A Russian court has fined Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, saying the companies failed to delete content that Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor said violates Russian law.
Facebook was fined about $288,000, while Twitter was fined about $69,000 and Telegram was hit with $124,00 in fines, according to the magistrate court in Moscow’s Taganskiy district.
None of the companies has commented on the issue.
The most recent fines come as Russia has levied similar fines on Google, WhatsApp and TikTok in recent months.
In March, the Kremlin slowed down Twitter in the country for failing to remove content.
The fines have been over content, as well as for the companies’ refusal to store personal data on Russian users in Russia.
Russia is also trying to compel these companies to open official offices in Russia.
Kremlin critics say the moves are an effort by the country’s ruling United Party to stifle dissent in the run-up to September 19 parliamentary elections.
Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Month: September 2021
What Did Merkel Achieve During Her 16 Years at Germany’s Helm?
When Germany’s long-standing chancellor, Angela Merkel, steps down following federal elections later this month, it will mark the end of an era, not only for Germany but also for the European Union.In power since 2005, the 67-year-old Merkel has been the third longest-serving chancellor in German history, beaten in the longevity stakes only by Otto von Bismarck in the nineteenth century and in the twentieth by Helmut Kohl. And she has been the country’s only woman chancellor.For 16 years German politics has revolved around Merkel — and so too to a large extent has the politics of the European Union.She has been widely seen as a steadying influence on the fractious bloc, the grown-up politician who could assuage and tamp down disputes, often finding a way out of seemingly intractable disputes between the 27 member states, frequently by delaying decisions or shelving them.It was to Merkel that Britain’s David Cameron looked to secure a deal that he hoped would help win the 2016 Brexit vote — and it was a Conservative British successor, Boris Johnson, who appealed to Berlin to help break an impasse in withdrawal talks between London and Brussels, which avoided a complete breakdown in relations between the EU and Britain.Euro crisisMerkel helped to steer the bloc out of the 2008 financial crash and the subsequent euro crisis when the bloc’s currency was under severe threat. “If the euro fails, then Europe fails,” Merkel warned as the economic storm gathered force. She took the lead in foisting tough austerity measures on the indebted countries of southern Europe, while at the same time backing aid and loans for struggling EU member states. She also supported the European Central Bank in buying large quantities of government bonds and bringing interest rates to zero, allowing then ECB chairman Mario Draghi to fulfill his promise to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.FILE – A share trader watches German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck’s announcement on an impact of the global financial market, on television at the Frankfurt stock exchange, Oct. 13, 2008.Even Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, who fought Merkel over the austere bailout terms Berlin forced on Athens, credits Merkel with saving the European currency.“Crisis management has always been her forte, whether saving the euro during the global financial crisis of 2009, keeping Europe together during the refugee crisis, or now coping with the pandemic,” Judy Dempsey of the think tank Carnegie Europe, noted recently in a commentary on Merkel’s legacy.Mixed reviewsBut the Carnegie analyst also describes Merkel’s record as mixed and labels her legacy “ambiguous.” On the foreign front “her legacy, however, is inconsistent, especially with regard to Russia and China and some of the EU’s own member states,” she says. For some critics she has not been tough enough with Russia and has been too ready to allow profits and business to define relations with Beijing.Robert Terrell, a scholar of modern Germany at Syracuse University in New York, also sees a mixed record, although he says assessments of Merkel “will continue to change as shifting social contexts inform the politics of memory.” “In Europe, the Great Recession and the European Debt Crisis pushed Merkel into the unenviable position of trying to stabilize the economy of over two dozen states,” he told VOA. While her push for austerity measures was well received in Germany, it led to a degree of cultural chauvinism among Germans towards the Greeks. “In Greece, she remains divisive, with some Greek citizens blaming her for one of the bleakest periods in recent memory,” he says. Euro-skeptic sentiment has also increased dramatically in Italy and Spain.FILE – Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel speak at the Maximos mansion in Athens, Oct. 9, 2012.While decisive on the Euro crisis, much of Merkel’s record is marked by what her aides dubbed “strategic patience.” In 2015 “the German dictionary publisher Langenscheidt announced ‘merkeln’ — a verb form of Merkel’s name — was in the running for the ‘Youth Word of the Year.’ It meant to do nothing out of caution, or to be overly deliberative. Whether simply her political style, or a conscious effort to avoid the gendered critique of impulsiveness, Merkel made a point of cautious decision making,” says Terrell.Migration and nationalismShe wasn’t cautious, though, when it came to the migration crisis of 2015-16, when hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia entered Europe. Merkel critics say her initial open-door policy encouraged the migration waves that buffeted Europe and roiled the continent’s politics, fueling the rise of populist nationalist parties.“The refugee crisis was another watershed moment during her chancellorship—one that will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping her legacy,” says Terrell. “Merkel’s decision to welcome well over a million refugees beginning in 2015 left the nation divided. Proponents of the Willkommenskultur — or ‘welcoming culture’ — helped furnish arriving refugees with money, supplies, and emergency accommodations. Others resisted, making the refugee crisis a catalyst for increasingly radical nativist sentiment,” he says.FILE – Immigrants are escorted by German police to a registration center after crossing the Austrian-German border in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany, Oct. 20, 2015.It also fueled tensions and clashes with other EU member states, especially with nearby Central European countries, Poland, Austria and Hungary.Move to centrismOn Germany her record looks less mixed. “Under Merkel’s helm, Germany changed. She moved the conservative, male-dominated Catholic CDU party to the center, which is no easy feat for someone brought up in communist East Germany and whose father was a Lutheran pastor,” says Dempsey.“She abolished military conscription, eventually came around to accepting single-sex marriage, gave parents more flexibility when it came to taking leave for newborn children, and supported the introduction of a minimum wage,” says Dempsey.Her supporters also credit her for closing Germany’s 17 nuclear power stations, a policy reversal following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, a brave political move in the face of the country’s powerful energy lobby. Although her foes — and some Green lawmakers — have also pointed out that closing the power stations has meant Germany has had to resort to an excessive use of coal adding to greenhouse emissions.But much like her performance on the foreign policy stage, some critics note that for much of Merkel’s 16 years in office she preferred on the domestic front to do as little as possible, to manage and tinker rather than define broad visionary goals and to try to reach them.“Merkel’s years were one of stasis and of betting big on the indefinite continuation of the country’s manufacturing and export-driven growth model,” says Dalibor Rohac, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. “Yet, without growing productivity, the perpetuation of the status quo is not a guarantee of limitless economic prosperity, especially in an environment in which Germany’s international value chains might be under threat from the looming de-globalization,” he warned.He says Merkel’s accomplishment was to have avoided conflict as much as possible the past 16 years. For Germans that has been a reassuring gift.
