The National Football League (NFL), the top league in American-style football, has hosted its first African developmental camp in Ghana’s capital, Accra. The weeklong program was aimed at finding fresh talent and building the sport’s popularity across Africa. Senanu Tord reports from Accra, Ghana.
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Month: June 2022
G-7 Assures Aid to Ukraine, Pain to Russia, as Russia Strikes Ukrainian Targets
Giving aid to Ukraine and pain to Vladimir Putin – those are the measures leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies zeroed in on Monday as they listened to Ukraine’s president plea for more help. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Telfs, Austria.
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Jan. 6 Panel Calls Surprise Hearing to Present New Evidence
The House Jan. 6 panel is calling a surprise hearing this week to present evidence it says it recently obtained, raising expectations of new bombshells in the sweeping investigation into the Capitol insurrection.
The hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday comes after Congress left Washington for a two-week recess. Lawmakers on the panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection said last week that there would be no more hearings until July.
The subject of the hearings is so far unclear. A spokesman for the panel declined to comment on its substance.
The committee’s investigation has been ongoing during the hearings that started three weeks ago, and the nine-member panel has continued to probe the attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Among other investigative evidence, the committee recently obtained new footage of Trump and his inner circle taken both before and after Jan. 6, 2021, from British filmmaker Alex Holder.
Holder said last week that he had complied with a congressional subpoena to turn over all of the footage he shot in the final weeks of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, including exclusive interviews with Trump, his children and then-Vice President Mike Pence while on the campaign trail. The footage includes material from before the insurrection and afterward.
It is uncertain if Holder’s footage is the subject of the hearing Tuesday, or if Holder himself will be there. Russell Smith, a lawyer for Holder, declined to comment.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the panel’s Democratic chairman, told reporters last week that the committee was in possession of the footage and needed more time to go through the hours of video Holder had turned over. The British filmmaker came in for a deposition Thursday that lasted two hours, Smith said last week.
Smith said then that it was Holder’s “civic duty” to come forward and that the footage had shown some inconsistencies with previous testimony during the hearings.
The panel has held five hearings so far, mostly laying out Trump’s pressure campaign on various institutions of power in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that eventually certified Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The committee detailed the pressure from Trump and his allies on Vice President Mike Pence, on the states that were certifying Biden’s win and on the Justice Department.
The panel has used live interviews, video testimony of its private witness interviews and footage of the attack to detail what it has learned.
Lawmakers said last week that the two July hearings would focus on domestic extremists who breached the Capitol that day and on what Trump was doing as the violence unfolded.
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Nigerian Churches on Alert After Deadly Church Shooting
Nigerian churches are introducing armed security and entry searches after a deadly June 5 attack on a Catholic church blamed on the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Security experts fear the attack in Nigeria’s southwest Ondo state means the threat of terrorism is spreading and could soon reach the capital. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Nigerian Activists Encourage Young Concertgoers to Vote
Hundreds of young people chanted joyously Saturday at a concert in Abuja, listening to some of Nigeria’s biggest music stars.
The concert was set up to encourage voter registration among young people. There were at least 50 registration points for attendees to either register or verify already existing voter cards.
The artists one after another took to the stage to serenade the crowd but with clear messages encouraging them to vote in elections early next year.
The initiative was organized by a joint team comprising of the European Union, Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Body or INEC, and civil society organizations to boost voter participation, especially among young people, which authorities say was below 20 percent in 2019.
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu says thousands of people signed up to vote at the concert.
“We’re still registering today but in five days, we registered over 14,000 Nigerians in this place alone,” Yakubu said. “We’ll not stop the registration until we’re satisfied that those who wish to register are given the opportunity.”
Young people constitute about 70% of Nigeria’s total population but youth participation in politics has been low.
People who registered at the concerts say successive governments have let the country down – and that’s why they want to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
Hamza Yusuf registered to vote during Saturday’s concert.
“You can see everybody coming out,” Yusuf said. “Basically, with concerts like this, it will help people want to get off their couches from their homes. We are all tired of how our governance is.”
Francis Atama also registered to vote at the concert.
“In the past there’s been high level of bad governance, and then the youths need inclusiveness in the government,” Atama said.
Samson Itodo, the executive director of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA Africa), predicts young people will assume a greater role in Nigerian politics.
“Nigerian youths have made a bold statement that they have not lost hope in Nigeria,” Itodo said. “The crowd that you see here in their thousands is a demonstration of the fact that a lot of young people are very determined to cast their votes. There are over 10,000 people here today who have come to register.”
Presidential and National Assembly elections are slated for February 25 of next year, while governor and state assembly elections will take place in March.
your ad hereAbortion Rights Could Drive Democratic Voters to Polls in November
For decades, the contentious issue of abortion rights has motivated American voters from both parties. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to overturn the 1973 decision guaranteeing women a constitutional right to abortion could have a defining impact on upcoming congressional midterm elections, when Democrats attempt to hold on to their narrow edge in the U.S. House and Senate.
Midterm elections traditionally do not drive voter turnout in the same numbers as presidential elections. But recent polling suggests the overturn of the nearly 50-year-old law could motivate voters.
A May poll from American news network CBS found that 40% of Democratic voters said they would be more likely to vote if Roe v. Wade was overturned. Forty-eight percent of Democratic voters said in a May Monmouth University poll that they were basing their vote on candidates’ positions on abortion rights.
