Month: April 2022

First All-Women Media Outlet Opens in Somalia’s Capital

Posted on by SeeAF

Somalia’s first women-run radio and television outlet has opened in the capital, Mogadishu. United Nations-supported Bilan Media will produce content aimed at addressing issues affecting women and champion women’s rights in the conservative country.

The launch of Bilan Media in Mogadishu marks another leap in the effort by women to secure their place in Somalia’s patriarchal public arena.

Bilan means bright and clear in the Somali language, and the founders say they will stay true to its meaning by shedding light on some of the most consequential issues relating to and affecting women.

Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim is the editor at Bilan Media.

This project is designed to overcome many of the challenges facing the community, she says. It will focus on the challenges facing women. She says there are stories about women which will be revealed … because there are a lot of stories in the community and they don’t allow them to be published, so Bilan will reveal those stories.  

By going all-female, Bilan hopes to break the barriers in Somalia’s conservative society where issues such as rape, sexual assault and women’s medical issues are often ignored. 

Bilan says it does not seek to compete with the mainstream media but to chart its course in elevating the voices of women and influencing the agenda in the male-dominated society

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed is the deputy editor.

She says, “I can say that the reason for the formation of this media outlet for women is that in most parts of Mogadishu and Somalia as a whole, there are media outlets where both men and women work but are managed and owned by men. The circumstances of women’s needs are not discussed in detail. For example, violence against women is not discussed in depth.”

Ahmed says the owners of the station are not out to make a profit.

It is not about making money, it is about showcasing the productivity and power of women. So we want to improve our skills and present them at a place free from corruption and abuse by men.

Practitioners in the industry say the launch of a female-only media house is a bold step in a country where Islamist militant groups do not hesitate to harm or even kill journalists. 

The situation is even worse for female journalists who have to battle other forms of challenges such as sexual harassment in newsrooms, cultural stereotypes, pressures from families as well as low pay, compared to male counterparts.

Hinda Jama is head of gender affairs at the Somali Journalists Syndicate.

The potential challenges to this radio station are many, she says. As the radio is only operated by women, women could face challenges from Somali culture. Also, she says, Somali society is not accustomed to women doing things alone or being journalists working alone and most people are not aware of it. Religion-wise, she adds, some clerics may consider women unworthy to speak in the media.

The answers will come soon as to whether the station can meet these challenges.  Bilan Media is scheduled to go on the air April 25th.
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Countries Near Agreement to Spare Populated Areas from Explosive Weapons  

Posted on by SeeEU

A United Nations agreement aimed at sparing populated areas from explosive weapons is near completion and is expected to be finalized in early June. Some 200 delegates from more than 65 states participated in negotiations last week at the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva. 

The new international agreement would oblige states to reduce harm to civilians by limiting the use of explosive weapons including airstrikes, multi-barrel rocket systems, and mortars in cities and towns.

These weapons are designed for use in open battlefields and have devastating consequences when used in populated areas.

An NGO coalition, the International Network on Explosive Weapons, reports the use of heavy explosive weapons in cities and towns kills and wounds tens of thousands of civilians every year and lays waste to civilian infrastructure.

This is borne out by recent data from Ukraine, Ethiopia, Iraq, Gaza, Yemen, and Syria where 90 percent of the victims were civilians.

Despite the heavy toll caused by these weapons, the network reports that several states, including Belgium, Canada, Israel, Turkey, Britain, and the United States, sought to weaken the text of the agreement.

The coordinator of the International Network on Explosive Weapons, Laura Boillot, says these states argue that the new agreement should re-affirm what International Humanitarian Law already obliges them to do and not go beyond that.

Without mentioning Russia by name, Boillot says more is needed.

“The situation in Ukraine, where we are seeing extensive use and widespread use of a range of different explosive weapons from air-dropped bombs, rocket systems missiles into major towns and cities in Ukraine is making it very difficult for States to not take this issue seriously,” she said.

Boillot notes there were strong calls for a more humanitarian-centered text by states such as Chile and Mexico, Togo and Nigeria, as well as Austria and New Zealand.

Alma Taslidzan is the network’s civilian advocacy manager. She says discussions are still ongoing regarding the extent of assistance to victims. She says any assistance should include people injured, and families of those killed and injured.

“It includes that ensuring basic needs are met and safe access to provisions of first medical care, emergence medical care, because that is very important. Then physical rehabilitation to those that have lost their limbs. Psycho-social support is something that is often forgotten but is extremely important and has to be tackled,” she said.

Russia and Syria have stayed away from the talks. China also did not participate in this negotiating round, although they have taken part previously in the process. Network activists say they hope to see China involved when final discussions are held in June.
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Police Deploy to Villages in Nigeria’s Plateau State After Attacks Kill 70 

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Police in Nigeria’s central Plateau state say they have sent extra officers to nine villages where gunmen on Sunday reportedly killed more than 70 people and burned down houses. Police and locals say hundreds of villagers have fled their homes since then. Attacks by armed gangs are becoming increasingly common in northern and central Nigeria.

The Plateau State Police public relations officer, Gabriel Ubah, tells VOA that police have sent reinforcements to the affected villages including Kukawa, Giyanbahu, Dangur and Keren.

“We’re doing our possible best. Security operatives will be deployed to the areas and we’ve also renewed our strategies which will not be made known to the public. It’s an in-house security strategy that has been put in place,” he said.

Ubah said police have yet to determine the number of casualties from the attacks. Local residents say more bodies were discovered Monday.

Armed gangs invaded the villages in broad daylight on Sunday, shooting sporadically and torching houses. Local residents say the victims included farmers who were tilling their fields in preparation for planting. They say the attackers abducted dozens of people, including women and children.

The attacks occurred barely one week after 17 people were killed elsewhere in Plateau during a festival held to pray for peace and a bountiful harvest.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Attacks by marauding armed gangs in northwest and central Nigeria are becoming more common, causing widespread criticism of the Nigerian government.

Last week, gunmen attacked an army base in Kaduna state, killing 15 people.

Late last month, terrorists attacked a train in Kaduna, killing eight people and kidnapping dozens of others. Most of the abductees have yet to be freed. In a video released Monday, abductees were seen calling on authorities for help.

Security expert Kabiru Adamu says authorities must take responsibility for failing to protect the public.

“It is very important that we introduce monitoring and evaluation within the security sector and include in this monitoring and evaluation key performance indicators so that persons who let down the ball and allowed these attacks to happen are held accountable and whatever the punishment or penalty for that is meted out on them. We also need to increase the participation of the communities in the security operations,” said Adamu.

