Ukraine’s leaders have been working to calm anxiety among the population as the threat of a Russian invasion continues to loom. On social media platforms, Ukrainians have been trading tips on how to prepare for war. On the streets of the capital, Kyiv, life continues as normal and many people are reluctant to speak openly about the tensions. In this report narrated by Jon Spier, for VOA, Ricardo Marquina is in Kyiv and has their story.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina
Produced by: Ricardo Marquina, MHarton
…
Month: January 2022
Kenyan Pastoral Communities Embrace Fishing
Kenya’s nomadic herders are among those suffering the most from recurring drought that kills the livestock they depend on. To make them less dependent on rain, aid programs are teaching Kenya’s herders how to farm fish and keep bees. Brenda Mulinya reports from Isiolo, Kenya.
Camera: Amos Wangwa Produced by: Amos Wangwa/Henry Hernandez
…
Study: Gas Stoves Worse for Climate Than Previously Thought
Gas stoves are contributing more to global warming than previously thought because of constant tiny methane leaks while they’re off, a new study found.
The same study that tested emissions around stoves in homes raised new concerns about indoor air quality and health because of levels of nitrogen oxides measured.
Even when they are not running, U.S. gas stoves are putting 2.6 million tons (2.4 million metric tons) of methane — in carbon dioxide equivalent units — into the air each year, a team of California researchers found in a study published in Thursday’s journal Environmental Science & Technology. That’s equivalent to the annual amount of greenhouse gases from 500,000 cars or what the United States puts into the air every three-and-a-half hours.
“They’re constantly bleeding a little bit of methane into the atmosphere all the time,” said the study’s co-author Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist.
That methane is on top of the 6.8 million tons (6.2 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide that gas stoves emit into the air when they are in use and the gas is burned, the study said. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is dozens of times more potent than carbon dioxide but doesn’t stay in the atmosphere nearly as long and isn’t as plentiful in the air.
The researchers examined 53 home kitchens in California — many in bed and breakfasts they rented. They sealed most of the rooms in plastic tarps and then measured emissions when the stoves were working and when they were not. And what was surprising was that three-quarters of the methane released happened while the stoves were off, Jackson said. Those are emissions releases that the government doesn’t account for, he said.
“That’s a big deal because we’re trying to really reduce our carbon footprint and we claim that gas is cleaner than coal, which it is,” said study lead author Eric Lebel, a scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, an Oakland nonprofit. But he said much of the benefit disappears when leaks are taken into account.
Many communities have bans on gas stove use in future new construction that will take effect in future years, including New York City and the Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Berkeley, Jackson said.
“People can already choose electric appliances if they want,” said Frank Maisano, a Washington policy and public relations expert who represents gas and appliance interests. “People just like gas appliances because they perform better, especially in colder climates.”
“Natural gas appliances are generally more energy- and cost-effective than their electric counterparts,” Maisano said.
Jackson estimated that when all natural gas use and extraction is taken into account, about 100 million tons (91 million metric tons) of gas leaks into the atmosphere. And the couple million tons from gas stoves “is meaningful. That’s a substantial part and it’s a part that we haven’t included accurately in the past.”
The leakage finding is “a very important takeaway” and fits with other work that found there are often big leaks that account for much of the emissions, said Zachary Merrin, a research engineer with the Illinois Applied Research Institute’s Indoor Climate Research & Training group.
Merrin, who wasn’t part of the study, said the emission of un-combusted methane is “clearly bad. From an emissions standpoint, cooking directly with gas is better than using a fossil fuel powered electric stove but worse than using a solar powered electric stove.”
The methane leak isn’t dangerous to human health or as a possible explosive, Jackson said. But when conducting the tests, researchers found high levels of nitrogen oxides, greater than 100 parts per billion. Jackson said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have indoor air quality standards for that gas, but the measurements they took exceed its outdoor air quality standards. While methane doesn’t include nitrogen, the nitrogen oxides are byproducts of the combustion in natural gas ovens, he said.
Maisano said people should always use hood ranges and make sure they have proper ventilation. Jackson, who has a gas stove that he plans to replace, said he never used ventilation before this study, but that he now does so every time.
…
Is Risky Pandemic Behavior Driving Record Traffic & Drug Overdose Deaths?
Traffic and drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a result of extended stress that is prompting more Americans to engage in risky behavior, according to Shannon Frattaroli, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy.
“We’re living in a time when there’s great uncertainty and big questions about our society and our democracy,” Frattaroli says. “A lot of what the pandemic has revealed is our weaknesses and problems in our society, and they’ve been tremendously exacerbated over the past couple of years. … So, all of these factors are coming together and making life very difficult for everyone.”
Dangerous roads
Even though fewer people were driving during the first year of the pandemic, more than 38,000 people died on U.S. roads during that time — the highest number since 2007.
“Fatal vehicle crashes are the epidemic within the pandemic,” Mark Chung, a vice president at the National Safety Council, told VOA in an email. “This increase is a deadly trend that started during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and negates more than 15 years of progress in preventing death on U.S. roads.”
WATCH: Why US Traffic Deaths, Drug Overdoses Skyrocketed During the Pandemic
In 2020, the number of kilometers driven dropped 13%, but fatalities involving people not wearing seat belts increased 15%, and alcohol-related traffic deaths were up 9%, according to the NSC.
“Think about what life is like now. There’s a lot of stressors that we’re facing. There’s a lot of uncertainty that we’re facing. So, that impacts how we approach the road, how we drive,” Frattaroli says. “[They think], ‘Does it matter as much that I’m diligent about buckling my seat belt every time I get into the car? Does it matter if I’m drinking and driving when there seems to be so much wrong with the world right now?’”
The traffic death rate for Black people is the most dire, rising more than three times faster than the death rate overall. The NSC says drivers are less likely to yield to Black pedestrians and cyclists than they are to white pedestrians and cyclists. Black pedestrians also wait longer for cars to yield to them than white pedestrians.
Overdose deaths
About 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a record high for a single year and a 30% jump over the previous year.