In the hours after the decision was handed down, sending the issue of legalizing abortion back to the state level, U.S. Democratic lawmakers warned this was just the beginning of the fight over reproductive rights.
“We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that. This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted after Friday’s announcement found 40% of the American public strongly disapprove of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave abortion laws up to states.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was elected partly on the strength of his campaign promise to nominate Supreme Court justices who opposed abortion rights. In a 2016 debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump said, “I am putting pro-life justices on the court — it will go back to the states.”
He eventually nominated three Supreme Court associate justices — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. All three told lawmakers in their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was the settled law of the land. All three were confirmed and eventually overturned the law, becoming the key votes in the decision.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday the overturn of Roe v. Wade was the direct result of the election of Trump and warned that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” wing of the Republican Party would result in further loss of reproductive rights if voters were not careful.
“Elect more MAGA Republicans if you want nationwide abortion bans, the jailing of women and doctors, and no exemptions for rape or incest. Or elect more pro-choice Democrats to save Roe and protect a woman’s right to make their own decisions about their body, not politicians,” Schumer said at a press conference in New York.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Friday that if Republicans gained control of Congress in November, they would move to even more serious action.
“Republicans are plotting a nationwide abortion ban. They cannot be allowed to have a majority in the Congress to do that. But that’s their goal. This is deadly serious,” Pelosi said.
But outside the Supreme Court on Friday, 23-year-old abortion rights supporter Anabelle (whose last name was withheld by request), told VOA that electoral politics was not the solution.
“Even if we codify Roe, it’s pretty clear the Supreme Court is just going to rule it unconstitutional. So, I think in theory, Roe is on the ballot. In reality, it would require 60 Democratic senators who are willing to actually take action on cracking the code on ending the filibuster on making sure that this is here to stay,” she said.
Various public opinion polls show that about 70% of Americans support legalized abortion in some form. But some analysts say the Democratic Party needs to do a better job of developing an action plan.
“There is this sort of fantasy of the apathetic, young voter who won’t turn up for midterms,” Sarah Clarke Kaplan, director of American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center, told VOA. “But I think that really one of the things that we’ve seen in years is that actually what affects the turnout of young voters is how much they feel they are represented by the progressive bent of the Democratic Party.”
She added, “We’re going to have to first see on the level of political parties a kind of progressive actionable stance around what the Democratic Party’s response plans to be for maintaining access to abortion for young people and for all people.”
On the Republican side, the path forward is clearer. On Friday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said the overturn of Roe v. Wade was the result of decades of hard work but added, “The work just begins now to go and protect life even more, because the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, correcting that flawed decision, finally allows states and Congress to protect life in ways that we never were able to for the last 50 years.”
Anna Lulis, a digital engagement strategist for Students for Life of America, said outside the Supreme Court on Friday that this is the right approach.
“I think it’s super important to push pro-life legislation. What you’re going to see with a post-Roe America is probably a polarization among the states. You’re going to have some states ban abortion, and then you’re going to have some states probably push radical pro-abortion laws. So, what we need to do, and what we hope to do, is go to those states, those radical pro-abortion laws, and educate them about the issue of abortion. But also, and hopefully, encourage them to push, eventually, pro-life legislation by cultivating a culture of life,” Lulis said.
your ad here3 Killed When Amtrak Train Hits Truck, Derails in Missouri
Three people were killed and others were injured when a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago struck a dump truck and derailed in a remote, rural area of Missouri on Monday, officials said.
It was not immediately clear how many people were hurt beyond the three people who died, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
At least eight medical helicopters were responding from around the state, Matt Daugherty, Lifeflight Eagle director of business development, told The Kansas City Star. Daugherty said he knew there were a number of injuries and some people were in critical condition.
The Southwest Chief was carrying about 243 passengers and 12 crew members when the collision happened near Mendon at 12:42 p.m. local time, Amtrak said. The Highway Patrol said seven cars derailed. Amtrak had previously said eight cars had.
Helicopter video shown by KMBC-TV in Kansas City from the scene showed rail cars on their side as emergency responders used ladders to climb into one of them. The video also showed six medical helicopters parked nearby waiting to transport patients.
Three passengers were taken to University Hospital in Columbia, hospital spokesman Eric Maze said. He did not have information on their conditions.
Passengers on the train included high school students from Pleasant Ridge High School in Easton, Kansas, who were headed to a Future Business Leaders of America conference in Chicago, Superintendent Tim Beying told The Kansas City Star.
The Southwest Chief takes about two days to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago. Mendon, with a population of about 160, is about 84 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of Kansas City.
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Turkey Maintains Threat to Veto Sweden, Finland from Joining NATO
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan heads to this week’s NATO summit in Madrid, threatening to veto Finland’s and Sweden’s bid to join the Atlantic alliance.
Ankara is warning it’s not ready to lift its veto threat of their NATO membership bid ahead of the alliance’s summit in Madrid on Tuesday.
Erdogan’s chief adviser Ibrahim Kalin, speaking on Turkish TV Sunday, said Turkish demands had not been met.
Kalin said Turkey has brought negotiations to a certain point and it is not possible for Turkish leaders to take a step back. He said Turkish diplomats told this to their counterparts and made it clear the next step is up to them.
Erdogan wants Sweden and Finland to end their support of the Syrian Kurdish fighters of the YPG, which is linked to the PKK group that has been fighting the Turkish forces for decades, and which the Turkish government considers a terrorist organization.
Finland and Sweden support the YPG, as do some NATO members, including the United States, in the war against the Islamic State group.
