German authorities said Wednesday that they had arrested a British citizen and accused him of spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin.The man, identified only as David S., is suspected of passing documents to Russia for money since at least November. He reportedly worked as a local hire.The British government confirmed the arrest but said in a statement it would “not be appropriate to comment further as there is an ongoing police investigation.”German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said the German government was monitoring the incident.”We take the indications that the intelligence activity of the arrested man was carried out on behalf of a Russian intelligence service very seriously,” Burger said. “Spying on a close ally on German soil is not something we can accept.”Officials with the Russian Embassy had no comment on the case, according to Interfax.The man was scheduled to appear Wednesday at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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Month: August 2021
Dozens Die as Fires Rage Across Algeria
Algerian officials are blaming arsonists for setting many of the fires raging in a mountainous region east of the capital Algiers and in more than a dozen other provinces. Algerian state TV says that 65 people have been killed so far.Fires raged Tuesday and into Wednesday in the mountainous region of Tizi Ouzou as fire crews, soldiers and ordinary residents tried to douse the flames before they spread further. Algerian media reported that at least 79 major fires were burning in at least 17 provinces of the country.While the fires reportedly began Monday, many more appeared to ignite Tuesday, prompting the country’s Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud to insist that many had been set by arsonists. He said that some experts are arguing these fires were deliberately set, what obviously would be criminal in nature because it’s impossible for dozens of fires to ignite at almost the same time without some criminal hand being behind these acts.At least three arsonists have been captured by Algerian security services during the past several months after several other fires were ignited. Many Western media outlets are downplaying the arson claims and blaming “wildfires,” “excessive heat,” or “global warming.”Ali Mahmoudy, head of the Algerian Forest Department, told state TV that many of the fires ignited suddenly and about the same time Tuesday, leading to speculation that many were deliberately set.He said that initially there were five fires in the Tizi Ouzou region and then suddenly after 2 p.m. the number of fires started going up hour after hour and in some cases minute after minute, until there were 58 fires burning.Canal Algerie, a French Algerian TV network, warned residents of the country “to be vigilant, vigilant, vigilant” and keep an eye out for anyone setting fires. It also thanked the military and fire crews for their “valiant efforts in extinguishing the fires and saving lives.”An Algerian military commander was shown on amateur video ordering his soldiers into a region engulfed with flames to try and save residents who were trapped in their houses. At least 28 soldiers have been killed in the ongoing fires.Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane told Algerians in a televised address Tuesday night that all efforts were being made by the government to compensate those who have lost family members, their homes or livestock.He said that a government delegation is visiting the regions hit by fire to determine the size of the losses from the disaster.Algerian media reports the government has contacted a number of regional countries to seek help with planes equipped to combat the blazes. Major fires also are raging in Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria.
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Uncertainties Continue for ‘Temporary Protected Status’ Holders In US
More than half a year into the Biden administration, the future of a decades-old U.S. humanitarian program — and the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who rely on it — remains murky, sowing confusion and anxiety for beneficiaries.Granted to nationals of certain countries ravaged by armed conflict or natural disasters, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allows recipients to live and work in the United States for a limited period of time.The administration of former president Donald Trump sought to end temporary protections for nationals of several countries, sparking court challenges and creating doubts about the future of the program, which Congress established in 1990. The Biden administration has used executive authority to extend TPS and remove the immediate threat of deportations. But despite the current administration’s “friendly posture” toward TPS, questions linger about the long-term functionality of the program as mediation stemming from a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union continues, according to Julia Gelatt, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. FILE – A man holds a sign as members of the Venezuelan community react after the Biden administration said it would grant temporary protected status to Venezuelan migrants living in the United States, in Doral, Florida, March 9, 2021.”We don’t know what exactly is being negotiated, what would a settlement look like,” Gelatt told VOA. “Would it restore TPS for all of these countries or for some of these countries?”While the Trump administration stressed the “temporary” component of TPS, immigrant advocates are pressing the Biden administration to shield beneficiaries for as long as possible and expand the program.”There is an active campaign to persuade the Biden-Harris administration to grant a brand new TPS designation for people from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua who are already residing in the U.S.,” said Oscar Chacon, executive director of advocacy group Alianza Americas, in an email to VOA. “Such a decision would keep currently protected individuals protected, but it would also extend protection to additional people.”Chacon added that while most TPS recipients’ immigration status is secure for now, the disruptions have affected the ability of some to renew work permits and secure other documents.”Employers may deny employment or even terminate employment because of it. Another area of challenges relates to state [identification] or driver’s licenses. Motor vehicles agencies may deny [issuing identifications] or driver’s licenses due to the inability to produce employment authorization documents showing valid dates,” Chacon said.Varied backgroundsCurrently 12 countries have TPS designations: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.The circumstances that bring beneficiaries to the United States are as varied as the countries they depart.Yanira Arias fled gender violence and near-constant harassment in El Salvador, arriving in New York in 2000 at age 27.”It was not just a struggle to meet my needs but also making sure that I arrived safe and alive at home [every day]. So, all that together was a lot of stress, and I made the decision to leave the country,” she told VOA.A year later, El Salvador was devastated by powerful earthquakes that left more than a thousand people dead and more than a million homeless. The cost of rebuilding was estimated at $2.8 billion.FILE – Survivors line up for relief in quake devastated Armenia, El Salvador, 39 kms (27 miles) from the El Savadoran capital, January 23, 2001.The disaster prompted the U.S. government to designate El Salvador for TPS. Arias told VOA she was initially skeptical about it.”I didn’t know about TPS. I was really unsure if I should do it. I had so many questions, but at the same time, I was also anxious because I knew I didn’t have a [legal] status, and I was already aware of what it meant to be someone without a status in the United States, and the risk behind being undocumented,” she said.Eventually she applied and was granted protection, allowing her to work for nonprofit groups that advocate for Latina women, AIDS sufferers and immigrant communities.TPS has been repeatedly renewed for nationals of El Salvador and other countries, typically at 18-month intervals. Although grateful for the program, Arias says long-term planning is impossible for her.”I cannot invest in something permanent. …The uncertainty of: what if this year, this is the last time I’m going to have an 18-month increment approved? What am I going to do?” she said. “I already fled El Salvador because I was almost killed. So then, going back to that is a very frightening world.”Permanent residency soughtOctober promises to be a pivotal month for TPS holders, as court-ordered extensions of protections will expire. Immigrant advocates hope negotiations with the Biden administration will yield agreements protecting those whose status was threatened during the Trump administration.Amid the uncertainty, Chacon, Arias and others are urging U.S. lawmakers to amend TPS to make long-term recipients eligible for permanent legal residency in the United States.”We are [trying] to explain to members of Congress that regardless of having our extensions — and yes, we are not being served with an order of deportation — it is very hard to live this way,” Arias said.Senate Democrats are pushing to provide legal status to potentially millions of undocumented immigrants, attempting to include the measure in an emerging budget proposal. Immigrant advocates say TPS reforms should be added to the document.Democrats Seek to Legalize Undocumented Immigrants via Massive Budget ProposalIf passed, measures could prompt the biggest overhaul of immigration law since Reagan administration in the 1980s Whether immigration-related measures survive in the proposal and whether the $3.5 trillion budget bill can pass with only Democratic support remains to be seen.In a recent tweet, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky blasted providing “amnesty amid a border crisis” and decried the budget proposal as “a slew of bad ideas.”
