Month: August 2022

US Conspiracy Theorist Ordered to Pay School Shooting Parents $4M

Posted on by SeeUS

A Texas jury Thursday ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay more than $4 million — significantly less than the $150 million being sought — in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, marking the first time the Infowars host has been held financially liable for repeatedly claiming the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax.

The Austin jury must still decide how much the Infowars host should pay in punitive damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 children and six educators who were killed in the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.

The parents had sought at least $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jones’ attorney asked the jury to limit damages to $8 — $1 for each of the compensation charges they considered — and Jones himself said any award over $2 million “would sink us.”

It likely won’t be the last judgment against Jones — who was not in the courtroom — over his claims that the attack was staged in the interests of increasing gun controls. A Connecticut judge has ruled against him in a similar lawsuit brought by other victims’ families and an FBI agent who worked on the case. He also faces another trial in Austin.

Jones’ lead attorney, Andino Reynal, winked at his co-counsel before leaving the courtroom. He declined to comment on the verdict.

Outside the courthouse, the plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Bankston insisted that the $4.11 million amount wasn’t a disappointment, noting it was only part of the damages Jones will have to pay.

The jury returns Friday to hear more evidence about Jones and his company’s finances.

In a video posted on his website Thursday night, Jones called the reduced award a major victory.

“I admitted I was wrong. I admitted it was a mistake. I admitted that I followed disinformation but not on purpose. I apologized to the families. And the jury understood that. What I did to those families was wrong. But I didn’t do it on purpose,” he said.

The award was “more money than my company and I personally have, but we are going to work on trying to make restitution on that,” Jones said.

Bankston suggested any victory declarations might be premature.

“We aren’t done, folks,” Bankston said. “We knew coming into this case it was necessary to shoot for the moon to get the jury to understand we were serious and passionate. After tomorrow, he’s going to owe a lot more.”

The total amount awarded in this case could set a marker for the other lawsuits against Jones and underlines the financial threat he’s facing. It also raises new questions about the ability of Infowars — which has been banned from YouTube, Spotify and Twitter for hate speech — to continue operating, although the company’s finances remain unclear.

Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights, conceded during the trial that the attack was “100% real” and that he was wrong to have lied about it. But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn’t suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.

The parents testified Tuesday about how they’ve endured a decade of trauma, inflicted first by the murder of their son and what followed: gunshots fired at a home, online and phone threats, and harassment on the street by strangers. They said the threats and harassment were all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theory spread to his followers via his website Infowars.

A forensic psychiatrist testified that the parents suffer from “complex post-traumatic stress disorder” inflicted by ongoing trauma, similar to what might be experienced by a soldier at war or a child abuse victim.

At one point in her testimony, Lewis looked directly at Jones, who was sitting barely 10 feet away.

“It seems so incredible to me that we have to do this — that we have to implore you, to punish you — to get you to stop lying,” Lewis told Jones.

Barry Covert, a Buffalo, New York, First Amendment lawyer who is not involved in the Jones case, said the $4 million in compensatory damages was lower than he would have expected given the evidence and testimony.

“But I don’t think Jones can take this as a victory,” he added. “The fact is, $4 million is significant even if we might have thought it would be a little higher.”

Jurors often decline to award any punitive damages after deciding on a compensation figure. But when they choose to, the punitive amount is often higher, Covert said. He said he expects the parents’ attorneys to argue that jurors should send the message that no one should profit off of defamation.

“They will want jurors to send the message that you can’t make a quarter of a billion in profit off harming someone and say you’ll just take the damages loss in court,” Covert said.

Jones was the only witness to testify in his defense, and he only attended the trial sporadically while still appearing on his show. And he came under withering attack from the plaintiffs’ attorneys under cross-examination, as they reviewed Jones’ own video claims about Sandy Hook over the years and accused him of lying and trying to hide evidence, including text messages and emails about the attack. It also included internal emails sent by an Infowars employee that said “this Sandy Hook stuff is killing us.”

At one point, Jones was told that his attorneys had mistakenly sent Bankston the last two years’ worth of texts from Jones’ cellphone. Bankston said in court Thursday that the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee investigating the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol has requested the records and that he intends to comply.

And shortly after Jones declared “I don’t use email,” Jones was shown one that came from his address, and another one from an Infowars business officer telling Jones that the company had earned $800,000 gross in selling its products in a single day, which would amount to nearly $300 million in a year.

Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars’ parent company, filed for bankruptcy during the two-week trial.
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Biden Pushes Inflation Reduction Act, Amid Divided Opinion

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The Biden administration on Thursday pushed Congress to pass its proposed $260 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which the White House says will “lower costs, reduce inflation, and address a range of critical and long-standing economic challenges.”

“My message to Congress is this: Listen to the American people,” Biden said during a virtual roundtable of U.S. business leaders. “This is the strongest bill you can pass to lower inflation, continue to cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis and promote America’s energy security, all while reducing the burdens facing working-class and middle-class families.”

Economists, politicians and ordinary consumers alike agree that rising prices are a problem — U.S. inflation hit 9.1% in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food price hikes are especially painful for many American families: In the past year those have risen, on average, by about 10%, the highest yearly increase in more than 40 years.

What few can agree on, however, is what needs to be done to bring it back down.

Biden’s supporters say the act will raise government revenues by $313 billion by imposing a 15 percent minimum corporate tax — a move that will affect some of the nation’s wealthiest companies, especially those that paid nothing in federal corporate income taxes on their profits in 2020.

It will also reform prescription drug pricing, which the administration estimates will save the federal government $288 billion a year. The act also invests more than $400 billion in energy security, climate change mitigation and health care.

The country’s largest union umbrella group, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, supports the act, its president said Thursday during the roundtable with Biden.

“I’m bringing the voice of our 57 unions, 12.5 million members, who believe this bill is going to help us reshape the future and deliver real help to working families by reducing rising energy and health care costs,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “This is going to deliver fundamental economic change across America.”

But some economists are not so sure.

A study from the Penn Wharton Budget Model predicts the act would have little impact on inflation, forecasting prices would slightly increase for another two years and then fall.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reached the opposite conclusion, saying that the act would “very modestly reduce inflationary pressures in the near term while lowering the risk of persistent inflation over time.”

Moody’s Analytics reached a similar conclusion, while the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would trim U.S. budget deficits by $102 billion over 10 years.

Economist Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and founder and co-director of the university’s Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, said Thursday that the act is “ill-conceived” and involves the one thing that people seem to dislike more than rising prices: taxes.