“COVID-19 exacerbated many issues that impact mental health and substance use, including isolation, anxiety, uncertainty … loss of employment, stress caused by financial, food, housing or child/family care instabilities and more,” Jenny Burke, a senior director at the NSC, told VOA in an email. “Trauma increases risk for developing mental health issues and substance use disorders.”
Drug overdose fatalities also might be higher because people have had less access to treatment and other assistance during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the stigma related to drug use might have prevented some people from seeking whatever help might be available.
“We know that substance abuse increased during the pandemic,” says clinical psychologist Maria Espinola. “A lot of people use alcohol and drugs to cope with the stress that we’re experiencing. So, some people were already having issues prior to the pandemic that got worse. And then some people who had no issues before experienced such high levels of stress that they used substances to cope.”
Getting back on track
There are steps that can be taken to mitigate traffic and overdose fatalities, according to the experts.
For example, funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could be used to create transportation systems designed for the future, rather than the last century, that take human error into consideration.
“Systems that take into account the fact that humans will be driving cars, riding bicycles, walking down the street distracted,” Frattaroli says. “And we need to make sure that we design our roadways and our communities in a way to minimize the harm that can come from predictable human mistakes.”
This could include replacing accident-prone, four-way intersections with circles, or roundabouts, which make drivers slow down and reduce the likelihood of the most serious types of intersection crashes, like head-on collisions.
Other options include making certain that highways have dividers that prevent head-on collisions, and finding ways to separate pedestrians and cyclists from vehicles.
Regarding drug overdoses, the NSC is looking to employers to fill the gap by extending job benefits to include increased treatment and recovery services.
“The quarantines and shutdowns provided more opportunities for drug misuse, but we will not know the full impact the pandemic has had on drug misuse until past its end,” Burke says. “NSC implores employers to work with us to seek training and implement programs to identify and combat opioid misuse and other forms of impairment in the workplace.”
…
Is Russia’s Putin a Rash Gambler or Calculating Risk-Taker?
Russian officials have said they don’t need peace at any cost, but what price are they prepared to pay for war?
The answer to that question would help Western policymakers determine what they must do to deter Russian leader Vladimir Putin as he seeks to remake Europe’s post-Cold War security order to his liking.
Western leaders say the Russian leader is prepared to invade Ukraine if he fails to secure the concessions he wants from the United States and NATO that in effect would carve out for Russia a Soviet-era-like sphere of influence across eastern Europe. Russian officials deny they have any intentions to invade their neighbor, despite an unprecedented massive military buildup along the borders of Ukraine.
Dmitri Trenin, a longtime Kremlin-watcher and director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a think tank, worries the lack so far of a diplomatic solution “will logically lead to a further escalation of the crisis, and increase the chances the only way out of it will be through the use of what Russian officials call military-technical means.”
Washington consistently has rejected Putin’s demand that Ukraine never to be allowed to join NATO, as well as his insistence the Western alliance remove any military presence in other former Soviet bloc nations which are now NATO members.
Trenin doubts a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine is likely, though he concedes in a commentary the situation remains volatile and unpredictable. By escalating tensions with the West to a boiling point, Moscow may consider it already has achieved some wins, including forcing the U.S. to discuss European strategic issues for the first time since the end of the Cold War, he says. Trenin also contends Putin most likely has squelched any chance of NATO admitting Ukraine as a member.
Others, though, are reading the geopolitical confrontation differently. Timothy Ash, a risk analyst at Bluebay Asset Management in London, fears Putin is a gambler who may have gone too far to back down. He agrees the Russian leader already has notched up some accomplishments.
“Putin has enhanced his image as the guy who calls the shots and the poker player with all the cards. More than ever, he is seen as a leader who everyone has to contend with if they want solutions to the geopolitical problems that he typically creates himself,” Ash says.
But Ash cautions: “If the Russian leader does not proceed with some form of military action in the weeks ahead, his bluff will have been called” and he would risk “emerging from the current crisis as a net loser unless he proceeds further. Does he see it the same way? If so, will he escalate from here? At this point, he may feel that he has little choice.”
Risk-taker
Putin appears to relish courting, calculating and taking risks. In 2019, the editors of Britain’s Financial Times newspaper conducted a 90-minute interview with the Russian leader. They noted: “Just before midnight, Vladimir Putin perks up at the mention of the word ‘risk.’ It encapsulates the man and his 20 years in power.”
His interviewers talked with him near a bronze statue of Russia’s legendary and expansionist Tsar Peter the Great, one of Putin’s heroes who carved out a Russian empire in the 18th century. They tried to explore whether the Russian president is a rash gambler or a calculating, and more cautious, risk-taker. But he was elusive and teasing.
They asked him if his appetite for risk-taking had increased with each passing year. He responded: “It did not increase or decrease. Risk must always be well-justified.” But then Putin cited a popular Russian phrase: “He who doesn’t take risks, never drinks champagne.”
Some risks, Putin clearly thinks, are beneath leaders of great powers to fret over. Asked about the attempted assassination in 2018 in England of the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, which the British government has blamed on the Kremlin, Putin bristled. “Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This spy story, as we say, is not worth five kopecks.” A kopeck is worth a hundredth of a ruble.
Invading Ukraine would cost Russia a lot more, and the risks would be massive in terms of loss of life (Russian, as well as Ukrainian) along with treasure. Putin and his aides have made no secret that a key domestic goal is to upgrade and modernize Russia’s economy. In his Financial Times interview, Putin highlighted that, saying, “The most important task we need to achieve is to change the structure of the economy and secure a substantial growth of labor productivity through modern technologies.” One of his aides emphasized that in an interview, too, with VOA a few months earlier.
War’s downsides
War in Ukraine possibly may be too big of a risk for Putin to take, reckon some longtime Putin-watchers. Economically for Russia, it likely would result in capital flight, with many foreign investors fleeing the country or reducing their investments and would mean much slower economic growth.
