Month: August 2022

Nigeria’s Osun River: Sacred, Revered and Increasingly Toxic

Posted on by SeeAF

Yeyerisa Abimbola has dedicated most of her 58 years on Earth to the Osun, a waterway in deeply religious Nigeria named for the river goddess of fertility. As the deity’s chief priestess, she leads other women known as servants of Osun in daily worship and sacrificial offerings along the riverbank.

But with each passing day, she worries more and more about the river. Once sparkling and clear and home to a variety of fish, today it runs mucky and brown.

“The problem we face now are those that mine by the river,” Abimbola said. “As you can see, the water has changed color.”

The river, which flows through the dense forest of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove — designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 — is revered for its cultural and religious significance among the Yoruba-speaking people predominant in southwestern Nigeria, where Osun is widely worshipped.

But it’s under constant threat from pollution from waste disposal and other human activity — especially the dozens of illegal gold miners across Osun state whose runoff is filling the sacred river with toxic metals. Amid lax enforcement of environmental laws in the region, there are also some who use the river as a dumping ground, further contributing to its contamination.

The servants of Osun, made up of women mostly between the ages of 30 and 60, live in a line of one-room apartments along the side of the Osogbo palace, the royal house of the the Osogbo monarch about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) north of the grove and river.

They leave behind everything from their secular lives, including marriages, to serve both the goddess and the king. They have little interaction with outsiders, allowing them to devote themselves fully to the goddess, whom they worship daily at a shrine tucked deep inside the grove.

Often seen in flowing white gowns symbolizing the purity the river represents, the women carry out various tasks for the goddess from dawn to dusk, from overseeing sacrificial offerings, mostly live animals and drinks, to carrying out cultural activities in the Osun’s waters. Some say the goddess heals them of afflictions when they drink or bathe in the river, and others say she can provide wealth or fertility.

One servant of Osun, who goes by the name Oluwatosin, said the river brought her a child when she was having difficulties with childbirth. Now the mother of two children, she intends to remain forever devoted to the river and the goddess.

“It is my belief, and Osun answers my prayers,” Oluwatosin said.

The river also serves as an important “pilgrimage point” for Yoruba people in Nigeria, said Ayo Adams, a Yoruba scholar — especially during the Osun-Osogbo festival, a colorful annual celebration that draws thousands of Osun worshippers and tourists “to celebrate the essence of the Yoruba race.” Some attendees say it offers the chance for a personal encounter with the goddess.

But this year, as the two-week August festival neared, palace authorities announced they had been forced to take the unusual step of telling people to stop drinking the water.

“We have written to the state government, the museum on the activities of the illegal miners and for them to take actions to stop them,” said Osunyemi Ifarinu Ifabode, the Osun chief priest.

Osun state is home to some of Nigeria’s largest gold deposits, and miners in search of gold and other minerals — many of them operating illegally — are scattered across swampy areas in remote villages where there is scant law enforcement presence. While community leaders in Osogbo have been able to keep miners out of the immediate area, they’re essentially free to operate with impunity upstream and to the north.

The miners take water from the river to use in exploration and exploitation, and the runoff flows back into it and other waterways, polluting the drinking water sources of thousands of people.

“It is more or less like 50% of the water bodies in Osun state, so the major water bodies here have been polluted,” said Anthony Adejuwon, head Urban Alert, a nonprofit leading advocacy efforts to protect the Osun River.

Urban Alert conducted a series of tests on the Osun in 2021 and found it to be “heavily contaminated.” The report, which was shared with The Associated Press, found lead and mercury levels in the water at the grove that were, respectively, 1,000% and 2,000% above what’s permissible under the Nigerian Industrial Standard. Urban Alert attributes it to many years of mining activity, some of it within 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the river.

Despite the drinking ban issued by the palace, during a recent visit AP witnessed residents trooping to the river daily to fill up gallon containers for domestic use.

Dr. Emmanuel Folami, a physician based in Osogbo, the state capital, said drinking the toxic water or otherwise using it for purposes that risk human exposure is a “big health concern” that could cause lead poisoning.

In March, the Osun state government announced the arrest of “several individuals for illicit mining, seizures and site closures,” and promised it was studying the level of pollution of the river and ways to address it.

But activists question the sincerity and commitment behind such efforts: “If we cannot see the state government taking action within its own jurisdiction as a (mining) license holder, what are we going to say about the other people?” said Adejuwon of Urban Alert, which is running a social media campaign with the hashtag #SaveOsunRiver.

Abimbola, a servant of Osun since she was just 17 years old, said the goddess is tolerant and giving. She thanks Osun for her blessings — a home, children, good health.

“Every good thing that God does for people, Osun does the same,” she said.

Yet she and others warn that even Osun has her limits.

There may be problems if the river remains contaminated and Osun “gets angry or is not properly appeased,” said Abiodun Fasoyin, a village chief in Esa-Odo, where much of the mining takes place, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Osogbo.

“The riverbank will overflow and sweep people away when it is angry,” Abimbola said. “Don’t do whatever she doesn’t want.”
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Wind Energy Boom and Golden Eagles Collide in the US West

Posted on by SeeUS

The rush to build wind farms to combat climate change is colliding with preservation of one of the U.S. West’s most spectacular predators — the golden eagle — as the species teeters on the edge of decline.

Ground zero in the conflict is Wyoming, a stronghold for golden eagles that soar on 7-foot (2-meter) wings and a favored location for wind farms. As wind turbines proliferate, scientists say deaths from collisions could drive down golden eagle numbers considered stable at best.

Yet climate change looms as a potentially greater threat: Rising temperatures are projected to reduce golden eagle breeding ranges by more than 40% later this century, according to a National Audubon Society analysis.

That leaves golden eagles doubly vulnerable — to the shifting climate and to the wind energy promoted as a solution to that warming world.

“We have some of the best golden eagle populations in Wyoming, but it doesn’t mean the population is not at risk,” said Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, Wyoming. “As we increase wind development across the U.S., that risk is increasing.”

Turbine blades hundreds of feet long are among myriad threats to golden eagles, which are routinely shot, poisoned by lead, hit by vehicles and electrocuted on power lines.

The tenuous position of golden eagles contrasts with the conservation success of their avian cousins, bald eagles, whose numbers have quadrupled since 2009. There are an estimated 346,000 bald eagles in the U.S., versus about 40,000 golden eagles, which need much larger areas to survive and are more inclined to have trouble with humans.

Federal officials have tried to curb turbine deaths, while avoiding any slowdown in the growth of wind power as an alternative to carbon-emitting fossil fuels — a key piece of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

In April, a Florida-based power company pleaded guilty in federal court in Wyoming to criminal violations of wildlife protection laws after its wind turbines killed more than 100 golden eagles in eight states. It was the third conviction of a major wind company for killing eagles in a decade.

Despite the deaths, scientists like Bedrosian say more turbines are needed to fight climate change. He and colleague Charles Preston are finding ways wind companies can reduce or offset eagle deaths, such as building in areas less frequented by the birds, improving habitat elsewhere or retrofitting power poles to make them less perilous when eagles land.

“It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it’s a start and I think it’s the way to go,” Preston said. “It’s a societal question: Is there room for them and us? It’s not just golden eagles. They are kind of a window into the bigger picture.”

Dangling from a rope 30 feet (9 meters) above the ground with a canvas bag slung around his neck, Bedrosian shouldered his way into a golden eagle nest lodged in a cliff ledge in northwestern Wyoming. As an adult eagle circled in the distance, the scientist made an awkward grab for the young eagle in the nest, slid a leather hood over its head then wrestled the bird into the bag.

The 6-week-old bird was lowered and carefully extracted by Preston, a zip tie around its feet as a precaution against talons more than an inch long.

“The key is not to forget later to cut the zip tie,” Bedrosian said.

The eaglet went on a scale — about 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms). Bedrosian drew some blood from a wing to test for lead exposure, and Preston clamped onto each leg a metal band with numbers for identification if the eagle’s recaptured or found dead. 

Golden eagles don’t mate until about 5 years old and produce about one chick every two years, so adult eagle deaths have outsized impacts on the population, Bedrosian said.