Ankara also accuses Stockholm of giving sanctuary to people it says were responsible for the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Local Turkish media reported Monday the Turkish government has submitted a list of people it wants extradited from Sweden and Finland.
Turkey’s growing list of demands is a sign that Ankara has a broader agenda, said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“Turkey wanted clearly a more expanded big grand bargain with NATO. It’s not getting that,” Aydintasbas said. “Instead, it’s getting a more bilateral conversation (among) Sweden and Finland (and) Turkey, and this has been a source of frustration. Erdogan wanted President (Joe) Biden himself to come into this conversation and put some incentives on the table. This hasn’t happened.”
Aaron Stein of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia said despite Turkey’s potential veto, Sweden’s and Finland’s security will still be assured from any Russian threat.
“Turkey can hold back, but they are not going to hold back the alliance. Things will move forward,” Stein said. “And let’s be clear here: The most important NATO member country is the United States. It’s the country that guarantees the security of them all. So, If the U.S. gives security to these two countries — which Joe Biden has effectively done — well, we’ve reassured in terms of what the U.S. will do: It will be to increase allied presence in Finland and Sweden.”
Erdogan is due to hold a series of meetings at the Madrid summit aimed at resolving the impasse.
Analyst Aydintasbas said a deal can still be reached.
“It can drag on, or it can be resolved at the NATO summit. Depends on how (much) bigger reward NATO member states and NATO itself wants to put on the table,” Aydintasbas said. “Also depends on how much pressure there will be on Turkey. I think what Erdogan is seeking is at least visibility with NATO leaders, that he can present to the Turkish public as the global leader that has brought a big diplomatic victory for Turkey.”
Analysts say Erdogan is falling behind in the polls and needs a boost as he faces reelection a year from now. They also say the president knows that standing up to NATO plays well with his voting base and he may want to retain leverage over his alliance partners beyond the Madrid summit.
your ad hereUS Urges Israelis, Palestinians to Calm Tensions Ahead of Biden Visit
The United States expressed concern Monday about “palpable and dangerous” tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, ahead of a visit next month by President Joe Biden to the region.
“We once again call on all parties to refrain from unilateral actions that increase tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution, such as settlement activity, demolitions, incitement to violence and evictions,” the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Mills, told a meeting of the Security Council on the issue of Israeli settlements.
Biden will visit Israel and the West Bank and then continue to Saudi Arabia from July 13 through July 16.
The White House says the president plans to meet with Israeli leaders to discuss that country’s “security, prosperity, and its increasing integration into the greater region.” Biden will also visit the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority officials.
Mills said that during the trip, Biden will “urge calm and explore ways to promote equal measures of security, freedom and opportunity for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
U.S.-Palestinian relations hit a low in 2020, when the Trump administration unveiled its Middle East peace plan. The Palestinians rejected it outright, saying it heavily favored Israel and did not give them a sovereign, contiguous state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Trump administration also moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, angering the Palestinians. Biden has criticized that move but has not reversed it.
The United Nations says violence has increased in recent months in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. Since mid-March, the U.N. says 49 Palestinians, including several children, have been killed in demonstrations and clashes with Israeli forces, while 11 Israelis and three foreign nationals have been killed in attacks inside Israel.
“As events over recent months have demonstrated yet again, managing the conflict in perpetuity is not a viable option,” Tor Wennesland, U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the council from Jerusalem. “There is no substitute for a legitimate political process that will resolve the core issues driving the conflict.”
Palestinian-American journalist’s death
Biden is also likely to face questions from Palestinian officials about the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot and killed May 11 while covering an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Jenin. Abu Akleh was also a U.S. citizen.
The U.N. office for human rights said Friday that information it had gathered was “consistent with the finding” that Abu Akleh was killed by fire from Israeli Security Forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as Israeli authorities initially claimed. The U.N. rights office said its monitors also found no information suggesting activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of Abu Akleh and her colleagues.
“We, like others on this council, are concerned with the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” Mills told the Security Council. “We continue to stress the importance of accountability for Abu Akleh’s tragic death. The United States will not relent on our calls for transparent accountability for those responsible for this tragedy until justice is done.”
Asked last week by a reporter if Biden would raise Abu Akleh’s killing during his trip to Israel, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the administration wants her death “fully investigated,” and the president would not be “bashful” about raising human rights and press freedom issues “with any foreign leader anywhere in the world.”
VOA’s Anita Powell contributed to this story.
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Russia Edges Toward Debt Payment Default
Russia moved closer Sunday to defaulting on international debt payments for the first time in a century.
Interest payments totaling $100 million on two bonds were originally due May 27, but carried a 30-day grace period.
Russia has struggled to make such payments due to restrictions on its financial activities and sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine continued on Sunday, when Russian forces launched new missile attacks on Ukraine’s two biggest cities, the capital of Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least two apartment buildings in the city were hit, leaving at least one person dead, and four others injured.
Russia ramped up its use of cruise missiles, striking targets across northwestern Ukraine. Air raid sirens blared in several cities.
“It’s more of their barbarism,” U.S. President Joe Biden said of the Russian strike on Kyiv as he appeared at a G-7 welcoming ceremony with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a key focus of the summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the meeting Monday.
Biden said that the United States and the other G-7 economies will ban the import of Russian gold, the latest sanction imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth month.
The leaders of the G-7 nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — are trying to maintain unity against Russia, even with the war’s growing toll on the global economy, including in the U.S., which is confronting a four-decade high surge in consumer prices.
