Month: September 2021

Official: US Will Fly ‘Massive’ Number of Haitians to Haiti

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The Biden administration plans on “massive movements” of Haitian migrants in a small Texas border city on flights to Haiti starting Sunday, an official said Friday, representing a swift and dramatic response to thousands who suddenly assembled under and around a bridge.

Details are yet to be finalized but will likely involve five to eight flights a day, according to the official with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. San Antonio, the nearest major city, may be among the departure cities.

U.S. authorities closed traffic to vehicles and pedestrians in both directions at the only border crossing in Del Rio, Texas, after chaos unfolded Friday and presented the administration with a new and immediate challenge as it tries to manage large numbers of asylum-seekers who have been reaching U.S. soil.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was closing the border crossing with Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, “to respond to urgent safety and security needs.” Travelers were being directed to Eagle Pass, Texas, 91 kilometers away.

Haitians crossed the Rio Grande freely and in a steady stream, going back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico through knee-deep water with some parents carrying small children on their shoulders. Unable to buy supplies in the U.S., they returned briefly to Mexico for food and cardboard to settle, temporarily at least, under or near the bridge in Del Rio, a city of 35,000 that has been severely strained by migrant flows in recent months.

Migrants pitched tents and built makeshift shelters from giant reeds known as carrizo cane. Many bathed and washed clothing in the river.

The vast majority of the migrants at the bridge on Friday were Haitian, said Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens, who is the county’s top elected official and whose jurisdiction includes Del Rio. Some families have been under the bridge for as long as six days.

Trash piles were 3.1 meters wide, and at least two women have given birth, including one who tested positive for COVID-19 after being taken to a hospital, Owens said.

Val Verde County Sheriff Frank Joe Martinez estimated the crowd at 13,700 and said more Haitians were traveling through Mexico by bus.

About 500 Haitians were ordered off buses by Mexican immigration authorities in the state of Tamaulipas, about 200 kilometers south of the Texas border, the state government said in a press release Friday. They continued toward the border on foot.

Haitians have been migrating to the U.S.in large numbers from South America for several years, many of them having left the Caribbean nation after a devastating earthquake in 2010. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the U.S. border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.

It is unclear how such a large number amassed so quickly, though many Haitians have been assembling in camps on the Mexican side of the border, including in Tijuana, across from San Diego, to wait while deciding whether to attempt to enter the United States.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. “We will address it accordingly,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on MSNBC.

The Federal Aviation Administration, acting on a Border Patrol request, restricted drone flights around the bridge until Sept. 30, generally barring operations at or below 305 meters unless for security or law enforcement purposes.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican and frequent critic of President Joe Biden, said federal officials told him migrants under the bridge would be moved by the Defense Department to Arizona, California and elsewhere on the Texas border.

Some Haitians at the camp have lived in Mexican cities on the U.S. border for some time, moving often between them, while others arrived recently after being stuck near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, said Nicole Phillips, the legal director for advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance. A sense of desperation spread after the Biden administration ended its practice of admitting asylum-seeking migrants daily who were deemed especially vulnerable.

“People are panicking on how they seek refuge,” Phillips said.

Edgar Rodriguez, lawyer for the Casa del Migrante migrant shelter in Piedras Negras, north of Del Rio, noticed an increase of Haitians in the area two or three weeks ago and believes that misinformation may have played a part. Migrants often make decisions on false rumors that policies are about to change and that enforcement policies vary by city.

 

U.S. authorities are being severely tested after Biden quickly dismantled Trump administration policies that Biden considered cruel or inhumane, most notably one requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while waiting for U.S. immigration court hearings. Such migrants have been exposed to extreme violence in Mexico and faced extraordinary difficulty in finding attorneys.

The U.S Supreme Court last month let stand a judge’s order to reinstate the policy, though Mexico must agree to its terms. The Justice Department said in a court filing this week that discussions with the Mexican government were ongoing.

A pandemic-related order to immediately expel migrants without giving them the opportunity to seek asylum that was introduced in March 2020 remains in effect, but unaccompanied children and many families have been exempt. During his first month in office, Biden chose to exempt children traveling alone on humanitarian grounds.

The U.S. government has been unable to expel many Central American families because Mexican authorities have largely refused to accept them in the state of Tamaulipas, which is across from Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. On Friday, the administration said it would appeal a judge’s ruling a day earlier that blocked it from applying Title 42, as the pandemic-related authority is known, to any families.

Mexico has agreed to take expelled families only from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, creating an opening for Haitians and other nationalities because the U.S. lacks the resources to detain and quickly expel them on flights to their homelands.

In August, U.S. authorities stopped migrants nearly 209,000 times at the border, which was close to a 20-year high even though many of the stops involved repeat crossers because there are no legal consequences for being expelled under Title 42 authority.

People crossing in families were stopped 86,487 times in August, but fewer than one out of every five of those encounters resulted in expulsion under Title 42. The rest were processed under immigration laws, which typically means they were released with a court date or a notice to report to immigration authorities.

U.S. authorities stopped Haitians 7,580 times in August, a figure that has increased every month since August 2020, when they stopped only 55. There have also been major increases of Ecuadorians, Venezuelans and other nationalities outside the traditional sending countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. 

 

 
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Space Tourists Call Actor Tom Cruise While Orbiting Earth

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While orbiting Earth, four space tourists called U.S. actor Tom Cruise to talk about life aboard the spacecraft.

Representatives for SpaceX’s first privately chartered flight said the crew members spoke Friday with Cruise, who is hoping to take part in a movie made in space.

The Twitter account for the flight mission said, “Maverick, you can be our wingman anytime,” referencing the call sign for Cruise’s character in the movie Top Gun.

No further details were released about the conversation.

Last year, NASA said it was in talks with Cruise about filming a movie at the International Space Station.

In the first space flight without any trained astronauts, the space tourists are orbiting Earth at an altitude of 585 kilometers.

The crew is led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, and includes two contest winners and a hospital worker.

Crew members spoke with mission control Friday in a 10-minute live webcast.

Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, showed off her ability to do flips in zero gravity.

Arceneaux, a childhood cancer survivor, had spoken earlier with child cancer patients at St. Jude.

Chris Sembroski a 42-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, played his ukulele while Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old community college teacher, showed a picture she drew of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

The flight, named Inspiration4, took off Wednesday and is due to splash down Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.

SpaceX was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, who tweeted Thursday, “Missions like Inspiration4 help advance spaceflight to enable ultimately anyone to go to orbit & beyond.” 

