Maasai Mara National Reserve was home to nearly 40,000 wildebeest. FILE – Wildebeests are seen within the Kimana Sanctuary, part of a crucial wildlife corridor that links the Amboseli National Park to the Chyulu Hills and Tsavo protected areas, within the Amboseli ecosystem in Kimana, Kenya, Feb. 8, 2021.”Obtaining this level of information… allows for better policy, planning and assessment of areas that require focus in our interventions to maintain or improve our national conservation efforts,” Wildlife Minister Najib Balala said in the report. President Uhuru Kenyatta applauded conservation agencies for successfully clamping down on poaching and urged them to find newer, inventive approaches to protect wildlife. “The reduction in losses in terms of elephants, rhinos and other endangered species is because of the great work that KWS [Kenya Wildlife Service], its officers and men are doing”, he said late Monday. ‘Our children’s legacy’ Special attention should be given to antelope species such as sable antelopes and mountain bongos which already number less than 100 each, the report said, warning that they could become extinct unless urgent action was taken. Exponential growth in human population and the accompanying rise in demand for land for settlement as well as activities such as livestock incursions, logging and charcoal burning are threatening to put brakes on the recent gains, it added. Kenya, like several of its African peers, is trying to strike a balance between protecting its wildlife while managing the dangers they pose when they raid human settlements in search of food and water. “[Wildlife] is our heritage, this is our children’s legacy and it is important for us to be able to know what we have in order to be better informed on policy and also on actions needed as we move forward,” Kenyatta said. “It being a national heritage, it is something we should carry with pride”, he added.
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New Variant of COVID-19 Detected in South Africa
Scientists in South Africa say they have detected a new variant of COVID-19.The country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced Monday in a new study that the variant, which has been designated C.1.2, was first detected in South Africa in May of this year, and has since spread to seven other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the southern Pacific region of Oceania. The scientists say the C.1.2 variant appears to have the same characteristics as that of other mutations that are more transmissible and more able to overtake a person’s immune system.The study has not been published nor has it undergone the normal peer review process. The scientists say they are still monitoring the frequency of the C.1.2 variant, and that it has not evolved as either a “variant of interest” or “variant of concern” under the guidelines established by the World Health Organization. FILE – A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 30, 2014.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the three COVID-19 vaccines currently in use in the United States remain highly effective in preventing severe disease. Dr. Sara Oliver, a CDC scientist, told a vaccine advisory panel that the COVID-19 vaccine was 94% effective in preventing hospitalization for adults between the ages of 18 to 74 between April and July, when the delta variant became dominant. The vaccine’s effectiveness against hospitalization dropped among adults 75 and older, but was still above 80%. Dr. Oliver told the panel the vaccines appear to be less effective in preventing infection or mild illness, which she said was due to the vaccine’s weakening over time and the more contagious delta variant. A Dallas County Health and Human Services nurse completes paperwork after administering a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a county-run vaccination site in Dallas, Aug. 26, 2021.The advisory committee is considering whether to recommend authorizing booster shots of the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines amid a surge of new COVID-19 infections across the United States. The Biden administration recently announced it will begin offering a third shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine sometime next month. Both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have recently recommended a third shot of Pfizer or Moderna for some people with weakened immune systems. The committee unanimously voted Monday to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for Americans 16 years old and older. In a separate development Monday, the CDC added seven new destinations to its highest risk level of its COVID-19 travel advisory list. Azerbaijan, Estonia, Guam, North Macedonia, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia and Switzerland have been designated as Level 4, which signifies a “very high” risk of contracting COVID-19. The CDC says people should avoid travel to these destinations, and advises that anyone who must travel to these spots needs to be fully vaccinated. FILE – People cross nearly empty streets in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand, Aug. 27, 2021.In New Zealand, health officials Tuesday reported another decline in new COVID-19 cases since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern placed the country under a strict lockdown earlier this month. The health ministry posted 49 new cases on Tuesday, after reporting 53 cases Monday and 83 new cases Sunday. Ardern imposed the strict lockdown on August 17 after a 58-year-old man in Auckland became the first person to test positive for COVID-19 since February. About 612 new cases have since been posted, with Auckland posting 597 and 15 detected in the capital, Wellington, according to Reuters.Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Thai Lawmakers’ No-confidence Debate Focuses on Pandemic