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Cameroon Military Denies Reprisal Attacks Kill Civilians
Witnesses in the northwest Cameroon town of Kumbo have accused the military of killing several civilians during retaliatory raids Monday on separatists. Cameroon’s military denies any civilians were killed. The clashes followed the deaths of seven troops when their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. Cameroon’s Presbyterian Church is calling for an independent investigation into reports of civilian deaths.Cameroon’s military said Monday that seven of its troops perished when their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the western village of Kikaikelahki.The troops were part of a military convoy dispatched to fight separatists around the town of Kumbo.The military says other troops have been deployed to find and kill the separatists who planted the explosive device.Deben Tchoffo is governor of Cameroon’s northwest region where Kumbo is found. He says the troops also were ordered to search and seize weapons used illegally by separatists.”The circulation of those arms were banned by the government, and we instructed administrative authorities and security forces to recuperate all those guns and ammunition that are circulating in the region. Many guns have been taken and are now kept at the level of administrative and security services. The process is ongoing.”Cameroon military says in a reprisal after the seven troops were killed, government troops killed 13 fighters.Philip Ndongwe is a teacher in Kumbo. He says one of the people killed is a popular motorcycle taxi driver. He says men who attacked the house they ran to for safety were dressed in Cameroon military uniforms.”They actually jumped into the campus, shot in the air, and you could see panic and there was nothing I could do other than struggling to also save myself. I first hid myself under the table. It was so traumatizing.”The Catholic Church in Kumbo on Monday condemned what it calls the killing of civilians and blamed both fighters and government troops for the violence.Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, says independent investigations should be carried out to find out if those killing civilians are fighters or government troops.”There should be a cease-fire in this country. The barrel of the gun will not solve this problem. Until we sit down as a family and talk out our problems, we will not solve these problems. We are all waiting. We can only get a true story when a credible organization has done investigations of the situation. The culprits will be brought to book.”The military has denied any involvement in the killing of civilians and insists that all those killed are fighters. The military says its troops are professional.Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2016, when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.The government responded with a crackdown that sparked an armed movement for an independent, English-speaking state.
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Guinea’s Junta Begins Meetings to Form Transitional Government
The junta that overthrew Guinea’s government more than a week ago began four days of meetings Tuesday that it says will result in the formation of a transitional government.
The junta that ousted President Alpha Conde said it would consult in the capital, Conakry, with political, business and religious leaders as it charts a new course for the West African country.
The junta hopes that during the talks, leaders will agree on who will lead the transition, a time frame to complete it, and the political and institutional reforms needed before the election.
The Economic Community of West African States, which has suspended Guinea’s decision-making authority, has appealed for a brief civilian-led transition.
Last week, Guinea’s special forces overthrew the government under the leadership of Mamady Doumbouya, a former French Foreign Legionnaire.
The coup was preceded by violent street demonstrations last year in opposition to Conde’s quest for a third term in office.
The coup has been welcomed by Conde’s longtime opponents, including
Cellou Dalein Diallo, the former prime minister who lost to Conde in the last three presidential elections.
Leaders of the country’s mining industry also participated in the coup after
Doumbouya tried to reassure them he would work to prevent the destabilization of its critical bauxite and gold exports.
Some information in this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters.
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US, Japan, South Korea Hold Talks in Tokyo on North Korea Nukes
Special envoys from the United States and South Korea met with their Japanese counterpart Tuesday in Tokyo for talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, following tests conducted by the rogue state Saturday and Sunday.Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea, and Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, joined Japan’s director-general for Asian and Oceanian affairs, Takehiro Funakoshi, for a meeting on how to address this latest development with North Korea.North Korea state media confirmed the nation tested “newly developed long-range cruise missiles” Saturday and Sunday. Cruise missiles fly at relatively low altitudes and can be guided in-flight. That allows them to fly under or around missile defense radars.Analysts say the missiles appeared visually similar to the U.S. Tomahawk, a nuclear-capable cruise missile with a range of about 1,600 kilometers. North Korea hinted the missile is nuclear-capable, though it’s not clear the North yet has a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on it.Regardless, the missiles represent another lethal component in North Korea’s arsenal, which has significantly expanded since 2019 when it resumed major weapons tests.As the three envoys addressed reporters before their talks, Kim said the recent events in North Korea are a reminder of the importance of close communication and cooperation among Japan, North Korea and the U.S.Noh agreed, saying it was good the three representatives can have a candid discussion on how to “engage with North Korea based on our shared understanding of the urgency of denuclearization.”In recent comments, Kim has indicated Washington remained open to diplomacy to deal with North Korean issues.Pyongyang has so far rejected those overtures, saying nothing has changed from the U.S., citing issues such as ongoing sanctions and joint military drills with South Korea.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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US, Japan and South Korea Hold Talks in Tokyo on North Korea Nukes
Special envoys from the United States and South Korea met with their Japanese counterpart Tuesday in Tokyo for talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, following tests conducted by the rogue state Saturday and Sunday.Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea, and Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, joined Japan’s director-general for Asian and Oceanian affairs, Takehiro Funakoshi, for a meeting on how to address this latest development with North Korea.North Korea state media confirmed the nation tested “newly developed long-range cruise missiles” Saturday and Sunday. Cruise missiles fly at relatively low altitudes and can be guided in-flight. That allows them to fly under or around missile defense radars.Analysts say the missiles appeared visually similar to the U.S. Tomahawk, a nuclear-capable cruise missile with a range of about 1,600 kilometers. North Korea hinted the missile is nuclear-capable, though it’s not clear the North yet has a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on it.Regardless, the missiles represent another lethal component in North Korea’s arsenal, which has significantly expanded since 2019 when it resumed major weapons tests.As the three envoys addressed reporters before their talks, Kim said the recent events in North Korea are a reminder of the importance of close communication and cooperation among Japan, North Korea and the U.S.Noh agreed, saying it was good the three representatives can have a candid discussion on how to “engage with North Korea based on our shared understanding of the urgency of denuclearization.”In recent comments, Kim has indicated Washington remained open to diplomacy to deal with North Korean issues.Pyongyang has so far rejected those overtures, saying nothing has changed from the U.S., citing issues such as ongoing sanctions and joint military drills with South Korea.Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Singapore News Site Suspended, Critics Fear Censorship
A Singaporean news website often critical of authorities had its license suspended Tuesday for failing to declare funding sources, regulators said, with a rights group slamming the move as “unacceptable censorship.”