 

 

 
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Ex-Algerian President Bouteflika, Ousted Amid Protests, Dies at 84

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Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who fought for independence from France, reconciled his conflict-ravaged nation and was then ousted amid pro-democracy protests in 2019 after two decades in power, has died at age 84.

A statement from the office of current President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, did not provide the cause of death or information about funeral arrangements.

Bouteflika had suffered a stroke in 2013 that badly weakened him. Concerns about his state of health, kept secret from the Algerian public, helped feed public frustration with his 20-year, corruption-tarnished rule. Mass public protests by the Hirak movement led to his departure.

An astute political chameleon, Bouteflika had been known as a wily survivor ever since he fought for independence from colonial ruler France in the 1950s and 1960s.

He stood up to Henry Kissinger as Algeria’s long-serving foreign minister, successfully negotiated with the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal to free oil ministers taken hostage in a 1975 attack on OPEC headquarters, and helped reconcile Algerian citizens with each other after a decade of civil war between radical Muslim militants and Algeria’s security forces.

“I’m a non-conformist politician. I’m a revolutionary,” Bouteflika told The Associated Press on the eve of his first presidential victory in 1999, after a campaign tarnished by fraud charges that drove his six rivals to pull out of the vote.

Upon taking office, Bouteflika promised “to definitively turn the somber pages of our history to work for a new era.”

Born March 2, 1937, to Algerian parents in the border town of Oujda, Morocco, Bouteflika was among Algeria’s most enduring politicians.

In 1956, Bouteflika entered the National Liberation Army, formed to fight Algeria’s bloody independence war. He commanded the southern Mali front and slipped into France clandestinely.

After the war’s end, Bouteflika became foreign minister at just 25, at a time when Algeria was a model of doctrinaire socialism tethered to the Soviet Union. Its capital, Algiers, was nicknamed “Moscow on the Med.”

He kept that post for 16 years, helping to raise Algeria’s influence and define the country as a leader of the Third World and the Non-Aligned Movements. He was active in the United Nations and presided over the U.N. General Assembly in 1974.

In 1978, he slipped from sight for nearly two decades, spending more than six years in exile to escape corruption charges that were later dropped.

Algeria’s army held the reins of power throughout that time. The National Liberation Army had been transformed into a single party that ruled until 1989, when a multiparty system was introduced.

But as the Islamic Salvation Front party, or FIS, rapidly gained support, the army canceled Algeria’s first multi-party legislative elections in 1992 to thwart a likely victory by the Muslim fundamentalists. An insurgency erupted that left an estimated 200,000 dead over the ensuing years.

Bouteflika took office in 1999, Algeria’s first civilian leader in more than three decades. He managed to bring stability to a country nearly brought to its knees by the violence, unveiling a bold program in 2005 to reconcile the fractured nation by persuading Muslim radicals to lay down their arms.

 

Bouteflika and the armed forces neutralized Algeria’s insurgency, but then watched it metastasize into a Saharan-wide movement linked to smuggling and kidnapping — and to al-Qaida.

Bouteflika stood with the United States in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, particularly on intelligence-sharing and military cooperation. It marked a turnaround from the militantly anti-American, Soviet-armed Algeria of years past when figures like Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver took refuge there.

Bouteflika’s powerful political machine had the constitution changed to cancel the presidency’s two-term limit. He was then reelected in 2009 and 2013, amid charges of fraud and a lack of powerful challengers.

His firebrand past dissolved as age and illness took its toll on the once-charismatic figure. Corruption scandals over infrastructure and hydrocarbon projects dogged him for years and tarnished many of his closest associates. His brother, two former prime ministers and other top officials are now in prison over corruption.

Bouteflika balked at the region-wide calls for change embodied by the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions that overthrew three dictators to his east. Bouteflika tamped down unrest through salary and subsidy increases, a vigilant security force and a lack of unity in the country’s opposition. He also failed to restore civic trust or create an economy that could offer the jobs needed for Algeria’s growing youth population despite the nation’s vast oil and gas wealth.

Bouteflika was increasingly absent from view during his third and fourth presidential terms after suffering a stroke. The extent to which Bouteflika was controlled by the army remained unclear. He once told the AP that he turned down the job of president in 1994 because he was unable to accept conditions set by the military.

Algeria’s Hirak protests erupted after he announced plans to run for a fifth term in 2019, and it was the then-army chief who sealed Bouteflika’s fate by siding with the demonstrators. Bouteflika had no choice but to step down.

Despite new elections and some gestures toward the protesters, Algeria’s leadership remains opaque and has recently cracked down on dissent, notably among Berber populations.

The secrecy surrounding Algeria’s leaders is such that it’s unclear whether Bouteflika ever married or had any survivors.

 

 
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France Recalls US, Australian Ambassadors Over Submarine Deal 

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France has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia after Australia ended a deal to buy French submarines in favor of one to pursue nuclear-powered vessels using U.S. technology.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a written statement Friday that the move “is justified by the exceptional seriousness” of the matter.

He said the decision by President Emmanuel Macron followed “unacceptable behavior between allies and partners.”

This is the first time France has recalled its ambassador to the United States, according to the French Foreign Ministry. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1778.

A White House official said that the U.S. regretted the French decision and would be engaged in the coming days to resolve its differences with France.

At the State Department, spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement, “France is a vital partner and our oldest ally, and we place the highest value on our relationship.”

U.S. President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the deal between the United States, Australia and Britain to provide U.S. nuclear submarine technology to Australia.

Macron has not commented on the issue.

France had been planning to sell conventional submarines to Australia in a multibillion-dollar deal.

The country has also been pushing for several years to create a European strategy to boost economic and defense ties in the Indo-Pacific region.

In an interview Thursday with France Info radio, Le Drian described the deal between the United States and Australia as a “stab in the back.”

“We built a relationship of trust with Australia, and this trust was betrayed,” he said, adding that Biden had acted like his predecessor, Donald Trump.

“This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do,” he said.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. 
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Emotions Mixed as World Leaders Gather for UN General Assembly

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Amid COVID threat, New York City is asking all delegates to show proof of vaccination, but UN officials won’t ban heads of state from entering UN headquarters, which is international territory

Producer: Tina Trinh. Cameras: Tina Trinh, Gary Jaffe.
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Leaders to Gather at UN Against COVID-19 Backdrop  

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Afghanistan, climate action and the COVID-19 pandemic will be front and center next week when large numbers of world leaders return to New York for their first in-person meetings at the United Nations in more than a year.     

