With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, the European Union is looking to Turkey to bear the brunt of an expected exodus of Afghan refugees heading to Europe. But Turkey is resisting the call. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Video editor: Marcus Harton
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Month: August 2021
More Than 210 Killed in Violence in Western Ethiopia
More than 210 people were killed over several days of ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s tense Oromia region last week, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said Thursday.The state-affiliated but independent commission said witnesses described gunmen affiliated with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a rebel group, arriving on August 18 after security forces withdrew from Gida-Kirimu in the western region.”The area’s residents and others have told the commission more than 150 people were killed by the gunmen,” the human rights body said.The attack forced women and children to flee to neighboring areas, and sparked a wave of revenge killings.”In subsequent days, some residents carried out ethnic based reprisal attacks, killing more than 60 people” and triggering a further exodus of civilians fleeing the violence, the commission said.The panel called for “immediate action” to prevent the instability from spreading further and an investigation into why security forces withdrew from the troubled area.In a statement, the OLA denied responsibility for the attacks.The OLA was designated a terrorist organization by lawmakers in May alongside the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose rebel forces have been fighting in Ethiopia’s north since November. The government has accused the OLA of massacring civilians in Oromia, the country’s largest region, and in Amhara, the second largest.Clashes involving the two ethnic groups killed more than 300 people over several days in March, federal officials said.The militants have denied allegations of spearheading the grisly massacres.Believed to number in the low thousands, the OLA broke off from the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition party that spent years in exile, but was allowed to return to Ethiopia after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Earlier this month, the OLA and the TPLF announced they had reached an agreement to fight together against Abiy’s forces and his allies.A spokesman for the OLA said the two groups mutually agreed that Abiy’s “dictatorship” must be removed and that they were sharing intelligence and coordinating on strategy.The government denounced the pact as a “destructive alliance” between two groups seeking to destabilize the country.Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by conflict since November when Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF.He said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps and victory would be swift.But nine months later, the conflict has spread into the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, and drawn in forces from across Ethiopia.
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CDC: 61% of US Population Has Had at Least One COVID Vaccine Shot
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 364,842,701 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S., with 202,500,853 people having received at least one dose and 171,773,370 people now fully vaccinated.The data show 61% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine, with 51.7% completely vaccinated; 71.3% of U.S. residents 12 and older have received at least one shot, while 60.5% are fully vaccinated. Among adults 18 and older, 73.4% have received one shot, while 62.7% are fully vaccinated.U.S. residents over 65 represent the largest vaccinated demographic, with 91.6% having had one shot, while 81.3% are fully vaccinated. The CDC says that, in total, 430,118,615 doses of COVID vaccines have been distributed throughout the country.Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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South African University Embraces Virtual Reality for Distance Learning
COVID-19 restrictions are not just keeping students out of the classroom, but also out of the laboratory. The University of Johannesburg is helping students replicate the experience through virtual reality. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg. Camera: Zaheer Cassim
Producers: Zaheer Cassim, Marcus Harton
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Foreigners Who Live, and Love It, in Ukraine
Ukraine, which is marking 30 years of independence this August, is among Europe’s poorest countries. But its vibrant culture and business climate have attracted many foreigners who now call Ukraine home. Among them is American investment banker Nick Piazza, who has been living in Ukraine since 2004. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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1991’s Failed Anti-Perestroika Soviet Coup Remembered
Thirty years ago, a group of Soviet hard-liners attempted a coup in the Soviet Union aimed at stopping reforms started by then President Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup failed in the course of three days but put in motion events that would forever change its course. VOA’s Daria Dieguts reports.
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US Vice President Raises Rights Issues During Visit to Vietnam
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris raised human rights issues with Vietnamese leaders during a visit aimed at bolstering strategic ties with the country, she said in Hanoi on Thursday.Harris said she specifically discussed the release of political dissidents but did not disclose the results, saying only at a news conference the U.S. must “continue to speak up, when necessary, about human rights issues.” Vietnam has been the target of global criticism for limiting free speech, a free press and clamping down on those it considers political dissidents.“We’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations,” Harris said.Harris did not respond directly when a reporter asked why the U.S. criticizes China for human rights abuses while aiming for a stronger relationship with Vietnam.“Difficult conversations often must be had with the people that you otherwise may have a partnership with,” Harris said. “And we do have a partnership with Vietnam.”Her visit to Vietnam ended a weeklong trip to Southeast Asia when she also met with senior officials in Singapore in an effort to counter China’s influence in the region.Harris said the U.S. reached a number of agreements with Singapore and Vietnam, including one involving cyber defense cooperation. She said the U.S. also delivered 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam on Thursday, on top of the 5 million that had previously been delivered. VOA’s Steve Herman contributed to this report. Some information came from the Associated Press.
