Month: September 2022

Report: Million Livelihoods in DRC Threatened by Planned Oil and Gas Exploration

Posted on by SeeAF

The environmental group Greenpeace Africa has released a report saying planned oil and gas exploration in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo could expose more than 1 million people to pollution and disease.

The planned selling of 30 eastern land blocks that extend into a famous gorilla reserve would also threaten wildlife and food security, while fueling conflict, poverty and corruption, according to the report. 

Residents in the area accuse the government of keeping them in the dark and expressed fear of losing their livelihoods when companies start drilling for fossil fuels.  

Representatives for Greenpeace Africa and partner organizations visited about 30 villages in July to gauge the community’s awareness of the planned exploration and how they intend to protect their land and livelihoods. 

Mbong Akiy Fokwa Tsafack, head of communication at Greenpeace Africa, said many communities are not aware of the government’s plan to auction their land.  

“The thought of the government thinking of auctioning their lands for oil was really a shock for them. They were unaware, so they didn’t know this was underway, which is quite shocking given how much the government has said it plans to really put people ahead of everything else,” Tsafack said.

No one asked residents what they thought of the oil and gas drilling project, said Bantu Lukambo, who works with Innovation for the Development and Protection of the Environment, an NGO monitoring the welfare of communities around Virunga National Park.  

The government is supposed to have public input before undertaking such exploration, he said, but failed to do so. Even parliament members were not included in the decision-making process, he added. 

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi defended his government’s plan while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last week, saying oil discovery would bring economic development to his people.  

Hydrocarbons Minister Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga, speaking at the Africa Oil Week conference in Senegal early this month, said the DRC has received two offers for the oil blocks and said any exploration will follow environmental guidelines. 

Lukambo is doubtful that will be the case. 

He fears all the fish will die if the exploration begins, and fishermen and their families will be in trouble. In addition, he added, 14 of the oil blocks are in Virunga National Park, and the others are in farming areas. If exploration starts on the land, he said, farmers won’t farm their land. 

The oil exploration blocks overlap parts of Congo’s most pristine ecosystems and Virunga Park, which is home to over 1,000 species of animals and birds.  

Tsafack said Congo’s leaders need to reconsider their decision to allow oil exploration in the park and nearby areas.  

“This is a moment when we need to see leadership coming through, in terms of the zeal to uproot corruption, to strengthen good governance and to put the people of the DRC at [the] heart of any kind of development agenda,” Tsafack said. “And putting the people of DRC at the heart of any development agenda means really looking into the communities and finding out what it is that will uplift their lives.” 

The 20-page report from Greenpeace urges the government to halt the projects and encourage alternative investments in renewable energy sources.  

 
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Wife of US Supreme Court Justice Thomas Appears for Interview With Jan. 6 Panel

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Conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, appeared on Thursday for a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The committee has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the election.

Thomas’ appearance on Capitol Hill was confirmed by two people familiar with the committee’s work who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The testimony from Thomas was one of the remaining items for the panel as it eyes the completion of its work. The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and shown some of that video testimony in its eight hearings over the summer.

Thomas’ attorney, Mark Paoletta, said last week that Thomas had agreed to meet with the panel and is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election.”

The extent of her involvement in the Capitol attack is unclear. In the days after The Associated Press and other news organizations called the presidential election for Biden, Thomas emailed two lawmakers in Arizona to urge them to choose “a clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure.” The AP obtained the emails earlier this year under the state’s open records law.

She has said in interviews that she attended the initial pro-Trump rally the morning of Jan. 6 but left before Trump spoke and the crowds headed for the Capitol.

Thomas, a Trump supporter long active in conservative causes, has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband.

“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America. But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” Thomas told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview published in March.

Justice Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the Supreme Court ruled in January to allow a congressional committee access to presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes relating to the events of Jan. 6.