All of that would lead to declining living standards of ordinary Russians, which in turn could trigger the kind of major social unrest that rocked Kazakhstan this month and which the Kremlin always fears. Russians already are complaining about feeling an economic pinch and Putin’s popularity and trust ratings in opinion polls have been slumping for months.
Modernization of the economy would be set back by years and possibly decades by a further wave of tough sanctions — especially if Washington includes in them, as it has threatened to do, novel export controls that would bar the export to Russia of products that are fitted with electronic components and software designed and/or manufactured in the United States.
The export controls would disrupt strategic Russian industries, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing and civilian aerospace sectors, Biden administration officials say. They note there is hardly a semiconductor on the planet that is not made with American tools or designed with American software.
“Despite being described as reckless, Putin is anything but,” notes Eugene Rumer, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council. Now an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, a Washington-based think tank. “Putin surely is not blind to the risks of war,” he has argued.
Cost of war
Some Western diplomats tell VOA that Putin will stay his hand this time and continue with hybrid warfare and cycles of escalation and de-escalation, which present him with more opportunities to roil and divide Western allies. They note the foreign risks he’s courted to date have been limited. His military foray in Libya has been disguised by using mercenaries, and in Syria he mainly restricted Russian intervention to airstrikes, deploying ground forces sparingly, thereby minimizing Russian casualties.
Other diplomats worry Putin may see this as his best chance to rectify what he sees as historical slights by the West and to restore Russia’s dominant role in central and eastern Europe. It will all come down to whether he is a rash gambler, who wants to wager on one big win, or a calculated risk-taker prepared to notch up incremental wins, they say.
Western leaders are trying to increase the price of war for Russia — economically and in terms of Russian casualties. Some of Washington’s European NATO partners are joining in supplying Ukraine with more lethal weaponry that could be used in an insurgency, if Russia invades.
Putin was in his 30s and 40s when Russia waged a costly and ultimately unsuccessful nine-year counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, seen by many scholars as a contributing factor to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This week, Britain’s Boris Johnson cited what befell Russia in Afghanistan, warning publicly that an invasion of Ukraine would be “disastrous” for Russia.
…
Malawi Declares National Disaster After Cyclone Ana
Malawi has declared a national disaster in areas hit this week by Cyclone Ana, which killed at least 19 people in the country and also caused scores of casualties in Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera appealed Wednesday for urgent assistance for an estimated 50,000 families left homeless by the storm’s heavy floods. The situation is set to worsen with more rain expected Thursday.
In a statement, President Chakwera appealed for humanitarian assistance from U.N. agencies, NGOs, the international donor community, the local private sector and individual well-wishers.
The declaration follows a preliminary assessment Wednesday from the Department of Disaster Management indicating that more than half of the country’s 28 districts have been affected.
The hardest hit districts include Chikwawa, Nsanje, Mulanje and Phalombe, where roads have been cut off and bridges washed away.
Chipiliro Khamula is spokesperson for Department of Disaster Management Affairs.
“For Chikwawa, the M1 Road has been cut off at Thabwa and Nchalo, and a number of TA’s [Traditional Authorities] have been heavily affected,” he said. “For instance, Ngowe, Mlirima, Lundu, Kasisi and Maseya. With respect to Nsanje, a number of households are feared to be trapped by floods.”
The government has deployed soldiers and police and engaged Malawi’s Red Cross Society to undertake search-and-rescue operations.
The government says although some humanitarian partners already have started providing relief, more assistance is needed to meet the increasing number of affected people.
The thousands of displaced say they lack food, clothes and shelter.
Paul Turnbull, country director for the World Food Program (WFP) in Malawi, told VOA the WFP is getting ready to start providing aid to flood victims.
“We will be helping with DODMA, the disaster management administration, to provide food or cash to people that are in need. We will be able to provide some logistical support we have; some vehicles that can work even some of the muddier road conditions,” he said.
Turnbull says currently, the WFP is making its own assessment of the situation.
“We expect the results of those assessments to be coming out early next week. At the moment, we have provided a boat, and UNICEF has also provided a boat to help with search and rescue,” he said.
Malawi’s Meteorological Department warns the situation is set to worsen with more rain expected Thursday.
…
In Texas, Afghan Refugee Families Struggle to Begin New Life
As an unprecedented number of Afghan refugees are placed in U.S. cities, resettlement agencies struggle to keep up. Deana Mitchell talked to several Afghan families new to Austin, Texas who said they aren’t getting the help they need.
…
Ukrainian Serviceman Kills 4 Fellow Soldiers, 1 Civilian
A member of Ukraine’s National Guard on Thursday opened fire on his fellow soldiers, killing five people and wounding five more, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. The serviceman was detained by police but his motives remain unclear.
The incident occurred in the city of Dnipro, 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of Kyiv on Thursday morning. The soldier, identified by the authorities as Artemiy Ryabchuk, 20, was on guard duty at a military factory and opened fire on his colleagues, fleeing the scene immediately after.
Four soldiers and one civilian died, and five more people sustained injuries. Police detained Ryabchuk shortly after the shooting. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted him to open fire.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded the authorities thoroughly investigate and analyze the incident.
“I expect law enforcement to fully inform the public about all the circumstances of the crime. Motives of the killer, how [the shooting] became possible — everything should be analyzed as thoroughly as possible,” Zelenskiy said in an online statement, adding that conclusions should be drawn from the incident about personnel in the National Guard.
The shooting took place against the backdrop of soaring tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near its borders with Ukraine, stoking fears that such a buildup might indicate plans to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor.
The Kremlin denied harboring such plans, but demanded security guarantees from the West, including a clause precluding NATO from accepting Ukraine and other former Soviet states as members — a demand the U.S. and NATO have rejected as a nonstarter.
Ukraine’s officials have acknowledged the threat of an invasion, but insisted it was not imminent and accused Russia of fomenting tensions and fear among Ukrainians in order to destabilize the country from within.
…
Prince Andrew Renews Attempt to Get Giuffre Suit Dismissed
Prince Andrew’s lawyers asked a U.S. court again Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse, citing multiple legal defenses.
