Month: April 2022

Russia Says Ammunition Blast Badly Damages Flagship of Black Sea Fleet  

Posted on by SeeEU

The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, was badly damaged when ammunition on board blew up, Interfax news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying Thursday. 

Interfax said the crew had been evacuated. It blamed the blast on a fire and said the cause was being investigated. 

A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two missiles but did not give any evidence. 

The 12,500 metric ton ship has a crew of around 500. Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship “Vulkan” cruise missiles, which have a range of at least 700 km. 

“As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew was completely evacuated.” 

Interfax did not give more details. 

Maksym Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, earlier said in an online post that two anti-ship missiles had hit the cruiser, but he did not provide evidence. 

Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what happened to the ship. 
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Journalists Arrested While Covering Prison Scuffle in Somaliland

Posted on by SeeAF

Police in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region arrested at least seven journalists Wednesday, including a VOA reporter, as they covered a prison scuffle in the region’s capital, Hargeisa.

VOA Somali stringer Sagal Mustafe Hassan was freed after a short detention, but the other journalists remained in custody at Hargeisa’s central police station.

Among the journalists arrested were BBC reporter Hassan Gallaydh, local MM TV journalist Mohamed Ilig and Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf of Saab TV.

Authorities did not say why the journalists were arrested. Colleagues and family members told VOA that some of them were broadcasting live at the time of their arrest outside the prison, where about 150 criminal and terror convicts are held.

“There are people who misinformed the public about the small incident that happened at the prison. We hold them accountable, and we will not allow such people to go unpunished,” said the commander-in-chief of the Somaliland Custodial Corps, Brigadier General Ahmed Awale Yusuf, in a news conference following the incident.

On March 18, gunmen later identified as members of the intelligence services attacked three journalists riding in a car in Hargeisa and kidnapped one of them, freelance online journalist Abdisalan Ahmed Awad.

On Monday, The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the release of Abdisalan, who remains in custody.

“Authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland should unconditionally release freelance online journalist Abdisalan Ahmed Awad and hold the intelligence officers who harassed and assaulted him and two other journalists responsible,” CPJ said.

Somaliland is a breakaway republic from Somalia that has not won international recognition since it declared its cessation from Somalia in 1991, following the ousting of the Siyad Barre regime.

In an interview with VOA Somali, during a visit in Washington in March, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said he has secured pledges of increased U.S. support for his self-declared state.

Even as formal recognition remains off the table for the time being, he urged the international community to recognize his territory’s quest for independence, saying negotiations with Somalia had failed.

Unlike southern Somalia, Somaliland has been enjoying relative peace, has its own military and police money, and has received credit for holding democratic elections, but rights groups often accuse Somaliland authorities of being hostile toward journalists.
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At UN, Nobel Winner Sets Out Guidance on Collecting Evidence of Rape in War

Posted on by SeeUS

Human rights activist Nadia Murad launched global guidelines at the United Nations on Wednesday on how to safely and effectively collect evidence from survivors and witnesses of sexual violence in conflict. 

Murad, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for her efforts to end rape as a weapon of war, first addressed the U.N. Security Council in 2015 at age 22, describing the torture and rape she suffered while enslaved by Islamic State group members a year earlier. 

Dubbed the Murad Code, the new guidance was developed with British funding by Nadia’s Initiative and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations, aiming to reduce the risk of further trauma for survivors when providing evidence. 

“The Murad Code lays out clear and practical guidelines for centering the needs of survivors when collecting evidence, and ensuring that they receive justice and support, rather than repercussions. Survivors deserve at least that,” she said. 

The announcement came as the United Nations said it had been increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, and as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war. Since invading Ukraine on February 24, Russia has denied attacking civilians.  

“I am appalled by the growing number of reports of sexual violence by Russian forces emerging from the conflict in Ukraine,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement, describing the Murad Code as a “vital step” toward support for survivors and bringing perpetrators to justice. 

Murad worked with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to lobby the Security Council for a U.N. investigative team to collect, preserve and store evidence in Iraq of acts by Islamic State that may be war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. The council created the team in 2017 and it began work a year later. 
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Suspect in NYC Subway Attack Arrested, Charged With Terrorism

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The suspect in a mass shooting Tuesday on a New York City subway was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with a federal terrorism offense, according to New York officials. VOA’s Celia Mendoza captured this video.
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US Treasury Secretary: China Must Push Russia to End Ukraine Conflict 

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday called on China to use its influence with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, warning that a failure to act by Beijing would affect its economic relations with countries that have opposed the Russian invasion. 

 

“The world’s attitudes towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by China’s reaction to our call for resolute action on Russia,” Yellen said in remarks delivered at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council.