Last week, Nigerian telecommunications operators complied with a government order to bar phone numbers not registered under the country’s national identification scheme, in a bid to track those used by criminals, especially terrorists.
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South Africa’s $2 Billion-Citrus Industry Fears Russia Exports Losses

Posted on by SeeAF

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left a sour taste for South Africa’s citrus farmers, who are facing millions of dollars in losses over sanctions that have closed off the Russian market. South Africa is the world’s second largest citrus exporter and farmers are scrambling to find other markets before the fruit spoils. For VOA, Linda Givetash reports from Groblersdal, South Africa.
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Russian Ex-Journalist on Trial for Treason: ‘I Will Fight until the End’

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian former reporter Ivan Safronov said ahead of the resumption of his treason trial on Monday that he plans to vigorously fight the charges against him and does not fear the prospect of being jailed.

Safronov, who covered military affairs for the Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers before becoming an aide to the head of Russia’s space agency two months before his arrest in July 2020, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

He denies accusations of passing military secrets about Russian arms sales in the Middle East and Africa to the Czech Republic, a NATO member, while he worked as a reporter in 2017, calling them “a complete travesty of justice and common sense.”

His detention sent a chill through Russia’s media landscape, where controls were already tight and have been tightened further since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

His trial resumes behind closed doors later on Monday.

Striking a defiant tone in personal correspondence seen by Reuters on Monday, Safronov said he harbored no illusions about the prospect of being imprisoned for his alleged offenses.

“I will fight until the end, there is no doubt about that,” Safronov wrote in a letter sent from Moscow’s Lefortovo prison and dated March 26.

“If it’s a prison term, then it’s a prison term. It absolutely doesn’t scare me,” said the letter, shown to Reuters on condition the addressee remained anonymous.

Safronov has said state investigators pointed to his acquaintance with a Czech journalist he met in Moscow in 2010 who later set up a website which Safronov said he contributed to using information entirely based on open sources.

Since sending troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moscow has introduced a law outlawing the use of certain terms to describe its military intervention in Ukraine, which it calls a “special military operation.”

That prompted many independent media outlets to close or relocate.
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Nigeria’s VP Announces Run for President in 2023

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Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Monday declared he would run for the nation’s top job next year when incumbent Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to step down.

He becomes the latest figure from the two main parties to join the race to lead Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy.

First elected as Buhari’s deputy in 2015, Osinbajo made the announcement after months of speculation on whether he planned to succeed his boss.

In a statement, the 65-year-old senior lawyer and former university teacher said his years of stewardship under Buhari had made him the best man for the job.

“Which is why I am today, with utmost humility, formally declaring my intention to run for the office of the President… on the platform of our great party, the All Progressives Congress,” Osinbajo said.

He promised to continue with Buhari’s policies and programs, including huge projects of new roads and railways.

A key issue ahead of the February 2023 election is security, with Nigeria’s armed forces battling a jihadist insurgency in the northeast, violent criminal gangs in the northwest and separatist tensions in the southeast.

Osinbajo joins an array of aspirants from the ruling APC to vie for the party’s ticket.

APC leader and former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu has already announced he would run. Osinbajo served under Tinubu as justice commissioner in Lagos for eight years.

Other APC aspirants are Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and Yahaya Bello, the governor of central Kogi state.

The ruling party is expected to choose its flag bearer by June and the candidate will face whoever emerges from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 75, who has run five times for president, last month announced he would run again on the PDP platform.

An unwritten rule of Nigerian politics is that the presidency is expected to “rotate” between the mostly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south in bid to share power more equally.

After Buhari, a Muslim from the north, completes his two terms next year, many southerners say the presidency should rotate back to their region.
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With COVID Mission over, Pentagon Plans for Next Pandemic

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — A COVID-19 patient was in respiratory distress. The Army nurse knew she had to act quickly.

It was the peak of this year’s omicron surge and an Army medical team was helping in a Michigan hospital. Regular patient beds were full. So was the intensive care. But the nurse heard of an open spot in an overflow treatment area, so she and another team member raced the gurney across the hospital to claim the space first, denting a wall in their rush.

When she saw the dent, Lt. Col. Suzanne Cobleigh, the leader of the Army team, knew the nurse had done her job. “She’s going to damage the wall on the way there because he’s going to get that bed,” Cobleigh said. “He’s going to get the treatment he needs. That was the mission.”

That nurse’s mission was to get urgent care for her patient. Now, the U.S. military mission is to use the experiences of Cobleigh’s team and other units pressed into service against the pandemic to prepare for the next crisis threatening a large population, whatever its nature.

Their experiences, said Gen. Glen VanHerck, will help shape the size and staffing of the military’s medical response so the Pentagon can provide the right types and numbers of forces needed for another pandemic, global crisis or conflict.

One of the key lessons learned was the value of small military teams over mass movements of personnel and facilities in a crisis like the one wrought by COVID-19.

In the early days of the pandemic, the Pentagon steamed hospital ships to New York City and Los Angeles, and set up massive hospital facilities in convention centers and parking lots, in response to pleas from state government leaders. The idea was to use them to treat non-COVID-19 patients, allowing hospitals to focus on the more acute pandemic cases. But while images of the military ships were powerful, too often many beds went unused. Fewer patients needed non-coronavirus care than expected, and hospitals were still overwhelmed by the pandemic.

A more agile approach emerged: having military medical personnel step in for exhausted hospital staff members or work alongside them or in additional treatment areas in unused spaces.

“It morphed over time,” VanHerck, who heads U.S. Northern Command and is responsible for homeland defense, said of the response.

Overall, about 24,000 U.S. troops were deployed for the pandemic, including nearly 6,000 medical personnel to hospitals and 5,000 to help administer vaccines. Many did multiple tours. That mission is over, at least for now.

Cobleigh and her team members were deployed to two hospitals in Grand Rapids from December to February, as part of the U.S. military’s effort to relieve civilian medical workers. And just last week the last military medical team that had been deployed for the pandemic finished its stint at the University of Utah Hospital and headed home.

VanHerck told The Associated Press his command is rewriting pandemic and infectious disease plans, and planning wargames and other exercises to determine if the U.S. has the right balance of military medical staff in the active duty and reserves.

During the pandemic, he said, the teams’ make-up and equipment needs evolved. Now, he’s put about 10 teams of physicians, nurses and other staff — or about 200 troops — on prepare-to-deploy orders through the end of May in case infections shoot up again. The size of the teams ranges from small to medium.

Dr. Kencee Graves, inpatient chief medical officer at the University of Utah Hospital, said the facility finally decided to seek help this year because it was postponing surgeries to care for all the COVID-19 patients and closing off beds because of staff shortages.

Some patients had surgery postponed more than once, Graves said, because of critically ill patients or critical needs by others. “So before the military came, we were looking at a surgical backlog of hundreds of cases and we were low on staff. We had fatigued staff.”

Her mantra became, “All I can do is show up and hope it’s helpful.” She added, “And I just did that day after day after day for two years.”

Then in came a 25-member Navy medical team.

“A number of staff were overwhelmed,” said Cdr. Arriel Atienza, chief medical officer for the Navy team. “They were burnt out. They couldn’t call in sick. We’re able to fill some gaps and needed shifts that would otherwise have remained unmanned, and the patient load would have been very demanding for the existing staff to match.”