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Taiwanese, Australian Space Companies in Historic Commercial Rocket Plan
A Taiwanese company, TiSPACE, plans to launch Australia’s first commercial rocket later this year.The rocket is called Hapith, which means “flying squirrel” in a Taiwanese Indigenous language.So far, no specific date for the rocket’s launch has been given. However, officials say an experimental flight is planned this year from a private facility on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Official approval was granted by the Australian government this week.Developers hope the vehicle will reach outer space, at least 100 kilometers above sea level, before falling back to Earth, over the sea. The rocket’s data, navigation and propulsion systems will be scrutinized.James Brown, the chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia, said it will be a significant mission.“This is the first, sort of, major rocket launch in about 40 years for Australia,” he said. “So, this is a rocket that is about 10 meters high, it’s got two stages, it’ll be launched from South Australia out over the ocean and it will get to about 100 kilometers high. It is basically testing this Taiwanese technology, which is a rocket built around a hybrid engine, and if that works well, if it is all safe, if it’s all reliable, then the plan is for this company to come back and launch a bigger rocket that is about 20 meters high that can carry up to 400 kilograms worth of satellite payload into space, so it is a really exciting development for the industry.”TiSPACE is Taiwan’s first private space company, which reportedly chose a launch site in Australia because of regulatory problems back home. The Taipei Times reported concerns over the legality of proposed launch sites in Taiwan.Researchers have said the project is potentially significant for both Australia’s and Taiwan’s space industries, which have lagged behind other space programs. Australia only established a domestic space agency in 2018.Alice Gorman, an associate professor at Flinders University and space exploration expert, says Australia is well-positioned to benefit from the global space sector.“At the top of the country, in the north, we are relatively close to the equator and that is a huge advantage for launching satellites into geostationary orbit because you get the assistance of the Earth’s rotation,” she said. “In the south, where Southern Launch is developing its launch sites, we are perfectly located to launch things into polar orbit, and this is where a lot of our earth observation satellites are, a lot of scientific satellites, and we are not looking at, you know, monumentally massive, big rockets here. We are looking at small rockets, small satellites and with both ends of the country able to specialize in different kinds of launch, we really do have a geographic advantage.”Australia’s rocket-launching heritage goes back decades. For years, launches were taking place regularly at the Woomera range in South Australia, including missile experiments for the military. The site remains a major Australian defense and research facility.TiSPACE has said it plans further “suborbital launches and several orbital launches” after this year’s test flight.
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Vietnam Faces Risk of Interruption in Vaccination Campaign
Vietnam is facing challenges in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts from global shortages and anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment as it tries to reach herd immunity by the end of next year’s first quarter.“Shot or no shot?” Chau Nguyen asked her sister after spending nights thinking about whether to get vaccinated and whether to accept the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. While not a vaccine skeptic, the restaurant owner in the city’s Go Vap District worried about her health after she ultimately got the vaccination.Her reluctance is understandable given the anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment circulating on social media; many Vietnamese worry about Chinese vaccines’ safety and efficiency.Chau’s dilemma came as Ho Chi Minh City entered the vaccination campaign, targeting at least one shot for 70% of its population in August. The month kicked off with controversy as authorities announced a plan to purchase and use 5 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.On Aug. 25, Vietnam reported 12,096 new COVID-19 cases and 335 deaths, marking the seventh day in a row the country recorded more than 10,000 cases a day.The latest number brings the total number of cases in the fourth COVID-19 wave to 377,245. The COVID-19 death tally was at 9,349.Ho Chi Minh City continued to see spikes in COVID-19 cases. As of Aug. 25, the city reported 5,294 new cases and 266 deaths.From March to mid-August, Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of about 10 million, vaccinated more than 4.3 million people, more than 100,000 of whom received the full two shots, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc told reporters Aug. 13.That group included 456,000 people over 65, a priority group getting vaccines that are still scarce in Vietnam, such as the Moderna and Pfizer shots. During that period daily vaccinations ranged up to more than 318,000.High demandVietnamese people tend to accept vaccinations — a June UNICEF survey said 67% of Vietnamese are eager to be vaccinated.There are many reasons why people in Ho Chi Minh City are encouraged to get shots, even though they acknowledge that vaccines provide only partial protection from COVID-19.The government seems to have convinced people of the severity of COVID-19. Most of those speaking with VOA judged the current pandemic situation in Ho Chi Minh City as “dangerous.” Van Anh, 26, disagreed with the notion that the economic costs of dealing with the pandemic are worse than those of the pandemic.Chau, the Go Vap District restaurant owner, who ended up having an AstraZeneca dose Aug. 2, told VOA local authorities called her to get a shot. She had asked whether she could refuse vaccination and was told she could, but if she became infected and spread the virus to others, she risked being fined millions of dong.Unlike Chau, some others say being vaccinated is better than continuing under the country’s strict social distancing measures under Directive 16, which was extended for a month, starting Aug. 15.Asked about the argument that lost jobs, closed businesses and other consequences of pandemic measures are more of a risk than dying from the pandemic, Bich Nguyen, a 30-year-old who works in the media industry, told VOA, “I 70% agree with this opinion.”He said he has been desperate to start a probationary period for work since June 1 because the city has been locked down since May 31.“It cost me nearly 100 million dong [about $4,400] from a purely financial aspect, but when it comes to the mental aspect, the stress, fatigue, loss of will … are immeasurable,” he said.Thao Vu, 31, whose husband’s company has been closed since the start of the lockdown period, said that she is willing to get a shot because it is the only way to open the economy and restore social activities.