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Russian Opposition Leader Faces New Charge, More Jail
Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny faces a new charge that a non-profit organization he created encouraged Russians to break the law.The charge, which was announced Wednesday by Russia’s Investigative Committee, is punishable by up to three years in prison.The committee says Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption group encouraged Russians to “perform unlawful acts” by encouraging Russians to participate in unauthorized protests in January.Russia Opens Criminal Case Into 2 Navalny Allies They are accused of raising funds for organizations deemed by the authorities as ‘extremist’
Navalny, 45, is currently serving a two-and-a-half year sentence on a 2014 embezzlement conviction. He was arrested in January when he returned to Russia from Germany where he was recovering from what he said was a nerve agent attack by the Kremlin. Russian officials deny his allegation. In June, Navalny’s foundation was outlawed as “extremist,” and authorities blocked multiple websites run by his network, charging them with distributing propaganda. Two of Navalny’s top allies, Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov, are facing criminal investigations. Navalny’s allies say the crackdowns are intended to weaken the opposition in the runup to the September 19 parliamentary elections.
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Belarus Tells US to Reduce Embassy Staff, Rejects Ambassador
The regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has responded to the latest round of U.S. sanctions by requesting Washington to reduce its embassy staff in Minsk to five people by September 1. Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Anatol Hlaz said in an interview that was placed on the ministry’s website on August 11 that Minsk also had revoked its consent to the appointment of Julie Fisher as the U.S. ambassador to Belarus. “Taking into account that Belarus has lost trust in the current U.S. administration, we suspend cooperation in all new projects, grants, and programs coordinated by the U.S. government until such trust is back,” Hlaz said, adding that Minsk reserved the right to introduce additional measures in the future. FILE – Julie Fisher, U.S. ambassador-designate to Belarus, testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 9, 2021.Fisher, the first U.S. ambassador to Belarus since 2008, was confirmed by the Senate in December 2020 but has been unable to take up her post in Minsk because the Belarusian government has denied her a visa. Hlaz’s interview appeared after the United States, Britain and Canada announced new trade and financial sanctions on Belarus on August 9, the first anniversary of the presidential election that extended Lukashenka’s decades-long rule and sparked an unprecedented wave of protests amid allegations the vote was rigged. Lukashenko, in power since 1994, reacted to the protests by unleashing a brutal crackdown. More than 32,000 people have been detained, thousands beaten by police on the streets and in detention, with torture alleged in many cases. Opposition leaders have been locked up or forced to flee.In an interview Tuesday with VOA’s Russian Service, Fisher said last year’s election that triggered the protests “really represented a turning point in our view for events in Belarus.”“What we saw was the people of Belarus speak clearly in support of an option, an alternative to Lukashenko. And we saw the fraudulent nature of that election in a way that we have never seen before. The evidence of fraudulent counting, mishandling of ballots, the unwillingness to accept international observers — all of this created a dynamic in which the voice of the people in rejecting that fraudulent vote was particularly clear in 2020,” Fisher said.In response, the United States, European Union, Canada, Britain and other countries have hit Lukashenko, his inner circle, and Belarusian firms with several rounds of sanctions, leaving Belarus’s strongman internationally isolated, dependent more than ever on Russian support. VOA’s Russian Service contributed to this report.
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Police, Anti-Government Demonstrators Clash in Bangkok
Demonstrators clashed with Thai police in Bangkok Wednesday amid ongoing protests over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Protesters fired slingshots and threw paint and firecrackers at police, who in turn used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. The confrontation occurred as the crowd sought to approach the home of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.The protesters are demanding Prayuth resign for what they believe is his mismanagement of Thailand’s most serious outbreak of infections and its adverse impact on the economy. He refuses to resign.
Police said at least eight officers were injured and the Erawan Medical Center reported one demonstrator was hurt. This was the second consecutive day of protests over the government’s response to the pandemic.The U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University says on its coronavirus dashboard that Thailand currently has more than 795,000 confirmed cases and 6,588 deaths. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease.
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More Ugandans Turn Up for COVID-19 Vaccinations
Uganda has resumed mass vaccinations against COVID-19 after running out of doses in June. But even with less vaccine hesitancy, essential workers say the rate of vaccination is too slow.Two health workers share a table facing a long line of Ugandans waiting to receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine.Many are here for their second shots and the officials have to check the system, to see if they qualify for it.Seventeen-year-old Kawalya Paul is among those standing in line as he waits for his card to be verified and stamped.Even though he is not on the priority list of those to be vaccinated, Paul explains to VOA why he decided to come.“Actually, my mom’s boss, succumbed to Covid. Every time he was all very protective. He could not talk to you in case you’re not putting on a mask. So, I was like, if he was able to get it, yet he‘s a doctor and a big man, I was like, what about me, why shouldn’t I? Because I saw the virus was close,” he said.The priority list for vaccinations includes teachers, security personnel, health workers, the elderly – who are defined as people over 50 years old – and those between 18 and 50 with underlying health conditions.At the end of July, Ugandan authorities received 1.72 million doses of vaccine, and are hoping to get another 11 million in September.The pace of vaccination remains slow. So far only about 1.1 million Ugandans have been inoculated.But, officials are hopeful that Ugandans are now eager to get the vaccine and have opened up vaccination centers at Kampala’s Capital City grounds and the Namboole National stadium.Pius Okethwengu, the Namboole hospital administrator, said they are seeing a large turnout of people at the stadium. He predicts the goal of inoculating 10,000 people this week will be surpassed.“We are having this activity, starting today, in the next five days, to be able to have attended to all these clients that we are looking for. But, with the response that we are seeing, we are estimating that actually we should be able to even exceed that. And the beauty is, the vaccines are there and, we should be able to give the services to the people,” he said.The vaccination drive is raising hope that authorities will lift the restrictions on schools, public transportation and religious institutions imposed last month amid a new wave of coronavirus cases.The minister of education said on July 30 that schools could reopen if all children between the ages of 12 and 18 are inoculated.Othieno Leonard, a secondary school teacher, does not expect to see educational facilities reopen any time soon.“I don’t think so. I really feel, given the pace at which they are vaccinating, it is going to take us way longer to put us in a situation where we can call it normal. So, for now, I don’t have hope that they can open soon,” said Leonard.The Ministry of Health says about seven million children would need to be vaccinated before classes can resume.
