France and EU to Withdraw Troops from Mali, Remain in Region

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France will withdraw its troops from Mali nine years after it first intervened to drive Islamic extremists from power but intends to maintain a military presence in neighboring West African nations.

Announcing the move during a Thursday news conference in Paris, Macron accused Mali’s ruling military junta of neglecting the fight against Islamic extremists and said it was logical for France to withdraw since its role is not to replace a sovereign state on the battlefield.

“Victory against terror is not possible if it’s not supported by the state itself,” the French leader said.

France has about 4,300 troops in the Sahel region, including 2,400 in Mali. The so-called Barkhane force is also involved in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Macron said the French pullout would be done “in an orderly manner” in coordination with the Malian military. France will start by closing military bases in the north of Mali, and the withdrawal will take between four or six months, he said.

“We cannot remain militarily involved” alongside Malian transitional authorities with whom “we don’t share the strategy and goals,” Macron said.

European leaders simultaneously announced Thursday that troops from the European-led military task force known as Takuba also would withdraw from Mali. The Takuba task force is composed of several hundred special forces troops from about a dozen European countries, including France.

Tensions have grown between Mali, its African neighbors and the European Union, especially after the West African country’s transitional government allowed Russian mercenaries to deploy in its territory.

Macron said a coalition of allies will remain present in the Sahel and the Guinea Gulf to counter actions from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Macron organized a summit in Paris on Wednesday evening to address the issue with regional and European leaders of countries involved in the Sahel.

Representatives from Mali and Burkina Faso coup leaders were not invited since both nations were suspended from the African Union following coups.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, who also chairs the African Union, said security and the fight against terror was “vital” for both Europe and Africa.

Speaking alongside Macron, Sall said he understood the decisions by France and the EU to end theirs operation in Mali but was pleased that an agreement on a new arrangement was reached to provide a continued presence in the Sahel.

Sall said there was a consensus during among EU and African leaders during their discussions that the fight against terror “should not be the sole business of African countries.”

Macron said the “heart” of the French operation “won’t be in Mali anymore” but in neighboring Niger, especially in the region bordering Burkina Faso, Macron detailed.

He did not give an estimate of how many forces would take part in the new operation.

French forces have been active since 2013 in Mali, where they intervened to drive Islamic extremists from power. But the insurgents regrouped in the desert and began attacking the Malian army and its allies.

Macron said support for civilians in Mali would continue, but he blamed the junta now ruling the country for its decision to hire a private Russian military contractor known as the Wagner Group, which the EU accuses of fomenting violence and committing human rights abuses in Africa. 

 

 

 

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EU-Africa Summit: Vaccines, Climate Investment, Security Top Agenda

Green investments, migration, security and unequal access to vaccines will top the agenda as dozens of African heads of state head to Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit of European Union and African Union leaders.

Around 70% of Europeans have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine; In Africa, just 16%. That inequity is among the issues high on the summit agenda.

“Donating vaccines is one thing, but ensuring that people are vaccinated is another, and equity demands more than donations. It requires systemic change and access to doctors, to nurses, to hospitals, to medical equipment, to scientists, to technologies and to research. And last, but not least, it requires new manufacturing capabilities,” said Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety earlier this month, following an EU health summit in Lyon, France.

Investment

The EU aims to boost investment in Africa.

“The A.U.-E.U. summit is a key moment and opportunity to strengthen political and economic ties between the two continents. Leaders are expected to discuss how both continents can build greater prosperity. The aim is to launch an ambitious Africa-Europe Investment Package, taking into account global challenges such as climate change and the current health crisis,” the EU Commission said in a statement.

As it transitions to a green economy, Europe is seeking to diversity supply chains, including those for the rare earth metals needed for battery technologies — Africa is rich in such raw materials. In December, the bloc unveiled a $300 billion “Global Gateway” fund to invest in jobs, green technologies and digital infrastructure.

Migration

Managing migration is also high on Europe’s agenda, says Hassan Khannenje, the director of the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies in Nairobi, Kenya.

“It is important that European leaders, and the EU especially, finds a framework of working with the African leaders and African countries, number one, in being able to arrest and manage the refugee problem between the source countries, the transit countries as well as the destination countries,” Khannenje told The Associated Press.

Figures released Wednesday showed an increase in the number of irregular migrants from Africa crossing the Mediterranean and entering Europe in recent months, following a decline during the height of the pandemic.

Security

Security in Africa will also be featured. The ongoing war in northern Ethiopia has killed thousands of people. There are insurgencies in Mali, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Somalia.

Meanwhile, Mali, Guinea, Sudan and Burkina Faso have been suspended from the African Union following military coups.

At an African Union summit last week, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo called for stronger action against such military takeovers.

“The resurgence of coups d’état in our region is a matter of grave concern. This evolution challenges the democratic way of life we have chosen,” he said.

Coups

The coups stem from deep-rooted weaknesses, Khannenje said.

“What we are seeing in West Africa in summary is a result of one, the institutional weaknesses that makes a nation state. Second, the legacy, colonial legacy, that has left behind not only weak institutions but has also ensured dependence when it comes to security with the former colonial master.”

“Thirdly, there is a declining in faith in the democratic project that of course came about on the continent during the wind of change following the collapse of the Soviet Union and, last but not least, the increased rate of terrorism and the desperation of populations, societal dislocation that insecurity has caused has provided fodder for would-be political profiteers and military profiteers to be able to exploit that vacuum,” Khannenje said.

Several of the visiting heads of state are not democratically elected. Critics say Europe should not be rolling out the red carpet for autocratic leaders such as Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“The rights and lives of the Egyptian people must come before deepening ties with this oppressive regime. This is an important moment to hold President el-Sissi to account for his human rights commitments,” said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty International’s European institutions office and director of advocacy. 

  

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Russia-Ukraine Crisis High on Agenda as Harris Heads to Munich

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris travels Thursday to Munich, where officials say she will focus on consulting with allies about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

While in Germany, where Harris will lead the U.S. delegation at the Munich Security Conference, she is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Harris is also due to give an address Saturday that administration officials said would highlight the level of unity among Western countries and NATO members on diplomatic, military and economic fronts.