Illegal shootings are the biggest cause of death, killing about 700 golden eagles annually, according to federal estimates. More than 600 die annually in collisions with cars, wind turbines and power lines; about 500 annually are electrocuted and more than 400 are poisoned.

“Wind mortality wasn’t a thing for golden eagles 10 years ago,” Bedrosian said. “I don’t want to pick on wind as the only thing. … But it’s the additive nature of all these things and several are increasing. Vehicle strikes are increasing. Climate change is increasing. Wind is increasing.”

Federal officials won’t divulge how many eagles are reported killed by wind farms, saying it’s sensitive law enforcement information. The recent criminal prosecution of a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, one of the largest U.S. renewable energy providers, offered a glimpse into the problem’s scope.

The company pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and was ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after killing at least 150 eagles — including more than 100 goldens at wind farms in Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois.

Government officials said the mortality was likely higher because some turbines killed multiple eagles and carcasses are not always found.

Prosecutors said the company’s failure to take steps to protect eagles or to obtain permits to kill the birds gave it an advantage over competitors that did take such steps — even as NextEra and affiliates received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits for wind power.

The company remained defiant after the plea deal: NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa said bird collisions with turbines were unavoidable accidents that should not be criminalized.

Utilities Duke Energy and PacifiCorp previously pleaded guilty to similar charges in Wyoming. North Carolina-based Duke Energy was sentenced in 2013 to $1 million in fines and restitution and five years probation following deaths of 14 golden eagles and 149 other birds at two of the company’s wind projects.

A year later, Oregon-based PacifiCorp received $2.5 million in fines and five years probation after 38 golden eagle carcasses and 336 other protected birds were discovered at two of its sites.

The number of wind turbines nationwide more than doubled over the past decade to almost 72,000, according to U.S. Geological Survey data, with development overlapping prime golden eagle territory in states including Wyoming, Montana, California, Washington and Oregon.

USGS scientists concluded in a recent study that if anticipated growth in wind energy by 2040 occurs, increased turbine-caused deaths could cut golden eagle populations by almost half over 10 years.

However, the fact that no population-wide declines have been seen in recent years suggests some uncertainty in the projections. said lead author Jay Diffendorfer.

Federal wildlife officials are pushing wind companies to enroll in a permitting program that allows them to kill eagles if the deaths are offset.

Companies with permits can pay utilities to retrofit power poles, so lines are spaced far enough that eagles can’t be easily electrocuted. Every 11 poles retrofitted typically means one eagle death avoided annually.

Nationwide, 34 permits in place last year authorized companies to “take” 170 golden eagles — meaning that many birds could be killed by turbines or lost through impacts on nests or habitat.

For each loss, companies are responsible for ensuring at least one eagle death is avoided somewhere else. Using conservative estimates that overcount potential deaths could even mean a gain of eagles in the long run, said Brian Millsap, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s eagle program.

“This sounds crass but it’s realistic. Eagles are going to be incidentally killed at wind farms,” he said. “We’ve got to reduce other things that will allow wind energy development.”

Agency officials would not disclose which companies hold permits. An Associated Press public records review shows most are wind farms.

Federal officials collect golden eagle death data through an online reporting system used by government agencies, companies, scientists, tribes and private groups.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials declined to release the data because they said it could be used in future law enforcement cases.

The nests where Bedrosian and Preston are doing population studies are about 60 miles (96 kilometers) from the nearest wind farm — 114 turbines that PacifiCorp began operating about two years ago near the Wyoming-Montana border.

Personnel on site scan the skies with binoculars for eagles and can shut down turbines when the birds approach.

“We tend to see more golden eagles in prairie areas where you’re going to have the best wind regimes,” said Travis Brown, a biologist with PacifiCorp. “It’s almost like competition for the wind resource because the birds are using it for movement.”

Ten PacifiCorp wind farms have permits authorizing the incidental killing of eagles and an application is pending for two more, the company said.

Company representatives declined to say how many eagles have died under its federal permits. They said PacifiCorp’s been building a “bank” of retrofitted power poles to offset eagle deaths and also wants to try new approaches such as painting turbine blades to be more visible and easier to avoid.

“We’re working as hard as we can to avoid and minimize (deaths) up front, and then anything we can’t we’re mitigating on the back end,” Brown said.
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Tree (House) Grows in Brooklyn; Six-Story Apartment Building Has Wooden Beams

Posted on by SeeUS

 From the street, 670 Union Street looks like one in a line of brick buildings on a tree-lined block in Brooklyn.  

But inside, exposed timber beams, columns and floorboards make it clear this 14-apartment condominium is no typical New York City building. 

“Timber House is the first mass-timber condo building in the city, perhaps the state,” Eric Liftin, principal of Mesh Architectures and the condo’s architect and co-developer, said in an interview. 

“It’s built out of a structure of wood, which is very unusual for a six-story-building like this, which would normally be built out of concrete and steel.”  

Timber House, completed in May after about 2-1/2 years of construction, is made of glue-laminated timber, a type of structurally engineered wood known as mass timber. In this case, the wood is Douglas fir from Washington state.  

Liftin said mass-timber buildings are more common in the Pacific Northwest. Europe also has buildings supported by wooden beams, and a 25-story, mass-timber mixed-use building opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this summer.  

The architect said he chose wood for its esthetic qualities and negative carbon footprint. 

“Timber is a renewable resource,” Liftin said. “As an alternative to concrete and steel, it’s a beautiful material that makes incredible spaces to dwell in that is a sustainable way to build.”  

Building operations are also energy efficient. Timber House is highly insulated, its roof has solar panels, and it uses electric heat pumps for heating and cooling. Each parking spot in its downstairs garage has an electric vehicle charging station.  

Liftin said he hopes the building will serve as a model for future building in New York. 

Suzan Wines, owner of I-Beam Design and an adjunct associate professor at City College of New York’s architecture school, described wood’s climate-change advantages. 

“Steel and concrete have a fairly large carbon footprint in terms of their production,” Wines said, noting that each material accounts for about 10% of carbon dioxide emissions globally around the world. “… Wood, on the other hand, basically has zero or negative carbon footprint” because trees sequester carbon as they grow, she said. 

“So, this basically gives trees an almost negative impact.”  

As for fire safety, Liftin said mass timber is not very flammable, forms an insulating “char layer” when burned, and can maintain its structure in response to a blaze as long as steel can.  

Wines noted that the International Building Code of 2021 added a provision allowing buildings up to 18 stories high using timber. 

Prices range from under $600,000 for a studio to over $3 million for a three-bedroom apartment. Twelve of the 14 condos have sold, and residents are due to begin moving in this fall. 
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8 Killed in Attack at Hotel in Somali Capital

Posted on by SeeAF

At least eight people have been killed in an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital.

Witnesses told VOA’s Somali Service that they heard two or three blasts near the Hayat Hotel at the KM4 junction Friday evening.

A police officer told Reuters news service that one car bomb hit near the hotel, and another hit the hotel’s gate.

Gunfire could still be heard early Saturday as police tried to flush the attackers out of the hotel, The Associated Press reported.

Several people were wounded in the incident.

Islamist militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the blasts. A statement on the group’s website said, “Our fighters seized the hotel and are fighting now inside. We are targeting government officials who are in the hotel.”

The group, which has been waging an insurgency in Somalia for about 15 years, often targets cafes and hotels like the Hayat in Mogadishu that are patronized by political and security officials.

Some information in this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press. 
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DOJ in Quandary as It Mulls Disclosing Trump Search Document

Posted on by SeeUS

A federal judge has given the U.S. Justice Department one week to redact an affidavit used to justify the recent search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence before the rest of the document could be made public.

The document is being sought by a group of news outlets following the unprecedented search that was carried out as part of an ongoing federal investigation of Trump’s handling of classified documents that he took to Mar-a-Lago.

The court-issued warrant used to search Trump’s residence was unsealed last week, showing that Trump is under investigation for several potential crimes including obstruction of justice and a possible violation of the Espionage Act. The law makes it a crime to obtain and release national defense information that could be used to harm the United States and benefit its enemies.