“The idea it’s going to do anything with inflation is ridiculous,” he said Thursday during a seminar with the Jewish Policy Center. “It will change the relative prices of different things — exactly how, I don’t know, because I haven’t gone through the 10,000-page thing. And it looks to me like it’s a tax increase bill.”

A Senate vote on the legislation in the next few days appeared more likely late Thursday. Democrats said they had reached an agreement on some changes to the bill, clearing a path for its consideration by the chamber.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat who was seen as the pivotal vote, said in a statement that she had agreed to changes in the measure’s tax and energy provisions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he believed the compromise “will receive the support” of all Democrats in the chamber. The party needs unanimity to succeed in the 50-50 Senate, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote.

Schumer has said he hopes the Senate can begin voting on the bill Saturday. Passage by the House, which Democrats control, could come next week.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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Blinken to Lay Out Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa During Visit

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will launch a three-country tour of Africa on Sunday in South Africa. He is expected to deliver a major speech laying out the Biden administration’s strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Experts tell VOA that human rights concerns will likely be high on the agenda. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Shows Why American Right Embraces Him

Posted on by SeeEU

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban received a warm reception Thursday in Texas, where he was a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a major event on the calendar of the right wing of the Republican Party.  

 

In remarks that ran for approximately 30 minutes, Orban demonstrated why he has become popular among American conservatives, rattling off a litany of claims and accomplishments that dovetailed with many American conservative voters’ priorities.  

 

Orban touted his country’s low crime rate, its success at preventing immigrants from crossing its borders, its crackdown on the political left, its restrictions on the rights of gay and transgender individuals, and its low taxes. 

 

He cast liberals and progressives as history’s great villains and urged audience members to fight to place “Christian values” at the center of their politics.  

 

“The horrors of Nazism and communism happened because some Western states in continental Europe abandoned their Christian values,” Orban said. “And today’s progressives are planning to do the same. They want to give up on Western values and create a new world — a post-Western world. Who is going to stop them if you don’t?” 

Seen as strongman

Orban, 59, began his career as a radical liberal, but over the years he steered the political party Fidesz, which he had helped found, in a more populist and conservative direction. He remains president of the party. 

 

When he became prime minister for the second time in 2010 (he had held the office from 1998 to 2002), Orban moved quickly to consolidate both political and cultural power in Hungary, facilitated by Fidesz’s two-thirds majority in parliament, which allowed it to draft a new constitution.  

 

The revised constitution, which went into effect in 2012, wrote Hungarian nationalism and Christianity into the country’s laws and helped cement Fidesz’s political dominance. A new electoral system was put in place that allowed the party to retain more than two-thirds of the body’s seats in the 2014 elections despite earning 44.5% of the votes cast. 

 

Transparency International has characterized Hungary’s elections as “free but not fair.” Citizens can cast votes, and the votes are accurately counted, but the structure of the system ensures that Fidesz consistently wins representation that far exceeds its share of the votes. 

 

Judicial, press freedom curtailed

In addition to dominating parliament, Orban has restructured the Hungarian judiciary, reducing its independence and installing judges sympathetic to his administration.  

 

At the same time, the government has passed laws limiting freedom of speech and cracking down on independent media. Allies of Orban, meanwhile, have created a pervasive conservative media ecosystem that dominates the airwaves and generally echoes the positions of the Orban government.  

“Since returning to power in 2010, Orban has unceasingly attacked media pluralism and independence. After public broadcasting was turned into a propaganda organ, many private media were taken over or silenced,” according to the organization Reporters Without Borders. “The ruling party, Fidesz, has seized de facto control of 80% of the country’s media through political-economic maneuvers and the purchase of news organizations by friendly oligarchs.” 

 

The prime minister’s many critics argue he is an autocrat who has turned his country of 10 million people in the heart of Europe into a near-dictatorship. Orban has also been widely criticized for appointing friends and relatives to positions of authority and for turning a blind eye to corruption among senior leaders. 

 

U.S. President Joe Biden, when campaigning for the presidency, characterized Orban as a “totalitarian” and a “thug.” 

 

Multiple controversies

Under Orban’s leadership, Hungary has passed laws discriminating against LGBTQ people and has made preserving Hungary’s culture — as Orban defines it — a key element of his mission as prime minister. 

 

His defense of Hungarian culture has, according to his critics, frequently come close to explicit racism. 

 

In a 2018 speech, for example, he said, “We must state that we do not want to be diverse and do not want to be mixed: We do not want our own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others. … We do not want to be a diverse country.” 

 

Just last week, in a speech delivered in Romania, Orban criticized other European countries for allowing the “mixing” of people of different races. Referring to Hungary, Orban said, “We are not a mixed race, and we do not want to become a mixed race.” 

 

Those remarks prompted widespread denunciations from other world leaders, particularly within the European Union. One of Orban’s own senior advisers resigned, calling the speech “pure Nazi text.” 

 

Asked about Orban’s comments, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted, “All EU member states, including Hungary, signed up to common global values.”

“Discriminating on the basis of race is to trample on those values,” she said. “The European Union is built on equality, tolerance, justice and fair play.” 

 

American following

Over the past several years, Orban has amassed a considerable following among U.S. conservatives, chief among them former President Donald Trump. Comparing their governing styles, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has described Orban as “Trump before Trump.” 

The former president has personally praised Orban on a number of occasions, and on Wednesday he posted pictures of himself with the prime minister, who visited Trump in Florida, on the social media site Truth Social. 

 

“Great spending time with my friend, Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary,” Trump wrote. “We discussed many interesting topics — few people know as much about what is going on in the world today.” 

 

Major figures in American conservative media frequently praise Orban and his policies. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has produced a documentary on Hungary under Orban, met with the leader in Budapest, and even filmed his nightly television show there for a week last year. 

 

‘A lot to learn from Orban’

Rod Dreher, an editor at The American Conservative magazine, characterizes himself as an Orban “booster.” Writing from CPAC in advance of the Hungarian leader’s speech Thursday, he said, “American conservatives have a lot to learn from Orban.”  

He continued: “The United States is not Hungary, and some of what works there would not work here. Nevertheless, I appreciate Orban’s aggressive conservatism, especially his social conservatism, when compared with the all-hat-no-cattle version we tend to get from American conservatives. And, I appreciate how Orban instinctively knows that we are in a struggle for the future of Western civilization — and acts like it.” 

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who some point to as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2024, is also an admirer of Orban, according to his press secretary.  

 

Last year, DeSantis signed a bill into law that barred public school employees from discussing topics such as homosexuality and transgender identities. The restrictions were so broad that the legislation became known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. 

