Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, said the United States has asked 24 Russian diplomats to leave the country when their visas expire in September. The move comes shortly after the U.S. embassy in Moscow was forced to lay off dozens of Russian nationals working at the mission. Daria Dieguts has the story.
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Month: August 2021
Mozambique, Rwanda Armies Retake Key Jihadist-held Town
Mozambican forces backed by Rwandan troops on Sunday said they had driven out jihadists occupying the key port town of Mocimboa da Praia in the gas-rich north of the country.Mozambique’s defense ministry confirmed an earlier tweet by Rwanda’s army that the joint force had wrested control of the town on Sunday morning.They now control government buildings, the port, airport, hospital, and other key installations, Colonel Omar Saranga, a ministry spokesman, told a press conference in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. The port town, from where the first Islamist attacks were staged in October 2017, has since last year become the de facto headquarters of the Islamic State-linked extremists, locally referred to as al-Shabab.Mocimboa da Praia “was the last stronghold of the insurgents” and its recapture marks “the end of the first phase of counter-insurgency operations,” Colonel Ronald Rwivanga, a spokesman for the joint military force, said in a text message.Mozambican forces have been struggling to regain control over the northern Cabo Delgado province, site of one of Africa’s biggest liquefied natural gas project, a $20 billion site operated by French energy major Total.Rwanda sent 1,000 troops last month to shore up the Mozambican military.
Last week they claimed their first success since deploying, saying they had helped the Mozambican army regain control of Awasse, a small but also strategic settlement near Mocimboa da Praia.At least 800,000 people have been uprooted from their homes by the violence ravaging the region, with more than 3,100 killed, half of them civilians, according to conflict tracking organization ACLED “We will continue with security operations to completely pacify those areas and allow Mozambican and Rwandan forces to conduct stabilization operations” to enable people to return home and businesses to open, Rwivanga said.After initially resisting outside help, Rwandan troops deployed on July 9 following an April visit to Kigali by Mozambican leader Filipe Nyusi.They were followed weeks later by forces from neighboring countries, which are deploying under the aegis of the 16-member regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC).Botswana, whose President Mokgweetsi Masisi, has been outspoken on the urgent need for regional stability, became the first SADC country to send in troops on July 26.Regional powerhouse and immediate neighbor South Africa announced on July 28 it would deploy 1,495 soldiers.A day later, Zimbabwe unveiled plans to dispatch 304 non-combat soldiers to train Mozambique’s infantry battalions.Angola then deployed 20 specialized military air force personnel while Namibia will contribute N$5.8 million (about $400,000) toward the anti-insurgency offensive.Masisi and Nyusi will on Monday formally launch the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) in Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province.The European Union on July 12 formally established a military mission for Mozambique to help train its armed forces battling the jihadists.Former colonial ruler Portugal is providing training for Mozambican troops, with Lisbon’s military instructors expected to make up half of the new EU mission.Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, which borders Tanzania, has been troubled by the jihadist insurgency since 2017.Last year the militants had grown bolder, escalating attacks as part of a campaign to establish an Islamist caliphate.In March this year, they attacked n the coastal town of Palma, killing dozens of people and triggering an exodus that included employees from the Total project, forcing the company to halt work.
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Malawi Receives First Doses of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
Malawi has received its first consignment of Johnson & Johnson vaccines – a donation made by the United States under COVAX, a campaign to provide equitable access to COVID-19 shots worldwide.The arrival of 302,000 doses comes a few weeks after Malawi announced it will start inoculating its citizens with several COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to protect more of its population amid growing infections.Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said the move aims to fill the gap created by the scarcity of the Britain-made AstraZeneca vaccines the country has been using.Speaking to reporters in Lilongwe, Chiponda sought to offer reassurances that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe.“And most of the countries in Europe, in America and indeed in Africa, have used Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And it is proven that it is indeed providing much needed immunity [against COVID-19],” said Chiponda.Besides vaccines manufactured in the West, Malawi has also used vaccines produced in China and Russia.This brings the number of vaccine doses the Malawi has received so far through COVAX to more than 850,000.Jeremy Neitzke is chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Malawi.He said the recent donation is part of the U.S. government’s global vaccine-sharing strategy, which aims to provide at least 80 million doses to countries most affected by the pandemic, including at least 25 million to African countries.“The first tranche of U.S. government commitment to Africa is 15 million doses, of which these 300,000 are arriving today. We are working with our partners here in Malawi, the Ministry of Health, and across the continent with the African Union and the African CDC to deliver vaccines,” he said. Health Minister Chiponda said the vaccine has given Malawi hope of reaching its target of vaccinating 60 percent of its people by December 2022.As of now the country has only vaccinated 0.2 percent of the targeted 11 million people.Malawi has recently faced continuous vaccine shortages largely because of huge demand as infections rise. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.The Ministry of Health has said that since Saturday, Malawi has confirmed 481 cases with 29 deaths. The U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global pandemic, says Malawi currently has about 55,700 cases and 1,805 deaths.Chiponda said Malawians should not panic as more vaccines are coming.“Of course, we will be receiving AstraZeneca in two weeks – about 200,000 doses. And also we have in the pipeline Pfizer [372,000 doses] as well. So between now and September, we are very sure we are going to get about a million doses of different vaccines,” said Chiponda.Separately, Chiponda said Malawi is planning to purchase 1.8 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.The government is advising people who received one jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine not to combine it with the Johnson & Johnson shot, which is a single-dose vaccine.