“It is necessary to realize that the pandemic will not stop just because we are in lockdown. Once we open the society and economy, there is a complete risk of an outbreak again, so we need to learn how to live with it. Long-term lockdowns only push manual workers into poverty and businesses to close, leading to social evils that will increase when people are unemployed. The consequences on the economy and social security may be more serious than the pandemic itself,” she said.Vaccine shortages, anti-Chinese vaccine sentimentWhile citizens are willing to get vaccinated, Ho Chi Minh City faces challenges that could result in interruption.As of Aug. 12, the city had administered most of the roughly 4.3 million doses allocated by the national Health Ministry. Municipal leaders said that Ho Chi Minh City’s current vaccine strategy is to reach high coverage as soon as possible.Regarding plans for the future, the city said it would continue to search for vaccines. It is in talks to buy 5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and aims to get 2 million doses in October. In addition, it has said it has international commitments for another 750,000 doses.The Vietnamese government established a working group on COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy Aug. 13. The working group is expected to mobilize donated vaccines, drugs for treatment and medical supplies, as well as technology transfer for vaccine and drug production from other countries.In its first meeting on Aug. 16, group members said countries, especially developing countries, will face difficulties obtaining vaccines through the end of the year, given complexities of the global pandemic situation.The assessment is worrisome for Ho Chi Minh City. While the city faces vaccine shortages, the local government finds it hard to take advantage of available Sinopharm vaccines because of anti-Chinese sentiment.Van Anh, who works in the media industry, said she approves of government social distancing measures and stressed the importance of vaccines for public health purposes but said she will not accept Chinese vaccines.Similarly, Binh Tran, a 20-year-old student who is in his second year of medical school in Ho Chi Minh City, argued that vaccines will protect people from COVID-19 but said that he would not accept Chinese vaccines because of “low immune efficiency and unreliable data.”Anti-Chinese vaccine sentiment has prompted Vietnamese government and Ho Chi Minh City officials to repeatedly affirm that “the best vaccine is the first one,” emphasizing that vaccination is good for everyone and contributes to the pandemic fight. They have also called on people to be aware of the importance of vaccinations and ready to receive the vaccine.Since Aug. 13, having used up the doses allocated by the Health Ministry, Ho Chi Minh City has officially administered Sinopharm vaccines while promoting access to other vaccine supplies and making use of available sources.Earlier, on Aug. 12, the city allocated Sinopharm vaccines to its localities. Specifically, the Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City issued an order to provide 1,000-7,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, also known as Vero Cell, per city region, a total of 44,000 doses.Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City Party chief Nguyen Van Nen said local authorities should tell people what type of vaccine they were getting before vaccinations. After inspecting a local COVID-19 vaccination location Aug. 13, Nen noted an instance of people expressing disappointment after receiving Chinese vaccinations.“We should use our experience and tell people the type of vaccine in advance, so only those who accept the vaccine will go to get the shots,” he said.Meanwhile, though, he stressed that the city has no choice regarding what vaccine to provide, saying that while the city has tried various sources, “supplies are extremely limited.”
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US Judge Sanctions Trump-Allied Lawyers
A U.S. federal judge imposed financial penalties and other sanctions Wednesday against nine lawyers with ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump after ruling that their lawsuit challenging 2020 election results in the state of Michigan was a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”“It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election,” U.S. District Court judge Linda Parker wrote. “It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated.”The lawyers involved include Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, Emily Newman, Julia Haller, Brandon Johnson, Scott Hagerstrom, Howard Kleinhendler, Gregory Rohl and Stefanie Lynn Junttila.Parker ordered that the lawyers attend 12 hours of legal education and reimburse local officials in Michigan for the costs of defending the lawsuit.The judge also said her ruling would be sent to every state bar and federal court where each lawyer practices for possible disciplinary action.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Biden, Bennett to Hold First White House Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to visit the White House on Thursday for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden about Iran, security issues and the coronavirus pandemic.The meeting will be the first time the two leaders speak in person since Bennett became prime minister in June.“It’s a chance for the prime minister to hear directly from the president his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and self-defense, and supporting Israel’s defense needs,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters ahead of the meeting.The official said the impending end of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan will free more resources and attention for other priorities, including relations with Israel.A major focus of the talks will be Iran, both its nuclear program and what the official called the country’s “destabilizing activities in the region.”“Iran’s nuclear program has just dramatically broken out of the box, and it’s accelerating from week to week. This is a very serious problem, and the two leaders, I think, will have the opportunity to sit together and discuss what to do about it,” the U.S. official said.The United States and Iran have held several rounds of indirect talks about rejoining the 2015 international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. That agreement came about amid concerns Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons, which it has denied.Former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, and Iran subsequently took steps away from its commitments, including boosting its stockpiles of enriched uranium and enriching the material to higher levels of purity.”I will tell President Biden that it is time to stop the Iranians … not to give them a lifeline in the form of reentering into an expired nuclear deal,” Bennett said Sunday.