The coronavirus pandemic has slowed in-person diplomacy at the United Nations, and last September it was still considered too unsafe to hold the annual gathering that draws nearly 200 presidents and prime ministers and their large delegations in person, so it was all virtual.  

Vaccines have made it safer to hold a scaled-down gathering, although the rampant spread of the delta variant left decisions for many about coming until the last minute. Leaders also have the option to stay home and send a video message, which about 50 of them plan to do. Many of those leaders are from lower income countries where vaccines have been in short supply, highlighting the imbalance in vaccine access.    

“What we need is a global vaccination plan, and we need those that have power in the world to put their power at the service of vaccine equity,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters recently.   

The World Health Organization has set a global target of vaccinating at least 40% of the population of every country against COVID-19 by the end of this year, and 70% of the world’s population by the middle of next year.   

More than 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, about 260 million of them through COVAX, a multilateral effort for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. But lower-income countries are still lagging far behind wealthy ones, particularly in Africa, where only 2% of the world’s vaccine doses have been administered.   

U.S. President Joe Biden is convening a virtual summit on Wednesday that will urge commitments from both the public and private sectors to work to end the pandemic by next year.   

“We are building a coalition of governments, businesses, international institutions and civil society to expand vaccine production, accelerate access to vaccines and life-saving treatment, and strengthen health systems around the globe,”  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Friday.  

Climate emergency  

Guterres has encouraged leaders to build back better from the pandemic, and a large part of that is focused on a greener recovery.     

The world is not on track to meet pledges made in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to slow global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and as low as 1.5 degrees, above pre-industrial levels.   

“We really are out of time,” Guterres said Thursday in a video message marking a grim U.N. climate report. “We must act now to prevent further irreversible damage.”  

In November, nations will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, to try to remove some of the obstacles to achieving the Paris goals.   

“It has to be a turning point where action on mitigation, adaptation and finance happen,” a senior U.N. official said of the Glasgow conference, known as COP26. 

On Monday, Guterres will co-host a private summit with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a small group of leaders to try to advance some of the priorities for Glasgow to be a success.  

“As the [British] prime minister has said, we need urgent progress on cash, cars, coal and trees,” British Ambassador Barbara Woodward said. “That means raising the $100 billion to fund adaptation and resilience for climate-vulnerable countries. It means getting ambitious plans from countries who have not set out how they will cut emissions, particularly phasing out coal, and revitalizing and protecting nature.” 

Geopolitical crises  

There will be no shortage of political and humanitarian problems to discuss.  

Conflict and famine in Ethiopia and a military coup in Myanmar were already in the international spotlight this year. Millions of Yemenis are near starving. The war in Syria has dragged on for more than a decade, and neighboring Lebanon is plunging into an economic abyss.   

Haiti was rocked by an earthquake one month ago just weeks after its president was assassinated. Earlier this month, Guinea’s military staged a coup and jailed the president. And not to be ignored, North Korea has resumed test-firing ballistic missiles. 

But in recent weeks, the situation in Afghanistan has seized international attention as the government collapsed, the Taliban swept into power in Kabul, and the United States military departed the country ending its 20-year military presence. 

Chaos ensued as thousands of terrified Afghans who had worked for the U.S. military and other NATO countries or worked in other sensitive positions, sought to leave the country to avoid Taliban reprisals. The situation has been seen as a foreign policy disaster for the Biden administration, which as Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, inherited a withdrawal deadline but no plan from the former Trump administration.  

Now the United Nations finds itself in a difficult situation, trying to assist nearly 18 million Afghans who are in dire need of assistance after years of conflict, drought and now COVID-19.  

“Afghanistan represents an enormous humanitarian challenge for the United Nations, and it’s going to be U.N. agencies responsible for keeping Afghans alive during a period of hunger and political chaos,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group.  

The concern with which wealthy countries view the situation was evident on Monday, when they pledged more than $1.2 billon to provide humanitarian and regional assistance to try to prevent a new refugee crisis.  

Western governments are especially worried that the Taliban will impose repressive restrictions on women and girls, jeopardizing 20 years of hard-won gains.  

“We’re going to hear European leaders in particular talk about the need to protect women’s rights and human rights in Afghanistan,” Gowan said. “There’s not very much the General Assembly can do to force the Taliban to protect those.”  

G-20 foreign ministers will discuss the situation on Wednesday, and it is likely to be a dominant topic in bilateral meetings.  

Diplomats say nations need to coordinate a united approach to how they will deal with the Taliban going forward.   

The foreign ministers of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) are also planning a meeting, and diplomats say Afghanistan will certainly be on the agenda. 

 

Biden debut

The U.N. secretary-general’s spokesman said Guterres and President Biden will meet in person Monday in New York.   

The U.S. president’s speech always draws a full General Assembly. This year, due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place at the U.N., delegations will be allowed to have only their leader plus three other people seated in the hall.  

Biden will make his debut address to the assembly Tuesday morning as the annual debate gets under way.

“I think Biden will have a message for the leaders, which is that they shouldn’t let China gain too much power in the U.N. system,” said International Crisis Group’s Gowan. “The Biden administration, just like the Trump administration before it, is concerned that the Chinese are gaining influence rapidly in multilateral institutions, and Biden will want to send the message that the U.S. is still the natural leader here.”    

Thomas-Greenfield said the president will deliver his speech in person and then return to Washington where he will continue to participate in U.N. meetings virtually.  

 

“President Biden will speak to our top priorities: ending the COVID-19 pandemic, combatting the climate crisis and defending human rights, democracy and the international rules-based order,” she said Friday. “All three are challenges that stretch across borders. They involve every single country on earth.” 

Secretary of State Blinken will be in New York Monday through Thursday to engage with international officials. Special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, will also be in New York.  

COVID-19 precautions

The Biden administration, New York City officials and the U.N. are eager to keep this gathering healthy. 

Inside the General Assembly hall, everyone is expected to be vaccinated, although an honor system is in place and delegates will not have to show proof. If they want to sit down and eat in a U.N. cafeteria, they will have to show their vaccination status, as that is required in all city restaurants now.  

The U.N. will also have a reduced number of staff in the building, and the hundreds of foreign and visiting journalists who cover the annual meeting have not been granted access this year.  