Among them: The lawyers said that if any sexual activity did occur between the prince and Virginia Giuffre, it was consensual.
The court filing made clear that Andrew wasn’t admitting sexual contact with Giuffre. But it said if the case wasn’t dismissed, the defense wants a trial in which it would argue that her abuse claims “are barred by the doctrine of consent.”
Attorney David Boies, representing Giuffre, responded in a statement asserting Andrew “continues his approach of denying any knowledge or information concerning the claims against him, and purporting to blame the victim of the abuse for somehow bringing it on herself.”
The defense request was filed in federal court in Manhattan, where Giuffre sued Andrew in August. The American accused the British royal of sexually abusing her when she was 17 while she traveled with financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew has strenuously denied Giuffre’s allegations and attempted to get the lawsuit tossed. Earlier this month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected his attempt to win an early dismissal, allowing depositions and other evidence gathering by both parties to move forward.
Wednesday’s response was filed by Los Angeles attorneys Andrew Brettler and Melissa Lerner. They say the suit should also be dismissed on several other grounds, arguing the civil litigation against the prince should be barred because Giuffre is a permanent resident of Australia and bound by a settlement between Epstein and Giuffre.
Giuffre asserted that she met Andrew while she traveled frequently with Epstein between 2000 and 2002, when her lawyers maintain she was “on call for Epstein for sexual purposes” and was “lent out to other powerful men,” including Andrew. Her lawsuit said she still suffers significant emotional and psychological distress and harm.
In the wake of the judge’s decision earlier in January, Prince Andrew — who had already stepped back from royal duties — was stripped of his honorary military titles.
Epstein, 66, took his own life in a Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Giuffre has also leveled allegations at Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, but was not part of the criminal case that ended recently with Maxwell’s conviction on sex trafficking charges.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Giuffre has.
your ad here
Australia Offers Gas to Europe as Russia-Ukraine Tensions Mount
Australia has offered to provide additional liquefied natural gas to Europe, should Russia decide to cut off energy supplies as tensions rise over Ukraine.
As tensions over Ukraine grow between Russia and the West, there are mounting fears that Moscow could reduce or shut down the gas it supplies to Europe.
The European Union is already short of gas after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions put huge demands on depleted stocks. The EU depends on Russia for around a third of its gas supplies and could need alternative sources as fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine escalate.
Australia is one of the world’s leading producers of liquefied natural gas or LNG and is prepared to boost its exports to European countries.
Trade Minister Dan Tehan said in a statement Thursday that Australia was “ready to support our friends and allies in the current challenging and complex, geostrategic environment.”
Tony Wood, Energy Program director at the Grattan Institute, an Australian research organization, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Australia was well-placed to help.
“Australia, the United States and Qatar together supply about 50% of the world’s LNG as shipped natural gas, whereas what Russia provides, obviously, is via pipeline,” he said. “But there is some flexibility there. So, what is happening now is that they are looking to see if they can get supplies from elsewhere. The U.S. is trying to coordinate some of that, and some Australian gas has already been used to help supplement the problem at the moment, and, of course, it could get worse if the situation in Ukraine gets worse.”
Russia’s gas exports to Europe are mostly pumped through pipelines that go through Ukraine or other Eastern European nations. Moscow has insisted that the Ukrainian system was dilapidated and has accused its neighbor of stealing gas.
Analysts have said that Russia could be using tensions over Ukraine to promote its plan for a new gas pipeline to Germany that bypasses Poland and Ukraine.
The Australian government has also urged its citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, as Russian troops gather on the border and the threat of an invasion grows.
The government has estimated there are about 1,400 Australians in Ukraine. Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, said Tuesday the advice to leave was “a cautious and prudent step because the security situation is unpredictable.”
your ad here
Nigerian Authorities Raise Concerns Over Low Life Expectancy
Nigerian health authorities say the country’s life expectancy is among the worst in the world, with influenza and pneumonia leading causes of death. In southern Nigeria’s Cross River state, severe air pollution is increasing the cases of respiratory diseases.
Port Harcourt resident David Tolu-Adamu knows. Before leaving for work each day, he dons his face mask.
Tolu-Adamu says it’s a measure he has been taking since long before the coronavirus pandemic to filter out the sooty air.
“Constantly on a daily basis, year in year out, we have issues with black soot,” he says. “We breathe in this harmful substance in our day in, day out, in our sleep, while we work, when we exercise.”
Wearing a face mask is a common practice for many in the oil-rich city polluted by the activities of illegal oil refineries, flaring gas and the burning of garbage and tires. The pollution generated by soot escalated in 2016.
Health authorities say the soot is increasing respiratory ailments in the state and that some 23,000 people have been affected in the last five years.
This month, state authorities began addressing the problem in the affected areas by stopping and criminalizing the illegal refinery practices, says a local government head, Samuel Nwanosike.
“If the actions were not affecting our health, then we wouldn’t bother,” he says. “We are the ones here, we are the ones dying, we’re the ones feeling the pain. I am here every day in Ikwerre local government (area), sometimes I open my door, everywhere is turned dark; meanwhile there’s supposed to be sunshine.”
Health authorities say the country’s life expectancy of 54 years of age ranks among the five lowest in the world.
Respiratory illnesses such as influenza and pneumonia are leading causes of death. Globally, almost 300,000 people died from these ailments in 2018, according to World Health Organization estimates cited by the group World Life Expectancy.
Rivers State authorities blame soot pollution for making the problem worse. Since the start of this year, they have cracked down on illegal refinery operators, arresting more than 20 and shutting down many bases.
Critics accuse state authorities of not doing enough to curb pollution.
“The government is only interested in the proceeds of oil and gas, but they are not interested in the people; they’re not interested in the environment,” says Ibiosiya Sukubo, a local chief in Port Harcourt. “It has put our youths into the creeks, to the breaking of pipes and creating artisanal refineries, forgetting the additional health hazards and implications. We are just victims of circumstance.”