“The vice president will underscore how that unity is a source of strength that will allow us to respond swiftly and severely to any further Russian aggression,” a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing Wednesday. “Her speech will also focus on reassuring our allies and partners of our commitments and how we’re committed to bolstering NATO and reinforcing our allies in the face of Russian aggression. And she’ll talk about how a further invasion of Ukraine, we believe, will leave Russia weaker and not stronger.”

Officials said the overall objective of the trip is making sure Western allies are “fully aligned” and send a clear message to Russia about the path forward.

“Our preference is diplomacy and deterrence, but if Russia chooses aggression, we are ready,” an administration official said.

Russia has denied it has plans to invade Ukraine, and in recent days has announced several rounds of troop withdrawals from areas along its border with Ukraine.

The United States and NATO have said there is no evidence of any withdrawals, and a senior U.S. administration official told reporters Wednesday that Russia has instead been adding troops to the border area. 

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Burkina Faso Junta Leader Inaugurated as Nation’s President

Burkina Faso’s junta leader Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba has been sworn in as president Wednesday, less than a month after mutinous soldiers seized control of the West African country in a coup.

The inauguration ceremony at the Constitutional Court was broadcast nationally. Addressing the nation on state television after taking the oath, Damiba paid tribute to the security forces and the country’s population who he said have been facing threats from extremism for more than six years.

“I swear in front of the people of Burkina Faso and on my honor, to preserve and respect, to uphold and defend the constitution, fundamental acts and the law, to do everything to guarantee justice for all the inhabitants of Burkina Faso,” he said. “Our country has always been strong during storms. That’s why these tough times must be for us an opportunity to get to better horizons.”

Damiba seized power promising to secure the war-torn country from growing jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that’s killed thousands and displaced more than 1.5 million people. Since taking control, Damiba has met with security forces, civil society, diplomats and politicians, but hasn’t set a timeline for the transition to elections, something the international community has said must be done as soon as possible.

When military regimes take power the return to democratic, civilian rule can be lengthy and uncertain, say conflict experts.

“Military regimes will often delay the transition back to civilian rule and will work to retain some form of political influence in the background in order to ascertain that their interests are maintained,” said Alexandre Raymakers, senior Africa analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy.

“Considering the deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso, the new military led government will likely argue that the security situation will not allow for a comprehensive electoral process to be held, thus delaying a return to civilian rule,” he said.

Even though Damiba’s had wide popular support since taking control, some locals say they don’t support the Constitutional Council’s decision to let him assume the presidency because he wasn’t democratically elected. “We don’t understand this at all, how things can go like this? The Constitutional Council inaugurates presidents who come to power through elections … It’s like they’re saying it’s legal to have a coup in Burkina Faso,” said Oumar Cisse a resident in the Sahel’s hard-hit Dori town, speaking to the AP by phone.

One European diplomat who was not authorized to speak to the media, told the AP that if they had been invited to the ceremony, European countries would have sent lower ranking officials rather than ambassadors to make a point that the constitution wasn’t respected. The international community has condemned the coup.

The United States paused $450 million in assistance for its Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. agency that provides grants and assistance to countries that meet standards for good governance. Within the continent, the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS and the African Union have suspended Burkina Faso, but stopped short of imposing sanctions. They’re calling for the immediate release of former President Roch Marc Christian Kabore who’s been under house arrest in the capital, Ouagadougou, since his ouster.

Still most people, worried by the conflict with extremists, are hoping Damiba will be able to stem the violence. But the 41-year-old leader has yet to articulate a plan for how he will secure Burkina Faso better than the previous regime. Some mutinous soldiers not authorized to speak to the media said the junta is willing to work with anyone who can help in their fight against the jihadis, which could also include negotiating with the groups but only after military gains are made.

Recently there have been some successes. Earlier this month more than 40 jihadis were killed during joint operations with France and Burkina Faso’s army, the French military said in a statement. France has several thousand troops in West Africa’s Sahel region, but until now has had minimal involvement in Burkina Faso compared with Niger or Mali. 

 

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80 Unruly Airplane Passengers Referred for Potential US Prosecution

A total of 80 unruly airplane passengers have been referred to the FBI for potential criminal prosecution, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday, as onboard disruptions rose sharply in 2021, many over COVID-19 mask requirements. 

The U.S. Justice Department has pledged to take a tough line, and some airlines and labor unions have called for a no-fly list that would ban passengers with a record of disruptions. 

The FAA, which said last year that it had referred 37 passengers to the FBI for review, said about 4,600 of the 6,400 unruly-passenger reports it has received since the start of 2021 through February 15 involve passengers not wearing masks as required. 

The Justice Department said Wednesday that it was prosecuting a record number of passengers for interfering with flight crews. 

In the 2019 budget year, 20 defendants were charged, followed by 16 in 2020 and a record 21 in 2021. The department said nine have been charged in the first four months of the current budget year. 

Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian this month asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to place passengers convicted of onboard disruptions on a national no-fly list that would bar them from future travel on any commercial airline. 

Bastian said the action would “help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft.” 

Delta’s list

Delta has placed nearly 1,900 people on its “no-fly” list for refusing to comply with masking requirements and submitted more than 900 banned names to the Transportation Security Administration to pursue civil penalties, Bastian said. 

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA representing nearly 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines, said her union urges “the creation of a centralized list of passengers who may not fly for a period of time after being fined or convicted of a serious incident.” 

The Justice Department said it was giving priority to investigations and prosecutions of people who committed crimes that threatened the safety of passengers, flight crews and flight attendants. 

Airlines have been discussing for months with federal agencies the possibility of a nationwide no-fly list but there is no indication of any imminent action. 

A group of eight Republican senators on Monday wrote Garland, criticizing Delta’s no-fly proposal. They said it would “result in a severe restriction on the ability of citizens to fully exercise their constitutional right to engage in interstate transportation.”

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Court: EU Can Withhold Funds From Hungary, Poland for Violating Democratic Values

The top European Union court ruled on Wednesday that the EU can withhold funding from member states that fail to uphold its rule of law principles, giving the bloc a powerful tool to enforce its democratic values. 

