Month: September 2021

Mali Seeking ‘Better Ways’ to Contain Terrorism 

Posted on by SeeAF

Mali’s interim government appears ready to cast aside long-standing counterterrorism partnerships with the United States and France, saying that both countries have failed to make Mali any safer. 

But at the same time, Mali’s prime minister says reports of a deal to bring in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group are just “rumors and allegations.” 

“The security situation keeps deteriorating by the day,” Choguel Maiga told VOA in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly late Sunday.

“Despite the fact that Mali has a lot of partners on the ground, we have to find new partners who can help improve the security situation,” Maiga added. “We can seek partnership either with Russia or with any other country.” 

 

Reports of a deal between Mali’s interim government and Russia’s Wagner Group first emerged earlier this month, with Reuters reporting that Mali would pay $10.8 million a month to bring in about 1,000 mercenaries to train Mali’s military and provide security for senior officials.

‘A real concern’ 

U.S. and French officials have expressed their growing concern that the introduction of Russian mercenaries will do more damage than good. 

“We don’t think looking to outside forces to provide security is the way forward,” a senior administration official said Friday in response to a question from VOA about the potential deal with Moscow. “That is not how to best start down the road to true stability.” 

French officials have also expressed growing alarm, both in public and private, about the possible deal with the Russian firm. 

 

“We want the return of the Malian state, not the arrival of Russian mercenaries,” French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted last week. “We are for the sovereignty of Mali, not for its weakening.” 

Another official with knowledge of the matter called the potential deployment of Wagner mercenaries “a real concern.” 

“Such a perspective is not a viable and reasonable solution for Mali and the Sahel,” the official told VOA on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation, adding that Malian officials need only to look at developments in the Central African Republic to see the dangers. 

“The situation we are currently observing in Central Africa, a country in which more than 2,000 Wagner mercenaries are present, reinforces our view that such a force is pursuing a predatory agenda,” the official said. “Wagner is exploiting mining areas and controlling Central Africa customs and, above all, is guilty of serious abuses against the civilian population abuses highlighted by the U.N. in several reports.” 

Russia has denied any abuses by contractors there. 

Mali’s prime minister, while denying that a deal with Wagner had been finalized, dismissed the idea that the U.S., France and other countries had any right to criticize the interim government. 

“All those countries of the international community which are opposing any partnership between Mali and the Wagner Group, all those countries are present there for the past eight years,” Maiga told VOA. 

“I can only say that the government of Mali is assessing the situation, is seeking better ways,” he said. “The day we reach any agreement we will say it, and everybody will know. Whether it is with the Russian state, whether it is with another entity, people will find out.” 

Moscow open to deal 

In contrast to denials from Malian officials, however, Russian officials have welcomed talk of the potential deal with Wagner. 

“They are combating terrorism,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a news conference at the U.N. on Saturday. “And they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component.” 

“We don’t have anything to do with that,” Lavrov said, adding, “at the government level, we are also contributing to providing for military and defense capacities of Mali.” 

 

Many Western governments, though, insist that there is little practical difference between the Kremlin and the exploits of the Wagner Group, run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

Prigozhin, sometimes called “Putin’s cook” because of his catering company’s work for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is thought to have extensive ties to Russia’s political and military establishments, according to U.S. intelligence officials. 

The U.S. State Department sanctioned Prigozhin and Wagner back in July 2020, as well as several front companies for the group’s operations in Sudan. 

 

 

VOA’s Bambara, French to Africa and Hausa services contributed to this report. 
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New US-India Closeness Angers Pakistan

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan did little to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan. Anita Powell reports from the White House on how President Biden, fresh from a historic meeting with India’s leader, is approaching relations with the two South Asian rivals.  
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North Korea Fires ‘Projectile’ Ahead of UN Speech

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Minutes before North Korea’s representative addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday, South Korea’s military chiefs said Pyongyang had fired an “unidentified projectile” into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea’s U.N. ambassador did not mention the incident during his address on the final day of the annual debate, which draws world leaders to New York.

Instead, Kim Song spoke about the bad relations between Pyongyang and Washington, attributing them to the United States’ “anachronistic hostile policy” toward North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, for the past 70 years and the fact that the Korean War has never officially ended.

“The possible outbreak of a new war on the Korean Peninsula is contained not because of the U.S.’s mercy on the DPRK,” Ambassador Kim added, using the abbreviation for his country’s official name the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “It is because our state is growing reliable deterrent that can control the hostile forces in their attempts for military invasion.”

He suggested that if the U.S. permanently ends its joint military exercises with South Korea and withdraws its “hostile policy” in a “bold and complete manner,” Pyongyang is prepared to respond “willingly.”

“But it is our judgment that there is no prospect at the present stage for the U.S. to really withdraw its hostile policy towards the DPRK,” he added.

He also referred to the division of the Korean Peninsula and the fact that the two Koreas separately joined the United Nations 30 years ago as a “tragedy.”

 

No-shows

Afghanistan did not address the General Assembly on Monday, in the wake of the Taliban takeover and potential competing claims of representation at the world body.

A U.N. spokesperson said they were informed Saturday by email that Afghan Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai was withdrawing from Monday’s debate. Isaczai was appointed by the previous government of Ashraf Ghani but still holds the country’s U.N. accreditation.

Last week, the Taliban sent a letter to the U.N. saying they wanted to participate in the annual gathering. They also said Isaczai was “ousted” as Afghanistan’s ambassador, and they were nominating Mohammad Suhail Shaheen to replace him.

The letter has been forwarded to the General Assembly committee that handles the accreditation of ambassadors, but the panel is unlikely to meet until October or November.

Myanmar also informed the U.N. several days ago that it would not address the annual gathering.

In February, the military seized power in a coup and detained most of the national unity government. The junta has sought to replace Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun with one of its own officials, but it will also have to go to the credentials committee with its request.

 

New tone

Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, made his U.N. debut Monday. While he argued the hard-line position on why Iran is a threat to Israel’s security, his calm but urgent tone drew a sharp contrast to his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bennett did not touch on Iran until 13 minutes into his speech. And he never mentioned the Palestinians. He spoke first of Israel’s pioneering efforts vaccinating its population against COVID-19. Israeli data have helped other governments develop their own vaccination strategies.

“We pioneered the booster shot,” Bennett said of the third jab of certain vaccines that scientists say can offer better protection from the virus’s variants.