“China cannot expect the global community to respect its appeals to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect these principles now, when it counts,” Yellen said. “China has recently affirmed a special relationship with Russia. I fervently hope that China will make something positive of this relationship and help to end this war.” 

 

Chinese reaction

The Chinese government’s reaction to Yellen’s speech was not immediately available, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, in a regular press briefing prior to Yellen’s remarks, commented on the situation in Ukraine.  

 

Calling the United States “the culprit of the Ukraine crisis,” Zhao criticized the sanctions levied against Russia, saying that “instead of solving any problems, sanctions have only put a dent in the languishing world economy.” 

 

“Countries all over the world already have enough on their plate, as they need to respond to COVID-19 and try to recover the economy,” Zhao said. “Against such a backdrop, sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions will not only create new irreversible loss but may also bring shocks to the current world economic system, wiping out the outcome of international economic cooperation for decades and ultimately forcing the world’s people to pay a hefty price.” 

 

Zhao said that China continues to support “dialogue and negotiation” aimed at a “political settlement” to the conflict.

‘Shortsighted’ countries

While China was the only country that Yellen addressed by name, she noted that many countries have refused to take a position on the Ukraine conflict. 

 

“Let me now say a few words to those countries who are currently sitting on the fence, perhaps seeing an opportunity to gain by preserving their relationship with Russia and backfilling the void left by others,” Yellen said. “Such motivations are shortsighted. The future of our international order, both for peaceful security and economic prosperity, is at stake. And this is an order that benefits us all.” 

 

She said that the broad coalition of countries participating in the sanctions against Russia “will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we have put in place.” 

 

Food summit planned

Yellen acknowledged that the war in Ukraine had greatly exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials in some parts of the world. 

 

“With over 275 million people facing acute food insecurity, I am deeply concerned about the impact of Russia’s war on food prices and supply, particularly on poor populations who spend a larger share of their income on food,” she said.  

 

Yellen said that next week she would convene a summit of leaders in the field — on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — in Washington.  

 

In a question-and-answer session after her speech, she said, “This will be an urgent concern for us next week to try to think about how we can stave off starvation around the world. It’s really of grave concern.” 

 

A fine line on trade

Like other Biden administration officials in recent weeks, Yellen in her remarks walked a fine line, calling for the U.S. to pivot away from its reliance on China for key imports but not calling for a systematic “decoupling” of the world’s two largest economies. 

 

“We cannot allow countries to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to have the power to disrupt our economy or exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage,” Yellen said. “Let’s build on and deepen economic integration and the efficiencies it brings on terms that work better for American workers. And let’s do it with the countries we know we can count on.” 

 

Yellen said that the U.S. ought to encourage the development of key industries in U.S.-friendly countries, using the term “friend-shoring” to describe the transition. She also encouraged the development of new trade agreements between groups of willing World Trade Organization members — she described such agreements as “plurilateral.”

 

Avoiding a ‘bipolar’ system

During the question-and-answer session, Yellen was asked if the U.S. stance on sanctions and other issues might result in a “new kind of bipolarity in the world” in which “the U.S. and its allies are in one camp, and maybe China and others are in another camp.” 

 

“I really hope that we don’t end up with a bipolar system,” Yellen said. “And I think we need to work very hard and to work with China to try to avert such an outcome.” 

 

Yellen also addressed the apparent desire among some countries, including China, to reduce the importance of the U.S. dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency because it allows the U.S. and its allies to significantly disrupt other nations’ economies. 

 

Regarding the sanctions on Russia, she said, “You see the power of partnership between the United States and our allies, and the importance of the dollar and the euro, as currencies in which transactions take place.” 

 

However, Yellen said, she doesn’t believe it is likely that the dollar’s status will be challenged in the foreseeable future. 

 

“I think it will be a long time, if ever, before the dollar is replaced as a key reserve currency in the global economy,” she said.
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Cameroon Offers Shelter, Aid to Abandoned Street Children

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Authorities in Cameroon moved 150 children from the streets of the capital to centers for abandoned kids on Tuesday as part of its observance of International Day for Street Children. The government says the number of street children in Cameroon has risen sharply due to poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflicts at the nation’s borders.

Rights and humanitarian groups moved from street to street, visiting markets, riversides and abandoned buildings in Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde, in search of homeless children.

When they were found, some children agreed to go to shelters. Others refused and were given clothes and food.

Rachel Balafai, of head the Street Child Center, a Yaounde charity, said the search was conducted at night because that is when searchers believe they will find the children and can see the conditions under which they live.

Balafai said her association this week gave food and clothing to 230 street children who are from Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. She said uninformed people in northern Cameroon make children believe there are opportunities to improve their living conditions in Douala and Yaounde, Cameroon’s largest cities. Balafai said some of the children are orphans.

