In May 2021, China allowed its families to have up to three children, just five years after it had increased the limit to two. However, the changes are not likely be felt anytime soon because of the far-reaching impacts of China’s one-child policy, which lasted more than 35 years. Here is a look back at the controversial one-child policy and how its many ramifications are affecting the current state of families in China.
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Month: August 2021
Britain’s Prince Andrew Faces Rape Lawsuit
Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has filed a lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew, alleging he raped and sexually abused her several times when she was 17 years old.Andrew, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and ninth in line to the British throne, has consistently denied the accusations and has said he does not recall ever meeting Giuffre.In the civil lawsuit filed Monday at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Virginia Giuffre, now 38, said the prince sexually abused her on multiple occasions during visits arranged by Epstein, who committed suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019.FILE – Britain’s Prince Andrew leaves St. Mary the Virgin church in Hillington, near royal Sandringham estate, in Norfolk, Jan. 19, 2020.”I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me,” Giuffre said in a statement. “The powerful and rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions. I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but to reclaim one’s life by speaking out and demanding justice.”She claims the abuse took place at Epstein’s New York mansion, at his property in the Caribbean, and at the London apartment belonging to Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.Giuffre’s lawyers filed the civil lawsuit under New York’s Child Victims Act. The timing is significant, said Richard Fitzwilliams, a London-based royal analyst and commentator.”Under that law, she was a minor at the time. There’s a statute of limitations that would apply to any charges if they were not brought very shortly this month,” Fitzwilliams told VOA.U.S. law enforcement is conducting separate investigations into Epstein’s crimes and his accomplices who allegedly helped to groom and traffic women and girls.”In international law, you have to take any criminal cases first before any civil case,” said Mark Stephens, a British attorney specializing in international law. “So, I think it’s almost a racing certainty that this case filed by Virginia Giuffre to preserve her rights will actually be stayed until the outcome of the law enforcement investigations in the United States, and only then will it have an opportunity to go forward. But the best form of defense that Prince Andrew’s lawyers have got is to delay, to obfuscate, to effectively argue over legal technicalities,” Stephens told The Associated Press.Andrew has consistently denied the claims. As a member of the royal family, he is entitled to immunity from prosecution, Stephens said.”But, of course, I think the case is calculated by Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers to ensure that maximum public pressure is put on him not to invoke his right to crown immunity.”Andrew stepped back from royal duties in 2019 following an interview with the BBC in which he strongly rejected the accusations made against him. The interview was widely seen as a public relations disaster. He has offered to help U.S. investigators, Fitzwilliams said.”There is some sort of standoff on this issue, whether or not he is prepared, as he said he would, to cooperate with the FBI in their attempts to know more about Epstein’s accomplices. The facts are, so far as has been reported, that the FBI would appear to want some form of face-to-face interview, and it may well be that Andrew has offered some form of written interview,” Fitzwilliams said.Maxwell is scheduled to stand trial in New York later this year, charged with procuring and trafficking underage girls. She has denied the charges.”She was a close friend of Andrew’s. If anything were to emerge then that we don’t know, that would bring further embarrassment,” Fitzwilliams told VOA.Meanwhile, it was announced Monday that a fund to compensate Epstein’s victims has paid out more than $121 million to 138 people.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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Germany’s COVID-19 Vaccine Program Has Slowed Dramatically, Merkel Says
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday Germany has fallen behind other European countries in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, and with new infections on the rise, the government must take steps to speed up the program or run the risk of seeing its health care system overwhelmed.Merkel spoke to reporters Tuesday following a meeting with Germany’s 16 state governors. She said they are all in agreement that the federal, state and local governments must promote vaccinations and make them easy to obtain.German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Aug. 10, 2021.The German chancellor encouraged all who have been vaccinated to promote vaccination to their friends, families and social groups.Merkel also announced the government would stop paying for COVID-19 testing beginning October 11 as an incentive to get vaccinated. At the same time, Germany will begin requiring proof of vaccination, a negative test or proof of recovery to access venues such as restaurants, cinemas and gyms in areas where infection rates rise above a certain threshold.Merkel said the country has sufficient vaccines for its population — more than half is already fully immunized — and that studies have shown them to be effective in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 and highly infectious variants, such as the delta strain.The German leader said those who prefer testing rather than getting vaccinated will have to pay for it after October 11.”Those who were vaccinated no longer have to get a test, and those who are vaccinated surely will be treated differently to those who are not vaccinated should the infection rate rise further,” Merkel said. “But we can’t allow our health system to be overburdened. We simply can’t take responsibility for that.”Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Hochul to Replace Cuomo as New York Governor
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will become the first woman to serve as governor of New York State when she replaces fellow Democrat Andrew Cuomo on his August 24 resignation date. Hochul, 62, has been the state’s second-ranking official since 2015 and will become its 57th governor. In 2011, she won a special election for a New York congressional district but lost the seat in 2013 to a Republican challenger after congressional district maps were redrawn in 2012. New York Governor Cuomo Announces ResignationThree-term governor’s decision was announced as momentum built in the Legislature to remove him by impeachmentOne of her responsibilities as lieutenant governor was to lead Cuomo’s “Enough is Enough” campaign launched in 2015 to combat sexual assault on college campuses. Considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, Hochul also chairs 10 state economic development councils and co-chairs a task force to fight opioid abuse. She was born in Buffalo, New York, to working-class parents who had five other children. She is married to William Hochul, a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, with whom she has two children. After graduating from Syracuse University in 1980 and earning a law degree four years later from Catholic University in the U.S. capital, Hochul worked at a Washington law firm. She later became a legal counsel and legislative aide to U.S. Representative John LaFalce of New York, and U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. Some information in this report is from The Associated Press.