The city will be providing a mobile COVID-19 testing unit outside U.N. headquarters all week, where delegates can also get vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson and Johnson shot.  

Thomas-Greenfield said she would be having a COVID-19 test Monday morning before meeting other officials.  

“Stopping the spread of COVID is our top priority, both here next week and everywhere going forward,” she said. 
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French President Unveils New High-Speed Train

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French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday celebrated the 40th anniversary of France’s Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) — “high-speed train” — system, by unveiling a more efficient and environmentally friendly next-generation train. 

During a ceremony at the Gare de Lyon rail station in Paris, Macron hailed the history of the original TGV, inaugurated at the same station by then-French President François Mitterrand.

That first French bullet train first joined Paris to Lyon and then eventually connected the rest of the country, with high-speed tracks now extending to Strasbourg and Bordeaux and trains that travel at speeds of 350 kph. In 2007, a TGV reached a record 574.8 kph, a mark that still stands. 

On Friday, Macron dropped the curtain — actually, a large French flag — on the next generation of high-speed train, the TGV M, which the French president described as a “formidable symbol” … which is going to recapture spaces and win back the hearts of the French.” 

Macron announced a $7.7 billion plan to redevelop and revitalize the TGV network and the state-run rail company SNCF, including new lines serving cities such as Nice and Toulouse, as well as lines serving smaller communities. He said the plan also includes improving rail freight service. 

The new, streamlined version of the TGV will carry more passengers — up to 740 passengers from 600 — and move between cities at a top speed of 320 kph while consuming 20% less electricity.

Increasing train use is also part of France’s plan to reduce emissions in the country. 

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
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Blinken Vows to Urge Arab Countries to Normalize Ties With Israel

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday he would urge Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.

 

Blinken spoke at a virtual gathering with officials from Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. The meeting was held on the first anniversary of U.S.-brokered diplomatic agreements reached last year known as the Abraham Accords.

 

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said during the meeting he would visit Bahrain later this month, the first such visit by an Israeli minister to the country since the pacts were reached. He said the accords were open to new members as well.

 

U.S. President Joe Biden has supported the agreements brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.  

 

The Palestinians have perceived the deals as a betrayal because they further weakened a longstanding Arab position that recognition of Israel should be linked to progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

 

Senior Biden administration officials have said they want more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel, but until Friday’s meeting, the administration had been reluctant to observe the anniversary of the agreements.

 

Blinken touted the deals and their economic benefits and said, “This administration will continue to build on the successful efforts of the last administration to keep normalization marching forward.”

 

The secretary of state said he would also help Israel develop better relations with Sudan, which reached a breakthrough with Israel last year, and Egypt and Jordan, countries with longstanding peace deals with Israel.

 

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.

 
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Thousands of Migrants in Limbo Under Texas Bridge

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As many as 10,000 migrants, many from Haiti, are in a makeshift camp under a bridge that connects the U.S. and Mexico near Del Rio, Texas. The number is growing, according to officials on the ground.

 

The top Border Patrol union official in the Del Rio Sector, Jon Anfinsen, told The Washington Post, “We’re scrambling to bring every resource we can, but it’s a logistical nightmare.”

 

“We’re pulling agents from across the country to help, but they’re not going to be there today, and we’re just trying to keep heads above water,” he said.

 

According to Reuters, the conditions under the bridge are “squalid,” with food and water reportedly scarce as temperatures soar.

 

The Border Patrol says it is increasing staffing in the area and providing drinking water, towels and portable toilets to the migrants while they wait to be taken to U.S. processing facilities.

 

Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano, a Democrat, tweeted Thursday he counted more than  10,000 migrants and had asked for federal help, noting a steady increase in the number of migrants under the bridge.

 

“President Biden, have you been briefed on the ongoing crisis yet?” he wrote. ]

 

The situation presents another border-related challenge for President Joe Biden, who has rolled back some of former President Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration policies.

The U.S.-Mexico border has seen unprecedented numbers of migrants attempting to cross into the United States so far this year.

 

More than 195,000 migrants were arrested at the Mexican border in August, according to government data released on Wednesday.

 

The Biden administration has blamed Trump for the migrant surge, saying he reduced legal immigration paths.

 

Some information in this report came from Reuters.

 
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Will Russia’s Young People Vote in Parliamentary Elections?

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin provoked chuckles earlier this month from school kids in the Russian city of Vladivostok when a 10-year-old asked him to subscribe to his YouTube channel. “Sign up please. I’d be very glad,” the kid said.

 

Russia’s 68-year-old leader seemed baffled.  

 

“What do I have to sign?” Putin asked. “Sign what? I didn’t understand — what should I sign?” the president queried. The exchange was seen by many Russian commentators as an iconic moment in a widening division between Putin and his country’s youngsters.

 

The Vladivostok school kids are not of voting age, but as Russians started to go to the polls Friday to vote in parliamentary elections, the turnout and voting patterns of the country’s internet-savvy 18-to-24-year-olds will be scrutinized by the Kremlin as well as Putin’s foes.

 

Over the past year opinion polling has suggested that young Russians are increasingly unhappy with their president. Around half of young Russians expressed dissatisfaction with Putin in a poll by the independent Russian polling organization Levada Center earlier this year. Only 20% said they supported him, a sharp drop from 36% previously. Nearly half said the country was moving in the wrong direction under his leadership, with just 44% saying the direction of travel was okay.

 

“Young people are becoming more politically active,” analyst Natia Seskuria said in a recent commentary for London-based think tank Chatham House. “After 21 years of Putin’s rule, regime fatigue is settling in — particularly in the younger generations who have known no other leader.”

 

“Growing dissatisfaction made many join demonstrations that led to more than 10,000 arrests and dozens of criminal cases against the protesters,” Seskuria said, referring to protests mounted in the wake of the imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny earlier this year on charges he says are trumped up. “Young Russians have used social media to mobilize support for rallies and to criticize Putin. Navalny, too, has used the power of social media to connect with younger voters.”

How many of Russia’s young people vote for Putin’s ruling United Russia Party will give some idea of the challenge the Kremlin may face in the coming months. It also will indicate whether Russia’s leader will face a mounting backlash from a young generation that is frustrated with economic stagnation, the lack of job prospects and a propaganda-heavy media machine that does not connect with it in the way Navalny has managed to with You-Tube videos and social media posts.  

 

Polling data suggests that just 26% of Russians are ready to vote for Putin’s United Russia Party, which is seeking to maintain its Duma majority of 334 seats. That is its lowest opinion poll rating since 2008.  

