Month: June 2022

As Shootings Mount, Americans Observe National Gun Violence Awareness Day

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Friday is National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the United States, an annual event recognizing the more than 100,000 people killed or wounded by gunfire in the country each year. This year’s event comes as the nation mourns last week’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.

People are encouraged to wear orange, the color hunters wear to show they are not targets, as a way to call for an end to gun violence.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 45,000 firearm-related deaths in 2020, its latest available data set. The CDC said firearm-related injuries were among the top five leading causes of death for people ages 1 to 44.

The Gun Violence Archive — an unaffiliated research group that collects data from more than 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources — says there have been more than 18,000 gun violence deaths so far in 2022, a rate similar to the CDC statistics. Since a school attack May 24 in Uvalde, Texas, in which a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, there have been more than 20 of what the Gun Violence Archive classifies as mass shootings, ones in which at least four people are shot in a single incident, not including the shooter.

Josh Sugarmann, executive director at the Violence Policy Center, told VOA he believes the country will remain in an escalating cycle of violence until people recognize its “gun crisis is directly related to the easy access we allow our citizens to increasingly lethal weaponry.” The Violence Policy Center is an advocacy group that works to reduce gun violence.

Most Democratic Party lawmakers back tighter gun regulations while most Republicans oppose them, arguing that law-abiding gun owners should not be punished because of the crimes of others. They cited the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which affirms the right to bear arms.

Multiple bills to scrutinize gun buyers and restrict purchases of the deadliest weapons have been put forward in the U.S. Congress over the last decade. None has become law.

Opinion polls show most Americans support at least moderate regulations on gun ownership. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last month showed 51% of Americans favor a nationwide ban on the sale of AR-15 rifles and similar semiautomatic weapons, with 32% opposed.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day is recognized in congressional resolutions that call on the people of the United States to promote awareness of gun violence and gun safety, highlight typical increases in gun violence in summer months, and bring people together in their communities to discuss ways to make them safer.

As part of the event, orange light displays will be in place at sites such San Francisco City Hall and the Washington National Cathedral. A number of companies are participating as well, including publisher Penguin Random House, clothier Levi Strauss & Co. and MTV Entertainment Studios.

Fans at some sporting events across the country will also see their teams participate with education campaigns and players wearing orange.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day and the Wear Orange campaign were launched in 2015 in commemoration of the death of Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago high school student.

A week after marching in the second inaugural parade of President Barack Obama in 2013, Pendleton was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Shortly afterward, her friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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US Announces More Sanctions on Russian Elites

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The U.S. government said Thursday that it was trying to shut down sanction evasion measures used by Russia’s elites, including President Vladimir Putin, “to attempt to hide and move money and anonymously make use of luxury assets around the globe.”

The targets include a yacht brokerage, aircraft, Russian officials and others close to Putin.

Targeted yachts include the Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, as well as two other yachts, the Shellest and the Nega, both owned by Russian companies.

The White House said the new sanctions were imposed “to crack down on evasion and tighten our sanctions to enhance enforcement and increase pressure on Putin and his enablers.”

In a statement announcing the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The United States will continue to support the people of Ukraine while promoting accountability for President Putin and those enabling Russian aggression.”

The U.S. government said Putin had “taken numerous trips” on the now-sanctioned yachts as recently as last year.

“Russia’s elites, up to and including President Putin, rely on complex support networks to hide, move and maintain their wealth and luxury assets,” said Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Today’s action demonstrates that Treasury can and will go after those responsible for shielding and maintaining these ill-gotten interests,” he said. “We will continue to enforce our sanctions and expose the corrupt systems by which President Putin and his elites enrich themselves.”
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American War Veteran Joins Fight for Peace in Ukraine

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Matthew Parker is a U.S. army veteran who served in Iraq alongside a Ukrainian American soldier. When Parker heard Russia invaded Ukraine, he decided he wanted to help Ukrainians defend their homeland. He is among thousands of Americans that Ukraine says have joined its new international legion to help protect the country. VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze caught up with Parker when he arrived in Warsaw, Poland. Camera – Bogdan Osyka.
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Central African Republic Refugees Leaving Cameroon on Promises of Peace

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Central African Republic refugees in Cameroon have started returning home after fleeing political and sectarian violence there since 2014. There are around 300,000 C.A.R. refugees in Cameroon, most of them women and children. Hundreds have agreed to return home after Bangui promised peace has returned to their towns and villages.

Cameroonian officials handed out food and blankets at a camp in Gado Badzere Wednesday to about 300 Central African refugees who agreed to return home.

Gado Badzere hosts more than 30,000 C.A.R. refugees out of 300,000 who fled conflict.

Thirty-five-year-old farmer Robert Bissa is one of the refugees who is returning this week to the Central African Republic.

He left the C.A.R. in 2017 after a rebel attack on a military base killed civilians and destroyed the shop where he sold his produce.

Bissa said he received assurances from his family back home that peace has returned to his village in the south of the C.A.R. He said he intends to go back to his farm and grow beans and groundnuts.

Cameroon authorities and the U.N.’s refugee agency (the UNHCR) say 2,500 refugees, most of them women and children, have agreed to return home before the end of this year.

But UNHCR Cameroon representative Olivier Beer said most of the refugees in Cameroon are still reluctant.

Beer said a majority of the refugees have not accepted to voluntarily return because security is unstable in the C.A.R. But he said there are some towns and villages that have been pacified by the C.A.R.’s military.

A C.A.R. official receiving the refugees on the border said they would be socially and economically re-integrated and that their safety and security would be assured.

Cameroon’s territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said militaries on both sides will protect refugees as they were returning home.

Nji said there are still problems of C.A.R. rebels crossing into Cameroon to steal supplies and abduct civilians for ransom.

“It is important to reiterate the instruction of President Paul Biya that the departure [of refugees] must be voluntary and the convoy must have all the necessary security measures. We have asked the security forces [military] in Cameroon to accompany the convoy and by the time we get to the boundary (border) the security forces military from the neighboring country [C.A.R.] will continue with the convoy,” he said.

Violence erupted among armed groups in the C.A.R. in 2013, when then-President Francoise Bozize was ousted by the Séléka, a Muslim minority rebel coalition.

In January 2021, hundreds of C.A.R. civilians fled sporadic clashes after the presidential election, many of them to Cameroon.

The U.N. says since 2013, close to a million Central Africans have fled conflict to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

The voluntary repatriation of C.A.R. refugees began in 2016 but was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A Somali Search for Stardom

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In Mogadishu, a group of young filmmakers are hoping to take their vision to the world. VOA’s Abdulkadir Zubeyr reports.
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Greece Urges Global Action to Free Iran-Held Tankers

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The Greek government and shipping industry on Thursday called for a global mobilization to free the crews of two oil tankers held by Iran in an ongoing dispute with Athens.

“We call on all nations to act in order to end this unacceptable incident, and to ensure it does not happen again,” Merchant Marine Minister Ioannis Plakiotakis told reporters.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday seized the two Greek-flagged tankers in the Gulf, days after Athens said it would deliver to Washington Iranian oil it had seized from a Russian tanker in April.

Plakiotakis said last week’s incident posed a “threat” to shipping safety and trade and has “cast a shadow” over Greece’s top shipping fair Posidonia, which opens Monday with over 1,900 companies from nearly 90 nations participating.