 

At the time, DeSantis’ press secretary suggested the effort was modeled on Orban’s laws in Hungary, saying, “We were watching the Hungarians and were inspired by their legislation.”
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US Declares Monkeypox Outbreak a Public Health Emergency

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The United States has declared monkeypox a public health emergency, the health secretary said Thursday, a move expected to free up additional funding and tools to fight the disease. 

The declaration came as the tally of cases crossed 6,600 in the United States on Wednesday, almost all of them among men who have sex with men. 

“We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said at a briefing. 

The declaration will also help improve the availability of monkeypox data, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said, speaking alongside Becerra. 

The World Health Organization also has designated monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” its highest alert level. The WHO declaration last month was designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on vaccines and treatments. 

Biden earlier this month appointed two top federal officials to coordinate his administration’s response to monkeypox, following declarations of emergencies by California, Illinois and New York. 

First identified in monkeys in 1958, the disease has mild symptoms including fever, aches and pus-filled skin lesions, and people tend to recover from it within two to four weeks, according to the WHO. It spreads through close physical contact and is rarely fatal. 

Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, told Reuters on Thursday that it was critical to engage leaders from the gay community as part of efforts to rein in the outbreak, but cautioned against stigmatizing the disease and its victims. 

“Engagement of the community has always proven to be successful,” Fauci said. 

Unlike when COVID-19 emerged, there are vaccines and treatments available for monkeypox, which was first documented in Africa in the 1970s. 

The U.S. government had distributed 156,000 monkeypox vaccine doses nationwide through mid-July. It has ordered an additional 2.5 million doses of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine. 

The first U.S. case of monkeypox was confirmed in Massachusetts in May, followed by another case in California five days later. 
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South Sudan Leaders Extend Transitional Government Rule

Posted on by SeeAF

South Sudan leaders said Thursday the country’s transitional leadership will stay in power for another 24 months to complete the political, security and electoral reforms needed to move the country forward.

Minister of cabinet affairs Martin Elia Lomuro, who made the announcement, said the decision to extend the mandate will help address the challenges that impede implementation of the 2018 peace deal that ended South Sudan’s civil war.

The 4-1/2 year civil war killed an estimated 400,000 people.

Thursday’s move is likely to anger the international community, which has not been happy with the leadership’s inability to end the transitional period, which began in February 2020.

The 2018 peace deal calls for security, judicial, constitutional and electoral reforms to stabilize the world’s youngest country.

Experts say the leadership has been slow to fully implement the proposed reforms.

The South Sudan government, led by President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, also postponed elections to 2023 and blamed the postponement for the lack of a permanent constitution.

Civil society groups in South Sudan agree the situation on the ground, still volatile in parts of the country, does not permit a free, fair and peaceful election.

Armed confrontations between the government forces, known as the South Sudan People’s Defense Force, and the rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, have held up efforts to unify the security forces into one national army.

Security experts say that unifying the divided security agencies would play a significant role in making the country a democracy and a stable state.

In July, the United States pulled out of the country’s peace process, saying the sides had failed to make the necessary reforms to end the political and security crisis.
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Pentagon Announces New Press Secretary

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has named a U.S. Air Force brigadier general as the new Pentagon press secretary.

“Today, I named Brigadier General Patrick S. Ryder as the next Pentagon press secretary. Pat will fill a critical role, leading our efforts to provide timely, accurate information to the media, and through the media to the American people,” Austin said in a statement on Thursday.

Ryder currently serves as the top public affairs officer for the Air Force and Space Force. Prior to that he was the top spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served as the spokesman for Austin when he was the head of U.S. Central Command from 2013 to 2016.

Ryder will become the first Pentagon press secretary to serve while still in military uniform since then-Rear Admiral John Kirby served under Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and Ash Carter from 2013 to 2015.

Upon taking office, Carter made clear to officials that he wanted a nonuniformed spokesman and soon replaced Kirby with a new Pentagon press secretary. Kirby retired from the military in 2015 and has since served as State Department spokesman under the Obama administration and Pentagon press secretary and White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.

The military is an apolitical organization, which could cause potential problems should Ryder be asked to expand upon a political position. Civilians control the military in the United States, with rules established by Congress to ensure that secretaries of defense spend at least seven years out of military uniform before taking office.

Exceptions have been made with congressional approval, however, and lawmakers recently have waived that requirement for former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Austin, the current secretary.

CNN first reported the decision to appoint Ryder on Wednesday.
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South African Farmers Decry China’s Wool Ban

Posted on by SeeAF

Sipiwo Makinana lives in Ugie, a small town at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains in a postcard-worthy region of the Eastern Cape province, where he’s a small-scale sheep farmer.

Makinana says he usually makes about 150 rand, or $9, per kilo for his wool. But since April, things have been tough, he told VOA, after China banned South African wool exports due to an outbreak in some areas of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease.

“Out of the ban by China, I’ve lost 60,000 rand, which is a lot of money to me as a small-scale farmer,” lamented Makinana, saying other sheep farmers in his area have wool just sitting in their sheds going to waste.

South Africa’s total wool exports are worth approximately $300 million per year, and about 80% of that goes to China. Local sheep farmers and industry groups are now calling on Beijing to lift the ban.

The ban has caused losses worth some 734 million rand, or $43 million, said Leon de Beer, general manager of the National Wool Growers’ Association.

“The ban is unwarranted since South Africa has protocols in place that regulate the storage of wool after shearing as stipulated,” he said, explaining that after shearing it is stored at the temperature required by the World Organization of Animal Health.

De Beer says there are more than 40,000 small-scale sheep farmers in South Africa who produce close to six million kilograms of wool annually. Their livelihoods and those of another 4,500 seasonal sheep shearers are now at risk.

The farmers were also only just recovering from the effects of drought, de Beer said, and now it looks like the first wool auction of the season, scheduled for 17 August, will be a washout too.

“These producers and surrounding communities will fall back into poverty should the Chinese market remain closed to wool from South Africa,” he told VOA.

Emerging Black Farmers

Christo van der Rheede, head of AgriSA, a federation of agricultural trade unions, echoed those concerns.

“Most our emerging farmers — we talk about 43,000 emerging Black farmers that are exporting the bulk of the wool to China — their entire households are suffering at this point in time,” said van der Rheede.

Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, explained that while most commercial farming in South Africa is still White-owned, almost 30 years after the end of apartheid, wool production is the industry has the largest share of Black farmers.

“Black farmers in South Africa make up about 18% of the wool production… and you compare that with other commodities where Black farmers make up roughly on average about 10% in commercial farming,” he said.