But prosecutors oppose unsealing the more sensitive affidavit, the legal document they presented to a judge to obtain the search warrant.

Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control section, argued that the document contains so much sensitive information that redacting it would practically render it worthless.

“There would be nothing of substance,” Bratt said during Thursday’s hearing with U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart.

The search of Trump’s residence during which agents removed 11 sets of classified documents he had taken from the White House and failed to turn over to the National Archives has set off an angry backlash from the former president and his allies.

Trump claims he had a “standing order” to declassify all documents removed from the Oval Office, a notion questioned by many national security experts.

The FBI investigation of Trump’s handling of the classified documents is in its early stages, Bratt said in court Thursday.

The sought-after affidavit would almost certainly reveal far more information about the investigation than did the search warrant, said Jordan Strauss, a former Justice Department official now a managing director at Kroll, an investigation and risk consultancy.

“If, for example, there’s a confidential human informant or other source of information, it could reveal that,” Strauss said in an interview. “And while there is no indication that this is the case, if there was a wiretap, if there was an anonymous tip given to the FBI or another law enforcement agency, or if there are other sources or methods in which information is being gathered, like if there were a cooperating individual or a cooperating defendant whose indictment is under seal — all of that could become public if there was no significant redaction.”

An affidavit, typically filed by an FBI agent, outlines the type of crime under investigation, the reason prosecutors believe evidence of that crime can be found at the location, and the source of the government’s information.

In general, an affidavit is released once a defendant is charged with a crime, but not while an investigation is ongoing.

In deciding whether to disclose the affidavit, the government finds itself in a quandary, said Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law professor at Columbia University in New York.

“On one hand, if you really do strain to protect all confidential sources and keep investigations quiet to the extent possible, then you’ll be tossing out this odd series of sentences that will become a Rorschach test for the American public,” Richman said in an interview. “Those looking for a reason to believe that this is a witch hunt, will find some. Those inclined to think the government has reason to go forward with this search will be satisfied.”

“Having a ragtag document floating around might not serve anyone’s purpose and even more will create this really bad precedent of the media thinking that they could always push for release of at least some portion of an affidavit in high-profile cases,” Richman said.

But news outlets say given the historic significance of searching a former president’s home, releasing the affidavit is in the public interest.

“The raid on Mar-a-Lago by the FBI is already one of the most significant law enforcement events in the nation’s history,” Charles Tobin, a lawyer representing the media groups, said during the hearing. 
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Putin to Allow Inspectors to Visit Russia-Occupied Nuclear Plant 

Posted on by SeeEU

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the French presidency said Friday, as fears grow over fighting near the site. 

According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered” his demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear site. 

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the IAEA’s aim to send a mission” to the plant. 

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Moscow’s forces occupying Zaporizhzhia not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies of electricity to millions of Ukrainians. 

A flare-up in fighting around the Russian-controlled nuclear power station — with both sides blaming each other for attacks — has raised the specter of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl. 

The Kremlin said that Putin and Macron agreed that the IAEA should carry out inspections “as soon as possible” to “assess the real situation on the ground.” 

Putin also “stressed that the systematic shelling by the Ukrainian military of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe,” the Kremlin added. 

‘Most tragic’ summer

The warning came a day after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Guterres, meeting in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, sounded the alarm over the fighting, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United Nations to secure the site. 

“This summer may go down in the history of various European countries as one of the most tragic of all time,” Zelenskyy said in his Friday evening address. 

“No instruction at any nuclear power plant in the world provides a procedure in case a terrorist state turns a nuclear power plant into a target.” 

During his visit to the southern port of Odesa on Friday, the U.N. secretary-general said that “obviously, the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity. This principle must be fully respected.” 

“Naturally, its energy must be used by the Ukrainian people,” he told AFP in separate comments.  

On Thursday, Moscow said Kyiv was preparing a “provocation” at the site that would see Russia “accused of creating a man-made disaster at the plant.”  

Kyiv, however, insisted that Moscow was planning the provocation, and said Russia’s occupying forces had ordered most staff to stay home Friday. 

The United States on Friday announced a new $775 million arms package, including more precision-guided missiles for HIMARS systems that enable Ukraine to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines.
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Trump Wouldn’t Be First Former World Leader Facing Criminal Charges

Posted on by SeeUS

Experts say the unsealing of court documents Thursday sharpens the focus on former President Donald Trump as a possible subject of a criminal investigation into his removal and storage of sensitive documents from the White House. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, the U.S. has now joined other democratic countries in investigating a former leader.
Camera: Celia Mendoza
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Nord Stream 1 Pipeline to Shut Briefly in Latest Fuel Blow to Europe

Posted on by SeeEU

Russia will halt natural gas supplies to Europe for three days at the end of the month via its main pipeline into the region, state energy giant Gazprom said Friday, piling pressure on the region as it seeks to refuel ahead of winter. 

The unscheduled maintenance order on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany, deepens an energy standoff between Moscow and Brussels, which has already helped send inflation surging in the region and raised the risk of rationing and recession. 

Gazprom said the three-day shutdown was necessary because the pipeline’s only remaining gas compressor requires maintenance. The move will bring further disruption, particularly for Germany, which depends largely on deliveries from Moscow to power its industry. 

“We are monitoring the situation closely with the Federal Network Agency,” a spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry said. 

The shutdown, to run from August 31 to September 2, follows a 10-day scheduled annual maintenance that took place in July, and it raised fears over whether Russia would resume supplies, which have been reduced since mid-June. 

Germany already has had to give Uniper – its largest importer of Russian gas and the highest-profile corporate victim of Europe’s energy crisis so far – a $15.1 billion (15 billion-euro) bailout after Russia drastically cut flows, forcing it to buy gas elsewhere at much higher prices. 

The broader Germany economic impact was highlighted in producer price data on Friday. July saw the highest ever increases, both year-on-year and month-on-month, as energy costs skyrocket. 

The Nord Stream pipeline had already been running at just a fifth of its capacity, stoking fears that Russia could stop flows completely heading into the winter heating season and make it more difficult to fill up storage facilities. 

Before Gazprom announced the shutdown, gas prices in Europe remained close to five-month highs, while U.S. gas prices reversed course and were up 1.2% after the news.  

German dependence

Germany has made targeted efforts to fill up its storage facilities to prepare for winter with levels standing at 78.19% as of August 17, slightly more than the 75.89% for the European Union as a whole. 

After maintenance is complete, and “in the absence of technical malfunctions,” flows of 33 million cubic meters (mcm) a day — in line with current volumes — will resume, Gazprom said. 

This would still be just 20% of Nord Stream’s full capacity of 167 mcm daily. 

Gazprom said maintenance work at the remaining Trent 60 gas compressor station would be carried out together with Siemens Energy. The Russian group has previously blamed faulty or delayed equipment for lower flows. Germany says this is a pretext to hurt its economy. 

Siemens, which is in charge of maintaining the Nord Stream 1 turbines, declined to comment. 

One of the Nord Stream 1 turbines is currently stuck in Germany after undergoing maintenance in Canada. Germany has said it could be transported any day, but Moscow keeps saying that sanctions imposed by Canada, the European Union and Britain prevented the equipment from being shipped back to Russia. 

Earlier, senior German politicians from governing parties rejected suggestions that gas shortages could be alleviated by allowing the suspended Nord Stream 2 pipeline to go into service, something the Kremlin has suggested as a solution. 

“I strongly suggest we spare ourselves the humiliation of always asking [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for something that we’re not going to get,” said Kevin Kuehnert, the number two official in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. 

“The dependence on him has to end for once and all,” he added in an interview with website t-online.
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Kill-on-Sight Campaigns Target Invasive Lanternfly 

Posted on by SeeUS

When Stephen Nixon recently noticed a “beautiful” spotted lanternfly by his bag as he skateboarded in Brooklyn, he heeded the request of city officials. 

He stomped on it. 