Speaking at the Posidonia inaugural press conference on Thursday, Union of Greek Shipowners president Melina Travlos said some of the sailors held by Iran were youths on their first shipping assignment.

“The global shipping community must mobilize, nations, everyone. This situation needs to end,” she said.

Greece’s coastguard on Thursday said both ships are moored at the Iranian port of Bandar.

The coastguard has identified nine Greeks and a Cypriot on board, but has given no information about other crew nationalities.

Iran has said the crews of two tankers were in “good health” and not under arrest.

The Revolutionary Guards — the ideological arm of Iran’s military — had said it seized the tankers “due to violations”, without elaborating further.

Greece has condemned Tehran’s detention of the two ships as “tantamount to acts of piracy” and warned its citizens not to travel to Iran.

The German and French foreign ministries, in separate statements, condemned the seizure as a violation of international law, and called on Iran to immediately release the ships and their crews.

The United States has also strongly condemned Iran’s seizure of the two tankers, and demanded their immediate release.

Iran has called the statements “one-sided” and “inappropriate interference.”

Tehran noted that France and Germany “are protesting against the legal measures taken in Iran” while “remaining silent” on Greece’s own seizure of the tanker, which it said was Iranian.
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In Pictures: Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Kicks Off with Pomp

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Four days of celebrations honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne get underway with a display of British military traditions stretching from the days of horse and cannon to the jet age, The Associated Press reports.
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US Teachers Debate Guns in the Classroom

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“My first thought was that this is not at all what I signed up for,” Jenna Whitesell Carson told VOA. “I became a school librarian to educate young minds, not to carry a gun.”

Carson has worked at a public high school in rural South Carolina for four years. She said she was appalled by the idea of arming teachers to prevent future school shootings.

“My second thought was that they definitely don’t pay us enough for this. Teachers have so much on our plates already. Now Republicans want to take away our right to not carry a gun?”

In the wake of last week’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, Americans across the political spectrum are once again clamoring for solutions to the country’s ongoing gun violence epidemic.

The proposed solutions, however, depend on the side of the political divide they come from. While Democratic lawmakers and their allies are calling for legislation that would restrict access to certain firearms and better scrutinize gun purchasers, some Republicans and gun rights advocates suggest putting guns in the hands of teachers and other school staff who volunteer for that responsibility.

The rationale for arming teachers has been summed up by Wayne LaPierre, CEO of America’s best-known gun rights lobbying group, the National Rifle Association. LaPierre has long insisted that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

Many teachers reject that idea.

“Children, teachers and education belong in schools — not guns,” said A.J. Allegra, who has taught in New Orleans, Louisiana, K-12 schools for 15 years. “Imagine your oldest teacher when you were in school firing a gun several times within feet of 25 kids. The image is as preposterous as the idea,” he said.

Some teachers see it differently, however. Jason Winder has been teaching high school history for five years in Uintah County, Utah. He carries a concealed firearm at school, which is legal in the state.

“It’s not about being a hero, and it’s not about seeking out an active shooter,” Winder said. “It’s about giving me the best tools to keep my students and myself safe. I can’t speak for everyone, but a firearm in my hand will be a lot more effective at stopping someone trying to harm my kids than us hiding in a corner.”

Nationwide problem

According to federal data, since 1970, every state in the U.S. has had at least one incident of school gun violence. Most have had dozens, with California and Texas each suffering well over 100 incidents.

The tragedy in Uvalde was one of more than two dozen school shootings in America so far this year.

Silver Spring, Maryland, middle school music teacher Jonah Rabinowitz-Buchanan noted that many schools already had armed personnel tasked with protecting students and staff, yet the slaughter continued.

He mentioned the shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school in 2018 that left 17 people dead. “They had a resource officer who had a gun, and he fled the scene,” he said.

Robb Elementary School in Uvalde also had a resource officer.

“The Uvalde officer wasn’t even in the building. What good are they?” Rabinowitz-Buchanan said. “How does that equate to schools needing more guns?”

Sergeant Keith Mott, a 15-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, agrees that operating a firearm should not be a priority for teachers. Rather, he thinks the focus should be on the failures of resource officers.

“The resource officer is the first line of defense,” Mott said. “Teachers, on the other hand, have enough to do just trying to educate our children. That’s their goal, and there’s no reason they should be armed in the pursuit of that goal.”

But some educators want an extra line of defense. Angelica Garcia works at schools in Saginaw County, Michigan. Teachers aren’t allowed to carry guns, but she wishes she could.

“Last week showed us again that teachers can’t rely on others to save us and our students in a threatening situation,” she said. “No one came to the aid of those students or teachers.”

At the very least, Garcia says, schools should have more nonteaching personnel armed and ready to intervene during an emergency. But, she adds, teachers who volunteer to be trained and to carry a gun would ideally be present in every wing of the school.

“You need them nearby to prevent the loss of life,” she said. “I care about my students like they are my own children. If need be, I want to protect them, not just to sit there with a stapler in my hand like a sitting duck.”

Solutions

Ryan Petty’s daughter, Alaina, was one of 14 students killed in the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. Since then, he’s become an activist, attempting to make schools safer by supporting legislation allowing teachers to voluntarily carry a gun in school if they are trained and certified to use it. In 2020, conservative Governor Ron DeSantis appointed him to the Florida Board of Education.

“I’ve heard many law enforcement officers say two guns are better than one, and three are better than two,” he said.

In school shootings, seconds count, Petty said. The average attack takes just over five minutes, he said, but it takes law enforcement an average of five to seven minutes to respond.

“In a 2019 report by the U.S. Secret Service, only 1 out of 42 school attacks were stopped by responding off-campus law enforcement,” he said. “Having an armed resource officer and other armed staff members gives schools the best chance to save lives.”

Most teachers aren’t convinced. A 2018 Gallup poll found that 73% of American teachers did not want to carry guns in school.

New Orleans teacher Allegra sees guns as the root of the problem. The Giffords Law Center listed nearly 100 publicly reported instances of guns being mishandled at schools in the past five years.

“We already have more guns than any other nation on the planet,” Allegra said, “and have more gun deaths than any other nation on the planet. Isn’t the connection between those statistics a little obvious? The solution is to reduce the number of guns circulating in our country, to reduce the ability for Americans to purchase high-powered automatic weapons, and to increase criminal charges against those found with illegal weapons in their possession.”

Other teachers say the focus should be on diagnosing mental illness and/or keeping school buildings secure.

Thomas Cotter teaches middle school band in South Carolina and a member of his school district’s safety and procedures team. He believes the U.S. is too hesitant to diagnose and treat mental illness.

“We need to pay better attention to that,” he told VOA, “and pass red flag laws that deal with threatening language on social media. Violations should result in weapon confiscation. You don’t have a right to a gun when you’re making illegal threats.”

Cotter also advocates for a single public entrance at all schools. He said a resource officer should monitor that entrance to maintain security.

“I think of this all from the perspective of being a father of two. How do I want my children’s teachers to act?” Cotter asked. “I’d rather them worry about locking a door than chambering a round. A locked school, not an armed one, is one that is safe and can make kids feel safe. That’s important.”

Garcia, the ESL teacher, doesn’t completely agree. She believes having responsible teachers and staff carrying guns will make schools safer.

“And it’s not like children should see the gun or know teachers are carrying one,” she noted.

But despite their many differences in opinion, most teachers share an end goal.