The new attack on Kyiv came a day after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, a major victory for Russia after weeks of fierce fighting.
Russia now controls virtually all of the Luhansk province, part of the eastern Donbas region that Moscow is trying to take over, one of its major war aims.
Ukraine said Russian forces had fully occupied Lysychansk, a neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, in the eastern Luhansk region. Moscow claimed it had encircled about 2,000 Ukrainian troops in the area.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Pride Parades March on With New Urgency Across US
NEW YORK — Pride parades kicked off in New York City and around the country Sunday with glittering confetti, cheering crowds, fluttering rainbow flags and newfound fears about losing freedoms won through decades of activism.
The annual marches in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and elsewhere took place just two days after one conservative justice on the Supreme Court signaled, in a ruling on abortion, that the court should reconsider the right to same-sex marriage recognized in 2015.
‘We’re here to make a statement,” said 31-year-old Mercedes Sharpe, who traveled to Manhattan from Massachusetts. ‘I think it’s about making a point, rather than all the other years like how we normally celebrate it. This one’s really gonna stand out. I think a lot of angry people, not even just women, angry men, angry women.”
Thousands of people — many decked in pride colors — lined the parade route through Manhattan, cheering as floats and marchers passed by. Organizers announced this weekend that a Planned Parenthood contingent would be at the front of the parade.
In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the top court ruling a ‘momentary setback’ and said Sunday’s events were ‘an opportunity for us to not only celebrate Pride, but be resolved for the fight.’
‘We will not live in a world, not in my city, where our rights are taken from us or rolled back,’ said Lightfoot, Chicago’s first openly gay mayor, and the first Black woman to hold the office.
In San Francisco, some marchers and spectators held signs condemning the court’s abortion ruling. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who rode in a convertible holding a gavel and a rainbow fan, said the large turnout was an acknowledgement that Americans support gay rights.
‘Even in spite of the majority on the court that’s anti our Constitution, our country knows and loves our LGBTQI+ community,’ she told KGO-TV.
The warning shot from the nation’s top court came after a year of legislative defeats for the LGBTQ community, including the passage of laws in some states limiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity with children.
As anti-gay sentiments resurface, some are pushing for the parades to return to their roots — less blocks-long street parties, more overtly civil rights marches.
‘It has gone from being a statement of advocacy and protest to being much more of a celebration of gay life,’ Sean Clarkin, 67, said of New York City’s annual parade while enjoying a drink recently at Julius’, one of the oldest gay bars in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
As he remembers things, the parade was once about defiance and pushing against an oppressive mainstream that saw gays, lesbians and transgender people as unworthy outsiders.
‘As satisfying and empowering as it may be to now be accepted by the mainstream,’ Clarkin said, ‘there was also something energizing and wonderful about being on the outside looking in.’
New York’s first Pride March, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, was held in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, a spontaneous street uprising triggered by a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan.
San Francisco’s first march was in 1972 and had been held every year since, except during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Celebrations are now global, taking place throughout the year in multiple countries, with many of the biggest parades taking place in June. One of the world’s largest, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was held June 19.
In the United States, this year’s celebrations take place amid a potential crisis.
In a Supreme Court ruling Friday striking down the right to abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas said in a concurring opinion that the court should also reconsider its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage and a 2003 decision striking down laws criminalizing gay sex.
New York City parade spectator Jackie English said she and her fiancee Dana had yet to set a wedding date, but have a new sense of urgency.
‘Now we feel a bit pressured,” she said, adding they might ‘jump the gun a little sooner. Because, what if that right gets taken away from us?’
More than a dozen states have recently enacted laws that go against the interests of LGBTQ communities, including a law barring any mention of sexual orientation in school curricula in Florida and threats of prosecution for parents who allow their children to get gender-affirming care in Texas.
Several states have put laws in place prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in team sports that coincide with the gender in which they identify.
According to an Anti-Defamation League survey released earlier this week, members of LGBTQ communities were more likely than any other group to experience harassment. Two-thirds of respondents said they have been harassed, a little more than half of whom said the harassment was a result of their sexual orientation.
In recent years, schisms over how to commemorate Stonewall have opened, spawning splinter groups events intended to be more protest-oriented.
In New York City, the Queer Liberation March takes place at the same time as the traditional parade, billing itself as the ‘antidote to the corporate-infused, police-entangled, politician-heavy Parades that now dominate pride celebrations.”
San Francisco’s parade was marked by the return of uniformed police, who were banned in 2020 after a 2019 confrontation with protesters who staged a parade-stopping sit-in. Critics accused them of using excessive force. On Sunday, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott, in full dress uniform, passed out small rainbow pride flags to spectators.
Despite the criticism of growing commercialism, a strong streak of activism was apparent among attendees this year.
‘The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade has caused a very strong uproar about what went down,” said Dean Jigarjian, 22, who crossed the river from New Jersey with his girlfriend to take part in the New York City parade. ‘So as you can see here, the crowd seems to be very energized about what could be next.’
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WNBA Star Brittney Griner Ordered to Trial Friday in Russia
Shackled and looking wary, WNBA star Brittney Griner was ordered to stand trial Friday by a court near Moscow on cannabis possession charges, about 4 1/2 months after her arrest at an airport while returning to play for a Russian team.