Atienza, a family physician who’s been in the military for 21 years, spent the Christmas holiday deployed to a hospital in New Mexico, then went to Salt Lake City in March. Over time, he said, the military “has evolved from things like pop-up hospitals” and now knows how to integrate seamlessly into local health facilities in just a couple days.

That integration helped the hospital staff recover and catch up.

“We have gotten through about a quarter of our surgical backlog,” Graves said. ”We did not call a backup physician this month for the hospital team … that’s the first time that’s happened in several months. And then we haven’t called a patient and asked them to reschedule their surgery for the majority of the last few weeks.”

VanHerck said the pandemic also underscored the need to review the nation’s supply chain to ensure that the right equipment and medications were being stockpiled, or to see if they were coming from foreign distributors.

“If we’re relying on getting those from a foreign manufacturer and supplier, then that may be something that is a national security vulnerability that we have to address,” he said.

VanHerck said the U.S. is also working to better analyze trends in order to predict the needs for personnel, equipment and protective gear. Military and other government experts watched the progress of COVID-19 infections moving across the country and used that data to predict where the next outbreak might be so that staff could be prepared to go there.

The need for mental health care for the military personnel also became apparent. Team members coming off difficult shifts often needed someone to talk to.

Cobleigh said military medical personnel were not accustomed to caring for so many people with multiple health problems, as are more apt to be found in a civilian population than in military ranks. “The level of sickness and death in the civilian sector was scores more than what anyone had experienced back in the Army,” said Cobleigh, who is stationed now at Fort Riley, Kansas, but will soon move to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

She said she found that her staff needed her and wanted to “talk through their stresses and strains before they’d go back on shift.”

For the civilian hospitals, the lesson was knowing when to call for help.

“It was the bridge to help us get out of omicron and in a position where we can take good care of our patients,” Graves said. “I am not sure how we would have done that without them.”
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Biden to Nominate New ATF Head, Announce Ghost Gun Rules

Posted on by SeeUS

Steps meant to address use of guns lacking serial numbers
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Zelenskyy Warns of Larger Russian Operations in East

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukrainian leader urges US to send more weapons
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French President Narrowly Wins First Round of Voting

Posted on by SeeEU

Macron and Le Pen in runoff vote April 24
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For One US Muslim Community, Finally an In-Person Iftar Dinner

Posted on by SeeUS

For Muslims around the world, this year marks the third holy month of Ramadan held during the pandemic. In the U.S., it is the first where congregational prayer and meals can be held without tight COVID-19 restrictions. VOA’s Yuni Salim visited one community mosque in suburban Washington, D.C., in this report narrated by Nova Poerwadi. Camera – Yuni Salim, Karlina Amkas.
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Speeding West, Ukraine Hospital Train Ferries Patients to Safety

Posted on by SeeEU

As the hospital train sped away from the frontline in war-torn Ukraine, electrician Evhen Perepelytsia was grateful he would soon see his children again after almost losing his life.

“We hope that the worst is over — that after what I’ve been through, it will be better,” the 30-year-old said, lying on a train carriage bed swaddled in a grey blanket.

He was among 48 wounded and elderly patients to be evacuated from embattled east Ukraine this weekend, pulling up in the western city of Lviv Sunday evening after a long trip overnight.

The evacuation was the first from the east since a Russian strike killed 52 people among thousands waiting for the train at the eastern railway station of Kramatorsk on Friday.

And it was the fourth to be organized by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Inside one of the carriages turned ward-on-wheels, Perepelytsya recounted how he lost his leg to shelling in his hometown of Hirske in the eastern region of Luhansk.

He was standing outside and had just discussed abandoning their home to join their children in the west of the country, he said.

“I took one step forward, and when I made the second, I fell,” he said. “It turned out that it hit very close to me, hit a monument, and a fragment from it tore off my leg.”

Sitting on the end of his bed, his wife, Yuliya, 29, said she had been terrified she would lose him.

“He was unconscious twice in the intensive care unit,” she said. “We couldn’t save his leg, but we saved his life.”

She said their three children were waiting in Lviv with their grandmother.

“We’re not going back,” she said.

The United Nations says at least 1,793 civilians have been killed and 2,439 wounded since Russia launched its invasion, but the actual tally is likely much higher.

More than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

The Ukrainian authorities have in recent days urged all residents in the east of the country to flee westwards to safety as they fear Moscow will unleash the full force of its military there after setbacks around the capital Kyiv.

As the blue carriages pulled into Lviv, medics carried those who were unable to walk on stretchers into waiting ambulances and helped the others on foot or in wheelchairs onto buses.

In one bus, 77-year-old Paraskevia sat patiently with a large white bandage on her eye, and a net over her head to keep it in place.

“My eye hurts,” said the elderly lady from the village of Novodruzhesk in Luhansk, who did not give her second name.

“But the doctors on the train were great,” she added, of the 13 staff members on board, most of them Ukrainian.

In front of her, a 67-year-old who gave his name as Ivan said he had to wait in a basement for two days after being shot in the street.

Neighbors in the town of Popasna, also in Luhansk, bandaged him up as best they could until the medics could arrive.

On the platform, MSF train hospital coordinator Jean-Clement Cabrol caught his breath.

The train had successfully ferried 48 people to safety, but still many more needed help, the doctor said.

Earlier in the war, a first train had traveled to Zaporizhzhia to pick up three families who were wounded while trying to flee the besieged port city of Mariupol.

After that, two operations whisked dozens of patients — mostly elderly people — out of Kramatorsk, leaving just days before the deadly Russian attack.

By the tracks on Sunday evening, the doctor said another train would soon depart to continue evacuations as long as it was possible.

“We are heading back tonight,” he said.
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Scheffler Gets Masters Green Jacket to Go With No. 1 Ranking

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Scottie Scheffler capped off an amazing two months with his grandest feat of all, winning the Masters on Sunday to validate his new status as the best player in golf.

The only stumble came at the end when Scheffler needed four putts from 40 feet before he could claim his first major, and that only mattered in the record book.

He closed with a 1-under 71 for a three-shot victory over Rory McIlroy, who holed out from the bunker on the final hole for a record-tying final round of 64 that gave him the briefest moment of hope that Sunday pressure at Augusta National might get to Scheffler.

No chance. Not on Sunday. Not the last four days. Not the last two months.

And to think it was just 56 days ago that Scheffler was still searching for his first PGA Tour victory. The 25-year-old from Dallas, built for stardom from when he was a 10-year-old wearing long pants to look the part of a pro, now has four wins in his last six tournaments.

No prize was greater than that green jacket.

The Sunday theater, thrilling and tragic, belonged to everyone else. Scheffler overcame a nervy moment early in the round by chipping in for birdie. He delivered key putts to keep Cameron Smith at bay and never looked rattled, even as he was swatting at short putts at the end.