Thai lawmakers on Tuesday began a no-confidence debate targeting Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and five of his Cabinet members, with the opposition focusing on charges the government bungled its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The debate is scheduled to last four days, with voting by the lower house set for Saturday. Organizers of ongoing anti-government street protests have vowed to step up their own separate efforts during the debate to force Prayuth out of office. FILE – Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends a family photo session at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, March 30, 2021.His coalition government is generally expected to turn back this week’s challenge, even though it has come under intense criticism for failing to secure timely and adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines. Sompong Amornvivat, leader of the main opposition Pheu Thai party, kicked off the debate with a fierce attack, charging that Prayuth is “a power-crazed arrogant person unsuitable to lead the country.” “If we let him continue his leadership, it will lead to more people being infected and losing their lives,” said Sompong. “There won’t be enough crematoriums in service and there will be no way to stop the spread of the disease.” He drew an objection from a government member of parliament when he said the situation recalled a saying that “A stupid leader will lead us all to death, because a stupid person with power is the worst danger.” This is the third no-confidence debate faced by Prayuth since he came to power after a 2019 general election. He also served as prime minister in a military government in 2014-2019 after seizing power in a coup as army commander. A third wave of the coronavirus arrived in April and spread rapidly, accounting for 97% of the more than 1.17 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began, and more than 99% of the 11,495 total deaths. Prayuth’s administration was largely successful at keeping the coronavirus at bay last year, although lockdowns and travel restrictions devastated the economy, particularly the key tourism industry, which virtually collapsed after most foreign visitors were barred entry. The government’s handling of the economy also promises to be a hot subject of debate. “I think everyone can feel the same hopelessness and doubt about how our economy will recover,” Pichai Naripthaphan, deputy leader of the opposition Pheu Thai party, told The Associated Press ahead of the debate. He noted that Thailand’s economy is forecast to grow the slowest this year of all Southeast Asian nations. “We hope that this no-confidence motion will lead to some changes — either a Cabinet reshuffle or the coalition parties’ withdrawal — later.” Digital Economy Minister Chaiwut told reporters ahead of the debate that he is ready to field the opposition’s questions. He said the government is focusing on solving the COVID-19 problems as soon as possible so that people can live their lives normally, and if there is a political change, that effort might falter. “It is not the time to focus on politics,” he said. “If the overall situation improves next year, then we can discuss political changes.” Chaiyun Chaiyaporn, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said he does not believe the debate can break up the ruling coalition and bring down the government. He suggested that the targeted ministers will be able to successfully defend their handling of the pandemic. “The debate by the opposition parties may reduce Prayuth’s legitimacy among the public, but not among the coalition parties. I think their relationship remains strong,” he said. In addition to Prayuth, the opposition plans to grill government ministers belonging to three main coalition parties. They are Deputy Premier and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob from the Bhumjai Thai Party, Labor Minister Suchat Chomklin and Digital Economy Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn from the ruling Palang Pracharath, and Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sri-on from the Democrat Party. Prayuth and Anutin will likely bear the brunt of the opposition’s attack, since they are the ones most closely associated with COVID-19 policy.
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Mississippi Highway Collapses in Ida’s Wake; 2 Killed, at Least 10 Injured
The Mississippi Highway Patrol says two people were killed, and at least 10 others were injured when a highway collapsed in the southeastern corner of the state following hours of torrential rain from remnants of Ida.Troopers, rescue teams and emergency road crews responded to the scene near Lucedale late Monday, where they found a large hole that had opened in the pavement on Highway 26, about 96 kilometers northeast of Biloxi. Officials in Louisiana Assess Trail of Destruction Left by Hurricane Ida New Orleans mayor urges residents who evacuated to stay away as powerful Atlantic storm wrecks electricity grid It involved about seven vehicles, including a motorcycle, which had driven into it. Mississippi Highway Patrol Corporal Cal Robertson said the hole was about 15 to 18 meters long and about 6 to 9 meters deep. He said the heavy rainfall in the area caused the collapse, and low visibility from the storm prevented drivers from seeing that a portion of the roadway was gone. Robertson told local media some of the cars were stacked on top of one another in the hole and a crane was used to pull them out. He told the cable channel CNN he had never seen anything like it in his career. State and local officials say Highway 26 is a main roadway connecting the area to Louisiana and carries a relatively high volume of traffic. Officials say they are continuing to investigate the incident.The National Weather Service says about 20 centimeters of rain had fallen in the area as the remnants of Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the mainland United States, moved through over the last 24 hours.Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.