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Spying Gets Craftier as China, Taiwan Lack Exchanges but Use Internet Tools
Espionage between Taiwan and China has grown more sophisticated because of fewer people-to-people exchanges and more use of internet technology, as relations between the two countries remain chilled Taipei analysts say. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists that the two sides eventually unify, by force if needed. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, bolstered by domestic opinion polls, rejects unification and relations have soured since she took office in 2016. Analysts say those conditions make each side want to know more. Attention has riveted on spying over the past week as Taipei prosecutors evaluate whether former Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping and others made contact with a representative of the Central Military Commission — China’s national defense organization — and if so, whether the contact constituted spying.Chang and his wife traveled to China, expenses paid, after he met a Hong Kong businessperson who the commission sent to Taiwan in 2012, Taiwan-based United Daily News reports. The former deputy minister’s case would follow the 2019 flap over Chinese national Wang Liqiang, who defected to Australia and said he had secretly helped China in relation to Taiwan affairs. Earlier this year a Taiwan court gave jail sentences to two former Taiwanese legislative aides for setting up a network of Chinese spies. On the other side, Chinese security agencies have “foiled” hundreds of espionage cases involving spies from Taiwan and arrested several of them, China’s party-run Global Times news website reported in October. “This is not an isolated operation, as the mainland carries out similar actions every year, given that the rising number of spying operations by Taiwan authorities in the Chinese mainland over the years,” the Global Times says. Spying takes place now, as always, through business transactions and academic exchanges, as well as through use of internet tools, the experts say. Intelligence gathering through hacking or mining public data can avoid the risk of detection that actual agents on the ground face. Such online methods are more important now because COVID-19 and cooled Taiwan-China relations have reduced face-to-face cross-border exchanges, the analysts add. “In that sense, I think maybe the espionage is decreasing but the intensity may increase too,” said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “The variety of espionage activity probably will be more diverse,” he said, adding that diminished personal contact reduces the odds of spies being caught, he added. Chang’s case would stand out because of his rank, said Chen Yi-fan, assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “The former deputy defense minister’s case if true would be the highest-ranking military personnel who is involved in espionage cases,” he said. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the government body handling mainland China affairs, said in a November statement that in “recent years” China had “maliciously extended to overseas espionage” its effort to protect national security. The council had protested a month before over China’s “framing” of Taiwanese citizens to become spies. FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou during a summit in Singapore November 7, 2015.The signing of 23 transit, trade and investment deals with China under Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou had increased contact, expanding the pool of people who could buy and sell secrets. Today’s tense relations have reduced the number of Chinese entrepreneurs and university students in Taiwan while cutting back academic visits by Taiwanese to China, meaning fewer in-person meetings presenting an opportunity for espionage. From 2010 to 2016, Taiwan unearthed least 33 cases involving citizens who sold sensitive defense-related information to China, Hawaii-based Asia researcher and author William Sharp told VOA at the time. Taiwan Readies for Fresh Wave of Espionage by China
Taiwan’s incoming ruling party is signaling its intention to get tougher on espionage by China as cross-strait relations sour and increased contact between the two sides makes spying easier.The Democratic Progressive Party government of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen intends to raise the military budget and experts said it may add a cyber-espionage unit to the defense ministry.
Cyber-spying poses a particular threat now, some experts say. Chinese spies had used the internet for at least a decade before 2015, said Russell Hsiao, executive director of the Global Taiwan Institute policy incubator, on his blog. Hackers from a Chinese city “infiltrated” computers in Taiwan in one 2011 case and installed programs that “stole a large trove of data,” Hsiao said, citing local media reports. The attack infected 42 government websites and 216 computers. Today’s hacker-spies today are hard to differentiate from Chinese “nationalists” who use the internet on their own to spite Taiwan, said Sean Su, an independent political analyst in Taipei. China may be “ramping up”, he said. Although more reports of spying will emerge as Western countries focus harder on China’s activities directed at foreign countries, Su said, actual levels of the crime will probably hold constant. “We will think that there’s more spying but in reality, it feels like it’s just the same old, same old all this time,” he said.
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Tokyo Olympics Come to a Close
The Tokyo Olympics have officially come to an end. During closing ceremonies on Sunday night, IOC President Thomas Bach declared the Games closed. The next Summer Games will be held in Paris in 2024. Just like competitions during this year’s Games, fans were not present for the closing ceremonies due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Olympic flame was extinguished as fireworks shot up into the sky. On the final day of competition, United States athletes picked up three more gold medals, giving the Americans a 39-38 edge over China in the final gold medal count. Overall, the United States easily outdistanced all countries in the overall medal count, including gold, silver and bronze medals, with 113 for the U.S., 88 for China and 71 for host Japan.Earlier, for a seventh time in a row, the American women’s Olympic basketball team won the gold medal, overpowering host nation Japan by a score of 90-75. United States’s Sue Bird, right, and Diana Taurasi pose with their gold medals during the medal ceremony for women’s basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Aug. 8, 2021, in Saitama, Japan.At half-time, the U.S. was leading by 50-39 and the Americans continued to lead from then on, with Brittney Griner scoring a game high of 30 points. Players Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi collected their fifth basketball gold medals with Sunday’s triumph. They won their first in Athens in 2004. The U.S. women’s volleyball team also won gold Sunday. The U.S. team had been in possession of three silver medals and two bronzes, but no gold, until their 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 win over Brazil. Also Sunday, American Jennifer Valente snatched gold, winning the women’s omnium, a multirace, cycling event. Japan’s world champion Yumi Kajihara won the silver, while 38-year-old Dutch cyclist Kirsten Wild took home the bronze. “You made me so damn proud,” U.S. President Joe Biden told a group of U.S. Olympic athletes in a virtual meeting he and first lady Jill Biden held Saturday evening. The president invited the Olympians to come to the White House in the fall so “I can brag more on you.” He told the group, “You remind us of what an amazing country we are.” Simone Biles, of the United States, poses wearing her bronze medal from balance beam competition during artistic gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)The anticipated star of this year’s Olympics was the gymnast Simone Biles, who pulled out during the competition, citing mental health issues. Biden told her, “You had the courage to say, ‘I need some help … I need some time.’” He also praised Biles for her return to the Games. “And guess what, you got back up on that damn beam,” Biden said. “Doing a flip on a four-inch beam is my idea of going to purgatory.” Saturday, the United States won the gold medal in the women’s 4X400 meter relay. Poland captured the silver medal in the event, while Jamaica secured the bronze.
Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad, Athing Mu and Allyson Felix maintained U.S. dominance in the event, comfortably winning the gold with a time of 3:16.85.