 

But few doubt United Russia will retain its Duma majority. Kremlin critics say this election — voting takes place over three days — is the least free since Putin came to power 21 years ago. Genuinely independent candidates are barred from running, cash-handouts have been offered to voters, and there is evidence of voter intimidation, all taking place amid an unprecedented crackdown on dissent.  

 

Critics also expect plenty of ballot-rigging in the election for the 450-seat State Duma. Long lines formed at some polling stations Friday, according to local reports. Navalny supporters suggested state workers were being mobilized to vote by the Kremlin and local authorities.  

 

“Every time [under Putin], elections have looked a little less like elections. Now this process is complete,” exiled Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky told Echo of Moscow radio station this week. “The next time our people will vote for real will be after they earn that right on the barricades,” he added.

 

But little is being left to chance by the Kremlin, say Navalny supporters.  

And they accused U.S. tech giants Google and Apple Friday of bowing to Kremlin pressure by deleting a youth-oriented Smart Voting app that offers a step-by-step guide on how to vote tactically against pro-Putin candidates.  

 

“This is an act of political censorship, and it can’t be justified,” said Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press spokesperson.  

“They caved into the Kremlin’s blackmail,” added Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s former campaign manager.

 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegation of political censorship, telling reporters in Moscow the app was removed in observation of the “letter and spirit” of Russian law.

 

From prison, via a message on Instagram, Navalny urged voters to undermine the Kremlin by voting for the best placed candidate not affiliated with United Russia, which means in many places voting for candidates offered by the Communist Party. In the message Navalny said: “Are you not interested in trying?”

 

The removal of Navalny’s tactical voting app by Apple and Google from their app stores also drew criticism from international rights organizations.  

“Russian government officials are putting tech companies in a tightening vise, threatening criminal actions against individual employees inside the country to pressure their employers into yielding to calls for censorship,” said Matt Bailey, director of the digital freedom program of PEN America.  

 

“The decision on the part of Apple and Google to remove an app from the iOS and Android App Stores being used to organize protest against the government is the result of blackmail, pure and simple,” he added in a statement.

 

 
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Navalny App Gone from Google, Apple Stores on Russia Vote Day

Posted on by SeeEU

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny’s Smart Voting app disappeared from Apple and Google stores Friday as Russians began voting in a three-day parliamentary election marked by a historic crackdown on the opposition.

“Removing the Navalny app from stores is a shameful act of political censorship,” top Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said on Twitter.

The app promoted an initiative that outlines for Navalny supporters which candidate they should back to unseat Kremlin-aligned politicians.

Russia had accused Google and Apple of election interference, demanding this week that they remove the app from their stores. 

Exiled Navalny ally Leonid Volkov said the companies had “caved in to the Kremlin’s blackmail.”

“We have the whole of the Russian state against us and even big tech companies,” Navalny’s team said on Telegram.

In a message from prison, Navalny had urged supporters to download the app, which aims to help Russians to vote out candidates from President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party in the upcoming polls. 

On the eve of the vote his team urged Russian voters to back Communist Party candidates. 

Navalny – who was detained in January – has this year seen his organizations declared “extremist” and banned, while all his top aides have fled.

Russia’s media regulator has since barred dozens of websites linked to Navalny including his main website navalny.com. 

 
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Biden Executive Order Allows Sanctions on Those Involved in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict

Posted on by SeeAF

A new executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden allows the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction all sides involved in the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, including the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments. 

“The new executive order I signed today establishes a new sanctions regime that will allow us to target those responsible for, or complicit in, prolonging the conflict in Ethiopia, obstructing humanitarian access, or preventing a ceasefire,” Biden said in a statement Friday. 

“These sanctions are not directed at the people of Ethiopia or Eritrea, but rather the individuals and entities perpetrating the violence and driving a humanitarian disaster.” 

The order allows the agency to impose sanctions if steps are not taken soon to end 10 months of fighting. 

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Amhara regional government can also be sanctioned.

Previous U.S. attempts to pressure the warring factions, including visa restrictions against Ethiopian and Eritrean officials, have not been successful. 

“The United States is determined to push for a peaceful resolution of this conflict, and we will provide full support to those leading mediation efforts, including the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa Olusegun Obasanjo,” said Biden. “We fully agree with United Nations and African Union leaders: there is no military solution to this crisis.” 

The war is threatening the stability of Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country. 

The conflict has triggered the world’s largest hunger crisis, leaving millions of people in need of humanitarian aid. 

On Thursday, U.S. officials said only 10 percent of humanitarian supplies for the embattled Tigray region have been allowed to enter the area over the past month. 

The U.S. and the United Nations say the trucks transporting essential aid such as food and water to the area have been blocked by Ethiopian troops.

Some information in this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters. 

 
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Somalia Blasts Djibouti Over ‘Unlawful Detention’ of National Security Adviser

Posted on by SeeAF

Somalia’s government has condemned what it calls the unlawful detention of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s national security adviser.

Somali government spokesman Abdirashid Hashi in a tweet Friday said Fahad Yasin was detained at Djibouti airport.   

 

Yasin was flying from Turkey to Mogadishu with a stop in Djibouti.    

 

Government spokesman Hashi tweeted such acts will not help to strengthen ties between Somalia and Djibouti.   

 

Djibouti’s Minister of Economy and Finance Ilyas Dawaleh tweeted a response to the communication director’s accusation.   

 

Dawaleh asked him to “refrain from any inappropriate and baseless statements.”

 

Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Yusuf added, “There are fake news released in social media trying to create confusion and drag Djibouti into Somalia internal challenges and crisis. We will continue to stand by our brothers and sisters in Somalia but never interfere in their internal affairs.”

 

Yasin, who is the former head of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, is at the center of a power struggle between Somalia’s president and prime minister.   

 

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble suspended Yasin over the disappearance of a female cybersecurity spy, who the agency says was killed by al-Shabab militants.   

 

Her family believes Somalia’s spy agency was responsible for her disappearance.    

 

Yasin was due to attend a national security meeting on Saturday to discuss the controversial case.   

 

The case has Farmajo and Roble in a stand-off that threatens the country’s elections and security gains.

 

Farmajo on Thursday issued a suspension of Roble’s executive powers, which the prime minister promptly rejected.   
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WHO: Political Polarization, Legal Hurdles Hamper Closure of Guantanamo Bay

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The U.S. has ended its longest running foreign war, with the full withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan on August 31. But several challenges remain, including what to do with terror suspects still detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. VOA’s Yuni Salim explores in this report narrated by Nova Poerwadi. 