“I don’t like killing things. Not many people do. I’ll catch and release cockroaches if I find them in my apartment,” Nixon said. But he said it “seems like something worse” if the insect’s population explodes. 

Kill-on-sight requests in New York City and elsewhere are a part of public campaigns to fight an invasive insect now massing and feeding on plants around much of the eastern United States. Pretty with red wing markings, the spotted lanternfly is nonetheless a nuisance and a threat — the sort of insect that inspires people to post about squishing and stomping them on social media. 

In cities, they swarm outside buildings and land on pedestrians. They excrete a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture. The sap-sucking insects also pose a danger to grapes and other agricultural crops, which is raising alarms this summer in New York state wine country. 

Across mid-Atlantic states, officials are asking people to help them track and slow the insect’s spread, even if they have to put their foot down. 

“Be vigilant,” said Chris Logue of New York’s Department of Agriculture. 

Entered country in 2014

A native of Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first identified in the United States in 2014, northwest of Philadelphia. It’s likely that insect eggs came over with a load of landscaping stones. Eight years later, there are reported infestations in 13 states, mostly on the East Coast, according to the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell University. Individual insects have been spotted in more states, with two turning up in Iowa this summer. 

The insect has been able to spread so far, so fast because it is a stealthy hitchhiker. Drivers this time of year unwittingly give lifts to adults, which look like moths, perched inside trunks, on wheel wells or on bumpers. 

“Check your vehicle,” Logue said. “What you’re really after is anything that maybe is alive, that is kind of hunkered down in there and is not going to get blown off the vehicle during the trip. Really, really important.” 

People also unknowingly transport spotted lanternfly eggs, which are laid later in the season. Females leave masses of 30 or more eggs on all sorts of surfaces, from tree trunks to patio furniture. Eggs laid on portable surfaces, like camping trailers and train cars, can hatch in the spring many miles away. 

Spotted lanternfly fighters are doing everything from applying pesticides to cutting down trees of heaven — another invasive species that is a favored host of the spotted lanternfly. But public involvement is front and center. 

In Pennsylvania, residents in quarantined counties are asked to check for the pests on dozens of items — from their vehicles to camping gear to lumber and shrubs — before heading to nonquarantined destinations. 

Be merciless

Around the East, people are being asked to report sightings to help track the spread. 

And if you see one? Show no mercy. 

“Kill it! Squash it, smash it … just get rid of it,” reads a post by Pennsylvania agricultural officials. 

New York City parks officials agree, advising: “Please squish and dispose.” 

“Join Jersey’s Stomp Team” read billboards in New Jersey showing a shoe about to stamp out an insect. 

Heide Estes did just that after seeing a spotted lanternfly on a Sunday walk in Long Branch, New Jersey, this month. 

“I came back, and I said to my partner, ‘You know, I saw a spotted lanternfly,’ ” Estes said, “and she was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure there’s more. Let’s go look.’ ” 

There were more. 

Her partner, an entomologist, put four in a plastic bottle to show co-workers on campus what they look like. They killed at least a dozen more. Many were massed on trees of heaven. 

“Clearly, the whole spot was infested,” she said. 

Nearing vineyards

Infestations in New York state had been concentrated in the metropolitan area but have spread close to the state’s wine-growing vineyards. Agricultural officials are concerned about the fate of vineyards in the Finger Lakes, the Hudson Valley and Long Island if infestations spread. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer said Sunday that the insect could cost the state millions. 

“The spotted lanternfly sucks the sap out of the vines,” said Brian Eshenaur, an expert with the Cornell pest program. “And it makes them less hardy for the winter, so vines can be lost over the growing season.” 

Eshenaur said they’re more likely to spread into vineyards later in the season, when trees of heaven enter dormancy.

At Sheldrake Point Winery in the Finger Lakes, vineyard manager David Wiemann said workers in the rows already know to be on guard. 

“We’ve talked about how detrimental it would be to the vineyards,” Wiemann said. “So if they see one, they would let me know.”
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Friends, Fellow Writers Rally, Read for Rushdie 

Posted on by SeeUS

Friends and fellow authors spoke out on Salman Rushdie’s behalf during a rally Friday on the steps of the main branch of the New York Public Library, one week after he was attacked onstage in the western part of the state and hospitalized with stab wounds. 

Rushdie’s condition has improved, and, according to his literary agent, he has been removed from a ventilator. 

Jeffrey Eugenides, Tina Brown and Kiran Desai were among those who shared wishes for a full recovery, told stories of Rushdie as an inspiration and defender of free expression, and read passages from his books, essays and speeches, including from The Satanic Verses, the 1988 novel that some Muslims condemned as blasphemous. 

Rushdie spent years in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 edict, a fatwa, calling for his death, but had traveled freely over the past two decades. 

The hourlong “Stand With Salman” gathering was presented in part by the library, by Rushdie’s publisher, Penguin Random House, and by the literary and human rights organization PEN America. Hundreds were in attendance, many affiliated with PEN, of which the 75-year-old Rushdie is a former president. 

‘Indefatigable champion’

“He’s been a constant, indefatigable champion of words and of writers attacked for the purported crime of their work,” said the day’s first speaker, PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel. “Today, we will celebrate Salman for what he has endured, but even more importantly, because of what he has engendered — the stories, characters, metaphors and images he has given to the world.” 

The rally did not include any new words from Rushdie, but Nossel said Rushdie was aware of the event and even made suggestions for what to read. Rushdie’s son Zafar Rushdie, who has been with his father, tweeted that “it was great to see a crowd gathered” outside the library. 

“Stand With Salman” took place the day after a judge in Mayville, New York, denied bail to Hadi Matar, 24, who has pleaded not guilty of attempted murder and assault. While in jail, Matar told the New York Post that he disdained Rushdie as anti-Muslim and expressed admiration for the ayatollah. 

On Friday, other readers included author and journalist Gay Talese, author and former PEN President Andrew Solomon, and poet-activist Reginald Dwayne Betts. Actor Aasif Mandvi read from Rushdie’s upcoming novel, Victory City, which he completed before the attack and includes the passage, “I myself am nothing now. All that remains is the city of words. Words are the only victors.” 

Eugenides, whose novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex, remembered traveling to London in the early 1980s. Eugenides was 20 and Rushdie’s breakthrough novel, Midnight’s Children, had recently been published. He knew Rushdie lived there and decided he wanted to meet him. It was years before The Satanic Verses, and Eugenides found his name and address in the phone book. 

“I took the tube out to his house. As it turned out, Salman wasn’t at home; he was in Italy, vacationing,” said Eugenides, who was greeted by Rushdie’s then-mother-in-law and left a note for the author. 

“That was the world we used to live in,” Eugenides added.
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Swiss Prosecutors Asked to Probe Attack on Journalist in Ukraine 

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A rights group has asked Switzerland to investigate an alleged attack on a Swiss photojournalist by Russian troops in Ukraine earlier this year, prosecutors confirmed Friday.

Ukrainian NGO Truth Hounds has asked Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to probe an attack on Swiss freelance journalist Guillaume Briquet in southern Ukraine in March as a possible war crime, according to the Swiss-based Civitas Maxima group that helped it file the complaint.

The OAG confirmed to AFP that it had received the complaint, which it said would “now be examined according to usual procedure.”

“This is the first criminal complaint received in this context,” it said, stressing that receiving a complaint did not automatically mean it would launch an investigation.

Briquet was injured in the head and arms when his car, which had Geneva plates and PRESS written on both sides, was ambushed by Russian troops near Mykolaiv on March 6, according to Civitas Maxima.

Attackers possibly identified

Truth Hounds legal director Dmytro Koval told the RTS broadcaster that the group, which has been documenting war crimes in Ukraine since 2014, had been able to identify the Russian unit that probably opened fire on Briquet’s car.

Civitas Maxima, which provides legal representation for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity, suggested the journalist had been intentionally targeted.

“Mr. Briquet believes that the reason the press is being targeted is to intimidate journalists not to report on the conflict,” it said in a statement.

Since launching its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Russian military has frequently been accused of deliberately targeting journalists who clearly identify as media workers.