On International Day for Street Children, nongovernmental organizations and the government invited traditional leaders and the clergy to give support to the children.

The Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon took part at the event. Moussa Oumarou, the council’s coordinator, said family members show know it is their collective responsibility to take care of their children. He said street children need love and care and should not be battered nor rejected nor ostracized by society religious groups. Oumarou said the government should remove all children from the streets and make sure they are given the fundamental human right of an education.

Cameroon reports that the number of street children in major cities increased from 10,000 to about 27,000 within the past three years. Some of the children are refugees fleeing instability in the Central African Republic. Others fled insecurity caused by Boko Haram attacks in northern Cameroon and the conflict between the government and separatist groups in Cameroon’s western regions.

Pauline Irene Nguene, Cameroon’s minister of social affairs, said several conflicts Cameroon and its neighbors are experiencing contribute to the increase in the number of street children. She said the government struggles to contain the crises and is working to return children and displaced persons to their communities. Cameroon is encouraging families and communities to assist the government by providing shelter, accommodation and access to education for the street children.

Speaking on Cameroon state radio CRTV, Nguene said the government will house, feed and educate street children and urged them to leave the streets. She said at least 250 children have either been reunited with their families or enrolled in schools within the past year.

The government says the number of street children may continue to grow in the urban centers where about 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.
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South Sudan Facing its Worst Food Crisis on Record

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The United Nations warns a record 7.74 million people, or two-thirds of South Sudan’s population, are likely to face hunger during this year’s lean season between May and July. This is the dangerous period between planting and harvesting when food stocks are at their lowest.

Among the millions at risk of hunger are an estimated 87,000 people who will face catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity during the lean period.

A U.N. analysis of the food situation in South Sudan released last week warns many of these people will likely die of starvation. 

This, said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization representative in South Sudan, Meshack Malo, is because they will have run out of coping options to feed themselves and their families.

“That can only be remedied by urgent and sustained humanitarian assistance in order to save lives and to re-establish livelihoods so that it can see them through to the next harvest season,” he said.

Speaking from the capital Juba, Malo said among those most at risk are some 1.34 million severely malnourished children. He said 676,000 pregnant and lactating women also are expected to be malnourished this year and are in need of special nutritional treatment.

The key drivers of food insecurity and extreme hunger in South Sudan include climate shocks. The country has experienced three consecutive years of heavy flooding, interspersed with periods of drought. This has badly impacted peoples’ ability to cultivate their land and prevent loss of livestock.

Malo said ongoing conflict, high food prices, and poor access to basic services also have contributed to the dire situation in the country.

“These have been compounded by the low crop production and livestock diseases that have continued to deplete the household coping strategies because of the protracted crisis that has shrunk the income opportunities available in the country,” he said.

At the heart of this crisis, Malo said, is the lack of peace. South Sudan endured a civil war that officially ended a few years ago but parts of the country remained wracked with violence. 

The FAO representative said investing in peace will pay huge dividends. It would, he noted, provide people with the space and time to build the resilience needed to prevent households from falling back into a state of severe hunger.
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Mask Mandates Extended Two Weeks for Airline Passengers, Transit Users 

Posted on by SeeUS

Airline passengers and users of mass transit in the U.S. will be required to wear masks for at least 15 days beyond April 18, when current mask requirements were set to expire.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday announced the extension to May 3, saying it was needed to assess a recent uptick in cases caused by the BA.2 omicron subvariant.

Current mandates in transportation have been in effect since February 2021.

“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time,” the agency said in a statement.

Many jurisdictions have been rolling back mask mandates as overall COVID-19 cases have dropped around the country.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Tiny Moldova Grapples with Russia Ties While Seeking EU Membership

Posted on by SeeEU

Moldova’s population is strongly divided over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The tiny former Soviet republic, which has a majority Russian-speaking population in some regions, is highly receptive to Russian influence, from Kremlin television propaganda to church altars. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina Produced by: Marcus Harton
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Murderer of British Lawmaker Sentenced to Life

Posted on by SeeEU

The man who stabbed and killed a British member of parliament last fall has been sentenced to life in prison.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, who was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, attacked Conservative Party member David Amess, 69, at a church event last October, killing him. Ali said the attack was revenge for Amess’ support of airstrikes in Syria.

During the trial, prosecutors called Ali a “committed, fanatical, radicalized Islamist terrorist.” Ali reportedly told detectives he’d been planning to kill a parliamentarian for years.

The jury took just 18 minutes to reach the conviction.

“It’s clear that the man who begins a life sentence today is a cold, calculated and dangerous individual,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes said in a statement outside court following the sentencing.