Critics frequently accuse the tightly regulated city-state of curbing media freedoms, and The Online Citizen (TOC) had long been in the government’s crosshairs.
One of Singapore’s few alternative news sources, it often ran stories more critical of the authorities than those in the pro-government mainstream media.
The city-state’s media regulator said it had suspended the company’s license to operate its websites and social media channels as it had not fully met obligations to declare funding.
Sites such as TOC “are required to be transparent about their sources of funding”, the Infocomm Media Development Authority said in a statement.
“This is to prevent such sites from being controlled by foreign actors or coming under the influence of foreign entities or funding.”
TOC was ordered to disable its websites and social media accounts by Thursday. If it fails to provide enough further information, then its license to operate may be cancelled entirely, the regulator warned.
But chief editor Terry Xu told AFP that the site “has never received any foreign funding, nor would it in the future”, and the company was considering its options.
Earlier this month, Xu and one TOC writer were ordered to pay substantial damages after losing a defamation suit against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the license suspension was “outrageous and unacceptable censorship, disguised as government regulatory action.”
“The reality is the Singaporean government has been looking to shut down TOC by hook or by crook, because they simply don’t like their independence or their critical reporting.”
Singapore ranks 160th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, where number one indicates the country with the greatest media freedoms.
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US Federal, State Funding Offers Training to Those Who Lost Jobs During Pandemic
As Americans continue to grapple with the economic downturn from the pandemic, state and city governments are providing funding to train job seekers in high-demand occupations. Some of that money comes from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act to train people in fields such as computers, data technology, construction, health care and hospitality. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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Turkey Resists Pressure to Take Afghan Refugees, Calls for Global Response
Turkey is calling for collective international action to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The call comes as Turkey, already hosting the largest number of refugees globally, warns it cannot take any more.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, addressing a high-level United Nations meeting on Afghanistan Monday, warned that with millions of Afghans displaced and facing a humanitarian crisis, now is the time for collective action.A humanitarian and security crisis in Afghanistan would have direct implications across the globe. So, we should take the collective action now. Turkish leaders fear an Afghan exodus through its territory as refugees flee Afghanistan and head for Europe. Last week, the UN High Commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, paid a four-day visit to Turkey and praised the country for receiving nearly four million refugees who fled the Syrian civil war. Under a deal with the European Union, Turkey gets billions of dollars in aid to host the Syrians. Some EU leaders are already suggesting the agreement be extended to include Afghans, claiming refugees should be hosted in locations closest to their places of origin. But Turkey’s main opposition CHP party is strongly critical of the government’s refugee policy.”It is a record of serious mismanagement. It was simply a transactional relationship between Turkey and the European Union,” said Unal Cevikoz is a CHP parliamentary deputy. “And they simply wanted to stop the flow of refugees by giving some financial assistance to Turkey. A majority of the Turkish population thinks that burden-sharing is not fairly distributed in the international community, and we are also scared the same mismanagement will continue in the case of Afghanistan.”Senior EU officials visited Ankara last week to talk about the refugee deal with Turkey. Ankara insists it cannot take any more refugees and calls for the EU to share the burden. Some analysts say Ankara needs the money from Europe, but international relations expert Sol Ozel says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will need more than monetary incentives to convince his people. “He will have to show to the country something more than just money, and that is visa liberalization, which I don’t [think] the Europeans are capable of delivering on,” said Ozel.Visa-free travel for Turks in the European Union was part of the original Syrian refugee deal, but until now has been blocked by some EU members. With Erdogan’s ratings languishing at record lows in opinion polls and the same polls indicating strong public opposition to receiving Afghan refugees, analysts predict any new EU refugee deal with Turkey will be difficult and fraught with political risk for the Turkish leader.
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Australian Nanolaser Breakthrough Promises Medical Applications
Researchers in Australia have developed new microscopic lasers that have a range of potential medical, surgical, industrial and military uses. Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) say “nanolasers” promise to be even more powerful than conventional technology. The technology uses laser light instead of electronics and is an approach called photonics. Nanolasers, they say, need only a small amount of energy to start shining. Instead of using mirrors that reflect light, the team has created a device that traps energy and prevents it from escaping. That power is harnessed and builds into a “strong, well-shaped” beam. Researchers say this overcomes a well-known challenge of nanolasers — “energy leakage.” The project is a collaboration with academics at Korea University, and is published in the journal Nature Communications. The lead researcher is professor Yuri Kivshar, who says the beams would act like a torch, or flashlight, to guide a surgeon. “Why do we need [it] smaller? Imagine you are doing [a] kind of operation inside of body [sic] and you are using optical fiber. So, optical fibers introduced inside of body will see only light, which inside there is basically nothing, so you need a kind of torch. This torch will lighten the place which you need to work on and that will be a kind of real torch effect,” he said.Academics have said that while their nanolasers are not the smallest ever developed, they are among the most efficient and powerful. According to the ANU study, the energy threshold at which the laser starts to work is about 50 times lower than any previously documented nanolaser. The physicists believe the technology could have a range of applications in small devices, including hair removal, laser printing, night-time surveillance and the illumination of delicate surgery inside the body.