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New York Governor Cuomo Announces Resignation
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday over allegations he sexually harassed at least 11 women.“The best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do,” Cuomo said in a televised news conference.The three-term governor said his resignation would take effect 14 days after his announcement, which came as the state legislature mounted a campaign to remove him from office by impeachment. Hochul to Replace Cuomo as New York Governor The lieutenant governor will be the first woman in New York’s top job Despite his announced resignation, Cuomo continued to deny he intentionally disrespected women and said the allegations were “politically motivated” attacks against him.Cuomo will be replaced by Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a 62-year-old former member of Congress. She will be the first woman to serve as New York governor.I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers.As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th Governor.— Kathy Hochul (@LtGovHochulNY) August 10, 2021In a tweet, Hochul said, “I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers.” Hochul also said, “As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th Governor.”New York State Attorney General Letitia James said last week that Cuomo’s alleged targets were current and former employees of the state government. The probe uncovered a “climate of fear” created by Cuomo’s behavior that included unwanted kisses, groping, hugging, and making unacceptable remarks, James said.She said the investigation also found that the Democratic governor retaliated against at least one former employee for complaining about his actions.The nearly five-month investigation was performed by two outside attorneys whom James hired. They spoke to 179 people, including complainants, current and former members of the governor’s office, state troopers, and other state workers.James said the probe was launched because of the “heroic women who came forward.”Some information in this report from Associated Press and Reuters.
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China’s Likely Responses to European and Indian Warships in Sea it Calls its Own
A series of voyages by multiple Western allies in mid-2021 through a disputed Asian sea will incite China, the waterway’s largest claimant, to shadow the foreign ships, hit back at the countries behind them and possibly hold a live-fire drill, analysts say.At least eight countries have indicated since late July plans to send navy vessels into the resource-rich South China Sea, which stretches from Hong Kong to Borneo Island, in support of keeping it open internationally rather than ceding it to Chinese control.The HMS Defender destroyer, part of a British carrier strike group, reached the South China Sea last month, domestic media reported. It’s scheduled to join vessels from France, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the United States for joint exercises near the sea. India for its part plans to send four ships over two months, according to its FILE – In this photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Groups steam in formation, in the South China Sea, July 6, 2020.“It’s almost like a flock mentality — they see more and more of their friends making baby steps into this part of the world, they follow suit,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.India’s defense ministry said its ship deployment “seeks to underscore the operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain.”Chinese defense planners should view the foreign ship movement as “shows of flag” with coordination such as “parallel cruising” rather than a direct military threat, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army Navy may respond with more missile tests without hitting anyone, he said.This month China already announced it was planning live fire, “aircraft carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missiles exercises in the sea.“They may try again the anti-ship ballistic missile firing, since they have a pretty huge range, but I don’t see the gathering of Chinese navy assets in those areas [as foreign ships pass],” Huang said.China accuses the United States of going too far and hints at avoiding conflict.“In the regional waters, there is no room for confrontation, zero-sum games, or bloc rivalries,” the official Xinhua News Agency said in a July 31 commentary posted to its website. “The so-called ‘China threat’ is merely one of the many tricks adopted by Washington to deliberately smear China, sow discord between regional countries, and contain China’s development.”Officials in Beijing will resent India and the European governments as “extraterritorial countries” and come out with “forceful responses,” Oh said. But in calibrating its responses, he said, China will consider too that France, Germany and the U.K. are major trading partners.“I think what China would do is to very carefully have differentiated responses to all these different countries,” Oh said. “But, of course, China could not do too much as well because these are major trading partners.” Some of the 220 Chinese vessels are seen moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea, March 7, 2021. (Credit: Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea/Handout)Western-allied navies for their part might venture to the center of the sea but keep a distance from “sensitive areas” held by China, said Carl Thayer, Asia-specialized emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia.
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Ethiopia Calls on All ‘Capable’ Citizens to Join Military Effort in Northern Tigray
The Ethiopian government appealed Tuesday for its citizens to join the military to fight the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the embattled northern Tigray region. The appeal from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office follows the government’s unilateral declaration of a cease-fire in June as its military retreated from Tigray or abandoned the truce altogether.“Now is the right time for all capable Ethiopians who are of age to join the Defense Forces, Special Forces and militias to show your patriotism,” Abiy’s office said in a statement.Tigray Forces Vow ‘Warm Welcome’ in Face of New OffensiveAmhara forces reportedly will launch an offensive on Saturday against Tigray forces who have entered the region Representatives of Abiy, the TPLF and the Tigray emergency task force did not immediately comment.The TPLF, which ruled Ethiopia for three decades, now controls Tigray.Fighting between the national government and the TPLF broke out in November, leaving about 4 million people in Tigray, Amhara and Afar facing emergency or crisis levels of food insecurity, according to the U.N.Troops from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor to the north, and Amhara, a neighboring region to the south of Tigray, also entered the conflict in support of the Ethiopian government.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday that it and its partners regained access to the Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps for Eritrean refugees in Tigray. Violence had prevented representatives from accessing the sites since July 13.The UNHCR said deliveries of aid for the camps’ 23,000 refugees resumed on August 5, despite access that is “limited by a complex and fluid security situation.”
VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report, and some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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‘Undesirable’ and ‘Foreign’: How Russia Is Muzzling the Media in an Escalating Crackdown
Recent weeks have seen a spate of police raids on independent media companies and the homes of journalists in Russia, as part of an intensifying crackdown. Kremlin-critical media face fines, arrests, and violence. Some journalists are relocating to other countries to avoid an increasingly hostile environment.
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US Provides $50 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Myanmar
The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday it was providing more than $50 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar citizens who are coping with a humanitarian crisis sparked by a February 1 military coup.The coup in the Southeast Asian country, formerly known as Burma, has led to deadly anti-junta protests and clashes between several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta. This has caused shortages of essential goods and services, and it has forced thousands to flee their homes.“This aid will enable our international and non-governmental organization partners to provide emergency food assistance, life-saving protection, shelter, essential health care, water, sanitation and hygiene services to the people of Burma, including those forced to flee violence and persecution,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.“We have a severe COVID-19 third wave in Myanmar,” the U.N. special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, told reporters Tuesday in a video briefing. “Entire families are falling sick with COVID, with relatives desperately seeking and struggling to access treatment, oxygen and other supplies, while prices have skyrocketed.”She said there have been 330,127 confirmed cases of the infection, with 3,611 new cases recorded on Monday. The envoy said the cases are probably higher as testing is not being done across the country. Separately, the special envoy said for the past two months, she has been discussing how to get an inclusive dialogue started among the military, the national unity government and ethnic armed groups, in an effort to resolve the political crisis.“The ethnic armed organizations were, in the majority, very positive on this idea and really want to find a peaceful solution,” she said. “The National Unity Government was interested in the idea, but clearly would have preconditions to start such a dialogue.”Schraner Burgener said she had a long conversation last month with the deputy commander in chief of the military but has not received any response regarding the possibility of a dialogue. The army is also not ready to allow her to visit the country, a request she has been making since the February coup.Schraner Burgener welcomed the long-awaited appointment of a special envoy for Myanmar from regional bloc ASEAN and said the person, Erywan Yusof, would have her full cooperation and support.Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced in the statement that the U.S. also was providing $5 million to help Thailand contain the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.“Today’s announcement of additional COVID-19 assistance to Thailand will support health care workers administering vaccines and will strengthen the vaccine supply chain to help ensure that they reach the most vulnerable populations.”Demonstrators reportedly were protesting in the streets of Bangkok again Tuesday to denounce the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Police fired water cannons at protesters who increasingly are angry about Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s handling of the country’s most serious outbreak of infections and its adverse impact on the economy, according to Reuters.(Reuters provided some information for this report.)