“The European Union must be able to defend those values, within the limits of its powers,” the European Court of Justice said in the ruling. The decision by the Luxembourg-based court cannot be appealed. 

“Today’s judgments confirm that we are on the right track,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when announcing how the bloc would proceed in the next couple of weeks.  

The European Commission approved a rule 14 months ago allowing it to withhold funds from member states that deviate from European legal standards. It waited for the court’s ruling to move forward.  

Hungary and Poland, the most likely targets of the rule, have disputed the EU’s right to make such judgments, declaring them as illegitimate and an overstepping of authority. Both countries have faced severe criticism by EU members for their implementation of policies suppressing media rights and LGBTQ rights, and restricting judicial independence.  

“The ruling is another application of pressure against our country because we passed our child protection law during the summer,” said Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga, referring to legislation that forbids minors from obtaining media content that depicts homosexuality or gender transitioning. 

“We need to defend ourselves against an attack on our sovereignty,” said Polish Deputy Justice Minister Sebastian Kaleta. “Poland has to defend its democracy against blackmail that aims to take away our right to decide about ourselves.” 

The two countries are most directly affected by this new ruling. Being major recipients of EU funds since joining the bloc in 2004, Hungary and Poland have received billions in aid to rebuild their economies. 

The court has argued that state members’ democratic backsliding impacts both the budget and political matters of the 27-member union. 

EU admission criteria require that a candidate nation embrace respect for democracy and rule of law principles. In its ruling, the court said a state cannot abandon those standards once it achieves membership.  

“The court specifies, first, that compliance with those values cannot be reduced to an obligation which a candidate state must meet in order to accede to the European Union and which it may disregard after accession,” it said. 

Hungary and Poland have threatened to stall EU decisions requiring unanimity on issues such as foreign policy, climate, and energy, in efforts to retaliate, according to the Reuters news agency.  

 

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NATO Strengthens Eastern Defenses, Says Russia Continues Its Ukraine Troop Buildup

NATO’s chief said on Wednesday there was no evidence that Russia was withdrawing forces from the Ukraine border, but he added there was still a chance for a diplomatic solution. NATO leaders and defense ministers were meeting in Brussels for talks. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has more.

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Last Trucker Blockade Between US, Canada Opens

The last of the three trucker protest border blockades between the U.S. and Canada was set to reopen Wednesday.

The blockade at Emerson, Manitoba, which borders North Dakota, was to be fully cleared by Wednesday afternoon.

“Throughout the past six days, our officers continued to use open communication and a measured and tempered response,” said Sergeant Paul Manaigre, Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police media relations officer. “This continuous dialogue between our officers and demonstrators enabled us to reach a resolution yesterday.”

The trucker protests, which started in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, have stretched into their third week. Truckers are demanding an end to vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.

Last week, similar blockades at the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Ontario and Michigan, was opened, as was another blockade in Alberta, which borders Montana.

The blockades had snarled trade between the U.S. and Canada.

The protest in Ottawa continues with police handing out notices threatening the truckers with arrest if they don’t leave.

Ottawa police have started ticketing some trucks.

Many of the participants remain defiant.

“If it means that I need to go to prison, if I need to be fined in order to allow freedom to be restored in this country — millions of people have given far more for their freedom,” David Paisley, who traveled to Ottawa with a friend who is a truck driver, told The Associated Press.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to end the protests.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.

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Lingering Pandemic Takes Toll on Americans’ Mental Health

After two years, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be taking a toll on Americans’ mental health, with a growing number of people suffering from a wide array of issues, from anxiety to depression. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.

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West Skeptical of Russian Troop Withdrawal as Ukraine Diplomacy Continues

Russia reiterated Wednesday that it had begun withdrawing some troops from close to the Ukrainian border. But many Western nations said there was little evidence of a pullback – and fear an invasion of Ukraine was still imminent. Henry Ridgwell reports.

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France: Decision on Iran Nuclear Deal Days Away; Ball in Tehran’s court

France on Wednesday said a decision on salvaging Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was just days away and that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the tattered agreement resumed last week after a 10-day hiatus and officials from the other parties to the accord – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – have shuttled between the two sides as they seek to close gaps.

Western diplomats previously indicated they hoped to have a breakthrough by now, but tough issues remain unresolved. Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers.

“We have reached tipping point now. It’s not a matter of weeks, it’s a matter of days,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told parliament, adding that the Western powers, Russia and China were in accord on the outlines of the accord.

“Political decisions are needed from the Iranians. Either they trigger a serious crisis in the coming days, or they accept the agreement which respects the interests of all parties.”

Several other sources tracking the talks said that the next couple of days would be crucial in determining whether there was a way to revive the agreement.

The agreement began to unravel in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States and reimposed broad economic sanctions on Iran, which then began breaching the deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment activity a year later.

Diplomats and analysts say the longer Iran remains outside the deal, the more nuclear expertise it will gain, shortening the time it might need to race to build a bomb if it chose to, thereby vitiating the accord’s original purpose. Tehran denies it has ever sought to develop nuclear arms.

Western diplomats say they are now in the final phase of the talks and believe that a deal is within reach.

‘Moment of Truth’

“We are coming to the moment of truth. If we want Iran to respect its (nuclear) non-proliferation commitments and in exchange for the United States to lift sanctions, there has to be something left to do it,” Le Drian said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it was “in a hurry” to strike a new deal as long as its national interests were protected and that restoring the pact required “political decisions by the West.”

Ali Shamkhani, hardline secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, underlined Iranian wariness by saying on Wednesday that the 2015 accord had become economically worthless for Iran and he blamed the United States and European powers.

“The United States and Europe failed to meet their obligations under the (deal). The deal has now become an empty shell for Iran in the economic sphere and the lifting of sanctions. There will be no negotiations beyond the nuclear deal with a non-compliant America and a passive Europe,” he tweeted.

China’s envoy to the talks said on Wednesday Iran was being constructive by putting everything on the table in response to U.S. approaches. “They have not only adopted this straightforward approach but also made a political decision based on give and take,” Wang Qun told Reuters.

Bones of contention remain Iran’s demand for a U.S. guarantee of no more sanctions or other punitive steps in future, and how and when to restore verifiable restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear activity.