Allyson Felix, of United States, poses with her gold medal for the women’s 4 x 400-meter relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Aug. 7, 2021, in Tokyo.The victory gave American Allyson Felix her 11th Olympic medal in track and field — more than any other woman in history and more than any American track and field Olympian. She first set the medal record Friday night by taking bronze in the women’s 400-meter event. Felix, 35, began her career as a U.S. Olympian at the 2004 Athens Games. Earlier Saturday, Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir battled high heat and humidity to win the Olympic gold in the women’s marathon in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds. Taking silver was her teammate, Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 36 seconds. American Molly Seidel placed third in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 46 seconds. Olympic organizers started the women’s marathon at 6 a.m. local time, an hour earlier than planned, in an effort to avoid extreme heat and humidity. However, at the start of the race, runners had clear skies and a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and relative humidity of about 82%. By the end of the race, temperatures had risen to nearly 30 degrees Celsius. Fifteen of the 88 athletes did not finish the race, which was held in Sopporo, a coastal city about 1,100 kilometers north of Tokyo. Saturday afternoon, the U.S. men’s basketball team captured its fourth straight Olympic gold medal, and its 16th overall, defeating France, 87-82. American Kevin Durant, who plays for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, was the game’s high scorer, with 29 points. France had beaten the U.S. in the first round of the Olympics competition. Israel won the gold medal Saturday in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics final, ending more than two decades of Russian dominance in the event. Linoy Ashram narrowly defeated Russian three-time world champion Dina Averina, despite a mistake in her closing ribbon routine, to win with 107.800 points, 0.150 points ahead of Averina. The U.S. completed it sweep of gold medals in Olympic golf Saturday when Nelly Korda sealed a one-stroke victory in women’s competition. Japan’s Mone Inami won the silver medal in a playoff with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko who finished with the bronze. Xander Schauffele of the U.S. won the gold in the men’s competition last Sunday. Some information for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Blaze Ravages Evia Island on Sixth Day of Greek Wildfires
Thousands of people have fled their homes on the Greek island of Evia as wildfires burned uncontrolled for a sixth day on Sunday, and ferries were on standby for more evacuations after taking many to safety by sea.Fires that had threatened northern suburbs of Athens in recent days died back. But the blaze on Evia, a large island east of the capital, quickly burgeoned into several fronts, ripping through thousands of hectares (acres) of pristine forest across its northern part, and forcing the evacuation of dozens of villages.”I feel angry. I lost my home … nothing will be the same the next day,” said one resident who gave her name as Vasilikia after boarding a rescue ferry at the village of Psaropouli.”It’s a disaster. It’s huge. Our villages are destroyed, there is nothing left from our homes, our properties, nothing, nothing,” she said.Wildfires have erupted in many parts of the country during a week-long heatwave, Greece’s worst in three decades, with searing temperatures and hot winds creating tinder-box conditions. Across the country, forest land has burned and dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed.”Fiery destruction,” newspaper To Vima said on its front page on Sunday.The coastguard has evacuated more than 2,000 people, including many elderly residents, from different parts of the island since Tuesday, in dramatic sea rescues as the night sky turned an apocalyptic red.People are evacuated on a ferry as a wildfire burns in the village of Psaropouli, on Evia island, Greece, Aug. 8, 2021.Others fled their villages on foot overnight, walking along roads dotted with trees in flames.”A house is burning over here,” one woman told emergency crews on the ground in the settlement of Vasilika, pointing to a searing fire in the distance. “Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere,” one of the firefighters replied.The governor for central Greece, Fanis Spanos, said the situation in the north of the island had been “very difficult” for nearly a week.”The fronts are huge, the area of burned land is huge,” he told Skai TV. More than 2,500 people have been accommodated in hotels and other shelters, he said.Greece has deployed the army to help battle the fires and several countries including France, Egypt, Switzerland and Spain have also sent help including firefighting aircraft.A wildfire burns in the village of Vasilika, on Evia island, Greece, Aug. 7, 2021.More than 570 firefighters are battling the blaze in Evia, where two active fronts were burning in the north and south of the island.Greece’s deputy civil protection minister, Nikos Hardalias, said water-bombing aircraft in the region faced several hurdles including low visibility caused by the thick plumes of smoke rising over the mountains and turbulence. “We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Hardalias told an emergency briefing. “The battle continues.”A fire in the foothills of Mount Parnitha north of Athens has been contained but weather conditions meant there was still a high threat it could flare up again.On Friday night, strong winds pushed the fire into the town of Thrakomakedones, where residents had been ordered to evacuate. The blaze left burnt and blackened houses and cars among scorched pine trees.
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UN, Women’s Rights Groups Put Pressure Zimbabwe to Prosecute Man Who Married 14-Year-Old Girl
Women’s rights activists, opposition groups and the United Nations are pressuring Zimbabwean authorities to arrest a man who had married a 14-year-old who died last week while giving birth at a church shrine. Zimbabwean police say they are investigating the matter.
Hashtags #EndChildMarriagesNow and #justiceforMemory have been trending on social media after 14-year-old Memory Machaya died while giving birth at an apostolic sect shrine about 400 kilometers east of Harare. The United Nations in Zimbabwe issued a statement saying child marriages continue to surface in Zimbabwe, where one out of three girls is married before the age of 18. Sirak Gebrehiwot, the U.N. spokesman in Zimbabwe said that is not acceptable. Sirak Gebrehiwot, the U.N. spokesman in Zimbabwe, says child marriages are not acceptable. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
“The United Nations in Zimbabwe notes with deep concern and condemns strongly the surrounding circumstances leading to the untimely death of 14-year-old Memory Machaya from Marange, who died while giving birth at an apostolic sect shrine,” he said. One of the key instruments to ending child marriages in Zimbabwe, the U.N. believes, is to fast-track the adoption of the Marriage Bill that recognizes child marriage as crime and, of course, rolling out national action plan on ending child marriages will go a long way.” Responding to the social media protests, Zimbabwean police issued a statement saying they are “conducting investigations” into Machaya’s death. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda heads Rozaria Memorial Trust, appointed goodwill ambassador on ending child marriage on the continent by the African Union Commission. (Courtesy: Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda)Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda heads Rozaria Memorial Trust, which fights child marriage in rural areas. She was appointed goodwill ambassador on ending child marriage on the continent by the African Union Commission. “I am outraged by the rape, marriage and death of Memory Machaya,” she said. “I am also grateful to see a huge outpouring of Zimbabweans and people in the region who are calling for an end to child rape and to child marriage. I ask the government of Zimbabwe to step up the investigations and arrest the perpetrator. I also call on the government to investigate and document how we can end these sexual abuses that are happening within religious institutions. It is important for us to fight justice and ensure impunity.” Opposition leader Linda Tsungirirai Masarira is one of thousands of Zimbabweans who have signed a petition to push police not to ignore the death of Machaya. “I demand justice as a woman and as a mother to whatever happened to Memory. But for me, when I look at the issue, it is just a tip of the iceberg. I have set up an appointment with minister of home affairs [Kazembe Kazembe]. And I am going to talk to him about the underlying issues of the Marange apostolic sect. For me, religion does not mean violating country’s laws,” she said.Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe could not be reached for comment Sunday.
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Emotional Messi Says He Wasn’t Prepared to Leave Barcelona
Struggling to control his emotions, Lionel Messi said Sunday in his farewell to Barcelona that he wasn’t prepared to leave the club.Messi began crying even before he started speaking at his farewell ceremony at the Camp Nou Stadium.”This is very hard for me after so many years, after being here my entire life,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared.”Messi called his unexpected departure from the club “the most difficult” moment of his career.Messi’s family and some of his teammates were at the Camp Nou for the player’s farewell.Messi avoided speaking specifically about his future, saying he received offers from several clubs after the announcement that he would leave the Catalan club.Barcelona announced Thursday it could not keep its greatest player because it wasn’t able to fit a new contract within the Spanish league’s financial fair-play regulations. The club’s salary cap has been significantly slashed because of its huge debt. President Joan Laporta blamed the club’s struggles on the coronavirus pandemic and particularly on the previous administration led by Josep Bartomeu.Messi asked to leave at the end of the 2019-20 season but had his request denied by Bartomeu. The Argentina star had agreed to stay and had reached agreement with Barcelona on a new contract, but the club wasn’t able to make it work because of its dire financial situation.Messi spent nearly two decades with the Catalan club after arriving from Argentina as a teenager to play in its youth squads. He made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old in 2004, then played 17 seasons with the main squad. He helped the club win the Champions League four times, the Spanish league 10 times, the Copa del Rey seven times and the Spanish Super Cup eight times.Messi leaves as Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer with 672 goals. He played in 778 matches with the club, also a record. He is also the overall top scorer in the Spanish league with 474 goals from 520 matches.He led the Spanish league in scoring in eight seasons, and was the top scorer in the Champions League six times. His 26 goals against Real Madrid are a record for the “clasico” matches against Barcelona’s fiercest rival.