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CIA Director in Israel as Biden Administration Mulls Interim Iran Deal
The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, is in Israel for talks that officials say will focus primarily on Iran. His arrival Tuesday comes amid rapidly rising tensions in the region and a drone strike on an Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which Western governments blame on Tehran.Last week, there was also an escalation in cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed radical Lebanese group, and Israel. Hezbollah fired cross-border rockets, which landed near Israeli military positions, drawing retaliatory Israeli strikes into southern Lebanon.Both sides appeared careful to avoid casualties, but on Saturday, Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah warned he could order an escalation.Israeli forces fire artillery on the border with Lebanon after a barrage of rockets were fired from Lebanon, Aug. 6, 2021. The militant Hezbollah group said it fired rockets near Israeli positions close to the Lebanese border.Iran has denied it was behind the drone strike last month on the HV Mercer Street in which two crew members, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed. But Western officials and analysts say it fits a pattern of increased combative behavior by Iran, especially over the past six months.During his three-day visit, Burns is expected to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, his Israeli counterpart, David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence agency, and other top defense officials. The key topics will be Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran’s regional actions and the likely foreign policy direction of Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, a former hardline Islamic judge who is under U.S. sanctions over alleged atrocities he oversaw during his career in the Iranian judiciary.“The arrival of a hardline president in Iran has prompted dire predictions about the direction of Iran’s domestic and foreign policies,” noted the In this image provided by Maxar Technologies, the oil tanker Mercer Street is seen off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Aug. 4, 2021. The United States, United Kingdom and Israel blame Iran for an attack on the Mercer Street off Oman.Previously, shipping attacks in the Gulf have more often than not involved limpet mines, which can be placed on the hull of a target vessel. Israeli defense officials see the switch in tactics as a major escalation in a shadow war between Iran and Israel.And they have called for strong retaliatory action against Iran for the drone attack on the MV Mercer Street. Gantz told the Knesset, or parliament, that there are “hundreds of Iranian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in Iran, Yemen, Iraq and other countries.” He added, “We will act to remove any such threat.”US, G-7 Say Evidence in Oil Tanker Attack Points to IranUS military investigators say remnants of drone used in fatal strike are identical to components in other Iranian-made attack vehicles The call for a strong response has been echoed in Britain by the country’s top military commander, General Nick Carter, who said in a BBC interview that Western powers need to retaliate, otherwise Tehran will feel emboldened. “We have got to restore deterrence because it is behavior like that which leads to escalation, and that could very easily lead to miscalculation and that would be very disastrous for all the peoples of the Gulf and the international community,” he said.The Biden administration has also condemned Iranian actions in the Gulf with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying after the drone strike on the MV Mercer Street that there was “no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.”The administration has been more restrained in language than Israel and Washington appears to be prioritizing getting Iran back to the negotiating table. But according to Bloomberg, the administration may have accepted that the chances of a return to the 2015 deal are now fading.
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Messi Gets Hero’s Welcome in France After Agreeing to Join Paris Saint Germain
Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi received a hero’s welcome after flying to France on Tuesday to join Paris Saint Germain (PSG) following his shock departure from Barcelona.The agreement to sign the 34-year-old Argentine is a major coup for wealthy PSG, who will add one of the best soccer players of all time to an already formidable front line that includes Brazil’s Neymar and young Frenchman Kylian Mbappe.Wearing a T-shirt that read “This is Paris,” Messi beamed and waved at scores of fans who had come to greet him at Le Bourget airport on the outskirts of the French capital after his flight from Barcelona.Chanting “Messi, Messi, Messi,” the fans cheered and let off firecrackers.”It’s going to be mad. After all, it’s a legend who is arriving,” said Florent Chauveau, a PSG fan who has been back and forth to the airport every day since Sunday in the hope of seeing Messi arrive.Messi gave no details of the deal, which was reached days after Barcelona said it could not afford to keep the midfielder because of Spain’s La Liga’s fair play rules.Emotional Messi Says He Wasn’t Prepared to Leave Barcelona Lionel Messi calls his unexpected departure from Catalan club ‘the most difficult’ moment of his careerBut his father, speaking to reporters at Barcelona’s airport, confirmed reports by French newspaper L’Equipe and Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo that Messi had reached an agreement with PSG, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investment.L’Equipe said the deal would be for two years. It also said Messi would have medical tests on Tuesday, and that a news conference to mark his arrival was likely on Wednesday.PSG did not comment on the reports but released a short video showing scenes of Paris, a plane landing and a close-up of someone putting pen to paper. In the background, upbeat music can heard and the words “new diamond in Paris” and “mercato update” appear.The video, seen on Twitter, does not show Messi but depicts an image of six Ballons d’Or – an annual award given to the player deemed the best in the world – by the Eiffel Tower.Many Barcelona fans were distraught at the end of Messi’s glittering, trophy-laden career at the club he joined as a schoolboy.But the arrival of Barcelona’s all-time record scorer with 682 goals will boost PSG’s ambitions to win the Champions League for the first time. Messi won four Champions League titles while at Barcelona, as well as 10 La Liga titles.PSG AmbitionsMessi is the latest big-name arrival at PSG on a free transfer this summer after coach Mauricio Pochettino’s side snapped up Spanish defender Sergio Ramos after he left Real Madrid. Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum also joined after running down his contract with Liverpool.Italy’s Euro 2020-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has also joined after his contract with AC Milan ran out, while Moroccan fullback Achraf Hakimi joined from Inter Milan for a reported 60 million euros ($70 million).The arrival of Messi, whose last contract with Barcelona was worth a total of 555 million euros and reported to be the most lucrative in world sport, is also set to provoke a renewed new debate about UEFA’s financial fair play rules.The rules were first introduced in 2009 to restrict some of the worst excesses of the game but have been criticized by some leading figures for being ineffective.The arrival of Messi, who has 245 million followers on Instagram and is Barcelona’s most decorated player of all time, is also welcome news for France’s Ligue 1, embroiled in a crisis over TV rights.