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Blinken to Face Further Scrutiny Over US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will likely face another round of tough questioning from lawmakers over last month’s withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan when he appears Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During a five-hour appearance via videoconference before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Monday, Blinken staunchly defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years, never wavering in the face of harsh and angry questioning from some lawmakers. The nation’s top diplomat told the panel that had U.S. President Joe Biden decided to extend the war, it “would have required sending substantially more U.S. forces into Afghanistan to defend ourselves and prevent a Taliban takeover, taking casualties – and with at best the prospect of restoring a stalemate and remaining stuck in Afghanistan, under fire, indefinitely.” “There’s no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining,” he said. “If 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in support, equipment, and training did not suffice, why would another year, or five, or 10, make a difference?” Taliban insurgents took over the country in mid-August as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled to exile in the United Arab Emirates. The United States evacuated 124,000 people, most of them Afghans, along with about 5,500 Americans, from the Kabul airport in the last days of August, leaving behind about 100 Americans.An aircraft with Afghanistan’s flag is seen in front of Taliban flags fluttering on poles at the airport in Kabul on September 11, 2021.Some Americans have subsequently been able to leave the country, through overland exits or on a handful of flights, with the Taliban’s acquiescence. But Blinken said that as of the end of last week, about 100 Americans still remain.Blinken said U.S. officials did not foresee the downfall of the Afghan government so quickly, even as the Taliban advanced throughout the country. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained,” he said. Even though the main evacuation has ended, the top U.S. diplomat said, “We’re continuing our relentless efforts to help any remaining Americans, as well as Afghans and citizens of allied and partner nations, leave Afghanistan if they choose.” “As we’ve done throughout our history, Americans are now welcoming families from Afghanistan into our communities and helping them resettle as they start their new lives,” Blinken said. “That’s something to be proud of, too.” Opposition Republican lawmakers and some Democratic colleagues of Biden have criticized the president’s handling of the withdrawal of troops, American citizens and thousands of Afghans who worked for U.S. forces as interpreters and advisers during the war. The House committee chairman, Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York, said, “Disengaging from Afghanistan was never going to be easy.” But he added, “This war should have ended 19 years ago,” after the United States successfully ousted the Taliban from power then and overran training grounds for al-Qaida terrorists who attacked the U.S. in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. Congressman Michael McCaul of Texas, the House panel’s lead Republican, characterized the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan “an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions” and “a betrayal” and noted that many interim officials now controlling Afghanistan were once terrorists the United States held at its Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Republican Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio said Afghanistan was “once again a haven for terrorists.” “Yes, the majority of Americans wanted to leave Afghanistan, but not like this,” Chabot said, adding that the administration’s actions were “a disgrace.” South Carolina’s Joe Wilson was one of a handful of Republicans who demanded Blinken’s resignation. Another Republican member of the panel, Florida’s Bryan Mast, even went so far as to accuse Blinken of lying when he alleged the administration had manipulated intelligence, which Blinken strongly denied. One Democratic congressman, Brad Sherman of California, cast blame on former President Donald Trump for agreeing last year to a May 1, 2021, deadline for ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan without sufficient planning. Sherman asked Blinken whether the previous U.S. administration left details about how to carry out the withdrawal. “We inherited a deadline,” Blinken replied. “We did not inherit a plan” for a withdrawal. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois placed the blame for the chaotic withdrawal on both Trump and Biden. “The Trump administration failed in the setup and the Biden administration failed in the execution,” Kinzinger said. The criticism of Biden’s withdrawal was especially pronounced after 13 U.S. service members died in a suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport in the waning days of the exit. Islamic State-Khorasan, an Afghan offshoot of the terrorist group operating in the Middle East, claimed responsibility. National polls of U.S. voters show wide support for Biden’s decision to end what he has called a “forever war” in Afghanistan, but not the way the withdrawal unfolded. Over the two days of testimony, Blinken is likely to be asked why the United States did not start evacuating American citizens sooner, especially since Biden announced his intention in April to honor Trump’s agreement with the Taliban to end the war and withdraw American forces. Lawmakers have also taken aim at U.S. intelligence-gathering for failing to forecast the rapid takeover by the Taliban and the collapse of the Afghan government. Republicans say they want to focus their questioning on Biden’s performance in the final weeks and days of the war, while Democrats are hoping to examine the whole of the American war effort that was conducted under four presidents — Republicans George W. Bush and Trump, and Democrats Barack Obama and Biden. Bush launched the war in late 2001 to eradicate al-Qaida terrorist training grounds where the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States were spawned, with al-Qaida terrorists commandeering U.S. passenger airliners to crash into New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon outside Washington. The 20th anniversary of the attacks was commemorated last Saturday. Biden has called the withdrawal an “extraordinary success” and defended the decision to end the war in Afghanistan, saying he would not pass on responsibility for managing U.S. military involvement there to a fifth U.S. leader. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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Chinese Students Hit by US Visa Rejections Amid Tension
After a semester online, Wang Ziwei looked forward to meeting classmates who are returning to campus at Washington University in St. Louis. But the 23-year-old finance student said the U.S. revoked his student visa on security grounds. Wang is among at least 500 students the Chinese government says have been rejected under a policy issued by then-President Donald Trump to block Beijing from obtaining U.S. technology with possible military uses. Students argue it is applied too broadly and fume at what they say is an accusation they are spies. “The whole thing is nonsense,” Wang said. “What do we finance students have to do with the military?” The students join companies and individuals whose plans have been disrupted by U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security, Beijing’s military buildup, the origins of the coronavirus, human rights and conflicting claims to the South China Sea and other territory. The policy blocks visas for people who are affiliated with the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, or universities deemed by Washington to be part of military modernization efforts. U.S. officials say they believe thousands of Chinese students and researchers participate in programs that encourage them to transfer medical, computer and other sensitive information to China. Washington cites Beijing’s strategy of “civil-military fusion,” which it says treats private companies and universities as assets to develop Chinese military technology. “Joint research institutions, academia and private firms are all being exploited to build the PLA’s future military systems — often without their knowledge or consent,” the State Department said in a 2020 report. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, has given no indication of what he might do. Chinese officials appealed to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to drop the visa restrictions when she visited in July, according to The Paper, a Shanghai online news outlet.A security guard stands guard behind fences around the U.S. embassy near a sign board directing visa applicants in Beijing on Sept. 6, 2021.The policy is necessary to “protect U.S. national security interests,” the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. It said the policy is a response to “some abuses of the visa process” and is “narrowly targeted.” More than 85,000 visas for Chinese students have been approved over the past four months, according to the embassy. “The numbers show clearly that the United States stands ready to issue visas to all those who are qualified — including Chinese students and scholars,” it said. China is the biggest source of foreign students in the United States, according to U.S. government data. The number fell 20% in 2020 from the previous year but at 380,000 was nearly double that of second-ranked India. An engineer at a state-owned aircraft manufacturer said he was turned down for a visa to accompany his wife, a visiting scholar in California studying pediatric cancer. The engineer, who would give only his surname, Huang, has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China’s northeast. It is one of seven schools Chinese news reports say are associated with visa rejections because they are affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. “I was insulted,” Huang said. “That I graduated from this school means I am a spy? What’s the difference between this and racism?” Huang said his wife’s fellowship was two to three years, but she will cut that to one, “sacrificing her career” to avoid being away from their two children for too long. “It’s a pretty big impact on individuals when one country fights with another,” Huang said. Rejection letters received by several students cited Trump’s order but gave no details of the decision. However, some students said they received rejections immediately after being asked which university they attended. Wang, the finance student, said he obtained a visa, but the U.S. Embassy called later and said it was revoked. Wang graduated from the Beijing Institute of Technology, another university associated with visa rejections due to its connection with the industry ministry. Others include Beijing Aerospace University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harbin Engineering University and Northwestern Polytechnical University. Graduates of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications also say they have been rejected. Five Chinese scientists at universities in California and Indiana were charged last year with lying about possible military connections on visa applications. Those charges were dropped in July after the Justice Department said an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) report indicated such offenses often had no connection to technology theft. The Chinese government complained in August that three students who had visas were refused entry into the United States at the Houston airport after military training photos were found in their phones. Beijing “strongly deplores and rejects” the policy and appealed to the U.S. government to make changes, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. A group that says it represents more than 2,000 students and scholars has announced plans for a lawsuit asking a court to throw out or narrow the restrictions. At Washington University in St. Louis, a “handful of student visas” were affected, according to Kurt Dirks, vice chancellor for international affairs. Students can start the semester online or wait until next year, Dirks said in an email. “Should they continue to face challenges, the university will work with them so they can complete their program online,” Dirks said. Monica Ma, 23, said she was turned down for a U.S. visa to complete a master’s degree in information management at Carnegie Mellon University. The graduate of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications said after spending a year in Australia working on her degree, she needs to attend classes in person at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh because they no longer are taught online. Ma said she has a job offer from an internet company that requires her to complete her degree. She has postponed her attendance for classes until next year in hopes she can obtain a visa by then. “I cannot change it through my efforts. That’s the saddest part,” Ma said. Li Quanyi, an electrical engineering student from the southern city of Guiyang, said he was accepted by Columbia University but failed to obtain a visa. Li graduated from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Carnegie Mellon and Columbia didn’t respond to questions sent by email. Li has moved to Hong Kong and said he is happy there. “I am not going, even if the rule changes,” Li said. “The United States rejected me, and I am not going.”