Ginni Thomas has been openly critical of the committee’s work, including signing onto a letter to House Republicans calling for the expulsion of Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois from the Republican Party conference for joining the Jan. 6 congressional committee.
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South African Mines Turn to Renewables Amid Energy Crisis

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South Africa, one of the continent’s most industrialized nations, is facing the worst electricity blackouts in its history. One of South Africa’s biggest industries — mining — is turning to solar power to keep operations running when power requirements fall short. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg
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Vatican Sanctions Nobel Laureate After Timor Accusations

Posted on by SeeEU

The Vatican said Thursday it had imposed disciplinary sanctions on Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in the past two years, following allegations that he sexually abused boys in East Timor during the 1990s.

The Vatican admission came a day after a Dutch magazine, De Groene Amsterdammer, exposed the claims against the revered East Timor independence hero, citing two of Belo’s alleged victims and reporting there were others who hadn’t come forward in East Timor, where the Catholic Church wields enormous influence.

Spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Vatican office that handles sex abuse cases received allegations “concerning the bishop’s behavior” in 2019 and within a year had imposed the restrictions. They included limitations on Belo’s movements and his exercise of ministry, and prohibited him from having voluntary contact with minors or contact with East Timor.

In a statement, Bruni said the sanctions were “modified and reinforced” in November 2021 and that Belo had formally accepted the punishment on both occasions.

The Vatican provided no explanation for why Belo resigned as head of the Roman Catholic church in East Timor two decades early in 2002, and was sent to Mozambique, where he was allowed to work with children.

News of Belo’s behavior sent shock waves through the heavily Catholic, impoverished Southeast Asian nation, where he is a regarded as a hero for fighting to win East Timor’s independence from Indonesian rule.

“We are here also in shock to hear this news,” an official at the archdiocese of Dili in East Timor said Thursday, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Neither the Nobel Committee nor the United Nations immediately responded to requests for comment.

De Groene Amsterdammer said two alleged victims, identified only as Paulo and Roberto, reported being abused by Belo and said other boys were also victims. It said its investigation showed that Belo’s abuse was known to the East Timorese government and to humanitarian and church workers.

“The bishop raped and sexually abused me that night,” Roberto was quoted as telling the magazine. “Early in the morning he sent me away. I was afraid because it was still dark. So I had to wait before I could go home. He also left money for me. That was meant so that I would keep my mouth shut. And to make sure I would come back.”

Belo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with fellow East Timorese independence icon Jose Ramos-Horta for campaigning for a fair and peaceful solution to conflict in their home country as it struggled to gain independence from Indonesia, a former Dutch colony.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in its citation, praised Belo’s courage in refusing to be intimidated by Indonesian forces. The committee noted that while trying to get the United Nations to arrange a plebiscite for East Timor, he smuggled out two witnesses to a bloody 1991 massacre so they could testify to the U.N. human rights commission in Geneva.

Ramos-Horta went on to become president of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony. Upon his return Thursday from the United States, where he addressed the U.N. General Assembly, Ramos-Horta was asked about the allegations against his co-Nobel laureate and deferred to the Vatican.

“I prefer to await further action from the Holy See,” he said.

Belo, who was believed to be living in Portugal, didn’t respond when reached by telephone by Radio Renascença, the private broadcaster of the Portuguese church.

Belo is a priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco, a Roman Catholic religious order that has long had influence at the Vatican. The Portuguese branch of the Salesians said Thursday that it learned “with great sadness and astonishment” of the news.

The branch distanced itself from Belo, saying he hadn’t been linked to the order since he took charge in East Timor. However, Belo is still listed in the 2021 Vatican yearbook by his Salesian initials “SDB” at the end of his name.

“As regards issues covered in the news, we have no knowledge that would allow us to comment,” the Salesian statement said.

It said the Portuguese Salesians took Belo in at the request of their superiors after he left East Timor in 2002 and because he was highly regarded, but said he had done no pastoral work in Portugal.

The Dutch magazine said its research indicated that Belo also abused boys in the 1980s before he became a bishop when he worked at an education center run by the Salesians.