“The goal is to make sure our children feel safe, but also to ensure they are safe,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, we all just want to go home to our families, for our families to come home to us, and for us all to live to see another day.”
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Latest Developments in Ukraine: June 2

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT.

12:04 a.m.: Russian forces continue their siege of Sievierodonetsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, The New York Times reported. “A local official said on Wednesday that Russian forces controlled about 70 percent of the city, where only about 12,000 residents remain out of a prewar population of 100,000 after weeks of intense shelling.” the Times report said. “Ukrainian soldiers there are at risk of being surrounded. With bridges over the Seversky Donets River destroyed or under fire, resupply has become tenuous. Ukrainian officials have been candid about the army’s travails while arguing more rapid deliveries of Western weaponry will resolve them. Every day in the current heavy fighting, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Newsmax this week, 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are killed and another about 500 soldiers are wounded in combat.”  

12:01 a.m.: When she helped launch The Kyiv Independent in November, chief editor Olga Rudenko had no idea that six months later she would be on the cover of Time magazine. But her team’s reporting on Russia’s war in Ukraine propelled their English-language site into the spotlight, with Time describing The Kyiv Independent as the “world’s primary source for reliable English-language journalism on that war.” 

 

Rudenko says she feels she has a great responsibility to her audience, “to be the world’s window into Ukraine.” In this interview with VOA, she shares her commitment to fact-based reporting and how that has been essential in a war where disinformation is high, and journalists find themselves reporting on atrocities happening so close to home. 

 
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Queen Elizabeth II to Salute Jubilee From Palace Balcony

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Queen Elizabeth II will make two appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Thursday, kicking off four days of public events to mark her historic Platinum Jubilee.

The extent of the 96-year-old monarch’s involvement in the celebrations for her record-breaking 70 years on the throne has been a source of speculation for months.

She has cut back drastically on her public appearances since last year because of difficulties standing and walking — and a bout of COVID-19.

But royal officials confirmed that she would take the salute of mounted troops from the balcony after a military parade called Trooping the Colour.

The centuries-old ceremony to officially mark the sovereign’s birthday has previously seen the queen take the salute on horseback herself.

Her 73-year-old son and heir, Prince Charles, will step in this year, supported by his sister, Princess Anne, 71, and his eldest son, Prince William, 39.

Joining senior royals watching the display of military precision will be Charles’ younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, on a rare visit from California, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

But the queen’s disgraced second son, Prince Andrew, 62, is not expected to join them.

She will return to the balcony later to watch a flyby of military aircraft, including iconic models from World War II, the palace said.

At nightfall, the queen will be at Windsor Castle, west of London, to take part in a ceremony to light more than 3,000 beacons across the country and the Commonwealth of 54 nations that she heads.

Parties, parades, concerts

 

Elizabeth was a 25-year-old princess when she succeeded her father, King George VI in 1952, bringing a rare touch of glamour to a battered nation still enduring food rations after World War II.

Seventy years on, she is now the only monarch most Britons have ever known, becoming an enduring figurehead through often troubled times.

Britain’s first and very likely only Platinum Jubilee will see street parties, pop concerts and parades until Sunday in potentially the last major public celebration of the queen’s long reign.

It has not yet been confirmed if she will attend a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, while her planned attendance at horse racing showcase The Derby on Saturday is off.

She could yet put in a final appearance — again from the palace balcony — on Sunday, at the climax of a huge public pageant involving 6,000 performers.

In a message, the queen thanked everyone involved in organizing the community events in Britain and around the world.

“I know that many happy memories will be created at these festive occasions,” she said.

“I continue to be inspired by the goodwill shown to me, and hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.”

Attention turning to succession

The jubilee, held against a backdrop of rising inflation that has left many Britons struggling, is being seen not just as respite for the public after two years scarred by the pandemic but also for the royals.

Harry, 37, and Meghan, 40, caused shockwaves in early 2020 by moving to North America, from where they have publicly criticized royal life.

In April last year, she lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, and was forced to sit alone at his funeral because of coronavirus restrictions.

Since then, she has struggled with her health and also the fallout from Andrew’s links to the convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Andrew, who in February settled a U.S. civil claim for sexual assault, has effectively been fired from his royal duties.

Attention is increasingly turning to the succession, and the monarchy’s future at home and in the 14 other Commonwealth countries where the queen is also head of state.

Her approval rating among Britons remains high at 75%, according to a poll by YouGov published Wednesday, but Charles is only at 50%.

A total of 62% still want a monarchy, although younger people are split, with 33% in favor, and 31% wanting a republic.

Only 39% said they thought there would still be a monarch in 100 years’ time.
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UN Peacekeeping Convoy Attacked in Mali; 1 Killed, 3 Hurt 

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Suspected terrorists attacked a U.N. peacekeeping convoy in northern Mali on Wednesday, the United Nations said. A Jordanian peacekeeper was killed and three other Jordanians were wounded. 

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the supply convoy was under sustained fire for about an hour from attackers who used small arms and rocket launchers. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and sent his deepest condolences to the families of the peacekeepers and the government and people of Jordan, Dujarric said. 

According to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, the attack was the fifth incident in the northern Kidal region in one week, Dujarric said. 

“It is a tragic reminder of the complexity of the mandate of the U.N. mission and of its peacekeepers, and the threats peacekeepers face on a daily basis,” he said. 

The Security Council later released a statement condemning the attack and calling on authorities in Mali to investigate and bring those responsible to justice. The statement added that the Security Council “underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.” 

Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began attacking the Malian army and its allies. Insecurity has worsened with attacks in the northern and central regions on civilians and U.N. peacekeepers. 

Mali’s military returned to Kidal, a longtime rebel stronghold in the north, in February 2020, six years after its forces retreated amid violence. U.N. peacekeepers have also been deployed in the north. 

Deadliest mission

The U.N. force has said more than 250 of its peacekeepers and personnel have died since 2013, making Mali the deadliest of the U.N.’s dozen peacekeeping missions worldwide. 

The U.N. special representative for Mali, El Ghassim Wane, issued a statement Wednesday saying the U.N. mission remained determined to support Mali’s people and government in their quest for peace and security, Dujarric said. 

In August 2020, Malian President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita, who died in January, was overthrown in a coup that included Assimi Goita, then an army colonel. Last June, Goita was sworn in as president of a transitional government after carrying out his second coup in nine months. 

In mid-May, Goita’s government said security forces had thwarted a countercoup attempt that it said was supported by an unnamed Western government. 

The accusations of foreign interference came as Goita’s regime has become increasingly isolated. A day earlier, the government announced that Mali was dropping out of a five-nation regional security force known as the G5. It was also sharply critical of former colonial power France, which announced in February that it was pulling its troops out of Mali. 

While Mali’s junta initially agreed to an 18-month transition back to civilian rule, it failed to organize elections by the deadline in February. Last month, the government said it would need two more years in power before it could organize a vote.
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US Needs More Baby Formula Makers, Biden Tells Manufacturers 

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U.S. President Joe Biden met with major manufacturers of infant formula on Wednesday, and suggested their ranks should grow, as his administration presses ahead with efforts to boost imported supplies to help ease a nationwide shortage. 

“We need more new entrants in the infant formula market,” Biden said during a virtual meeting with executives from ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Perrigo Company and Nestles Gerber. 