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US Secretary of State Defends US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan for the first time before a congressional panel Monday. Lawmakers, Republicans as well as several Democrats, criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the chaotic August withdrawal that ended the longest war in U.S. history. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.Produced by: Katherine Gypson, Barry Unger
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Militia Leader Gets 53 Years in Minnesota Mosque Bombing
The leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque was sentenced Monday to 53 years in prison for an attack that terrified the mosque’s community. Emily Claire Hari, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently said she is transgender, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought life, saying Hari hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack. No one was hurt in the bombing, but more than a dozen members of the mosque community gave victim impact statements Monday about the trauma it left behind. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said evidence clearly showed Hari’s intent was to “scare, intimidate and terrorize individuals of Muslim faith.” “Diversity is the strength of this country,” Frank said. “Anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t understand the constitutional promise of this country that brings a lot of people here.” “Anything less than 636 months would (be) disrespect to the law,” the judge added. Hari made a brief statement before she was sentenced, saying, “For how blessed my first 47 years of life were, I can’t complain about what the last three have looked like … considering my blessed and fortunate and happy life, I can’t ask the judge for anything further.”A building that housed Michael Hari’s business is seen March 14, 2018, in Clarence, Ill. Hari, a former sheriff’s deputy accused of being the ringleader in the bombing of a Minnesota mosque.She also said the victims who testified during Monday’s hearing have been through a “traumatic ordeal” and she wished them “God’s richest blessings in Christ Jesus.” Frank said he was prepared to recommend Hari go to a women’s prison, but said the Bureau of Prisons would decide. Hari was convicted in December on five counts, including damaging property because of its religious character and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. Members of the mosque asked the judge on Monday to impose a life sentence, describing their shock and terror at the attack. Some were afraid to pray there afterward and have not returned. Mothers were scared to bring their kids to the mosque, which also serves as a charter school and community center. “I felt really scared because I was going to start school in the same building soon and we lived like six blocks away from the mosque,” said Idris Yusuf, who was 9 when the bombing happened. “I was scared because if these people could do this to our mosque, what’s stopping them from coming to Muslim people’s homes too?” Afterward, community members said they saw 53 years as justice for an attack that has rattled worshippers for more than four years. “We were looking for life (in prison), but this is something we can settle for today,” said Khalid Omar, a community organizer and Dar Al Farooq worshipper. Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imam’s office. A seven-month investigation led authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived. Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Hari’s manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook. McWhorter and Morris, who portrayed Hari as a father figure, each pleaded guilty to five counts and testified against her. They are awaiting sentencing. It wasn’t initially clear how the White Rabbits became aware of Dar al-Farooq, but the mosque was in headlines in the years before the attack: Some young people from Minnesota who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group had worshipped there. Mosque leaders were never accused of any wrongdoing. Hari’s attorneys wrote in court filings that she was a victim of online misinformation about the mosque. Assistant federal defender Shannon Elkins also said gender dysphoria fueled Hari’s “inner conflict,” saying she wanted to transition but knew she would be ostracized, so she formed a “rag-tag group of freedom fighters or militia men” and “secretly looked up ‘sex change,’ ‘transgender surgery,’ and ‘post-op transgender’ on the internet.” Prosecutors said gender dysphoria is not an excuse and said using it “to deflect guilt is offensive.” Prosecutors asked for several sentencing enhancements, arguing the bombing was a hate crime led by Hari. They also say Hari committed obstruction when she tried to escape from custody during her transfer from Illinois to Minnesota for trial in February 2019. Hari denied trying to flee. Hari, a former sheriff’s deputy and self-described entrepreneur and watermelon farmer, self-published books including essays on religion, and has floated ideas for a border wall with Mexico. She gained attention on the “Dr. Phil” talk show after she fled to the South American nation of Belize in the early 2000s during a custody dispute. She was convicted of child abduction and sentenced to probation. Before her 2018 arrest in the mosque bombing, she used the screen name “Illinois Patriot” to post more than a dozen videos to YouTube, most of them anti-government monologues. Hari, McWhorter and Morris were also charged in a failed November 2017 attack on an abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois. Plea agreements for McWhorter and Morris say the men participated in an armed home invasion in Indiana, and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies of two Walmart stores in Illinois.