The Phoenix Mercury center and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist also was ordered to remain in custody for the duration of her criminal trial. Griner could face 10 years in prison if convicted on charges of large-scale transportation of drugs. Fewer than 1% of defendants in Russian criminal cases are acquitted, and unlike in the U.S., acquittals can be overturned.
At Monday’s closed-door preliminary hearing at the court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, Griner’s detention was extended for another six months. Photos obtained by The Associated Press showed the 31-year-old in handcuffs and looking straight ahead, unlike a previous court appearance where she kept her head down and covered with a hood.
Her detention and trial come at an extraordinarily low point in Moscow-Washington relations. She was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport less than a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, which aggravated already-high tensions with sweeping sanctions by the United States and Russia’s denunciation of U.S. weapon supplies to Ukraine.
Amid the tensions, Griner’s supporters had taken a low profile in hopes of a quiet resolution, until May, when the State Department reclassified her as wrongfully detained and shifted oversight of her case to its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs — effectively the U.S. government’s chief negotiator.
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, urged President Joe Biden in May to secure her release, calling her “a political pawn.”
Her supporters have encouraged a prisoner swap like the one in April that brought home Marine veteran Trevor Reed in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.
Russian news media have repeatedly raised speculation that she could be swapped for Russian arms trader Viktor Bout, nicknamed “The Merchant of Death,” who is serving a 25-year sentence on conviction of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Russia has agitated for Bout’s release for years. But the discrepancy between Griner’s case — she allegedly was found in possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis oil — and Bout’s global dealings in deadly weapons could make such a swap unpalatable to the U.S.
Others have suggested that she could be traded in tandem with Paul Whelan, a former Marine and security director serving a 16-year sentence on an espionage conviction that the United States has repeatedly described as a set-up.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asked Sunday on CNN whether a joint swap of Griner and Whelan for Bout was being considered, sidestepped the question.
“As a general proposition … I have got no higher priority than making sure that Americans who are being illegally detained in one way or another around the world come home,” he said. But “I can’t comment in any detail on what we’re doing, except to say this is an absolute priority.”
Any swap would apparently require Griner to first be convicted and sentenced, then apply for a presidential pardon, Maria Yarmush, a lawyer specializing in international civil affairs, told Kremlin-funded TV channel RT.
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South Africa Police Investigating Deaths of 21 Teenagers in Bar
South African authorities say the owner of a bar where at least 17 teenagers were found dead and four others died while receiving medical care is expected to face charges. Police investigating the mysterious deaths in Eastern Cape province say they have not ruled out the possibility the teenagers were poisoned.
South African police say they are investigating and awaiting autopsy results after the teenagers’ bodies were found at a bar early Sunday morning with no visible cause of death.
Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana is a police spokesman.
“Whilst we understand the urgency of this matter and the anxiety of the public, in particular the affected families who want answers. We urge that we allow sufficient time for our detectives to finalize those investigations. I must also add that we have not made any arrests at this stage,” he said.
South African police say the owner is expected to face charges and have not ruled out the possibility that the teenagers were poisoned.
Spokesman Kinana said half-a-dozen of the bodies were not immediately claimed.
“We are making an appeal to parents or relatives who may have not seen their children since the past weekend to please make time to make inquiries. We are also calling upon parents whose children who may have survived the tavern incident but are still feeling sick to please visit hospitals and clinics for medical check-ups,” he said.
Police were called to East London’s Enyobeni Tavern in Eastern Cape province, where local media reported the bodies were found slumped on the floor and tables.
The tavern’s owner, Siyakhangela Ndevu, told AFP news agency that patrons had tried to force their way into the bar despite it already being packed.
But safety authorities were quick to rule out a stampede because of the lack of injuries on the bodies, some as young as 13 years old.
Eighteen is the legal drinking age in South Africa.
Lucky Ntimane is Convenor of South Africa’s National Liquor Traders Council.
“The owner had workers working there, he had bouncers, they could’ve seen, easily seen that there were minors in that establishment. But this was allowed to happen, the owner put the profits before the people. He should never ever trade in alcohol ever in his life. The license should be revoked with immediate effect,” he said.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed condolences for the families through his spokesman Vincent Magwenya.
“While the president awaits more information on the incident, his thoughts are with the families who have lost children. The president is however also concerned about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which on the face of it should be off limits to people under the age of 18. The president expects the law to take its course following investigations into the tragedy,” he said.
He added that the deaths were even more tragic as they happened during South Africa’s youth month.
Youth month developed from the June 16 National Youth Day when South Africa reflects on the massacre of students during the 1976 Soweto Uprising against apartheid.
Some of the dead were also students celebrating the end of mid-year exams.
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New Report Blames Separatists in Cameroon for Gross Human Rights Violations
A Human Rights Watch report released Monday says separatists in Cameroon are increasingly brutal in their attacks. Human Rights Watch says separatists have committed murders, are using rape as a weapon, and have carried out at least 80 abductions since January.
According to the report, separatists have killed at least seven people, injured six, raped a teenage girl, and committed other grave human rights abuses in the English-speaking western regions this year.
The separatists also torched at least two schools, attacked a university and kidnapped people, including 33 students and five teachers, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Ilaria Allegrozzi, HRW’s central Africa researcher, said an escalation in attacks on civilians, education and health has exacerbated an already dire human rights situation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.
“The separatist groups have kidnapped more than 80 people since January and this figure is more likely underestimated compared to the reality on the ground, given the challenges of accessing the regions, but also the widespread fear among the victims to denounce because of possible retaliations and reprisals,” Allegrozzi said. “These are serious human rights abuses and they continue in the context of increasing violence and impunity that facilitates and fuels other abuses.”