 

“Two months in, I can report that it works: With a third dose, you’re seven times more protected than with two doses, and 40 times more protected than without any

vaccine,” he said. “As a result, Israel is on course to escape the fourth wave

without a lockdown, without further harm to our economy.”

Iranian threat

On regional foe Iran, Bennett warned Tehran has made “swarms” of killer drones operational.

“They plan to blanket the skies of the Middle East with this lethal force,” Bennett said. He said Tehran has already used the drones — called the Shahed-136 — to attack Saudi Arabia, U.S. targets in Iraq and civilian ships at sea.

On the nuclear issue, he said Iran is violating International Atomic Energy Agency safeguard agreements, including enriching uranium to one step below nuclear weapons grade.

“Iran’s nuclear program has hit a watershed moment — and so has our tolerance,” the Israeli prime minister warned. “Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning.”

He repeated Israel’s long-standing pledge not to let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Pandemic precautions 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 150 presidents and prime ministers traveled to New York for the annual gathering. The U.N. and New York City had numerous health protocols in place to help keep the event safe, including positioning a testing and vaccination van outside the complex. The U.N. said that 93 visitors got vaccinated and more than 800 took advantage of the free coronavirus tests. 

At least one delegation reported an outbreak, however.

Brazilian media reported that at last count, at least four members of President Jair Bolsonaro’s delegation, including his son, Eduardo, who is a legislator, and the health minister, had tested positive for COVID-19 while in New York.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who also attended several meetings last week on the sidelines of the General Assembly, announced Monday that despite being vaccinated, he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would quarantine.
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Britain Warns Citizens of Hong Kong Extradition Threat

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Concerns are growing over the reach of the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong as Britain warned several of its citizens that they could face arrest and extradition to the former British colony. 

China passed the national security law in June 2020 in response to months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Beijing claimed the law was necessary to restore order to the territory and, in its words, “protect people’s rights.” Critics say the law curtails basic democratic freedoms and is aimed at suppressing political opposition. Over 140 people have been arrested under the legislation since it was introduced, including opposition lawmakers, activists, journalists and media executives.

 

Among those arrested was opposition activist Andy Li, who was charged with foreign collusion in 2020 after allegedly lobbying foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.

Several British citizens were named in the court papers relating to Li’s case. Earlier this month, the British government contacted them to warn they could face arrest and extradition to Hong Kong if they traveled to any country that had an extradition agreement with the Chinese territory.

U.S.-born British citizen Bill Browder was among at least five people contacted by the British Foreign Office. He has successfully campaigned in several countries for Magnitsky sanctions against human rights abusers, named after his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian jail in 2009.

Browder told VOA Monday that his involvement stemmed from that lobbying. “Specifically, my name was mentioned because I was having discussions with various people about Magnitsky sanctions against the Hong Kong officials who were involved in this suppression of democracy,” he said. “After alerting me to my name being in the document, the (British) Foreign Office officials pointed out to me that the Chinese national security law doesn’t just apply domestically to residents of Hong Kong; it applies to anyone, anywhere in the world. And I guess the point of their reach out was to alert me to that fact and to the possibility that I may be subject to some type of persecution myself from the Chinese authorities for being involved in these discussions.”

Browder has already faced several attempts by Russia to have him arrested and extradited on fraud charges through Interpol, the global agency that communicates arrest warrants between police forces. Browder says those charges are clearly politically motivated, but he is, nevertheless, limited as to where he can travel.

“I basically contain my travel to what I describe as ‘rule of law’ countries. So, for example, I won’t travel to South Africa, even though I actually own a home in South Africa, because it’s not really considered to be a rule of law country, whereas I would travel to Germany regardless of what treaties they have because I know that a court will not hand me over to Russians or Chinese on politically motivated cases,” Browder said.

China has not commented on the British government’s warnings. More than a dozen countries have extradition agreements with Hong Kong, including India, South Africa and Portugal. Several countries, however, tore up their extradition treaties with Hong Kong following the introduction of the national security law. These include Britain, the United States, Australia, Germany and France.

 

British pro-democracy activist Luke de Pulford, who had also been named in the Hong Kong court papers relating to the prosecution of Andy Li, was approached by the British Foreign Office last week. He told VOA that Britain should stand up to Beijing.

“It’s a really sad indictment and reflection on the U.K.’s cowering before China. We’re now in a situation that having failed to honor their promises to the people of Hong Kong, the U.K. is telling people that they can’t go to third countries because they might end up in prison. They might be extradited to China,” de Pulford recently told VOA.

Under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between Britain and China before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, Beijing promised to maintain the territory’s autonomy under the so-called Basic Law and the principle of “one country, two systems.”

In a statement, the British government told VOA: “The UK will not look the other way on Hong Kong, and we will not duck our historic responsibilities to its people. As a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration, we will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations.”
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Britain Warns Citizens of Hong Kong Extradition Threat

Posted on by SeeEU

Concern is growing over the reach of China’s so-called national security law that it recently imposed on Hong Kong. Britain warned several of its citizens that they could face arrest and extradition to the former British colony. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. 

Camera: Henry Ridgwell

 
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Botswana’s Alcohol Industry Cautious as Night Spots Prepare to Open

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Botswana is set to emerge this week from an 18-month state of emergency that will remove the president’s emergency powers and end pandemic restrictions on trade and gatherings. While many shops, bars, and restaurants want to get back to normal, some in Botswana’s alcohol industry say it’s too soon to lift restrictions on night spots.

The minister of trade and industry, Kgafela Mmusi, says the end of the edict, set for this Thursday, means businesses can revert to normal trading hours. This includes the reopening of nightspots. 

That should be welcome news to Botswana’s alcohol industry, which employs around 50,000 people, including those who work at bars, breweries and distributors. 

But Botswana Beverages Association president Peter Noke warns some establishments might not be ready to reopen. 

Those that do will likely have restrictions, including a ban on dancing.

He said they have requested that dance floors be converted into seating areas.

“There should be sufficient spacing between the tables and there will be no dancing,” he said. “If one wishes to dance, they can only do so while seated.”

Music promoter Zain Aftermath says the decision to eliminate the dance floor is ill-advised. 

“How are you going to open clubs and then say people should not dance? It doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t leave my house to go to a nightclub, pay and buy alcohol so that I can sit on a chair. It is going to affect attendance in a huge way,” he said.

Workers’ union leader Johannes Tshukudu welcomes the reopening as entertainment industry workers have been mostly out of work since March of last year. But he too, urges caution. 