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South Sudanese Woman Found Guilty of Defamation
South Sudan’s high court sentenced social media influencer and self-proclaimed activist Amira Ali Thomas to six months in prison for defaming former Warrap state Information Minister Nyanagwek Kuol through videos she posted online. The Juba court on Monday also ordered Ali Thomas, known as Mama Amira Ali to pay 35 million South Sudanese pounds (roughly $87,000) to Kuol in compensation. Ali is known for posting searing commentary about South Sudanese personalities and government officials and often uses vulgar language in live videos on her Facebook page. In April, Ali posted two videos insulting Kuol’s family in her native Dinka language. Kuol later sued Ali for defamation. Prosecutors in the Munuki West district opened a criminal case against Ali in June after Kuol filed a formal complaint with police about the videos Ali posted on her Facebook account. “These videos offended the reputation of the complainant and her family, then the police started the investigations,” said Judge Angolie Okumu, who presided over the court case. After reviewing the videos and presiding over several hearings, Okumu found Ali guilty of insulting and disparaging Kuol’s family. The ruling used a law that prohibits the harming of someone’s reputation. Ali Thomas is “forbidden from uttering a word or committing a crime within the six-month period” or until she is sent to prison, according to court documents. But Okumu suspended the jail time due to Ali Thomas’ health issues, which include a heart condition, high blood pressure and diabetes, the court said. Prosecuting lawyer Achuil Kuol, not related to the former information minister, told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus that although the ruling seemed fair, his client is not happy that Ali was given a suspended prison sentence. Kuol said the medical documents presented in court did not come from an official medical institution. “We said the court [should have] ruled and dismissed the documents because they are irrelevant,” Kuol said. Ali, who appeared relaxed during the sentencing, said she appreciated the court’s ruling and said it sends a message to South Sudanese citizens that a judicial system is in place and no one is above the law. “I am not annoyed,” she said, adding that the videos centered on a family dispute and were not aimed at the former information minister. “I have no problem with Nyanagwek,” she told reporters.
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5 People Jump from Myanmar Building to Escape Police; 2 Die
Five people jumped from an apartment building in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, to escape government security forces who were raiding the building, and at least two died, according to government and media reports Wednesday.During the raid on Tuesday night, security officers said in a radio conversation that five people — four men and a woman — jumped from the apartment building before they could be apprehended. They said three died and the two others had life-threatening injuries.In a statement Wednesday, however, the government said the incident involved eight people. It said two died, three were hospitalized and three others were arrested. The police precinct responsible for the raid refused to comment.A neighbor told local media that five people had climbed onto the roof in an attempt to escape the security forces and jumped into an alley after they had nowhere else to go.The government said the security forces conducted the raid after hearing that explosives might be in the apartment, and seized various items including firecrackers, gunpowder and “handmade grenades.”Four explosions were reported in Yangon earlier in the day, but it was unclear whether they were related to the raid.Since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February and seized power, there has been a groundswell of protests around the country.More than 900 people have been killed by the authorities since the takeover, many in anti-government protests, according to a tally kept by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Casualties are also rising among the military and police as armed resistance grows in both urban and rural areas.
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Austria Protests Detention of 2 Journalists in Belarus
The Austrian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday protested the detention of two journalists who were working in Belarus for Austria’s national broadcaster ORF.ORF correspondent Carola Schneider and her camera operator were detained Monday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and taken to a police station.The broadcaster cited a Belarusian human rights group as saying that plainclothes police officers stopped the two journalists while they were interviewing a local resident. The pair were later released, ORF said.Austria’s Foreign Ministry called the police action “completely unacceptable.””We immediately lodged a protest,” the ministry said on Twitter. “Correspondents must be able to work unhindered and media freedom must always be ensured.”Independent media outlets and journalists have come under pressure in Belarus since the reelection of the country’s authoritarian president a year ago triggered mass protests.
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New Yorkers Unite to Find Nurse’s Lost Dog
Heather Angus, a frontline nurse who cared for COVID-19 patients in New York City, lost her dog and turned to social media for help. Hundreds of New Yorkers came together, and it wasn’t long before the puppy was safely back home. Anna Nelson has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Dmitrii Vershinin, Natalia Latukhina
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Tropical Storm Fred Headed for Dominican Republic, Haiti
Forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center say Tropical Storm Fred, the sixth storm of the hurricane season, has formed in the Caribbean Sea and is expected to move near the Dominican Republic and Haiti Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and the possibility of flooding and mudslides.In its latest report, the hurricane center said the storm was positioned about 190 kilometers east-southeast of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and moving west-northwest toward the island nation at about 26 km/ph. Its maximum sustained winds were about 65 km/ph.Tropical storm warnings have been posted for the Dominican Republic and parts of Haiti. The storm is expected to bring five to 10 centimeters of rain, with as much as 15 cms in isolated areas. The rain is likely to cause flooding in some areas and mudslides are possible.On its current track, the hurricane center says the storm could threaten the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas by Thursday and move north of the northern coast of central Cuba Friday.Forecasters say some weakening is likely Wednesday as the storm moves over the island of Hispaniola – where the Dominican Republic and Haiti are located. They say some restrengthening should occur after the system moves away from the island, but it may be slow to regain intensity. The hurricane center says, as usual, there is significant uncertainty on the storm’s intensity two to three days from now.
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Somalia-born Runners Shine at Tokyo Olympics
Somali-born Dutch runner Abdi Nageeye encouraged his friend to keep up the pace moments before the duo finished second and third in Sunday’s men’s marathon at the Olympics in Tokyo. “Stay with me, we are going to make history! Don’t fall behind,” Nageeye urged Bashir Abdi, a Somali Belgian. Somalia sent two athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games, but it was the Somalis running for their adopted countries who made headlines. Somali-born Canadian Mohammed Ahmed won silver in the men’s 5,000 meters, the first distance medal for Canada in this race. But the event that captured the attention of global audiences came in the final moments of the 42-kilometer marathon, won by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya with a time of 2:08:38. Footage showed Nageeye encouraging his friend Abdi to cross the finish line with him. The two had trained together in France and in Ethiopia in preparation for the Games. FILE – Marathon gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, center, stands with silver medalist Abdi Nageeye of Netherlands, left, and bronze medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium during the closing ceremony at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Aug. 8, 2021.Speaking to VOA’s Somali service by phone Tuesday, Nageeye said he wanted to help Abdi, who suffered a muscle cramp. With 3 kilometers to go, Nageeye said he again shouted at Abdi to keep up. “‘Bashir, stay with me. We are making history,'” Nageeye repeated in the interview. Nageeye said his friend kept pace but fell behind again. He said television viewers only saw the race’s final moments, but he said he encouraged Abdi three times late in the race. Nageeye said he wanted to sprint for the last 800 meters but held off, waiting for Abdi, until the final 400 meters. Cameras captured Nageeye gesturing toward Abdi to keep up. Nageeye came in second, winning a silver medal with a time of 2:09:58. Abdi came in next, at 2:10:00, earning bronze. “I was not doing it to be famous but was doing it for my friend and brother,” Nageeye said. “I risked my position,” he said. “Even Bashir could have overtaken me or the Kenyan” — Lawrence Cherono, who finished fourth — “could have taken advantage of it. But I had that feeling; I did not want to leave him behind.” Helping his friend and competitor was instinctive, Nageeye said. “I knew something was wrong because he was also a little stronger than me in training, and he is a good athlete. Amazing that I did that. It was a natural reaction from me toward him because of our brotherhood, our heritage. We are both Somali. We are both friends. We train together.” The public’s response left him happily surprised, Nageeye said. “After one day, it was crazy. The whole world is talking about it. I just came from the king of the Netherlands — he was talking about it,” Nageeye said of Willem-Alexander. “Every person is talking about that moment and not about my medal. I’m very happy for that.”