McIlroy was the runner-up. It was Smith who felt as though he let one get away. The Aussie was still in the game, three shots out of the lead, when he dumped his tee shot in Rae’s Creek on the par-3 12th hole for triple bogey and ended his hopes.

Smith closed with a 73 and tied for third with Shane Lowry, who birdied the 18th for a 69.

Scheffler joined Ian Woosnam in 1991 as the only players to win a major — the Masters in both cases — in their debut at No. 1 in the world.

Everyone should have seen this coming. He won the Phoenix Open in a playoff on Super Bowl Sunday. He followed that with a comeback win at Bay Hill to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He rose to No. 1 in the world by winning the Match Play two weeks ago in Texas.

And now this.

Scheffler, who finished at 10-under 278, won $2.7 million from the $15 million prize fund. That brings his total to $8,872,200 over his last six starts.

Scheffler’s big moment came early in the round, and it was no less significant.

Starting the final round with a three-shot lead, he watched Smith open with two straight birdies to the cut the deficit to one, and then Scheffler’s approach from the pine needles left of the third fairway came up short and rolled back down the slope.

His pitch was racing toward the hole when it banged into the pin and dropped for an unlikely birdie, and a two-shot swing when Smith from the same position made bogey.

No one got closer than three the rest of the way. Only the contenders changed.

The 12th hole remains the most riveting par 3 in golf, the scene of more collapses than comebacks. Smith became the latest victim.

Coming off birdie at No. 11, his shot was still in the air when he let his club slip through his hands and he slowly closed his eyes twice as it splashed into Rae’s Creek. The next shot wasn’t much better, but at least dry, and Smith’s hopes ended there with a triple bogey.

He was three behind standing on the 12th tee. Three holes later, he was eight back.

From there, any hope resided with McIlroy. All he needed to complete the career Grand Slam was to match the best final round in Masters history and get some help from Scheffler. He only got one of those and had to settle for his first silver medal from Augusta.

Not that he didn’t create some Sunday magic. McIlroy went bunker-to-bunker on the 18th hole, leaving himself right of the green and aiming some 25 feet right of the flag. It rode the slope all the way into the hole, setting off one of the loudest roars of the week.

Morikawa followed him in from the same bunker, different angle, and McIlroy could only laugh.

“This tournament never ceases to amaze,” McIlroy said. “That’s as happy as I’ve ever been on a golf course right there. Just having a chance — and then with Collin, we both played so well all day — and for both of us to finish like this, I was just so happy for him, too. “I’ve never heard roars like on the 18th green.”

The best ones were saved for Scheffler.

Scheffler still have five holes in front of him, with no evidence he was going to be anything but the smooth, smart operator who seized control on Friday in the toughest conditions to build a five-shot lead and never lost it.
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China Makes Semi-Secret Delivery of Missiles to Serbia

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region.

Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.

The Chinese cargo planes with military markings were pictured at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Serbia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.

The arms delivery over the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.

“The Y-20s’ appearance raised eyebrows because they flew en masse as opposed to a series of single-aircraft flights,” wrote The Warzone online magazine. “The Y-20’s presence in Europe in any numbers is also still a fairly new development.”

Serbian military analyst Aleksandar Radic said that “the Chinese carried out their demonstration of force.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic all but confirmed the delivery of the medium-range system that was agreed in 2019, saying on Saturday that he will present “the newest pride” of the Serbian military on Tuesday or Wednesday.

He had earlier complained that NATO countries, which represent most of Serbia’s neighbors, are refusing to allow the system’s delivery flights over their territories amid tensions over Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.

Although Serbia has voted in favor of U.N. resolutions that condemn the bloody Russian attacks in Ukraine, it has refused to join international sanctions against its allies in Moscow or outright criticize the apparent atrocities committed by the Russian troops there.

Back in 2020, U.S. officials warned Belgrade against the purchase of HQ-22 anti-aircraft systems, whose export version is known as FK-3. They said that if Serbia really wants to join the European Union and other Western alliances, it must align its military equipment with Western standards.

The Chinese missile system has been widely compared to the American Patriot and the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems although it has a shorter range than more advanced S-300s. Serbia will be the first operator of the Chinese missiles in Europe.

Serbia was at war with its neighbors in the 1990s. The country, which is formally seeking EU membership, has already been boosting its armed forces with Russian and Chinese arms, including warplanes, battle tanks and other equipment.

In 2020, it took delivery of Chengdu Pterodactyl-1 drones, known in China as Wing Loong. The combat drones are able to strike targets with bombs and missiles and can be used for reconnaissance tasks.

There are fears in the West that the arming of Serbia by Russia and China could encourage the Balkan country toward another war, especially against its former province of Kosovo that proclaimed independence in 2008. Serbia, Russia and China don’t recognize Kosovo’s statehood, while the United States and most Western countries do.
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Pope Francis Calls for an Easter Truce in Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

Pope Francis opened Holy Week Sunday with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”

Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”

Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear, and he has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.

During the traditional Sunday blessing following Palm Sunday Mass, the pontiff said leaders should be “willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”

“In fact, what a victory would that be, who plants a flag under a pile of rubble?” he said.

During his Palm Sunday homily, the pontiff denounced “the folly of war” that leads people to commit “senseless acts of cruelty.”

“When we resort to violence … we lose sight of why we are in the world and even end up committing senseless acts of cruelty. We see this in the folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet another time,” he said.

Francis lamented “the unjust death of husbands and sons” … “refugees fleeing bombs” … “young people deprived of a future” … and “soldiers sent to kill their brothers and sisters.”

After two years of celebrating Palm Sunday Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica without a crowd due to pandemic distancing measures, the solemn celebration returned to the square outside. Tens of thousands pilgrims and tourists clutched olive branches and braided palms emblematic of the ceremony that recalls Jesus’ return to Jerusalem.

Traditionally, the pope leads a Palm Sunday procession through St. Peter’s Square before celebrating Mass. Francis has been suffering from a strained ligament in his right knee that has caused him to limp, and he was driven in a black car to the altar, which he then reached with the help of an aide. He left the Mass on the open-top popemobile, waving to the faithful in the piazza and along part of the via della Conciliazione.

Palm Sunday opens Holy Week leading up to Easter, which this year falls on April 17, and features the Good Friday Way of the Cross Procession.
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‘Sonic 2’ Steals Weekend Box Office, but ‘Ambulance’ Stalls

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“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” sped to the top of the charts in its opening weekend, earning an impressive $71 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount’s PG-rated sequel easily bested the weekend’s other major newcomer, Michael Bay’s “Ambulance,” which faltered in theaters.

“Sonic 2,” which brings back the first film’s director, writers and cast, including James Marsden, Jim Carrey and Ben Schwartz, who voices the blue video game character, opened in 4,234 locations and actually surpassed its predecessor’s opening weekend. The first “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened over the Presidents Day holiday weekend in February 2020, earning $58 million in its first three days.