Amess’ family gave a brief statement after the sentencing.

“Our amazing husband and father has been taken from us in an appalling and violent manner. Nothing will ever compensate for that,” they said. “We will struggle through each day for the rest of our lives. Our last thought before sleep will be of David. We will forever shed tears for the man we have lost. We shall never get over this tragedy.”

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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US Prosecutors Rest Case Against Islamic State ‘Beatle’ 

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Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday against an alleged member of the notorious Islamic State kidnap-and-murder cell known as the “Beatles.”

El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, declined the opportunity to testify in his own defense at his trial in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Asked by Judge T.S. Ellis if he wanted to take the stand, Elsheikh said “No,” the first time his voice had been heard during the two-week trial.

Elsheikh is charged with the murders of American freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, and suspected of the kidnapping of nearly 20 other Westerners in Syria.

Ten European journalists, relief workers and Syrians held hostage by the “Beatles” have testified over the past few days of their brutal treatment at their captors’ hands.

Elsheikh’s lawyers declined to cross-examine any of the witnesses and presented only 20 minutes of excerpts from interviews he gave to media outlets as his defense.

The interviews were conducted after Elsheikh and another alleged “Beatle,” Alexanda Amon Kotey, were captured in January 2018 by a Kurdish militia in Syria.

Unlike now, Elsheikh acknowledged in the interviews that he had interactions with the Western hostages, who dubbed the hostage-takers the “Beatles” because of their British accents.

Elsheikh’s lawyers contend that he lied about being a “Beatle” in the interviews so he would be transferred to the United States instead of being put on trial in Iraq, where he would have faced a certain death sentence.

The final former hostage to testify was Danish photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen, who recounted how he was given 25 blows for his 25th anniversary.

He also recalled having a knife placed against his throat and a gun thrust into his mouth.

The prosecution and defense are to deliver their closing arguments on Wednesday, and the case will go to the jury.

Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were killed by their IS jailers and videos of their murders released for propaganda purposes.

According to witnesses and her family, Mueller — the other American — was turned over to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who raped her repeatedly.

IS announced her death in February 2015 and said she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, a claim that was disputed by U.S. authorities.

Elsheikh and Kotey were turned over to U.S. forces in Iraq following their capture.

They were flown to Virginia in 2020 to face charges of hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder US citizens and supporting a terrorist organization.

Kotey pleaded guilty in September 2021 and is facing life in prison.

The other “Beatle,” Mohamed Emwazi, the notorious executioner known as “Jihadi John,” was killed by a US drone strike in Syria in 2015.
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Volunteers in Poland Compelled to Help Ukrainian Refugees

Posted on by SeeEU

Volunteers are working alongside humanitarian organizations to help refugees inside and outside of Ukraine. VOA’s Celia Mendoza has more from Przemysl, Poland.
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Yen Drops to 20-Year Low Against Dollar

Posted on by SeeUS

The yen hit its lowest level against the dollar in two decades on Wednesday, extending recent falls as the gap widens between Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy and U.S. tightening.

Despite being traditionally considered a safe-haven currency, uncertainty fueled by the war in Ukraine has not caused the yen to strengthen.

Instead, moves by the US Federal Reserve towards a more aggressive policy and the shock of rising oil prices in Japan — a major importer of fossil fuels — have pushed the currency lower, analysts say.

One dollar bought 126 yen on Wednesday afternoon, the lowest rate since 2002.

“The Japanese yen has been one of the weakest currencies anywhere in the world this year,” Dutch banking group ING said in a recent commentary.

“Driving the rally has been the perfect storm of a hawkish Federal Reserve, a dovish Bank of Japan [BoJ], and Japan’s negative terms of trade shock as a major fossil fuel importer.”

Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said “the stability of exchange rates is important and we see rapid currency moves as undesirable.”

“We will monitor trends in the foreign currency market and the impact on the Japanese economy with a sense of urgency,” he added.

The yen had already lost 10% of its value against the dollar in 2021 after four years of steady strengthening.

The U.S. central bank has embarked on an aggressive tightening path, pushing up American treasury yields which have strengthened the dollar against the yen.

But its moves stand in contrast to the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose monetary policy, which will be maintained for now, bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda said earlier Wednesday.

“Given the economy and price situation, the Bank of Japan will seek to realize its two-percent inflation target… by resiliently continuing its current powerful monetary easing,” he said.

Swiss Bank UBS said a weaker yen would likely hit Japanese households’ purchasing power, and domestic-oriented small businesses who will face higher import costs.

“The government is offering fiscal supports and most likely will expand the supports. We think the [yen] purchase intervention is possible if the pace of depreciation is regarded as too fast,” it said in a note.