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Biden to Host Leaders of Australia, India, Japan at White House Next Week
U.S. President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the “Quad” countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States — which have been seeking to enhance cooperation to push back against China’s growing assertiveness. The summit will be held at the White House in Washington on September 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The U.S. visits of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on September 21. A virtual meeting of the Quad leaders was held in March, and they pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccines and climate change, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing. “Hosting the leaders of the Quad demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Psaki said. Kurt Campbell, Biden’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, said in July the long-planned in-person meeting should bring “decisive” commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure. Biden, who is pushing big infrastructure spending at home, said in March he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative, which involves projects from East Asia to Europe. Psaki said the Quad leaders would “be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific.” A senior U.S. official said infrastructure would be among a range of topics discussed at the summit. Withdrawal from AfghanistanThe Quad meeting will come after Biden’s image has taken a battering over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said ending America’s longest war will allow the administration to divert resources and attention to tackling China-related issues. Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, welcomed the plan to host the Quad leaders. “Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal debacle made India’s neighborhood more dangerous & raises legitimate questions for Japan and Australia as well, so it’s good we will be hosting Quad partners soon,” he said on Twitter. “We must repair & renew our alliances, and this one is key.” COVID vaccinesThe vaccines initiative from the first summit stalled after India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports. At the March summit, the four leaders agreed Indian drugmaker Biological E. Limited would produce at least a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries. Japan’s Kyodo News reported last week that Suga would visit Washington this month for the Quad meeting even though his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party — and by default as Japan’s prime minister — ends September 30. Suga became the first leader to hold a face-to-face White House summit with Biden in April, underscoring Japan’s central role in U.S. efforts to face down China.
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Norway’s Center-left Heads to Victory in General Elections
The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway’s elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country’s oil and gas exploration industry. With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party and its two allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. One seat was still unsure. As Norway’s largest party, Labor will try to form a coalition government and its chief, 61-year-old Jonas Gahr Stoere, is poised to become Norway’s next leader. The Scandinavian country is not a member of the European Union. “We will now give Norway a new government and a new course,” Gahr Stoere said on a election night before cheering party members who chanted “Stoere” and clapped. He added that he will in the coming days invite the parties “that want a new change” for talks. Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean. In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives’ Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway’s longest-serving leader. Gahr Stoere said Monday that he wanted to thank Solberg for having been “a good prime minister.” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, casts her vote in the 2021 parliamentary election at Skjold School in her home town, in Bergen, Norway, September 13, 2021. (NTB/Hakon Mosvold Larsen via Reuters)”We knew we needed a miracle — the Conservatives’ work session is over,” Solberg said. “I congratulate Jonas Gahr Stoere with what looks like a clear majority.” Her Conservatives suffered a setback, losing 4.7 percentage points, which was dubbed by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as “the election’s biggest loser.” Its former coalition partner, the Progress Party lost 3.4 percentage points, according to a preliminary counting of more than 93% of the votes by Norway’s election commission. Thanks to her long tenure, as well as her commitment to economic liberalism, the 60-year-old Solberg became known at home as “Iron Erna,” inspired by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” for her firm style. Solberg was hoping to become the first prime minister to win a third consecutive four-year term. During her eight-year tenure, she has expanded oil exploration, cut taxes and sought to make public administration more efficient. Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left won’t offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy. The campaign focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the world’s wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The country’s biggest industry is responsible for more than 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce. On the other hand, Norwegians are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric. Most of Norway’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the country’s untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government. Stoere also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO’s secretary general. Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norway’s election commission. Turnout was 76.3%, down from more than 78% in this nation of 5.3 million voted.
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Bachelet Says Tigray Conflict Risks Engulfing Whole Horn of Africa
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet warns the increasingly brutal conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region threatens to spill over to the whole Horn of Africa.Preliminary findings of a joint investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into alleged violations in Tigray have been submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Since her last update in June, fighting has continued unabated in Tigray and has expanded into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. U.N. rights chief Bachelet said mass detentions, killings, systematic looting, and sexual violence have displaced nearly two million people in this region and created an atmosphere of fear. She said civilian suffering is widespread and impunity is pervasive. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends a session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 13, 2021.Bachelet said investigators have documented multiple allegations of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. She says sexual and gender-based violence, including gang rapes, have been characterized by a pattern of extreme brutality and ethnically targeted. “From my last update to the Council to date, allegations of human rights violations have continued to implicate government forces and its allies,” Bachelet said. “We have received disturbing reports that local fishermen found dozens of bodies floating along the river crossing between Western Tigray and Sudan in July. Some allegedly had gunshot wounds and bound hands, indications that they might have been detained and tortured before being killed.” The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire in Tigray at the end of June, nearly eight months after it began its military offensive in the region. Shortly after, Tigrayan rebels retook the capital Mekelle. Bachelet reports Tigrayan forces have perpetrated many human rights abuses since gaining control of parts of Tigray and expanding to neighboring regions, “During the period under review, the Tigrayan forces have allegedly been responsible for attacks on civilians, including indiscriminate killings resulting in nearly 76,500 people displaced in Afar and an estimated 200,000 in Amhara,” Bachelet said. “More than 200 individuals have reportedly been killed in the most recent clashes in these regions, and 88 individuals, including children, have been injured.” Bachelet said accountability for human rights abuses and a national reconciliation process are the only solution to the conflict in Tigray and to achieving a sustainable peace. The chief of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Daniel Bekele, said all parties to the conflict have committed violence against civilians, including sexual violence and use of child soldiers. But he notes the situation in Tigray is complex. He said the Commission is still analyzing the information and evidence gathered and is not ready to share any findings and conclusions at this stage. He said the commission’s findings, conclusions and recommendations will be contained in the final report of the joint investigation, to be published November 1.