Camera: Yuni Salim   Produced by: Yuni Salim

 
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Waterfall in Eastern Turkey Sees More Visitors

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The tourism industry in Turkey has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and until recently several wildfires. Several sites, however, have again started to attract local and international visitors. VOA’s Arif Aslan reports from Van, Turkey, in a story narrated by Sirwan Kajjo.
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Turkey Cracks Down on Afghan Refugees

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Turkish authorities have detained hundreds of unregistered refugees – including many Afghans – in Istanbul. The crackdown comes as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government faces growing public pressure to stop any surge of Afghans who arrive in Turkey following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

Producer: Henry Hernandez
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Fighting Fire with Fire in US to Protect Sequoia Trees

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With flames advancing toward the signature grove of ancient massive trees in Sequoia National Park, firefighters on Thursday fought fire with fire.

Using firing operations to burn out flammable vegetation and other matter before the wildfire arrives in the Giant Forest is one of several ways firefighters can use their nemesis as a tool to stop, slow or redirect fires.

The tactic comes with considerable risks if conditions change. But it is routinely used to protect communities, homes or valuable resources now under threat from fires, including the grove of about 2,000 massive sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest by volume.

Here’s how it works:

It’s all about the fuel

Three things influence how hot and fast a fire burns: the landscape, with fire burning faster up steep slopes; weather, with winds and dry conditions fanning flames; and fuel, the amount of material that can burn.

The first two can’t be controlled, but there are ways to reduce fuels long before any fire breaks out — or even as one is approaching.

“Of all the things that affect fire behavior, the fuels is really where we can take action,” said Maureen Kennedy, a professor of wildfire ecology at the University of Washington.

Historically, low- to moderate-severity fires every five to 30 years burned out excess brush and timber before deadly fires in the early 20th century led to aggressive firefighting and a U.S. Forest Service policy to suppress all fires by 10 a.m. the day after they were reported.

That led to dense forests of dead trees, fallen logs and overgrown brush that accumulated over the past century, fueling more massive fires.

Slowing fire by creating fire

For centuries, Native Americans have used fire to thin out forests.

Prescribed burns set under favorable weather conditions can help mimic the lower-intensity fires of the past and burn off excess fuels when they are not at risk of getting out of control. If fire eventually burns the area, it will likely do so at lower intensity and with less damage.

 

The idea is the same during a wildfire. Fire chiefs try to take advantage of shifting winds or changing landscapes to burn out an area before the fire gets there, depriving it of the fuel it needs to keep going.

“They’re trying to achieve the same effect,” Kennedy said. “They’re trying to moderate the fire behavior. They’re trying to remove the fuels that make the fire burn so intensely.

Of course, their goal there is to better contain and control the fire and protect the more valuable resources.”

Safely setting mild fires

All wildland firefighters learn about burnout operations in basic training, but it takes a higher level of training to plan and carry out firing operations.

“You need to know how to fight fire before you light fire,” said Paul Broyles, a former chief of fire operations for the National Park Service.

Burning an area between the fire front and a projected point — such as a firebreak or the Giant Forest in Sequoia — requires the right conditions and enough time to complete the burnout before the fire can reach a fire line constructed by firefighters.

 

Often such operations are conducted at night when fires tend to die down or slow their advance as temperatures cool and humidity rises.

The convection of a fire pulls in winds from all direction, which can help. As fires climb steep terrain, burnouts are sometimes set on the other side of a ridge so any embers will land in an area where dry grasses and brush have already burned.

The firing operations require a crew making sure the fire does not spread in the wrong direction. It may also include bulldozers cutting fire lines or air tankers dropping retardant to further slow the flames.

All of it has to work in sync, Broyles said.

“Air tankers by themselves do not put fires out unless you follow up with personnel,” he said. “It’s like the military. You don’t just bomb the hell out of your enemy without ground troops.”

While burnouts are commonly used, they can backfire if winds shift or they aren’t lit early enough.

“When you put more fire on the ground, there is a risk,” said Rebecca Paterson, a spokesperson for Sequoia National Park. “It carries the potential to create more problems than it solves.”

Broyles said there were times he didn’t get a burnout started in time and firefighters had to be evacuated.

“Fortunately, in my case, we didn’t have any losses,” he said.

Small flames to protect giant sequoias

Firefighters on Thursday were conducting burnout operations in the Giant Forest at almost a micro level, moving from tree to tree, Paterson said. Ground cover and organic debris known as duff close to the trees was being set on fire, allowing the flames to creep away from the tree to create a buffer.

The General Sherman and other massive conifers were wrapped in aluminum blankets to protect them from the extreme heat.

The park was the first in the West to use prescribed fire more than 50 years ago and regularly burns some of its groves to remove fuels. Paterson said that was a reason for optimism.

“Hopefully, the Giant Forest will emerge from this unscathed,” she said. 

 
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Republican Who Voted to Impeach Trump Exits 2022 Race

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Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, one of 10 US House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in January, said Thursday he would not seek reelection, citing the “toxic” atmosphere in a party that remains enthralled by the former president.

The two-term back-bencher from Ohio stressed that family considerations played a substantial role in his decision, but he acknowledged the difficult political scenario, one in which he would have had to face a Trump-endorsed primary challenger next year.

“While my desire to build a fuller family life is at the heart of my decision, it is also true that the current state of our politics, especially many of the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor in my decision,” he said in a statement.

Gonzalez was more blunt in an interview in Thursday’s New York Times, assailing Trump as “a cancer for the country” for inspiring his supporters to launch the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.

“I don’t believe he can ever be president again,” he told the daily.

Gonzalez, a 36-year-old conservative, is the first among the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump to retire rather than endure what is undoubtedly a brutal season of primaries ahead.

Trump, who remains hugely influential in the party, has made clear he will work tirelessly to help defeat those Republicans who sought to oust him.

They include Liz Cheney, who lost her House Republican leadership position when she refused to tone down her criticism of the former president.

Trump has already announced his support for a former Trump aide, Max Miller, running for Gonzalez’s seat.

Several House Democrats tweeted out their appreciation of Gonzalez after his announcement.

He and the other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump “are paying a price for doing the right thing,” congressman Brendan Boyle said. “But they will be vindicated by history.” 
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France Suspends 3,000 Unvaccinated Health Care Workers

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France has suspended 3,000 health care workers who were not inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine by a government-mandated Sept. 15 deadline.