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Cameroon Says Hundreds of Boko Haram Militants from Nigeria and Chad Surrender
Cameroonian officials say at least 82 former Boko Haram fighters from Nigeria and Chad, along with their families, have surrendered to authorities in the past week. Authorities say they’re the latest among hundreds of the militant Islamists who have been defecting since May, when the group’s leader was killed. Cameroon plans to deport the former fighters as the influx has overwhelmed rehabilitation centers along the border.Cameroon’s government on August 10 said its National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration center in Meri, a northern town on the border with Nigeria, has 967 former jihadist militants. A week ago, there were about 700 former Boko Haram fighters and their families in the center. Among the over 260 who arrived within the past one week are 82 former Boko Haram male fighters. The others are women and children. FILE – 40 of the 57 men who surrendered recently are former Boko Haram fighters, in Meri, Cameroon, July 29, 2021.(Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Francis Fai Yengo is the director of DDR centers created by the government of Cameroon for former fighters. He says over 200 of ex-militants are Nigerians. He spoke on Monday after President Paul Biya sent him to meet the former militants and to evaluate their needs. “We came to see the fighters, those young women and men predominantly made of Nigerians flooding out from the Boko Haram camps into our country,” he said. “The numbers are increasing daily. We welcome them, but after we have done the necessary verifications, we will send them back rapidly to their country because of the good relationship that our country [Cameroon] has with our neighboring country to the west [Nigeria].” Yengo said several of the former militants are Chadians. He said Biya has provided space and funds for a bigger DDR center to be constructed in Meme, another northern town not far from Nigeria. Yengo said the center at Meri was too small to contain the increasing number of fleeing Boko Haram militants. The Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin that is fighting the jihadist group said the former militants handed themselves to troops around the Sambisa Forest on the Cameroon Nigeria border, an area considered as Boko Haram’s stronghold. The task force is made up of troops from Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. Nigeria has not issued a statement on the militants’ defections. Cameroon says it has voluntarily handed former combatants to Nigeria several times but that the number that surrendered this week is the highest. This month, Cameroon said since May, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was declared dead, the jihadist group Boko Haram and its fighters are weaker and likely to surrender. Swaibou Issa, a researcher on Boko Haram at the University of Maroua, says Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad should encourage fighters who are still reluctant to surrender and help to reconstruct their communities. He says rival jihadist groups are carrying out charitable acts around the Lake Chad Basin aimed at luring in Boko Haram militants and having fighters join other terrorist groups. Issa says within the past two months, the Islamic State in West Africa Province, or the ISWAP, a splinter of Boko Haram, is increasingly gaining power and influence. He says ISWAP has been highly active along the Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad border. He says while recognized international aid groups distribute food to populations in need, ISWAP also shares food to gain sympathy and recruit civilians. Speaking through the messaging platform WhatsApp from Maroua, Issa said it is possible that many militants want to surrender but fear reprisals from jihadist fighters. Kalbassou Daniel is the president of Cameroon’s Far North Regional Council, or the CPDM party, created by the government to speed up local development.
Kalbassou says it is imperative for the governments of Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad to provide jobs for the ex-jihadist militants. He says the former militants who surrender must be encouraged to have self confidence that is needed before they can reintegrate work for development and become productive contributing members of society. Boko Haram terrorists have been fighting to establish an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast. The fighters began attacks inside Cameroon in 2014. According to the U.N., 30,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced in Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad since 2009 when the fighting deteriorated into an armed conflict with Nigerian government troops.
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COVID-19 Outbreak in Australia Worsens
Australia’s New South Wales state reported another 356 new COVID-19 infections Tuesday. The new infections are the highest number for the southern state and its capital, Sydney, since a new surge that began in June, when a Sydney airport limousine driver tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant after transporting international air crews. Medical staff work in the waiting area at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Bankstown Sports Club as the city experiences an extended lockdown, in Sydney, Australia, Aug. 3, 2021.The latest infection numbers announced Tuesday in Sydney include at least three deaths. New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that the farming town of Tamworth and the coastal tourist spot of Byron Bay have been placed under an immediate seven-day lockdown after at least one person traveled there from Sydney. A resident receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Australia’s first drive through vaccination center in the outer Melbourne suburb of Melton, Aug, 10, 2021.Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 37,010 total confirmed cases and 943 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The national government has come under fire for a glacial vaccination effort that has led to just 18 percent of all Australians fully vaccinated. Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged Tuesday that the country was in a “tough fight” against the delta variant, but pledged that all Australians over 16 years old will be offered a vaccine by the end of the year, saying he wants “everybody around that table at Christmas time.” High-risk destinations
In the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday added seven new destinations to its highest risk level of its COVID-19 travel advisory list. The CDC has designated Aruba, Eswatini, France, French Polynesia, Iceland, Israel and Thailand as Level 4 locations, which signifies a “very high” risk of contracting COVID-19. The federal health agency says anyone who must travel to those nations should be fully vaccinated. The latest figures from Johns Hopkins show 203,443,396 million people around the world have tested positive for COVID-19, including 4.3 million deaths. The United States leads in both categories with 35.9 million total confirmed cases, including 617,321 deaths. India has nearly 32 million total cases, Brazil is third, with 20.1 million. Brazil is second in COVID-19 fatalities with 563,562, followed by India with 428,682. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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Governors, Local Officials in Mask Mandate Tug-of-War