The agreement curbed Iran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

The Islamic Republic has since rebuilt stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity, close to weapons-grade, and installed advanced centrifuges to speed up enrichment.

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Commuters in Nigeria’s Capital Struggle with Gasoline Shortage

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, is experiencing an acute fuel shortage, causing long lines of motorists at gasoline stations. Commuters are frustrated as some wait hours to fill up their tanks.

Lost amid hundreds of vehicles waiting to gain access to a petrol station in Abuja is Yvonne Francis’s silver-colored Toyota Camry.

She was in line overnight to fill up her car, she says, but has yet to get fuel.

“I have not experienced anything of this sort in terms of the fuel scarcity going on in Abuja. It keeps getting worse by the day and the past few days have been horrifying.”

Black market dealers line the road nearby hawking the precious commodity. But Francis says the petrol is overpriced and a ripoff.

Francis is among millions of commuters having a tough time getting around since fuel became scarce in Nigeria in late January.

Nigeria’s oil regulator, the National Petroleum Regulatory Commission, or NNPC, last week announced it had recalled some 170.2 million barrels of tainted petrol that was imported from Europe by four Nigerian oil companies. The NNPC has acknowledged the recall is the cause of the fuel shortage.

Authorities said the petrol contained higher than normal levels of ethanol and had damaged many vehicles before it was recalled. The move has disrupted transportation in Abuja and other cities like Lagos and Port-Harcourt.

Abuja resident Oreva Okoro has been waiting in line for nearly 12 hours.

“It’s just unbearable,” he says, “I’ve not gone to work for two days, today is the third day. It doesn’t make sense.”

Nigeria’s government has promised to fix the problem by importing clean fuel to replace the tainted petrol.

On Tuesday, the NNPC said in a statement that it has over one billion barrels of petrol stored and ready for distribution. It said it has ordered its outlets across the country to commence 24-hour operations to ease the chaos.

But energy expert Odion Omanfoman says it may take time before the fuel situation returns to normal.

“Give or take, this might last a couple of days or at worst a couple of weeks.”

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and ranks sixth globally. But the country depends heavily on imported refined petroleum to meet its huge demand for gasoline.

Nigeria’s refineries have been shut down for more than a year despite pledges by authorities to restore functionality. Critics say systemic corruption may keep the refineries shut longer.

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White House Prepares for Transition to Non-Crisis Stage of COVID Pandemic

Members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team Wednesday said they are cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the United States and the White House is preparing for the non-crisis stage of the pandemic.

During a virtual briefing Wednesday, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said the daily average of new COVID-19 cases was down 40% over the past seven days. She said hospitalizations dropped by 28% and deaths were down 9.5%.

Walensky told reporters the CDC was gathering community health data and said its public health guidance regarding wearing masks “would be updated soon.” Last week, Walensky said COVID-19 hospitalization and death numbers weren’t yet low enough to warrant altering recommendations.  

But the CDC director explained Wednesday that while case numbers have been steadily trending downward, community spread remains substantial or high in 97% of U.S. counties. She said the CDC’s most critical concern remains severity of disease, which leads to hospitalization and threats to hospital capacity.

Walensky also said the availability and access to vaccines and treatments will factor into when and whether CDC guidelines can be modified or adjusted.  

She said most states and municipalities announcing plans to ease their restrictions are doing so in phases, with most saying they will begin lifting their mask rules by the end of February or early March. Walensky said she anticipates possible CDC guideline updates to “intersect.”

Meanwhile, White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeff Zients said the White House has so far distributed 200 million free individual at-home COVID-19 tests around the country. He said the White House has another 800 million on hand for U.S. residents who want them.

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Central African Republic Becoming a Hub of Russian Mercenary Group’s Propaganda

In the Central African Republic’s countryside, Russian mercenaries from the controversial Wagner Group are backing government forces in the fight against rebels. In the capital Bangui, they’re fronting a Russian film campaign produced in the CAR backing Wagner’s role in combating insurgents in Mozambique. VOA has more in this report from Bangui. Camera: Clément Di Roma

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Blinken Warns Russia Not to Recognize Two Russian-Backed Breakaway Regions in Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced Wednesday a move by Russian legislators to recognize two Russian-supported breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.

Russia’s lower house voted Tuesday to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics, which declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 after President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from office in the Ukrainian Revolution. 

The European Union urged Moscow not to follow through on the vote by the State Duma. Approval of the vote could further intensify tensions between Russia and Western countries over Russia’s military buildup along Ukraine’s borders that has fueled fears of a Russian invasion.

“Enactment of this resolution would further undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, constitute a gross violation of international law, call into further question Russia’s stated commitment to continue to engage in diplomacy to achieve a peaceful resolution of this crisis,” Blinken said in a statement.

Blinken warned that such a move would “necessitate a swift and firm response from the United States in full coordination with our allies and partners.”

Russia has denied any plans to invade Ukraine and has accused the West of inflaming tensions.  

Recognition of the republics could kill the Minsk accords that were reached in 2014 and 2015 after Russian-supported separatists seized territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Ukraine has been at war with the breakaway regions since 2014, a conflict that has killed some 15,000 people.

“Kremlin approval of this appeal would amount to “the Russian government’s wholesale rejection of its commitments under the Minsk agreements,” Blinken declared.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had “taken note” of the request from parliament’s lower house but that it would not be consistent with the Minsk agreements aimed at ending the conflict.

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

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Cameroon’s Rival Separatist Groups Clash, Kill Fighters 

Rival anglophone separatist groups in Cameroon have clashed this month, causing an undetermined number of casualties. The fighting was triggered by power struggles within the separatist movement.

Separatist leaders say rivalries among various armed groups are greatly affecting the movement’s fight to carve out an independent English-speaking state from largely French-speaking Cameroon.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, ADF, one of the two biggest separatist groups. The other separatist group is known as the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Ambazonia is the name of the state that separatists are attempting to create.

Daniel says the groups clashed after separatist political leaders voted to impeach Samuel Sako Ikome, the president of what the separatists call their interim government, or IG.

“We have seen forces distancing themselves from command and control as a result of the impeachment of Sako Ikome and the further splintering of the IG group and we have seen field marshal who is supposed to be the overall commander of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces desperately trying to command loyalty from forces who have denied aligning themselves with him,” he said.