Tohru Sasaki, head of Japan Market Research at JPMorgan Chase Bank, told AFP that the Bank of Japan “has to do something to slow the pace of the yen’s depreciation.”

“The Japanese government can sell foreign reserve [USD] to intervene, but it is politically difficult,” he said, adding that it would be “strange” if the finance ministry did so while the Bank of Japan keeps its current easing policies.
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San Francisco Giants’ Bench Coach Makes US Major League Baseball History

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Alyssa Nakken takes over at first base Tuesday to become first woman to coach on field during regular-season game
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China’s Trade with Russia Slows but Still Beats Overall Growth

Posted on by SeeEU

BEIJING — China’s overall trade with Russia rose over 12% in March from a year earlier, slowing from February but still outpacing the growth in China’s total imports and exports, as Beijing slammed Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. 

Shipments to and from Russia increased 12.76% in March to $11.67 billion, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday, slowing from 25.7% growth in February, when Russia launched its invasion.

Still, the growth in March was faster than the 7.75% increase in China’s trade with all countries and regions to $504.79 billion that month.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in a move that Moscow described as a “special military operation” designed to demilitarize and “denazify” its southern neighbor.

Beijing has refused to call Russia’s action an invasion and has repeatedly criticized what it says are illegal Western sanctions to punish Moscow.

Several weeks before the attack on Ukraine, China and Russia declared a “no-limits” strategic partnership. Last year, total trade between China and Russia jumped 35.8% to a record $146.9 billion. 

As sanctions against Russia mount, China could offset some of its neighbor’s pain by buying more. But analysts say they have yet to see any major indication China is violating Western sanctions on Russia.

China’s economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine remains normal, customs spokesman Li Kuiwen said at a news conference. 

In the first quarter, China’s trade with Russia jumped 30.45% from a year earlier, within the range of gains seen in previous quarterly increases. 

Russia is a major source of oil, gas, coal and agricultural commodities for China. 

Russia’s economy is on course to contract by more than 10% in 2022, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday, hit by soaring inflation and capital flight.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday revised down its forecast for global trade growth this year because of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

 

($1 = 6.3646 Chinese yuan) 
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East African Oil Pipeline Hits the Headwinds

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MOMBASA, KENYA — Climate activists are urging more banks and insurers not to back the controversial $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline that is primed to transport oil from the Hoima oilfields in Uganda to the Tanzanian coastal city of Tanga. Influential climate activists Vanessa Nakate and Hilda Nakabuye have lent their support to opponents of the pipeline citing the need for Africa to stay away from fossil fuels. 

The unrelenting pressure mounted by environmental groups, under the banner #StopEACOP, has led to a growing list of banks and insurers quitting the oil pipeline project. Just this week the project suffered another major setback after insurer Allianz Group pulled out of the project. It joins 15 banks and seven insurance companies — including HSBC, BNP Paribas and Swiss Re — who have denied financially backing the pipeline in response to the campaign waged by numerous environmental organizations, led by the international group 350.org. 

The 897-mile (1,443 kilometer) oil pipeline is billed as the longest heated pipeline in the world. The China National Oil Corporation and French energy conglomerate TotalEnergies, alongside the Uganda National Oil Company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Cooperation, have remained firm in pushing ahead with the pipeline project which is expected to start transporting oil in 2025. 

Johnson Nderi a financial analyst in Nairobi supports the oil pipeline, saying “Africa needs cheap stable power as that afforded by oil and coal, to grow its manufacturing sector.” 

Construction of the pipeline will displace thousands of families and threaten water resources in the Lake Victoria and River Nile basins, according to 350.org. The environmental group goes on to say that the crude pipeline will generate some 37 million tons (34 million metric tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions annually, fueling climate change. 

“TotalEnergies is putting profits over people and it shows. Communities in Uganda and Tanzania have been fighting tirelessly against the planned pipeline and the trail of destruction it is already leaving in its wake,” Omar Elmawi, the coordinator of the #StopEACOP campaign, said. “At a time when scientists call for the phasing out of fossil fuel projects, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it is ill-advised and irresponsible to go ahead with this project, while ignoring the cries of those most affected.” 

TotalEnergies has defended the pipeline noting that it adheres to strict Ugandan and Tanzanian environmental laws. An environmental social impact assessment report conducted by the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment raised concerns about significant risks posed to wildlife notably chimpanzees in the Bugoma, Wambabya and Taala forest reserves. 

Initially priced at $3.5 billion, the underground electrically heated pipeline will now cost $5 billion and is expected to start near Lake Albert in Hoima District, western Uganda. It will skirt around Lake Victoria entering northern Tanzania on its way to Chongoleani peninsula on the Indian Ocean transporting 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day. 