“We don’t expect full capacity at the beginning, we may decide to have half capacity at the venues so that at least so that we use that as an observation element. We don’t want to see this thing [opening of night clubs] as a trap by the government to justify reintroducing the state of emergency,” he said.

Minister Kgafela says the government will keep an eye on nightspots to ensure compliance with the rules. 
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Safety Officials Seek Answers in Deadly Amtrak Derailment

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Federal investigators examined overturned rail cars and a stretch of tracks Monday as they worked to figure out why an Amtrak train derailed in rural Montana over the weekend, killing three people. 

The westbound Empire Builder was traveling from Chicago to Seattle when it left the tracks Saturday afternoon near Joplin, a town of about 200. The train, carrying 141 passengers and 16 crew members, had two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed, with some tipping onto their sides. Seven people were hospitalized. 

The derailment occurred near a switch in the line, where one set of tracks turned into two, on a stretch of track that had just been inspected two days earlier, said BNSF Railway spokesperson Matt Jones at a news conference on Sunday. 

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to provide an update later Monday. The identities of the victims had not been released. 

Investigators will look at “everything” including the switch, wheels, axles and suspension systems, as well as the track geometry and condition, including any cracks, said Steven Ditmeyer, a rail consultant and former senior official at the Federal Railroad Administration. He said a switch such as the one in Joplin would be controlled by the BNSF control center in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Sun kinks 

Rail lines can sometimes become deformed by heat, creating buckles known as sun kinks in the tracks, Ditmeyer said. That was the cause of another derailment in northern Montana in August 1988, when an Empire Builder train derailed about 170 miles (274 kilometers) east in Saco, Montana. 

The NTSB concluded that an inspection had failed to catch a problem in the track and officials had not warned trains to slow down on that stretch. The crew saw the track had shifted, but the train was going full speed and could not stop before derailing. 

Temperatures were in the upper 80s Saturday near Joplin, according to the National Weather Service. 

Russ Quimby, a former rail accident investigator for the NTSB, said the most likely explanation was that the train hit a section of track that had buckled in the heat, as had been the case in the 1988 accident. He is convinced of this because the locomotives in front did not derail, but the eight lighter coach cars behind them did.

“This has all the earmarks of a track buckle also,” Quimby said. “Sometimes a locomotive, which is heavier, will make it through” a buckled track, “but the cars following won’t. You saw that in this accident,” he said. 

Quimby said a malfunction of the switch seemed less likely because, he believes, the switch would have been inspected when the track in the area had been checked last week. 

Another possibility was a defect in the rail, said railroad safety expert David Clarke, director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Tennessee. He noted that regular testing does not always catch such problems. 

Speed was not a likely factor because trains on that line have systems that prevent excessive speeds and collisions, which appear to have worked in this case, Clarke said. 

The speed limit on that stretch of track is 79 mph, said John Hiatt, a former BNSF engineer who is with the Bremseth law firm, based in Minneapolis, that provides representation for railroad accident injuries. Hiatt, who is on the scene in Montana, said the railroad employees he spoke with said there was a soft spot, a low spot on the track, in that area. 

Examining the switch 

Two locomotives and two cars at the front of the train reached the switch and continued on the main track, but the remaining eight cars derailed. He said it was unclear whether some of the last cars moved onto the second track. 

“Did the switch play some role? It might have been that the front of the train hit the switch and it started fishtailing, and that flipped the back part of the train,” Clarke said. 

The site of the derailment is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northeast of Helena, Montana, and about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Canadian border. The tracks roughly parallel U.S. Highway 2 and cut through recently harvested wheat fields. 

A 14-member NTSB team that includes railroad signal specialists will look into the cause of the accident, board spokesperson Eric Weiss said. 

Allan Zarembski, director of the University of Delaware’s Railway Engineering and Safety Program, said he did not want to speculate but suspected the derailment stemmed from an issue with the track, train equipment or both. 

Railways have “virtually eliminated” major derailments by human error after the implementation of a nationwide system designed to stop trains before an accident, Zarembski said. 

The derailment comes as Congress works toward final passage of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that includes $66 billion to improve Amtrak service. That’s less than the $80 billion that President Joe Biden — who famously rode Amtrak from Delaware to Washington during his time in the Senate — originally asked for, but it would be the largest federal investment in passenger rail service since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago. 

The biggest chunk of money would go toward repairs and improvements along the rail service’s congested 457-mile-long Northeast Corridor as well as to intercity routes with higher commuter traffic. About $16 billion is also aimed at building out Amtrak’s national service to wider America, particularly in rural regions. 

Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said the company was working with the NTSB, Federal Railroad Administration and local law enforcement, sharing their “sense of urgency” to determine what happened in Montana. 

Most of those on the train were treated and released for their injuries, but five who were more seriously hurt were in stable condition at the Benefis Health System hospital in Great Falls, Montana, Benefis spokesperson Whitney Bania said. 

Two more people were at Logan Health, a hospital in Kalispell, Montana, spokeswoman Melody Sharpton said. 

 
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37 Killed in Latest Violence in Nigeria’s North, Witnesses Say

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At least 37 villagers were killed in Nigeria’s north during an attack on a remote village on Sunday, according to witnesses. 

The attack in the Kaura council area in the restive Kaduna state was blamed on a prolonged religious crisis between Hausa-Fulani residents, who mostly reside in the northern part of the state, and the Christians who are concentrated in the south. 

Residents and health workers at the hospitals where corpses and the injured were taken told The Associated Press that assailants arrived at the Madamai village in large numbers with guns and machetes on Sunday evening.

A police spokesman in Kaduna said he has not been briefed about the incident in the area known as a violence hotspot. In August, five people were killed and some houses were burned down during a similar violence outbreak in Kaura. 

On Sunday, “37 people were killed; 35 dead bodies (were) discovered in the village, two (died) in the hospital,” said Derek Christopher, a local nurse at the General Hospital Kafanchan. He said the initial death toll was 30 as of Sunday night. 

Those injured were given urgent medical attention before being referred to the Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Plateau state, which is about 115 kilometers (70 miles) away from the village. 

At the hospital in Plateau, Sunday Eze said he narrowly escaped after being shot by the assailants. 

“They shot me on my hand,” he said, and, when asked how many the gunmen were, added ruefully: “They were plenty; these people.” 

Another resident who is overseeing care for those injured said that the attackers were Fulani herdsmen, referring to herders from the Fulani tribe who have been clashing with the predominantly Christian communities in southern Kaduna for many years. 