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Biden Holds Virtual Meeting with US Athletes, Praises Biles’ Courage
“You made me so damn proud,” U.S. President Joe Biden told a group of U.S. Olympic athletes in a virtual meeting he and first lady Jill Biden held Saturday evening.The president invited the Olympians to come to the White House in the fall so “I can brag more on you.”He told the group, “You remind us of what an amazing country we are.”The anticipated star of this year’s Olympics was gymnast Simone Biles, who pulled out during the competition, citing mental health issues. Biden told her, “You had the courage to say, ‘I need some help … I need some time.’”He also praised Biles for her return to the Games.“And guess what, you got back up on that damn beam,” Biden said. “Doing a flip on a 4-inch beam is my idea of going to purgatory.”Saturday, the United States won the gold medal in the women’s 4X400 meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics.Poland captured the silver medal in the event, while Jamaica secured the bronze.Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad, Athing Mu and Allyson Felix maintained U.S. dominance in the event, comfortably winning the gold with a time of 3:16.85.The victory gave American Allyson Felix her 11th Olympic medal in track and field — more than any other woman in history and more than any American track and field Olympian. She first set the medal record Friday night by taking bronze in the women’s 400-meter event.Felix, 35, began her career as a U.S. Olympian at the 2004 Athens Games.Earlier Saturday, Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir battled high heat and humidity to win the Olympic gold in the women’s marathon in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds.Taking silver was her teammate, Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 36 seconds. American Molly Seidel placed third in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 46 seconds.Olympic organizers started the women’s marathon at 6 a.m. local time, an hour earlier than planned, in an effort to avoid extreme heat and humidity.However, at the start of the race, runners had clear skies and a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and relative humidity of about 82%. By the end of the race, temperatures had risen to nearly 30 degrees Celsius.Fifteen of the 88 athletes did not finish the race, which was held in Sopporo, a coastal city about 1,100 kilometers north of Tokyo.Saturday afternoon, the U.S. men’s basketball team captured its fourth straight Olympic gold medal, and its 16th overall, defeating France, 87-82.American Kevin Durant, who plays for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, was the game’s high scorer, with 29 points.France had beaten the U.S. in the first round of the Olympics competition.Israel won the gold medal Saturday in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics final, ending more than two decades of Russian dominance in the event.Linoy Ashram narrowly defeated Russian three-time world champion Dina Averina, despite a mistake in her closing ribbon routine, to win with 107.800 points, 0.150 points ahead of Averina.The U.S. completed it sweep of gold medals in Olympic golf Saturday when Nelly Korda sealed a one-stroke victory in women’s competition. Japan’s Mone Inami won the silver medal in a playoff with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko who finished with the bronze.Xander Schauffele of the U.S. won the gold in the men’s competition last Sunday.In late Friday events, Canada’s women soccer team beat Sweden, 3-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw.The team’s victory gave Canada its first gold medal in women’s soccer.Some information for this article came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Australia to Compensate Indigenous Survivors of Forced Assimilation
Australia will compensate some survivors of a former assimilation policy that separated Indigenous children from their families.Members of the so-called Stolen Generations in the Australian Capital Territory, the region surrounding the capital, Canberra, and the Northern Territory will receive a one-time payment of $60,000.It’s part of an $800 million program to address the disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a result of the continued trauma of historic family separations.Most Australian states have their own reparation plans, but authorities in Queensland and Western Australia are being urged to do more to compensate survivors of the Stolen Generations.Tens of thousands of Indigenous Australian children were removed over several decades until the early 1970s. It was a deliberate policy to assimilate often mixed-race children into white society.Eileen Cummings, who taken as a child from her family in Australia’s Northern Territory, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that her memories are still vivid.“My mother was watching them take me away in the truck, but she could not say anything,” she said. “Here I am, this 4½-year-old kid on the back of a truck with a patrol officer, and where did they take me? To the Maranboy police station. When they took me away, I just kept crying because I wanted my mother and my people.”In February 2008, the Australian government formally apologized for forcibly taking Indigenous children from their families.Australia’s original inhabitants make up just over 3% of the population and suffer high levels of disadvantage.The government in Canberra last year said it would reset its efforts to improve Indigenous life expectancy, which is about 10 years less than the general population, as well as inequalities in education.