Paulo, now 42, told the Dutch magazine he was abused once by Belo at the bishop’s residence in East Timor’s capital, Dili. He asked to remain anonymous.

“for the privacy and safety of himself and his family,” the magazine said.

“I thought: this is disgusting. I won’t go there anymore,” the magazine quoted him as saying.

Roberto, who also asked to remain anonymous, said he was abused more often, starting when he was about 14 after a religious celebration in his hometown. Roberto later moved to Dili, where the alleged abuse continued at the bishop’s residence, the Dutch magazine reported.

It is unclear whether or when any alleged victims ever came forward to local church, law enforcement or Vatican authorities.

St. John Paul II accepted Belo’s resignation as apostolic administrator of Dili on Nov. 26, 2002, when he was 54. The Vatican announcement at the time cited canon law that allows bishops under 75 to retire for health reasons or for some other “grave” reasons that make them unable to continue.

In 2005, Belo told UCANews, a Catholic news agency, that he resigned because of stress and poor health.

Belo had no other episcopal career after that, and Groene Amsterdammer said he moved to Mozambique and worked as a priest there.

Belo told UCANews he moved to Mozambique after consulting with the head of the Vatican’s missionary office, Cardinal Cresenzio Sepe, and agreed to work there for a year before returning to East Timor.

Efforts to reach Sepe, who is now retired, were not successful.

By 2002, when Belo retired as head of the church in East Timor, the sex abuse scandal had just exploded publicly in the United States and the Vatican had just begun to crack down on abusive priests, requiring all cases of abuse to be sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith for review.

Bishops, however, were exempted from that requirement. Only in 2019 did Pope Francis pass a church law requiring abuse and sexual misconduct against bishops to be reported internally, and providing a mechanism to investigate the claims.

It is possible that Belo’s sexual activity with teens might have been dismissed by the Vatican in the early 2000s if it involved 16- or 17-year-olds, since the Vatican in those years considered such activity to be sinful but consensual, not abuse. Only in 2010 did the Vatican raise the age of consent to 18.

Belo is not the only church official in East Timor accused of abuse. A defrocked American priest, Richard Daschbach, was found guilty last year by a Dili court of sexually abusing orphaned and disadvantaged young girls under his care and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the first such case of its kind in the country.
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Fight Over Dead Reporter’s Sources Stalls Before Vegas Judge

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A fight to block government access to a slain investigative journalist’s sources and unpublished work stalled Wednesday, when a Las Vegas judge said she didn’t have jurisdiction to consider the question.

However, a lawyer heading efforts by Nevada’s largest newspaper, 43 media organizations and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press promised to ask a state court to prevent police and prosecutors from reviewing records, files and phone calls on the dead reporter’s electronic devices.

Police allege that Robert “Rob” Telles, a Democratic elected county official, waited in a vehicle outside the home of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German and fatally stabbed him on Sept. 2. Prosecutors characterized the attack as a response to German’s articles, which were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

“The press relies upon sources to come forward and be able to trust reporters to keep information and their identities confidential in order to share information about all kinds of wrongdoing,” Ashley Kissinger, the attorney representing the Review-Journal and media entities including The Associated Press, said outside court.

Otherwise, Kissinger said, “stories of true importance to the public would not come to light.”

A Review-Journal court filing on Monday argues that police should never have seized German’s cellphone, computers and hard drive. It maintains that confidential information, names and unpublished material should be protected from disclosure under both federal and state law.

“The most damaging potential outcome of this case is the precedent that murdering a journalist will expose the journalist’s work product, source material and confidential contacts to government inspection,” said Glenn Cook, executive editor of the newspaper.

Nevada’s so-called “news shield law” is among the strictest in the U.S. The lawsuit also cites federal Privacy Protection Act and First Amendment safeguards.