“South Africa is in a process of rebuilding or improving the contribution of Black farmers into their agricultural production, so the ban on their exports to China is really weighing on small-farmers,” he added.

Overreliance on China?

AgriSA’s Van der Rheede said the body is lobbying the South African government to take up its concerns with China.

“We’ve assured the China government that we’ve followed very, very strict protocol,” he told VOA.

“All areas where wool is being produced, those areas are not in any way affected by the disease, and they can also ensure that wool that is being exported (is) treated properly, so that no spores of foot and mouth can survive,” he added.

The Chinese Embassy in Pretoria did not respond to repeated request for comment, but Chinese state media has previously written about the foot-and-mouth outbreak in South Africa.

One article by Xinhua in April noted the outbreaks were caused by illegally moving animals out of foot and mouth disease-controlled zones in South Africa.

In 2019, an outbreak led to South Africa losing its World Organization for Animal Health foot and Mouth disease free zone status. At that time China stopped beef imports for several months.

In the most recent outbreak of the disease, China and Mozambique put in place trade restrictions.

For wool, Sihlobo said South Africa also sells to Mexico, the U.S. and elsewhere, but these are much smaller markets.

“South Africa is not really in a position to look for some other markets outside China, because in the world China continues to be the major buyer of wool,” he explained.

When the world’s second largest economy stops importing your product the effects can be devastating.

A Chinese ban on Australian wines as punishment for Canberra’s comments on the origins of COVID-19, hurt that industry.

In another political tit-for-tat, Beijing this week placed import bans on hundreds of Taiwanese food producers after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island this week.

The South African wool ban is not political retaliation, simply the move of a government concerned about contamination, but the ban has made evident the dangers of importing mainly to one country.

“This is hitting us heavily,” said farmer Makinana.
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With Pelosi Gone, China Circles Taiwan with Missiles

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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left Taiwan, but the effects of her visit continue to play out. China on Thursday intensified military exercises around the self-ruled island. More from VOA’s Bill Gallo in the Taiwanese capital.
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US Donates Military Vehicles to AU Troops in Somalia  

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The United States has donated 24 armored personnel carriers to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, three months after the deadliest attack in years on the U.S.-backed peacekeeping mission.

The handover, attended by U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Larry Andrè and senior officials of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, ATMIS, took place Thursday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

The 24 armored personnel carriers (APCs), donated by the U.S. government will boost the A.U. forces’ capability to fight militant group al-Shabab.

The specialized vehicles will be used by the A.U. Djiboutian contingent in joint military operations with the Somali National Army (SNA) in and around Beledweyne — the capital of Somalia’s central region of Hiran.

Ambassador Andrè said the APCs will protect troops against roadside bombs.

“The expression of our support, amongst other ways, is the donation of these vehicles to help protect African Union forces–in this case Djibouti’s military contingent–as they travel the roads of Somalia which too often will be trapped by dangerous explosive devices put there to harm those who only seek to help Somalia,” he said.

A top African Union official, Fiona Lortan, said the military hardware had arrived at an opportune time as the mission is reconfiguring its troops and equipment.

“On behalf of the African Union, its membership, and all the ATMIS troop contributing countries, including Djibouti and all the others since ATMIS is a collective effort of solidarity and support to the Somalia people, I would like to thank the government and the people of the United States for the generosity and steadfastness in supporting our presence in Somalia,” said Lortan.

Al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabab has been fighting Somalia’s government and A.U. peacekeepers in Somalia for 15 years, seeking to install a strict Islamist state like the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In May, the group attacked an ATMIS base in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region, using suicide bombers detonating three cars filled with explosives.

Islamist fighters then pounded the facility with heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing several dozen African Union peacekeepers from Burundi.

The military support by the U.S. comes as Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, announced that he is determined to wage war against al-Shabab militarily, as well as on economic and ideological grounds.

The Somali military said it conducted an operation against al-Shabab in Somalia’s central Hiran region this week, killing 30 al-Shabab fighters.

In May, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized re-deployment of U.S. troops to Somalia to help fight the militants. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled around 700 American troops from the east African country during the final month of his presidency.
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Erdogan and Putin to Meet in Sochi for 2nd Time in a Month

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. A just-concluded deal on freeing up Ukrainian grain, along with Russian backing for a new Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces will be on the agenda.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Friday meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi will be the second time the two leaders have met in a month.

The meeting comes just after the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain left the Black Sea under a Turkey-U.N.-brokered deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

Analyst Ilhan Uzgel of the Duvar news portal said Erdogan’s success in brokering the U.N. deal and the Sochi meeting sends a powerful message to Turkey’s western allies about the Turkish leader.

“It helps to ameliorate his troublemaker image internationally and regionally. He is still trying to show that he can make deals with Putin, showing to the United States and Biden administration that Putin is a close ally and friend of Erdogan. He can meet Putin twice a month,” he said.

Zaur Gasimov, a professor of history at Bonn University and a specialist on Turkish-Russian relations, said, with Ankara pursuing a balanced approach to the Ukrainian conflict, the grain deal will further deepen ties between Russia and Turkey.

“The current Turkish Russian relations have definite bonds with the current war in Ukraine. Ukraine wheat exports is a new chapter for the region, and Turkey plays a quite significant role as an intermediary. And also, close military cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey and the aspect of Turkey not joining the anti-Russian sanctions all that results in dynamics that are of importance to Moscow and for Ankara,” he said.

Turkey-Russia relations are intertwined from North Africa to the Middle East, to the Caucasus, in a mixture of rivalries and cooperation. The two also have a deepening partnership on energy.

Analyst Uzgel said Erdogan hopes the Sochi meeting will help resolve an impasse with Putin over Syria. The Turkish leader is looking to launch a major offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces, which Ankara accuses of being linked to an insurgency inside Turkey.

“They have already met in Tehran two weeks ago. It seems that Erdogan could not get what he wanted from Putin. The permission for a Turkish incursion in northern Syria, where he openly stated the names of two places, Tel Rifat and Manbij. Most likely that he is looking for the possibility of such a military move into Northern Syria,” he said.

Ankara needs Moscow’s cooperation for its military operation, given that Russia controls Syrian airspace.

Analyst Gasimov said Putin is wary of Turkey’s growing military presence in Syria but says the two leaders are experienced in managing differences.

“Definitely, we see certain inconveniences on both sides but also the very huge readiness to discuss it with each other,” he said.