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US Court Upholds Death Sentence for Church Shooter Dylann Roof
A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld Dylann Roof’s conviction and death sentence for the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation, saying the legal record cannot even capture the “full horror” of what he did.A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond rejected arguments that the young white man should have been ruled incompetent to stand trial in the shootings at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.In 2017, Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. Authorities have said Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled. He was 21 at the time.In his appeal, Roof’s attorneys argued that he was wrongly allowed to represent himself during sentencing, a critical phase of his trial. Roof successfully prevented jurors from hearing evidence about his mental health, “under the delusion,” his attorneys argued, that “he would be rescued from prison by white-nationalists — but only, bizarrely, if he kept his mental-impairments out of the public record.”Roof’s lawyers said his convictions and death sentence should be vacated or his case should be sent back to court for a “proper competency evaluation.”The 4th Circuit found that the trial judge did not commit an error when he found Roof was competent to stand trial and issued a scathing rebuke of Roof’s crimes.”Dylann Roof murdered African Americans at their church, during their Bible-study and worship. They had welcomed him. He slaughtered them. He did so with the express intent of terrorizing not just his immediate victims at the historically important Mother Emanuel Church, but as many similar people as would hear of the mass murder,” the panel wrote in its ruling.”No cold record or careful parsing of statutes and precedents can capture the full horror of what Roof did. His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose,” the judges wrote.’The harshest penalty a just society can impose’One of Roof’s attorneys, Margaret Alice-Anne Farrand, a deputy federal public defender, declined to comment on the ruling. Roof’s other attorneys did not immediately respond to emailed requests seeking comment.The Rev. Kylon Middleton, a close friend of Mother Emanuel Pastor Clementa Pinckney, a state senator who was killed in the massacre, said Roof’s appeal reopened some of the psychological wounds felt by loved ones of the victims and survivors.Middleton said he is personally opposed to the death penalty but had accepted that as the sentence Roof received.”We just want whatever the consequence or the justice that had been delivered based on the court’s ruling to be final, period,” Middleton said.Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams, one of the lead prosecutors on the case, said the mass shooting was one of the worst events in South Carolina’s history.”Our office is grateful for the decision of the court, a decision that ensures, as the Court stated, that ‘the harshest penalty a just society can impose’ is indeed imposed,” Williams said in a statement.All of the judges in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers South Carolina, recused themselves from hearing Roof’s appeal; one of their own, Judge Jay Richardson, prosecuted Roof’s case as an assistant U.S. Attorney. The panel that heard arguments in May and issued the ruling on Wednesday was comprised of judges from several other appellate circuits.Following his federal trial, Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty in 2017 to state murder charges, leaving him to await execution in a federal prison and sparing his victims and their families the burden of a second trial.Last month, however, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium and halted all federal executions while the Justice Department conducts a review of its execution policies and procedures. The review comes after a historic run of capital punishment at the end of the Trump administration, which carried out 13 executions in six months. A federal lawsuit has also been filed over the execution protocols — including the risk of pain and suffering associated with the use of pentobarbital, the drug used for lethal injection.President Joe Biden as a candidate said he’d work to end federal executions. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in March that he continues to have “grave concerns” about it.Biden has connections to the case. As vice president, Biden attended the funeral for one of those slain, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who also pastored the congregation.During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden frequently referenced the shooting, saying that a visit to Mother Emanuel helped him heal in the aftermath of the death of his son, Beau.Roof’s attorneys could ask the full 4th Circuit to reconsider the panel’s ruling. If unsuccessful in his direct appeal, Roof could file what’s known as a 2255 appeal, or a request that the trial court review the constitutionality of his conviction and sentence. He could also petition the U.S. Supreme Court or seek a presidential pardon.
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US Lawmakers Push Biden to Evacuate USAGM Journalists, Families
U.S. lawmakers pushed President Joe Biden on Wednesday to evacuate hundreds of people affiliated with the U.S. Agency for Global Media from Afghanistan as Washington rushes to meet a troop withdrawal deadline of August 31. In a letter sent to Biden on Wednesday, Senator Ben Cardin and Representative William Keating said about 550 people — employees of USAGM and their families — are still trying to leave Afghanistan. USAGM is an independent federal agency that encompasses several news networks, including the Voice of America and Radio Azadi. “We stress to you that the 550 USAGM employees and their families are no different from journalists you have already doggedly worked to evacuate,” the letter read, noting that the administration has worked with multiple American publications to evacuate their employees. New: Bipartisan letter pushing the Administration to evacuate VOA and Radio Azadi journalists — US Government employees, still stuck there. (7 more pages of signatures after this one) pic.twitter.com/hNZdCdlqJx— Ben Smith (@benyt) August 25, 2021″They have been and continue to be a target for the Taliban due to their association with the United States government,” the letter stated. USAGM did not respond to a request for comment. Evacuation efforts for Afghan journalists have increased this week amid reports that Taliban fighters have been searching the homes of some media workers. In the past week, the Taliban searched properties belonging to at least five journalists, media rights organizations said.The reports of harassment and searches come a week after the Taliban held its first news conference in Kabul. The White House said Wednesday that more than 80,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since the end of July.