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Six EU Countries Want to Maintain Deportations of Afghan Asylum-Seekers
Half-a-dozen European Union countries have told Brussels they want to continue deporting Afghan migrants whose asylum-applications are denied — despite the Taliban’s recent military successes, including overrunning eight of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals in the past week. EU officials told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that they found it inconceivable any EU member states would want to continue with deportations while conflict is raging in Afghanistan and as the Taliban is making major inroads in the wake of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from the country. But the EU says it is up to the member states what they do, adding to confusion over who has final authority — member states or the European Commission.“Given the context, it is hard to imagine that we would conduct forced return operations for the moment,” an EU official in Brussels said, adding that the continent isn’t facing an imminent major influx of Afghan migrants.Six EU countries sent a joint letter August 5 to the European Commission warning against halting non-voluntary returns of Afghan migrants, arguing any suspension of deportations would act as a migration magnet and “motivate even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU.”Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece signed the letter. “We would like to highlight the urgent need to perform returns, both voluntary and non-voluntary, to Afghanistan,” the interior ministers of the six countries wrote in their collective letter to the Commission. “Stopping returns sends the wrong signal,” they added. FILE – Afghans who were deported from Germany arrive at Kabul International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2016.
About 1,200 Afghans have been deported from the EU this year — 1,000 agreed to go voluntarily but 200 or had to be forced to go, according to EU officials. Last month, the Afghan government called on European nations to stop deportations, saying it could not cope while also trying to fight the Taliban.Earlier this month the European Court of Human Rights told Austria not to proceed with the expulsion of an Afghan national until at least later in August because of a “risk of irreparable harm” to the asylum-seeker. Austria announced this month it will deploy additional soldiers to its borders with Slovenia and Hungary, boosting the number of its border guards by 40%.European leaders are fearful of a new migration crisis impacting the continent and are negotiating another multi-year migration deal with Turkey to get Ankara to block Afghan and other asylum-seekers from heading their way.FILE – A Turkish-flagged passenger boat carrying migrants to be returned to Turkey leaves the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 8, 2016.It would be a renewal of a five-year deal struck in 2016 that saw the EU pay Ankara billions of dollars to curb irregular Europe-bound migration, improve the living conditions of refugees in Turkey, and foster legal migration through official resettlement schemes.Around 2,000 Afghans a day are entering Turkey, and migration experts expect the numbers to surge as the Taliban seizes control of more of Afghanistan. FILE – German policemen register refugees at the rail station in Freilassing, southern Germany, Sept. 14, 2015, before they take them away in busses.Asked last month at a press conference whether Germany should welcome Afghan refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the architect of the 2015 open-doors policy that saw around a million asylum-seekers settle in Europe, replied: “We cannot solve all of these problems by taking everyone in.” She called instead for political negotiations so “people can live as peacefully as possible in the country.”The head of the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, issued a statement Tuesday saying he’s “extremely concerned by the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan — particularly the impact on mobile and displaced populations, including returnees.” He said around 5 million Afghans are already displaced internally. Internally displaced Afghan families, who fled from Kunduz and Takhar province due to battles between Taliban and Afghan security forces, sit in a field in Kabul, Aug. 9, 2021.
Greek authorities say Afghans now make up the largest share of asylum-seekers who manage to navigate the Aegean from Turkey.Speaking later Tuesday, Adalbert Jahnz, a European Commission spokesman, said each member state would need “to make an individual assessment of whether the return is possible in a specific set of circumstances, that needs to take into account the principles, notably the principle of rule of law and other fundamental rights.”He stressed: “It’s not something that the EU specifically regulates.”Critics, though, are accusing Brussels of being inconsistent in what it claims authority over when it comes to migration. Last week, the Commission was accused of playing post-Brexit politics by sabotaging a bilateral deal being negotiated between London and Paris. The proposed agreement would see France take back migrants who had tried to enter Britain from France by crossing the English Channel on small boats and dinghies. FILE – Migrants who launched from the coast of northern France cross the English Channel in an inflatable boat near Dover, Britain, Aug. 4, 2021.Priti Patel, Britain’s interior minister, and French counterpart Gérald Darmanin inked an initial agreement supporting “the idea of a UK-EU readmission agreement to mutual advantage in terms of deterring illegal migration, protecting the vulnerable, and tackling the criminal gangs.” More than 10,000 asylum-seekers have crossed the Channel so far this year.But the EU has scotched the deal progressing saying any agreement governing migrants is not a matter for the governments of individual member states to decide but for the bloc as a whole.Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.
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Ethiopia Armed Group Says it Has Alliance with Tigray Forces
The leader of an armed group that Ethiopia’s government has designated a terrorist organization says his group has struck a military alliance with the Tigray forces who are now pressing toward the capital, as the conflict that erupted in the Tigray region last year spreads into other parts of Africa’s second-most populous country.“The only solution now is overthrowing this government militarily, speaking the language they want to be spoken to,” Oromo Liberation Army leader Kumsa Diriba, also known as Jaal Marroo, told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.He said the agreement was reached a few weeks ago after the Tigray forces proposed it. “We have agreed on a level of understanding to cooperate against the same enemy, especially in military cooperation,” he said. “It is underway.” They share battlefield information and fight in parallel, he said, and while they’re not fighting side by side, “there is a possibility it might happen.”Talks are underway on a political alliance as well, he said, and asserted that other groups in Ethiopia are involved in similar discussions: “There’s going to be a grand coalition against (Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s) regime.”The alliance brings together the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, who long dominated Ethiopia’s repressive government but were sidelined when Abiy took office in 2018, and the OLA, which last year broke away from the opposition party Oromo Liberation Front and seeks self-determination for the Oromo people. The Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.Ethiopia’s government earlier this year declared both the TPLF and OLA terrorist organizations.There was no immediate comment from Gen. Tsadkan Gebretensae with the Tigray forces, nor from the spokeswoman for Abiy’s office.Ethiopia Calls on All ‘Capable’ Citizens to Join Military Effort in Northern TigrayThe request comes from the prime minister’s office, which unilaterally declared a cease-fire in June The OLA leader spoke a day after the prime minister called on all capable Ethiopians to join the military and stop the Tigray forces “once and for all” after they retook much of the Tigray region in recent weeks and crossed into the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions. Tigray forces spokesman Getachew Reda has told the AP they are fighting to secure their long-blockaded region but if Abiy’s government topples, “that’s icing on the cake.”With access to parts of Ethiopia increasingly restricted and journalists often harassed, it is difficult to tell how citizens will respond to the prime minister’s call, or whether they will join the fight against him. The government has supported large military recruiting rallies in recent weeks.The Tigray leaders embittered many Ethiopians during their nearly three decades in power by putting in place a system of ethnic federalism that led to ethnic tensions that continue to simmer in the country of 110 million people.The OLA leader acknowledged that agreeing to the TPLF’s proposal for an alliance took some thought. “There were so many atrocities committed” against the Oromo people during the TPLF’s time in power, he said, and the problems it created have never been resolved.But the OLA decided it was possible to work with the TPLF, he said, though some doubts remain. “I hope the TPLF has learned a lesson,” he said. “I don’t think the TPLF will commit the same mistakes unless they’re out of their mind.” If they do, there will be chaos in Ethiopia and it could collapse as a state, he said.It was not clear how many fighters the OLA would bring to the alliance. “This, madam, is a military secret,” the OLA leader said.He said he hoped the TPLF’s talks with other groups would become public in the near future. He also warned the international community, which led by the United Nations and the United States has urged a halt to the Tigray conflict and negotiations, that the crisis has to be handled carefully “if Ethiopia is to continue together.”