Two school districts in Texas are defying an order issued by Governor Greg Abbott that prohibits local governments from issuing face mask mandates as the southwestern U.S. state faces a dramatic surge of new COVID-19 infections. Michael Hinojosa, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, announced Monday that all students and teachers should wear face masks. The move comes just days after the superintendent of Houston’s public schools, the state’s largest school district, announced that he would ask the district’s trustee board to approve a similar mandate. FILE – Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks in Dallas, Texas, May 4, 2018.The head of Dallas County’s governing board of commissioners, Judge Clay Jenkins, has filed a lawsuit against Abbott’s executive order. The nonprofit South Center for Child Advocacy has also filed a lawsuit in Travis County, whose county seat, Austin, is also the state’s capital city, seeking a temporary restraining order against the governor’s order. Amid the growing opposition to his order, Abbott on Monday called for hospitals across the state to voluntarily delay all elective, or non-emergency, surgeries and medical procedures to focus all of their efforts on treating the increasing number of COVID-19 patients. Many hospitals have either reached or exceeded patient capacity, with two major hospitals in Houston erecting tents to handle the overflow of coronavirus patients. Abbott is also directing state agencies to search for additional medical personnel outside the state to help with the new surge of patients. A parent and a member of the ‘Community Patriots’ confronts a police officer while protesting against wearing masks in schools, at the Administration Building in Largo, Florida, Aug. 9, 2021.Another governor battling with local officials over mask mandates as COVID-19 cases rise in his state is Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who has threatened to withhold funding to school districts and withhold salaries of local superintendents and school board members who defy his order banning such mandates. Like Texas, the southeastern state is struggling to deal with the new surge of coronavirus patients, with more than 40% of the intensive care beds in Florida hospitals filled with COVID-19 patients. The New York Times says the United States is now averaging more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, the biggest numbers since February, when the coronavirus vaccines were first made available to the general public. Health experts have blamed the new surge on the spread of the more contagious delta variant and the declining number of Americans seeking vaccination. Many of the new COVID-19 cases are among young children who are not yet eligible to receive a vaccine, according to the Times.
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Elections to Test Zambia’s Standing as a Stable Democracy
Zambia’s standing as one of Africa’s most stable democracies is being tested this week in the vote in which President Edgar Lungu is seeking re-election.A tight race is expected, and some analysts say the presidential poll may provoke a political crisis in the southern African country.Lungu’s detractors say he has systematically restricted democratic freedoms by closing some media outlets, detaining opposition politicians and targeting critics. His rule has taken Africa’s second-largest copper producer to “the brink of a human rights crisis,” Human Rights Watch alleged in June.Violence flared in recent weeks, particularly between supporters of the two main parties, prompting Lungu to deploy the military. Lungu says the troops are to maintain order, but the opposition argues that the soldiers are to intimidate voters.Lungu came to power in 2015 after winning a disputed snap election to finish the term of President Michael Sata who died in office. Lungu was then elected to a full five-year term in 2016, although his main rival again alleged fraud.A combination of intimidation and populist policies such as payments to millions of farmers could secure a victory for Lungu, 64, analysts say. His chief rival is 59-year-old Hakainde Hichilema, who touts his business background as proof he can attract capital and create much-needed jobs. Hichilema is well-known to voters as this is the sixth time that he has run for president and the most recent race against Lungu was very close.In total, 16 candidates are vying for the presidency. Zambia will go for a second-round vote if none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the votes cast.More than 800 candidates from Lungu’s Patriotic Front, Hichilema’s United Party for National Development and other smaller parties and independents will battle for the elected 156 seats in the National Assembly. Mayoral and council seats are also up for election. Zambia’s economy, which is in a tailspin, might “be the defining issue,” said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of politics at the University of Birmingham.”The economic crisis has gone hand-in-hand with significant amounts of pain and that has caused considerable discontent,” Cheeseman told The Associated Press. “I think that creates a window of opportunity for the opposition to win, not just that the economy is bad but that people don’t have confidence in President Lungu to be able to turn it around.”Zambia recorded economic progress for more than a decade and achieved middle-income status in 2011, but now the country is beset by high inflation, high debt and allegations of corruption.The COVID-19 pandemic hurt the already stuttering economy even further. Lockdown measures pushed Zambia into its first recession since 1998 and the economy contracted by 1.2%, according to the World Bank.An easing of the lockdown measures in the latter part of 2020 and the global rise in copper prices resulted in some recovery, although inflation reached a high of 22% in February, according to the World Bank.Many Zambians have little trust in the politicians promising to fix the country’s problems. Only 23% said they would vote for Lungu’s Patriotic Front party while just 25% would consider voting for Hichilema’s United Party for National Development, according to a poll by Afrobarometer in December last year.”This means that voter apathy and a low turnout will likely prevail on election day,” said Ringisai Chikohomere, a researcher at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.”The economy is the number one electoral issue, and yet in the past Zambians have voted along regional lines rather than on the strength of real grievances,” said Chikohomere, who said ethnic identity issues may be as important as the policies promoted by the candidates and parties. Disputes over the outcome are likely, Cheeseman said. “It’s going to be a very contested election. It’s going to be highly controversial. Whichever candidate loses will reject the results. It means we will have a political crisis here after the polls,” he said. “It’s really a question of how big that crisis is and how credible the elections look.”