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Aid Group Implores Burkina Faso Government to Accept Assistance in Registering Newly Displaced
International aid groups are calling on Burkina Faso’s government to let them help register the country’s internally displaced people. The Norwegian Refugee Council says the government is taking weeks to register IDPs for food and other aid, forcing some back into dangerous areas. Henry Wilkins reports from Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. Camera: Henry Wilkins
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Out West, Biden Points to Wildfires to Push for Climate Change Spending
President Joe Biden pointed to wildfires burning throughout the West to argue for his $3.5 trillion spending plan, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore. Biden spoke Monday during a briefing in Boise, Idaho, while visiting the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the government’s response to wildfires. Millions of acres of land in several Western states have burned this year, he noted. “The reality is we have a global warming problem, a serious global warming problem, and it’s consequential and what’s going to happen is, things are not going to go back,” Biden said. In his two-day trip, which includes a stop in Colorado on Tuesday, Biden is looking to connect the dots for Americans between the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in the West — and other extreme weather events around the country — and a need to invest billions in combating climate change as well as in a vast expansion of the social safety net. President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting as he tours the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, Sept. 13, 2021.The president argued for spending today to lessen the future effects of climate change, as he did during recent stops in Louisiana, New York and New Jersey — all states that suffered millions of dollars in flood damage and scores of deaths following Hurricane Ida. In Idaho, Biden said that every dollar invested in resilience will save $6 down the road. He discussed the administration’s use in early August of a wartime law to boost supplies of firehoses from the U.S. Forest Service’s primary supplier. “My message to you is, when we build back, we have to build back better,” Biden said. “It’s not a Democrat thing. It’s not a Republican thing. It’s a weather thing. It’s a reality. It’s serious and we can do this.” The administration’s use of the Defense Production Act helped an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma, which provides the bulk of the U.S. Forest Service’s hoses, obtain needed supplies to produce and ship 415 miles of firehoses. Biden is on his first trip to the West as president. He flew first to Boise, and next planned to stop in Sacramento, California, to survey wildfire damage and deliver remarks about the federal response. He’ll close the day in Long Beach for an election-eve event with California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote on Tuesday, Biden’s Western visit is aimed primarily at drumming up support for his massive $3.5 trillion spending plan by linking it to beating back wildfires and upgrading social programs. In deep-red Idaho, several opposing groups were leveraging Biden’s trip as a way to show resistance to his administration. GOP gubernatorial candidates, an anti-vaccine organization and a far-right group were among those urging people to turn out against the president. More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Boise on Monday before Biden’s arrival to express displeasure with his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues. “I’m against everything Biden is for,” said Chris Burns, a 62-year-old from Boise. Burns was especially displeased with a sweeping new vaccine mandate that Biden announced last week. “He’s acting like a dictator,” Burns said. Biden’s eleventh-hour election pitch in California comes the day before voters head to the polls to decide whether to recall Newsom and then replace him with Republican talk-show host Larry Elder, who’s seen as the leading GOP alternative, or with any of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot. The White House is trying to turn the corner after a difficult month consumed by a chaotic and violent withdrawal from Afghanistan and the surging delta COVID-19 variant that have upended what the president had hoped would mark a summer in which the nation was finally freed from the coronavirus. The climate provisions in Biden’s plans include tax incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, investments to transition the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and creation of a civilian climate corps. The president is scheduled to visit Denver on Tuesday to continue to plug his economic agenda. The stop in Idaho, a state he lost by more than 30 percentage points last year, offered Biden a deep-red backdrop to argue that making investments to combat the climate crisis should be a priority across party lines. Idaho and California have seen wildfire season turn into a year-round scourge. The Biden administration in June laid out a strategy to deal with the growing wildfire threat, which included hiring more federal firefighters and implementing new technologies to detect and address fires quickly. Last month, the president approved a disaster declaration for California, providing federal aid for the counties affected by the Dixie and River fires. Just ahead of Monday’s visit he issued another disaster declaration for the state, this time aimed at areas affected by the Caldor Fire.
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Benin Named Fastest Place to Start Business Online — Thanks to COVID
Benin set up a service early in the COVID-19 pandemic to allow people to register their business online, and now the West African country is the world’s fastest place to start a business, according to a U.N. agency. Sandra Idossou, owner of a store selling art in Cotonou, Benin, submitted her business application online and received approval and legal documents within three hours. She said if the e-registration system did not exist and she instead had to go stand in line to start a business, she never would have done it. To create her business, Idossou went online to monentreprise.bj, a platform in Benin to create and formally start a business. The site was launched in February 2020 by the country’s Investment and Export Promotion Agency, which did not want people to come into their offices during the pandemic. Applicants fill out the required information, download the required documents and make a payment online. The documents arrive at the agency’s headquarters, where staff verify the information and mail business certificates to those who are approved. Laurent Gangbes, general manager of the Investment and Export Promotion Agency, said in 2019 the agency was at 28,000 businesses created. In 2020, the figure went to over 41,000. He said the agency now processes an application in about three hours. The online service helped make Benin the fastest place in the world to start a company, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. The businesses must be located in Benin; however, people abroad can use the service if they are in the process of setting up a business inside the country. Economists like Albert Honlonkou see big benefits for entrepreneurs. He said the online service reduces costs, reduces delays and avoids corruption. It also avoids carrying papers around and, in the COVID period, it avoids contacts. The Investment and Export Promotion Agency said it will continue to review the procedures and work with the private sector to further improve the process.
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Forecasters Say Tropical Storm Nicholas Could Come Ashore in Texas as Hurricane
The U.S. National Hurricane Center reports there is still a chance Tropical Storm Nicholas will be a hurricane when it comes ashore in south central Texas, and it is expected to bring heavy rains and storm surges through that state and into Louisiana to the east. In their latest report, forecasters with the hurricane center said Nicholas is about 225 kilometers south of Port Conner, Texas, with winds of about 95 kph. They say the storm is “moving erratically” just off the Texas coast and is on track to come ashore late Monday afternoon or evening. Data from an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft indicated the center of the hurricane reformed since the hurricane center’s last advisory, but that has not seemed to have affected the storm’s strengthening. Nicholas continues to move over slightly warmer Gulf waters, and it remains possible the storm will become a hurricane just before landfall. Category 1 hurricanes have winds of at least 119 kilometers an hour. Regardless of its status, the storm is likely to bring strong winds, and between 20 to 40 centimeters of heavy rain and as much as 50 centimeters in isolated areas, which is likely to cause flooding in both rural and urban areas. Warnings of life-threatening storm surges all along the Texas coastline are in effect. Surge warnings and watches extend north and east into Louisiana. The forecasters say Nicholas is likely to weaken quickly once it comes ashore, but storm conditions are expected to persist for at least the next 48 hours. Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.