Multiple global suppliers are seeking U.S. approval to ship critical baby formula as Biden’s administration accelerates what it has dubbed “Operation Fly Formula” to help fill store shelves and calm frustrated parents. 

With about $4 billion in annual sales, the U.S. baby formula market has historically been dominated by domestic producers, with imports limited and subject to high tariffs. 

But U.S. parents have struggled to find baby formula in recent months after a February recall of some formulas by one of the nation’s main manufacturers, Abbott Laboratories, coupled with pandemic-related supply chain issues. 

The latest administration effort to solve the problem includes an announcement on Wednesday that United Airlines has agreed to transport U.K.-made Kendamil formula free of charge from Heathrow Airport in London to multiple airports across the United States over a three-week period. 

This first shipment, which includes Kendamil Classic and Kendamil Organic formula, will be available at Target stores across the country in the coming weeks. 

The administration also secured two flights totaling 380,000 pounds of baby formula from Bubs Australia that will be delivered to California and Pennsylvania on June 9 and June 11, respectively. 

Biden said on Wednesday he first learned of the severity of the U.S. baby formula shortage in early April. The White House said it had been working around the clock since February to address the problem. 

U.S. lawmakers have criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for not acting promptly to address the problems that caused the recall at Abbott’s Michigan plant, which is set to reopen June 4. 

The Biden administration has relaxed its import policy and invoked the Defense Production Act to help increase available U.S. supplies, which is still expected to take weeks. It has also said it could use federal resources to help transport supplies to retailers. 

Two million cans of formula have been sent from the U.K., and Australian manufacturers are also preparing to send in more product. 

Thorben Nilewski of Organic Family, which makes the popular Holle infant formulas, said in an email that the German company applied for the FDA’s temporary approval but has not yet received any feedback. 

Many U.S. parents rely on baby formula. Fewer than half the babies born in the United States were exclusively breast-fed through their first three months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2020 Breastfeeding Report Card. 
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US Elevates Water Security as Foreign Policy Priority

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Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday announced the White House Action Plan on Global Water Security, drawing direct links between water scarcity and national security and elevating water security to a core foreign policy priority for the first time.

With almost half of the world’s population likely to struggle to meet its water needs by 2030, food scarcity and economic and public health issues could lead to insecurity and mass migration and would have a profound impact on America’s interests around the globe, Harris noted during the launch event.

“Water insecurity also makes our world less safe,” she said. “Disputes between countries or communities over limited water resources can, predictably and by extension, over time provoke armed conflict.”

Attacks on water systems

With the world’s population rising and climate change bringing more erratic rainfall and severe droughts, experts say the number of water-related violent incidents is growing. More than 200 such conflicts occurred in the past three years, according to data from the Pacific Institute, which tracks water-related violence around the world.

“The violence and war between Russia and Ukraine that worsened in 2014 and expanded again with the Russian invasion just a few weeks ago have included attacks on civilian water systems and the use of water as a weapon,” said Peter Gleick, the institute’s co-founder.

The Biden administration’s action plan is “an all-of-government approach to addressing global water security,” a senior administration official told VOA, adding that it is critical for the U.S. to “get out in front of what is often an overlooked area of action.”

The U.S. already has what it bills as a “whole-of-government Global Water Strategy” aimed at creating a more water-secure world. The strategy is updated and released every four years. The next update, due later this year, will reflect contributions from more than 17 government agencies and departments.

Three pillars

The global water security action plan comprises three pillars: achieving universal and equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene; promoting sustainable management of water resources; and ensuring multilateral action that promotes water security.

This means that American diplomatic efforts will integrate water security into development programming and infrastructure initiatives, including those undertaken with international partners.

Observers welcomed the initiative.

“By adopting a broader water security framework, the United States will be better positioned to address the real water challenges that impact people on the ground,” said Aaron Salzberg, director of the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and former special coordinator for water at the U.S. Department of State.

Salzberg noted, however, that the initiative is a “repackaging” of existing programs and does not propose structural changes or add new resources to what the U.S. is already doing.

“It certainly sets no new targets,” he told VOA.

Still, a greater emphasis on deploying U.S. technical expertise abroad and data-sharing with partners can be a “game changer” for countries, he said.

With Earth systems observation technologies changing rapidly, the U.S. can help other countries readily absorb and utilize the data, allowing them to better monitor, model and forecast what’s happening with their water, Salzberg said.

“This is a key first step for any country seeking to achieve water security and manage the impacts of climate change,” he added.

During the launch event, Harris noted that water scarcity is slowing the advancement of women and girls around the world.

“Worldwide, women and girls spend 200 million hours a day — 200 million hours a day — gathering water,” the vice president said.
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Blinken: Ukraine Pledges Medium-Range Rockets Will Not Strike Russian Territory

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President Joe Biden has announced that the United States will send advanced rocket systems to Ukraine to help Kyiv resist Russian forces in the eastern part of the country. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Ukraine has assured the U.S. it will not use the systems to hit targets on Russian territory.
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Erdogan Continues to Block NATO Bids of Sweden, Finland

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The effort to bring Sweden and Finland into NATO remains stalled, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists that his country will exercise its authority to veto an expansion of the alliance.

In public remarks on the issue, Erdogan has claimed that by allowing some Kurdish dissident groups that oppose his government to operate in Sweden, the Swedish government is damaging Turkey’s national security. Erdogan has also expressed frustration with arms embargoes levied against his government by European countries after he sent troops into Syria in 2019.

The two Scandinavian countries, which have maintained their neutrality for many years, officially applied to join NATO in May, nearly three months after Russia invaded Ukraine. While Sweden does not share a border with Russia, Finland, its neighbor to the east, does. The Finland-Russia border is nearly 1,300 kilometers long.

Issue for Biden

The dispute over expanding NATO could become a political liability for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who encouraged Sweden and Finland to apply, hosted their leaders in Washington and publicly expressed his expectation that their application would be accepted promptly.

The administration has since tried to distance itself from the discussion.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “We will continue to have consultations with our NATO counterparts, with our allies, with our ally Turkey, with our partners, Finland and Sweden, who will, we think, soon be considered allies, as well. So, we will continue to engage in that dialogue, but ultimately this is not an issue between the United States and Turkey. This is an issue between those three countries.”

However, experts said that practically speaking, there are no discussions about the composition of NATO that do not involve the United States, by far its largest member state.

 

Kurdish groups

Turkey has been involved in decadeslong conflicts with a number of Kurdish groups seeking independence or an autonomous region within Turkey.

One of these organizations, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, is formally recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others. However, there are multiple other groups that advocate for sovereignty for the Kurds — the largest ethnic group in the world without its own state.

Some of those groups have allied with the United States in the battle against Islamic State in northern Syria. The People’s Protection Units, or YPG, have been particularly effective in that fight, but are deeply mistrusted by Erdogan because of their connections to PKK separatists in Turkey. Another group, the PYD, is the political arm of the YPG and has established relationships with some Western governments, including Sweden.

In Turkey’s view, connections to the PKK make groups like the PYD de facto terrorist organizations.

Erdogan makes his case

In an article published by The Economist this week, Erdogan described his country as a staunch supporter of NATO, noting the many actions it has taken in support of the alliance over the years.