That readiness to talk and the growing list of common interests across the region means the frequent meetings between the two leaders may become a regular thing.
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Cameroon Traditional Rulers Visit Villages Attacked by Nigeria’s Wildlife 

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Traditional rulers in Cameroon are urging villagers to stop farming near Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park after a flurry of human-wildlife conflict. Wildlife officials say animals from the park, Nigeria’s largest, have been crossing the Cameroon border to eat crops. Village chiefs say some farmers responded by killing the protected animals and were arrested by Nigerian rangers.

Villagers on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria say hunger looms in their villages after wildlife destroyed several maize fields, leaving farmers devastated.

The villagers say Ngoum, Katarko, Mayo Foorou and Mayo Lelewal, all villages in Banyo, a commercial, farming and cattle ranching district, were hit hardest by the damage.

Mohaman Gabdo Yahya is a lawmaker in Cameroon’s Senate and the traditional ruler of Banyo.

Yahya says within the past two months, animals from Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park have been causing havoc in Cameroonian border villages. He says lions from the park kill and eat cattle and sheep while elephants and primates ravage maize farms. Yahya says he is asking civilians who are disgruntled to be calm because Nigerian rangers harass Cameroonian farmers who fight back and kill wildlife from Nigeria’s Gashaka-Gumti National Park.

Yahya spoke on Thursday while visiting affected communities in Banyo.

He said farmers and cattle ranchers should stop extending farm and ranching lands to fertile areas found in Cameroonian territory around the park. He said the farmers and ranchers should return to areas where they were either farming or ranching before.

Cameroon wildlife officials say July was a period of harvest and animals from Nigeria’s park were attracted by the yields.

Villagers said they killed many animals. Wildlife officials attest that animals were killed, but say they do not know the number.

Traditional rulers in Banyo who visited affected villages said Nigerian rangers arrested some Cameroonians for killing animals.

Zubairu Haman Gabdo Mohamadou Sambo, the traditional ruler of Gashaka in Nigeria’s Taraba state, says Nigerian troops have been assisting rangers to maintain peace around the national park since July.

“We have Nigerian army barracks here and we always ensure that our people live in peace and harmony. We always try to foster peaceful coexistence especially at the border community,” he said, speaking via a messaging app from Gashaka.

This is not the first incident of human-wildlife conflict on the border. In 2020, Cameroon’s government reported that lions and elephants from Gashaka-Gumti killed seven Cameroonians and destroyed crops. Cameroonian villagers responded by attacking and killing some elephants, according to the West African state’s ministry of wildlife.

The about 6,500 square kilometer Gashaka-Gumti National Park is said to be the largest game reserve in Nigeria.

Both Cameroonian and Nigerian wildlife officials say the growing human presence in the park, including poaching, illegal grazing, mining, fishing, farming and logging has led to regular human-wildlife conflicts.
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With Group’s Help, US Airline Passengers Deliver Aid to Ukraine

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Travelers heading from the United States to Europe this summer can also help transport relief supplies to Ukraine. Khrystyna Shevchenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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NATO Chief: World is More Dangerous Place if Russia Wins Ukraine War

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday the Western military alliance has the joint tasks of both supporting Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion and to prevent the conflict from spreading into a war between Russia and NATO.

Speaking to a summer camp in his native Norway, Stoltenberg said NATO has a moral responsibility to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people who have been subjected to a war of aggression.

“We are seeing acts of war, attacks on civilians and destruction not seen since World War II,” Stoltenberg said, according to a NATO release of his prepared remarks.  “We cannot be indifferent to this.”

Stoltenberg said the world will be a more dangerous place if Russian President Vladimir Putin gets what he wants through the use of military force.

“If Russia wins this war, he will have confirmation that violence works.  Then other neighboring countries may be next,” he said.

Ukraine’s military said Thursday that Russian forces were shelling multiple areas in Ukraine, including those around Kharkiv, Slovyansk and Chernihiv.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces were using missiles and artillery attacks against Russian “military strongholds, personnel clusters, logistical support bases and ammunition depots.”  A ministry statement said such attacks were likely to have a high impact on Russia’s efforts to resupply and support its forces.

Energy crisis

Foreign ministers from the G-7 countries issued a statement late Wednesday saying they are looking at ways to “prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression and to curtail Russia’s ability to wage war.”

Noting efforts to phase out the use of Russian energy, the ministers said they will seek steps to reduce the amount of money Russia makes from its energy exports, while also trying to stabilize global energy markets and prevent harmful economic impacts on low- and middle-income nations.

“We remain committed to considering a range of approaches, including options for a comprehensive prohibition of all services that enable transportation of Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products globally, unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners,” the statement said.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Wednesday the organization is now looking at ways to ease the global energy crisis caused by the war.

Guterres said when negotiations to restart grain shipments from Ukraine started to gain traction, prices of wheat and fertilizer began to drop and are now at roughly pre-invasion levels. 

“But that doesn’t mean that bread in the bakery is at the same price as before the war,” he cautioned, noting global inflation rates. 

Guterres hopes to get energy markets to relax in anticipation that an understanding can be reached in which supply will exceed demand. 

“For that, there are two things that are essential,” he said. “One is, reduce consumption as much as possible. And second is, bet on a strong investment in renewable energy.” 

The U.N, chief criticized what he said is the “grotesque greed” of oil and gas companies whose profits are exploding with the energy crisis. 

“It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the back of the poorest people and communities, and at a massive cost to the climate,” he said, urging governments to tax these profits and use the revenue for social safety nets. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Months Into War, Ukraine Refugees Slow to Join EU Workforce

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Liudmyla Chudyjovych used to have a career as a lawyer in Ukraine and big plans for the future. That was before the Russian invasion forced the 41-year-old to put her daughter’s safety first and leave both her job and home behind.

Since fleeing the town of Stryj in western Ukraine in May, Chudyjovych has found a new job in the Czech Republic. But instead of practicing law, she’s had to settle for work as a housekeeper at a hotel in the capital, Prague.

“It’s just a different stage of my career,” she said. “That’s simply how it is.”

One of the millions of refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Feb. 24 Russian invasion, Chudyjovych considers herself lucky to have a job at all. Not fluent enough in either Czech or English, Chudyjovych said she didn’t mind the work as long as she and her daughter are safe.

Although the European Union introduced regulations early in the war to make it easier for Ukrainian refugees to live and work in its 27 member nations while they decide whether to seek asylum or return home, many are only now starting to find jobs — and many are still struggling.

Some 6.5 million Ukrainians, have entered the EU since February, according to Frontex, the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, streaming into neighboring countries before many moved on to more prosperous nations in the West. Around half have since returned to Ukraine.

Only a relatively small number of those who stayed had entered the EU labor market by mid-June, according to the European Commission.

A recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report looking at the potential impact Ukrainian refugees will have on the EU workforce projected it will be about twice as large as the 2014-17 inflow of refugees, which included many fleeing war in Syria.

The study estimated the Czech Republic, which has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, would add the most Ukrainians to its workforce by the end of the year, with an increase of 2.2%, followed by Poland and Estonia. About 1.2 million workers would be added to the European workforce overall, mainly in service occupations, the report said.

Still, the influx is unlikely to drive down wages or boost unemployment in European countries, many of which face labor shortages due in part to their aging populations.

“Considering the labor needs of the main host countries, a negative impact in terms of employment or wages for the resident population … seems very unlikely,” the report concluded.

The EU effort to help the Ukrainians has won praise from the U.N. Refugee Agency and other rights groups dealing with migration. But they also note a major difference in the treatment of people fleeing wars or poverty in the Middle East, Africa or Asia, who often have to wait years before overcoming the hurdles for acquiring residency papers or work permits.

Still, there are many challenges ahead for Ukrainian refugees looking for work.

In addition to language barriers, skilled workers from Ukraine often lack documentation to prove their professional credentials to get better-paid employment. Their diplomas may not be recognized in their host countries, meaning many have to take language and training courses before they can seek professional opportunities.

Because men between the ages of 18 and 60 are banned from leaving Ukraine, many refugees are women with children, which can be an additional obstacle for trying to find work. Many women are still weighing their options and might decide to return home for the start of the school year in September, officials say, despite the war being far from over.

In Poland, which has taken in about 1 million Ukrainian refugees, more than any other EU nation, just over a third have found work, according to the Polish minister of labor and social policy, Marlena Malag. Some have gotten jobs as nurses or Ukrainian language teachers in Polish schools, while others are working as housekeepers or waitresses.

In Portugal, some of the country’s largest companies have special job recruitment programs for Ukrainians, while the Institute for Employment and Professional Training offers free Portuguese language classes.

In Germany, about half of some 900,000 Ukrainian refugees have registered with the country’s employment agency, though no figures are available on how many have actually found jobs. The Mediendienst Integration group, which tracks migration in Germany, says about half have university degrees, but doesn’t specify how many have been able to work in their professional fields.

Natalia Borysova was chief editor of a morning TV show in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv before fleeing with her daughters, 11 and 13, in March, and settling in the German city of Cologne. She applied for low-paying jobs such as housekeeping, but ultimately decided to turn them down to focus on learning German.

“I’m an optimist and I am sure that I will find a job after learning the language,” the 41-year-old said via WhatsApp. “Perhaps on a different level than in Ukraine, but in the same field. Now it just doesn’t make sense for me to work for the minimum wage.”

Borysova, like other Ukrainian refugees, receives an allowance from the German government that helps the family pay for food and housing, but said she wants to return to work as soon as she masters German.

Chudyjovych is among some 400,000 Ukrainians in the Czech Republic who have registered for special long-term visas that grant access to jobs, health care, education and other benefits. Nearly 80,000 have already found work, the government said.

At the Background café in Prague’s Old Town, 15 Ukrainian refugees work with the Czech staff as part of a project sponsored by the Mama Coffee chain. The refugees also receive free language classes and other programs.

Lisa Himich, 22, from Kyiv, likes it and says “it feels like home here.”

For Chudyjovych, working as a housekeeper is far better than living in fear and under the constant sound of air raid sirens.

“I thought I would miss Ukraine and be homesick but that hasn’t happened at all,” Chudyjovych said. “It’s peaceful here, and I feel like a human being.”
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Closing Arguments Expected in Griner’s Russia Trial

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Closing arguments are expected Thursday in American basketball star Brittney Griner’s drug trial in a Russian court.

Griner is facing a potential sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.

She was arrested at a Moscow airport in February with what she has acknowledged were vape cannisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner’s lawyers argued she had no criminal intent and had been prescribed the cannabis to treat pain. U.S. officials said she was wrongfully detained.

Russian officials have said Griner violated Russian law.

In a call last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to accept a prisoner swap that would send Griner and accused spy Paul Whelan – who U.S. officials say is also wrongfully detained – to the United States.

People familiar with the matter say the U.S. proposal would include releasing arms trader Viktor Bout to Russia.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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As Food Prices Skyrocket, US Food Lines Get Longer

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From Phoenix, Arizona, in the southwest United States, to Jackson, Mississippi, in the southeast U.S., people are waiting in long lines in their vehicles to receive food assistance from food banks and mobile pantries.

Soaring inflation in the U.S. is raising the price of everything from food to gas to rent. And that’s been making it hard for many people to buy the food they need.

“We’re seeing a lot more families who are struggling to make ends meet because the dollar isn’t going as far as it used to at the grocery store,” said Kellie O’Connell, CEO at Nourishing Hope, a food pantry in Chicago. “So now folks are needing to make difficult choices like paying for medicine or buying food.”

In Phoenix, “a lot of people on fixed incomes, especially in our senior community, go to the grocery store and see the skyrocketing prices, especially on necessities like milk, eggs and meat,” said Jerry Brown, director of media relations for St. Mary’s Food Bank. “And they may not be able to afford these items.”

In Virginia, Maria Aguilar, who immigrated from El Salvador, works two jobs to stay afloat and take care of her three children.

“Going to the grocery store is a challenge because food is so expensive,” she told VOA. “Knowing I can get additional food makes a big difference,” she said, as she brought bread, fruit and other provisions to her car at Food for Others, a food bank in Fairfax, Viriginia, near Washington.

More food needed

The demand for food is continuing to grow.

“Last week, the number jumped to about 68% at our main locations in Phoenix — that’s 800 to 1,200 families a month,” Brown said.

“We are seeing much longer lines at food pantries and soup kitchens in Mississippi,” said Kelly Durrett, director of external affairs for the Mississippi Food Network.

The network’s 430 partners provide food to those in need in the state, the poorest in the U.S. Starting in June, Durrett said, the number of people coming to the network’s partners had increased between 10% and 20%.

“Our clientele is the working poor who have minimum wage jobs that keep them at the poverty level,” Durrett told VOA.

“Some people are arriving early at mobile food pantries, waiting for them to open,” she said. “With so much demand, some pantries quickly run out of food.”

The largest food bank in the U.S., in the city of Houston, Texas, feeds some 1 million people every year through schools, churches and other partners.

Brian Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank, told VOA, “We’re not having to turn anyone away, but we can’t be as generous with food now as we would like. A family is probably not going to get as much food as they would have a year ago.”