At least a dozen journalists have been killed in the past six months of conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Koval highlighted that Ukraine was struggling to investigate towering numbers of alleged war crimes and needed help from other countries.

“No country is capable of dealing with such a large number of war crimes that are currently suspected in Ukraine,” he said in the statement. “It is extremely important to involve in the investigations those states that have a jurisdictional connection with such crimes or can prompt the principle of universal jurisdiction over them.”

Swiss prosecutors have formed a task force to collect evidence of suspected war crimes committed in Ukraine from refugees arriving in Switzerland.

The OAG stressed that it could itself prosecute perpetrators of international crimes only if they were in Switzerland.

But the office also said it was securing any evidence it received of such crimes to pass on to the International Criminal Court in The Hague or to ensure criminal proceedings could be opened quickly if the suspected perpetrators entered Swiss territory.
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Nigerian President Marks Humanitarian Day in War-Impacted Borno State 

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Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has formally opened resettlement houses for people internally displaced by the 13-year conflict with Islamist militants in the country’s northeast.

Buhari’s visit Thursday to Borno state, the epicenter of Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency, was part of activities to commemorate the U.N.-declared World Humanitarian Day.

Buhari commissioned 500 units of newly built resettlement homes in a local Molai village. The president also donated food items, including rice, beans and cooking oil, to thousands of internally displaced people.

Nigerian authorities also announced a cash transfer for over 5,000 beneficiaries, most of them women and people living with disabilities.

Since last year, authorities have intensified efforts to close IDP camps in the state and settle residents in their home villages and towns.

Local media report more than 6,000 housing units have so far been completed and allocated to beneficiaries.

However, aid groups have been raising concerns about the safety of the IDPs. Abba Ali Yarima, co-founder of the nonprofit Green Panthers foundation that focuses on ameliorating the impact of climate change, spoke to VOA via phone from Maiduguri.

“People that were relocated are still complaining about access to basic services such as water and health care,” Yarima said. “Then we’re still having a lot of security issues, but because the northwest is also having a bit of security concern now, it has overshadowed the one in the northeast. There are shocking stories coming from the fields that we don’t seem to talk about.”

Buhari praised Nigerian troops and said their efforts have made significant progress toward dislodging the terrorists.

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu agreed but said authorities must remain vigilant and must also introduce community policing in areas where the IDPs are being resettled.

“There’s a relative progress and stability in the northeast in the counterinsurgency operation, [but the] military can’t effectively do a policing job,” Iroegbu said. “If there’s a territory that has been liberated, you cannot completely say that it is safe for civilians to relocate. That’s where you have other security agencies come into play, so I don’t know if the federal government is factoring it.”

The United Nations estimates more than 37,000 people have been killed and about 2.8 million people displaced by the insurgency, which began 13 years ago.

The war has spread to other parts of the country and neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Yarima said that although attacks persist in the northeast, focus on the humanitarian impact there has been declining and shifting to the northwest, where armed gangs have been active.

“There are attacks in the northeast as much as there are attacks in the northwest, [but] the attention of the media is in the northwest,” Yarima said. “This has also exposed a lot of interventions that are supposed to be in the northeast going to the northwest, which is not a bad thing but … .”

In April, a joint military force from Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon killed more than 100 members of Islamic State West Africa Province, including 10 commanders.

But critics say until ISWAP and Boko Haram can no longer carry out attacks, returning home for many displaced people will remain a big risk.
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Nigeria Activists Concerned as Secular Court Upholds Islamic Court Trial for Blasphemy

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Supporters of free speech in Nigeria are expressing concern after a federal court ruled this week that a singer appealing his death sentence for blasphemy must have his case retried in a Shariah court.

Yahaya Aminu Sharif’s lawyer argued his case should be tried in a secular court and challenged the legality of Nigeria’s Islamic courts, which critics say threaten free speech.

But in its decision delivered Wednesday on Zoom, the Kano state appeals court ruled 2-1 that Islamic law does not violate the national charter and that Islamic courts have jurisdiction to try blasphemy cases.

The ruling dismissed a challenge filed by Sharif’s lawyer, Kola Alapinni, questioning the legality of the death sentence. One of the judges, Abubakar Muazu Lamido, said the challenge was not backed by law, and that it was “more out of sentiment.”

An Islamic court in Kano sentenced Sharif to death in August 2020 for allegedly circulating a song that blasphemed the Muslim Prophet Mohammed on social media.

In November, the Kano High Court overruled the sentence and ordered a retrial at the Shariah court, stating that Sharif did not have any legal representation during his trial.

Different appraisals

Activists are raising concerns about the appeals court ruling. Abuja-based human rights lawyer Martin Obono called it a threat to free speech. But Kano state Attorney General and Justice Commissioner Musa Abdullahi Lawan praised the judgment, calling it a victory for Kano citizens.

Sharif’s lawyer has yet to respond to the court’s decision, but he has been opposing Shariah, saying it contravenes the Nigerian Constitution. Islamic scholar Fuad Adeyemi, who serves as executive director of the Al-habibiyyah Islamic society, rejects that assertion.

Shariah, he said, is sometimes “misapplied by people who are not professionals in the handling of it. It’s strictly meant for Muslims to regulate the lives of the Muslims. It doesn’t concern any non-Muslim.”

Shariah is more dominant across the 12 northern Nigerian states, with a strong base in Kano.

Critics say they worry the ruling could encourage overzealous believers to take mob actions against alleged blasphemers.

In May, a female college student was stoned to death and burned by an angry mob in northwest Sokoto state over accusations of blasphemy. Three weeks after that, a member of a vigilante group in Abuja was also killed over blasphemy allegations.

Abuja lawyer Kayode Ajulo compared the cases.

“I know as a lawyer that Shariah law is part of the body of laws in Nigeria,” Ajulo said. “The killing of that innocent girl in Sokoto is a clear criminal case of lynching, murder. It is different from [Shariah] because the issue of blasphemy is still subjected to court or tribunal interpretation, and you can see what the high court has done to say there must be a retrial.”

Blasphemy is a sensitive topic in Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people with a nearly equal distribution of Christians and Muslims.

The offense is punishable by a jail sentence under the country’s secular law. But in the far north, the punishment is stricter, including a possible death sentence.
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London Exhibit Marks New Era for African Fashion

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The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibition of African fashion that organizers say is the largest of its kind. The landmark exhibit — named simply “Africa Fashion” — promises to set a new standard on how the subject is portrayed in museums and art galleries. For VOA, Pasi Myohanen reports from London. Camera: Humberto Nascimento
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US Moves to Bolster Mobility of Ukrainian Forces

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The Ukrainian military’s push to “hollow out” invading Russian forces and retake territory will soon get a boost in the form of a new $775 million security aid package from the United States.

The Pentagon on Friday confirmed it was readying the package — the 19th from the U.S. in the past year — complete with more ammunition for Ukraine’s 16 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, anti-armor systems and rounds, anti-radar missiles and mine-clearing capabilities.

“These are capabilities that are enhancing the Ukrainians’ mobility as they look at this very challenging environment in southern Ukraine in particular,” a senior defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity, under ground rules established by the Pentagon.

“This continues our tradition of providing the Ukrainians what they need when they need it,” the official said, adding, “This isn’t the end.”

The heart of the latest package includes more precision ammunition for Ukraine’s HIMARS, known as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), which have a range of up to about 70 kilometers.

U.S. officials have repeatedly described Ukraine’s ability to integrate and deploy the systems as a game changer, allowing the Ukrainian military to strike Russian command-and-control sites and supply depots well behind the front lines.

“We have been seeing Ukraine employing HIMARS masterfully,” the senior defense official told reporters. “This long-range-fire capability has changed, really changed, the dynamic on the battlefield.”

The package also includes 16 105 mm Howitzers, 36,000 105 mm Howitzer rounds, 15 ScanEagle drones to aid Ukrainian forces with reconnaissance and targeting, and High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) to be used by Ukrainian fighter jets to “seek and destroy Russian radars.”

 

Another component of the new aid package seeks to enhance Ukraine’s anti-armor capabilities with 1,000 tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided missiles, known as TOW missiles, as well as 1,000 Javelin missiles and anti-armor rifle rounds.