In the NATO reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkey’s contribution to the effort has been among the most significant. In addition to providing vital military equipment and diplomatic support, Erdogan’s government has also blocked Russian warships from passing between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

“As all NATO allies accept Turkey’s critical importance to the alliance, it is unfortunate that some members fail fully to appreciate certain threats to our country,” he wrote. “Turkey maintains that the admission of Sweden and Finland entails risks for its own security and the organization’s future. We have every right to expect those countries, which will expect NATO’s second-largest army to come to their defense under Article 5, to prevent the recruitment, fundraising and propaganda activities of the PKK, which the European Union and America consider a terrorist entity.”

 

Calls for extradition

Erdogan went on to call for the extradition from Sweden of “members of terrorist organizations,” which it deems necessary for Turkey to lift its veto on NATO membership.

In addition, he said that arms embargoes against his country must be lifted.

“Turkey stresses that all forms of arms embargoes — such as the one Sweden has imposed on my country — are incompatible with the spirit of military partnership under the NATO umbrella,” he said. “Such restrictions not only undermine our national security but also damage NATO’s own identity.”

Arms embargoes

While the embargo imposed by Sweden and other European countries after Turkey’s incursion into Syria is the only one directly mentioned by Erdogan in his article, it may not be the only one on his mind.

After Turkey purchased Russian air defense systems in 2019, the United States blocked the country from purchasing the F-35, America’s most advanced fighter jet. Later, when Turkey asked to purchase more F-16 fighters from the U.S., members of Congress took action to block the sale.

While Turkey appears to have accepted that the F-35 is off the table, an easing of the blockade on the F-16 might make Erdogan more amenable to accepting Sweden’s and Finland’s applications.

‘Transactional player’

Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, chair of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center and former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, told VOA that Turkey is a “transactional foreign policy player.”

Erdogan, he said, wants a tangible benefit from allowing the two Scandinavian countries to join NATO — especially because his country feels that its contributions to the alliance are frequently overlooked.

“Turkey’s assessment, and they’re absolutely right … is that it is seen as, at best, a half-member, tolerated but not liked by the rest of NATO, and certainly not by the Washington foreign policy community,” Jeffrey said.

He added, “I mean, it is ridiculous to have an arms embargo on a fellow NATO country when you’re then demanding that NATO country take action for you.”

Domestic politics

Some experts say it is impossible to separate Erdogan’s position on Sweden and Finland from Turkish domestic politics. Spiraling inflation has severely damaged the Turkish economy and hurt Erdogan’s standing in public opinion polls.

“This is almost 90% about domestic politics,” Kemal Kirisci, a nonresident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, told VOA. “Erdogan is fully exploiting any opportunity that arises to boost his standing in the eyes of the public,” and the Swedish and Finnish applications come “at a perfect time.”

Kirisci said that while Turkey may have some legitimate grievances, particularly about Sweden’s treatment of Kurdish dissident groups, Erdogan is unlikely to win major concessions on those issues. For that reason, he agrees that the Turkish president’s real goal in holding up the Swedish and Finnish applications is to have arms embargoes against Turkey lifted.

This would allow Erdogan to demonstrate that he is “able to stand up to the West,” Kirisci said, while simultaneously strengthening Turkey’s military.

New Syria offensive

In a possible complicating factor, Erdogan confirmed Wednesday that he is planning to send more Turkish troops into Syria to expand a 30-kilometer-deep “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border.

“Let’s see who supports these legitimate steps by Turkey and who hinders them,” he said in remarks to members of his political party.

Past incursions have led to conflict between Turkish troops and members of Kurdish organizations that have been supported by the U.S. There are currently 900 U.S. troops in northern Syria supporting efforts against the Islamic State group.

However, Jeffrey said that Erdogan’s announcement that the new offensive would target Syria’s Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas should reduce concerns.

“They’re both to the west of the Euphrates,” he said. “They’re not areas that the U.S. has much concern about,” because American troops are not working with the Kurdish forces in that region.
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Mourners Say Goodbye to Uvalde Teacher, Her Husband 

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Mourners gathered Wednesday to say goodbye to Robb Elementary School teacher Irma Garcia — who died in the shooting at the Uvalde, Texas, grade school — and her husband, Joe — who died two days later from a heart attack. 

Nineteen children and two teachers — Garcia and her co-teacher, Eva Mireles, 44 — were killed May 24 when an 18-year-old gunman burst into their classroom. The litany of visitations, funerals and burials began Monday and will continue into mid-June. 

At Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Wednesday, twin black hearses carrying the coffins of the Garcias arrived in a procession led by police and civilian motorcycle riders. Covered by flowers, the two closed caskets were borne by pallbearers past a phalanx of police in uniforms and priests in white robes. 

Some sobbed throughout the service in which Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller offered thanks for Irma Garcia’s dedication. He listed the names of the slain schoolchildren several times throughout the homily. 

“Because you were there with them,” he said. “You did what you would have done with your own children. You took care of them until your last breath.” 

Irma, 48, was finishing up her 23rd year as a teacher at Robb Elementary. In a letter posted on the school’s website at the beginning of the school year, Garcia told her students that she and Joe had four children — a Marine, a college student, a high school student and a seventh-grader. 

Most of the readings during Wednesday’s service and the homily were in English, with García-Siller offering some words in Spanish. 

“We are all hurting,” he said. “In the midst of so much, please, please, people need comfort, people need you. … Let us all foster a culture of peace.” 

Joe, 50, collapsed and died after dropping off flowers at his wife’s memorial. The couple would have been married 25 years on June 28. His obituary noted that he and Irma “began their relationship in high school and it flourished into a love that was beautiful and kind.” 

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who attended the Garcias’ funeral, said in a statement that America “must unite as a country against this senseless cycle of violence, act immediately to protect our children, and make sure that every child and every educator feels safe in our schools.” 

 

10-year-old’s service

Another funeral Wednesday was for Jose Flores Jr., 10, also at Sacred Heart. He made the honor roll and received a certificate on May 24, hours before the shooting. His father told CNN that his son loved baseball and video games and “was always full of energy.” 

Investigators continue to seek answers about how police responded to the shooting, and the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing law enforcement actions. 

The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman — even as parents outside begged police to rush in and panicked children called 911 from inside — was placed on the school district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo. The director of state police last week said Arredondo made the “wrong decision” not to breach the classroom, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and children weren’t at risk. 

On Wednesday, Arredondo told CNN that he’s talking regularly with investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety, contradicting claims from state law enforcement that he’s stopped cooperating. 

Authorities have said the gunman, Salvador Ramos, legally purchased two guns not long before the school attack: an AR-15-style rifle on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. He had just turned 18, permitting him to buy the weapons under federal law. Ramos was killed by law enforcement. 
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Shootings in US Prompt Debate on Purchase Age for AR-Style Rifles

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The gunmen in two of the nation’s most recent mass shootings legally bought their semiautomatic rifles after they turned 18. That’s prompting Congress and some governors and state lawmakers to revisit the question of whether to raise the minimum age for purchasing such high-powered weapons. 

Only six states require someone to be at least 21 years old to buy rifles and shotguns. Advocates argue that such a limit might have prevented the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead and the racially motivated supermarket attack in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10. 

Lawmakers in New York and Utah have proposed legislation that would raise the minimum age to buy AR-15-style rifles to 21. A similar restriction is expected to move as soon as next week in the U.S. House, where it has some bipartisan support, but the legislation faces uncertainty in the closely divided Senate. 

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association, said the idea should be up for discussion. 