The pipeline is expected to displace over 14,000 households in both Uganda and Tanzania, according to the international poverty charity Oxfam. But proponents of the project are citing a $2 billion annual revenue from the oil exports alongside some 12,000 direct jobs in its defense. 

British firm Tullow Oil first discovered oil in the Lake Albert Basin in 2006, with recoverable oil estimates pegged at 1.2 billion barrels. In 2020, Tullow sold its entire stake to Total Energies. In early February, the oil pipeline’s major backers, led by Total Energies, announced the conclusion of the Financial Investment Decision, signaling the commencement of the construction of the oil pipeline. 
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Search Continues for Person of Interest in NYC Subway Attack

Posted on by SeeUS

Man identified by police as Frank James is said to have rented a van discovered near the station in ethnically diverse neighborhood of Brooklyn
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Special US Envoy to Horn of Africa Reportedly Stepping Down

Posted on by SeeAF

David Satterfield to leave post amid political and economic turmoil in Ethiopia and Sudan 
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US Officials Warn of ‘Dramatic’ Increases in Space Competition with Russia, China

Posted on by SeeEU

Space is being increasingly militarized, says the ‘Challenges in Security in Space Report – 2022’
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South Sudan Facing Food Crisis

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More than 7 million South Sudanese will be facing a food crisis by July because of floods, drought and armed clashes.

Food insecurity has worsened since last year. Increased armed violence, population displacement, and climatic shocks such as floods and droughts have played a role, the United Nations and South Sudan government said Saturday in a joint report.

Some 87,000 people in the Pibor Administrative area and parts of Jonglei, Lakes and Unity states are likely to be at catastrophic levels of famine by July. About 2.9 million people will be just one step lower, at emergency levels, according to an analysis of Integrated Food Security Phase Classification data.

More than two-thirds of the population — almost 9 million people — need humanitarian assistance, the U.N. said.

Last year, 5.3 million South Sudanese received food, health, and water and sanitation services as well as education, livelihoods and nutrition assistance.

“We will continue to have the situation we have in South Sudan if we don’t start to make that transition to ensuring peace at the community levels,” U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan Sara Beysolow Nyanti said.

According to Saturday’s report, Unity, Jonglei, Upper Nile, Warrap and Eastern Equatoria states will suffer the most from the food shortages.

“Until conflict is addressed, we will continue to see these numbers increase because what it means is that people do not have safe access to their lands to cultivate,” said Adeyinka Badejo, World Food Program acting country director in South Sudan.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and has struggled with political and economic crises since then. A five-year civil war killed almost 400,000 people.

Although a 2018 cease-fire and power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar is still in place, the conflict continues. The U.N. has criticized both leaders for incentivizing violence and corruption.

The U.N. Mission in South Sudan has increased the number of peacekeepers it has deployed and is working with communities in Leer in Unity State to ease ongoing tensions. They are working with local authorities to protect displaced families and provide them with access to clean water and health care.

The South Sudan People’s Defense Forces are also reportedly working in Leer to restore order amid the growing humanitarian crisis stemming from the worst flooding in decades.

VOA United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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Police Name Person of Interest in NYC Subway Attack

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New York City police named a person of interest in Tuesday’s rush hour shooting on a subway train in the city’s Brooklyn borough that left nearly two dozen people injured, but no one has been taken into custody yet. 

Police said they want to speak to Frank R. James, 62, who has addresses in the state of Wisconsin and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They believe he rented a van found 8 kilometers from the train station that is being investigated for links to the shooting. 

New York Police Chief of Detectives Jim Essig told reporters late Tuesday that the key for the van was found at the Brooklyn subway station where the shooting occurred. 

“We are endeavoring to locate him to determine his connection to the subway shooting, if any,” Essig said of James. “The two crime scenes – the subway and the van – are very active and are still being processed.”  

Essig said James rented the van in Philadelphia. 

A reward of $50,000 is being offered for information. 

The attack in the 36th Street Station in the ethnically diverse working-class Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn left 23 people injured, 10 of them from gunshot wounds. Police said five are in critical but stable condition. The others suffered smoke inhalation and falls in the commotion. 

Police said the suspect, a heavy-set, dark-skinned male wearing a green nylon vest like construction workers wear, was in the second car of the train. 

“As the train approached 36th Street (station), witnesses state the male opened up two smoke grenades, tossed them on the subway floor, brandishes a Glock 9 mm handgun. He then fired that weapon at least 33 times, striking 10 people,” Chief Essig said. “The male then fled the scene, and detectives are actively trying to determine his whereabouts.” 