“The normal pattern domestically is that sequels slide a little bit,” said Chris Aronson, the president of domestic distribution for Paramount. “But we certainly bucked that trend.”

For a sequel to open 22% above the first, Aronson added, is “quite remarkable.”

“Sonic 2” got mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences were even more enthusiastic. They gave the CG/live-action hybrid a strong “A” CinemaScore.

“The filmmakers did a great job of being in service of not only the general audience but Sonic fans themselves,” Aronson said. “Many feel it’s a bigger, better film than the first one.”

It’s an important weekend not just for the “Sonic” franchise, but for PG-rated family films too. Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said that one of the big questions of the pandemic was whether families would return to movie theaters with seemingly limitless viewing options available at home. According to exit polls, families made up 58% of the “Sonic 2” audience.

“There’s been some indication that they wanted to go back with movies like ‘Sing 2,’ but it’s moved in fits and starts,” said Dergarabedian. “This says once and for all that families want to go back. It’s a really good indicator of things to come for family films in 2022 with ‘Lightyear’ and the next ‘Minions’ movie.”

“Sonic 2” is also the latest in a string of theatrical hits for Paramount in 2022, including “Scream,” “Jackass Forever” and “The Lost City,” which is still in the top five.

“A lot of credit goes to our marketing and distribution teams,” Aronson said. “We’ve been judicious about picking our dates and knowing who our audience was for each.”

And their next release could be their biggest yet. “Top Gun: Maverick” opens on May 27.

Meanwhile, “Ambulance” got off to a bumpy start in its first weekend. With an estimated $8.7 million in grosses, it opened behind Sony’s “Morbius,” down 74% in weekend two, and “The Lost City.” Bay’s nail-biter about a botched bank robbery was released by Universal and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Eiza Gonzalez.

Its tepid launch proved a head-scratcher for many. Reviews weren’t terrible (it’s at a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes versus “Sonic 2’s” 67%) and on paper “Ambulance” appears to be the kind of throwback, big screen blockbuster spectacle that would draw significant crowds to the theaters.

“This is a filmmaker who will forever be looked at as a blockbuster director, whether you like his movies or not. The bar is always raised for someone like that,” Dergarabedian said. “But this is a different kind of movie and I think that’s why we’re seeing these numbers. It’s not trying to be ‘Transformers.’ If Bay’s name wasn’t on it, expectations wouldn’t be as high.”

“Sonic 2” wasn’t the only success of the weekend. A24’s critical darling “Everything Everywhere All at Once” expanded nationwide in its third weekend in theaters and earned $6.1 million from only 1,250 screens.

“A24 has done a spectacular job of rolling it out on a platform release and building buzz,” Dergarabedian said.

The film, directed by the Daniels and starring Michelle Yeoh, will expand to more theaters in the coming weeks.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

  1. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $71 million.

  2. “Morbius,” $10.2 million.

  3. “The Lost City,” $9.2 million.

  4. “Ambulance,” $8.7 million.

  5. “The Batman,” $6.5 million.

  6. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $6.1 million.

  7. “Uncharted,” $2.7 million.

  8. “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” $825,000.

  9. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $625,000.

  10. “RRR,” $570,000
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Former Hostages Unmask Islamic State ‘Beatle’ at US Trial

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Former hostages taking the witness stand at the U.S. trial of their alleged Islamic State group captor have described their brutal treatment in chilling detail.

Eight former IS hostages have testified so far at the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, accused of being a member of the notorious kidnap-and-murder cell known as the “Beatles.”

But in a quirk of the case — none of the former IS captives has been asked so far to formally identify their alleged captor in court.

That’s because the 33-year-old Elsheikh and the other alleged “Beatles” — so-called because of their British accents — took pains to conceal their identities.

The former hostages said they were frequently blindfolded and their captors wore balaclavas at all times with only a slit for the eyes.

“They always tried to protect themselves,” said Edouard Elias, a French photographer held prisoner by IS from June 2013 to April 2014. 

“With other guards I could get some information, but not with them,” Elias said. “I just saw that one had a darker skin, that’s all.”

The kidnappers also had a “rule” whenever they entered the cells where the prisoners were held.

“We had to kneel down with our face toward the wall and never look them in the face,” said Federico Motka, an Italian aid worker who was held for 14 months, longer than any other hostage.

“We had to cover our face,” said Frida Saide, a former Doctors Without Borders (MSF) worker who was held for three months.

Nicolas Henin, a French journalist, told the court the hostage-takers apparently believed that “as long as they were masked they were protected from prosecution.”

“This was maybe a stupid idea,” Henin said.

Despite the precautions taken, prosecutors are confident they can prove to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Elsheikh, a former British citizen, was one of the “Beatles.”

Elsheikh and another alleged “Beatle,” Alexanda Amon Kotey, were captured in January 2018 by a Kurdish militia in Syria while attempting to flee to Turkey.

 

They were turned over to U.S. forces in Iraq and flown to the United States to face charges of hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

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.

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

Elsheikh, who pleaded not guilty, is not expected to testify at his trial but prosecutors have been using his own words against him.

After his capture, Elsheikh gave interviews to several media outlets and prosecutors have played excerpts from those interviews for the jury.

In the interviews, Elsheikh acknowledged interacting with the hostages but claimed he did no more than ask them for information — email addresses, for example — so the kidnappers could open ransom negotiations with their families.

Elsheikh also sought to deflect responsibility on another member of the “Beatles,” Mohammed Emwazi, the IS executioner known as “Jihadi John” who was killed by a U.S. drone in Syria in November 2015.

The former hostages tell a far different story — brutal beatings at the hands of all three “Beatles,” waterboarding, electric shocks and other forms of torture.

“George was into boxing. John kicked a lot. Ringo talked a lot about how he liked wrestling, putting people in headlocks,” Motka said.

“It was like a team,” Elias said.

Saide, the ex-MSF worker, said they were “friendly, comfortable around each other.”

“They seemed to be good friends,” she said.

The former hostages have testified that even if they could not see their faces, they could easily recognize the “Beatles,” even from the individual ways they would knock on their cell doors.

Besides their distinctive British accents, the “Beatles” were also better equipped than the other guards with expensive pistols and walkie-talkies.

In court, Elsheikh resembled a college student wearing fashionable civilian clothes and oversized glasses. A long black beard protruded from beneath his black COVID-19 mask.

During witness testimony, he appeared to spend most of his time staring straight ahead.

Elsheikh’s lawyers have seized on the question of identification in mounting his defense.