Kissinger said prosecutors and police in Las Vegas have assured the newspaper that detectives have not reviewed material on German’s electronic devices. Defense attorneys are entitled to any material viewed by prosecutors that could be evidence in their case.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson and Las Vegas police homicide detectives were waiting in the courtroom Wednesday when attorney Matthew Christian, representing the police department, confirmed for Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron that the devices had not been accessed.

The Review-Journal bid for court intervention notes that German was a crime victim, not a suspect, and proposes a court-appointed “special master” and prosecutorial “taint team” review the devices now held by police and determine what material would be relevant to the criminal case.  

A 12-point proposal calls for the review to be conducted by parties “from outside the Las Vegas law enforcement and state and federal judicial systems.”

“This court is very limited in what I can do,” Bennett-Haron said at the start of a 14-minute discussion with the attorneys for both sides. She concluded: “I don’t have jurisdiction, OK?”

In the court hallway, attorneys for all sides met informally for about 20 minutes before reaching what Kissinger termed an impasse.

“We will be filing in district court,” Kissinger told reporters.

Wolfson, Christian and public defense attorneys Edward Kane and David Lopez-Negrete declined to comment.

“Nevada’s strong shield law is intended to protect journalists and news organizations from being forced to disclose exactly the kind of work product and reporter-source communications likely to be found on Jeff German’s electronic devices,” Katie Townsend, of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement.

“Allowing the Las Vegas district attorney, public defender and other government investigators to review this privileged information would profoundly chill the type of vitally important newsgathering and investigative journalism German devoted his life and career to,” Townsend said.

In 44 years as a reporter, first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Review-Journal, the Monday court filing noted, German “reported on everything from organized crime and government malfeasance to political scandals and mass shootings.”

“There may not be a single government agency in Las Vegas that he has not written about,” it said.

Telles, 45, became Clark County public administrator in 2019 and lost his Democratic party primary in June, about a month after articles by German documented “turmoil and internal dissension” in Telles’ office. Stories included claims of administrative bullying, favoritism and Telles’ relationship with a subordinate female staffer.

Telles was arrested Sept. 7 at his home and remains jailed pending an Oct. 26 preliminary hearing of evidence before Bennett-Haron determines if he should stand trial in state court.

German, 69, was widely respected for his tenacity and was inducted posthumously last weekend into the Nevada Press Association’s Newspaper Hall of Fame. His colleagues said he had no plans to retire and was working on follow-up reports about Telles and the public administrator’s office when he was killed.

Police said security video shows a man believed to be Telles near German’s home. A prosecutor said German was stabbed and slashed seven times. A judge who reviewed a police report following Telles’ arrest said German had apparent defense wounds on his arms, and DNA believed to be from Telles was found under German’s fingernails.

Wolfson, representing Clark County, is separately seeking a court order to remove Telles from his elected position ahead of the end of his term on Dec. 31. The county administrator handles assets of people who die without a will or family contacts.
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Ethiopian Security Forces Accused of Killing Civilian

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Ethiopia’s government-funded human rights commission says security forces killed dozens of civilians following clashes with rebels in the country’s Gambella region in June.

According to the state-appointed rights body’s report published Thursday, the killings happened after an hourslong gun battle June 14 between regional security forces and militants from the Oromo Liberation Army and rebel groups from the Gambella Liberation Front.

After the OLA and GLF militants withdrew from the city, Gambella regional security force members searched houses and targeted civilians whom they accused of harboring weapons and fighters, the rights commission said.

The 13-page report concluded “at least 50 civilians” were killed “individually and in mass extrajudicial executions” by regional security forces between June 14 and June 16.

The bodies were then buried “en masse” with relatives denied access to them, said the commission, which also found that security force members had looted homes.

At the time, a Gambella city resident told VOA that he could hear sporadic shooting from his home in the days following the rebel groups’ assault.

Abel Adane, the Gambella office head for the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, said the killings took place in several locations across the city.

“Some people were killed at their homes, and some others were killed when they were walking on the streets of the town. For instance, one of the findings of our report is that one special force and city police of the regional government killed at least 11 civilians, all just in one house,” said Adane.