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Australian Police Hope to Build Trust with Indigenous Communities with Translating App
Law enforcement authorities in Western Australian have said a new mobile interpreting app will help improve relations with Indigenous communities, especially in areas where English is not commonly spoken. The technology translates a few common police directions into local languages and has been devised with an Aboriginal interpreting service. The so-called Yarning app allows Western Australian police officers to select from eight Aboriginal languages and play key messages relating to rights in custody and the COVID-19 pandemic. Indigenous leaders believe it will save lives by preventing the wrongful imprisonment of people who don’t understand the legal process. The technology will be available in communities where English is often the third or fourth most commonly used language. Chris Dawson is the Western Australia police commissioner. He says the app will build trust with indigenous communities. “What better way to communicate that in language in the sense that we can now offer additional information to overcome confusion or to overcome fear, doubt, whatever it might be. This app is a world first,” he said. Critics, though, say the app is too basic and ignores deeper problems of racism within Australia’s justice system. Aboriginal Australians are some of the most incarcerated people on Earth, according to a report commissioned by the government in Canberra in 2019. FILE – An Aboriginal dance troupe performs at Australia Day celebrations in Sydney, Australia, Jan. 26, 2020. Rap music has been employed as part of a new awareness campaign to educate Australia’s Indigenous about the coronavirus.Relations with the police have often been fraught. Western Australia has the country’s highest rate of indigenous youth detention. A criminology study by the University of Technology, Sydney, said that since 1991, the number of Indigenous inmates in Australia has more than doubled from 14% to 29% of the total prison population. More than 780 indigenous languages are identified by First Languages Australia, an organization dedicated to saving linguistic heritage. It says about 20 languages are used every day by fluent speakers. Australia’s original inhabitants make up about 3.3% of the Australian population, according to a 2016 Australian Census, but suffer high rates of poverty, ill-health and unemployment.
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Largest Hong Kong Teachers’ Union Disbands Amid Crackdown
Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ union said it disbanded Tuesday because of the changing political climate, as the government continues its crackdown on dissent in the city. The Hong Kong government cut ties with the pro-democracy union last week and accused it of spreading anti-Beijing and anti-government sentiment. The split came hours after Chinese state media called the union a “malignant tumor” that should be eradicated. The Professional Teachers’ Union is the city’s largest single-industry trade union, with 95,000 members. “Regrettably, the changes in the social and political environment in recent years have forced us to think about the way forward, and some recent rapid developments have also put us under tremendous pressure,” the union said in a statement Tuesday. It said it would stop accepting new members and refund renewals submitted by current members. It will also lay off 200 staff members and dispose of its assets, and it will soon halt its medical center services and welfare centers that sold discounted goods to members. The closure of the teachers’ union is the latest fallout from efforts by Hong Kong authorities to stamp out dissent in the city. Over the past two years, numerous political groups and the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily have ceased operations over concerns that they would be targeted under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing last year following months of anti-government protests that at times descended into violence. More than 100 pro-democracy figures have been arrested under the law. Critics have slammed the crackdown on dissent, saying the former British colony is losing the freedoms it was promised when it was handed over to Chinese control in 1997. This year, Hong Kong changed its election laws to reduce the number of directly elected lawmakers and give a largely pro-Beijing committee the leeway to nominate lawmakers aligned with Beijing. Separately, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam expressed support Tuesday for legislation allowing retaliatory sanctions after the U.S. and other Western governments punished city officials over the crackdown on democracy activists. Lam said the anti-foreign sanctions law should be adopted in Hong Kong via local legislation, rather than imposed by Beijing, and that she has told the Chinese government about her views. Lam’s support for the adoption of the anti-sanctions law in Hong Kong came after China implemented a broad anti-sanctions law in June. Anyone hit with retaliatory sanctions could be subject to visa restrictions, have their assets seized or frozen and be banned from doing business with any Chinese company or individual in China. The law comes after the U.S. slapped sanctions on dozens of Chinese and Hong Kong officials — including Lam — over their role in suppressing Hong Kong’s autonomy. “There are external forces, or foreign governments or Western media, which would make use of the opportunity to weaken our international financial center status as well as a weakening confidence in Hong Kong,” Lam said.
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Greece Gains on Wildfires, Faces Climate Change Criticism
Massive forest fires have gripped Greece for more than a week. The government has come under fierce criticism for failing to heed warnings of wildfires amid a protracted heat wave affecting not just Greece but the Balkans and southern Europe.Some of the nearly 600 wildfires that have sparked across Greece, have been brought under control. But fresh ones flared on the island of Evia and in the Peloponnese, adding to the 62 evacuation orders authorities issued over the past week across the country. Several mayors criticized a lack of aerial support in fighting the fires, despite the government’s assurances earlier this year that it had set aside ample resources. But even before the fires began, environmental experts had warned of the pending danger Those experts, including Costas Synolakis, a professor of natural hazards management, say the government in Athens has yet to grasp the extent of the threat of climate change.“I think politicians are simply not prepared for the scale of devastation. Politicians need to start understanding that if we do not act, this is the new normal and perhaps it is already too late,” Synolakis said. “What we need to do is stabilize the climate so that we do not see anything worse than what we see now.” The warning follows Monday’s nationally televised address by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “The destruction in Evia and elsewhere blackens everyone’s hearts.… And I first of all, apologize for any shortcomings shown by the state in its response,” Mitsotakis said. Mitsotakis pledged more than 500 million dollars to fund rebuilding, reforesting and compensation and said special inquiries would be set up to determine what went wrong and who should be held accountable. Greece is not alone. It is suffering under the worst heat wave since 1987. The heat and drought, both linked to climate change, are fueling fires across Europe, from Turkey and Italy to Russia’s Siberia. Greece has struggled to contain the hundreds of wildfires that have turned pristine pine forests into ash and forced about 60,000 people to flee. The government has said its main priority has been to save and protect lives. More than 49,000 hectares have burned on Evia alone, according to European Union data. Hundreds of firefighters, among them soldiers, mountain rangers and volunteers from across Greece, Europe and the U.S. are fighting the blazes and watching for flare-ups. At least three people have been arrested on suspicion of arson, but no charges yet have been filed.