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Along With COVID-19, EU Faces a More Fundamental Battle
Hungary’s growing list of European Union worries includes controversial LGBT legislation and potentially hacking the phones of journalists, rights activists and political opponents.Poland has rebuffed a ruling by the bloc’s highest court, claiming its own constitution has precedence over the EU laws it vowed to follow when it joined the club in 2004, although it now appears to have backed down.Farther north and politically opposite, Denmark’s leftist government is also feeling legal heat over its recent decision to return hundreds of Syrian immigrants to Damascus, a move critics say violates basic human rights and could set a dangerous precedent for other deportations.Along with a year of battling COVID-19 and its economic fallout, the EU is also grappling with a more existential threat, as its founding principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights face multiple challenges from within, in ways, some observers say, the 27-member bloc is unprepared to meet.Referring to Hungary and Poland, among others, French President Emmanuel Macron recently warned of a creeping “anti-liberal conservatism” undermining EU values “and what has built the core of our Western liberal democracy for centuries.”“The EU has been all about democracy from the start,” said Sebastien Maillard, director of the Paris-based Jacques Delors Institute think tank.“The fact member states are challenging this is a major threat, because the EU is a legal construction. It has no army. Its only power is a legal power,” he said.As questions mount about the bloc’s ability to save itself — “The EU Watches as Hungary Kills Democracy,” The Atlantic magazine wrote last year, echoing other analyses — it is now sharpening its defenses.European leaders are speaking out against dissident members, some observers say, in ways they rarely did before. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is mulling new financial penalties against key offenders.Not enoughYet for many, these steps are insufficient.”For me, Hungary has no place in the EU anymore,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in June, while Luxembourg’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean Asselborn suggested a referendum over its EU membership.A less dramatic rebuttal, this time targeting Poland, may come later this month. The commission has given Warsaw until Aug. 16 to comply with a European Court of Justice ruling against its system for disciplining judges it claims undermines judicial independence, or face fines — a dollars-and-cents reprisal it may increasingly use against other rule-of-law violators, reports suggest.Poland initially pushed back strongly. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro warned in an interview his country should not remain within the EU “at any price,” accusing the bloc of “blackmail.” But in a turnabout hours later on Friday, deputy prime minister and ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Warsaw would drop the disciplinary system in its current form.Last month, Brussels also launched legal proceedings against both Poland and Hungary for measures it claims violate the rights of LGBTQ people. A key target is new Hungarian legislation banning the presentation of LQBTQ issues to minors. In a first step, Hungary began restricting children’s books promoting gay and gender-change content.Brussels still has plenty of champions. In June, 17 European leaders signed an open letter calling on the bloc to fight LGBT discrimination.“I’ve never seen this kind of letter before by heads of state or government, analyst Maillard said, “They don’t like doing this. But this time they did.”The commission is also probing allegations Israeli spyware was used against EU media. Hungary is the only member state named in a broad media investigation into potential users of the Pegasus software.“I really hope things will happen here, but it’s unclear how much,” said Scott Marcus, senior fellow at Brussels-based economic policy institute Bruegel. “In the case of Hungary, this probably just gets added to a long litany of complaints, so I don’t think it changes the underlying situation very much.”Financial penaltiesThe commission’s July rule-of-law report, an annual member state assessment launched last year, found a raft of concerns about Hungary and Poland in areas such as press freedom, judicial independence and corruption. It also faulted other states, including Western members such as Austria and Italy, although on a lesser scale.Separately, rights lawyers are threatening Denmark’s leftist government with legal action over its efforts to return Syrian asylum seekers to Damascus on grounds it is safe — a move rights groups such as Amnesty International denounce and reject.The EU Commission is expected to further flex its financial muscles, conditioning some funding on countries’ democratic performance. Yet some believe such measures are insufficient, and European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova appeared to rule out such a quid-pro-quo in releasing billions of dollars in coronavirus recovery funds.“I don’t think this money should be used as blackmail,” she told France’s Le Monde newspaper.“The EU should … end its naiveté,” Le Monde wrote in a separate editorial, endorsing conditionality measures but urging stronger action against rule-of-law offenses, including sanctions against individuals wrongfully enriching themselves with EU funds.Yet the most drastic options appear unlikely, if not impossible. There is no mechanism for ousting errant member states, and efforts to suspend their voting rights risk being difficult. Moreover, after Brexit, there is little EU appetite to further diminish its ranks, analysts say. Sanctioning an entire population, rather than its government, is also unfair.“Viktor Orban will not be there forever, so I don’t think that kind of threat is helpful,” said analyst Maillard of Hungary’s hardline prime minister. “We have to have unity with all our diversity and differences.”
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Bidens Applaud Courage of US Olympic Athletes
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden applauded U.S. Olympic athletes on Saturday for showing courage under pressure and uniting the country, a day after inviting them to the White House following the Tokyo Games.The second-biggest U.S. Olympic team ever — with 613 athletes — has won at least 110 medals, more than any other country.”It wasn’t just your athletic ability; it was your moral courage … you remind us of what an amazing country we are, and you make us look so good as a country,” Biden said on a video call with athletes and their family members on Saturday.Biden also praised individual athletes such as American gymnast Simone Biles, who withdrew from events such as the individual all-around and team all-around citing mental health concerns but returned to win the bronze medal in balance beam.”You showed everything about who we are as people,” Biden said, praising her for setting an example and not giving up.He also praised Isaiah Jewett, who was in prime position to finish in the top two in his 800 meters heat but was unintentionally tripped by Botswana’s Nijel Amos. In a display of sportsmanship, Jewett helped Amos to his feet and the two finished the race.First lady Jill Biden, who traveled to Tokyo to represent the United States and support U.S. competitors, said America has needed healing and the event brought much joy.”All the athletes in the games brought Americans together and brought us joy again and for that I thank you,” she said.
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Plot Against Myanmar UN Envoy Fits ‘Disturbing Pattern,’ US Says
The United States on Saturday condemned a thwarted plot to attack Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador in New York, saying it fits a “disturbing pattern” of authoritarian leaders and their supporters seeking to persecute opponents around the world.Two Myanmar citizens have been arrested in New York state for plotting with an arms dealer in Thailand — who sells weapons to the Burmese military — to kill or injure Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador, U.S. authorities said Friday.Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who represents Myanmar’s elected civilian government that was overthrown by the military in February, told Reuters on Wednesday that a threat had been made against him and U.S. authorities had stepped up his security.The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Saturday that the threat “fits a disturbing pattern of authoritarian leaders and their supporters reaching across the globe … to persecute and repress journalists, activists, and others who dare speak or stand against them.”Thomas-Greenfield cited Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian athlete who refused to return home from the Tokyo Olympics and sought refuge in Poland, and a thwarted plot by several Iranians to kidnap a New York journalist and rights activist who was critical of Iran.”These are only the most recent acts of transnational repression, and they must be met with the condemnation of the world and with full and certain accountability,” Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.
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Chibok Schoolgirl Freed in Nigeria Seven Years After Abduction, Governor Says
One abducted girl from the Nigerian town of Chibok has been freed and reunited with her parents seven years after Boko Haram militants kidnapped her and more than 200 of her classmates, Borno state’s governor said on Saturday.The raid on the school in the northeastern town one night in April 2014 sparked an international outcry and a viral campaign on social media with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls.Governor Babagana Zulum said the girl and someone she said she married during her captivity surrendered themselves to the military 10 days ago. Zulum said government officials had used the time since to identify her and contact her parents.Some 270 girls were originally abducted by the Islamist group but 82 were freed in 2017 after mediation, adding to 24 who were released or found. A few others have escaped or been rescued, but about 113 of the girls are believed to be held still by the militant group.Zulum said reuniting the girl with her relatives raised hopes that others still in captivity will be found. He said the girl will receive psychological and medical care as part of a government rehabilitation program.Boko Haram first carried out mass school kidnappings in Nigeria, as did its later offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province, but now the tactic has been adopted by criminal gangs snatching schoolchildren for ransom.In the latest attack last month bandits kidnapped schoolchildren from a boarding school in the state of Kaduna, the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northern Nigeria, which has seen more than 1,000 students abducted.