Abel added that several other people were taken to the local police commission where they were subsequently killed.

The report from the human rights commission was based on interviews with 58 people, including eyewitnesses and relatives of victims.

It also concluded that the OLA and the GLF rebel groups killed seven civilians while in the city, adding that six more people died after they were caught in crossfire.

A message to a government spokesperson requesting comment went unanswered.

Gambella’s regional police commission has said the rebels were responsible for the killings in the town.
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Report Calls Switzerland, US, Sweden World’s Most Innovative Economies

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The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) cites top-ranked Switzerland, followed by the United States and Sweden, as the world’s most innovative economies. 

WIPO uses some 80 indicators to rank the innovative performance of 132 economies. These include measures on the political environment, education, infrastructure, business sophistication and knowledge creation of each economy.

The latest annual report shows some interesting moves in the rankings and the emergence of new powerhouses. Switzerland, once again, comes out on top. The United States moves up one position in the rankings to second place, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

A co-editor of the Global Index, Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, said 11th-ranked China is the only middle-income country to have made it this far. He said other emerging economies, such as Turkey and India, have put in strong performances, and countries in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa have made some significant upward moves.

“Several developing countries are performing above expectations relative to their level of development,” Wunsch-Vincent said. “So, these are, of course, countries which have GDP capita which are lower. Eight of [the] innovation over-performers, and that is good news, are from sub-Saharan Africa, with Kenya, Rwanda and Mozambique in the lead.”

The Global Index also focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on innovation. The report shows that research and development, as well as other investments that drive worldwide innovative activity, continued to boom in 2021. This despite the pandemic.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang said this result defied expectations. He noted that after the dot-com bust in 2001, the 2008 global financial crisis, the matrix for innovation dropped, but that was not the case for the last two years.

“In fact, the report shows that investments in global research and development in 2020, two years ago, grew at a rate of 3.3 percent,” he said. “Top corporate R&D spenders — in other words, the most innovative firms worldwide — increased their R&D spending by nearly 10 percent last year, in 2021, which is higher than pre-pandemic growth.”

On a more sobering note, Tang warned that conditions may take a turn for the worse as the pandemic recedes, as high inflation and geopolitical tensions pose new economic and social challenges. He said innovative approaches will have to be developed to help people worldwide navigate through tough times ahead.
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Pentagon Announces $1.1 Billion More in Military Aid for Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

The Pentagon is providing an additional $1.1 billion in aid to Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. military assistance to nearly $17 billion since the Biden administration took office.

The latest package includes funding for 18 more High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and their ammunition, weapons that U.S. defense officials say have proven highly effective in helping Ukraine defend its territory since Russia invaded the country in February. 

The U.S. has already provided Ukraine with 16 HIMARS, and a senior defense official  told reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration was starting the procurement process for the next 18 because they would take “years” to procure, build and deliver.

The latest package funds the procurement of weapons and equipment under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds contracts focused on Ukraine’s long-term defense and security needs.

Other weapons and equipment in the $1.1 billion package will take anywhere from two months to two years to deliver to Ukraine, according to the senior defense official. Those include systems to counter drones that Russia has been using against Ukrainian troops, 22 radars, about 150 Humvees, about 150 tactical vehicles for towing weapons, dozens of trucks and trailers, body armor, and equipment for communications, surveillance, and explosives disposal.

Maintenance and training are also funded in this package.

Russian forces have used Iranian-made drones to target Ukrainian forces, according to the Pentagon, prompting a need to counter these weapons.

The Pentagon has used its presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons more rapidly, and officials say another announcement for Defense Department aid is expected soon.

Also Wednesday, a senior military official] said the U.S. has seen “small numbers” of the first reservists from Russia’s latest mobilization move into Ukraine. Russia has announced plans to call up about 300,000 men to fight in Ukraine amid heavy battlefield losses.