Lekeaka Oliver, known as the field marshal, leads the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

On Monday, separatists on social media platforms said Oliver’s group was clashing with the ADF in six towns across western Cameroon. The message noted casualties but gave no details.

Cameroon’s military says the fighting has been bloody in Kumbo, an English-speaking northwestern town. The military says at least 15 fighters have either been killed or wounded.

In Kumbo, a self-proclaimed separatist who goes by the name Mad Dog says he is leading attacks against separatists who support Lekeaka Oliver. He accuses Oliver of corrupt practices.

Mad Dog says he has not received guns, ammunition or congratulatory messages from Lekeaka since becoming the leader of separatist fighters in Kumbo nearly five years ago. He says henceforth, Lekeaka’s orders will not be respected in Kumbo. Mad Dog says he strongly believes that the self-proclaimed field marshal is a Cameroonian government agent pretending to be fighting to liberate English speakers in the majority French-speaking country.

On February 2nd, the legislative arm of the self-declared Ambazonia interim government, known as the Restoration Council, passed a vote to impeach Sako Ikome. The Restoration Council accuses Ikome of corruption, embezzlement of funds and illegal deals with the government of Cameroon.

Ikome has denied the charges.

Former separatist spokesperson Eric Tataw says the infighting may discourage separatist fighters.

“My brothers of Ambazonia must come together. This is the time because if we continue, the division is going to dampen the spirits of our people [fighters]. I urge my brothers and sisters to come together. Let’s put our hands on deck and fight one enemy, which is the Cameroonian government,” he said.

Cameroon’s separatist conflict erupted in 2017 after teachers and lawyers in the North- and Southwest regions, where English is the predominant language, protested alleged discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.

The U.N. says the war has killed several thousand people and forced more than 500,000 to flee their homes.

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Zimbabwe Government Orders Vaccinated Workers Back to Work

Zimbabwe’s government has ordered civil servants who are vaccinated against COVID-19 to immediately report for duty after more than a year of working from home, citing a declining in new cases of the virus in the country. Authorities also announced any government workers without proof of vaccination will be barred from workplaces and face punishments, including a freeze on their salaries.

In a statement this week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government said it wants its employees to resume meeting in person.

Late Tuesday, Monica Mutsvangwa, the country’s information minister, said the number of people being hospitalized for COVID-19 is on a steady decline.

“This indicates that the national response measures instituted by government continue to pay off. …In view of the continued decline in new cases and deaths, coupled with a declining testing positivity rate that is indicating that the community transmission has gone down, all ports of entry [are to] be reopened, but ensuring that all the recommended COVID-19 prevention measures are adhered to,” she said.

However, the compulsory vaccination rule is not being welcomed by all civil servants. Obert Masaraure, the president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, says the workers will take the matter to court if the government insists.

“A contract that was signed by civil servants has no provision for mandatory vaccination. So if the Public Service Commission wants to bar civil servants who are not vaccinated, they are in breach of contract and its unacceptable. Secondly, civil servants have a right to dignity, they have right to make choices. No one can be forced foreign substances to be inserted into their bodies,” he noted.

Dr. Norman Matara, the head of Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights, says his organization has noted that several other countries are moving towards compulsory vaccination.

“It is something that we are strongly against. We think mandating vaccines is something that fuels vaccine hesitance. There is a lot of conspiracy theory that goes around when people are saying we are being forced to be vaccinated. We really have to get the buy in of people: spread the gospel of vaccines, how they work and then encourage people to get vaccinated and not force them to get vaccinated,” he pointed out.

But Sifiso Ndlovu from the Zimbabwe Teachers Association supports the government’s position.

“Definitely, all workers should take up the vaccination. Not because they want to protect themselves, but they want to protect their colleagues at work. Scientific evidence has it that if you are fully vaccinated it comes with a mild attack. Why not take up that? There is nothing wrong or sinister about it,” he said.

About 3.3 million people in Zimbabwe have received two shots of the COVID-19 vaccines, while about 86,000 have received a third jab.

A number of Zimbabweans have refused to get vaccinated, saying they do not trust the mainly donated Chinese-made Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.

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Biden Orders Release of Trump White House Logs to Congress

President Joe Biden is ordering the release of Trump White House visitor logs to the House committee investigating the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, once more rejecting former President Donald Trump’s claims of executive privilege.

The committee has sought a trove of data from the National Archives, including presidential records that Trump had fought to keep private. The records being released to Congress are visitor logs showing appointment information for individuals who were allowed to enter the White House on the the day of the insurrection.

In a letter sent Monday to the National Archives, White House counsel Dana Remus said Biden had considered Trump’s claim that because he was president at the time of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the records should remain private, but decided that it was “not in the best interest of the United States” to do so.

She also noted that as a matter of policy, the Biden administration “voluntarily discloses such visitor logs on a monthly basis,” as did the Obama administration, and that the majority of the entries over which Trump asserted the claim would be publicly released under the current policy.

A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.

The Presidential Records Act mandates that records made by a sitting president and his staff be preserved in the National Archives, and an outgoing president is responsible for turning over documents to the agency when leaving office. Trump tried but failed to withhold White House documents from the House committee in a dispute that was decided by the Supreme Court.

Biden has already made clear that he is not invoking executive privilege concerning the congressional investigation unless he absolutely must. Biden has waived that privilege for much other information requested by the committee, which is going through the material and obtaining documents and testimony from witnesses, including some uncooperative ones.

The committee is focused on Trump’s actions from Jan. 6, when he waited hours to tell his supporters to stop the violence and leave the Capitol. Investigators are also interested in the organization and financing of a Washington rally the morning of the riot, when Trump told supporters to “fight like hell.” Among the unanswered questions is how close organizers of the rally coordinated with White House officials.

Investigators also are seeking communications between the National Archives and Trump’s aides about 15 boxes of records that the agency recovered from Trump at his Florida resort and are trying to learn what they contained.

Meanwhile, White House call logs obtained so far by the House committee do not list calls made by Trump as he watched the violence unfold on television on Jan. 6, nor do they list calls made directly to the president.