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Greek Prime Minister Apologizes for Wildfire Response
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized Monday for government failures in responding to wildfires that have hit the country. Citing what he called an unprecedented heat wave and prolonged drought, Mitsotakis said the fires have been difficult to put out. He said more than 500 fires in total had broken out in recent days. “I fully understand the pain of our fellow citizens who saw their homes or property burned,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address. “Any failures will be identified. And responsibility will be assigned wherever necessary.” One massive fire has been ravaging the Greek island of Evia, charring buildings and pine forests and forcing thousands of people to evacuate.The fire has burned for more than a week and resulted in the deaths of a volunteer firefighter and an Athens official. More than 600 firefighters are involved in the effort to control it. The United States and several European and Middle Eastern countries sent firefighters and firefighting planes and helicopters to Greece. The European Union sent nearly 1,000 firefighters and nine planes. It is also sending resources to other countries affected by wildfires, including Turkey and Italy. “We are mobilizing one of Europe’s biggest ever common firefighting operations as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously,” said the EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič, in a Sunday statement. Aided by a record heat wave, the wildfires have also struck Turkey, Italy, Spain, North Macedonia, Albania, Russia, Algeria and Lebanon. In Greece, temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Mitsotakis conveyed his appreciation in a Sunday Twitter statement addressing the 22 countries that sent help to Greece. “On behalf of the Greek people, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the countries that have sent assistance and resources to help fight the wildfires. We thank you for standing by Greece during these trying times,” Mitsotakis said. The ongoing fires in Greece come as the United Nations released a new climate report Monday that warned of worsening global warming in the coming years. Average global temperature will rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 d degrees Fahrenheit), compared with preindustrial temperatures, by the early 2030s, the report predicts. Many scientists believe that if temperatures surpass the 1.5-degree threshold, many effects of climate change may irreversibly worsen, leading to more intense heat waves, higher sea levels and larger storms. For example, the report predicted the frequency of extreme heat waves would increase from once every 50 years to once every decade. Though some climate changes may be permanent, authors of the report called for increased action to address greenhouse gas emissions, which are considered a major factor in human-driven climate change. Nearly 200 countries agreed to limit temperatures from reaching the 1.5-degree threshold in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, but individual progress on the goal has varied. U.S. President Joe Biden recently pledged to cut emissions in half, compared with 2005 levels, by 2030. European Union leaders similarly released an aggressive emission reduction plan that they hope to make legally binding, a step the U.S. has not taken. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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Australian Experts Call for Tougher Sydney COVID-19 Lockdown
A leading epidemiologist and an adviser to the World Health Organization is calling for a nighttime curfew and daily testing for workers to bring Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak under control. With a lockdown not producing the desired results in Australia’s largest city, it’s time to implement even stricter restrictions. That’s the opinion of professor Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist from the University of New South Wales. She is also a member of a World Health Organization expert panel on COVID-19. The state government in New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital city, has said that higher rates of vaccination, up to 80 percent of the population, are the key to the gradual easing of restrictions. But McLaws says the benefits of mass inoculations will take time to reduce the spread of the delta variant. “We are not going to get out of this with the vaccine. We’re certainly going to prevent deaths and hospitalizations, and then eventually we will start seeing a wonderful public health impact on reduced spread. But we do need more testing at the worksite, daily testing. We need night curfews to stop people wanting to sneak out at night and go and visit friends or extended families,” McLaws said.State authorities in New South Wales concede they may be forced to abandon the policy of trying to eliminate the virus because the spread of infections in Sydney is proving hard to stop, despite Australia’s strictest lockdown. Instead of trying to crush the virus, officials say Australia might have to live with it and hope the population would be protected by mass vaccinations. Indeed, New South Wales set a new daily record Tuesday with 356 recently diagnosed COVID-19 infections. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian is pleading with residents, especially those in Sydney’s virus hot spots, to get vaccinated.COVID-19 lockdown restrictions affect vulnerable communities in southwest Sydney, Aug. 10, 2021.“Those that are unvaccinated of any age continue to be vulnerable, and with case numbers where they are, unfortunately if you live in those local government areas of concern there is a high chance now you could get the virus. Please protect yourself, your family, your loved ones, your community by getting vaccinated,” Berejiklian said.Australia’s inoculation rates are much lower than other countries. About 22 percent of eligible Australians older than 16 have been fully inoculated. There have been problems with supply, but, crucially, there have been widespread concerns in the country about possible side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine. A third vaccine, Moderna, has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia’s official medical regular. One million doses are expected to arrive in September of the 10 million doses ordered. The AstraZeneca and Pfizer treatments were approved earlier this year. Australia has recorded 36,330 coronavirus cases and 936 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center. The country’s virus strategy includes the closure of its international borders to most foreign travelers, strict lockdowns and mass testing. A lockdown that began last Thursday in Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city, continues.
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Chinese Court Rejects Canadian’s Appeal of Death Sentence
A Chinese court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by a Canadian whose sentence in a drug case was increased to death while Beijing was trying to pressure Canada to release a detained executive of tech giant Huawei. Robert Schellenberg was sentenced to prison in November 2018 after being convicted of drug smuggling. He was abruptly resentenced to death in January 2019 following the arrest of the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies in Vancouver. Meng Wanzhou was detained on U.S. charges related to possible dealings with Iran. The Higher People’s Court of Liaoning Province rejected Schellenberg’s appeal and said court procedures were legal and the sentence appropriate. It sent the case to the Chinese supreme court for review, as is required by law before any death sentences can be carried out. The Chinese government also arrested a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and a Canadian entrepreneur, Michael Spavor, on unspecified spying charges in an apparent attempt to pressure Ottawa to release Meng. Two other Canadians, Fan Wei and Xu Weihong, also were sentenced to death on drug charges in 2019 as relations between Beijing and Ottawa deteriorated. The United States wants the Huawei executive, Meng, who is also the daughter of the company’s founder, extradited to face charges she lied to banks in Hong Kong in connection with dealings with Iran that might violate trade sanctions. A Canadian judge is to hear final arguments over whether Meng should be extradited. China also has reduced imports from Canada.
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Mexico’s Obrador, Harris Discuss Migration, Boosting Central American Economies
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke on Monday about migration, the battle against COVID-19, and the need to strengthen Central American economies, the White House said in a statement. In a brief statement on Twitter, Lopez Obrador said the conversation had been good and that he would provide more details Tuesday.Volvimos a conversar con Kamala Harris, vicepresidenta de Estados Unidos. En buenos términos, tratamos el asunto migratorio, la completa apertura de la frontera norte para reactivar nuestras economías y continuar con la mutua cooperación para enfrentar la pandemia de #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/7XeNVyJGRW— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) August 9, 2021The White House said the two leaders discussed ongoing bilateral cooperation to address “irregular migration” to the shared U.S.-Mexican border and agreed to focus on bolstering Central American economies through investment in agriculture and climate resilience. Harris updated Lopez Obrador on U.S. efforts, including the July 29 release of the U.S. strategy for addressing the root causes of migration in Central America. The U.S. vice president also told Lopez Obrador that Washington was committed to sending additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Mexico, on top of the 4 million doses already delivered, the White House said. Speaking before the call, a senior U.S. official said the vaccines could come from multiple manufacturers, including Moderna and AstraZeneca. Earlier, Lopez Obrador said he and Harris would discuss reopening the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and vaccines against COVID-19, new cases of which have jumped in Mexico. Speaking at a regular morning news conference, the Mexican president said vaccinations along Mexico’s border with the United States had led to fewer hospitalizations and deaths in the face of rising infections on both sides. “This is what I’m going to suggest today, that we can demonstrate that we’re not putting the population at risk,” Lopez Obrador said in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The United States has sent a few million vaccine doses to Mexico and would be sharing more with it than with any other country, reflecting the importance it attached to the bilateral relationship, the U.S. official said. The countries’ 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border has been closed to nonessential travel since early in the pandemic last year.