HRW said in April, separatists stormed the University of Bamenda campus in the Northwest region, shooting in the air, causing panic among students and teachers, and leading to a stampede that injured at least five people. The report said fighters attacked the university for not observing a lockdown imposed by separatists.
In April, armed separatists kidnapped 33 Roman Catholic seminary students for ransom in Bachuo-Ntai, Southwest region, HRW said.
Capo Daniel, deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, ADF, one of the separatist groups named in the report, said fighters alone should not be blamed for the human rights abuses.
“Criminal gangs have taken maximum advantage of the chaos of his war to carry out kidnapping for ransom,” Daniel said. “While there have been some few cases that involved Ambazonia forces, it has mainly been as a result of lack of command and control by factions within our struggle that do not take their responsibility over those forces and Cameroon is ultimately responsible for the chaos.”
Daniel said the ADF has laid out a code of conduct that forbids fighters from committing crimes, and has punished fighters who committed offenses, including rape.
HRW says in February fighters attacked a vehicle of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health services, killing a female nurse, and injuring another female nurse and a male doctor according to the report.
The rights group also said separatists killed a Doctors Without Borders health worker in the Southwest region, after accusing him of collaborating with the military.
HRW said since the conflict began in 2017, government troops have also committed human rights violations, including torching of houses and villages, torture, rape, mistreatment and incommunicado detentions.
The Cameroonian government has denied the claims.
Separatists in English-speaking western Cameroon launched their rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of separating from the French-speaking majority country and setting up an independent state.
The conflict has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced more than 750,000 others, according to the U.N.
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Nigeria’s Zamfara State to Issue Gun Licenses to Individuals
Authorities in Nigeria’s Zamfara state said they will begin granting gun licenses to residents. The rare move will allow individuals to carry guns so that they can defend themselves against gunmen and rebels in the troubled West African country’s northern region.
Armed gangs that rob and kidnap for ransom are common in the area.
Gunmen recently killed eight people and kidnapped nearly 40 in two churches in Kaduna.
Nigeria’s security forces are stretched thin with the violent attacks and a ten-year war against Islamist rebels.
Ibrahim Dosara, the Zamfara information commissioner, said in a statement that 500 licenses will be distributed to people “who qualify and are wishing to obtain such guns to defend themselves.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Action Needed on Austin Tice, Says Family of US Journalist Missing in Syria
American journalist Austin Tice has been missing in Syria for 10 years. His family from Texas advocates tirelessly to bring him home. VOA’s Sirwan Kajjo has more.
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Sri Lanka Runs Out of Fuel
Sri Lanka has run out of fuel, according to a report Monday in the country’s Daily Mirror newspaper.
The 1,100 tons of petrol and 7,500 tons of diesel the country has would not last a day, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources in the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Trade Union.
According to Reuters, which cited a top government official on Sunday, the country of 22 million people is down to just 15,000 tons of petrol and diesel to keep essential services running in coming days.
Without any deliveries of fuel, the newspaper said, Sri Lanka “will come to a complete standstill from this week, as even public transportation will come to a grinding halt.”
The country’s energy crisis is compounded by a financial crisis.
The Daily Mirror said Sri Lanka has been “blacklisted by international companies as it has defaulted on its debts and companies now require international bank guarantees for fresh orders.”
However, Sri Lanka is sending two ministers to Russia, according to The Associated Press, for face-to-face negotiations to try to acquire the much-needed fuel.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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G-7 Heightening Russia Sanctions for Ukraine War
The United States announced Monday new sanctions it and other G-7 countries are enacting against Russia in response to its war in Ukraine, including measures to cut off Russia from materials and services needed by Russia’s industrial and technology sectors.
The White House said the United States will commit $7.5 billion as part of a G-7 effort to help Ukraine cover its short-term budget needs, and that the governments are making “an unprecedented, long-term security commitment to providing Ukraine with financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support as long as it takes.”
The announcement came as G-7 leaders met in Germany where they awaited an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Additional specific U.S. sanctions include blocks on Russian state-owned defense enterprises and defense research organizations, limiting Russia’s ability to replenish equipment it has lost in the war, and prohibitions on gold imports into the United States.
Russian troops carried out shelling in the eastern city of Lysychansk on Monday, working to try to capture the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Luhansk province after seizing control of neighboring Sievierodonetsk.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said the damage to Lysychansk has be “catastrophic.”
Haidai urged the remaining civilians to evacuate the city that was home to 100,000 people before Russia launched its invasion in late February.
Russia now controls virtually all of Luhansk province, part of the eastern Donbas region that Moscow is trying to take over, one of its major war aims.
Russian forces on Sunday launched new missile attacks against Ukraine’s two biggest cities, the capital of Kyiv and Kharkiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least two apartment buildings in the city were hit, leaving at least one person dead, and four others injured.
Russia ramped up its use of cruise missiles, striking targets across northwestern Ukraine. Air raid sirens blared in several cities.
“It’s more of their barbarism,” U.S. President Joe Biden said of the Russian strike on Kyiv.
Default
Russia moved closer Sunday to defaulting on international debt payments for the first time in a century.
Interest payments totaling $100 million on two bonds were originally due May 27, but carried a 30-day grace period.
Russia has struggled to make such payments due to restrictions on its financial activities related to sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine that began in late February.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Avalanche Defeat Lightning to Win Stanley Cup
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 Sunday night to win the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup.