Photos and videos posted to social media show bloodied victims spilling onto the platform and smoke lingering in the air.  

“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told local radio station 1010 WINS.  

Police also recovered other items at the scene linked to the shooter, including the Glock 17 9 mm handgun, ammunition for it, discharged shell casings, bullets, two detonated smoke grenades and two that were not detonated, as well as a hatchet, a trash can, a rolling cart, gasoline and the key for the van. 

While the gunman’s motive is not yet known, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the incident is not being investigated as an act of terrorism at this time. She also said the mayor’s security detail would be tightened out of an abundance of caution because of some social media posts by James. 

Police have been hampered in their investigation because security cameras were not working in the station where the shooting took place nor at two other stations along the route. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is in isolation with COVID-19, told reporters by video link that gun violence must end. 

“I will continue to do everything in my power to dam the rivers that feed the sea of violence,” Adams said. “But this is not only a New York City problem. This rage, this violence, these guns, these relentless shooters are an American problem. It’s going to take all levels of government to solve it.” 

The attack comes against a backdrop of rising violent crime in New York City, including the recent killings of a 16-year-old girl and a grandmother, as well as crime on the subway. 

The mayor, a former police officer who took office in January, has said reducing crime is a top priority of his administration.  

 
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COVID-19, Overdoses Pushed US to Highest Death Total Ever

Posted on by SeeUS

2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad. 

The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on death statistics. 

The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. It showed there were 3.465 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020’s record-setting total. 

Early last year, some experts were optimistic that 2021 would not be as bad as the first year of the pandemic — partly because effective COVID-19 vaccines had finally become available. 

“We were wrong, unfortunately,” said Noreen Goldman, a Princeton University researcher. 

COVID-19 deaths rose in 2021 — to more than 415,000, up from 351,000 the year before — as new coronavirus variants emerged and an unexpectedly large number of Americans refused to get vaccinated or were hesitant to wear masks, experts said. 

The coronavirus is not solely to blame. Preliminary CDC data also shows the crude death rate for cancer rose slightly, and rates continued to increase for diabetes, chronic liver disease and stroke. 

Overdose deaths

Drug overdose deaths also continued to rise. The CDC does not yet have a tally for 2021 overdose deaths, because it can take weeks of lab work and investigation to identify them. But provisional data through October suggests the nation is on track to see at least 105,000 overdose deaths in 2021 — up from 93,000 the year before. 

New research released Tuesday showed a particularly large jump in overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds. 

Adolescent overdose death counts were fairly constant for most of the last decade, at around 500 a year, according to the paper published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. They almost doubled in 2020, to 954, and the researchers estimated that the total hit nearly 1,150 last year. 

Joseph Friedman, a UCLA researcher who was the paper’s lead author, called the spike “unprecedented.” 

Those teen overdose deaths were only around 1% of the U.S. total. But adolescents experienced a greater relative increase than the overall population, even though surveys suggest drug use among teens is down. 

Experts attributed the spike to fentanyl, a highly lethal drug that has been cut into heroin for several years. More recently it’s also been pressed into counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs that teens sometimes abuse. 

The total number of U.S. deaths often increases year to year as the U.S. population grows. But 2020 and 2021 saw extraordinary jumps in death numbers and rates, due largely to the pandemic. 

Life expectancy

Those national death trends affect life expectancy — an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live. 

With rare exceptions, U.S. life expectancy has reliably inched up year after year. But the CDC’s life expectancy estimate for 2020 was about 77 years — more than a year and a half lower than what it was in 2019. 

The CDC has not yet reported its calculation for 2021. But Goldman and some other researchers have been making their own estimates, presented in papers that have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals. 

Those researchers think U.S. life expectancy dropped another five or six months in 2021 — putting it back to where it was 20 years ago. 

A loss of more than two years of life expectancy over the last two years “is mammoth,” Goldman said. 

One study looked at death data in the U.S. and 19 other high-income countries. The U.S. fared the worst. 

“What happened in the U.S. is less about the variants than the levels of resistance to vaccination and the public’s rejection of practices, such as masking and mandates, to reduce viral transmission,” one of the study’s authors, Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, said in a statement. 

Some experts are skeptical that life expectancy will quickly bounce back. They worry about long-term complications of COVID-19 that may hasten the deaths of people with chronic health problems. 

Preliminary — and incomplete — CDC data suggest there were at least 805,000 U.S. deaths in about the first three months of this year. That’s well below the same period last year, but higher than the comparable period in 2020. 

“We may end up with a ‘new normal’ that’s a little higher than it was before,” Anderson said.