“Several dozens” of the country’s 2.7 million health workers, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Thursday, opted to resign rather than receive the inoculation against the coronavirus.

Tens of thousands health workers were unvaccinated in July when President Emmanuel Macron announced the Sept. 15 deadline to have at least one shot of a vaccine.

Veran said most suspended employees worked in support services, while few doctors and nurses were among the suspended.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Friday that France has reported more than 7 million COVID cases and more than 116,000 COVID deaths.

In the U.S. state of Idaho, hospitals have begun rationing care “because the massive increase of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization in all areas of the state has exhausted existing resources,” the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said in a statement Thursday.

“The situation is dire – we don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for COVID-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident,” DHW Director Dave Jeppesen said in a statement.

The best way to end the rationing “is for more people to get vaccinated,” Jeppesen said.“It dramatically reduces your chances of having to go to the hospital if you do get sick from COVID-19.”

The Intenational Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the World Trade Organization have met with the major COVID vaccine manufacturers to devise strategies to improve vaccine access for low- and middle-income countries.

The goal of the coalition is to vaccinate at least 40% of people in every country by the end of this year and at least 60% by mid-2022.

WHO said the 2021 target is “a critical milestone to end the pandemic and for global economic recovery.” 

 
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Taiwan Calls for Quick Start to Trade Talks with EU

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Taiwan’s government called on the European Union to quickly begin trade talks after the bloc pledged to seek a trade deal with the tech-heavyweight island, something Taipei has long angled for.

The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential bilateral investment agreement in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan’s president but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then.

Responding to the EU’s newly announced strategy to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific, including seeking a trade deal with Taiwan, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday talks should start soon. The European Parliament has already given its backing to an EU trade deal with Taiwan.

“We call on the European Union to initiate the pre-negotiation work of impact assessment, public consultation and scope definition for a Bilateral Investment Agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible in accordance with the resolutions of the European Parliament,” it said.

“As a like-minded partner of the EU’s with core values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation in the supply chain reorganization of semiconductors and other related strategic industries, digital economy, green energy, and post-epidemic economic recovery.”

EU member states and the EU itself have no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan due to objections from China, which considers the island one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of statehood, so any investment deal could be tricky politically for the EU.

But the EU’s relations with China have worsened.

In May, the European Parliament halted ratification of a new investment pact with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on EU politicians, deepening a dispute in Sino-European relations and denying EU companies greater access to the world’s second-largest economy.

The EU has also been looking to boost cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductors, as a chip shortage roils supply chains and shuts some auto production lines, including in Europe. 

 
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Blinken Defends Deal to Share Nuclear Submarines with Australia

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States, Britain and Australia are hailing the announcement of a new security pact that will see Australia getting U.S. nuclear-powered submarine technology in a bid to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. China has condemned the deal, and France is outraged, after Australia abandoned its submarine deal with Paris. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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Lawyer Charged in Probe of Trump-Russia Investigation 

Posted on by SeeUS

The prosecutor tasked with examining the U.S. government’s investigation into Russian election interference charged a prominent cybersecurity lawyer on Thursday with making a false statement to the FBI. 

The case against the attorney, Michael Sussmann, is just the second prosecution brought by special counsel John Durham in 2½ years of work. Yet neither case brought by Durham undoes the core finding of an earlier investigation by Robert Mueller that Russia had interfered in sweeping fashion on behalf of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and that the Trump campaign welcomed that aid.

It lays bare the wide-ranging and evolving nature of Durham’s investigation. In addition to having scrutinized the activities of FBI and CIA officials during the early days of the Russia probe, it has also looked at the behavior of private individuals like Sussman who provided the U.S. government with information as it scrambled to determine whether Trump associates were coordinating with Russia to tip the election’s outcome. 

Suspect worked with Clinton campaign

The indictment accuses Sussmann of hiding that he was working with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign during a September 2016 conversation he had with the FBI’s general counsel, when he relayed concerns from cybersecurity researchers about potentially suspicious contacts between Russia-based Alfa Bank and a Trump organization server. The FBI looked into the matter but found no connections. 

Sussmann is a former federal prosecutor who specializes in cybersecurity.

Sussmann’s lawyers, Sean Berkowitz and Michael Bosworth, said their client is a highly respected national security lawyer who had previously worked in the Justice Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations. They said they were confident he would prevail at trial and “vindicate his good name.” 

“Mr. Sussmann has committed no crime,” they said in a statement. “Any prosecution here would be baseless, unprecedented, and an unwarranted deviation from the apolitical and principled way in which the Department of Justice is supposed to do its work.” 

The Alfa Bank matter was not a pivotal element of the Russia probe and was not even mentioned in Mueller’s 448-page report in 2019. Still, the indictment may give fodder to Russia investigation critics who regard it as politically tainted and engineered by Democrats. 

Sussmann’s former firm, Perkins Coie, has deep Democratic connections. A then-partner at the firm, Marc Elias, brokered a deal with the Fusion GPS research firm to study Trump’s business ties to Russia. That work, by former British spy Christopher Steele, produced a dossier of research that helped form the basis of flawed surveillance applications targeting a former Trump campaign official, Carter Page. 

Firm accepts resignation

A spokesman for Perkins Coie said Sussmann, “who has been on leave from the firm, offered his resignation from the firm in order to focus on his legal defense, and the firm accepted it.” 

The Durham investigation has already spanned months longer than the earlier special counsel probe into Russian election interference conducted by Mueller, the former FBI director, and his team. The investigation was slowed by the coronavirus pandemic and experienced leadership tumult following the abrupt departure last fall of a top deputy on Durham’s team. 

Though Trump had eagerly anticipated Durham’s findings in hopes that they’d be a boon to his reelection campaign, any political impact the conclusion may have once had has been dimmed by the fact that Trump is no longer in office. 

The Durham appointment by then-Attorney General William Barr in 2019 was designed to examine potential errors or misconduct in the U.S. government’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was conspiring with Russia to sway the outcome of the election. 

A two-year investigation by Mueller established that the Trump campaign was eager to receive and benefit from Kremlin aid and documented multiple interactions between Russians and Trump associates. Investigators said they did not find enough evidence to charge any campaign official with having conspired with Russia, though a half-dozen Trump aides were charged with various offenses, including false statements. 