The Avalanche won the best-of-7 series four games to two, denying the Lighting in their quest to become the first team to win three consecutive NHL championships since the New York Islanders in the early 1980s.
Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos gave the lightning an early 1-0 lead with a first period goal.
But the Avalanche responded in the second period, with center Nathan MacKinnon evening the game 1-1 less than two minutes into the period.
Colorado winger Artturi Lehkonen put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 midway through period, the score that would hold as they defeated Tampa Bay on their home ice.
Colorado defenseman Cale Makar won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player during the playoffs.
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Survivors Recount Mali’s Deadliest Attack Since Coup
Moussa Tolofidie didn’t think twice when nearly 100 jihadis on motorbikes gathered in his village in central Mali last week.
A peace agreement signed last year between some armed groups and the community in the Bankass area had largely held, even if the gunmen would sometimes enter the town to preach Shariah to the villagers. But on this Sunday in June, everything changed — the jihadis began killing people.
“They started with an old man about 100 years old … then the sounds of the weapons began to intensify around me and then at one moment I heard a bullet whistling behind my ear. I felt the earth spinning, I lost consciousness and fell to the ground,” Tolofidie, a 28-year-old farmer told The Associated Press by phone Friday in Mopti town, where he was receiving medical care.
“When I woke up it was dark, around midnight,” he said. “There were bodies of other people on top of me. I smelled blood and smelled burnt things and heard the sounds of some people still moaning.”
Two days of attacks
At least 132 people were killed in several villages in the Bankass area of central Mali during two days of attacks last weekend, according to the government, which blames the Group to Support Islam and Muslims jihadi rebels linked to al-Qaida.
The attack — the deadliest since mutinous soldiers toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita nearly two years ago — shows that Islamic extremist violence is spreading from Mali’s north to more central areas, analysts have said.
The conflict-riddled country has been battling extremist violence for a decade since jihadis seized control of key northern cities in 2012 and tried to take over the capital. They were pushed back by a French-led military operation the following year but have since regained ground.
The Associated Press spoke to several survivors on Friday who had sought treatment at a hospital in Mopti and were from the villages of Diallassagou, Dianweli and Dessagou. People described hearing gunfire and jihadis shouting, “Allahu akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” as they ran into the forest to save their lives.
Mali’s government blamed the attacks on the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, or JNIM, which is backed by al-Qaida, although the group denied responsibility in a statement on Friday.
UN says violence has displaced population
The United States and France condemned the attacks and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) issued a statement on Twitter saying the violence has caused casualties and displaced the population.
Conflict analysts say the fact that the attacks happened in an area where local peace agreements were signed could signify the end of the fragile accords.
“The resurgence of tension is perhaps linked to the expiration of these local agreements but also can be linked to the intensification of military operations by the defense forces,” said Baba Dakono, director of the Citizen Observatory on Governance and Security, a local civil society group.
Ene Damango, a mechanic from Dialassagou, fled his village when the shooting started, but he said his uncle was shot in the leg and severely wounded.
“When I returned to the village. I discovered the carnage.”
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G-7 Summit to Address Global Threats
U.S. President Joe Biden comes to the Group of Seven summit with the war in Ukraine showing no signs of stopping and China’s ambition spreading. The White House says they are committed to countering these issues. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Telfs, Austria.
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Ukraine War Could Boost Illegal Drug Production, says UN
The war in Ukraine could allow illegal drug production to flourish, while the opium market’s future hinges on the fate of crisis-wracked Afghanistan, the United Nations warned Monday.
Previous experience from the Middle East and Southeast Asia suggests conflict zones can act as a “magnet” for making synthetic drugs, which can be manufactured anywhere, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual report. “This effect may be greater when the conflict area is near large consumer markets.”
The UNODC said the number of dismantled amphetamine laboratories in Ukraine rose from 17 in 2019 to 79 in 2020, the highest number of seized laboratories reported in any country in 2020.
Ukraine’s capacity to produce synthetic drugs could grow as the war continues, it added.
“You don’t have police going around and stopping laboratories” in conflict zones, UNODC expert Angela Me told AFP.
The report also noted that conflict could shift and disrupt drug trafficking routes, with suggestions that trafficking in Ukraine has fallen since early 2022.
The situation in Afghanistan — which produced 86% of the world’s opium in 2021 — will shape the development of the opiate market, the U.N. report added.
It said the country’s humanitarian crisis could incentivize illegal opium poppy cultivation, even after the Taliban authorities banned the practice in April.
“Changes in opium production in Afghanistan will have implications for opiate markets in virtually all regions of the world,” the U.N. said.
An estimated 284 million people used a drug in 2021, or one in every 18 people worldwide aged between 15 and 64, the report found.
The figure was 26% higher than in 2010, with population growth only partially accounting for the change.
Cocaine production climbed to a new record in 2020 at 1,982 tons.
Although most drug consumers were men, Me said women heavily used amphetamine type stimulants and were under-represented in treatment.
“For them, it’s a double stigma. Going there is also to expose themselves,” she told AFP. “We have put a recommendation on safety and how to ensure that the centers have the possibility to welcome children.”
The UNODC report was based on information gathered from member states, its own sources, and analyzing institutional reports, the media and open-source material.