For now, Rivers State authorities say they will continue their crackdown on illegal refineries while looking for other ways to keep residents safe from the soot.
your ad here
US Vice President Harris to Attend Inauguration of Honduras’ First Female President
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Honduras on Thursday to attend the inauguration of Xiomara Castro as the Central American nation’s first female president.
Harris attendance at the historic event underscores her role in leading President Joe Biden’s efforts to curb the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from Honduras and neighboring El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico into the United States each year, many of them traveling on foot over thousands of kilometers. Harris has been specifically tasked with addressing the root causes of the mass migration, including poverty and crime.
Biden pledged to adopt a more humane stance on migration than that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who expelled migrants back to their home countries and separated children from their families.
Also attending Castro’s swearing-in will be Vice President William Lai of Taiwan. Castro has talked of switching Honduras’s diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China, which claims the self-ruled as part of its territory and has pushed to isolate Taipei from the international community.
Castro campaigned on a platform of ending the corruption that had clouded the 12-year rule of the right-wing National Party, which took power after her husband, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown by the military. But her tenure has already gotten off to a rocky start after a breakaway faction of her Liberty and Refoundation Party, or Libre, elected lawmaker Jorge Calix to be their congressional leader last weekend.
The move went against an agreement Castro reached with the Partido Salvador de Honduras party, a key part of her political alliance that helped her win last November’s election, to choose PSH lawmaker Luis Redondo as congressional leader.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
your ad here
US to Russia: No Change on NATO, Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the ball is now in Russia’s court after the U.S. hand delivered its written response to Moscow’s stated security concerns over NATO and Ukraine. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, Blinken made clear there will be no change to NATO’s open-door policy to new members, as Russia had demanded.
Producer: Kimberlyn Weeks
…
State Department Recap: January 20-26, 2022
Here’s a look at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats have been doing this week:
US, Russia, Ukraine
Following consultations with various European partners as well as Ukraine, the United States and NATO provided written responses to Moscow addressing Russia’s renewed security demands — the latest moves in diplomatic maneuvering aimed at heading off armed conflict.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered the document in person Wednesday to Russia’s Foreign Ministry. Separately, NATO transmitted to Russia its own responses regarding European security in a document described by officials as a few pages in length.
US Responds to Russia’s Security Demands, Renewing Call for Diplomacy
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman assessed that China’s hosting of the Winter Olympics early next month was a factor in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculation of military actions against Ukraine.
“We all are aware that the Beijing Olympics begin on February 4 — the opening ceremony — and Putin is expected to be there,” Sherman said. “I think that probably President Xi Jinping would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine. So, that may affect his timing and his thinking.”
On Sunday, the State Department ordered the departure of eligible family members from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. direct-hire employees amid the continued threat of Russian military action against Ukraine. The State Department also asked U.S. citizens in Ukraine to consider departing the country via commercial or other privately available transportation options.
US Orders Departure of Family Members of Ukraine Embassy Staff
Burkina Faso
The State Department said it was watching closely “the fluid situation” in Burkina Faso, where a military junta ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. But the U.S. said it was “too soon” to officially characterize the events in Burkina Faso as a coup.
“We call for the immediate release of President Kabore and other government officials, and for members of the security forces to respect Burkina Faso’s constitution and civilian leadership. We urge all sides in this fluid situation to remain calm and to seek dialogue as a means to resolve grievances,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said this week during a press briefing.
Burkina Faso Soldiers Say They Deposed President
US-Iran
The United States warned Iran was just weeks from developing the capacity to make a nuclear weapon. The alarm came amid indirect negotiations between the two countries seeking a mutual return to compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal.
“[Iran] is getting to the point where its breakout time, the time it would take to produce fissile material for a bomb, is getting down to a matter of a few weeks,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a virtual event Monday. How the U.S. and its allies would deal with the risks will be decided soon, Blinken said, adding that “given what Iran is doing, we can’t allow this to go on.”
As Iran Nears Uranium Breakout Capacity, US Mulls Bomb-Making Scenarios
Human trafficking
On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department released its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report.” Blinken called for other countries to improve “collective efforts to comprehensively address human trafficking,” as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem.
State Department Releases Annual Trafficking in Persons Report
…
Nigeria Authorities Raise Concerns Over Low Life Expectancy
Nigerian health authorities say the country’s life expectancy is among the worst in the world, with influenza and pneumonia both leading causes of death. In Nigeria’s Cross River state, severe air pollution is increasing the cases of respiratory disease — as Timothy Obiezu reports from Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Camera: Emeka Gibson
…
UK Police Arrest 2 More in Texas Synagogue Attack
British police said Wednesday they were holding two more men in connection with an armed hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue by a man from northwest England.
Malik Faisal Akram took four people, including a rabbi, hostage on January 15 at the synagogue in the small town of Colleyville.
He was shot dead by the FBI after a 10-hour siege during which he demanded the release of a female al-Qaida supporter imprisoned for attempted murder.
His hostages escaped unharmed.
In Texas, authorities have arrested the man suspected of selling Akram the semi-automatic handgun used in the attack.
In Britain, the Counter Terrorism Policing force for northwest England said it had arrested two men in the city of Manchester.
“They remain in custody for questioning,” the force said in a statement.
The arrests bring to six the number of people held by British police over the hostage-taking, which renewed concern over an increase in anti-Semitic attacks on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Three men are being questioned by police in Manchester, and another in the central English city of Birmingham.
Akram had planned the attack for at least two years. It was staged in an apparent bid to win the release of Pakistani woman Aafia Siddiqui, who has been jailed in Texas for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
Akram was reportedly investigated in 2020 by Britain’s domestic security agency MI5 after he spent six months in Pakistan.
But the probe was ended after just more than a month and he was able to travel to the United States without being flagged as a risk.
Meanwhile, authorities in Texas announced the arrest of a man who they said sold Akram a semi-automatic Taurus G2C pistol two days before the synagogue attack.
The FBI said they had linked Henry “Michael” Williams to Akram through phone records, and that Williams confirmed that he had sold the gun to Akram.
Williams, 32, has a record of convictions on assault, weapons and drug-related charges.