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Afghan Girls Boarding School Temporarily Relocates to Rwanda
With Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban, which had banned young women from formal education, the country’s only girls boarding school is temporarily relocating to Rwanda for a “study abroad” session.Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the co-founding president of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), said in a social media post Tuesday that the private school’s nearly 250 students, faculty, staff and family members had left the capital city of Kabul as of last week. “SOLA is resettling, but our resettlement is not permanent,” she wrote in one of a series of Twitter posts. “A semester abroad is exactly what we’re planning. When circumstances on the ground permit, we hope to return home to Afghanistan.” Basij-Rasikh wrote that they are en route, by way of Qatar, to the central African nation, where they intend to study. The Rwandan Ministry of Education responded to Basij-Rasikh’s tweet, saying that it looked forward to welcoming the SOLA community to Rwanda. The central African nation is one of several countries that the U.S. State Department said had agreed to temporarily host evacuated Afghans. It is not yet known how many Afghans Rwanda will accept. On Friday, Basij-Rasikh posted a video showing her burning students’ records to protect their identities from the Taliban.Nearly 20 years later, as the founder of the only all-girls boarding school in Afghanistan, I’m burning my students’ records not to erase them, but to protect them and their families. 2/6 pic.twitter.com/JErbZCSPuC— Shabana Basij-Rasikh (@sbasijrasikh) August 20, 2021
In Twitter posts Tuesday, the school official said her heart breaks for her country. “I’ve stood in Kabul, and I’ve seen the fear, and the anger, and the ferocious bravery of the Afghan people. I look at my students, and I see the faces of the millions of Afghan girls, just like them, who remain behind,” Basij-Rasikh wrote. “Those girls cannot leave, and you cannot look away. If there’s one thing I ask of the world, it is this: Do not avert your eyes from Afghanistan. Don’t let your attention wander as the weeks pass. See those girls, and in doing so you will hold those holding power over them to account.”
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Malawi Braces for Another Election Challenge
Malawi’s Constitutional Court has agreed to hear a challenge to last year’s presidential election rerun from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. President Lazarus Chakwera defeated the DPP’s Peter Mutharika in the rerun after the court nullified the 2019 election, which Mutharika had won. The DPP argues the rerun should also be nullified after the High Court quashed the appointment of four DPP commissioners to the Malawi Electoral Commission. This past June, the High Court quashed the appointment of four DPP commissioners Jean Mathanga, Linda Kunje, Steven Duwa and Arthur Nanthuru, saying their appointment was invalid and unconstitutional. The court acted after the governing Malawi Congress Party had challenged the appointment of the commissioners.In his ruling, Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda further said the quashing of the appointments did not affect the validity of the June 2020 re-run presidential election. But the opposition DPP said Nyirenda erred in his ruling because he touched on issues beyond his mandate. The party wants the court to also invalidate the rerun election because it was managed by commissioners who it says were wrongly appointed. They argue that the Malawi Constitution does not recognize an election that was presided over by undeserving commissioners. Charles Mhango is a lawyer for the opposition DPP. “My clients believe strongly that the elections that took place on 23rd June, electing President Chakwera, is also null and void because the principal of the law is very clear; out of nothing, come nothing,” he said. Critics fear the case will result in another long and protracted legal battle which will cost the government a lot of money. They believe the case could have been avoided had the government listened to the advice of the former attorney general, Chikosa Silungwe, that the government should recognize the commissioners. Osman Kennedy, a law lecturer at Blantyre International University, told VOA that serious implications will happen only if the court rules in favor of the DPP. “Because what will happen is that we will revert back to 2020 when Mutharika was the president. Because the court may say ‘no, if you [President Chakwera] were elected by the commission that was illegal, then you were not elected, then you were no longer the president and therefore we are reverting the status quo back to Mutharika and Chilima respectively.’” Social commentator Humphrey Mvula said the case demonstrates failure by political leaders to accept electoral defeat. “Our challenge as most African countries including Malawi is that we rarely accept that we have lost the elections. We always want to fight and always want the court to tell us that we have lost the elections. Even at that time, we have been able to trash the decision of the court,” he said. Former president Mutharika has said he does not recognize the results of the rerun election he lost to Chakwera.In the meantime, the Constitutional Court has set Monday next week to decide whether to proceed with the case and if so, how.
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European Rights Court Urges Poland, Latvia to Help Migrants at Belarus Border
The European Court of Human Rights has asked Poland and Latvia to help dozens of migrants trapped at their respective borders with Belarus.
Neither country is allowing the migrants in, and both Poland and the Baltic states have accused Belarus of using the migrants as a political tool for revenge, specifically over European Union sanctions imposed after the Belarusian government cracked down on protesters claiming an August 2020 presidential election was rigged.
Polish refugee charity Ocalenie Foundation said the migrants had no drinking water and had not eaten since Tuesday, Reuters reported.
According to the court, Polish and Latvian authorities should “provide all the applicants with food, water, clothing, adequate medical care and, if possible, temporary shelter.”
The court also clarified “that this measure should not be understood as requiring that Poland or Latvia let the applicants enter their territories.”
Some 3,000 migrants, some of them from Iraq and Afghanistan, have attempted to enter Poland from Belarus this month, The Associated Press reported. Poland is denying them entry, and it said Monday it would build a fence to keep them out.
The Polish government says it has provided tents, blankets and power generators to the migrants, who remain on Belarusian territory.
On Tuesday, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, called for Poland to provide medical and legal support to the migrants.
Poland’s prime minister said Tuesday that Belarus is purposely urging migrants from the Middle East to enter Poland to destabilize the European Union.
“Our eastern neighbor is trying systematically, and in an organized way, to destabilize the political situation,” Mateusz Morawiecki said during a visit to the eastern town of Kuznica.After the EU had imposed its sanctions, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned member countries that Belarus will no longer prevent unauthorized migrants from crossing into EU territories, Reuters news agency has reported.