 
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Africom Commander Warns Against Neglect of Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

Former President Barack Obama “pivoted” towards Africa, his predecessor Donald Trump away from it, and current U.S. leader Joe Biden has had his hands full with the pandemic at home and now the war in Ukraine.

But in an address to lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week, the commander for U.S. forces in Africa pointed to China’s dominance in a region vital to America’s security and economic growth, and warned that Washington ignores Africa at its peril.

“China’s heavy investment in Africa as its ‘second continent,’ and heavy-handed pursuit of its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, is fueling Chinese economic growth, outpacing the U.S., and allowing it to exploit opportunities to their benefit,” AFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend told the House Committee on Appropriations, echoing comments he made last month to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Townsend’s remarks come amid a burst of Chinese diplomacy with the continent. Foreign Minister Wang Yi — who has visited three countries in Africa this year — met with seven African counterparts in March alone. Last month, President Xi Jinping had what was billed as a “productive” telephone call with Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of the region’s most developed economy, South Africa.

There’s been speculation that China may simply be trying to shore up support for its position on the Ukraine crisis, with Townsend noting: “Our African partners face choices to strengthen the U.S. and allied-led open, rules-based international order or succumb to the raw power transactional pressure campaigns of global competitors.”

Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA that China is trying to create a “non-aligned” axis as “Beijing does not want the Ukraine war to become a new Cold War with countries forced to choose between the U.S. and Russia.”

But China’s interest in Africa long predates the war in Ukraine.

Townsend noted the region is home to rare earth metals used for mobile phones, hybrid vehicles, and missile guidance systems, and stressed that “the winners and losers of the 21st century global economy may be determined by whether these resources are available in an open and transparent marketplace or are inaccessible due to predatory practices of competitors.”

West Africa base worries?

The continent also occupies a key geostrategic location. Townsend expressed concern that China — which already has a naval base at the mouth of the Red Sea in Djibouti — is looking at setting up another on the Atlantic coast. That, he said, would “almost certainly require the [Defense] department to consider shifts to U.S. naval force posture and pose increased risk to freedom of navigation and U.S. ability to act.”

Brautigam says she doubts it is in China’s interest to “carve out a threat posture in the Atlantic.”

She told VOA that “with continued terrorism and instability in Nigeria, Cameroon and other parts of the Gulf of Guinea, that area has become the world’s hotspot for piracy.” For China, as the world’s largest trading nation, “that’s reason enough to want an outpost to protect Chinese citizens and economic interests in the Gulf of Guinea.”

An op-ed in China’s state-affiliated Global Times in January appeared to echo this line of reasoning, noting that compared to hundreds of U.S. bases around the world, China only has one and its need for any more would purely be to “ensure local security and interests.”

Another piece in the paper insisted: “China is the most cautious and restrained in terms of overseas military base deployment, as China does not have a desire to project military power globally to support the strategic competition of major powers.”

“Nevertheless, as China’s overseas interests continue to expand, there will be an increasing need for the Chinese PLA Navy to defend the national interests in more distant regions, inevitably demanding footholds in some distant waters,” it read.

While China plays down any ambitions to build a West Africa base, a State Department spokesperson told VOA: “It is widely understood that they are working to establish a network of military installations. … Certain potential steps involving PRC-basing activity would raise security concerns for the United States.”

Debt trap accusations

As the two superpowers vie for influence in Africa, Beijing is regularly accused by the West of providing “debt trap” loans to countries on the continent and of working with some of the region’s less savory leaders.

Government mouthpieces like the Global Times and Xinhua reject those allegations, with one op-ed in March countering: “While China offers financial supports and affordable proposals to local economies to build up economic strength to weather challenges, some developed countries have only offered aid with political strings attached.”

And, in a recent interview with a Kenyan newspaper, The East African, China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa Xue Bing blamed instability in that region on Western foreign intervention. “China will send out engineers and students. We don’t send out weapons. We don’t impose our views on others in the name of democracy or human rights,” he told the newspaper.

Asked if China has already outplayed America on the continent, the State Department spokesperson said: “The United States does not want to limit African partnerships with other countries. The United States wants to make African partnerships with the United States even stronger.”

But Brautigam said that aside from foreign aid, China is a bigger economic player on the continent than the U.S. in every area, adding: “It’s not clear that Washington has pivoted to Africa beyond rhetoric.”
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US Almond Growers Face Shipping Hurdles

Posted on by SeeUS

Backups at U.S. West Coast ports and supply chain problems in rail and trucking have hurt American exports and limited the choices of international consumers. For one farm commodity, California almonds, the slowdowns have affected American farmers and consumers around the world. Mike O’Sullivan reports from California’s Central Valley.
Camera: Roy Kim, Timothy Hong, Mike O’Sullivan Produced by: Mike O’Sullivan
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