Tens of thousands of Russian men have fled the country to border nations since the mobilization was announced. 
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Trial of Elderly Rwanda Genocide Suspect Opening at UN Court

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A frail 87-year-old Rwandan accused of encouraging and bankrolling the country’s 1994 genocide goes on trial at a United Nations tribunal Thursday, nearly three decades after the 100-day massacre left 800,000 dead.

Félicien Kabuga is one of the last fugitives charged over the genocide to face justice, and the start of his trial marks a key day of reckoning for Rwandans who survived the killings or whose families were murdered.

Naphtal Ahishakiye, the executive secretary of a genocide survivors’ group known as Ibuka, said it’s never too late for justice to be delivered.

“Even with money and protection, one cannot escape a genocide crime,” Ahishakiye said in Rwanda ahead of Thursday’s trial at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague.

The mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority was triggered on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in the capital Kigali, killing the leader who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu. Kabuga’s daughter married Habyarimana’s son.

The Tutsi minority was blamed for downing the plane. Bands of Hutu extremists began slaughtering Tutsis and their perceived supporters, with help from the army, police, and militias.

Kabuga’s 15-page indictment alleges that, as a wealthy businessman with close links to the Hutu political elite, he incited genocide through the broadcaster he helped establish and fund, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). He’s also accused of having paid for weapons, including machetes, used by militias to slaughter Tutsis and their perceived supporters.

The indictment says Kabuga and others at the radio station “operated RTLM in a manner that furthered hatred and violence against Tutsi and others perceived as ‘accomplices’ or ‘allies’ … and agreed to disseminate an anti-Tutsi message with the goal to eliminate the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda.”

In some cases, the broadcaster provided locations of Tutsis so they could be hunted down and killed, according to the indictment.

“RTLM broadcasts glorified this violence, celebrating killings, praising killers and encouraging perpetrators to continue the violence at roadblocks and other locations,” the indictment says.

It also accuses him of arming and supporting Hutu extremist “Interahamwe” militias, including one unit known as “Kabuga’s Interahamwe.”

Kabuga is charged with genocide, incitement to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide as well as persecution, extermination and murder. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

After years of evading international efforts to track him down, Kabuga, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, was arrested near Paris in May 2020. He was transferred to The Hague to stand trial at the residual mechanism, a court that deals with remaining cases from the now-closed U.N. tribunals for Rwanda and the Balkan wars.

Kabuga’s lawyers argued unsuccessfully that he was not fit to stand trial. However, on the advice of doctors who examined Kabuga, the process will run for just two hours per day.

Yolande Mukakasana, a genocide survivor and writer who lost her entire family in the genocide, said the case has come too late for many survivors who have died since the slaughter.

“Men and women of Kabuga’s age were found in bed and murdered. Shame (upon) his sympathizers who cite his old age as a reason not to (stand) trial,” she said.

Genocide survivor Justin Rugabwa told The AP that five members of his family escaped into hiding for several days during the genocide until Kabuga’s radio station revealed their whereabouts.

“When their names were read out on radio and hiding places revealed, the militias came and all died that day,” Rugabwa recalled.
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Chinese Tycoon Richard Liu Faces Civil Trial in Alleged Rape

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A Chinese billionaire, one of the richest people in the world, is heading to trial in Minneapolis to defend himself against allegations that he raped a former University of Minnesota student after a night of dinner and drinks in 2018.

Richard Liu, the founder and former CEO of e-commerce giant JD.com, has denied raping the woman, and prosecutors did not file criminal charges. The woman, Jingyao Liu, sued in civil court, alleging she was coerced to drink before Richard Liu groped her in a limousine and raped her in her apartment.

Both are expected to testify, and it will be up to a jury to decide who is telling the truth. Jury selection starts Thursday, with opening statements Monday.

“I think our client’s credibility is one of the strongest parts of what the jury is going to hear,” said Wil Florin, an attorney for Jingyao Liu. “The incredible courage and fortitude that this young lady has shown is truly admirable.”