“We have gunshots and we have machete cuts,” said Cecilia Simon, a resident doctor. “In the hospital here, we are six (that arrived from the village). This thing is not our fault; maybe it is the fault of the government.” 

In Nigeria’s middle belt and central regions, deadly clashes between local communities and Fulani herdsmen continue in a cycle of violence that has defied measures introduced by authorities including the deployment of thousands of security operatives to restore peace. 

Security operatives deployed to violence hotspots usually leave those areas once their special security operation is over, leaving the remote communities yet again with an inadequate security presence. 

Arrests are rarely carried out, and in Kaduna state, authorities have been accused of failing to act on the reports of government panels set up to investigate the crisis. 

 
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US Homicides Increased Nearly 30% in 2020, FBI Reports

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Homicides in the U.S. increased nearly 30 percent last year compared to 2019, part of an overall increase in violent crime in the country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported Monday.

In its annual crime statistics report, the FBI said nearly 1.3 million violent crimes were committed in the U.S. last year, up 5.6 percent from 2019 and the first time the figure had risen in four years. Nearly 18,000 killings were reported, the FBI said.

The FBI report underscored the correlation between shootings and killings. Gun-related homicides accounted for more than two out of every three such deaths, according to the data.

The FBI, the country’s top criminal investigative agency, said there were more than 6.4 million property crimes committed, down 7.8 percent from the year before and the 18th straight year the figure has fallen.

Although the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughter offenses increased, the FBI said the number of robberies dropped 9.3 percent and rapes by 12 percent, while the estimated number of aggravated assault offenses rose 12.1 percent.

Among property crimes, the FBI said the number of burglaries dropped 7.4 percent and larceny-thefts fell by 10.6 percent, but motor vehicle thefts rose 11.8 percent.

Collectively, victims of property crimes, excluding arson, suffered losses estimated at $17.5 billion in 2020, the report said. Law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. arrested 7.6 million people last year, excluding those for traffic violations, the report stated.
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Biden Receives a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot

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U.S. President Joe Biden received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot Monday, days after his administration approved a third shot of Pfizer’s vaccine for certain populations. 

Before receiving his shot on camera, Biden told reporters at the White House that “boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated” with their initial shots.

He said 77% of the U.S. adult population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. 

“A quarter of the country can’t go unvaccinated,” he said, after getting his booster shot.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the boosters last week for three categories of Americans: those age 65 and older; frontline workers such as teachers, health care workers and others whose jobs place them at risk of contracting COVID-19; and those ages 50 to 64 with underlying conditions. 

The booster shot is available for those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months ago. The White House said Friday 20 million Americans are eligible for the shot immediately, while 60 million Pfizer-shot recipients will be eligible for boosters once they reach the six-month mark. 

Biden, 78, received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in December and a second shot in January, before he was sworn into office.

In comments from the White House Friday, Biden encouraged those eligible to get an additional vaccine dose.

“Like your first and second shot, the booster shot is free and easily accessible,” he said.

Biden announced in August that he wanted to see all Americans receive booster shots as the country experienced a wave of new coronavirus cases from the highly transmissible delta variant.

His plan was put on hold earlier this month, however, when an advisory panel for the U.S Food and Drug Administration rejected the widespread use of the boosters, citing a lack of data on their safety and value. The independent panel did endorse extra vaccine doses for those age 65 and older or at high risk of severe illness.

The CDC recommended that another category of Americans receive a booster shot: those whose jobs put them at a high risk of exposure to COVID-19. That recommendation by agency officials last week overruled the CDC’s own panel of health experts, triggering further debate about who should receive a booster shot. 

The World Health Organization has also weighed in on the matter, calling on the United States and other countries to pause the booster shot rollout to increase supplies for global vaccination distribution. 

When asked about the WHO’s stance Monday, Biden said the United States is “doing more than every other nation combined” to get vaccines to countries around the world.

Biden announced last week that the United States was purchasing another 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to donate internationally, for a total of one billion doses over the coming year.

The FDA has not yet considered the use of boosters by drugmakers Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.

The European Union’s drug watchdog said last week it plans to decide in early October whether to approve a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those over age 16.
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5.8 Quake Hits Crete, Killing One

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A magnitude 5.8 earthquake rocked the Greek island of Crete Monday morning, leaving at least one person dead and several injured.

Across the island, people were reportedly seen running out of buildings and homes, while many older buildings suffered damage.

“The earthquake was strong and was long in duration,” Heraklion Mayor Vassilis Lambrinos told private Antenna television.

Greek authorities dispatched civil engineers around the island to assess damage.

“We are urging people who live in damaged older buildings to remain outdoors. One aftershock can cause a collapse,” seismologist Efthimios Lekkas, who heads Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, told The Associated Press. “We are talking about structures built before 1970. Structures built after 1985 are built to a higher standard that can withstand the effect of an earthquake.”

Crete is a popular tourist destination, and according to reports, the quake did not disrupt international flights to Heraklion, nor did it cause serious damage to hotels.

The only known fatality was in the town of Arkalochori, which is about 30 kilometers outside of Heraklion. A man was reportedly working on the renovation of a chapel when the dome caved in.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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US Officials: Biden Aide to Meet Saudi Crown Prince on Yemen 

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President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the U.S. presses for a cease-fire in the yearslong war between the kingdom and Houthi rebels in Yemen. 

Sullivan will be the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit Saudi Arabia. Besides seeing the crown prince, often referred to by his initials, MBS, Sullivan is expected to meet with deputy defense minster Khalid bin Salman, a brother to the crown prince, according to two senior administration officials. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Biden White House has largely steered clear of the crown prince since making public in February a CIA report that showed MBS likely approved the killing of Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in a 2018 operation at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. 

But the White House has resolved that bringing an end to perhaps the world’s most complex conflict can’t be done without engaging with the most senior Saudi officials face to face, one senior administration official said. 

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said Sullivan was traveling to Riyadh on Monday and would also visit the United Arab Emirates, a Saudi ally in the war, but did not provide additional details. Axios first reported that Sullivan was planning on traveling to the region. 

Sullivan is being dispatched at a moment when the situation in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, has further deteriorated. Fighting has intensified in the key city of Marib, as Iran-backed rebels have sought to oust the Saudi-backed government from the oil-rich city in the country’s north. 

International efforts to end the war have been fruitless. Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, called out the Houthis in July for continuing “to refuse to engage meaningfully on a cease-fire and political talks.” Saudi Arabia offered a cease-fire proposal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels earlier this year as it looked to rehabilitate its image with the Biden administration.