Some are concerned that the food situation could become as serious as it was during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re inching closer every month,” said Meredith Knopp, president and CEO of the St. Louis Area Foodbank. “It is troubling to see so many people in line and needing assistance, many for the first time. We also have people who are coming and saying, ‘I’m only able to feed my kids, and I haven’t eaten in two days.'”

Lack of donations

Annie Turner, executive director of Food for Others, said that while the need for food has gone up, food donations have gone down.

“The number of families who came to our warehouse to get food nearly doubled from June 2021 to June 2022,” she said. At the same time, “we’ve seen a 42% decrease in food donations since the high cost of food is also affecting our donors.”

“We used to purchase about 9% of the food we distributed,” she added, “but now that’s grown to 32% during this past year.”

The story is similar at other food banks across the U.S.

“Our donations from grocery stores have decreased by about 33%, and so we have to supplement that by buying food,” said O’Connell in Chicago.

In Phoenix, “we will probably have to purchase about 200% more food in the coming year since we know we’re not going to receive it in donations,” Brown said.

Seeking help

“I’m hopeful that communities will rally to provide food aid like they did during the coronavirus pandemic.” O’Connell said.

“We’re telling local farmers that we’ll arrange for volunteers to pick fruit and vegetables that can be distributed to people in need,” Knopp said.

At Food for Others, William Gonzales said he was grateful for the food he had been given. “My family has been struggling, and this is helping make our lives so much easier.”

The network’s 430 partners provide food to those in need in the state, the poorest in the U.S. Starting in June, Durrett said, the number of people coming to the network’s partners had increased between 10% and 20%.
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US Senate Committee Holds Hearing for 3 Women Nominated to African Ambassador Posts

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Three career diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service answered questions Wednesday from senators during a hearing examining their credentials to lead U.S. diplomatic missions in Africa. If confirmed, three of the toughest diplomatic missions abroad will be led by women, who told the lawmakers that serving on the diplomatic front lines is a privilege and that they are committed to doing what they can to further peace and prosperity in the region.

Lucy Tamlyn, who currently heads the U.S. diplomatic mission in Sudan as chargé d’affaires, may soon head south to the Democratic Republic of Congo to serve as ambassador. The DRC is the largest country, by size, in sub-Saharan Africa.

In her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tamlyn described the DRC as a country of enormous size, complexity, and promise, and said “the DRC’s dynamic, entrepreneurial, and creative population of over 100 million are eager to engage with the United States.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of both Foreign Relations and the Appropriations Committee, which has authority over U.S. foreign aid, pointed to the challenges awaiting Tamlyn at the hearing.

“The DRC is an incredibly complicated place with all sorts of rivalries and conflict, especially in the East. My question for you is: what do you think is at the heart of those conflicts and what do you think you can do as U.S. ambassador to try to address them in the long-term interest of stability in the DRC?” Van Hollen, himself the son of a career U.S. Foreign Service officer, asked.

A lack of governance, coupled with the possession of vast natural resources formed the basis of some of most entrenching challenges the DRC has faced, Tamlyn said in response to Van Hollen’s question.

“There’s inevitably a competition, both inside the country as well as outside, for access to those resources. In the absence of strong government providing services to the people, you have instead a whole network of armed groups which provide some form of local governance,” a situation that poses problems, she said.

Tamlyn said it is important to communicate to the country and its people that things could change.

“We want the Congolese people to know that corrupt mineral exploitation deals, illegal logging and environmental devastation is not inevitable, and that there are alternatives,” she said.

The United States is committed to supporting governments and leaders that provide security and services to the people, she said, while vowing to use “all our diplomatic tools, including leveraging visa ineligibilities and sanctions, to help the Congolese fight corruption,” which she said was a common aspiration among the population.

The committee also heard the testimony of two other senior career diplomats nominated to head embassies in Mali and Ivory Coast, both in West Africa.

If confirmed, Jessica Davis Ba will represent the United States in Ivory Coast and Rachna Sachdeva Korhonen will lead the diplomatic mission in Mali.

The State Department currently places Mali on Level 4: Do Not Travel in its Travel Advisory. Ivory Coast and the DRC both are Level 3: Reconsider Travel.

The three senior members of the U.S. Foreign Service fully embraced the assignments awaiting them.

“If confirmed, my husband and our five sons will be going with me,” Davis Ba told the lawmakers, pointing to her husband and eldest son sitting behind her.

Korhonen, whose family emigrated to the United States from India, told the senators that in looking at her, they were looking at “an American dream come true.”

Meanwhile, Tamlyn, whose home in the eastern U.S. state of Rhode Island stands in sharp contrast with the heat in central Africa, said in her testimony that “I feel privileged to have served in countries where we are literally on the front lines, where U.S. diplomacy really matters, and side by side with colleagues who answer the call despite the personal, family, and health sacrifices entailed.”

The DRC, Mali and Ivory Coast are among “some of the most difficult ambassadorships,” former U.S. Ambassador to Chad Christopher E. Goldthwait said in a written interview with VOA.

“These are not glamour posts, but are in the forefront or representing U.S. interests on a continent that suffers from great poverty and instability, but has enormous potential and the fastest population growth on the globe.”

Representing U.S. interests in these three countries and furthering the economic and political development that is at the core of these interests will not be easy, Goldthwait said, but he had no doubt the three senior members of the U.S. Foreign Service are up to the challenge.

“It’s always encouraging to see seasoned career foreign service officers entrusted with some of the most difficult ambassadorships,” he said. 
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China Reacts Fiercely to Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit  

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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded on Wednesday a whirlwind visit to Taiwan that was warmly welcomed by the Taiwanese government and seen by Beijing as a “major political provocation” and a challenge to China’s sovereignty.

China said punishment for the United States and Taiwan would follow. Here’s what Beijing has done so far.

On the diplomatic front: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi condemned Pelosi’s visit as a violation of the “one China” policy, according to Chinese state media CGTN. He told reporters on the sideline of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia that “those who offend China will be punished.” Yet when asked Wednesday in a daily briefing about what punishment was planned, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded by asking “for some additional patience and confidence.”

On Tuesday night as Pelosi landed in Taipei, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng called in Nicholas Burns, the American ambassador in Beijing, to protest the visit. China’s state Xinhua News Agency quoted Xie as saying that “the United States says one thing, does another,” and “uses any means to play the ‘Taiwan card.’ ”

On the military front: China’s People’s Liberation Army said it would be conducting live-fire drills Thursday through Sunday on six swaths of sea surrounding Taiwan, according to CGTN. Hua Chunying, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday this was to “dialogue with the U.S. and the Taiwan separatist forces in a language they can understand.”