“I think you’ve got to be able to talk about the AR-15-style weapons, and whether that’s an 18 or 21 age,” Hutchinson told CNN this week. “You have to at least have a conversation about that.” 

But Hutchinson, who leaves office in January, isn’t pushing for the limit in his own state. Any proposed gun restrictions there are unlikely to find support among Republicans who control the Legislature. Arkansas Republicans are echoing their party’s calls at the national level to focus instead on beefing up school security or addressing mental health. 

 

Partisan split

A recent survey of governors by The Associated Press highlighted the partisan split over whether the minimum age should be higher. Many Democratic governors who responded supported restrictions such as increasing the age to buy semiautomatic weapons. But only one Republican — Vermont Governor Phil Scott, whose state has a minimum age of 21 to buy guns, with some exceptions — supported such a move. 

Gun control advocates say raising the age offers one of the clearest steps that could have stopped or prevented the most recent mass shootings. The Uvalde attacker, Salvador Ramos, bought the AR-15 he used shortly after he turned 18. 

If Ramos hadn’t been able to buy the weapon, “maybe he would have gotten the mental health treatment he needed and this never would have happened, or maybe someone would have called some signs out to law enforcement that this person was acting erratically,” said Sean Holihan, state legislative director with the gun control advocacy group Giffords. “But it’s clear if there had been a law in place where he would have been 21 years old, he wouldn’t have been able to purchase that gun.” 

Federal law prohibits federally licensed dealers from selling handguns to anyone under age 21, but people age 18 to 20 can still buy handguns from unlicensed dealers in their state. 

Florida is a rare example of a Republican-led state that took swift action on gun restrictions after a mass shooting. In 2018, weeks after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, then-Governor Rick Scott signed legislation raising the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21, along with a host of other school safety and gun control measures. 

The law narrowly passed in both chambers of the GOP-controlled Legislature following intense lobbying from student survivors and grieving families, marking a moment of compromise in a state that previously shunned restrictions on firearms. Scott, a Republican, said at the time that the law balanced “our individual rights with the need for public safety.” 

Now a U.S. senator, Scott did not immediately return an emailed request for comment on whether such legislation should be implemented in other states. 

 

New York bills

The Buffalo and Uvalde attacks are similarly prompting New York lawmakers this week to consider an age limit increase for buying semiautomatic rifles as part of a package of gun safety bills. Under the proposal, those age 21 and older who want to buy or possess a new semiautomatic rifle would have to obtain a license. 

“New York already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but clearly we need to make them even stronger,” Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul said. “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in schools, in grocery stores, in movie theaters, in shopping malls and on our streets — and we must do everything in our power to protect them.” 

A proposal in Utah that would raise the minimum age to buy any firearm to 21 is more of a long shot in that state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. 

“If you are not able to consume alcohol, why should you be able to buy a gun?” Democratic Senator Derek Kitchen said of his proposal. 

The age provision in the bill before the U.S. House has some bipartisan support, but it remains unclear which aspects of the legislation will pass and be taken up in the Senate. Any measure there needs support from at least 10 Republicans to pass. 

The House bill also would make it a federal offense to import, manufacture or possess large-capacity magazines and creates a grant program to buy back such magazines. It encourages safe firearms storage and builds on the executive branch’s ban on bump stock devices and so-called ghost guns made from 3-D printers. 

Several Republicans have pointed to a ruling by a federal appeals court panel that found California’s ban on the sale of semiautomatic weapons to adults under 21 is unconstitutional. Republican governors who decline to pursue the age increase also cite the political reality in their GOP-controlled legislatures. 

 

Why try?

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice this week said he supports raising the minimum age for buying an AR-15-style rifle to 21 but isn’t proposing such a change in his state. 

“First of all, do I really feel like an 18-year-old ought to be able to walk in and buy an assault weapon? I don’t,” the Republican governor told reporters this week. 

He appeared pessimistic about that or any other gun control measure gaining traction in his state. 

“I can call 1,000 special sessions,” he said. “And if all I’m doing is calling 1,000 special sessions for people just to come and talk and get up on a soap box and get nothing done, why?”
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Journalist in Distress? Zimbabwe Has an App for That  

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A new app is helping Zimbabwe’s journalists stay safe in environments in which they are at risk.

Set up by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the tool acts as a panic button. It is seen as an important resource leading up to the country’s 2023 elections.

Nompilo Simanje, from MISA Zimbabwe, said the media watchdog set up the app after documenting a trend of unlawful detentions and assaults against journalists.

“So in light of those trends, which have seen to actually increase during election periods, MISA Zimbabwe launched this alert button,” Simanje said. “It is very timely and it will be very useful with the general election coming up next year and also for the purposes of reporting any media violence and calling for assistance in the event of any media violation.”

Journalists in distress can press a ‘Trigger” icon on the app, which immediately alerts MISA and key contacts to the emergency and the person’s location.

 

Blessed Mhlanga, a journalist with the Alpha Media Holdings news group, has already signed up for the app. Mhlanga, who was arrested in early May, said he could see the value of being able to seek help quickly.

“I was arrested just a few weeks ago while covering elections in Chitungwiza,” he said. “There was an amazing response from MISA Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, chiefly because when we were arrested, there were some journalists who then made calls and we managed to get quick responses. But imagine if there was no one around.”

When President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over in 2017, he promised to improve the media landscape in Zimbabwe. But Reporters Without Borders said levels of violence against journalists “remain alarmingly high” in Zimbabwe, and harsh laws are still in effect.

On Monday, Nick Mangwana, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, told reporters the government was promoting “development” journalism – stories focused on the economy, climate change and infrastructure. He said authorities were not standing in the way of journalists’ work.

“It is very important and paramount that the welfare of journalists should be elevated to a level where it becomes an integral [part] of the developmental project that is being rolled by government,” he said, “because the media are a key component of creating the critical mass buy-in from the public to the national development goals.”

Mangwana promised a Media Practitioners’ Bill in parliament “soon” as part of efforts by the government to allow journalists like Mhlanga to work freely in Zimbabwe.

The ability of media to work unhindered is vital as Zimbabwe prepares for elections next year. During that time, Mhlanga said, the MISA app will be an asset.

“It is going to be very useful,” he said. “And it comes as a relief and guarantee to me as a journalist.”

Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Zimbabwe 137th out of 180 countries on its annual index, where 1 is the most free.
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EU Says Croatia Ready to Adopt Euro Currency in 2023

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The European Commission said Wednesday that Croatia had met all the criteria to join the eurozone, paving the way for the country to become the single currency’s 20th member on January 1.

Croatia’s switch from the kuna to the euro will come less than a decade after the former Yugoslav republic joined the European Union, setting a new milestone in the bloc’s further integration.

The EU’s executive said Croatia had met the strict conditions to be part of the single currency, including keeping inflation in the same range as its EU peers, as well as embracing sound public spending.

Joining the single currency “will make Croatia’s economy stronger, bringing benefits to its citizens, businesses and society at large,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“Croatia’s adoption of the euro will also make the euro stronger,” she added.

The European Central Bank also gave a positive opinion in a separate report released on Wednesday.

Croatia expressed willingness to adopt the single currency upon joining the EU in 2013, and Brussels’ decision comes as the euro has just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Croatia still needs the endorsement of the EU’s finance ministers, who are expected to give their full backing in July.