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Greek Officials Defend Wildfire Response
Firefighters in Greece continue to battle wildfires as officials defend their response amid unusually high temperatures and dry conditions. “We handled an operationally unique situation, with 586 fires in eight days during the worst weather conditions we’ve seen in 40 years,” Greece’s civil protection chief Nikos Hardalias said at a Tuesday news conference. “Never was there such a combination of adverse factors in the history of the fire service.” The government has pledged $586 million in aid to help those affected by the fires, including a massive blaze on Evia island that has been burning for more than a week. More than 900 firefighters have been working to bring the Evia fire under control. Wildfires in Greece are part of a wave of fires in many countries in Europe and across the Mediterranean in Algeria. The European Union has mobilized fire crews to help with blazes in Greece, Albania, Italy, Turkey and North Macedonia. The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) has also mapped active fires in several other countries, including Spain, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine and Germany. An EFFIS map showed 334,515 hectares had burned this year as of Tuesday. That figure has more than doubled since July 22. It is also twice the average at this point in the year compared with data from 2008 to 2020. In Algeria, officials said wildfires there have killed at least 42 people, including 25 soldiers. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune tweeted Tuesday that the soldiers who died were martyrs who saved the lives of 100 people. The government has blamed arsonists for igniting the fires. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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N. Korea Returns to ‘Old Playbook’ of Confrontation, Dialogue
In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to prepare for both “dialogue and confrontation” with the United States. It didn’t take long for the U.S. and its ally South Korea to experience both sides of that directive. Two weeks ago, North Korea hinted it was open to more interaction with the outside world, this week it lashed out at Seoul and Washington for conducting annual joint military exercises — a lightning-quick about-face, even by the volatile standards of North Korea. On Wednesday, Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean general and politician, warned Washington and Seoul will face a “serious security crisis” because of their “wrong choice” in holding the drills. “They must be made to clearly understand how dearly they have to pay for answering our good faith with hostile acts after letting go the opportunity for improved inter-Korean relations,” said Kim, according to state media. A day earlier, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the South Korean decision “perfidious,” saying the drills show the need for North Korea to advance its “powerful preemptive strike” capabilities. In apparent protest of the drills, North Korea also refused to answer South Korea’s phone calls through a pair of recently reconnected inter-Korean hotlines on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though North Korea blames Washington and Seoul for escalating tensions, the North’s strategy isn’t new. For years, Pyongyang has used both threats and the prospect of talks to pressure Washington and Seoul, analysts say. “[It’s] the old playbook,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Seoul-based Korea specialist at the Stimson Center. “We’ve seen this type of behavior from North Korea too much.” Detente crumbling? Some in Seoul were optimistic last month, when both Koreas announced that Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had recently exchanged letters. It appeared to be the highest level inter-Korean dialogue in nearly two years, and many hoped it would serve as a precursor toward better U.S.-North Korea ties. As a first step toward improving inter-Korean relations, both leaders decided to reconnect several hotlines that the North had severed a year earlier during a previous outburst. But even then, there were signs that North Korea was hedging. Though outward-facing North Korean state media hailed the hotline restoration as a “big stride” toward restoring mutual trust, the article was never published domestically, an indication the North was never wholly committed to the idea of engaging the South, Lee said. “It was clearly watching South Korea’s handling of the scheduled joint drills,” she added.Members of South Korea and U.S. Special forces take part in a joint military exercise conducted by South Korean and U.S. special forces troops at Gunsan Air Force base in Gunsan, Aug. 11, 2021.Pressure point North Korea regularly warns the South against holding the annual drills and often uses the occasion as a pressure point on Seoul. This time around, the heat was especially intense for Moon, who has less than a year in office and wants to leave a legacy of inter-Korean cooperation. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to leave office with inter-Korean relations in this kind of state,” Lee said. “North Korea was one of his top priorities, as we all know.” But Moon must hold the drills to advance another of his key goals: the transfer of wartime operational control of the South Korean military from the U.S. to South Korea. Under the current setup, the U.S. would control the South Korean military if war broke out. Moon has said he would like to change that arrangement by the time he leaves office. But the transfer is not supposed to take place unless numerous benchmarks are met, including South Korea’s performance during military exercises. Scaled back drills The U.S. and South Korea have for years scaled back or canceled major military drills, first in an effort to preserve the chances for diplomacy and later because of the pandemic. This month’s exercises will involve fewer personnel than normal because of the coronavirus, according to several South Korean reports. The current exercises are computer-based command post exercises, in which teams react to simulated incidents. David Maxwell, a senior fellow who focuses on Korea at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says such drills are crucial. “They are the Ph.D. level of defense training because they can provide the full range of complex scenarios,” Maxwell said. Defensive drills But no matter their size or scope, North Korea views the drills as an act of aggression, Kim Yo Jong said in her statement this week. In a regular briefing Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price pushed back on that assertion, saying the exercises are “purely defensive in nature.” “We have made that point repeatedly, and it’s a very important one,” Price said. “More broadly, and as we’ve said in recent weeks, we support inter-Korean dialogue. We support inter-Korean engagement, and we’ll continue to work with our (South Korean) partners towards that end,” he added. What’s next? Much depends on North Korea’s next move. While Pyongyang has hinted at more tensions, its statements this week did not carry specific threats. Officials with South Korea’s spy agency recently told lawmakers in Seoul they expect North Korea could soon test a submarine-launched ballistic missile. But Lee says the North may be more likely to start with a less risky provocation, such as dissolving North Korean government organizations that handle inter-Korean cooperation. At the beginning of 2020, Kim Jong Un warned he will no longer be bound by his self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile launches or nuclear tests. But North Korea may be reluctant to take any step that risks bringing further economic and diplomatic isolation. North Korea is already dealing with economic hardship caused by its severe coronavirus lockdown, as well as several natural disasters that have hurt its agriculture Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, says those pressures may help explain North’s latest shift. “North Korea’s amped up rhetoric against scaled down U.S.-South Korea defense exercises appears to be more about domestic politics than signaling to Washington,” he said. “The Kim regime is shifting blame for its struggles to restart the economy after a long, self-imposed pandemic lockdown.”