…
US Donating 2 Million COVID Vaccine Doses to Kenya, Morocco
The United States will soon ship more than 2 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the African nations of Kenya and Morocco, the White House told VOA on Wednesday.
“As the president has said, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19,” a White House official told VOA. “We are proud to be able to deliver these safe and effective vaccines to the people of Kenya and Morocco.”
Those donations bring the U.S. to a milestone, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“Today, we hit a major milestone in our global effort to be the arsenal of vaccines: 400 million doses shipped to 112 countries for free, with no strings attached,” Psaki said Wednesday. “To put America’s leadership into perspective, we have shipped four times more free doses to the world than any other country. And this is on top of our efforts to expand manufacturing at home and abroad, our close partnerships with manufacturers to provide their vaccines to hard-hit areas, and our work to turn vaccines into vaccinations around the globe.”
In the latest round of donations, Kenya will receive 517,140 doses of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. Morocco will get 1,599,390 doses. The donations will be distributed by COVAX, a global initiative founded to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. In both countries, the White House told VOA, scientific, legal and regulatory teams are coordinating to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective tranches of vaccine. These new doses come from the half-billion doses secured by President Joe Biden’s administration over the summer, the White House said.
Health advocates welcomed the donations but questioned whether they were enough — especially considering that the U.S. is promoting booster doses for already-vaccinated Americans while so many people worldwide have yet to get a first shot.
“Less than 10% of the people in Africa have received a vaccine, and more than 3 billion people (including doctors and nurses) around the world have not received their first dose, even as rich countries are starting to administer fourth doses,” said Robbie Silverman, senior manager of private sector advocacy at Oxfam America, a Boston-based organization that advocates for the poor.
“Table scraps from rich countries — who have hoarded the vast majority of the world’s mRNA vaccine doses — will not end the pandemic and will not stop the emergence of new variants that could threaten the United States,” Silverman said. “The U.S. should lead in responding to what low- and middle-income countries are actually asking for — the ability to manufacture their own doses for their own citizens. This starts with opening the vaccine recipe, sharing the technical know-how and providing resourcing to qualified manufacturers throughout the world.”
Kenya, an East African coastal nation of nearly 54 million people, has reported more than 320,000 confirmed cases and 5,558 deaths from the virus, according to World Health Organization data. As of this week, nearly 11.3 million vaccine doses have been administered, WHO says. Kenya appears to have endured at least five waves of infection. Compared with the previous four waves, the last wave, which peaked in December and has since fallen sharply, resulted in the greatest number of known infections but the lowest number of deaths.
Morocco, a North African nation of nearly 37 million people, has seen more than 1,100,000 confirmed cases and 15,167 deaths, according to the WHO. Nearly 51.9 million vaccines have been administered. WHO data appear to show that Morocco is in the midst — possibly the peak — of a third wave.
…
Anticipated US Interest Hikes Expected to Reverberate Globally
Wednesday’s signal from the U.S. Federal Reserve on impending interest rate increases is expected to have ramifications beyond America’s shores.
The Fed’s Open Market Committee announced it was keeping, for now, the target range for a key interest rate at near zero but cautioned that with inflation well above 2% and a strong labor market, it expected “it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.”
The federal funds rate is the interest rate commercial banks charge each other for overnight loans of their excess reserves.
“The committee is of a mind to raise rates at the March meeting,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday. “We have our eyes on risks around the world, but the economy should hold up.”
As the dollar serves as the primary international reserve currency, a U.S. interest rate hike would pressure central banks of other countries to also raise their rates for those who want to borrow money.
“The rest of the world has a lot of dollar debt, and even if their debt is in local currencies, their central banks will often have to raise interest rates to offset the U.S. rate increases to try to maintain some currency stability,” said Gerard DiPippo, senior fellow with the economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Raising interest rates is aimed at stifling consumer demand to address all of this money that’s sloshing around in our economy, and that’s going to affect consumers here, as well as producers of goods and other countries that rely on the U.S. market,” said Sarah Anderson, global economy project director at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Inflation ‘transmitted through trade’
Inflation in the United States is at a 40-year high amid surging consumer demand for goods, a strengthening domestic job market and pandemic-caused supply chain disruptions, including for critical semiconductors.
“The price of U.S. exports increased by more than the price of U.S. imports last year, so in a sense, the U.S. is exporting inflation because the cost of producing things in the U.S. has increased faster than the imports going into it from overseas. So, the inflation can be transmitted through trade,” DiPippo told VOA.
Some economists and policy analysts see the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden confusing structural and cyclical economic matters as it struggles to tame inflation.
“The cyclical phenomenon — inflation — over the next year or so, really only the Fed has the tools to deal with that,” DiPippo said. “Even if the Biden administration is able to increase subsidies to produce things in the United States or increase competition through regulation, those things take time. And we’re talking about inflation over the next year or two, not over the next five years. So, there’s a mismatch.”
The White House has repeatedly said that it is prioritizing lowering prices to help American households and that the best way to accomplish it is through increased competition.
“Competition results in lower prices for families. Competition results in fair wages for workers. And as you all know, competition encourages companies to innovate,” Biden said on Monday during a meeting of the White House Competition Council.
Prices have been surging in the United States and other countries since last year amid serious shortages of workers and the goods they produce. That has the International Monetary Fund predicting slower growth and faster inflation for the world’s biggest economies.
“People have shifted from spending money on services, like going out to restaurants and theaters, during the pandemic to buying more stuff,” Anderson told VOA. That has put more pressure on manufacturers, especially in countries such as China and Vietnam, which are having difficulty keeping pace with demand because so many workers have been sidelined by the pandemic.
“We can raise interest rates, but I don’t think the problem is going to go away until we end the pandemic,” Anderson added.
China’s “No-COVID policy may cause more lockdowns,” exacerbating the supply chain woes, Powell, the Fed chair, warned on Wednesday. “There’s plenty of risk out there.”