Some information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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China’s New Mandatory Curriculum Focuses on ‘Xi Thought’
Throughout China, as the school year starts on September 1, all elementary and secondary school students face a new mandatory class — Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The new curriculum highlights how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xi are focusing on ideological control of the population as the course, referred to as “Xi Thought,” trickles down from Chinese universities, where it was introduced in 2020. “Propaganda and political instruction have been part of education in China since 1949, as the Communist Party understands exactly the power of shaping people’s minds, especially when they are young and malleable,” said Didi Kirsten Tatlow, a senior fellow at the Asia Program of the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, Germany. Chinese leader Mao Zedong declared the CCP had founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949. It’s no surprise, Tatlow added, that as FILE – Men ride a scooter past a poster showing Chinese President Xi Jinping on the side of a school building in Henan province, China, Feb. 22, 2019.”This is how to control the next generation and ensure continued support for the party and for Xi. Coupled with an ongoing push to ‘party-build’ in all walks of life including business, it shows Xi and the party are doubling down on ideological control,” she told VOA Mandarin in an email interview. ”Party building” refers to efforts to purify CCP organizations and strengthen support from party members as well as average Chinese citizens. Perry Link, an expert on contemporary Chinese politics and a distinguished professor at the University of California, Riverside, agreed, telling VOA Mandarin, “It’s time that we call a spade a spade. This is brainwashing.” Guideline issued The FILE – Students take a picture with the People’s Liberation Army during morning assembly at a secondary school, on the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, in Hong Kong, July 1, 2021.To get a better sense of the new textbooks, VOA Mandarin read the grade 3 version, which has 52 pages divided into six chapters. In the second chapter, “We Follow the Communist Party Wholeheartedly,” Xi appears in six photos in a subsection called “Grandpa Xi Jinping’s heart is with the people.” The images show him visiting deaf girls in an Inner Mongolia orphanage in 2014, shaking hands with workers at a marine instruction site in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2018, talking to Beijing residents during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2019, visiting a poor family in Chongqing in 2019, chatting with a local family in Gansu province in 2019, and making rice cakes with ethnic minorities in a Yunnan province village in 2020. In illustrations, children say: “Grandpa Xi Jinping tells us a person can have many aspirations, but the most important aspiration in life should be connected to the country and the people” and “Grandpa Xi Jinping tells us we should establish the value of ‘labor is glorious’ when we’re young.” In the fifth chapter titled “We Are the Successors of Communism,” in a subsection called “Grandpa Xi Jinping’s expectations for us,” photos show a smiling Xi surrounded by schoolchildren, planting trees with Young Pioneers, and holding still as a young girl ties a red Young Pioneer scarf around his neck. The last page of the subsection is a letter written by Xi to congratulate the Chinese Young Pioneers on the organization’s 70th anniversary. The nationwide youth organization enrolls all Chinese children ages 6 to 14. “Ever since Xi Jinping took power, especially in the last few years, not just in school history textbooks but also the party’s own history archives, have had more exposure of Xi,” said Yang Jianli, founder of the U.S.-based rights group Citizen Power Initiatives for China. He added that what is happening now is more aggressive than when Mao led China and that the new curriculum reminded him of George Orwell’s “1984.” Tracy Zhang, a teacher and a parent in central China’s city of Xi’an, said parents have little control over what their children are exposed to in school. She asked VOA to use a pseudonym in fear of attracting attention. “We cannot control what the schools teach our kids unless we send our kids to international schools,” she told VOA Mandarin. The students will have to pass exams to graduate. So we don’t have a choice. The government probably doesn’t think the current brainwashing is enough.”Lin Yang contributed to this report.
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New York Governor Reveals 12,000 More COVID-19 Deaths Than Previously Reported
Newly installed New York Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged nearly 12,000 more deaths in the state from COVID-19 than had been publicized by her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.In a release posted to its official website late Tuesday, the governor’s office reported that 55,395 people had died of COVID-19 in New York based on death certificate data submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up from the 43,415 that Cuomo reported to the public as of Monday, his final day in office. Both numbers are posted. An explanation follows the larger number, saying it “includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.””We’re now releasing more data than had been released before publicly so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what’s being displayed by the CDC,” Hochul explained during a televised interview with the U.S. cable news channel MSNBC earlier Wednesday.Hochul also implemented a mandatory mask policy Monday for all New York schools, public and private.Hochul was sworn in early Tuesday after Cuomo left office, effective midnight on Monday. He resigned rather than face what was likely to be a drawn-out impeachment process because of sexual harassment allegations.