The Saudis have drawn international criticism for airstrikes killing civilians and embargoes exacerbating hunger in a nation on the brink of famine. 

The new U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, recently declared that the country is “stuck in an indefinite state of war” and resuming negotiations to end the more than six-year conflict won’t be easy. 

Yemen’s war began in September 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthis seized Sanaa and began a march south to try to seize the entire country. Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen’s internationally recognized government in March 2015. 

The U.S. sold bombs and fighter jets to Saudi Arabia that the kingdom later used in strikes on Yemen that also killed civilians. The Obama administration in 2015 initially offered U.S. targeting assistance to Saudi Arabia’s command-and-control operations that was supposed to minimize civilian casualties in airstrikes. It didn’t, and Obama ultimately cut back on the program.

Under President Donald Trump, targeting assistance continued although his administration later stopped U.S. refueling operations for Saudi jets. 

Biden announced weeks into his administration that he was ending all American support for “offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.” But there has been little progress on the ground in resolving what the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 

White House officials are hopeful that the appointment of Grundberg will bring a new dynamic and put pressure on all sides to bring an end to the conflict, according to two senior administration officials.

Sullivan is being joined for the talks with the Saudis and the UAE by Lenderking and NSC senior director for the Middle East Brett McGurk. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin planned to travel to Saudi Arabia earlier this month while he was in the region but postponed due to what the administration said were scheduling issues. 

The high-level White House push comes after Lenderking traveled to Saudi Arabia and Oman, which has pressed for an end to the war. In addition, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had talks with his counterpart members of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly. 

Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia also comes as the administration is looking for ways to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal. The Saudis and the UAE fiercely oppose returning to the deal with Iran that was originally brokered in 2015 by the Obama administration only to be scrapped by Trump in 2018.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Iran’s new foreign minister Hossain Amir Abdollah said the country will return to nuclear negotiations in Vienna “very soon.” But he accused the Biden administration of sending contradictory messages by saying it wants to rejoin the pact while slapping new sanctions on Tehran and not taking “an iota of positive action.” 

Biden and his team have made a U.S. return to the deal — to which Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran are signatories — one of their top foreign policy priorities. But the U.S. has made limited headway in indirect talks, and Tehran has bristled at Biden administration officials’ call for a “longer and stronger” deal than the original, which expires at the end of 2030. 
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‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ Sashays Home with 10 Tony Awards 

Posted on by SeeUS

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hyperactive 2001 movie, won the best new musical crown at the Tony Awards on a Sunday night when Broadway looked back to honor shows shuttered by COVID-19, mourn its fallen and also look forward to welcoming audiences again.

The show about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub, updated with tunes like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” alongside the big hit “Lady Marmalade,” won 10 Tonys. The record is 12, won by “The Producers.”

Producer Carmen Pavlovic struck a philosophical note in her acceptance speech, sharing the award with all the shows that struggled in the past 18-month shutdown.

“It feels a little odd to me to be talking about one show as best musical. I feel that every show of last season deserves to be thought of as the best musical,” she said. “The shows that opened, the shows that closed not to return, the shows that nearly opened. And of course, the shows that paused and are fortunate enough to be reborn — best musical is all of those shows.”

“The Inheritance” by Matthew Lopez was named the best new play and won three other awards, and Charles Fuller’s “A Soldier’s Play” won best play revival and an acting award. 

Lopez’s two-part, seven-hour epic uses “Howards End” as a starting point for a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century. It also yielded wins for Andrew Burnap as best actor in a play, Stephen Daldry as best director, and Lois Smith as best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play. 

Thomas Kirdahy, a producer, dedicated the award to his late husband, the playwright Terrence McNally. Lopez, the first Latino writer to win in the category, urged more plays to be produced from the Latin community. “We have so many stories inside us aching to come out. Let us tell you our stories,” he said.

The pandemic-delayed telecast kicked off with an energetic performance of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from original Broadway cast members of “Hairspray!” Ali Stroker sang “What I Did for Love” from “A Chorus Line.” Jennifer Holliday also took the stage to deliver an unforgettable rendition of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from the musical “Dreamgirls.”

The singers performed for a masked and appreciative audience at a packed Winter Garden Theatre. Host Audra McDonald got a standing ovation when she took the stage. “You can’t stop the beat. The heart of New York City!” she said.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” won for scenic design, costume, lighting, sound design, orchestrations and a featured acting Tony for Broadway favorite Danny Burstein. Sonya Tayeh won for choreography in her Broadway debut, and Alex Timbers won the trophy for best direction of a musical.

In a surprise to no one, Aaron Tveit won the award for best leading actor in a musical for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” That’s because he was the only person nominated in the category. He thanked a long list of people, including his parents, brother, agents, manager and the cast and crew. “We are so privileged to get to do this,” he said, tearing up. “Because what we do changes peoples’ lives.”

Burstein, who won for featured actor in a musical and had not won six previous times, thanked the Broadway community for supporting him after the death last year of his wife, Rebecca Luker. “You were there for us, whether you just sent a note or sent your love, sent your prayers — sent bagels — it meant the world to us, and it’s something I’ll never forget.”

David Alan Grier won featured actor in a play for his role in “A Soldier’s Play,” which dissects entrenched Black-white racism as well as internal divisions in the Black military community during World War II. “To my other nominees: Tough bananas, I won,” he said. On stage, the director, Kenny Leon recited the names Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, killed by police. “We will never, ever forget you.”

Adrienne Warren won the Tony for best leading actress in a musical for her electric turn as Tina Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical.” Warren was considered the front-runner thanks to becoming a one-woman fireball of energy and exhilaration. She dedicated the win to three family members she lost while playing Turner — and thanked Turner herself.

Mary-Louise Parker won her second best lead actress Tony Award, winning for playing a Yale professor who treasures great literature but has made no room in her life for someone to share that love with in “The Sound Inside.” She thanked her dog, whom she was walking in the rain when she bumped into Mandy Greenfield from the Williamstown Theatre Festival, who told her about the play.

Burnap made his Broadway debut in “The Inheritance.” He thanked his mom, and the University of Rhode Island and joked that he felt grateful because “I got to act for seven hours.”

The sobering musical “Jagged Little Pill,” which plumbs Alanis Morissette’s 1995 breakthrough album to tell a story of an American family spiraling out of control, came into the night with a leading 15 Tony nominations. It left with wins for best book, and Lauren Patten won the award for best featured actress in a musical.

“A Christmas Carol” cleaned up with five technical awards: scenic design of a play, costumes, lighting, sound design and score. But no one from the production was on hand to accept any of the awards. 