The official said the U.S. would also deliver another 50 Humvees as well as mine-clearing equipment and systems, including 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs.

This latest U.S. aid package comes just under three weeks after the Pentagon announced a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine and brings the total value of U.S. security aid to Ukraine to about $10.6 billion since January 2021.

Still, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on the United States and other Western countries to supply even more weapons systems, more quickly, including longer-range missile systems like the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System), which has a range of up to 300 kilometers.

“We are hopeful that a political decision will be made to give us ATACMS,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told VOA’s Ukrainian Service on Monday. “This would also allow us to preserve more lives of our soldiers — men and women — and inflict very successful damage.”

Reznikov also echoed previous Ukrainian requests for Western fighter planes and tanks.

“Today, the modern world can easily provide us with technology to assure our victory and compensate for the imbalance in manpower [between Russia and Ukraine],” he said.

The U.S. has so far refused to provide the longer-range weapon systems despite Ukraine’s pledge not to use U.S. systems to attack Russian territory, with officials saying that Ukraine’s military has been succeeding with the aid it is already getting.

“We actually are seeing the Ukrainians on a daily basis successfully weakening the Russian forces,” the senior U.S. defense official said Friday, calling the cost being imposed on Russia “significant.”

“You’re seeing this hollowing out of the Russian forces in Ukraine but with implications for their longer-term sustainability,” the official said.

 

Still, the official acknowledged the weakening of the Russian forces has not yet allowed Ukraine to regain land currently under Russian occupation.

“We haven’t seen a significant retake of territory,” the official said. 
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More than 200 US Officials Urge Biden to Meet Refugees Goals

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More than 200 state and local officials from 40 U.S. states and one territory have signed a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to meet his goals for resettling international refugees in the United States.

The letter was drafted by the Refugee Advocacy Lab, a nonprofit humanitarian group, working in conjunction with the global group Refugees International. The group, in its letter, notes crises in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and other nations have driven a global migration crisis “of historic proportions” that requires bold leadership and innovative solutions.

The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates a record-breaking 100 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced; 27.1 million of them are registered as refugees. More than half of those refugees are children.

The letter applauds the commitment made by President Biden and his administration for setting a goal to increase U.S. refugee admissions to 125,000 for the fiscal year 2022. They note in 2021— 11,411 refugees resettled in the nation — the lowest in any year on record.

But the letter and its signatories point out more than halfway through 2022, the U.S. is on pace to resettle less than 20 percent of the Biden administration’s goal.

They are critical of a recent U.S. pivot toward offering “temporary pathways” over resettlement, as was observed in the U.S. evacuation of Afghans. The letter maintains resettlement “offers refugees an important permanent pathway to safety.”

Since establishing the U.S. refugee program in 1980, the letter notes, the United States each year historically resettled the world’s largest number of refugees annually, until recent years. They say, “Now more than ever, we need to renew and rebuild this commitment in the face of unprecedented circumstances.”
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Ghana Raises Benchmark Interest Rate over Soaring Inflation

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Ghana has raised its benchmark interest rate to a record-high 22% as the country struggles to check soaring prices caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ghana is also trying to boost its currency, the cedi, which saw the second-worst drop in value globally after Sri Lanka’s rupee. The high cost of living sparked street protests in July and talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bail out.

The cost of food and services has more than doubled in Ghana as inflation hit 31.7% annually in July, its highest since late 2003. Consumers and businesspeople say they are being pushed out of business as the local currency continues to lose its value against the U.S. dollar.

Naa Koshie, a 45-year-old mother of five who runs a cold store business in the capital, Accra, told VOA she is losing money as prices of goods keep soaring.

The people had a lot of hopes in this government, she said, but it’s embarrassing how things keep getting worse daily.

Addressing the Methodist Church of Ghana on Thursday, President Nana Akufo-Addo said his government is not sleeping on the job.

“The ravages of the pandemic, worsened by the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have led to spiraling freight charges, rising fuel costs, high food prices, steep inflationary spikes and widespread business failures. I am fully aware that these are very difficult times for us in Ghana, just as they are for most people in the world. However, the Akufo-Addo government has not thrown its hands up in despair at this pernicious development.”

The president says he is optimistic the economy will bounce back and will bring relief to Ghanaians.

“We are determined to bring relief to the Ghanaian people. Other steps will be taken, in particular, to deal with the unacceptable depreciation of the cedi. Reining in inflation, by bringing down food prices, is a major preoccupation of the government, and this season’s emerging, successful harvest will assist us achieve this objective, together with other policies.”

Courage Kingsley Martey, the senior economist with Databank Research, told VOA the measures taken by the central bank at its emergency meeting Wednesday to address the free fall of the cedi are appropriate.

“The central bank’s target is to bring inflation down and what we all want as citizens is to have low and stable inflation,” Martey said. “In doing so, there are going to be short-term consequences or tradeoffs. This means individuals who would love to have access to cheaper funds or capital may not be able to do that, but that would have to be the cost we have to bear in the short term.”

Godfred Bokpin, a professor of finance at the University of Ghana, urged Akufo-Addo to reduce the size of his government as a further cut on spending.

“Time is not on our side. The government needs to reduce the size of government drastically and also as a signal and be able to have greater control over expenditure from that side,” Bokpin said.

Time is running out for the government as Ghanaians continue to wait with bated breath, hoping for a major economic turnaround ahead of a hike in utility prices taking effect on September 1.
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WHO Approves Lifesaving Ebola Drugs

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The World Health Organization says clinical evidence shows two monoclonal antibody treatments are effective at saving the lives of many people stricken with the deadly Ebola virus.

The action follows a systematic review and analysis of randomized clinical trials of therapeutics for the disease.

WHO Team Lead for Clinical Care Janet Diaz says the evidence underpinning the recommendations comes from two clinical trials. The largest was done in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018 and 2019.

She says the trials were conducted during Ebola outbreaks, demonstrating quality control trials can be done even under the most difficult circumstances.

“The evidence synthesis that informs this guideline shows that mAb114 and Regeneron-EB3 reduced mortality. The relative risk reduction was about 60 percent…Between 230 to 400 lives saved per 1,000 patients. Translate that into the number needed to treat, you treat two to four patients, and you save one life.”

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is spread through blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died of the disease. The worst Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. Of the nearly 29,000 reported cases, more than 11,300 people died.

Diaz calls the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics a very important advancement. However, she notes the drug itself is not the only solution. She says it must be given in a comprehensive, clinical setting along with other treatments.

“That includes early diagnosis so that treatments can be given as soon as possible and also the implementation of appropriate infection prevention and control to stop transmission…and treatment of co-infections and access to nutrition, psycho-social support, and, of course, access to care after discharge.”

Diaz says the two recommended therapeutics have shown clear benefits for people of all ages. She says they can be used on all patients confirmed positive for Ebola virus disease. That, she says, includes older people, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and babies born to mothers with confirmed Ebola within the first seven days after birth.
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Work Program Helps Migrants in Mexico Who Seek Asylum in US

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Haitian and Central American migrants in Mexico are getting the chance to join a pilot work program in that country as they wait to be granted asylum so they can enter the United States. Victor Hugo Castillo reports from McAllen, Texas
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Biden to Host September Summit Targeting Hate-Fueled Violence

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U.S. President Joe Biden will host a White House summit in September to counter the effects of hate-fueled violence on American democracy and highlight his administration’s actions to reduce gun violence, the White House said Friday.

The September 15 summit, dubbed “United We Stand,” will bring together officials, faith leaders and civil rights groups and feature a keynote speech by Biden, who will put forward a shared vision for a more united America, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

“Even as our nation has endured a disturbing series of hate-fueled attacks, from Oak Creek to Pittsburgh, from El Paso to Poway, from Atlanta to Buffalo, Americans remain overwhelmingly united in their opposition to such violence,” Jean-Pierre said.

Biden, a Democrat, is seeking to highlight his recent legislative wins, including a gun safety law he signed in June, ahead of November midterm congressional elections.