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China’s Global Network of Shipping Ports Reveal Beijing’s Strategy
A powerhouse in global trade, China has more shipping ports at home than any other country. Key investments add about another 100 ports in at least 60 nations. And Beijing is looking for more. Earlier this month, operations at Israel’s port of Haifa, one of the largest maritime transport hubs in Mediterranean, were handed over to China’s state-run Shanghai International Port Group to run for the next 25 years. Another gigantic Chinese shipping company, COSCO Shipping, is poised to expand its footprint in Europe by taking a stake in the port of Hamburg. Negotiations have been reportedly going well, and a deal is expected soon. If COSCO succeeds, it would be the company’s eighth port investment in Europe. The state-owned company’s previous investment involves the acquisition of Greece’s Port of Piraeus, one of the world’s most important shipping centers located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. COSCO bought 51% of the port’s operating company in 2016. After a Greek court gave the go-ahead last month, COSCO now can raise its stake in Piraeus to 67%. The Chinese government does not have an official platform summarizing the overall data for China’s overseas port projects, but publicly available information shows that Beijing now has a foothold in at least 100 ports in 63 countries. According to data published on the COSCO official website, as of June this year, the group has operated and managed 357 terminals in 36 ports around the world. Its port portfolio has stretched from Southeast Asia to the Middle East, Europe and the Mediterranean. In addition, China Merchants Group, another major port developer and operator in China, says on its website that the company completed “equity acquisition of eight high-quality ports in Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean last year alone, expanding the group’s global port layout to 27 countries, 68 ports.” China’s global port expansion means Beijing now has investments in more than 100 ports in 63 countries.In a recent opinion piece published by the Daily Mail, former British Defense and International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox and former U.S. National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane noted that China now owns 96 ports around the world. Some of these are at key locations for maritime trade, “giving Beijing strategic dominance without having to deploy a single soldier, ship or weapon.” In 2013, China for the first time surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest trading nation. That same year, Chinese president Xi Jinping proposed a strategic framework of what has been dubbed the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) – the sea route part of the broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The specific trade route of MSR connects China to Southeast Asia, Africa, and even Europe by sea. Chinese companies are now owners of all of the major ports along the route. Dr. Sam Beatson, of King’s College London, says it makes sense for China to be engaging in these deals given the volume of containers China continues to deliver at accelerating rates of growth. “China’s ports, shipping and maritime trade industry is strategic in part because of its massive size and global role, not only the huge numbers it employs and its role as a national industry that has championed the growth of many of China’s largest coastal cities,” he told VOA.Key Chinese shipping routes along the country’s new maritime “silk road”The most Mahanian country Over a century ago Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, one of the most influential American writers of his day, designated seaports as one of three pillars of sea power. His writing argued that Britain’s control of the seas was critical for its emergence as a dominant global power. The view heavily influenced American policymakers. “Since the Cold War, China has bought into the Mahanian construct wholesale,” James R. Holmes, the J.C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College told VOA. “It is safe to say he’s more popular in China today than anywhere else in the world.” Reports by official Chinese media in recent years show that since 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping has visited a port almost every year, including the visit to the port of Piraeus in 2019, where China’s MSR and BRI connect and a project that Xi personally pushed for with Greek leaders multiple times, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. China experts believe that establishing ports in geo-strategically important countries, including those that are located near maritime chokepoints, are central to Beijing’s global strategy. “These port linkages allow Beijing to exert political influence not only in the country hosting the port, but in many cases the surrounding countries as well,” Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told VOA. Holmes, a former U.S. Navy officer, noted prosperity is the top priority for any government. And Beijing’s port investments mean it can hold a large portion of a country’s prosperity hostage, compelling its leadership to take political stances agreeable to the Chinese Communist Party. “So, seaports are a critical enabler for China’s bid for commercial, diplomatic, and military influence.” King’s College’s Beatson, who lecturers on China-related business and finance, pointed out that among all the deals, “neither governments nor companies within countries seem to want to block control of their ports by companies from China – I highlighted this in 2017 I think when pointing out the role of China Merchant Group in ownership of Houston and Miami ports through the joint venture with France’s Terminal Links.”Beijing either controls or has major investments in all 15 of the world’s top 15 ports ranked by container volume.As commercial ports could be used for military purposes, analysts have long been concerned about the security implications of ports controlled by Beijing. China’s first overseas military base was established at the port of Djibouti situated at the entrance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. “China’s militarization of its port project in Djibouti serves as a warning vis-à-vis Beijing’s port interests in other countries, such as Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Burma, among others,” said Singleton. One of the thorniest issues between the U.S. and Israel in recent years has been the Chinese takeover of Haifa Port, place where the Sixth Fleet of the US Navy docks. Washington feared that the port would provide an opportunity for Chinese surveillance. Dr. Eyal Pinko, a former Israeli intelligence officer pointed out that the port can easily be used to collect naval intelligence. “You can track the whereabouts of ships and communications. Once you own and operate the port site, these are very easy to do. You can do whatever you want. You are the landlord there,” he told VOA in a telephone interview.
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Britain to Offer COVID-19 Vaccines to 12-to-15-year-Olds
Britain’s chief medical officer (CMO), Professor Chris Whitty, recommended Monday that children between the ages of 12 and 15 be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they would benefit from reduced disruption to their education. More than a week ago, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, the panel that advises British health departments on immunization policies, issued a statement saying the “margin of benefit” to inoculating children of those ages was too small for them to recommend the government do so. Britain’s Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty attends a remote press conference to update the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 10, 2020.But Monday, Whitty, along with his counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, told reporters they are recommending to their respective health ministers that the age group be given a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They have yet to decide on whether to give the students a second dose. Whitty stressed the vaccinations should be “an offer,” not a mandate, adding, “We do not think this is a panacea. This is not a silver bullet … but we think it is an important and potentially useful additional tool to help reduce the public health impacts that come through educational disruption.” Whitty said the CMOs have shared their recommendations with their ministers, and it is now up to the ministers to decide how to respond. The United States, Israel and some European countries have rolled out vaccinations to children more broadly, putting pressure on the British government to follow suit. Britain has experienced more than 134,000 deaths from COVID-19, and a rapid start to its immunization rollout has slowed, with 81% of those over 16 receiving two vaccine doses. Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Man with Weapons Arrested Near US Capitol
U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested a California man early Monday near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington and that multiple knives, a bayonet and a machete were in his truck. Officers on patrol said that around midnight Sunday they noticed the truck, with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it. Instead of a license plate, police said the truck had a picture of an American flag. It is illegal to carry a bayonet and machete in Washington. The arrested man, Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, said he was “on patrol,” police said. Craighead was charged with possession of prohibited weapons. Police said they are continuing to investigate the suspect. Security alerts remain high near the U.S. Capitol, not far from the Democratic party headquarters, in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol building January 6 by hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump. The incident happened as lawmakers were certifying that he had lost his re-election bid last November to Democrat Joe Biden, who took over as president January 20. Those supporting the more than 600 rioters arrested eight months ago are planning a rally, “Justice for J6,” in Washington this Saturday. About 50 people have pleaded guilty to an array of charges, while the rest of the cases are pending, with some suspects remaining jailed, awaiting trials.
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