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Special Envoy to Restive Myanmar Draws Mixed Reception
Myanmar’s shadow government says it welcomes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ appointment of a special envoy to help resolve the country’s post-coup crisis even as some rights groups reject the choice and regional lawmakers raise concerns. ASEAN, a 10-nation bloc that includes Myanmar, or Burma, named Brunei’s Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan Yusof to the envoy role last week. The appointment comes six months after Myanmar’s military toppled the country’s democratically elected government, touching off mass protests the junta has met with a bloody crackdown and hobbling efforts to beat back a raging COVD-19 outbreak.Brunei Diplomat Appointed ASEAN’s Special Envoy to MyanmarSecond Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof tasked with negotiating an end to 7-month political crisisOusted lawmakers, ethnic minority groups and leaders of a grassroots civil disobedience movement have joined forces under the banner of a National Unity Government to try to wrest control from the junta. The NUG’s spokesman and minister of international cooperation, Sasa, who goes by one name, welcomed Erywan’s appointment. “I would definitely like to see his success as much as possible, and we are here and stand by ready to engage with our special envoy,” he told VOA. “At the end of the day he is in the best position [to help].” All parties concerned Sasa said he has spoken with Erywan since the coup and established an open channel of communication with the diplomat from Brunei, which has been leading ASEAN’s efforts to deal with the crisis as this year’s chair of the bloc. The ad hoc role of ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar is part of a five-point plan the bloc’s leaders agreed to on April 24 at an emergency meeting to address the post-coup crisis in the country. The plan tasks the envoy with visiting Myanmar to meet with “all parties concerned” and mediating talks between them. The military regime running the country declared itself a caretaker government on August 1 and named senior general Min Aung Hlaing, who led the coup, prime minister. It had previously declared the NUG a terrorist organization. Sasa said Erywan’s mission would bear fruit only if the junta lets him engage “freely and openly and honestly” with all groups, including the NUG, and if he draws up and sticks to a time-bound action plan that includes the release of political prisoners. “There needs to be a timetable for everything that needs to be done. The people of Myanmar are dying, and if there is no timetable then it’s not going to work,” he said. Major powers have delegated responsibility for finding a diplomatic solution to Myanmar’s crisis to ASEAN. Yet the bloc has come under fire for the slowness of putting its five-point plan into action — it took leaders more than three months to name an envoy amid reports of infighting over who to name. Speaking to reporters in Brunei over the weekend, Erywan said he should be given full access to all groups when he visits Myanmar but gave no indication of when that would be. In a televised address days earlier, Min Aung Hlaing said he was ready to work with ASEAN’s envoy. A crisis of faith Rights groups are wary at best of the envoy’s prospects of helping move Myanmar back onto a democratic path. In a joint statement on Friday, local civil society groups flatly rejected Erywan’s appointment because ASEAN gave the NUG no say in the selection process. The statement did not name the groups, fearing for their safety, but claimed support from more than 400 organizations. In a statement of its own immediately after Erywan was named, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a caucus of past and present lawmakers from across the region, said it had “legitimate concerns” about him. The group criticized Erywan for meeting only with junta leaders at the head of a diplomatic mission to Myanmar in June, before he was appointed special envoy, and “pushing their narrative” of holding new elections rather than recognizing the results of a 2020 poll the generals’ proxy party decisively lost. Kyaw Win, executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network, said many in Myanmar have little faith in ASEAN’s special envoy because they have little if any faith in ASEAN itself. “What the people of Burma are seeing is a very doubtful view of ASEAN because for the past 30 years ASEAN has a very cosy relationship with the military. … This is the perception in people’s minds in Burma,” he told VOA. The military filled Myanmar’s ASEAN seat from 1997, when the country formally acceded to the bloc, until 2011 when the generals began ceding some control to a quasi-civilian government. The junta has been allowed to fill the seat again since February’s coup. Its opponents say that demonstrates the bloc’s bias for the junta and confers the regime a degree of international legitimacy it has no right to. “There is no neutrality here, so how can we … trust that he [Erywan] could deliver what the people of Burma [are] fighting for?” Kyaw Win said. “I don’t think there is lots of hope.” Step by step Any special envoy tapped by ASEAN will be bound by the bloc’s tacit acceptance that the junta is now running Myanmar, said Min Zaw Oo of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, a local think tank. “So, it doesn’t matter whether it’s him [Erywan] or another envoy in place. As long as they are working within the ASEAN charter and ASEAN framework, there will always be the limitation,” he said. Working within those constraints, the envoy will be hard pressed to persuade the junta to sit down with the NUG any time soon, the analyst added. But he said there was still hope Erywan could get talks going between the military and other groups, namely the National League for Democracy, at least those members who have not jointed the NUG. The NLD party came to power after a landslide election win in 2015 and easily secured a second term in last year’s polls. Its top leaders were rounded up the morning of the coup and have been put on trial for sedition and other charges widely seen as trumped up, including the toppled government’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “The envoy’s efforts may jumpstart the dialogue among the stakeholders, so the military, some of the civil societies, political parties, the NLD, Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi and ethnic group leaders. That could be partly successful. That means there could be a dialogue, or at least the envoy could talk to all the stakeholders to hear them out for the next step to move forward,” said Min Zaw Oo. Unless the envoy can eventually pull the NUG into the process, though, he doubts ASEAN and its special envoy can ultimately bring Myanmar out of its crisis. “More or less we could not expect much; there will not be a total cure to the situation,” he said. “The potential for possible dialogue, yes, but not likely a solution.”
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Malawi’s Corruption Monitor Arrests Cabinet Minister, Two Other Officials over Fuel Deals
Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested the energy minister and two other officials for alleged corruption involving a state oil contract. Political analysts said the arrests show Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera’s anti-corruption drive is targeting more than just the former ruling party.Malawi Energy Minister Newton Kambala has been arrested along with presidential adviser Chris Chaima Banda, and Enock Chihana, a partner in the governing Tonse Alliance.Martha Chizuma is the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, or ACB. She told a televised press conference the arrests Monday stem from investigations into complaints from the National Oil Company of Malawi, or NOCMA, about interference in awarding of contracts to fuel suppliers.“The other part of this investigation was alleged serious political interference and some corrupt practices in the procurement process,” Chizuma said. “And there is a recommendation that there must be prosecution of those that were allegedly involved.”The investigation found that Energy Minister Kambala attempted to influence NOCMA to award contracts for 2020-2021 fuel supplies to three potential oil suppliers.The probe also determined that Chihana and Banda aided and abetted Kambala when he attempted to influence the award of the contract to supply 40,000 tons of fuel to one supplier.Political analysts said the arrests, the first of the president’s allies, show Chakwera’s anti-corruption drive is targeting not only members of the former ruling party.Sheriff Kaisi is a lecturer of political science at Blantyre International University.“Now he has started living by his word,” Kaisi said. “Because historically and traditionally in Malawi, it’s rare that you see the government or any government institution which is enforcing governance issues for example to arrest someone holding ministerial position.”Chakwera previously had been accused of targeting only officials of opposing parties in the anti-corruption campaign when he took power in June of last year.However, Kaisi says the challenge now is delays in prosecutions.“We need to quickly point out that at the Anti-Corruption Bureau there are quite a lot of cases,” Kaisi said. “Some have taken 20 years and they have not yet concluded. So, we are asking the government through anti-Corruption Bureau that the president has started living by his words, what is remaining now is to move very fast so that due process of the law should go normally.”The ACB said the three suspects will appear in court soon after it finishes interrogating them.Its spokesperson, Egrita Ndala, told state broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday that charges would include abuse of public office, and aiding and abetting crime.