That lack of information about Trump’s personal calls is a particular challenge as the investigators work to discern what happened what the then-president was doing in the White House as supporters violently beat police, broke into the Capitol and interrupted the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

There are several possible explanations for omissions in the records, which do not reflect conversations that Trump had on Jan. 6 with multiple Republican lawmakers, for example. Trump was known to use a personal cell phone or he could have had a phone passed to him by an aide. The committee is also continuing to receive records from the National Archives and other sources, which could produce additional information.

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Macron Hosts African Leaders Ahead of Expected Mali Withdrawal

President Emmanuel Macron hosts African leaders on Wednesday ahead of an expected announcement that France is withdrawing its troops from Mali after an almost decade-long deployment to battle a jihadist insurgency.

Multiple sources have told AFP that Macron will announce that French forces will leave Mali and redeploy elsewhere in the Sahel region, following a breakdown in relations with the ruling junta.

It remains unclear when, and how, Macron will make the announcement, which could come as part of Wednesday’s meeting or when he travels to Brussels on Thursday for a two-day EU-Africa summit.

The deployment in Mali of a European force known as Takuba — a project driven by Macron to spread the security burden in the troubled region — will also come to an end, the sources said.

The Mali deployment has been fraught with problems for France, with 48 of the 53 soldiers killed during its Barkhane mission in West Africa losing their lives in the country.

France initially deployed troops against jihadists in Mali in 2013 but the insurgency was never fully quelled, and new fears have now emerged of a jihadist push to the Gulf of Guinea.

The announcement of the withdrawal comes at a critical time for Macron, just days ahead of a long-awaited declaration from the president that he will stand for a new term in April elections.

It also coincides with Macron seeking to take a lead role in international diplomacy as he presses Russia to de-escalate in the standoff over Ukraine.

Multiple missions

The working dinner hosted by Macron on Wednesday starting at 1930 GMT will bring together the leaders of France’s key allies in the Sahel region — Chad, Mauritania and Niger.

Officials from Mali as well as Burkina Faso, which also recently experienced a coup, have pointedly not been invited.

Other African leaders will also be present along with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, as well as Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

There are a total of 25,000 foreign troops currently deployed in the Sahel.

They include around 4,300 French troops, which under a reduction announced last year are due to fall to around 2,500 in 2023 from a peak of 5,400.

Other forces deployed in Mali are the U.N. peacekeeping mission MINUSMA established in 2013 and the EUTM Mali, an EU military training mission that aims to improve the Malian military’s capacity in fighting terrorists.

Some 2,400 French soldiers are deployed in Mali as part of the Barkhane operation as well as the EU Takuba force set up in 2020, which was intended to increase in numbers as French deployment was scaled back.

According to a French source, who asked not to be identified by name, even after departure France will for a period provide MINUSMA and EUTM with support in the air and medical back-up.

‘Reinvent partnership’

Relations between France and Mali have plunged to new lows after the junta led by strongman Assimi Goita refused to stick to a calendar to a return to civilian rule.

The West also accuses Mali of using the services of the hugely controversial Russian mercenary group Wagner to shore up its position, a move that gives Moscow a new foothold in the region.

Especially with the French elections looming, Macron’s priority is to ensure that any withdrawal does not invite comparisons with the chaotic American departure from Afghanistan last year.

Paris, however, intends to continue the anti-jihadist fight in the wider region, where movements affiliated with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group have retained an ability to attack despite the elimination of key leaders.

“We need to reinvent our military partnership with these countries,” said a French presidential source, asking for anonymity.

“It is not a question of moving what is being done in Mali elsewhere, but of reinforcing what is being done in Niger and of supporting the south more.”

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Report: Conspiracy Theorists Fuel Bump Extremist Killings in US 

Newer strains of far-right movements fueled by conspiracy theories, misogyny and anti-vaccine proponents contributed to a modest rise in killings by domestic extremists in the United States last year, according to a report released Tuesday by a Jewish civil rights group.

Killings by domestic extremists increased from 23 in 2020 to at least 29 last year, with right-wing extremists killing 26 of those people in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League said in a report first provided to The Associated Press.

The ADL’s report says white supremacists, antigovernment sovereign citizens and other adherents of long-standing movements were responsible for most of the 19 deadly attacks it counted in 2021. The New York City-based organization’s list also included killings linked to newer right-wing movements that spread online during the coronavirus pandemic and former President Donald Trump’s presidency.

The ADL concluded that roughly half of the 2021 killings didn’t have a clear ideological motive, fitting a pattern that stretches back at least a decade.

The group’s tally included a shooting rampage in Denver by Lyndon James McLeod, who killed five people in December before a police officer fatally shot him. McLeod was involved in the “manosphere,” a toxic masculinity subculture, and harbored revenge fantasies against most of his victims, the ADL report notes.

Right-wing conspiracy theorists killed five people last year in two incidents, both involving “troubled perpetrators,” the ADL report says.

In August, California surfing school owner Matthew Taylor Coleman was charged with killing his two young children with a spear gun in Mexico. Coleman told an FBI agent that he was “enlightened” by conspiracy theories, including QAnon, and believed his wife had passed “serpent DNA” on to his children, according to a court affidavit.

A Maryland man, Jeffrey Allen Burnham, was charged with killing his brother, his sister-in-law and a family friend in September. Charging documents said Burnham confronted his brother, a pharmacist, because he believed he was poisoning people with COVID-19 vaccines.

“Prior to the coronavirus, the anti-vaccine movement in the United States did not have a particular ideological leaning and contained both left-leaning and right-leaning activists,” the ADL report says. “However, the politicization of the coronavirus and other factors have created many new anti-vaccine conspiracy adherents and given the anti-vaccine movement a distinctly right-wing tone it did not previously have.”

The QAnon conspiracy theory has been linked to other acts of real-world violence, including last year’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. In June, a federal intelligence report warned that QAnon adherents could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence.

A core idea QAnon promotes is that Trump was secretly fighting a Satan-worshipping, child sex trafficking cabal of “deep state” enemies, prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites. QAnon hasn’t faded away with Trump leaving office.

Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the ADL’s Center on Extremism and author of Tuesday’s report, said the QAnon movement is still evolving and increasingly overlapping with other extremist movements, including vaccine opponents.

“Could it sort of dissipate into those or could it find some sort of new focus or new life? Or could it just hang around if Donald Trump is elected again in 2024 and take a new form then?” Pitcavage said during an interview. “It’s difficult to predict the future of those movements, so it’s difficult to predict whether they will continue to have this sort of similar effect on people.”

A dearth of mass killings in 2021 meant that last year’s tally was far lower than the totals in any year between 2015 and 2019, when killings by domestic extremists ranged from 45 to 78.

In other respects, the ADL data for 2021 mirrors long-term trends.

Right-wing extremists have killed at least 333 people in the U.S. over the past decade, accounting for three-quarters of all extremist-related killings, the report says.

The ADL distinguishes between killings that it considers to be driven by ideology and those that it found to be non-ideological or lacking a clear motive. Its report says the numbers for each category have been close to even over the past 10 years. The ADL concluded that 14 of the 29 extremist killings in 2021 were apparently motivated at least in part by ideology.

The ADL attributed 13 killings last year to white supremacists, three to antigovernment extremists, two to Black nationalists and one to an Islamist extremist.

The group didn’t count the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, as an extremist killing. Sicknick collapsed and died hours after he was attacked by rioters who stormed the Capitol and interfered with Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. In April, the Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office ruled that Sicknick suffered a stroke and died from natural causes.

“Although it is clear that the Capitol attack could have contributed to, or even precipitated, the strokes that felled Sicknick, it cannot be definitely proven that he was murdered by a Capitol stormer,” the ADL report says.

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On Day Russia Was Meant to Invade, Stoical Ukrainians Have No Time to Celebrate 

Everything is normal — or appears so.

Outside the grand nineteenth-century city hall in Lviv, the capital of western Ukraine where Western embassies hurriedly relocated consular staff from Kyiv earlier this week, the streets are bustling.

Children squeal with delight as they try to master their roller-skates in an outdoor skating rink nearby. Their breath steams in the chill evening air. Young lovers kiss, some argue, outside restaurants and bars. Older couples saunter through the narrow streets of Lviv’s historic center, seemingly in their twilight years without a care in the world.

Lviv is much more a tourist town than the Ukrainian capital but there are few foreign visitors here now thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, travel restrictions and the talk of war. Outside a bar a couple of inebriated middle-aged Dutchmen, among the few tourists, linger outside the White Rabbit strip club, debating whether to enter. Their discussion concludes much more rapidly than the diplomatic wrangling over Ukraine, and they stagger inside.

Workers hurry home as the evening turns colder.

But everything is not normal on the eve of the day Western intelligence agencies had warned Russia might invade Ukraine.

“We talk about war and whether Russia will invade all the time,” says Anastasia, a 25-year-old waitress. She moved from a small town in Central Ukraine to Lviv for work, and because she loves the city.

Her face clouds when she talks about Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin. “I have family in Russia, too,” she says. “I hope he doesn’t invade; he won’t invade; he can’t; maybe he will,” she says, confused by a riddle that’s also bewildering the statesmen of Europe.

Anastasia shrugs — it is a very Ukrainian gesture, indicating not indifference, just stoicism in the face of the unknown.

For eight years, since Russia annexed Crimea and fomented war in the Donbas region in the east of the country, Ukraine has been collectively shrugging its shoulders — its way of enduring threats and alarms and not allowing fear to disrupt ordinary life.

Carrying on

And that is what it did as Tuesday turned into Wednesday, the day the Russians were supposed to invade. The country shrugged its shoulders and carried on undaunted. In much the same way it has coped with the coronavirus pandemic, aware of the risks but decidedly reluctant to offer the virus any concessions, like actually wearing masks or frequently disinfecting hands.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared earlier this week February 16 a Day of Unity, signing decree number 53/2022. He called on Ukrainians to fly flags and sing the national anthem in unison. Ukrainian government officials stressed that Zelenskiy was not predicting an attack Wednesday but responding skeptically to foreign reports about when an attack was likely to come.

“They tell us Feb. 16 will be the day of the attack. We will make it a day of unity,” Zelenskiy said in a video address to the nation earlier this week. “They are trying to frighten us by yet again naming a date for the start of military action,” Zelenskiy said. “We will hang our national flags, wear yellow and blue banners, and show the whole world our unity,” he added.

In Lviv, a city all too accustomed through its seven centuries of turbulent and often violent history to invasion and assault, Unity Day was a subdued affair. For most people it was a day much like any other. They just carried on, generally maskless, neither optimistic nor pessimistic: just fatalistic.

“Every president declares this day or that day a holiday, but it is not a religious one,” said Dmitry, a newspaper vendor at a kiosk near St. George’s Cathedral. With a hint of exasperation in his voice, he added: “We are not unpatriotic, but carrying on as normal.”

Nearby at a cafe, Denys, a venture capitalist and equities dealer, says there’s normal and then there is “Ukrainian normal.” He asked for his company not to be identified in this article.

“We have lived with a crazy neighbor for a long time — some would say for centuries,” he says. “Until last week, we weren’t really worried. I think most Ukrainians thought this was just more of the same, not dissimilar to what we have seen since 2014,” he added.

“That changed last week because of an accumulation of factors — intensifying news coverage, embassies leaving Kyiv and airlines canceling flights,” says the father of a one-half-year-old, Mia.

Denys and his wife decided last week to relocate for a couple of weeks to Lviv. “It seemed prudent,” he explained as his blue-eyed daughter paraded around the cafe, dragging a blanket and chuckling. He and his partner and their families are originally from Donetsk, and they all left the city in a hurry in 2014, when armed Russian proxies seized the city.

“My company owns property in Lviv and we had a contingency plan for relocation, so we decided just to put it into operation.” He has never thought Putin would gamble by launching a full-scale invasion. “This has been more of an information war and maybe it will allow all sides to win: Joe Biden and other Western leaders being able to say they are peacemakers, and Putin able to present himself as the lone defender of the Russian people,” he says.

Denys plans to return to Kyiv Sunday, but he’s still scrutinizing the news to see if his hunch is correct.