Until now, Durham had brought only one criminal case — a false statement charge against an FBI lawyer who altered an email related to the surveillance of Page to obscure the nature of Page’s preexisting relationship with the CIA. That lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation. 
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Russians Start Voting in Parliamentary Polls After Historic Crackdown

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Russians in the Far East began voting in a three-day parliamentary election in which vocal Kremlin critics have been barred from running following a historic crackdown on the opposition.

Parliamentary and local polls in the world’s largest country spread over 11 time zones began at 8 a.m. Friday. So as Muscovites prepared to go to bed, residents of the Far Eastern Chukotka and Kamchatka regions were gearing up to cast their ballots.

“Let’s go!” Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, said in a live broadcast. “We are so excited!”

The run-up to the parliamentary polls has been marred by an unprecedented crackdown on Kremlin critics and independent media, with President Vladimir Putin’s top foe Alexey Navalny jailed in January and his organizations subsequently outlawed.

With many voters frustrated by falling incomes and not planning to cast their ballots, Putin urged Russians to elect a “strong” parliament.

“I’m counting on your responsible, balanced and patriotic civic position,” Putin said in a video address.

The 68-year-old Russian leader is currently isolating after the Kremlin announced this week an outbreak of coronavirus cases among his inner circle. He said Thursday that “dozens” had tested positive.

In a message from prison, Navalny called on Russians to cast aside apathy and vote pro-Kremlin candidates out of power.

“Are you not interested in trying?” he said in a message posted on Instagram, adding that even in prison he remained optimistic and urged Russians to do the same.

“I really do not think that I cannot change anything,” said the 45-year-old, who barely survived a nerve agent poisoning he has blamed on the Kremlin.

The opposition politician’s allies have been barred from running, and his team has promoted Navalny’s tactical voting project app, urging supporters to back candidates best positioned to beat Putin’s United Russia candidates.

A majority of the 225 alternative parliament candidates named by Navalny’s allies are running on the Communist Party’s list.

The media regulator has blocked dozens of websites linked to Navalny, including the tactical voting website, and has also piled pressure on Google and Apple to remove Navalny’s app from their stores.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has claimed that developers of Navalny’s app have ties to the Pentagon, and last week Moscow summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan over interference of U.S. tech giants in the polls.

Recent surveys by state-run pollster VTsIOM showed fewer than 30% of Russians planning to vote for the ruling party, down from 40% to 45% in the weeks ahead of the last parliamentary election in 2016.

But United Russia is expected to retain its two-thirds majority in the Duma, enough to change the constitution as it did last year with reforms allowing Putin to extend his rule to 2036.

The vote is being held both online and in person, in a move officials said is aimed at limiting voters’ potential exposure to the coronavirus.

The opposition says that voting over several days gives officials greater opportunities to fix elections.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in August that it would not be sending observers to Russia for the parliamentary election because of a limit on the number of observers imposed by Moscow.

Campaigning was lackluster, and critics said the vote was little more than a rubber-stamping of Putin’s allies.

Andrei Kolesnikov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that the Kremlin needed a pliant legislature ahead of 2024 when Putin’s current term ends.

Widespread claims of voter fraud during parliamentary elections in 2011 sparked major demonstrations, but political observers were not expecting protests this time.

“Once the Duma elections are over, protests are unlikely, since the opposition and civil society are demoralized,” Kolesnikov wrote. “The regime crackdown will intensify.”

Besides United Russia, 13 more parties are running in the elections.

A total of 225 of the State Duma’s 450 members are elected through party lists, while the rest are selected in single-member districts.

More than 108 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots in Russia, and another 2 million Russians can vote abroad.

Russian passport holders from Ukraine’s two breakaway regions can take part in the vote.

Russians are also voting in local polls in dozens of regions, including regional assembly and gubernatorial elections.
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Clive Sinclair, Computing Pioneer, Dies at 81

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Sir Clive Sinclair, the British inventor who pioneered the pocket calculator and affordable home computers, died Thursday at age 81.

He died at his home in London a decade after being diagnosed with cancer, U.K. media said, prompting tributes from many who fondly recalled their first experience of computing in the early 1980s.

He was still working on inventions last week “because that was what he loved doing,” his daughter Belinda Sinclair told the BBC. “He was inventive and imaginative, and for him, it was exciting and an adventure. It was his passion.”

Sinclair’s groundbreaking products included the first portable electronic calculator in 1972.

The Sinclair ZX80, which was launched in 1980 and sold for less than £100 at the time, brought home computing to the masses in Britain and beyond.

Other early home computers such as the Apple II cost far more, and Sinclair’s company was the first in the world to sell more than a million machines.

Follow-up models included the ZX Spectrum in 1982, which boasted superior power and a more user-friendly interface, turbocharging the revolution in gaming and programming at home.

British movie director Edgar Wright, whose latest film, Last Night in Soho, premiered in Venice this month, paid tribute to Sinclair on Twitter.

“For someone whose first glimpses of a brave new world were the terrifying graphics of 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81, I’d like to salute tech pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair,” he said. “He made 21st century dreams feel possible. Will bash away on the rubber keys of a Spectrum in your honour. RIP.”

Tom Watson, former deputy leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, tweeted: “This man changed the course of my life.

“And arguably, the digital age for us in the UK started with the Sinclair ZX80, when thousands of kids learnt to code using 1k of RAM. For us, the Spectrum was like a Rolls-Royce with 48k.”

However, not all of Sinclair’s inventions were a runaway success.

The Sinclair C5, a battery-powered tricycle touted as the future of eco-friendly transport, became an expensive flop after it was launched in 1985.

But in retrospect, it was ahead of its time, given today’s attention on climate change and the vogue for electric vehicles.

“You cannot exaggerate Sir Clive Sinclair’s influence on the world,” gaming journalist and presenter Dominik Diamond tweeted. “And if we’d all stopped laughing long enough to buy a C5, he’d probably have saved the environment.”

Born in 1940, Sinclair left school at 17, becoming a technical writer creating specialist manuals.

At 22, he formed his first company, making mail-order radio kits, including what was then the world’s smallest transistor radio.

Other ventures included digital watches and an early version of a flat-screen television.

He was knighted in 1983.

Ironically, in a 2013 interview with the BBC, Sinclair revealed that he did not use computers.

“I don’t like distraction,” he explained. “If I had a computer, I’d start thinking I could change this, I could change that, and I don’t want to. My wife very kindly looks after that for me.” 
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