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US Senate to Vote on $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate is expected to give its approval Tuesday to a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The package includes about $550 billion in new spending and would pay for roads, water systems and improving access to broadband internet. Tuesday’s vote follows extensive negotiations between a group of Democrats and Republicans. There are those who oppose the measure on both sides, including Democrats who say it does not go far enough to address the nation’s needs and Republicans who object to the scope and price tag. But in the evenly split Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, the package is expected to have the support of more than two-thirds of the members. Approval in the Senate would send the measure to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are expected to consider it in September. “Let me say this, it has taken quite a long time, and there have been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America, and the Senate can be proud it has passed this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was involved in the bipartisan negotiations, called the package “the largest in our nation’s history.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, walk out of a budget resolution meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.“After decades of inaction, we will finally deliver the safe, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy & our country so desperately needs,” Portman tweeted late Monday. Schumer said Monday that after the vote on the infrastructure bill, the Senate would turn its attention to a $3.5 trillion, 10-year plan that includes items such as universal preschool, free community college, and money for affordable housing and clean energy programs. The larger package has the support of Democrats in the Senate, but not Republicans. Democrats are likely to proceed under a special process known as a budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only a simple majority and not be subject to a potential filibuster, a move by the minority Republicans to block or delay a vote. A budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass spending legislation later in the year, also with a simple majority, to fill out the specifics of the programs. Debate on the $3.5 trillion plan is expected to continue for several months. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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Mozambique’s President Unveils Southern African Troops to Fight Insurgents
Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on a visit to the troubled northern Cabo Delgado province Monday, unveiled the Southern African troops sent to fight the region’s insurgents. The Southern African Development Community’s Standby Force includes troops from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Tanzania. The SADC troops are being deployed as Mozambican and Rwandan troops on Sunday say they retook a key port city that the Islamist militants held for two years. In a live broadcast on state radio and television Monday from Cabo Delgado’s provincial capital, Pemba, President Filipe Nyusi addressed southern African troops deployed to the region to fight insurgents. Southern African Development Community members Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Tanzania are the first in the 16-member group to send troops to Mozambique. Nyusi thanked SADC for its engagement and underscored the need to coordinate in battling the Islamist militants. To the SADC standby forces who are here, he says, we appeal once again for greater coordination on the operational theater and rigorous observation of the benchmarks of responsibility, strategically defined. Nyusi says they demand communication, exchange of operative information on the ground, discipline and respect for human life. The total number of soldiers the group is sending to Mozambique has not been made public. But experts from SADC, who were in Cabo Delgado, suggested that the mission should comprise around 3,000 troops. Botswana in late July announced it was sending almost 300 troops to fight in Mozambique, and its president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, attended Monday’s unveiling. The commander of the SADC standby force is South African Major General Xolani Mankayi. Speaking on a state broadcaster from Pemba, he said they would do everything possible to restore peace in the affected areas. “The SADC region state as described above is (to) facilitate the creation of a secure environment, to ensure that the state authority is in full control of the Cabo Delgado affected areas, and normal lives can resume,” Mankayi said.Nyusi had been reluctant to allow foreign troops into Mozambique’s conflict, but in July confirmed that outside help was needed to defeat the insurgents. Rwanda, which is not a SADC member, sent 1,000 troops in early July to Cabo Delgado, where they say they are making gains fighting alongside Mozambique’s. Spokesman for Mozambique’s Ministry of Defense, Omar Saranga, late Sunday announced they had regained control of the port town of Mocímboa da Praia. He says it is important to highlight that the success of the operations is due to the effective collaboration of the local communities, which is why they call for the reinforcement of collective vigilance. Bear in mind, says Saranga, that due to the push of the ongoing offensive, terrorists will tend to infiltrate, with the aim of disrupting searches, as well as registration of rescued populations. The ministry said the insurgents, who call themselves Al-Shabab but are not connected to the Somali Islamist group of the same name, had controlled the port for more than two years. Since the insurgents began fighting in 2017 near rich oil and gas deposit projects, more than 2,500 people have been killed. More than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since April 2020, while gas projects worth billions have been put on hold.
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Singapore Turns Sewage into Clean, Drinkable Water, Meeting 40% of Demand
Giant pumps whir deep underground at a plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean people can drink it while reducing ocean pollution. The tiny island nation has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighboring Malaysia. To boost self-sufficiency, the government has developed an advanced system for treating sewage involving a network of tunnels and high-tech plants. Recycled wastewater can now meet 40% of Singapore’s water demand, a figure that is expected to rise to 55% by 2060, according to the country’s water agency. While most is used for industrial purposes, some of it is added to drinking water supplies in reservoirs in the city-state of 5.7 million people. And the system helps reduce maritime pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is discharged into the sea. This is a contrast to most other countries: 80% of the world’s wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to United Nations estimates. “Singapore lacks natural resources, and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply,” Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the Public Utilities Board’s water reclamation department, told AFP. One key strategy is to “collect every drop” and “reuse endlessly,” she added. This is in addition to the city-state’s other main approaches to securing water supplies: importing it, using reservoirs and desalinating seawater. At the heart of the recycling system is the high-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city’s eastern coast. Parts of the facility in land-scarce Singapore are underground, some as deep as 25 stories, and it is fed by wastewater that flows through a massive, 48-kilometer (30-mile) tunnel, linked to sewers. The site houses a maze of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, filtration systems and other machinery, and can treat up to 900 million liters (237 million U.S. gallons) of wastewater a day — enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 24 hours for a year. In one building, a network of ventilators has been installed to keep the air smelling fresh, although a putrid odor still hangs in the air. Sewage that arrives at the plant undergoes an initial filtering process before powerful pumps send it flowing to facilities above ground for further treatment. There, the treated water is further cleansed, with impurities like bacteria and viruses removed through advanced filtration processes and disinfected with ultraviolet rays. The end product, dubbed NEWater, is mainly used in microchip manufacturing plants, which are ubiquitous in the city-state and require high-quality water, and for cooling systems in buildings. But it also helps boost drinking water supplies. During the dry season, it is sent to top up several man-made reservoirs and, following further treatment, flows to people’s taps. Singapore is expanding its recycling system. It will add an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island, which should be completed by 2025. Singapore will have spent Sg$10 billion (U.S. $7.4 billion) on upgrading its water treatment infrastructure by the time the expansion is finished. One impetus to seek greater self-sufficiency are the city-state’s historically fractious relations with Malaysia, its key water source. The neighbors have had stormy ties since Malaysia ejected Singapore from a short-lived union in 1965, and they have in the past had disagreements over water supplies. Stefan Wuertz, a professor of environmental engineering at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, stressed the importance for other countries to treat wastewater more effectively, warning of serious long-term impacts otherwise. “There is a limited amount of water on the planet,” he told AFP. “If we were to keep polluting the freshwater, at some stage we would reach the point where … treatment becomes extremely expensive.”