Most forecasters give Republicans a strong chance of taking the House and see the Democrat-controlled Senate as up for grabs. Republican control of one or both chambers could thwart much of Biden’s legislative agenda for the second half of his four-year term.
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VOA Interview: US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

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Almost a year ago, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm led a U.S. delegation to Kyiv to attend a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine. Almost six months since Russia invaded Ukraine, VOA Ukrainian Service’s Iuliia Iarmolenko sat down with Granholm to discuss how the Russian war in Ukraine has affected European energy security, what the U.S. can do to help stabilize the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and what the future holds for U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in the energy sector.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: Secretary Granholm, thank you so much for doing this interview. Let’s start with the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. You know that Russian troops seized control of this power plant, biggest nuclear power plant in Europe, in the first days of the war. After the recent reports of shelling, Ukraine is calling for a demilitarized zone around the plant and new sanctions against Russia for what President Zelenskyy called “nuclear blackmail.” How worried are you about this situation? And what can the United States do to help stabilize it?  

Granholm: First, we agree with the demilitarization. There should not be military activities around a nuclear plant, period. It is extremely dangerous. We are monitoring the situation very closely. There are sensors that are in the region that our scientists are monitoring. We strongly condemn what Russia has done. We want them to turn the plant control back over to the Ukrainians. We are so grateful for the workers in the plant, who have continued to operate it and continue to try to abide by rules of safety. But we want to have the International Atomic Energy Agency have access so they can help with safety, they can monitor, they can make sure the protocols for safety are instilled. And, you know, that has not happened yet. So we call upon Russia to turn control back over to the Ukrainians. And we need to stop all military activity near the plant.   

VOA: You talked a little bit about the monitoring mission. What would be the successful monitoring mission? Are you confident in its independence?   

Granholm: I’m confident that the information that we are receiving through the monitors shows, at the moment, no increase in radiation. But our concern is, of course, if there is continued military activity around the plant … if there is an increase in radiation, that is a huge problem. And, you know, I mean, Russia knows this — they’ve been in the nuclear power business for a long time — that it is just reckless and irresponsible, what they are doing. So success is: Turn the plant back over to the Ukrainian authorities, make sure that we are continuously monitoring and do not see elevated signs of radiological contamination.  

VOA: Are there any tools that the international community can use in order to make Russian forces leave the plant? And if the power plant stays under Russian control, can anyone be sure that Europe will not see another nuclear catastrophe?  

Granholm: Clearly, nobody wants to see that happen. I mean, there would be fallout that could damage Russia as well. So they have to understand how serious this is. The United States, obviously, stands so strongly with Ukraine, and will continue to support Ukraine with assistance. We support the demilitarization. Of course, President Biden has said no U.S. troops on the ground, but through our allies, and with our own resources, we will continue to support Ukraine.  

VOA: Even before the full-scale war, the experts were warning about Russian weaponization of energy …   

Granholm: Yes.  

VOA: … and they were calling on European leaders to diversify their sources of energy to wind down the dependence on Russian energy. Now Europe is preparing for a very difficult winter. Do you think that European countries will be able to import enough gas from other sources, including the United States, to make up for the shortages?   

Granholm: Well, first of all, I think they have to have a multiprong strategy … diversification of their fuel sources is one of that. So both diversifying where they’re getting the fuel from, but also diversifying into clean energy to decarbonize their grid, to deploy clean, to also reduce their energy usage. And they are … moving on all of those strategies. The United States, of course, the president has committed to sending more liquefied natural gas. We are working together with the Europeans on a number of technologies to be able to reduce their energy use and to generate clean energy. But honestly, this invasion by Russia is such an example of why countries need to move away from the volatility of fuels from countries who do not have our interests. And from the volatility of fossil fuels. If we want to be energy secure and energy independent, that means we’ve got to produce our own energy. My counterpart in Ireland, the energy minister there, has said that no one has ever weaponized access to the sun. No one has ever weaponized the wind. Perhaps a move to clean energy will be the greatest peace plan the world has ever known.  

VOA: So in the short term, it’s more production, and then in the long term, it’s moving to renewables? 

Granholm: Yes, yes. Unfortunately, this has demonstrated when you’re seeing how the prices of fuel go through the roof in Europe, obviously, the invasion pulled millions of barrels offline of Russian exports of oil, in addition to natural gas. So the prices all around the world went up. Now our president and others have called for increasing production right now, so that we can alleviate the prices at the gas pump for consumers. And this president is definitely concerned about how that impacts real people, inflation, et cetera. But ultimately, we’ve got to move to clean. And that’s what the bill that the president signed yesterday, for the United States, it is the largest commitment to combating climate change of any country in the world. It’s by 10 the largest bill that we’ve ever passed in the United States to combat climate change. So it is so important for our energy security. And I know our European allies are trying to do the same.

VOA: Will it be a difficult winter for Europe?

Granholm: I think it will be.  

VOA: How confident are you that European countries will not crack under the Russian energy pressure, and will not ease sanctions on Russia right when they just start showing their effect?

Granholm: I think that the allies, the NATO allies, the Europeans, are so strong together in seeing what this aggression by Russia has done to them, that they are not going to go back, that we have to wean ourselves off of Russian fuels, or off of fuels in general that come from countries who don’t share our values. So I think we are united. It’s going to be hard. There’s no doubt it’s going to be an expensive winter. I know that the European leaders are looking for how they can alleviate the pain for real people in these increases in prices. But I know ultimately, they are determined to move away from Russian fuels and toward clean energy.  

 

VOA: So there is no way back …  

Granholm: There’s no way back.   

VOA: … and we are not going to see the Nord Stream 2 renew its function?   

Granholm: From all of the leaders that I’ve talked to, my counterparts in the EU, they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.  

VOA: And of course, Ukraine is also trying to secure natural gas imports to heat homes in Ukraine this winter, and one of the ideas that Ukrainian leaders said they proposed to Washington is so-called gas lend-lease. So they’re saying that they’re asking the United States to provide the LNG through Europe for which Ukraine will repay later. Do you have any comments on such an idea? And are there any other ways that the United States and allies can help Ukraine to secure its needs this winter?  

Granholm: Yeah, this is a really important question about how we increase supply that will help to alleviate the pressure. Right now, in terms of the terminals that we have, we are liquefying every molecule of natural gas that there is with the terminals we have; they are at full capacity. As you know, from an infrastructure point of view, it takes time to add more. I know Norway is increasing their commitments as well. I know there is exploration with other countries to be able to increase. And whether it’s for Ukraine, because I know Ukraine is looking at diversifying and decarbonizing and deploying clean energy as well. All of that has to happen. Of course, it’s so much more difficult for Ukraine right now in the middle of this crisis, which is why I think all ideas should be on the table. I don’t have an answer for you with respect to the lend-lease issue. But I do know that this administration is game to look at whatever it can do to help alleviate the pain in Ukraine.  

VOA: Where do you see the future of U.S.-Ukraine cooperation in the energy sector? Is it going to be more focused on renewables or something else?

Granholm: It’s hard to say at this moment because one of the conversations we’ve been having is small modular nuclear reactors, right? But with what’s happening in Zaporizhzhia, there might be some concern about that. This conflict has to end, I think, before we make a decision about nuclear, but definitely we can cooperate. And we’ll be cooperating on clean. And I’ve had a lot of conversations with Herman Halushchenko, who is my counterpart in Ukraine, the energy minister, they absolutely want to move in this direction. There’s other types of technology that they’re very interested in, too, like clean hydrogen, for example, certainly offshore wind if the offshore component is available to them. There’s just a lot, obviously — solar is an obvious, batteries for energy storage, for renewable energy storage, lots of technologies that we’ve been talking about — and once this conflict ends, and it will end, and we expect that it will end in a way that has Ukraine independent and safe, we look forward to continued cooperation in energy.  

VOA: A year ago, you led the United States delegation to Ukraine to celebrate its 30th anniversary of independence. This year, August 24 will also mark the six months since Russia started the full-scale invasion. After six months, what is the main takeaway for you in terms of Western response to this war? Do you think that there are some lessons that world leaders should learn?  