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Pentagon: 19,000 More Evacuated from Afghanistan
With less than a week remaining before it pulls its last troops out of Afghanistan, the United States in the last 24 hours evacuated another 19,000 Americans and Afghans who want to leave their homeland, the Defense Department said Wednesday.Even so, officials said another 10,000 people have crammed into the international airport in Kabul hoping to escape the country controlled by Taliban insurgents.Kabul Evacuations Intensify as G-7 Leaders Fail to Shift US DeadlineUS allies say they cannot operate evacuation flights without US firepower, raising fears that many citizens and eligible Afghans may be left behindA total of 90 U.S. military and international flights flew from Kabul in the last day, one every 39 minutes during some periods. In all, about 88,000 people have been evacuated since the operation began a few weeks ago.The scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport remains tense and chaotic, but Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it “will not be an American responsibility” to control airport security there after August 31, the date U.S. President Joe Biden set for ending U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. Officials said they know there “are a lot of desperate people who want to leave.”For Some Afghan Women, Evacuation Is a Matter of Life or Death Esin, like other female students, especially those who also worked with Western embassies, missions and NGOs in Kabul, as she did, is desperate to get out of AfghanistanThe Pentagon said that all Afghans who supported U.S. operations over the last two decades and secured visas to enter the U.S. and have reached the airport will be evacuated. That could leave many others behind, unable to reach the airport past Taliban checkpoints.The U.S. military said it plans to continue its evacuation effort from the airport until the Tuesday deadline if needed, but toward the end will prioritize the removal of U.S. troops and military equipment. Kirby said there are currently 5,400 U.S. troops at the Kabul airport.Pentagon officials urged U.S. lawmakers to not travel to Kabul to witness the evacuation after Representatives Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and Peter Meijer, a Republican — both of whom served military tours of duty in the Mideast — made an unannounced trip to the Afghan capital this week to assess the situation.US Congressmen Visit Kabul Airport Amid Evacuation Effort Officials said such trips could be a distraction for military and diplomats“We conducted this visit in secret, speaking about it only after our departure, to minimize the risk and disruption to the people on the ground, and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. The lawmakers released their statement after flying out of Kabul on a chartered plane. They said that in their view, after seeing the situation firsthand and speaking to commanders on the ground, “we won’t get everyone out” before Biden’s Tuesday deadline. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Tuesday saying travel to the region by members of the House of Representatives would divert resources from the evacuation operation. “Given the urgency of this situation, the desire of some (lawmakers) to travel to Afghanistan and the surrounding areas is understandable and reflective of the high priority that we place on the lives of those on the ground,” Pelosi said.“However, I write to reiterate that the Departments of Defense and State have requested that (lawmakers) not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger. Ensuring the safe and timely evacuation of individuals at risk requires the full focus and attention of the U.S. military and diplomatic teams on the ground in Afghanistan.” The Associated Press cited a senior U.S. official saying the Biden administration viewed the visit by Moulton and Meijer as unhelpful, and other officials said it was seen as a distraction to the troops who have been tasked with securing the airport to facilitate evacuation flights. South Korea announced Wednesday it planned to evacuate around 380 people who supported the country’s official activities in Afghanistan. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Nigeria: Kidnapped Defense Academy Officer Found Dead
The body of a Nigerian military officer abducted from the nation’s defense academy has been found. He was among the officers killed in an attack Tuesday on the academy.
Major Christopher Datong’s lifeless body was found Tuesday evening, hours after he was abducted.
According to local reports, the kidnappers demanded about $500,000 ransom to free the officer before eventually killing him.
He was the third officer to be killed in Tuesday’s security breach at Nigeria’s Defence Academy, a training center in the northern state of Kaduna for the Nigerian army, navy and air force recruits.
A large number of gunmen disguised in military uniforms snuck past security early Tuesday morning and opened fire at the officers’ lodge.
Prominent Nigerians who have reacted to the incident include former aviation minister, Femi-Fani Kayode, who said in a tweet that “It is time for Federal Government to take a much harder line with these terrorists.”
Meanwhile, residents of Kaduna are expressing fear over the attack, saying if the security forces’ base could suffer a hit, then the entire state or even the country is unsafe.
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Boko Haram Attack Kills 16 Soldiers in Southern Niger
Hundreds of Boko Haram militants attacked a military post in southern Niger overnight, killing 16 soldiers and wounding nine more, the defense ministry said on Wednesday.About 50 of the Islamist militants were killed in the resulting combat in the West African country’s Diffa region and significant quantities of weapons were recovered, the ministry said in a statement.The Boko Haram insurgency broke out in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but violence frequently spills over into neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin.In December, an attack blamed on Boko Haram killed 28 people and burned 800 homes in the Diffa region.
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Possible ‘Havana Syndrome’ Incidents Probed in Harris Delay from Singapore to Vietnam
U.S. officials are continuing to investigate two possible cases of so-called Havana Syndrome health incidents that delayed Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip from Singapore to Vietnam.The investigation was in its early stages and officials deemed it safe for Harris to make her scheduled stop in Vietnam, after initially hitting pause for a few hours on Tuesday. Havana Syndrome is the name for a rash of mysterious health incidents first reported by American diplomats and other government employees in the Cuban capital beginning in 2016. Harris on her trip is reassuring Asian allies after the tumultuous evacuation of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.U.S. officials had not yet confirmed the latest reported Havana Syndrome case, and it did not involve anyone traveling with Harris, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. In light of the reports, “there was an assessment done of the safety of the vice president, and there was a decision made that she could continue travel along with her staff,” Psaki said.There have been two separate cases of unexplained health incidents reported by U.S. personnel in Vietnam within the past week, U.S. officials said. It was not immediately clear who was impacted by the syndrome, though officials said it was not someone who worked for the vice president or the White House, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.On Wednesday, Harris appeared before U.S. diplomatic staff in Hanoi to sign a lease to a new embassy there. She didn’t weigh in directly on the Havana Syndrome situation but expressed gratitude to those working for the U.S. across the globe.“Here’s my message to embassy staff: thank you. The people who work in our embassies around the world are extraordinary public servants who represent the best of what the United States believes itself to be and aspires to be, which is a good neighbor for our partners and our allies around the globe,” she said.On Wednesday Harris was highlighting the announcement that the U.S. will send 1 million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Vietnam, bringing the total U.S. vaccine donation to that country to 6 million doses.The U.S. will also provide $23 million to help Vietnam expand distribution and access to vaccines, combat the pandemic and prepare for future disease threats. The Defense Department is also delivering 77 freezers to store vaccines throughout the country.Some of those impacted by Havana Syndrome report hearing a loud piercing sound and feeling intense pressure in the face. Pain, nausea, and dizziness sometimes follow.Similar, unexplained health ailments have since been reported by Americans serving in other countries, including Germany, Austria, Russia and China. A variety of theories have been floated to explain the incidents, including targeted microwaves or sonic attack, perhaps as part of an espionage or hacking effort.Particularly alarming are revelations of at least two possible incidents in the Washington area, including one case near the White House in November in which an official reported dizziness. Administration officials have speculated that Russia may be involved, a suggestion Moscow has denied.Congress has raised alarms over such incidents, finding rare bipartisan support in the House and Senate for continued government-wide investigation into the syndrome, response as well as support for American personnel receiving medical monitoring and treatment.The Biden administration is facing new pressure to resolve the mystery as the number of reported cases of possible attack has sharply grown. But scientists and government officials aren’t yet certain about who might have been behind any attacks, if the symptoms could have been caused inadvertently by surveillance equipment — or if the incidents were actually attacks.