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Reports: Kenya, Facing Fish Shortage, Will Not Ban Chinese Imports
According to local press reports, Kenya has opted out of banning imported Chinese fish, a prohibition that had been considered to protect the local industry, because the African nation is facing a fish shortage.Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, Kenya has more than 600 kilometers of coastline on the Indian Ocean, and it claims 22 kilometers of territorial waters, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Beyond that, Kenya, like many other nations, claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 370 kilometers.An EEZ is reserved to a coastal country under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to UNCLOS, the coastal country retains “special rights to exploration and use of marine resources, but the water’s surface remains international territory.”Kenya’s “marine fisheries can be classified into two subsectors: the coastal artisanal fishery, and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) fishery,” according to the U.N.’s FAO website. “A basic feature of the coastal fishery is the largely subsistence and artisanal nature of the fishers who operate small craft propelled by wind sails and manual paddles. The EEZ fishery, on the other hand, is characterized by distant-water fishing vessels which exploit target species mainly with purse-seines and long-lines.”China has the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, which it says it will cap at 3,000 vessels, according to VOA reporting. But a U.S. Coast Guard report says an additional fleet of 3,000 ships of the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia “actively carries out aggressive behavior on the high seas and in sovereign waters of other nations” in pursuit of China’s maritime interests.A British research center estimates China’s total fleet size is nearly 17,000 vessels when Chinese ships that fly the flags of other nations are included.The U.S. Coast Guard report, citing a U.N. statistic, says 93% of the world’s marine fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or significantly depleted.
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Report: Mozambique Soldiers Trap Civilians in Insurgent-hit North
Mozambican security forces are preventing tens of thousands of civilians displaced by jihadist attacks around the northern town of Palma from moving to safer areas, Human Rights Watch said.Most of these people fled their homes when Islamic State-linked militants launched coordinated attacks on Palma on March 24, killing dozens as they ransacked their way through the port town.Many of the displaced sought refuge in the nearby village of Quitunda, close to a major gas project about five kilometers (three miles) from Palma, where HRW claims, in a report released Friday, they have been trapped by troops and ongoing fighting.”Government security forces have imposed restrictions that have prevented tens of thousands from leaving, placing them at risk from fighting and aid shortages,” HRW said in a statement, adding that civilians caught trying to flee were “physically assaulted.”Mozambique has been grappling with a homegrown insurgency terrorizing its gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017.The attack on Palma prompted other African countries to deploy troops to back the struggling Mozambique army.HRW accuses Mozambique of restricting movement around Palma district, making it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid and exposing civilians to renewed militant attacks.Army officials have defended the measures, claiming jihadists are hiding among civilians and aid workers, according to the watchdog.”Soldiers didn’t allow us to leave Quitunda, but there is nothing there, no food, no medicine, and the water is dirty,” a 28-year-old man told HRW.”I tried to flee Quitunda three times before. Soldiers caught me and whipped me hard,” he added.Defense ministry spokesman Custodio Massingue told AFP he was unaware of the allegations and that the government “distances itself from the reports.”Cabo Delgado’s insurgency has displaced more than 800,000 people.The violence has killed more than 2,800 people, half of them civilians, according to U.S. conflict tracker ACLED.It has also set back multibillion-dollar gas exploration projects off the Afungi peninsula.
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Californians Watch, Hope Break in Weather Aids Firefighters
People living in the scenic forestlands of Northern California found themselves facing a weekend of fear as the largest single wildfire in state history threatened to reduce thousands of homes to ashes.The Dixie Fire that incinerated much of the gold rush-era town of Greenville has destroyed 268 homes and other structures and is threatening nearly 14,000 buildings in the northern Sierra Nevada. It had engulfed an area larger than the size of New York City.Wind-driven flames destroyed homes and most of Greenville’s downtown on Wednesday and Thursday, and also heavily damaged Canyondam, a hamlet with a population of about three dozen people. The fire reached the town of Chester, but crews managed to protect homes and businesses there, officials said.Power outage? Time to goCharlene Mays kept her gas station in Chester open as long as she could, telling weary firefighters not to apologize for the trail of ash their boots left on the floor. But when the small town on the northwest shore of Lake Almanor lost power, Mays decided it was time for her to leave.She ran home to grab a box of valuables, including her husband’s class ring and jewelry. The smoke was so thick it was hard to breathe. Chunks of ash broke apart as they hit the ground, making a sound like broken glass.Since then, Mays has been living in the parking lot of Lassen Community College in Susanville with her two dogs. Her husband stayed behind to maintain water tanks firefighters were using.Her home was still standing on Friday. But her fate was bound with the direction of the wind. She wasn’t alone.”I’ve got probably 30 of my regular customers right here,” she said.Jackie Armstrong, a Chester resident evacuated from the Dixie Fire, speaks with daughter Zoey Armstrong, 3, at a Susanville, Calif., evacuation shelter, Aug. 6, 2021.The Dixie Fire, named for the road where it started, spanned 698 square miles (1,807 square kilometers) and was just 21% contained. Four firefighters were taken to the hospital Friday after being struck by a falling branch, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighter Edwin Zuniga.Cooler overnight temperatures and higher humidity slowed the spread of the fire. Calmer winds were expected Saturday, with temperatures topping 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), instead of the triple-digit highs and 64-kph (40-mph) gusts recorded earlier in the week.Threat continuesStill, the blaze and its neighboring fires, within a couple hundred miles of each other, posed an ongoing threat.Heat waves and historic drought tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.Burned vehicles are seen after the passing of the Dixie Fire, a wildfire near the town of Canyondam, Calif., Aug. 7, 2021.Near Klamath National Forest, firefighters kept an eye on small communities that were ordered evacuated in the path of the Antelope Fire, which earlier had thrown up flames 30 meters (100 feet) high as it blackened bone-dry grass, brush and timber. It was just 20% contained.Farther northwest, about 500 homes scattered in and around Shasta-Trinity National Forest remained threatened by the Monument Fire and others by the McFarland Fire, both started by lightning storms last week, fire officials said.About a two-hour drive south from the Dixie Fire, crews had surrounded nearly half of the River Fire that broke out Wednesday near the town of Colfax and destroyed 68 homes and other buildings. Evacuation orders for thousands of people in Nevada and Placer counties were lifted Friday. Three people, including a firefighter, were injured, authorities said.Dale Huber walked into the fire zone Friday to check on his brother’s home, which was reduced to rubble.’Just trash'”It used to be a bunch of cool stuff, and now it’s just trash,” Huber said. “You can’t fix it. We can tear it out and start over again or run away. I think he’s decided he wants to rebuild here.”Smoke from the fires blanketed central California and western Nevada, causing air quality to deteriorate to very unhealthy, sometimes hazardous levels. Air quality advisories extended through the San Joaquin Valley and as far west as the San Francisco Bay Area, where residents were urged to keep their windows and doors shut.California’s fire season is on track to surpass last year’s season, which was the worst in recent recorded state history. Since the start of the year, more than 6,000 blazes have destroyed more than 3,260 square kilometers (1,260 square miles) of land — more than triple the losses for the same period in 2020, according to state fire figures.California’s raging wildfires were among 107 large, active fires burning across 14 states, mostly in the West, where historic drought has left lands parched and ripe for ignition.