Granholm: First of all, I am still so moved by how beautiful Ukraine was. In the celebration, there was a parade where President Zelenskyy had a young girl go through the streets of Kyiv, stopping at each of the points of history — it was so beautiful. There wasn’t a dry eye in the viewing stand. It just made me, it made me so … so … I’m not Ukrainian, but it made me so proud of Ukraine and the fierce independence and sense of identity that Ukraine has and the fierce sense of independence. I was there for the summit on Crimea, as well as the 30th anniversary. I would never have guessed that six months later, this horror would be happening. And I think, yes, there are lessons. I mean, one of the biggest lessons for the world is, first of all, it’s clear what Russia’s intentions are. But it’s also clear that NATO and our allies must remain strong in defense of countries who want to protect their freedom. I worry that Russia sees this as a schism in the world, that there is a cleaving of countries right now as a result of what they have done. That is their action. It is not what anybody wants to see. But it is what has been created. Fortunately, there are a lot more countries who stand with Ukraine, and who feel so strongly that we have to stand together when the sovereignty of our allies is attacked. So that’s number one. And number two, I think it really speaks volumes, because I’m the energy secretary, of how much we have to move and how rapidly we have to move to energy security through clean energy.  

VOA: Secretary Granholm, is there something that you want Ukrainian people to know? Some people will have a very tough winter; they’re already going through a lot of difficulties. Is there something you as the secretary of energy want them to know from the United States?  

Granholm: I do want them to know that the United States is so strongly supportive of Ukraine, and we will continue to be supportive, whether it is in energy — I mean, we have been working with the synchronization with the European grid, for example, we will continue to do that — whether it’s in monitoring and ensuring that what we can do to make sure that the Zaporizhzhia plant is safe and the area around it and the citizens around it are safe, whether it is ensuring that Ukraine feels like they have the resources necessary to carry their defense forward. And that this is a friendship that will last, so we will never turn our back on Ukraine.  

VOA: Thank you so much!  

Granholm: Thank you.
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VOA Interview: US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

Posted on by SeeUS

VOA Ukrainian Service’s Iuliia Iarmolenko sits down with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to discuss how the war in Ukraine has affected European energy security. Camera: Kostyantyn Golubchuk.
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AP Interview: Refugee Head Sees Lesson in Ukraine Crisis

Posted on by SeeEU

Europe’s embrace of millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion showed that it’s possible to welcome large numbers of asylum-seekers, and the approach should be replicated to receive those fleeing other nations, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi described the European Union’s response as “exemplary,” noting that nearly 4 million Ukrainians, mainly women and children, have registered with the bloc’s temporary protection system since the start of the war nearly six months ago.

That stands in stark contrast to EU efforts in recent years to keep migrants from Africa and the Middle East from reaching Europe’s shores. Some European leaders have sought to differentiate between the plight of Ukrainians and that of other refugees — a distinction that Grandi condemned as “racist.”

“If that’s possible for such a large number of people, and since that has proven so effective, why not use some of these approaches also for other people that are coming to knock at Europe’s doors?” Grandi asked.

Though it was created decades ago, the EU’s emergency protection system was activated for the first time this year in response to the flight of more than 6 million Ukrainians over the course of just a few months — the largest exodus of refugees the continent has seen since World War II. It allows Ukrainians to move around the bloc, gives them the right to work, and helps them to access housing, education and health care.

It has been credited with helping Europe avoid setting up refugee camps to house Ukrainians — like the ones that have existed in Greece for years and where thousands of asylum-seekers arriving by boat have often languished.

In the wake of the 2015-16 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people, mainly from Syria, arrived in Europe by land or sea, leaders erected fences within the EU to keep many from moving deeper into the continent. The bloc has also spent billions to keep people, including those fleeing persecution and conflict but also poverty, from reaching its shores, giving money to countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to stop migrants before they set out.

The number of irregular crossings into Europe fell from its peak in 2015 to under 200,000 in 2021, according to Europe’s border and coast guard agency, although it is on the rise again this year. While such crossings often attract significant attention, more than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries, according to UNHCR.

“Heads of government in Europe spent hours, days negotiating where, who should take a hundred people floating on a boat in the Mediterranean,” Grandi said, referring to European leaders’ inability to agree on how to resettle those who have arrived in recent years in Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. “And then contrary to that, millions (of Ukrainians) embraced, accepted, allowed to have access to services in a very effective manner.”

Asked about the different responses, Grandi said he did not think the European governments’ policies themselves were racist.

But he added: “Declarations that I have heard from some politicians saying the Ukrainians are real refugees … and the others are not real refugees. That’s racist. Full stop.”

Grandi did not specify what statements he was referring to, but Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi was criticized by human rights organizations and opposition lawmakers when he used that phrase to refer to Ukrainians fleeing the war earlier this year.

Other European politicians have made similar statements — with some arguing that many people seeking asylum are looking for a better life, rather than fleeing wars, and thus may not qualify for that protection under international law. Some have also defended the differing treatment by saying they have a duty to help fellow Europeans but shouldn’t be responsible for taking in refugees from other continents.

Grandi acknowledged that the issue is complex and some of those heading to Europe are economic migrants. But he stressed effective systems exist to evaluate asylum claims.

Roughly half of Ukrainians who have left the country so far have returned — and many more may eventually do so, although Grandi said some have ended up fleeing a second time.

Still, with no end to the war in sight, the U.N. refugee agency has said the total number of Ukrainians who have left their homeland at some point could reach more than 8 million by December. There are also currently 6.6 million Ukrainians displaced within the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Some 2 million Ukrainians have ended up in Russia, whether they chose to or not. An AP investigation earlier this year revealed many were forced to head there and subjected to human rights abuses along the way. Grandi acknowledged his agency’s access in Russia was limited. Of the 1,500 accommodation sites for Ukrainians in the country, UNHCR teams had only been able to visit nine so far, he said.

While the war in Ukraine has attracted global attention and support for those displaced by it, Grandi pleaded with world leaders to remember the other 12 humanitarian crises for which his agency is struggling to raise funds. He especially noted the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought and protracted conflicts have not only forced millions from their homes but have also pushed countries ever closer to famine.

“The big problem that we have at the moment is that it tends to marginalize all other crises in which people suffer,” Grandi said.
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US Judge Sentences Wildlife Trafficker to More Than 5 Years in Jail

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A U.S. judge sentenced a Liberian man to 63 months in prison for conspiring to traffic millions of dollars’ worth of horns and ivory from endangered rhinoceros and elephants, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Moazu Kromah, a Uganda resident, was extradited from the west African country to the United States in June 2019 and has been detained since then. He pleaded guilty in March of this year to one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking and two counts of wildlife trafficking, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said in a statement.

The trafficking plot involved the illegal poaching of more than 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.

Williams praised the more than five-year sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that those who are responsible for the decimation of global populations of endangered and threatened animals protected by international agreements will face serious consequences,” he said.

Kromah, 49, and accomplices had buyers in the United States and Southeast Asia, trafficking at least 190 kilograms of rhinoceros horns and at least 10 tons of elephant ivory from East African countries between roughly 2012 and 2019.

The estimated average retail value of the rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory was at least around $3.4 million and $4 million respectively.

During the investigation, law enforcement agents intercepted multiple packages bound for Manhattan buyers containing rhinoceros horns.

They concealed some of the animal parts in pieces of art such as African masks and statues, the New York investigators say.

Poaching is fueled by a seemingly insatiable demand for rhino horn in Asia, where people pay huge sums for a substance, coveted as a traditional medicine, that is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human fingernails.

Kromah is one of five men accused of being part of the criminal enterprise.

Kenyan Mansur Mohamed Surur was extradited to the United States last year and pled guilty to trafficking and drug dealing charges, according to a June statement from Williams’s office.

Guinean Amara Cherif is also in U.S. custody and pled guilty to the charges against him in April this year.

Co-defendants Badru Abdul Aziz Saleh and Abdi Hussein Ahmed have reportedly been arrested. 
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