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Biden Praises Senate Vote on Key Piece of His Economic Agenda
“Today, we proved that democracy can still work,” U.S. President Joe Biden said after senators from both parties came together to approve a $1 trillion infrastructure plan.The 69-30 Senate vote sends the legislation to the House of Representatives for consideration next month.House passage is less certain, with some progressive Democrats saying the total spending is too little. But the president hailed Tuesday’s action as moving a step closer to “a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”If approved, the package will initiate one of the biggest public endeavors in decades in the United States to fix deteriorating roads and bridges, expand broadband internet service, and replace lead pipes used to convey drinking water.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives as the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package is about to be voted on by the Senate in Washington, Aug. 10, 2021.Biden thanked by name the Republican leader in the Senate, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, for supporting the bill.McConnell and 18 other Republicans joined all 50 members of the Democratic caucus to approve the infrastructure legislation.Republicans who supported it ignored pleas from former president Donald Trump to vote against it.”I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics — now I don’t have to be quiet anymore,” Trump said in a statement just prior to the Senate vote.While in office, Trump supported an even bigger infrastructure package that never came to fruition. ”After years and years of ‘infrastructure week,’ we’re on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I truly believe will transform America,” Biden said, contrasting his legislative effort to that of his predecessor.”Bipartisan collaboration is the only way to create durable policy in a divided country,” Jason Grumet, founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in a statement. “The hard work and courage exhibited by Senators from both parties and the White House deserves recognition, but there is more work to be done. We encourage the House to act quickly to advance this legislation and make a positive difference in the lives of every American.”Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 6, 2021.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying her chamber will continue to work with the Senate “to ensure that our priorities For the People are included in the final infrastructure and reconciliation packages, in a way that is resilient and will Build Back Better.”The For the People Act contains sweeping voting rights legislation previously passed by the House.The infrastructure spending package — nearly half of it composed of new government funding — would also build new sewers, expand passenger rail and transit systems, and modernize airports. A group of 10 centrist Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed more than a month ago on the outlines of the deal, but it took the weeks since then to craft the specifics of the bill, which exceeds 2,700 pages.Biden said the legislation would “create millions of good union jobs all across the country,” most of them in the construction trades. Senator Mike Lee was one of the Republicans who voted against the bill, calling it a drastic expansion of federal power and contending that it exacerbates “our already dangerous inflation.”The legislation’s taxes and regulation “will hamper and harm our infrastructure,” Lee added in a tweeted statement.pic.twitter.com/6DM1mXPFey— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) August 10, 2021Biden has previously stated that the spending is essential for economic growth and to compete with America’s chief economic rival, China. ”This is the type of infrastructure investment manufacturers have long championed, and the bipartisan approach shows that our legislators can indeed still come together to accomplish transformational change,” National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement. “We now urge members of the House to follow the Senate’s example, pass this bipartisan bill and send it to the president’s desk for his signature without delay.”Next on tap for the Senate is consideration of Biden’s much larger $3.5 trillion social safety net legislation that would provide universal prekindergarten instruction, free community college classes, expanded health care for older Americans and child care funding. It would also fund the fight against the effects of climate change, make immigration law changes and attempt to lower prescription drug prices.Republicans are uniformly panning the proposal, and so far, none support it.Democrats in the Senate are hoping to band together to pass the outlines of the spending on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. But it could take months of negotiations in both the Senate and House, in conjunction with Biden and his aides, to spell out the specifics of the legislation.
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Pentagon: US Airstrikes in Afghanistan ‘Having an Effect’ on Taliban
U.S. airstrikes are helping to blunt Taliban advances across Afghanistan, although Pentagon officials warn American air power alone will not be enough to push back the insurgent offensive. For weeks, the United States has been launching “over-the-horizon” strikes from its Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and from its carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf, hitting Taliban targets with a heavy mix of AC-130 gunships and MQ-9 Reaper drones. But there have been questions regarding the effectiveness of the strikes, with Taliban officials claiming the group has captured seven provincial capitals over the past five days, and tweeting Tuesday that an eighth capital, Faizabad, in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, was about to fall. “We have every confidence that those strikes are hitting what we’re aiming at and are having an effect on the Taliban,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday, saying additional strikes have been carried out “in just the last several days.” Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan, Aug. 9, 2021.Kirby acknowledged U.S. airstrikes alone would not be enough to hold Taliban fighters at bay. “Nobody is suggesting, nobody has suggested here at the Pentagon that airstrikes are a panacea that will solve all the problems, all of the conditions on the ground,” he said. “What we have said is that the Afghan forces have the capability, they have the capacity, they have a numerical advantage,” Kirby added. “It’s really going to come down to the leadership and the will to use those capabilities.” At the White House on Tuesday, President Joe Biden echoed that call. “They’ve got to want to fight,” he told reporters, adding there will be no reconsideration of the U.S. decision to complete its military withdrawal by August 31. “We spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces,” Biden said. “They outnumber the Taliban.” “They have to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” he said. FILE – Afghan Special forces patrol a deserted street during fighting with Taliban fighters, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Aug. 3, 2021.U.S. officials argue that fighting back will allow the Afghan government to gain leverage in ongoing negotiations with the Taliban. But despite an announcement earlier this month by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that the military had launched a new campaign to stabilize the country, there have been few signs of progress on the ground. Ghani Announces Afghanistan Security Plan, Promises Improvements in 6 MonthsPresident Ashraf Ghani says military will be responsible for defending strategic targets while police, under Interior Ministry, will defend cities and strategic district centersIn a series of posts on social media Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Taliban fighters had captured Farah, the capital of Afghanistan’s Farah province, and said their forces were “on the verge of entering Feyzabad city,” the capital of Badakhshan province. #Taliban spokesman claiming the capture of #Farah, the capital of Farah provinceNo independent confirmation or comment from #Afghanistan gvt officials, though residents have told various media that the Taliban had taken some gvt buildings in the cityhttps://t.co/04ajKIl8pw— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 10, 2021VOA could not independently verify the claims. There was no immediate confirmation by Afghan government officials. U.S. officials have pledged continued support to the Afghan government and security forces beyond the August 31 deadline for Washington’s military withdrawal. That includes a proposed $3.3 billion in funding for Afghan security forces in the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget. White House Proposes Slight Boost in Aid for Afghan Forces US President Joe Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2022 defense budget asks for an additional $300 million to support Afghan government forces in the absence of US troopsU.S. officials also point out that the U.S. has already provided the Afghan air force with three refurbished Black Hawk helicopters since the withdrawal began this past May, and that another 34 are on the way. The U.S. is also in the process of purchasing more A-29 Super Tucano strike planes for Afghanistan and continuing to provide maintenance support from afar. Washington, too, has promised to continue to resupply the Afghan security forces with food and equipment, and pay their salaries. U.S. officials, separately Tuesday, voiced hope that their efforts may find a way to impress upon Taliban leaders that their current offensive is not in anyone’s interest. “There is room for diplomatic progress to be made,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, pointing to the presence in Doha of Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan. .@US4AfghanPeace “He will press the #Taliban to stop their military offensive & to negotiate” per @StateDeptSpox”If the #Taliban continues down this path we are likely to see a prolonged,protracted period of violence, of instability &that is certainly not in anyone’s interest”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 10, 2021″The idea that we don’t have leverage or that the Islamic Republic, the government of Afghanistan doesn’t have leverage, is not the case,” Price told reporters, cautioning, “There are other tools at our disposal that fall short of reintroducing U.S. forces. We have not ruled any of those out.” For the second day in a row, however, the Pentagon indicated that as the August 31 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal draws closer, U.S. airstrikes, at least, will become less likely. “The drawdown … in many ways, in many facets, is all but complete,” Kirby told Pentagon reporters. “The where and the when in terms of feasibility of these strikes is going to be different and it’s going to decline.”
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