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US Senate Advances Infrastructure Bill Toward Final Vote
The U.S. Senate advanced a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package in a procedural vote Saturday, an indication the measure will eventually be approved in a final vote.A late-night session Thursday had ended with no compromises on the measure.“We can get this done the easy way or the hard way. In either case, the Senate will stay in session until we finish our work,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech before Saturday’s vote. “It’s up to my Republican colleagues how long it takes.”In a 67-27 vote showing solid bipartisan backing, senators invoked cloture, or limited debate on the legislation; such a move requires 60 votes from the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 10 Republicans were needed to join the 50 Democratic senators to cut off debate.Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, stops for a reporter as the Senate votes to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2021.Roads, bridges, waterwaysThe bill, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide for the largest investment in decades in U.S. physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports and waterways.It would also advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services, and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.The cloture vote allowed for a final vote later Saturday or Sunday.Before the vote, Biden tweeted:We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy, and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade.— President Biden (@POTUS) FILE – House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., center, joins Democratic leaders to discuss their legislative agenda, including infrastructure, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, July 30, 2021.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.The measure includes $550 million in new spending and $450 billion in previously approved funds. There’s $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Greece Battles Wildfires for Fifth Day in ‘Nightmarish Summer’
Flames swept through a town near Athens overnight and hundreds of people were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia as wildfires burned across Greece for a fifth day Saturday.On Evia, east of the capital, a fire that began Tuesday quickly burgeoned into several fronts, ripping through thousands of hectares (acres) of pristine forest across the northern part of the island and forcing the evacuation of dozens of villages.More than 400 wildfires broke out in the last 24 hours, with the biggest fronts still burning in Evia, the second-biggest Greek island, and areas in the Peloponnese including Ancient Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games.Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called it a “nightmarish summer,” adding the government’s priority “has been, first and foremost, to protect human lives.”Resurgent Wildfires in Greece Burn Homes, Threaten MonumentsGreek, European Union officials describe huge fires as consequence of climate change
The fire on Mount Parnitha on the outskirts of Athens, which forced the evacuation of thousands of people since late Thursday, had receded by Saturday afternoon, but winds were forecast to strengthen, meaning a high threat remained they would flare again.
“Under no circumstances can we be complacent,” Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said during an emergency briefing. “We are fighting a very big battle.”
Wildfires have erupted in many parts of the country amid Greece’s worst heatwave in more than 30 years, tearing through swathes of forestland, destroying homes and businesses and killing animals.
On Friday night, strong winds pushed the fire into the town of Thrakomakedones north of Athens, where it burned homes. Residents had been ordered to evacuate and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The blaze left behind burned and blackened houses and cars among scorched pine trees. A cloud of smoke hovered over the capital.
“[It’s] really bad,” said Thanasis Kaloudis, a resident of Thrakomakedones. “All of Greece has burned.”
Neighboring Turkey also is battling what President Tayyip Erdogan says are the worst wildfires in its history, and five fires were still burning there Saturday.
That number was slightly lower than in recent days. In the Mediterranean resort of Manavgat, where the first fires broke out 10 days ago, rain showers helped firefighters to extinguish the last flames.
Further west in the Aegean province of Mugla, four fires were still blazing as a sustained, dry heatwave continued, while another fire burned inland in Isparta.
Eight people have died in fires that have ravaged Turkey’s southwestern coastal regions, burning tens of thousands of hectares, and forcing thousands of residents and tourists to leave homes and hotels. Escape by ferry
Greece has received reinforcements from Cyprus, France and Israel to fight the blaze near Athens, assisted by the army and water-bombing aircraft. Germany is sending 216 firefighters and 44 vehicles expected to arrive in three to four days, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance tweeted Saturday.
Hundreds of people, including many elderly residents, were evacuated by ferry late Friday from the town of Limni as the sky turned an apocalyptic red.
One man died Friday in Athens after being injured by electricity pylon, and at least nine others have been injured, authorities said.
The government planned to reimburse people affected by the fires, and said it would designate the burned land as areas for reforestation, Mitsotakis said.
Residents in suburbs north of Athens have been forced to leave in a hurry with the few belongings they can take.
“Our business, our home, all of our property is there. I hope they don’t burn,” Yorgos Papaioannou, 26, said Friday, sitting in a parking lot with his girlfriend as ash fell around them from the smoke-filled sky.
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US State Department Announces 5 Additions to Global Terrorist List
The State Department on Friday announced the addition of five alleged Islamist militants to its Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, requiring the blocking of any ownership or interests in U.S. properties they hold.The designations also expose to possible U.S. sanctions individuals or foreign financial institutions who engage in certain transactions with the five.They include Bonomade Machude Omar, the senior military commander of Islamic State’s affiliate in Mozambique, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Omar led a group of extremists who killed dozens of people in an attack on the Amarula Hotel in the town of Palma in March, Blinken said.He also is responsible for attacks elsewhere in Mozambique and in Tanzania, Blinken said.Sidan Hitta and Salem Ould al-Hasan, senior leaders of Mali-based al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also were designated, as were Ali Mohamed Rage and Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, leaders of the al-Shabab group of Somalia, Blinken said.
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New ASEAN Envoy to Myanmar Says He Wants Full Access When He Visits
The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said Saturday he should be given full access to all parties when he visits the strife-torn country, where the military overthrew an elected government.The Battle for Myanmar Six Months After the CoupMyanmar’s future is unclear despite junta leader’s promise of new electionsSpeaking days after his appointment by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Erywan Yusof gave no date for his visit to Myanmar, whose civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have been detained since the February 1 coup.Erywan has been tasked with overseeing humanitarian aid, ending violence in Myanmar and opening dialogue between the military rulers and opponents, whose protests and civil disobedience campaign have been met with violence.”The planned visit to Myanmar is in the pipeline, and what we need to do is make sure we’re well prepared when we go there, unlike the visit I had in June,” Erywan, Brunei’s Second Foreign Affairs Minister, told reporters in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the tiny sultanate of Borneo.Erywan said he would seek a more substantive discussion during his next planned ASEAN visit to Myanmar, while stressing it was important that he be given full access to all parties.Brunei Calls for ASEAN Meeting to Discuss Myanmar SituationProtesters remain defiant, gather in streets to clap for opposition leadersMyanmar civil society groups have rejected his appointment, saying ASEAN should have consulted opponents of the junta and other parties.The United Nations and many countries have urged ASEAN, whose 10 members include Myanmar, to spearhead diplomatic efforts to restore stability.Singapore’s foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, said it was too early to say how long the ASEAN effort to foster talks would take, saying “political solutions, whilst essential, are difficult, and will take, in my view, prolonged negotiations and discussions.”He added: “Therefore, I would avoid trying to put unrealistic timelines.”Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing, who has assumed the post of interim prime minister, this week pledged to hold elections by 2023.His government says it acted within the constitution to remove Suu Kyi’s government, and objects to it being called a coup, and it also rejects the description of itself as a junta.