“Slave Play,” Jeremy O. Harris’ ground-breaking, bracing work that mixes race, sex, taboo desires and class, earned a dozen nominations, making it the most nominated play in Tony history. But it won nothing.

Sunday’s show was expanded from its typical three hours to four, with McDonald handing out Tonys for the first two hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting a “Broadway’s Back!” celebration for the second half with performances from the three top musicals.

The live special also included David Byrne and the cast of “American Utopia” playing “Burning Down the House” to a standing and clapping crowd. Byrne told them they might not remember how to dance after so long but they were welcome to try.

John Legend and the cast of “Ain’t Too Proud” performed “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and Josh Groban and Odom Jr. sang “Beautiful City” from “Godspell,” dedicating it to educators. And Ben Platt and Anika Noni Rose sang “Move On” from “Sunday in the Park with George.” Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth reunited for the “Wicked” song “For Good.”

Members of Broadway’s royalty — Norm Lewis, Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell — mourned the list of those who have died, which included icons like McNally, Harold Prince and Larry Kramer.

This season’s nominations were pulled from just 18 eligible plays and musicals from the 2019-2020 season, a fraction of the 34 shows the previous season. During most years, there are 26 competitive categories. This year there are 25 with several depleted ones.

The last Tony Awards ceremony was held in 2019. The virus forced Broadway theaters to abruptly close on March 12, 2020, knocking out all shows and scrambling the spring season. Several have restarted, including the so-called big three of “Wicked,” “Hamilton” and “The Lion King.”
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Volcano Lava Flow Halts but Many Confined Over Toxic Gas Fears

Posted on by SeeEU

A Canary Islands volcano that has been erupting for over a week fell silent Monday as coastal residents were confined over toxic gas fears when the lava hits the sea.

La Cumbre Vieja, which straddles a southern ridge in La Palma in the Atlantic archipelago, erupted on September 19, spewing out rivers of lava which have slowly crept towards the sea.

But on Monday morning, there was no lava and ash emerging, with the week-long rumble of the eruption fading to silence, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. 

It was not immediately clear whether the eruption had stopped completely or merely paused, as smoke was still emerging from the top. 

“Volcanic activity in La Palma has reduced significantly in the last few hours. We must be very vigilant about how it evolves because the scenario can change quickly,” Madrid’s Institute of Geosciences tweeted. 

“It seems the volcano has entered a phase of decreased activity. We will see how it evolves in the coming hours.”

And the Involcan volcanology institute gave a similar assessment.

“In the last hours, the volcanic tremor has almost disappeared, as well as the… explosive activity,” it tweeted.

Contacted by AFP, Involcan was unable to say whether the eruption had finished or just paused, with a spokesman saying its experts were “evaluating the different scenarios”. 

Overnight, the inhabitants of several coastal areas were ordered to stay at home to avoid harm from the release of toxic gases when the lava finally reaches the sea, a process which has been much slower than initially expected. 

When the molten lava enters the ocean, experts warn it will send clouds of toxic gas into the air, as well as explosions and a fragmentation of the lava, which shoots outwards like bullets. 

The authorities have set up a no-go zone to head off curious onlookers.
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Rwanda Massacre Mastermind Dies 

Posted on by SeeAF

Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel regarded as the architect of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed, died in a hospital in Mali on Saturday. 

The 80-year-old Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the then-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. 

Known as a hardliner within the party of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Bagosora was appointed cabinet director in the defense ministry in 1993 and took control of military and political affairs in the country. 

Bagosora was accused of taking over the affairs of state after Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994 and ordering the massacre of Tutsi.

After the genocide, Bagosora fled into exile in Cameroon. He was arrested there in 1996 and flown to face trial in Tanzania in 1997.

His trial began in 2002 and lasted until 2007. 

Bagosora was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 but that sentence was reduced on appeal.

 

 

 

 

 

 
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US House to Debate $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill 

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. House of Representatives is due to begin debate Monday on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill ahead of a planned vote Thursday on the measure that is a major part of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the dates in a letter to Democratic lawmakers Sunday, and in television interviews she expressed confidence the bill will pass. 

“Let me just say that we’re going to pass the bill this week,” Pelosi said on ABC News’ “This Week” show.

She added that she would not bring a bill to the House floor for consideration unless it has enough support to pass. 

Biden also expressed confidence when asked about the bill, telling reporters Sunday “it’s going to take the better part of this week.”

The Senate approved the infrastructure plan in a vote last month that saw 19 Republicans join all 50 members of the Democratic caucus.

The infrastructure spending, with nearly half of it in new government funding, would repair aging roads and bridges and expand broadband, pay for replacement of dangerous lead-piped drinking water systems, add new sewer infrastructure, expand passenger rail and transit systems, and make airport improvements.

Pelosi said in her letter that House leaders are also working with the Senate and White House on a separate $3.5 trillion proposal involving social safety net and climate change programs. That measure includes plans to provide universal pre-kindergarten instruction, free community college classes, expanded health care for older Americans, childcare funding, money to combat the effects of climate change, and make immigration law changes and attempt to lower prescription drug prices.

But the larger bill, which advanced in the House Budget Committee on Saturday, faces more opposition, including from some Senate Democrats who say they will not support that much spending. 

Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” that the negotiations would certainly result in a lower price tag, calling such a development “self-evident.” 

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

 
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Social Democrats Win Most Votes in German Election

Posted on by SeeEU

Preliminary results Monday showed Germany’s center-left Social Democrats winning the largest share of the vote in national parliamentary elections as parties battle to see who will succeed outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

The Social Democrats received 25.7% of the vote Sunday, followed by 24.1% for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union. 

State Governor Armin Laschet of the conservative CDU bloc and outgoing Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats are vying to become the leader of Europe’s biggest national economy as Merkel steps down after 16 years as chancellor.

 

Each said they would be reaching out to smaller parties to try to form a governing coalition with a goal of having a new government in place before the end of the year. 

The top targets for support will be the environmentalist Green party, which finished third with 14.8%, and the pro-business Free Democrats who finished fourth with 11.5%. 

Merkel will remain in office on a caretaker basis until her successor is chosen.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Agence France Presse. 

 
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Theoneste Bagosora, Architect of Rwanda Genocide, Dies at 80

Posted on by SeeAF

Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel regarded as the architect of the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed, died in a hospital in Mali on Saturday.

His son Achille Bagosora announced the death in a Facebook post: “Rest in Peace, Papa.”

Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the then-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Bagosora, 80, had been sentenced to life in 2008 but on appeal his sentence was reduced to 35 years in prison.

Known as a hardliner within the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development party of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Bagosora in 1993 was appointed Cabinet director in the defense ministry and took control of military and political affairs in the country.

The position made him answerable only to the president. When the president died in a plane crash, Bagosora took over the affairs of state and ordered the massacre of Tutsi, Donat Rutayisire, a genocide survivor who knew him, told The Associated Press.

Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire, head of United Nations peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time, described Bagosora as the kingpin behind the genocide.

After the genocide, Bagosora fled into exile in Cameroon. He was arrested there in 1996 and flown to face trial in Arusha, Tanzania, in 1997. His trial began in 2002 and lasted until 2007.

Bagosora was found guilty in connection with the killing of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and responsible for the deaths of the Rwandan prime minister and head of the constitutional court. He was also found responsible for organized killings of Tutsi at numerous sites in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, and in Gisenyi in the west of the country.

Reacting to the news of Bagosora’s death, Rwanda’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said Bagosora didn’t show remorse for his crimes.

“The main reasons against Bagosora’s request for early release were that he never accepted responsibility for genocide, showing no sign of remorse or regret; and that he is a man with a forceful personality who at times is unable to control himself,” Nduhungirehe said in a Twitter post.

Bagosora’s application for early release was turned down earlier this year, with the judge ruling that he had failed to demonstrate rehabilitation.
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Democrats Negotiate on Spending Bills Key to Biden’s Domestic Agenda

Posted on by SeeUS

A time of intensity. That’s what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is calling this coming week in Congress as lawmakers are expected to vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, but also consider the Democrat-backed $3.5 trillion sweeping social spending package, core to the Biden administration agenda. Michelle Quinn reports.   

Produced by: Henry Hernandez 
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New USA Golf Era Message Sent in Ryder Cup Romp

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A new era of American golfers sent a message Sunday with a record-setting Ryder Cup blowout of Europe, their young, talented core players looking ready to dominate for years.

With eight under-30 players and six Ryder Cup rookies, the Americans completed a 19-9 rout of Europe at Whistling Straits that signaled a generational change to the world.

Farewell Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Say hello to Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, U.S. PGA playoff champion Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, 20-something stars.

“We have a lot of young guys, they’re going to be on teams for a long time and I wanted to send a message,” said Cantlay. “Everyone has that killer instinct and we’re going to bring that to future Cups.”

The most lopsided victory since the U.S.-Europe format began in 1979 served notice that a squad with nine of the world’s 11 top-ranked players was on a mission.

“This is a new era for USA golf,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “They are young. They are motivated. They wanted it. They come with a lot of energy, a lot of passion, a lot of game. It’s exciting to see. This is a very special group of guys.”

Third-ranked Morikawa, 24, and fourth-ranked Cantlay, 29, each delivered 3.5 points. Fifth-ranked Schauffele, 27, had 3 points and world number 21 Scheffler, 25, had 2.5, the last in a singles win over world number one Jon Rahm of Spain.

And they were all rookies along with 11th-ranked Harris English, 32, and 16th-ranked Daniel Berger, 28.

“We showed the world what we can do as a team and I think it’s the precedent for the future of American golf,” said US veteran Tony Finau.

Pals Cantlay and Schauffele figure to be a U.S. pairs powerhouse for years, and the clubhouse chemistry promises a tighter bond than prior eras.

“I think the young guys on this team get along really well,” Cantlay said. “We sent out rookies four out of the first five (singles) matches. That’s unheard of. Everybody gets along.”

Morikawa delivered the Cup clinching half-point in a tie with Norway’s Viktor Hovland, and Cantlay beat Ireland’s Shane Lowry, while Scheffler’s upset, and Bryson DeChambeau’s win over Sergio Garcia silenced Europe’s winningest players for the week when it mattered most.

Europe veteran Lee Westwood delivered high praise to the conquerors.

“It’s not just the strongest U.S. team I’ve seen, but they all played well, to a man,” he said. “Everybody performed and turned up this week. Looks like they are a team.”

At the next Ryder Cup in 2023 in Italy, the new-look Americans will try to win the trophy on foreign soil for the first time since 1993.

“We’ve lost a lot looking back at the past. But that’s the past. We’re hopefully what the future is going to be like,” Morikawa said. “Hopefully we can turn that tide in our favor for however many years I’m able to play this.”
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Recount Finds Iceland Just Misses Female-majority Parliament

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Iceland briefly celebrated electing a female-majority parliament Sunday, before a recount produced a result just short of that landmark for gender parity in the North Atlantic island nation.

The initial vote count had female candidates winning 33 seats in Iceland’s 63-seat parliament, the Althing, in an election that saw centrist parties make the biggest gains.

Hours later, a recount in western Iceland changed the outcome, leaving female candidates with 30 seats, a tally previously reached at Iceland’s second most recent election, in 2016. Still, at almost 48% of the total, that is the highest percentage for women lawmakers in Europe.

Only a handful of countries, none of them in Europe, have a majority of female lawmakers. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Rwanda leads the world with women making up 61% of its Chamber of Deputies, with Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico at or just over the 50% mark. Worldwide, the organization says just over a quarter of legislators are women.

“The female victory remains the big story of these elections,” politics professor Olafur Hardarson told broadcaster RUV after the recount.

Iceland’s voting system is divided into six regions and the recount in western Iceland was held after questions about the number of ballots cast. The mistakes have not been entirely explained but are thought to be the result of human error.

The three parties in the outgoing coalition government led by Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir won a total of 37 seats in Saturday’s vote, two more than in the last election, and appeared likely to continue in power.

Opinion polls had suggested a victory for left-leaning parties in the unpredictable election, which saw 10 parties competing for seats. But the center-right Independence Party took the largest share of votes, winning 16 seats, seven of them held by women. The centrist Progressive Party celebrated the biggest gain, winning 13 seats, five more than last time.

Before the election, the two parties formed Iceland’s three-party coalition government, together with Jakobsdottir’s Left Green Party. Her party lost several seats, but kept eight, outscoring poll predictions.  

The three ruling parties haven’t announced whether they will work together for another term but given the strong support from voters it appears likely. It will take days, if not weeks, for a new government to be formed and announced.  

Climate change had ranked high on the election agenda in Iceland, a glacier-studded volcanic island nation of about 350,000 people in the North Atlantic. An exceptionally warm summer by Icelandic standards — with 59 days of temperatures above 20 C (68 F) — and shrinking glaciers have helped drive global warming up the political agenda.