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US Climate Envoy in Japan to Push Efforts to Cut Emissions
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met in Tokyo on Tuesday with Japan’s top diplomat to push efforts to fight climate change ahead of a United Nations conference in November. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi highlighted what he said was the importance of getting other major carbon emitters, especially China, to cooperate. “China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter and the number two economy as well, and it is extremely important that we encourage China to firmly fulfill its responsibility to match its place,” Motegi told reporters after his meeting with Kerry. Motegi added that he hoped Japan and the United States would lead global decarbonizing efforts at the U.N. conference to be held in Glasgow in late November, known as COP26, and beyond. The United States is the second-largest carbon emitter. Japan is fifth. Kerry was also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, as well as Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama. Kerry arrived in Japan on Monday and will fly out on Tuesday evening to China for more climate talks — his second trip to the country during the Biden administration. Kerry has called on global leaders to work together and accelerate actions needed to curb rising temperatures to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. He urged China to join the U.S. in urgently cutting carbon emissions. Many countries have pledged to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050. Japan has promised to strive to reduce its emissions by 46% from 2012 levels, up from an earlier target of 26%, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. China has also set a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Suga has said Japan will try to push the reduction as high as 50% to be in line with the European Union. In order to achieve that target, Japan’s Environment Ministry is seeking a significant budget increase to promote renewable energy and decarbonizing programs. The Trade and Industry Ministry plans to use large subsidies to promote electric vehicles and wind power generation, according to a draft budget proposal for 2022. The Trade and Industry Ministry, in its draft basic energy plan released in July, said the share of renewables should be raised to 36-38% of the power supply in 2030 from the current target of 22-24%. During his Sept. 1-3 China visit, Kerry is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua.
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Officials in Louisiana Assess Trail of Destruction Left by Hurricane Ida
The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, is urging residents who evacuated ahead of Sunday’s arrival of now-Tropical Depression Ida not to return as the massive storm has left the city without electricity. Ida hit the Louisiana coastline as a Category 4 hurricane packing winds of 240 kilometers per hour, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans when the flood barriers known as levees failed and left the city underwater, killing 1,800 people and trapping thousands of other residents for days. Officials said the new $14.5 billion system of levees that were erected around New Orleans after the 2005 disaster withstood the onslaught of Ida and kept the waters of the Mississippi River from flooding the city again. However, more than one million residents in Louisiana, including New Orleans, and the neighboring southern U.S. state of Mississippi are without electricity. Local utility company Entergy said all eight electric transmission lines that feed the city are out of service, with one tower falling into the Mississippi River. Authorities said it could be days, even weeks, before power is fully restored, raising further concerns over residents falling ill from the area’s searing late-summer heat, which forecasters say could go as high as 32 degrees Celsius later this week.People move in boat on flooded streets in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, in Lafitte, La.“Now is not the time for re-entry,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Monday during a post-Ida press conference. The situation was far worse in several surrounding areas, such as the town of LaPlace, located about 55 kilometers west of New Orleans. The heavy rain Ida dumped on the town left the streets flooded, trapping many residents in their homes Monday. A group of volunteers searched the flooded streets in motorboats in LaPlace and other small towns to rescue the trapped residents. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at least two people have died as a result of Hurricane Ida, including a man who drowned in New Orleans and a person killed when a tree fell on a house outside of the city of Baton Rouge, the state capital. Governor Edwards said he expects the death toll to rise considerably due to the significant destruction caused by Ida. U.S. President Joe Biden talked with officials from the hardest-hit regions Monday, voicing his confidence that people in “Louisiana and Mississippi are resilient,” while assuring them that “we can certainly see the power of government respond to the needs of the people.” “We’re going to stand with you and the people in the Gulf (of Mexico), as long as it takes for you to recover,” Biden said during a virtual videoconference call at the White House. The National Hurricane Center downgraded Ida to a tropical depression late Monday afternoon, with maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers an hour on a path towards Jackson, Mississippi. Forecasters expect it to veer to the northeast through Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia before heading toward the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. by Wednesday. Emergency management officials in Tennessee warned about the dangers of the storm in areas that are still recovering from flash flooding that killed at least 20 people earlier in August. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Integrating Disabled Adults Into the Workforce
Disabled adults are gaining independence through programs that teach the skills they need to enter the workforce. Mike O’Sullivan met two disabled people in Los Angeles who have found meaningful work and say it has made a difference in their lives. Camera: Roy Kim, Mike O’Sullivan