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Thai Anti-government Protesters Clash With Police in Bangkok
More than a thousand Thai anti-government protesters clashed with police Saturday, as they demonstrated against the government’s failure to handle coronavirus outbreaks and its impact on the economy.About a hundred police officers in riot gear sealed off a road near Victory Monument in the capital Bangkok with containers and used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to stop a march toward Government House, the office of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.A demonstrator walks during clashes with police at a protest against what they call the government’s failure in handling the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 7, 2021.”Tear gas and rubber bullets were used for crowd control. Our goal is to maintain order,” Krisana Pattanacharoen, a police spokesman, told reporters.The demonstrators threw ping pong bombs, stones and marbles, he added.Dozens of protesters were seen being carried away on motorcycles and in ambulances. The Erawan Emergency Medical Center said at least two civilians and three officers had been injured.”We want Prayuth to resign because people aren’t getting vaccines,” said a 23-year-old male protester, who only gave his first name “Aom,” for fear of repercussions.”We don’t have jobs and income, so we have no choice but protest.”
Some 6% of Thailand’s population of more than 66 million has been fully vaccinated and most of the country including Bangkok is under lockdown with a night-time curfew. Gatherings of more than five people are currently banned.Nonetheless, street protests against the government have been held in recent weeks by several groups, including Prayuth’s former political allies, as frustrations mount over its management of the health crisis.
Thailand reported Saturday a record of nearly 22,000 new COVID-19 infections in a single day and the highest deaths, 212 fatalities.The Southeast Asian country has reported 736,522 total cases and 6,066 deaths from the coronavirus since the pandemic began last year.
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US Wins Gold Medal in Women’s 4X400 Meter Relay
The United States won the gold medal Saturday in the women’s 4X400 meters relay at the Tokyo Olympics.
Poland captured the silver medal in the event, while Jamaica secured the bronze.
Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad, Athing Mu and Allyson Felix maintained U.S. dominance in the event, comfortably winning the gold with a time of 3:16.85.
The victory gave American Allyson Felix her 11th Olympic medal in track and field — more than any other woman in history and more than any American track and field Olympian. She first set the medal record Friday night by taking bronze in the women’s 400-meter event. Athletes Fight Heat, Humidity at Tokyo OlympicsWomen’s marathon runners start an hour early and still battle temperatures of nearly 30 degrees CelsiusFelix, 35, began her career as a U.S. Olympian at the 2004 Athens Games.“It’s something I felt I could accomplish. I feel like I have come a long way from all the other Games. This one is just different,” Felix said before the relay event, according to AP. “I’m not too wrapped up in winning more medals. The biggest thing for me was coming back.”Earlier Saturday, Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir battled high heat and humidity to win the Olympic gold in the women’s marathon in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 20 seconds.Taking silver was her teammate, Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 36 seconds. American Molly Seidel placed third in a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 46 seconds.Olympic organizers started the women’s marathon at 6 a.m. local time, an hour earlier than planned, in an effort to avoid extreme heat and humidity. However, at the start of the race, runners had clear skies and a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and relative humidity of about 82%. By the end of the race, temperatures had risen to nearly 30 degrees Celsius.Fifteen of the 88 athletes did not finish the race, which was held in Sopporo, a coastal city about 1,100 kilometers north of Tokyo.Kosgei, the world record holder, and world champion Ruth Chepngetich, also of Kenya, had been favorites to win gold on Saturday. Chepngetich failed to finish the event.Jepchirchir made her move on Kosgei near the end of the race, at the 40-kilometer mark.”When I was there I said, wow, I’m going to make it. So I pushed the pace because I knew I was going to win,” Jepchirchir said. “I’m so, so happy because we win as Kenya, first and second … I’m happy, for my family, happy for my country Kenya for supporting us.”Saturday afternoon, the U.S. men’s basketball team captured its fourth straight Olympic gold medal, and its 16th overall, defeating France, 87-82. American Kevin Durant, who plays for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA, was the game’s high scorer, with 29 points. France had beaten the U.S. in the first round of the Olympics.Israel won the gold medal Saturday in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics final, ending more than two decades of Russian dominance in the event.Linoy Ashram narrowly defeated Russian three-time world champion Dina Averina, despite a mistake in her closing ribbon routine, to win with 107.800 points, 0.150 points ahead of Averina.The U.S. completed it sweep of gold medals in Olympic golf Saturday when Nelly Korda sealed a one-stroke victory in women’s competition. Japan’s Mone Inami won the silver medal in a playoff with New Zealand’s bronze medalist Lydia Ko.Xander Schauffele of the U.S. won the gold in the men’s competition last Sunday.In late Friday events, Canada’s women soccer team beat Sweden, 3-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw. The team’s victory gave Canada its first gold medal in women’s soccer.The match was played at 9 p.m. local time in an effort to escape the oppressive heat in Yokohama, where the matches are held. Still, temperatures were 28 degrees Celsius and humidity was 78% when the game started Friday night.Also Friday, protesters gathered in front of the Japanese Olympic Committee building, calling for the Games, which end on Sunday, to be suspended, according to The Associated Press. The protesters said they were concerned about the cost of the event and the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Tokyo. On Friday, officials reported 4,515 new coronavirus cases in Tokyo, the AP reported.Some information for this article came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Deadly Fighting Erupts Between Rival Factions of South Sudan VP Machar’s Party
Deadly fighting erupted Saturday between rival factions of South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLA-IO, his military spokesman said in a statement.The clashes erupted after Machar’s rivals declared this week they had deposed him as the head of the party and its military forces.Armed forces led by a rival general in the party, Simon Gatwech Dual, launched an attack on Machar’s men, who had “repulsed the aggressors,” the spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel said.Rival Leaders: South Sudan’s VP Machar Deposed by Party Its chief of staff, First Lieutenant General Simon Gatwech Dual, was declared interim leader of the opposition movement that governs the troubled country in a shaky alliance with former enemiesMachar’s SPLA-IO forces killed two major generals and more than 27 “enemy” soldiers, while they lost three men, he added.The fighting could not be independently confirmed and there was no immediate response from Gatwech Dual’s side.Leaders of the military wing of Machar’s SPLM/A-IO said Wednesday they had deposed the rebel-turned-politician for failing to represent their interests.The fighting could put pressure on the fragile 2018 power-sharing deal between Machar and his old foe President Salva Kiir.Machar’s allies on Friday dismissed his ouster as a “failed coup,” insisting he was still in full control of the party. Machar himself this week accused “peace spoilers” of engineering his removal.The 68-year-old, a wily leader who survived years of bush warfare, attempts on his life and stretches in exile, served as vice president alongside Kiir in the first government post-independence from Sudan in 2011.The pair had a falling out, though, and Machar was fired two years later. Troops loyal to each man turned their guns on each other, and South Sudan descended into five years of civil war.
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