But that didn’t appear to have translated into increased support for any of the four left-leaning parties that campaigned to cut carbon emissions by more than Iceland is committed to under the Paris Climate Agreement.
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Coronavirus Surge Overwhelming Hospitals in Some Parts of US

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The surge in coronavirus cases in the United States is overwhelming the capacity to provide normal health care at hospitals in some states, one of the country’s top health officials said Sunday.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” show that in some parts of the country, “Their health care systems are in dire straits.”

“They are running out of beds,” she said. “And when you see that, you worry that people may not be able to come in and get the proper care if they have a motor vehicle accident or if they’re having a heart attack.”

“And that is why we are working so hard in areas that have high levels of disease” to get people vaccinated, she said, noting that people who are not vaccinated are 10 times more likely to be in the hospital than those who have been inoculated. “Our hospitals are filled with unvaccinated people.”

In addition, she said the unvaccinated in the U.S. are 11 times more likely to die.

Three months ago, the U.S. seemed on the verge of controlling the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, but the delta variant has led to a surge of new cases, 120,000 to 160,000 a day in recent weeks and about 2,000 deaths a day.  

Even though more than 183 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, about 70 million are not, with many of them refusing to get inoculated for one reason or another. Some say they remain skeptical of the safety of the shots or say they do not think they will become sick.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. currently has around 43 million confirmed cases and nearly 700,000 deaths. The U.S. leads the world in both categories.
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Swiss Approve Same-sex Marriage by Landslide in Referendum

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Switzerland voted by a wide margin to allow same-sex couples to marry in a referendum on Sunday, bringing the Alpine nation into line with many others in western Europe.

Official results showed the measure passed with 64.1% of voters in favor and won a majority in all of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, or states.  

Switzerland’s parliament and the governing Federal Council supported the “Marriage for All” measure. Switzerland has authorized same-sex civil partnerships since 2007.  

Supporters said passage would put same-sex partners on equal legal footing with heterosexual couples by allowing them to adopt children together and facilitating citizenship for same-sex spouses. It would also permit lesbian couples to utilize regulated sperm donation.  

Opponents believe that replacing civil partnerships with full marriage rights would undermine families based on a union between one man and one woman.

At a polling station in Geneva on Sunday, voter Anna Leimgruber said she cast her ballot for the “no” camp because she believed “children would need to have a dad and a mom.”

But Nicolas Dzierlatka, who voted “yes,” said what children need is love.  

“I think what’s important for children is that they are loved and respected — and I think there are children who are not respected or loved in so-called ‘hetero’ couples,” he said.

The campaign has been rife with allegations of unfair tactics, with the opposing sides decrying the ripping down of posters, LGBT hotlines getting flooded with complaints, hostile emails, shouted insults against campaigners and efforts to silence opposing views.  

Switzerland, which has a population of 8.5 million, is traditionally conservative and only extended the right to vote to all its women in 1990.

Most countries in western Europe already recognize same-sex marriage, while most of those in central and eastern Europe don’t allow wedlock involving two men or two women.

Supporters say it could still be months before same-sex couples can get married, mainly because of administrative and legislative procedures.  

Also on Sunday, voters dismissed a proposal spearheaded by left-wing groups to raise taxes on returns from investments and capital such as dividends or income from rental properties in Switzerland as a way to ensure better redistribution and fairer taxation.

Results showed 64.9% voting against it in a country known for its vibrant financial sector and relatively low taxes, and as a haven for many of the world’s richest people. No canton voted in favor.
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EU-US to Seek Shared Tech Rules Despite French Anger

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The EU and U.S. will this week embark on a tricky effort to deepen ties on tech regulation, but with France resisting the project in the wake of a falling out with Washington over a submarine deal.

High-level talks will begin in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday despite efforts by Paris to delay the meeting in retaliation for a pact among the U.S., Australia and Britain, dubbed AUKUS, that saw Canberra scrap a multibillion-dollar submarine order from France.

The EU-U.S. Trade and Tech Council was set up after a summit in June to look at issues including trying to attune their strategies on regulating internet giants and defend democratic values.  

The council came at the request of the Europeans, who are seeking concrete signs of increased transatlantic cooperation after years of tension under former President Donald Trump, especially over trade.

President Joe Biden’s administration will be represented by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

On the European side, EU executive vice presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis will lead talks.

Vestager, the EU’s tech policy expert, said the talks would attempt to enhance cooperation “in the areas where there is a shared sense of values being two big, old democracies.”

Unspoken in her comments was the rise of China, with Washington understood to be pressing its EU partners to join forces in isolating Beijing on the global stage.

This is being resisted in Europe, where powerful member states France and Germany are reluctant to blindly follow Washington’s increasing assertiveness.

“European officials want to avoid the TTC simply becoming an unproductive exercise at China-bashing,” said former EU trade boss Cecilia Malmstrom and analyst Chad Bown in a paper for the Peterson Institute in Washington.  

The talks in Pittsburgh, a rust-belt city that has grown into a tech hub, are the first installment of the Trade and Tech Council, with another round expected in the spring, Vestager said.

EU diplomats said France sharply criticized the talks at a meeting on Friday, reminding member states that previous attempts to deepen trade ties with Washington led nowhere.

‘No place in a democracy’

Dombrovskis, who is also the EU’s trade commissioner, cautioned that the new effort was not an attempt to clinch a trade deal, with memories still fresh of the failed attempt to strike an ambitious accord during the Obama administration.

The European Commission, which handles trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states, also failed to finalize a smaller scale deal with former U.S. President Donald Trump, beyond a zero-tariff pact on lobsters.

“It’s not like a free trade agreement,” the former Latvian prime minister told reporters. “It’s more about long-term benefits.”  

Dombrovskis pointed to potential cooperation on banning unwanted foreign investments or tackling supply chain problems, such as with microchips.

The talks will be broken into 10 working groups on a wide range of issues, with Vestager looking to find common ground on how to curb Big Brother, such as in preventing excesses in artificial intelligence.

“We do not find that these practices should have a home in a democracy,” she said. “I have a strong feeling that this is something that is really shared with the Americans.”

The talks will take place while both sides remain at loggerheads over the steel and aluminum tariffs that were imposed by Trump, but which Biden has yet to remove.

On the tariffs, Dombrovskis said, “We are engaging very seriously with the U.S., and we are mindful also (of the) timelines, that by December 1, this issue should be solved.”
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