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Widow of US Solider Slain in Afghanistan Speaks Out
Army Specialist Christopher Horton was a sniper who was killed in ambush in eastern Afghanistan on September 9, 2011. He was 26 years old. His widow, Jane Horton, is an advocate for fallen soldiers and the families they leave behind, known as Gold Star families. She’s also worked as a senior adviser to the Afghan ambassador and the U.S. secretary of defense. She took VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb inside her own visits to Afghanistan, her husband’s legacy of service and sacrifice and what the drawdown means to her.Camera: Mary Cieslak
Producer: Elizabeth Cherneff
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Crews Struggle to Stop Fire Bearing Down on Lake Tahoe
A California fire that gutted hundreds of homes advanced toward Lake Tahoe on Wednesday as thousands of firefighters tried to box in the flames and tourists who hoped to boat or swim found themselves looking at thick yellow haze instead of alpine scenery.The Caldor Fire was less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of the lake that straddles the California-Nevada state line. The fire was eating its way through rugged timberlands and was “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe basin, California’s state fire chief Thom Porter warned this week.On Tuesday, ash rained down and tourists ducked into cafes, outdoor gear shops and casinos on Lake Tahoe Boulevard for a respite from the unhealthy air.Inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, cocktail waitresses in fishnet stockings and leopard-print corsets served customers playing slots and blackjack.Sitting at a slot machine near a window looking out at cars driving through the haze, Ramona Trejo said she and her husband would stay for their 50th wedding anniversary, as planned.Trejo, who uses supplemental oxygen due to respiratory problems, said her husband wanted to keep gambling.“I would want to go now,” she said.South of Tahoe, Rick Nelson and his wife, Diane, had planned to host a weekend wedding at Fallen Leaf Lake, where his daughter and her fiancé had met. However, the smoke caused most of the community to leave. The sun was an eerie blood orange and the floats and boats in the lake were obscured by haze.In the end, the Nelsons spent two days arranging to have the wedding moved from the glacial lake several hours southwest to the San Francisco Bay Area.”Everybody’s trying to make accommodations for the smoke. And I think it’s becoming a reality for us, unfortunately,” Diane Nelson said. “I just think that the smoke and the fires have gotten bigger, hotter and faster-moving.”Climate change has made the West warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, according to scientists.Although there were no evacuations ordered for Lake Tahoe, it was impossible to ignore a blanket of haze so thick and vast that it closed schools for a second day in Reno, Nevada, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the fire.The last major blaze in the area took South Lake Tahoe by surprise after blowing up from an illegal campfire in the summer of 2007. The Angora Fire burned less than 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) but destroyed 254 homes, injured three people and forced 2,000 people to flee.The Caldor fire had scorched more than 190 square miles (492 square kilometers) and destroyed at least 455 homes since Aug. 14 in the Sierra Nevada southwest of the lake. It was 11% contained and threatened more than 17,000 structures.On its western side, the blaze continued to threaten more than a dozen small communities and wineries. On the eastern side, crews were bulldozing fire lines, opening up narrow logging roads and clearing ridgetops in hopes of stopping its advance, fire officials said.More than 2,500 firefighters were on the line and more resources were streaming in, fire officials said.Big firefighting aircraft were being brought in.“It’s the No. 1 fire in the country right now … there’s dozens of crews and dozers and engines and others that are on their way right now,” said Jeff Marsolais, supervisor for the Eldorado National Forest and an administrator on the fire.The resources were desperately needed.“This fire has just simply outpaced us. We emptied the cupboards of resources,” Marsolais said, adding that while the blaze had slowed its explosive growth in recent days, “that can change.”Meanwhile the Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history at 1,140 square miles (2,953 square kilometers) was burning only about 65 miles (104 kilometers) to the north. It was 43% contained.Nationally, 92 large fires were burning in a dozen mainly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.Northern California has seen a series of disastrous blazes that have burned hundreds of homes and many remain uncontained. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden declared that a major disaster exists in California and ordered federal aid made available to local governments, agencies and fire victims in four northern counties ravaged by blazes dating back to July 14.
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