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The Cost of America’s Longest War: Thousands of Lives, Trillions of Dollars
U.S. military planes have carried the last U.S. service members and diplomats from Kabul’s airport, ending America’s longest war. Ordinary Americans closely watched the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, as they did the start of the war nearly 20 years ago, in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. But Americans often tended to forget about the Afghanistan war in between, and it received measurably less oversight from Congress than the Vietnam War did. But its death toll for Afghans and Americans and their NATO allies is in the many tens of thousands. And because the U.S. borrowed most of the money to pay for it, generations of Americans to come will be paying off its cost, in the trillions of dollars. A look at the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, by the numbers, as the last Americans deployed there departed. Much of the data below is from Linda Bilmes of Harvard University’s Kennedy School and from the Brown University Costs of War project. Because the United States between 2003 and 2011 fought the Afghanistan and Iraq wars simultaneously, and many American troops served tours in both wars, some figures as noted cover both post-9/11 U.S. wars. The longest war: Percentage of U.S. population born since the 2001 attacks plotted by al-Qaida leaders sheltering in Afghanistan: roughly 25. The human cost: American service members killed in Afghanistan: 2,461. U.S. contractors, through April: 3,846. Afghan national military and police, through April: 66,000. Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states, through April: 1,144. Afghan civilians, through April: 47,245. Taliban and other opposition fighters, through April: 51,191. Aid workers, through April: 444. Journalists, through April: 72. Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of U.S. occupation:Percentage drop in infant mortality rate since U.S., Afghan and other allied forces overthrew the Taliban government, which had sought to restrict women and girls to the home: about 50. Percentage of Afghan teenage girls able to read today: 37. Percentage of Afghans with access to electricity in 2005: 22. In 2019: 98. Days before the U.S. withdrawal that the Taliban retook control: 15. Oversight by Congress: Date Congress authorized U.S. forces to go after culprits in September 11, 2001, attacks: September 18, 2001. Number of times U.S. lawmakers have voted to declare war in Afghanistan: 0. Number of times lawmakers on Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee addressed costs of Vietnam War during that conflict: 42. Number of times lawmakers in same subcommittee have mentioned costs of Afghanistan and Iraq wars through midsummer 2021: 5. Number of times lawmakers on Senate Finance Committee have mentioned costs of Afghanistan and Iraq wars from September 11, 2001, through midsummer 2021: 1. Paying for war on credit, not in cash: Amount President Harry Truman temporarily raised top tax rates to pay for the Korean War: 92%. Amount President Lyndon Johnson temporarily raised top tax rates to pay for the Vietnam War: 77%. Amount President George W. Bush cut tax rates for the wealthiest, rather than raise them, at outset of Afghanistan and Iraq wars: at least 8%. Estimated amount of direct Afghanistan and Iraq war costs that the United States has financed through debt as of 2020: $2 trillion. Estimated interest costs by 2050: up to $6.5 trillion. The wars end; the costs don’t: Amount Bilmes estimates the United States will pay in health care, disability, burial and other costs for roughly 4 million Afghanistan and Iraq veterans: more than $2 trillion. Period those costs will peak: after 2048.
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Hate Crimes Reach 12-Year High in United States in 2020, FBI Says
The number of hate crimes in the United States rose last year to the highest level in more than a decade, driven by a rise in assaults targeting Black victims and victims of Asian descent, the FBI reported on Monday. The 2020 data, submitted to the FBI by more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, identified 7,759 hate-crimes in 2020, a 6% increase from 2019 and the highest tally since 2008. The FBI data showed the number of offenses targeting Blacks rose to 2,755 from 1,930 and incidents against Asians jumped to 274 from 158. Of the 7,426 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against people, as opposed to crimes against property, 53.4% were for intimidation, 27.6% were for simple assault and 18.1% were for aggravated assault. Twenty-two murders and 19 rapes were reported as hate crimes. FILE – A demonstrator holds a Black Lives Matter flag during a protest at the state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 20, 2021.”Preventing and responding to hate crimes and hate incidents is one of the Justice Department’s highest priorities,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The FBI Hate Crime Statistics for 2020 demonstrates the urgent need for a comprehensive response.” The Justice Department has warned that white supremacist groups represent a rising security threat after the deadly January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. At the same time, reports of hate-inspired attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have also been on the rise, spurred by what many say were then-President Donald Trump’s remarks blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on China. In May, Garland outlined new steps to help state and local police track and investigate hate crimes, which historically have been an under-reported crime to the FBI by local law enforcement, and he called for the department to expedite the review of possible hate crimes. A hate crimes bill to combat violence against Asian Americans passed the U.S. Senate in April with overwhelming bipartisan support. The measure designated a Justice Department employee to expedite a review of hate crimes reported to police during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Wildfire Forces Thousands From Popular Lake Tahoe Resort