…
Only 14 Cases of Guinea Worm Infection Reported Globally in 2021
The Atlanta-based Carter Center is making dramatic progress in the eradication of Guinea worm disease. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports that if the remaining endemic countries in Africa – Chad, South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia and border areas of Cameroon – rid the parasite completely, it would become the first disease in human history eradicated through prevention and not vaccination
…
Tensions Rise Between Mali, Western Governments
Mali’s military rulers are clashing with the international community over when to hold elections and how to conduct the fight against Islamist militants. Former colonial power France has been drawing down its troops in Mali, and European governments are considering pulling troops from a U.N. peacekeeping mission over concerns about Russian mercenaries.
Since being sanctioned by the West Africa bloc ECOWAS for failure to organize elections, Mali’s military rulers have taken a hard stance against countries, including France, that backed the sanctions.
France has led the multi-nation military intervention in Mali since 2013, when forces arrived to take back the north from Islamist control.
This week, Mali ordered a recently arrived Danish contingent of the European Takuba task force to “withdraw immediately” from Malian territory.
The government also accused France of breaching Malian airspace by flying a military plane from Gao in northern Mali to neighboring Ivory Coast without notifying Malian authorities.
Mali has acknowledged a degree of cooperation with official Russian trainers, but denies accusations that they are cooperating with the Wagner Group, a military contracting agency widely believed to have links to the Russian government.
Ornella Moderan, head of the Sahel Program at the Institute for Security Studies in Bamako, says that though accusations of human rights abuses against the Wagner Group are concerning, Malians have also seen abuses from other military forces, including France, notably with a drone strike on a wedding in the town of Bounti last year that the U.N. says killed 19 civilians.
Moderan says the extensive Western intervention up until now has had a limited effect.
All of this has not stabilized or improved the situation, she says. On the contrary we have noticed in the last year a worsening of the security context. She says, there are more and more violent incidents, always with a lot of victims. It’s in this context, she adds, that we must put the will of the Malian transitional authorities, to try something else, to see if this something else can work.
Aly Tounkara, director of the Center for Security and Strategic Studies in the Sahel, a Bamako-based think tank, says that without the years of military intervention, the current situation could be even worse.
He says a Russian intervention may help in terms of military strength on the ground, but that this will have limited effect on long-term security.
He says he can’t see the Russian Federation giving millions for projects that will reduce community tensions, notably how to bring back all of these young people who have joined these radical violent groups, to resume social life, how to restart the economy that has been slowed down by insecurity. Regarding these issues, he adds, after these battles against radical groups, the Malian state will be stuck.
Alioune Tine, an independent U.N. expert on human rights in Mali, also emphasized the need for non-military solutions.
Now, he says, we must reflect after years of military intervention, if in reality the only way to intervene or to respond to the security problem in Mali is with the army? I think from this point of view, really, the answer is no. Maybe we have to find other means, political means, in order to get out of this Malian crisis.
Tine added it’s essential that a solution to the insecurity in Mali involve young people and women especially, and focus on development – not just more weapons and military strength.
…
US Responds to Russia’s Security Demands, Renewing Call for Diplomacy
The United States has provided its written response to Russia’s security demands after consulting with NATO allies and European partners, including Ukraine, while renewing calls for U.S.-Russia diplomatic talks.
“The document we’ve delivered includes concerns of the United States and our allies and partners about Russia’s actions that undermine security — a principled and pragmatic evaluation of the concerns that Russia has raised, and our own proposals for areas where we may be able to find common ground,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday at a press conference.
U.S. officials have said Washington and Moscow could still find consensus and see potential for progress, including on issues such as arms control related to missiles in Europe.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered the document in person to Russia’s Foreign Ministry. NATO separately transmitted to Russia its own paper about European security, described by officials as a few pages in length.
U.S. officials declined to elaborate on specifics. Moscow’s security demands include a pause of NATO’s eastward expansion, especially in Ukraine and Georgia, as well as a rollback of NATO troops in Eastern Europe. The U.S. has dismissed those demands as nonstarters while offering dialogue with Russia on issues including military exercises and transparency, as well as the placement of missiles.
“We’ve addressed the possibility of reciprocal transparency measures regarding force posture in Ukraine, as well as measures to increase confidence regarding military exercises and maneuvers in Europe,” Blinken said. “We are acting with equal focus and force to bolster Ukraine’s defenses and prepare a swift united response to further Russian aggression.”
The U.S. has laid out its grave concerns over possible further Russian military aggression against Ukraine while requesting a follow-up discussion between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday said Ukraine had no objections to the U.S. responses to Russia, which are seen as part of negotiations to avert Moscow’s military escalation against Kyiv. Kuleba added that Russia was trying to sow panic in Ukraine.
“The number of Russian troops massed along the border of Ukraine and in the occupied territories of Ukraine is large (and) … poses a threat,” Kuleba said during a Wednesday press briefing. “However, at the moment, as we speak, this number is insufficient for the full-scale offensive against Ukraine along the entire Ukrainian border.”
While the U.S. would not rule out an imminent military move by Russia against Ukraine, a senior State Department official noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not want to upset China when the country is hosting the opening ceremony of Winter Olympics.
“We certainly see every indication that (Putin) is going to use military force sometime perhaps now and middle of February,” said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday during a virtual event with Yalta European Strategy, a European security forum.
“We all are aware that the Beijing Olympics begin on February 4 — the opening ceremony — and Putin is expected to be there,” added Sherman. “I think that probably President Xi Jinping would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine. So that may affect his timing and his thinking.”
Some analysts agreed with the assessment, noting Russia’s military logistics “have not yet been fully activated to start massive military operations.”
“The Winter Olympics in China, to be held between 4-20 February, might offer some respite,” said Mathieu Boulègue, a research fellow for the Russia and Eurasia program of London-based Chatham House. “To safeguard relations with Beijing, Moscow may avoid repeating its actions of August 2008, when Russia took military action against Georgia, literally during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics.”