In opening arguments, they acknowledged he was an IS jihadi but insisted he was not one of the “Beatles” and it was a case of “mistaken identity.”
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Russia Ramps Up Attacks on Civilian Targets in Ukraine

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Ukraine’s president says Russia’s ongoing and unprovoked war on his country is a “catastrophe” that endangers all of Europe. The Kremlin seems to have abandoned plans to topple the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, amid the war, now in its second month. Western powers describe retreating Russian soldiers as war criminals for alleged atrocities ranging from rape to execution-style murders of civilians. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. WARNING: Some viewers may find images in this story disturbing.
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Russia Launches New Attacks in Eastern Ukraine 

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Russian forces shelled a school and residential buildings in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, local Luhansk officials reported, even as the officials implored residents to escape the region “before it’s too late.”

Luhansk Governor Serihy Haidai said three apartment buildings in Severodonetsk burned down and two elderly residents had to be evacuated, but there were no casualties.

Separately, Dnipro Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, in southeastern Ukraine, said Russian forces struck targets across the region, wounding one person.

Ukrainian officials and the state railway announced new evacuation routes but voiced fears that the Russian missile attack Friday on a railway station in Kramatorsk that killed 52 people might be scaring off some Ukrainians from trying to flee the region by rail.

The continuing Russian assault on eastern Ukraine was in marked contrast to the scene in Kyiv, the capital in the country’s north. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday strolled through streets that Russia recently controlled or were under near constant attacks before Moscow pulled its troops to concentrate its attacks on the eastern Donbas region.

Johnson said Britain would send 120 more armored vehicles and new anti-ship missiles to Ukraine, part of the West’s continuing military support of Ukraine, short of sending troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces.

Zelenskyy has continued to contend that the West is not doing enough to help Ukraine, but U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan defended what it has done.

“The speed, scale and scope to equip the Ukrainian army is unprecedented,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday. He said the United States “will continue to rally the world” to assist Ukraine.

Sullivan said the Kremlin miscalculated in its February 24 invasion in thinking it would “be welcomed with open arms” into Ukraine.

“But what we have learned,” Sullivan said, “is that Ukraine will never be subject to Russia.”

In a separate interview, Sullivan told ABC’s “This Week” show that Russia was, in part, forced to acknowledge “significant” troop losses this past week because it did not take over Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine as it had expected to quickly accomplish.

Even as it moved troops to eastern Ukraine, Russia left behind a trail of destruction near Kyiv, with hundreds of Ukrainian civilians killed in the suburb of Bucha and elsewhere.

Sullivan said the U.S. believes that the massacre of some civilians was carried out by individual Russian troops “frustrated” at their inability to take control of the region around Kyiv.

He said, however, that responsibility for the slaughter of Ukrainian civilians “lies at the feet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There was a plan from the highest levels of the Russian government to target” Ukrainian civilians, Sullivan said. “This is something that was planned.”

He said the U.S. would continue to “squeeze the Russian economy” with sanctions, projecting that its economy will shrink by 10- to 15% this year, diminishing it sharply as a world economic power.

In Rome, Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday and opened Holy Week by calling for an Easter truce in Ukraine leading to a negotiated peace. He said leaders needed to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”

Celebrating Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”

Zelenskyy warned Saturday in his nightly address that Russian aggression is “not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone. To the destruction of our freedom and our lives alone.” The president cautioned, “The whole European project is a target for Russia.”

Ukraine has opened 5,600 war crimes cases since Russia’s invasion, top prosecutor Iryna Venediktova said Sunday, but the country will face a struggle getting Russian officials to court.

She called the missile strike on the train station in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region, “absolutely … a war crime.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after seeing the devastation in Bucha, said, “If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime? But I am a medical doctor by training and lawyers have to investigate carefully.”

Russian officials have called the Bucha killings a “monstrous forgery.”

The Russian invasion has forced more than 10 million people from their homes in Ukraine or from the country and killed and maimed thousands.
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South Africa’s Zuma to Pursue Private Prosecution Against Prosecutor 

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Former South African President Jacob Zuma is pursuing private prosecution proceedings to remove the lead prosecutor in an arms deal corruption trial after failed legal challenges, his foundation said on Sunday. 

Last month the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) torpedoed Zuma’s latest bid to have lead prosecutor Billy Downer taken off the case after accusing him of bias and leaking of confidential information to a journalist in contravention of the national prosecution act, among other complaints. 

The SCA dismissed the application for leave to appeal on the grounds that there is no reasonable prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard. 

The spokesman of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi told a press briefing that Zuma’s instructions to his legal team to institute private prosecution “will now be put into operation in the next few days.” 

He also said Zuma’s legal team has filed a reconsideration application to the president of the SCA, a petition to hear the appeal. 

Zuma, who was ousted from the ruling African National Congress in 2018 after nearly two decades as president, has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering in the long-running case over the $2 billion arms deal in the 1990s. 

The deal case has dogged Zuma since he was sacked as deputy president of the country in 2005. He said he was the victim of a political witch-hunt. 

On Monday the long-delayed trail is set to get underway and Zuma will be present in court. 

Manyi said Zuma, who turns 80 on Tuesday, is applying for a postponement because “it is very clear that the conditions for a fair trail are non-existent.” 

On Monday his team will also respond to the supplementary affidavit served by the National Prosecution Authority where they seek to introduce new evidence in the trial. 

“All His Excellency President Zuma really wants is his day in court, in a fair trial and certainly not in a forum which is being rigged by the State,” Manyi said. 
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Living With COVID: Experts Divided on UK Plan as Cases Soar

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For many in the U.K., the pandemic may as well be over.

Mask requirements have been dropped. Free mass testing is a thing of the past. And for the first time since spring 2020, people can go abroad for holidays without ordering tests or filling out lengthy forms.

That sense of freedom is widespread even as infections soared in Britain in March, driven by the milder but more transmissible omicron BA.2 variant that’s rapidly spreading around Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere.

The situation in the U.K. may portend what lies ahead for other countries as they ease coronavirus restrictions.

France and Germany have seen similar spikes in infections in recent weeks, and the number of hospitalizations in the U.K. and France has again climbed — though the number of deaths per day remains well below levels seen earlier in the pandemic.

In the U.S., more and more Americans are testing at home, so official case numbers are likely a vast undercount. The roster of those newly infected includes actors and politicians, who are tested regularly. Cabinet members, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Broadway actors and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut have all tested positive.

Britain stands out in Europe because it ditched all mitigation policies in February, including mandatory self-isolation for those infected. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s conservative government is determined to stick to its “living with COVID” plan, but experts disagree on whether the country is coping well.

Some scientists argue it’s the right time to accept that “living with COVID” means tolerating a certain level of disruption and deaths, much like we do for seasonal flu.

Others believe that Britain’s government lifted restrictions too quickly and too soon.

They warned that deaths and hospital admissions could keep rising because more people over 55 — those who are most likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 — are now getting infected despite high levels of vaccination.

Hospitals are again under strain, both from patients with the virus and huge numbers of staff off sick, said National Health Service medical director Stephen Powis.