Thousands of people rushed to leave South Lake Tahoe as the entire resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, a large freshwater lake straddling the California-Nevada border. Evacuation warnings issued for the city of 22,000 on Sunday turned into orders Monday. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were stuck in traffic, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled of campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by. “This is a systematic evacuation, one neighborhood at a time,” South Lake Tahoe police Lt. Travis Cabral said on social media. “I am asking you as our community to please remain calm.” The new orders came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered evacuated as the Caldor Fire raged nearby. South Lake Tahoe’s main medical facility, Barton Memorial Hospital, proactively evacuated 36 patients needing skilled nursing and 16 in acute care beds Sunday, sending them to regional facilities far from the fire, public information officer Mindi Befu said. The rest of the hospital was evacuating following Monday’s expanded orders. The Caldor Fire burns as a chairlift sits motionless at the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort in Eldorado National Forest, Calif., Aug. 29, 2021.The Lake Tahoe area in the Sierra Nevada is a recreational paradise for San Francisco Bay Area locals looking for a weekend getaway, as well as a national destination. The area offers beaches, water sports, hiking, ski resorts and golfing. South Lake Tahoe, at the lake’s southern end, bustles with outdoor activities, with casinos available in bordering Stateline, Nevada. South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara Wallace prepared to leave with her husband, youngest child, dogs and items given to them from their deceased parent — objects that can’t be replaced. She thought the Caldor Fire would stay farther away. Fires in the past did not spread so rapidly near the tourist city. “It’s just yet another example of how wildfires have changed over the years,” she said. “It’s just a culmination of 14 to 18 more years of dead trees, the droughts we’ve had since then, those kinds of things.” The region faces a warning from the National Weather Service about critical fire weather Monday and Tuesday. The fire destroyed multiple homes Sunday along Highway 50, one of the main routes to the lake’s south end. It also roared through the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, demolishing some buildings but leaving the main buildings at the base intact. Fire churned through mountains just a few miles southwest of the Tahoe Basin, where thick smoke sent visitors packing at a time when summer vacations would usually be in full swing ahead of Labor Day weekend. Vehicles idle in bumper-to-bumper traffic in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Aug. 30, 2021.There were reports of cabins burned in the unincorporated community of Echo Lake, where Tom Fashinell has operated Echo Chalet with his wife since 1984. The summer-only resort offers cabin rentals, but was ordered to close early for the season by the U.S. Forest Service because of the ongoing wildfires. Fashinell said he was glued to the local TV news. “We’re watching to see whether the building survives,” he said. The last major blaze in the area took South Lake Tahoe by surprise after blowing up from an illegal campfire in the summer of 2007. The Angora Fire burned less than 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) but destroyed 254 homes, injured three people and forced 2,000 people to flee. The Caldor Fire has scorched 277 square miles (717 square kilometers) since breaking out August 14. After the weekend’s fierce burning, containment dropped from 19% to 14%. More than 600 structures have been destroyed, and at least 20,000 more were threatened. It’s among nearly 90 large blazes in the U.S. Many are in the West, burning trees and brush sucked dry by drought. Climate change has made the region warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, according to scientists. In California alone, more than 15,200 firefighters are fighting more than a dozen large fires. Flames have destroyed about 2,000 buildings and forced thousands to evacuate this year while blanketing large swaths of the West in unhealthy smoke. In Southern California, a section of Interstate 15 closed Sunday after winds pushed a new blaze, the Railroad Fire, across lanes in the Cajon Pass northeast of Los Angeles. Farther south, evacuation orders and warnings were in place for remote communities after a wildfire ignited and spread quickly through the Cleveland National Forest on Saturday. A firefighter received minor injuries, and two structures were destroyed in the 2.3-square-mile (5.9-square-kilometer) Chaparral Fire burning along the border of San Diego and Riverside counties, according to Cal Fire. It was 13% contained Monday. Meanwhile, the Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history at 1,205 square miles (3,121 square kilometers), was nearly halfway contained about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of the Lake Tahoe-area blaze. Nearly 700 homes were among almost 1,300 buildings that have been destroyed since the Dixie Fire began in early July. Containment increased to 26% on the French Fire, which covered nearly 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) in the southern Sierra Nevada. Crews protected forest homes on the west side of Lake Isabella, a popular recreation area northeast of Bakersfield. The U.S. Department of Defense is sending 200 Army soldiers from Washington state to help firefighters in Northern California, the U.S. Army North said in a statement Saturday. Eight Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130 aircraft capable of dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant also have been sent to fight wildfires in the West.
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Ida Moves on, Leaving Millions Without Power in Louisiana
Ida plowed through the southern U.S. state of Louisiana as one of the most powerful hurricanes in history to make landfall in the United States, causing flooding, damaging buildings and leaving millions without power. VOA’s Jeff Custer has more. Produced by: Marcus Harton
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