In Kyiv, the U.S. embassy is urging American citizens in the country to consider departing now, citing an “unpredictable” security situation that “can deteriorate with little notice.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian officials rejected the prospect of U.S. sanctions against Putin, one of several proposed responses if Russian forces were to invade neighboring Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that such sanctions would be “destructive” but not politically painful.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned of “severe” and “enormous” consequences for Putin — including personal sanctions against Putin himself — if the Russian leader mobilizes troops standing ready to strike along the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian intelligence officials put troop estimates at 127,000.
VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara, Anita Powell and Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
your ad hereEx-Irish Soldier Justified Jihad Before Joining IS, Witness Says
A former Irish army soldier justified jihad suicide bombings while attending a mosque in Ireland before she joined the Islamic State group in Syria, a Dublin court was told Wednesday.
Lisa Smith, 39, is on trial accused of being a member of the Islamist extremists after traveling to war-ravaged Syria in 2015.
She has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful terrorist group between October 28, 2015, and December 1, 2019.
She has also denied funding terrorism by sending $900 to aid medical treatment for a Syrian man in Turkey.
But Carol Karimah Duffy, who introduced Smith to a mosque in Dundalk before she left for Syria, said she made attendees there uncomfortable.
“There was a lot of talk about justifying why the suicide bombs were happening,” Duffy told the Special Criminal Court of Smith’s conversations with others at the mosque.
“That we were being attacked so we were attacking back. It was us and them,” Duffy said. “Then there was talk of jihad and it was her version of jihad, which would have been the holy war jihad.”
Duffy added that Smith also said she wanted to find a husband who would be willing to die as a Muslim martyr.
Smith moved to IS-controlled territory in October 2015 after buying a one-way ticket from Dublin to Turkey, and from there crossing the border to Syria.
The court was told on Tuesday that she lived in Raqqa, the capital of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s self-styled caliphate, and unsuccessfully attempted to get her husband to join her.
He refused and she divorced him in 2016. Some months later, she married a U.K. national who had moved to Syria and been involved in patrols on the Iraq border.
When Raqqa fell to allied forces in 2018, she moved to Baghouz, the group’s last remaining stronghold.
After that too fell in March 2019, she eventually returned to Ireland and was arrested on arrival with her young daughter at Dublin airport on December 1.
Prosecutor Sean Gillane said Smith had “enveloped herself in the black flag of ISIS” in response to a call to arms from Baghdadi.
In doing so, she had self-identified as a member of the proscribed group, he told the three judges at the court in the Irish capital who will rule on the case.
…
US Warns of Risks of Doing Business in Myanmar
The United States issued an advisory Wednesday warning of the increased risk of conducting business in Myanmar nearly a year after a military coup in the Southeast Asian country, which is also known as Burma.
The advisory from the U.S. State Department warned it was especially risky for “individuals, businesses and financial institutions and other persons” to be associated with business activity in Myanmar “that could benefit the Burmese military regime.”
The advisory cited the possibility of exposure to illegal financial and reputational risks by doing business there, and using supply chains controlled by the military.
“The coup and subsequent abuses committed by the military have fundamentally changed the direction of the economic and business environment in Burma,” the advisory said.
Former de factor leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) led Myanmar since its first open democratic election in 2015, but Myanmar’s military contested the November 2020 election results, claiming widespread electoral fraud, largely without evidence.
The military removed the NLD government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.
Since then, the military government has used deadly force in clampdowns on protests while escalating efforts to neutralize ethnic minority armies and newly formed militias allied with the NLD government. Wednesday’s advisory said the military “has killed more than 1,400 innocent people” since its takeover.
The advisory said state-owned enterprises were of greatest concern, as well as the gems and precious metals, real estate, construction and defense industries, noting that they have been identified as providing economic resources for the junta.
The advisory was issued after oil giants Chevron Corporation and TotalEnergies said last week the worsening humanitarian situation prompted them to withdraw from the country, where they were working together on a major gas project.
your ad hereUS Central Bank Could Signal New Economic Policies
U.S. central bank policymakers are meeting in Washington on Wednesday and could signal how soon they plan to curb their direct support for the pandemic-hit American economy and raise the bank’s benchmark interest rate to curtail rising prices for consumer goods.
The Federal Reserve is not expected to immediately increase its interest rate, which it has held at near zero percent since the outset of the pandemic in March 2020.
But the policymakers could indicate whether they plan to raise the rate in March, perhaps by a quarter-percentage point, as hinted previously, and how many more times they might do so again throughout 2022.
Their goal in raising the interest rate, perhaps four times this year, is to curb consumer demand and, correspondingly, curtail inflation. The annual inflation rate stood at 7% in December, the biggest surge in U.S. consumer prices in four decades.
The Fed’s benchmark rate plays a key role in the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, because it influences the cost of borrowing for consumers when they buy such big-ticket items as cars and houses and for businesses for the machinery and goods they need to operate.
The Fed policymakers are also weighing when to end the central bank’s direct support of the U.S. economy, which has recovered faster from the pandemic than economists had once predicted.
The unemployment rate dipped to 3.9% in December, not far above the five-decade low of 3.5% recorded before the coronavirus swept into the country. At its peak, in April 2020, the jobless rate was 14.7%.
The prospect of higher interest rates in 2022, even though predicted for months, has frightened investors throughout January, with one broad U.S. stock index, the S&P 500, plunging about 8% from a record high at the beginning of the month.
As a result, some financial analysts say they are hoping the Fed will give some clarity about its plans for the rest of the year. Policymakers are already slowing a bond purchase program they had been using to boost the economy.
Ahead of the Fed meeting, Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst, suggested in a statement that “the initial interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve could come in March. But could it be a larger, half-point hike? If there is any likelihood of that happening, this is the meeting where the Fed needs to begin prepping markets for that possibility.”
“Mortgage rates (for homebuyers) have surged since the beginning of the year as the outlook takes shape for interest rate hikes that are sooner and faster than previously expected,” he said. “Mortgage rates are still well below 4% but in an environment of already sky-high home prices, more would-be home buyers are priced out of the market with each move higher in mortgage rates.”
your ad here