“The indications which we are having are positive. So normally, I would expect that the procedure goes through and Croatia will be able to join the euro area as of next year,” said EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.

Dombrovskis, the commission’s most senior economic official, will travel to Zagreb on Thursday to formally present the opinion to the Croatian government.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic expressed confidence his country would join the currency club in the new year.

The country’s aim was to enter the Schengen open-borders zone on the same date, Plenkovic said at a press conference in Berlin.

Price hike fears

On January 1, 2002, millions of Europeans in 12 countries gave up the lira, franc, deutsche mark and drachma for euro bills and coins.

They have since been joined by seven other countries: Slovenia in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 and, finally, Lithuania in 2015.

Bulgaria is the next county in line to join the euro, and it has stated its willingness to adopt it as of January 1, 2024.

However, eurozone members are worried about the long-term stability of the Bulgarian economy, and Sofia has yet to garner the same political support as Croatia.

EU governments are wary of repeating the mistakes of the euro’s early days, when countries such as Greece were rushed into the single currency with shaky finances, setting the stage for the eurozone debt crisis.

Like euro-adopting citizens before them, many Croatians fear the introduction of the euro will lead to a hike in prices — in particular that businesses will round up prices when they convert from the kuna.
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Africans See Inequity in Monkeypox Response Elsewhere

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As health authorities in Europe and elsewhere roll out vaccines and drugs to stamp out the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa, some doctors acknowledge an ugly reality: The resources to slow the disease’s spread have long been available, just not to the Africans who have dealt with it for decades.

Countries including Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Israel and Australia have reported more than 500 monkeypox cases, many apparently tied to sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe. No deaths have been reported.

Authorities in numerous European countries and the U.S. are offering to immunize people and considering the use of antivirals. On Thursday, the World Health Organization will convene a special meeting to discuss monkeypox research priorities and related issues.

Meanwhile, the African continent has reported about three times as many cases this year.

There have been more than 1,400 monkeypox cases and 63 deaths in four countries where the disease is endemic — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo and Nigeria — according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, sequencing has not yet shown any direct link to the outbreak outside Africa, health officials say.

Monkeypox is in the same family of viruses as smallpox, and smallpox vaccines are estimated to be about 85% effective against monkeypox, according to WHO.

Since identifying cases earlier this month, Britain has vaccinated more than 1,000 people at risk of contracting the virus and bought 20,000 more doses. European Union officials are in talks to buy more smallpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic, the maker of the only such vaccine licensed in Europe.

U.S. government officials have released about 700 doses of vaccine to states where cases were reported.

Such measures aren’t routinely employed in Africa.

Dr. Adesola Yinka-Ogunleye, who leads Nigeria’s monkeypox working group, said there are currently no vaccines or antivirals being used against monkeypox in her country. People suspected of having monkeypox are isolated and treated conservatively, while their contacts are monitored, she said.

Generally, Africa has only had “small stockpiles” of smallpox vaccine to offer health workers when monkeypox outbreaks happen, said Ahmed Ogwell, acting director of the Africa CDC.

Limited vaccine supply and competing health priorities have meant that immunization against monkeypox hasn’t been widely pursued in Africa, said Dr. Jimmy Whitworth, a professor of international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“It’s a bit uncomfortable that we have a different attitude to the kinds of resources we deploy depending on where cases are,” he said. “It exposes a moral failing when those interventions aren’t available for the millions of people in Africa who need them.”

WHO has 31 million doses of smallpox vaccines, mostly kept in donor countries and intended as a rapid response to any re-emergence of the disease, which was declared eradicated in 1980.

Doses from the U.N. health agency’s stockpile have never been released for any monkeypox outbreaks in central or western Africa.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said the agency was considering allowing rich countries to use the smallpox vaccines to try to limit the spread of monkeypox. WHO manages similar mechanisms to help poor countries get vaccines for diseases like yellow fever and meningitis, but such efforts have not been previously used for countries that can otherwise afford shots.

Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory boards, said releasing smallpox vaccines from the agency’s stockpile to stop monkeypox from becoming endemic in richer countries might be warranted, but he noted a discrepancy in WHO’s strategy.

“A similar approach should have been adopted a long time ago to deal with the situation in Africa,” he said. “This is another example of where some countries are more equal than others.”

Some doctors pointed out that stalled efforts to understand monkeypox were now complicating efforts to treat patients. Most people experience symptoms including fever, chills and fatigue. But those with more serious disease often develop a rash on their face or hands that spreads elsewhere.

Dr. Hugh Adler and colleagues recently published a paper suggesting the antiviral drug tecovirimat could help fight monkeypox. The drug, approved in the U.S. to treat smallpox, was used in seven people infected with monkeypox in the U.K. from 2018 to 2021, but more details are needed for regulatory approval.

“If we had thought about getting this data before, we wouldn’t be in this situation now where we have a potential treatment without enough evidence,” said Adler, a research fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Many diseases only attracted significant money after infecting people from rich countries, he noted.

For example, it was only after the catastrophic Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016 — when several Americans were sickened by the disease among the more than 28,000 cases in Africa — that authorities finally sped up the research and protocols to license an Ebola vaccine, capping a decades-long effort.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, WHO’s Ryan said the agency was worried about the continued spread of monkeypox in rich countries and was evaluating how it could help stem the disease’s transmission there.

“I certainly didn’t hear that same level of concern over the last five or 10 years,” he said, referring to the repeated epidemics of monkeypox in Africa, when thousands of people in the continent’s central and western parts were sickened by the disease.

Jay Chudi, a development expert who lives in the Nigerian state of Enugu, which has reported monkeypox cases since 2017, hopes the increased attention might finally help address the problem. But he nevertheless lamented that it took infections in rich countries for it to seem possible.

“You would think the new cases are deadlier and more dangerous than what we have in Africa,” he said. “We are now seeing it can end once and for all, but because it is no longer just in Africa. It’s now everybody is worried.”
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Russia Relentlessly Shelling Sievierodonetsk in Eastern Ukraine

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Russia relentlessly shelled Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, with the Luhansk regional governor conceding that Moscow’s forces now control 70% of the city and that evacuation of civilians had been halted.

Some Ukrainian troops were still fighting against the Russian onslaught, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said, but others had retreated.

“There is no possibility to bring in humanitarian aid,” Haidai said in a Telegram post.

But Haidai said that Lysychansk — the only other city in the Luhansk region not taken by Russia or Moscow-backed separatists — remains “fully” under Ukrainian control.

The battle for Sievierodonetsk remains crucial for Russia’s aim to take control of Ukraine’s industrialized Donbas region in the eastern part of the country after it failed earlier during its three-month offensive to topple the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or capture the capital, Kyiv.

If Russia were to capture Sievierodonetsk and its smaller twin Lysychansk on the west bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, it will hold all of Luhansk, one of two provinces in the Donbas that Moscow claims on behalf of separatists and a key war aim of President Vladimir Putin.

Oleksandr Stryuk, the head of the Sievierodonetsk city administration, told Reuters that Ukrainian forces now control just 20% of the city, Russian forces have well more than half, and the rest has become a “no-man’s land.”

“The 20% is being fiercely defended by our armed force,” Stryuk said. “Attempts are being made to drive out the Russian troops … We have hope that despite everything we will free the city.”

Haidai, the Luhansk governor, said Lysychansk was easier to defend since it is located on a hill, but he warned that Russian forces would target it with artillery and mortars once in full control of Sievierodonetsk.

Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the pro-Moscow Luhansk People’s Republic, told Russia’s TASS news agency that Russian fighters had advanced slower than expected, in order to safeguard Sievierodonetsk’s infrastructure and “exercise caution around its chemical factories.”

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid agency, which had long operated out of the city, said up to 12,000 civilians remain trapped by the fighting in Sievierodonetsk, without sufficient access to water, food, medicine or electricity.

Before the war, the city was home to about 120,000 people.

Some material in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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NATO Hoping Ukraine Will Prevail in War with Russia

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Ukraine’s most stalwart backers in the West are promising there will be no let-up in support, despite increasingly tough talk from Russian officials.

The U.S. permanent representative to NATO said Wednesday in Washington that recent Russian gains in eastern Ukraine have failed to shake the alliance’s resolve, with members continuing to have faith in Kyiv’s forces.

“Collectively at NATO, I think we do hope and believe that Ukraine will ultimately prevail,” Julianne Smith told the Defense Writers Group.

“The level of … respect that you see across the alliance for Ukrainian forces right now is quite high,” Smith added. “We see moments where Russian forces advance. We see moments where Ukrainian forces are successfully able to push back.”

Smith’s comments come a day after Washington announced it would send more advanced weapons systems to Ukraine, including the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems known as HIMARS.

U.S. President Joe Biden defended the decision in an editorial piece in The New York Times late Tuesday, saying the advanced rocket systems will help Ukraine “to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield.”

Ukrainian officials have been asking for such systems for weeks, saying they are needed to counter Russian artillery that has enabled Moscow’s gains in the Donbas region.

 

Russia Wednesday criticized the U.S. decision, accusing Washington of escalating tensions.

“We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during a visit to Saudi Arabia Wednesday, further called the move “a direct provocation, aimed at involving the West in military action.”

The U.S. ambassador to NATO rejected such concerns.

U.S. military aid to Ukraine has “all evolved and changed over the last couple of months, I think, quite naturally,” Smith said, adding the message to Kyiv about the parameters for that assistance “have remained relatively clear.”

“We are not in a position to support you with equipment that can attack Russian territory,” she said. “NATO allies are united that NATO will not become a party to this conflict.”

Separately, Smith welcomed overtures by Turkey to Russia to help forge a path toward peace talks in general and negotiations aimed at ending the Russian blockade of the Ukrainian port of Odesa, which has prevented the shipment of needed grain.

Smith also said NATO allies are not expecting much to come from Ankara’s efforts.

“We’re skeptical that at this juncture it’s going to lead to some sort of major breakthrough,” she said. “There’s no indication that Russia is taking any of this seriously or negotiating in good faith.”

Some information from Reuters was used in this report.
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Aid Agencies: Some 20 Million Could Face Starvation in East Africa

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Aid agencies warn the number of people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa is expected to reach 20 million by the end of September without a stronger response to an ongoing drought.

The warning comes after the fourth rainy season in a row for the region without adequate rain. The worst drought in 40 years has killed more than seven million livestock across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.  

In some parts of East Africa, communities have not seen significant rainfall for the past two years.  

Yusuf Guure, 67, who lives in northeastern Kenya, said he has lost 294 animals to drought.  

“We have never seen such a persistent drought, a drought that has wiped out pasture and a drought that has left animals with nothing to feed,” he said, adding, “Where do you get that money to feed them and you are unemployed?” 

Shashwat Saraf is the regional emergency director for East Africa with the International Rescue Committee. He said pastoral communities living in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are feeling the effects of the drought, and that millions are on the move in search of water, food and pasture.  

“We are seeing anywhere between 60 to 100 percent loss of livestock, which is a mainstay for the population because they lost their only source of livelihood,” he said. “We are seeing massive displacement happening of households and people moving to urban centers or moving to other locations and to find ways to make their household food secure.” 

Agencies say that since mid-2021, one-third of all livestock in Somalia has died and 3.6 million livestock have died in Ethiopia and Kenya. 

 

Alyona Synenko, regional spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Somalia is the most affected country of the three and decades of conflict have complicated the situation for those suffering and for aid agencies. 

“The needs are extremely high and sometimes you look at people and you see people who are displaced and they lost everything,” she said. “So it’s difficult to say that people are getting the help they need because their needs are so important. We also speak about a crisis that is one of the most protracted crises in the region and there is also a level of donor fatigue, especially when there is so much competition for the humanitarian funds, so sometimes we have to make very difficult choices.”   

 

The combination of harsh weather and rising food and fuel prices has made the humanitarian outlook worrisome for months to come. 

 

The U.N. humanitarian office, UNOCHA, said Somalia is at risk of famine, and more than 80,000 people are experiencing extreme hunger. Officials also said Tuesday that severe acute malnutrition is on the rise across the three countries and poses an immediate threat to children’s lives. 

 

The U.N. and aid agencies have reached 6.5 million people in the affected areas with food, water and health services. They warn more funding and food are needed to save lives in the coming months.  

 
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Nigerian Church Leader Says Huge Ransom Paid for His Release 

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A clergyman of Nigeria’s Methodist Church has revealed the church paid a ransom of nearly a quarter-million dollars for his release. Gunmen abducted the prelate Sunday while he was traveling in Nigeria’s southeastern Abia state. The payment comes as Nigeria’s president is expected to sign a bill punishing those who pay ransoms with up to 15 years in prison. 

The prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Samuel Kanu-Uche, made the announcement while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, soon after his release.

He had been received by a cheering crowd of church members and immediately held prayers at the church before the briefing.

Kanu-Uche said the church paid about $240,000 as ransom to his abductors to secure his freedom and that of the two pastors travelling with him.

Eight armed men ambushed them on their way to the airport in Abia state on Sunday, shooting sporadically at their vehicle before taking them hostage. The clergymen’s driver and one other church member escaped the assault.

Kanu-Uche said the kidnappers showed them the rotted bodies of previously kidnapped victims who could not raise ransom payments and threatened to do the same with him.

Nigerian authorities have yet to comment on his release. But officials have repeatedly objected to paying ransom for kidnap victims, saying the payments make the abductors more powerful.

Archbishop Chibuzo Opoko heads the Methodist church in Abia State. He says paying the ransom was necessary.

“They would not have released them if that was not done, it wasn’t the security that intervened,” he said. “How effective will that law be when security agencies are not doing their best? What is the law for those who kidnap and demand for ransom?”

Armed groups and criminals have kidnapped hundreds, possibly thousands of people for ransom across Nigeria over the last two years. UNICEF says the number includes at least 1,500 students abducted in northcentral and northwestern Nigeria since late 2020.

In an effort to curb the abductions, the Nigerian Senate recently approved legislation that would punish ransom payments with up to 15 years imprisonment.

The bill would also punish kidnapping with a death sentence if the abductee dies in custody.

Rights groups and families of kidnapped victims continue to protest the measure. Among them is Abdulfatai Jimoh, a spokesperson for the families of passengers kidnapped from a train in Kaduna state in late March.

“It’s an abnormal bill, abnormal in the sense that in a country where such a bill can exist should be a country that has a law in place that when anybody is kidnapped, that person must be rescued within 48 hours. Without anything like that in place there’s no way they can stop anybody from paying ransom,” he said.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to say whether he will sign the bill into law.
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