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Erdogan to Meet With Leaders of Sweden, Finland Before NATO Summit in 4-Way Talks
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will attend a round of talks with the leaders of Sweden and Finland, as well as NATO on Tuesday ahead of the summit in Madrid, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Sunday.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the bids have faced opposition from Turkey, which has been angered by what it says is Helsinki and Stockholm’s support for Kurdish militants and arms embargoes on Ankara.
Speaking to broadcaster Haberturk, Kalin said he and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal would also attend a round of talks with Swedish and Finnish delegations in Brussels on Monday.
“There will be a four-way summit in Madrid at the leader level in Madrid upon the request of the NATO secretary-general with the attendance of our president,” he said.
Kalin said Erdogan attending the talks with Sweden, Finland and NATO on Tuesday “does not mean we will take a step back from our position.”
“We have brought negotiations to a certain point. It is not possible for us to take a step back here,” he also said of the upcoming talks.
Kalin said Turkey and the Nordic countries had largely agreed on issues and would be in a better position in Madrid— if they could agree on them during talks Monday.
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‘Elvis,’ ‘Top Gun’ Tie for Box-Office Crown With $30.5 Million Each
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic “Elvis” shook up theaters with an estimated $30.5 million in weekend ticket sales, but — in a box-office rarity — “Elvis” tied “Top Gun: Maverick,” which also reported $30.5 million, for No. 1 in theaters.
Final figures Monday, once Sunday’s grosses are tabulated, will sort out which film ultimately won the weekend. With a high degree of accuracy, studios can forecast Sunday sales based on Friday and Saturday business, though numbers often shift by a few hundred thousand dollars.
But for now, the unlikely pair of “Elvis” and “Maverick” are locked in a dance off (if you favor “Elvis”) or a dead heat (if you prefer “Maverick”). That it was this close at all was due to both a better-than-expected opening for “Elvis” and remarkably strong continued sales for “Top Gun: Maverick.” The “Top Gun” sequel reached $1 billion in worldwide box office in its fifth week of release.
“Elvis,” starring newcomer Austin Butler as Presley, came into the weekend with expectations closer to $25 million. Among recent music biopics, a $30.5 million debut puts the King ahead of the pace of Elton John (“Rocketman” launched with $25.7 million in 2019) though not in the same class as Freddie Mercury (“Bohemian Rhapsody” opened with $51.1 million in 2018).
“I’m less concerned with who’s number one and who’s number two, and I’m more concerned that we hit this big number given that this audience has been the slowest to return to movie theaters,” said Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros.
About 60% of the audience for “Elvis” was over the age of 35. Older audiences have been among the most hesitant to return to theaters in the pandemic but that’s changing — in part, Goldstein noted, because of “Top Gun,” which brought back fans of the 1986 original.
“Elvis,” which cost about $85 million to make, was propelled by strong reviews (78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), good word of mouth (an A- CinemaScore) and a glitzy Cannes Film Festival premiere. It added $20 million overseas over the weekend.
“Elvis” ranks as Luhrmann’s second best opening after 2013’s “The Great Gatsby” ($50.1 million). Luhrmann was on the cusp of beginning production in Australia when, in an indelible early moment in the pandemic, star Tom Hanks tested positive for COVID-19.
“‘Elvis’ was a risky proposition: the music is dated, the character is not directly familiar, and the lead actor is unproven on the big screen,” David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research wrote in a newsletter. “But critics and audiences are responding. This is the Baz Luhrmann show, a music, dance and sex appeal spectacular — it’s a hit.”
Meanwhile, “Top Gun: Maverick” continues to soar. The Paramount Pictures film became the first 2022 release to reach $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales, and the first starring Tom Cruise to do so.
In its fifth weekend of release, “Maverick” dipped just 32% domestically to bring its total so far to $521.7 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. It continues to move up the record books, sitting 15th all-time domestically, not accounting for inflation. Internationally, the “Top Gun” sequel added another $44.5 million.
The “Elvis”/”Top Gun” showdown — along with the new Blumhouse horror release “The Black Phone” and big holdovers in “Jurassic World: Dominion” and Pixar’s “Lightyear” — made for one of the most competitive, and busy, weekends in movie theaters in the pandemic era.
Most studios came away celebrating, though Disney’s “Lightyear” dropped a steep 65% in its second weekend. After opening softly last week, the “Toy Story” spinoff grossed $17.7 million domestically, falling to fifth place. “Lightyear,” which has made $152 million worldwide to date, will soon face more competition for families with the Friday release of “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
Counterprogramming came from Universal Pictures’ “The Black Phone,” the Scott Derrickson-directed supernatural thriller starring Ethan Hawke as an escaped killer. The Blumhouse production rode strong reviews (84% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) to a better-than-expected launch of $23.4 million.
After two weeks in first place, Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” took in $26.4 million, sliding to third. It’s now passed $300 million domestically and hauled in $746.7 million globally.
A much smaller-scaled film, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” debuted with good sales in limited release. The warmly received stop-motion animation film, in which Jenny Slate voices a one-inch-tall mollusk with a googly eye, opened with $169,606 on six screens, for a per-screen average of $28,267.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
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(Tie) “Elvis,” $30.5 million.
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(Tie) “Top Gun: Maverick,” $30.5 million.
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“Jurassic World: Dominion,” $26.4 million.
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“Black Phone,” $23.4 million.
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“Lightyear,” $17.7 million.
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“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $1.7 million.
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“Jugjugg Jeeyo,” $725,000.
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“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $533,000.
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“The Bob’s Burgers Movie,” $513,000.
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“The Bad Guys,” $440,000.
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