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Honduran Police Arrest Former President at US Request  

Honduran police arrested former President Juan Orlando Hernandez on Tuesday at the request of the United States, which is seeking his extradition to stand trial for his alleged involvement in illicit drug trafficking.

Hernandez, who left office three weeks ago, was escorted from his home in Tegucigalpa in shackles and a bulletproof jacket.

The Supreme Court of Justice chose a judge to handle the case, and that judge signed an order for the former president’s arrest. Police, who had surrounded Hernandez’s home since Monday, took him into custody.

“It is not an easy time. I don’t wish to do this to anyone,” Hernandez said in an audio message posted on his Twitter profile early Tuesday morning.  He said he was ready to go with police in order to “face this situation and defend myself.”

The extradition request said that since 2004, Hernandez allowed tons of cocaine from Venezuela and Colombia to travel through Honduras on its way to the United States, while protecting drug traffickers from investigation, in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.   

Hernandez was repeatedly implicated as a co-conspirator in his brother’s 2019 drug trafficking trial by New York prosecutors. The brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was found guilty of drug and weapons charges and sentenced to life in prison. 

Hernandez was once a key regional ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month there were credible reports that Hernandez “has engaged in significant corruption by committing or facilitating acts of corruption and narco-trafficking” and using the proceeds to fund his political career.

After eight years as president, Hernandez was sworn in as Honduras’ representative to the Central American Parliament on January 27, just hours after his successor, Xiomara Castro, became the country’s first woman president. His lawyer says he has immunity from extradition because he is a member of the regional parliament.

The extradition process is likely to last for several weeks.

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

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Sandy Hook Families Settle with Remington After 2012 Massacre 

The families of nine victims of a massacre at an elementary school nearly ten years ago in the northeastern U.S. state of Connecticut reached a $73 million settlement Tuesday in a lawsuit against Remington Arms, the maker of the rifle used in the mass killing. 

The settlement is a rare instance of a U.S. gunmaker paying damages for bloodshed arising from the criminal use of a firearm. 

“While this settlement does not erase the pain of that tragic day, it does begin the necessary work of holding gun manufacturers accountable for manufacturing weapons of war and irresponsibly marketing these firearms,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Tuesday.

Biden encouraged state and local lawmakers, as well as victims of gun violence, to pursue similar actions.

“Together, we can deliver a clear message to gun manufacturers and dealers: they must either change their business models to be part of the solution for the gun violence epidemic, or they will bear the financial cost of their complicity,” the president said. 

Twenty first grade students and six educators were killed on December 12, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut by Adam Lanza, who repeatedly fired a Remington semi-automatic rifle as he made his way through the school. 

The families and a survivor of the massacre sued Remington in 2015, maintaining the company should have never sold such a dangerous military-style weapon to the public. They also said they are focused on preventing other mass shootings.

“Today is not about honoring our son Benjamin. Today is about how and why Ben died,” said Francine Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son was killed in the massacre. “Our legal system has given us some justice today, but David and I will never have true justice. True justice would be our fifteen-year-old healthy and here with us.”

The civil lawsuit in Waterbury Superior Court focused on how the Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle was marketed, maintaining Remington singled out younger, at-risk males in marketing and in product placements in violent video games. 

Remington did not immediately comment on the settlement but the gunmaker had argued there was no evidence that its marketing of the rifle was linked to the killings. 

The gun manufacturer also had said the lawsuit should have been dismissed because of a federal law that grants broad immunity to the gun sector. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled, however, that Remington could be sued under state law over how it marketed the rifle. 

Remington appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. 

The gunmaker offered to pay the plaintiffs nearly $33 million in July. In 2018, Remington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and emerged from it later that year under the control of its creditors. The company filed for bankruptcy again in July 2020 after more retailers restricted gun sales after other school shootings in the U.S. 

The plaintiffs said four insurers for Remington agreed to pay the full amount of coverage available, totaling $73 million. 

“This victory should serve as a wake-up call not only to the gun industry, but also the insurance and banking companies that prop it up,” said Josh Koskoff, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “For the gun industry, it’s time to stop recklessly marketing all guns to all people for all uses and instead ask how marketing can lower risk rather than court it.” 

The rifle used by Lanza, who was 20 years old at the time of the shootings, was legally owned by his mother. He used to the rifle to kill his mother at their Newtown home before committing the mass shooting at the school. Lanza killed himself with a handgun as police arrived. 

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

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US Calls New Charges Against Kremlin Critic Navalny ‘Dubious’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday he is “troubled by dubious new charges” against Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who went on trial Tuesday in a penal colony outside of Moscow.

Navalny is accused of embezzlement and contempt of court. If convicted, he could face up to 15 more years in prison. 

“Navalny and his associates are targeted for their work to shine a light on official corruption,” Blinken tweeted. He added a call for Russian authorities to release Navalny “and end their harassment and prosecution of his supporters.” 

The Kremlin critic was arrested in January 2021 and convicted of violating his parole by spending several months in Germany recovering from a poison attack. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

At his new trial, Russian investigators say Navalny embezzled money donated to his FBK anti-corruption political organization. The contempt of court charge stems from Navalny allegedly insulting a judge during a previous trial. 

“It is just that these people, who ordered this trial, are really scared,” Navalny, 45, said during the hearing. “(Scared) of what I say during this trial, of people seeing that the case is obviously fabricated.”  

Navalny adamantly denies the accusations and calls them politically motivated.  

“I am not afraid of this court, of the penal colony, the F.S.B., of the prosecutors, chemical weapons, Putin and all others,” Navalny said in court, according to a video of his statement. “I am not afraid because I believe it is humiliating and useless to be afraid of it all.”

Navalny’s allies have denounced the case, and his lawyer says it is an attempt by the Kremlin to silence him.

“We believe the persecution of Navalny is illegal, is distinctly political in nature, and aimed at discrediting and removing him from political activity,” lawyer Olga Mikhailova said, according to Agence France-Presse. 

A longtime rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny has accused the president of enrichening himself as well as other government officials through corrupt measures. His attempt at running in the 2018 presidential elections only aggravated his relations with the Kremlin. 

As of a few months ago Navalny and his associates have been added to a state registry of extremists and terrorists by Russian officials. 

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