The large-scale drill could mark a new stage of brinkmanship. A spokesman for Taiwan’s defense ministry, Major General Sun Li-fang, said Wednesday that Taiwan would resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and national security but would not irrationally escalate conflicts. “We prepare for war, but we do not seek it,” he said.

On the economic front: China has unleashed a slew of retaliatory restrictions aimed at Taiwan.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced it had suspended natural sand exports to Taiwan, without specifying why. China’s Xinhua News Agency quoted a ministry spokesperson as saying the suspension was “in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.” 

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that it would suspend imports of grapefruit, lemons, oranges and other citrus fruits from Taiwan. China’s General Administration of Customs said the products had been found to contain pests and excessive pesticides residue on multiple occasions. 
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Kenya Could Elect First Female Deputy President in August Poll

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Out of the four candidates running in Kenya’s presidential election next week, three have running mates who are women, including frontrunner Raila Odinga. The election could herald a breakthrough in Kenya’s national politics. But female politicians say getting to this historic point has been no easy journey, as Juma Majanga reports from Nairobi.
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China Launches Military Exercises as Pelosi Completes Taiwan Visit

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China is warning that Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit will have a “severe impact” on ties with the United States, while the House speaker made clear in Taipei that Washington would not abandon Taiwan in the face of Beijing threats. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Biden Still COVID Positive but Continues to Feel Well, Doctor Says

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U.S. President Joe Biden continues to test positive for COVID-19, but he feels well and remains fever-free, according to a statement from his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.  

O’Connor said in a statement that Biden enjoyed a light workout prior to his Wednesday morning exam. He added that the president is dealing with an occasional cough, but not as frequently as the previous day. Biden’s temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation remain normal and his lungs are still clear.  

The U.S. president will continue to remain in strict isolation as he recovers from this rebound case, which was detected July 30.  

The White House says despite testing positive for COVID-19, Biden continues to work from his executive residence. He also continues to be cautious to protect any staff of the Executive Residence, Secret Service, or White House whose jobs require them to be close in proximity to him.  

Biden tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time in late July and was cleared from isolation July 27.  

Since testing positive again, Biden has canceled a trip to Michigan and one to his home in Delaware. On the evening of August 1, he addressed a small pool of reporters from a distance on the killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. 

 
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Kansas Voters Uphold Abortion Rights in US Heartland 

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Voters in the U.S. state of Kansas have resoundingly upheld abortion rights in the first ballot measure since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 49-year-old national constitutional right to abortion and returned the issue to each of the country’s 50 states.

Polling had suggested that voters in the reliably conservative state might approve giving the legislature the right to overturn the state constitution’s provision guaranteeing that women can decide whether to end their pregnancies up to about 22 weeks of gestation.

Instead, voters flocked to the polls in summertime heat on Tuesday and upheld abortion rights by a 59%-to-41% margin after widespread door-to-door campaigns by both abortion supporters and opponents.

 

Elsewhere, candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump generally fared well in Republican primary elections to pick nominees for the November elections against Democratic challengers. The outcome displayed Trump’s continuing hold on his base of supporters as he hints broadly at another run for the presidency in 2024.

Several of the Republican winners adopted Trump’s debunked claims that he was cheated out of another term in the White House during his 2020 run for re-election.

In Arizona, Trump’s choice for a U.S. Senate seat, Blake Masters, won a primary, as did his pick for secretary of state, Mark Finchem, a 2020 election denier who has publicly acknowledged his affiliation with the far-right Oath Keepers militia, a group linked to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In vote-counting that is continuing, Trump’s choice for the Republican nominee in Arizona’s gubernatorial race, Kari Lake, has taken a narrow lead over Karrin Taylor Robson, the candidate backed by Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president.

In addition, Rusty Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House who gained national attention after testifying against Trump at the January 6 congressional investigative hearings, lost his bid for state Senate.

But Trump had mixed results in his continuing effort to defeat fellow Republicans who voted to impeach him on claims that he instigated last year’s riot.

A Trump-backed congressional challenger in Michigan, John Gibbs, defeated Representative Peter Meijer, one of 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump before he left office.

But Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse in Washington state, two other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, appeared to survive primary election challenges from Trump-backed candidates to advance to the November balloting.

The abortion vote in Kansas in the rural U.S. heartland could resonate nationally in the November congressional elections, giving Democrats, most of them abortion-rights supporters, a chance to campaign on the issue at a time when they are facing political headwinds, chiefly because of surging consumer prices and the highest inflation rate in four decades.

Many Democratic candidates are intending to claim their Republican opponents, many of whom want to restrict or ban abortion, are out of step with national sentiment, while Republican candidates are seeking to tie Democrats to what they argue is President Joe Biden’s mismanagement of the American economy and overspending by the Democratic-controlled Congress.

Former Democratic Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who served as the U.S. health secretary under then-President Barack Obama, said after the Kansas vote, “I think it should indicate both in Kansas and nationally that people can be energized around the notion that the Republicans are determined to have government mandates about women’s health care decisions, and that is something that doesn’t sit well with lots of people.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said in a statement, “Reproductive freedom is a winning issue, now and in November. Anti-choice lawmakers take note: The voters have spoken, and they will turn out at the ballot box to oppose efforts to restrict reproductive freedom.”

More state-by-state abortion votes are expected in coming elections.

But with June’s Supreme Court decision, about half the U.S. states have already imposed or are likely to sanction almost-total abortion bans, while sometimes allowing for exceptions in the case of women being impregnated by rape or incest or concern that they might die if carrying a fetus to term.

Meanwhile, about half the states have codified abortion rights or hope to with passage of November referendums.
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Iceland on Code Red as Volcano Erupts

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A code red alert has been declared in Iceland after a volcano erupted Wednesday near the capital, Reykjavik, at a site that erupted last year, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said.

The IMO said the eruption took place in an unpopulated area 30 kilometers from the capital city and that no lives were in danger. 

The eruption is near the site of the Mount Fagradalsfjall volcano, which had been active from March to September of 2021.

If Wednesday’s volcanic activity is confirmed to be similar to the fissures seen last year, the code red aviation alert could be lowered to orange, signaling less danger, an agency spokesperson said.

Lava is reportedly coming from a crack in the ground, according to natural hazard specialist Einar Hjorleifsson, who spoke to Bloomberg.  

Iceland is also known for earthquakes that sometimes cause volcanic eruptions because two of the earth’s largest tectonic plates lie under the country.

Iceland has 32 volcanic areas that are currently active, the highest number in Europe. 
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