“Blinding ourselves to this level of harm does not constitute living with a virus infection — quite the opposite,” said Stephen Griffin, a professor in medicine at the University of Leeds. “Without sufficient vaccination, ventilation, masking, isolation and testing, we will continue to ‘live with’ disruption, disease and sadly, death, as a result.”

Others, like Paul Hunter, a medicine professor at the University of East Anglia, are more supportive of the government’s policies.

“We’re still not at the point where (COVID-19) is going to be least harmful … but we’re over the worst,” he said. Once a high vaccination rate is achieved there is little value in maintaining restrictions such as social distancing because “they never ultimately prevent infections, only delay them,” he argued.

Britain’s official statistics agency estimated that almost 5 million U.K. residents, or 1 in 13, had the virus in late March, the most it had reported. Separately, the REACT study from London’s Imperial College said its data showed that the country’s infection levels in March were 40% higher than the first omicron peak in January.

Infection rates are so high that airlines had to cancel flights during the busy two-week Easter break because too many workers were calling in sick.

France and Germany have seen similar surges as restrictions eased in most European countries. More than 100,000 people in France were testing positive every day despite a sharp dropoff in testing, and the number of virus patients in intensive care rose 22% over the past week.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government, keen to encourage voter turnout in April elections, is not talking about any new restrictions.

In Germany, infection levels have drifted down from a recent peak. But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach backed off a decision to end mandatory self-isolation for infected people just two days after it was announced. He said the plan would send a “completely wrong” signal that “either the pandemic is over or the virus has become significantly more harmless than was assumed in the past.”

In the U.S., outbreaks at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University are bringing back mask requirements to those campuses as officials seek out quarantine space.

Across Europe, only Spain and Switzerland have joined the U.K. in lifting self-isolation requirements for at least some infected people.

But many European countries have eased mass testing, which will make it much harder to know how prevalent the virus is. Britain stopped distributing free rapid home tests this month.

Julian Tang, a flu virologist at the University of Leicester, said that while it’s important to have a surveillance program to monitor for new variants and update the vaccine, countries cope with flu without mandatory restrictions or mass testing.

“Eventually, COVID-19 will settle down to become more endemic and seasonal, like flu,” Tang said. “Living with COVID, to me, should mimic living with flu.”

Cambridge University virologist Ravindra Gupta is more cautious. Mortality rates for COVID-19 are still far higher than seasonal flu and the virus causes more severe disease, he warned. He would have preferred “more gentle easing of restrictions.”

“There’s no reason to believe that a new variant would not be more transmissible or severe,” he added.
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French Vote in 1st Round of Presidential Election

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Polls opened across France on Sunday for the first round of the country’s presidential election, where up to 48 million eligible voters will be choosing between 12 candidates.

President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a second five-year term, with a strong challenge from the far right.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. Sunday and close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) in most places and an hour later in some larger cities.

Unless someone gets more than half of the nationwide vote, there will be a second and decisive round between the top two candidates on April 24.

Aside from Macron, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon are among the prominent figures vying to take the presidential Elysee.

Macron, a political centrist, for months looked like a shoo-in to become France’s first president in 20 years to win a second term. But that scenario blurred in the campaign’s closing stages as the pain of inflation and of pump, food and energy prices roared back as dominant election themes for many low-income households. They could drive many voters Sunday into the arms of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Macron’s political nemesis.

Macron trounced Le Pen by a landslide to become France’s youngest president in 2017. The win for the former banker — now 44 — was seen as a victory against populist, nationalist politics, coming in the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the White House and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, both in 2016.

With populist Viktor Orban winning a fourth consecutive term as Hungary’s prime minister days ago, eyes have now turned to France’s resurgent far right candidates — especially National Rally leader Le Pen, who wants to ban Muslim headscarves in streets and halal and kosher butchers, and drastically reduce immigration from outside Europe. This election has the potential to reshape France’s post-war identity and indicate whether European populism is ascendant or in decline.

Meanwhile, if Macron wins, it will be seen as a victory for the European Union.

Observers say a Macron re-election would spell real likelihood for increased cooperation and investment in European security and defense — especially with a new pro-EU German government.

With war singeing the EU’s eastern edge, French voters will be casting ballots in a presidential election whose outcome will have international implications. France is the 27-member bloc’s second economy, the only one with a U.N. Security Council veto, and its sole nuclear power. And as Russian President Vladimir Putin carries on with the war in Ukraine, French power will help shape Europe’s response.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has afforded Macron the chance to demonstrate his influence on the international stage and burnish his pro-NATO credentials in election debates.

Macron is the only front-runner who supports the alliance while other candidates hold differing views on France’s role within it. Melenchon is among those who want to abandon it altogether, saying it produces nothing but squabbles and instability.

Such a development would deal a huge blow to an alliance built to protect its members in the emerging Cold War 73 years ago.
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US Speeds Entry for Ukrainians as More Reach Mexico Border

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The United States has sharply increased the number of Ukrainians admitted to the country at the Mexican border as more refugees fleeing the Russian invasion follow the same circuitous route.

A government recreation center in the Mexican border city of grew to about 1,000 refugees on Thursday, according to city officials. A canopy under which children played soccer only two days earlier was lined with bunk beds and packed with people in rows of chairs.

Tijuana has suddenly become a final stop for Ukrainians seeking refuge in the U.S., where they are drawn by friends and families ready to host them and are convinced the U.S. will be a more suitable haven than Europe.

Word has spread rapidly on social media that a loose volunteer coalition, largely from Slavic churches in the western United States, is guiding hundreds of refugees daily from the Tijuana airport to temporary shelters, where they wait two to four days for U.S officials to admit them on humanitarian parole. In less than two weeks, volunteers worked with U.S. and Mexican officials to build a remarkably efficient and expanding network to provide food, security, transportation, and shelter.

U.S. officials began funneling Ukrainians on Wednesday to a pedestrian crossing in San Diego that is temporarily closed to the public, hoping to process 578 people a day there with 24 officers, said Enrique Lucero, the city of Tijuana’s director of migrant affairs.

Vlad Fedoryshyn, a volunteer with access to a waiting list, said Thursday that the U.S. processed 620 Ukrainians over 24 hours, while about 800 others are arriving daily in Tijuana. Volunteers say the U.S. was previously admitting a few hundred Ukrainians daily.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t provide numbers in response to questions about operations and plans over the last two days, saying only that it has expanded facilities in San Diego to deal with humanitarian cases.

On Thursday, Ukrainians steadily arrived and left the bustling recreation center, wheeling large suitcases. Some wore winter coats in unseasonably warm weather.

A Tijuana camp that had held hundreds of Ukrainians near the busiest border crossing with the U.S. was dismantled. Refugees dispersed to the recreation center, churches, and hotels to wait.

The volunteers, who wear blue and yellow badges to represent the Ukrainian flag but have no group name or leader, started a waiting list on notepads and later switched to a mobile app normally used to track church attendance. Ukrainians are told to report to a U.S. border crossing as their numbers approach, a system organizers liken to waiting for a restaurant table.