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IPOB Separatists’ Lockdown Protest Takes Hold in Nigeria’s Southeast
Supporters of the Nigerian separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), began a weekly stay-at-home protest Monday in the country’s southeast, calling for their leader to be released.IPOB’s southeast lockdown protest took effect from 6 a.m. local time Monday and lasted 12 hours. Residents across many states in the region complied with the order to stay at home, despite a warning from authorities prohibiting it. The separatist group says the protest is to press for the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing trial for treason in Nigeria after he was rearrested in June. FILE – Journalists are stationed opposite the Federal High Court as they await the arrival of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu at the court in Abuja, Nigeria, July 26, 2021.Enugu resident Daniel Ede said he received a memo from his office asking him to stay away from work Monday. “There’s a sense of hostility in the air,” Ede said. “There’s very minimal vehicular movement, very minimal movement, in general. Everybody is just keeping to himself and trying to observe and see how everything pans out.” Enugu state in southeastern Nigeria is a strong base for the separatist movement. The separatist group says the stay-at-home protest will continue every Monday until Kanu is freed. In May, IPOB gave a similar order to honor fighters who died facing the Nigerian state during the civil war in the late 1960s. Imo state resident Justin Ohanu said travelers from Lagos passing through the state Monday were hindered by local militias enforcing the lockdown. “This morning, some buses were burned along the road there,” he said. “The buses were coming from Lagos. I think they got the passengers out of the vehicles, they were transport buses. About three of them got burned.” Government offices in the region opened Monday, even though many workers could not make it to work, due to movement restrictions. In January, IPOB launched an armed unit called the Eastern Security Network. The government’s crackdown on the unit escalated security tensions in the region and led to 115 extrajudicial executions, according to Amnesty International.
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Cameroon Indigenous People Say Rebels Kill, Deprive Them of Education and Livelihood
In Cameroon, thousands of Pygmies, Mbororo and Kirdis, considered indigenous people, are protesting against the country’s Anglophone separatists on August 9, World Indigenous Peoples Day.Indigenous people said the rebels target their peers in English speaking western regions and the conflict has prevented thousands of their children from obtaining legal documentation of birth and access to education.Stories sharedScores of indigenous people share stories of their daily challenges at the city council courtyard in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.Ibrahim Aissatou, 25, is an activist for the emancipation of indigenous people. She said she is among activists and non-governmental organizations taking stock of grievances presented by the indigenous people.“We come out with recommendations that we propose to the government to make sure that they (the government) take them into consideration for inclusion of indigenous people into the society. Indigenous people continue to face problems of access to health facilities, obtaining official documents like birth certificates and even ID cards (identification documents),” Aissatou said. “Young girls continue to suffer violence such as early and forced marriages.”Farmers and cattle ranchersA majority of the Pygmies are hunters living in Equatorial rainforests in the central African state’s eastern border with Central Africa Republic. The Kirdis live in northern mountains between the Chad and Nigeria borders, while the Mbororos live near Cameroon’s western border with Nigeria and the northern border with Chad. Most of them are farmers and cattle ranchers.Jaji Manu Gidado is honorary president of the Mbororo Cultural and Development Organization, or the MBOSCUDA. He said the Mbororo community wishes to inform the international community on World Indigenous Peoples Day that they are victims of rebel attacks. Gidado said about 260 Mbororo people have been killed and 3,210 injured. He said 12,000 Mbororos have been displaced, 525 homes burned and looted, and 2,700 cattle seized or killed.“The point that disturbs me is the fact that at the moment when we convinced all the Mbororo people to send their children to school, it is the time that these guys (separatist fighters) started burning the schools and asking people not to go to school,” Gidado said.Ransom paidSeparatists have been fighting to create an independent state in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions where many Mbororos live. Gidado said Mbororo people have paid $400,000 as ransom to fighters since the crisis in Cameroon degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017.Gidado said fighters sell cattle seized from Mbororos ranchers to raise money and buy weapons. Separatists have on social media denied the accusation and instead accuse Cameroon military of disguising themselves as fighters and stealing cattle. The military said its troops are professional and respect people’s rights.Cameroon said there are over 2.5 million indigenous people among a population of over 25 million. About 1.5 million are Mbororos. Pauline Irene Nguene is Cameroon’s minister of social affairs focusing on the wellbeing of indigenous people.Call for respectNguene said the needs of indigenous people in Cameroon will never be neglected in all government plans to improve the living conditions of civilians. She said the main message on the 27th World Indigenous Peoples Day is that Cameroonians should change their attitudes towards indigenous people. She said indigenous people should be given more consideration and respect in their daily activities.Nguene said the government will continue to protect indigenous people from separatist fighters as it protects other civilians. She advised Mborors to report suspected fighters whom she said are hiding in their midst. Cameroon has always advised indigenous people to mobilize and send their children to school. The government said education is the only means marginalized communities can chart their destinies and make decisions for the future.Cameroon celebrated this year’s World Indigenous Peoples Day under the theme “Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract.”
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