“We feel so lucky, so blessed,” said Tatiana Bondarenko, who traveled through Moldova, Romania, Austria, and Mexico before arriving in San Diego with her husband and children, ages 8, 12, and 15. Her final destination was Sacramento, California, to live with her mother, who she hadn’t seen in 15 years.

Another Ukrainian family posed nearby for photos under a U.S. Customs and Border Protection sign at San Diego’s San Ysidro port of entry, the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Mexico. Volunteers under a blue canopy offered snacks while refugees waited for family to pick them up or for buses to take them to a nearby church.

At the Tijuana airport, weary travelers who enter Mexico as tourists in Mexico City or Cancun are directed to a makeshift lounge in the terminal with a sign in black marker that reads, “Only for Ukrainian Refugees.” It is the only place to register to enter the U.S.

The waiting list stood at 973 families or single adults Tuesday.

“We realized we had a problem that the government wasn’t going to solve, so we solved it,” said Phil Metzger, pastor of Calvary Church in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, where about 75 members host Ukrainian families and another 100 refugees sleep on air mattresses and pews.

Metzger, whose pastoral work has taken him to Ukraine and Hungary, calls the operation “duct tape and glue,” but refugees prefer it to overwhelmed European countries, where millions of Ukrainians have settled.

The Biden administration has said it will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians, but Mexico is the only route producing big numbers. Appointments at U.S. consulates in Europe are scarce, and refugee resettlement takes time.

The administration set a refugee resettlement cap of 125,000 in the 12-month period that ends Sept. 30 but accepted only 8,758 by March 31, including 704 Ukrainians. In the previous year, it capped refugee resettlement at 62,500 but took only 11,411, including 803 Ukrainians.

The administration paroled more than 76,000 Afghans through U.S. airports in response to the departure of American troops last year, but nothing similar is afoot for Ukrainians. Parole, which grants temporary protection from deportation, is generally given for two years for Afghans and one year for Ukrainians.

Oksana Dugnyk, 36, hesitated to leave her home in Bucha but acquiesced to her husband’s wishes before Russian troops invaded the town and left behind streets strewn with corpses. The couple worried about violence in Mexico with three young children, but the robust volunteer presence in Tijuana reassured them, and a friend in Ohio agreed to host them.

“We have food. We have a place to stay,” Dugnyk said a day after arriving at the Tijuana recreation center, where hundreds slept on a basketball court. “We hope everything will be fine.”

Alerted by text message or social media, Ukrainians are summoned to the border crossing as their numbers near.

The arrival of Ukrainians comes as the Biden administration prepares for much larger numbers when pandemic-related asylum limits for all nationalities end May 23. Since March 2020, the U.S. has used Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, to suspend rights to seek asylum under U.S. law and international treaty.

Metzger, the Chula Vista pastor, said his church cannot long continue its 24-hour-a-day pace helping refugees, and he suspects U.S. authorities will not adopt what volunteers have done.

“If you make something go smooth, then everybody’s going to come,” he said. “We’re making it so easy. Eventually I’m sure they’ll say, ‘No, we’re done.'”
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Tesla Inaugurates Huge Texas Plant With ‘Cyber Rodeo’

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Tesla welcomed throngs of electric car lovers to Texas Thursday for a huge party dubbed a “cyber rodeo” to inaugurate a manufacturing plant the size of 100 soccer fields.

Photos and videos flooded Twitter as guests explored the cavernous factory plant decked out in a distinctive nightclub look.

Visitors mingled under red and blue lights while production machinery and Tesla models were displayed like museum artwork. Outside, cars were parked in the pattern of the Texas flag.

Bulldozers were still at work near the so-called “gigafactory,” which signs indicated was constructed with more steel than New York City’s famed Empire State Building.

“It’s the equivalent to three Pentagons,” Tesla’s colorful but controversial founder and chief executive Elon Musk proudly told a cheering crowd inside the factory.

“This is the most advanced car factory the Earth has ever seen; raw materials in one side, cars out the other side.”

Musk drove on stage in the first production model Tesla ever built and stepped out dressed in black complete with a cowboy hat and sunglasses.

He said ramping up production of existing models was going to be Tesla’s priority this year.

“We are going to move to just truly massive scale,” Musk said. “That has to happen in order to transition the world to sustainable energy.”

Farewell Silicon Valley

The move to a U.S. state known for conservative Republican politics is seen by some as Musk stepping away from the liberal Silicon Valley culture in which he made his fortune.

The South African-born serial entrepreneur is now ranked the world’s richest man. He founded Tesla in Silicon Valley in 2003 but shifted its headquarters to Austin, Texas, late last year.

Musk has clashed with California regulators, particularly when health precautions mandated at the height of the pandemic closed Tesla’s Fremont plant.

California is also investigating whether discrimination took place at Tesla’s plant there.

Musk told the crowd that Tesla was continuing to expand in California but was running out of room there.

“We needed a place where we could be really big, and there is no place like Texas,” Musk said.

It remains to be seen how Musk will navigate conservative policies in Texas, such as the state’s restrictive new abortion law and limits on seeking health services for transgender children.

Part of the Texas allure is a lack of corporate or personal income taxes. Tesla received more than $60 million in tax breaks to build the factory.

While Musk has spoken of a desire for a shift away from climate-wrecking fossil fuels, Texas is known for oil rigs and gas-guzzling cars and trucks.

“I think he is having a bit of an identity crisis and forgotten who his customer is, and it is going to come back to bite him,” tech analyst Rob Enderle said of Musk.

“He is drifting to the right; what he doesn’t seem to remember is that most of the people who buy electric cars are the liberals.”

Cybertruck

Giga Texas, as the plant is also called, has been in operation since late last year. It is the fifth and largest gigafactory cranking out battery packs and vehicles for Tesla.

Since starting with a car plant in Silicon Valley, Tesla has gone global with mega-factories in Berlin and Shanghai as well as in US states New York and Nevada.

The Austin plant will produce Model 3 and Y cars and eventually a Cybertruck pickup and a semi for hauling cargo trailers set to go into production next year, according to Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell.

Pickup trucks are a hot item in the United States, and having a winning electric model is seen as key in the market.

Electric truck maker Rivian has already started deliveries.

“Rivian right now is the must-have truck,” analyst Enderle said. “The fact that Rivian was able to get a truck out faster than Tesla points to a problem with Tesla.”

Tesla demand is outstripping supply to the point that some Model Y and 3 cars are being delivered months late in parts of the world, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

“The solution is mainly in Austin and Berlin,” Ives said.

Tesla “has a shot” at beginning production of its Optimus humanoid robot in Austin next year, according to Musk.

The robot will do anything people don’t want to do, he contended.

“We are also going to make sure it’s safe, no ‘Terminator’ stuff,” he quipped, referring to the hit action film about a killer cyborg.
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