Diane Doolittle, an attorney for Richard Liu, said that the woman has changed her story and that the evidence will clear her client’s name.

“We are looking forward to presenting the evidence, presenting the truth, so that the world will know that Mr. Liu is fully and completely innocent of these allegations against him,” she said.

The woman alleges the attack happened in 2018 while Richard Liu was in Minneapolis for a weeklong residency in the University of Minnesota’s doctor of business administration China program, geared toward high-level executives in China.

Jingyao Liu, a Chinese citizen, was at the university on a student visa and was a volunteer in the program at the time. The Associated Press does not generally name people alleging sexual assault, but Jingyao Liu has agreed to be identified publicly.

Richard Liu and Jingyao Liu are not related. Jingyao Liu was 21 at the time; Richard Liu was 46.

Richard Liu is a celebrity in China, part of a generation of entrepreneurs who created the country’s internet, e-commerce, mobile phone and other technology industries since the late 1990s. Forbes estimated his wealth at $11.5 billion.

Richard Liu, who stepped down as CEO of JD.com this year amid increased government scrutiny of China’s technology industry, was arrested on suspicion of felony rape, but prosecutors never filed criminal charges, saying the case had “profound evidentiary problems.”

Jingyao Liu sued Richard Liu and JD.com in 2019, alleging sexual assault and battery, along with false imprisonment.

The case drew widespread attention at a time when the #MeToo movement was gaining traction in China. Richard Liu’s supporters and opponents waged aggressive public relations campaigns on Chinese social media; censors shut down some accounts that supported Jingyao Liu for “violating regulations.”

Jingyao Liu says in her lawsuit that she had to withdraw from classes in fall 2018 and seek counseling and treatment. Her attorney says she has since graduated but has post-traumatic stress disorder. She seeks compensatory damages to cover medical bills, emotional distress and pain and suffering, and Judge Edward Wahl ruled she could also seek punitive damages from Richard Liu.

She is seeking more than $50,000, a standard figure that must be listed in Minnesota if a plaintiff intends to seek anything above that amount. She is expected to ask a jury to award much more.

According to the lawsuit, on the night of the alleged attack, Richard Liu and other executives went to a Japanese restaurant in Minneapolis, and one of the men invited Jingyao Liu at Richard Liu’s request. Jingyao Liu felt coerced to drink as the powerful men toasted her, and Richard Liu said she would dishonor him if she did not join in, she said in her lawsuit.

According to text messages reviewed by The Associated Press and Jingyao Liu’s interviews with police, she said that after the dinner, Richard Liu pulled her into a limousine and groped her despite her protests. She said he raped her at her apartment. She texted a friend: “I begged him don’t. But he didn’t listen.”

After police went to her apartment, Jingyao Liu told one officer, “I was raped but not that kind of rape,” according to police. When asked to explain, she changed the subject and said Richard Liu was famous and she was afraid. She told the officer that the sex was “spontaneous” and that she did not want police to get involved.

Officers released Richard Liu because “it was unclear if a crime had actually taken place,” according to police. In an interview later with an investigator, Richard Liu said that the sex was consensual and that the woman “enjoyed the whole process very much.”

According to police, Jingyao Liu told a sergeant she wanted to talk with Richard Liu’s attorney and threatened to go to the media if she did not. Richard Liu’s former attorney recorded the phone call, in which Jingyao Liu said that she didn’t want the case to be in the newspaper and that “I just need payment money and apologize and that’s all.”

That phone call will be allowed as evidence in the trial. The jurors will also be told that they may presume any electronic messages deleted by Jingyao Liu contained information unfavorable to her. Both pretrial rulings were considered wins for the defense.

Surveillance videos from the restaurant, its exterior and the halls of the woman’s apartment complex will be shown at trial. Richard Liu’s attorneys have said the video shows that Jingyao Liu does not appear to be intoxicated or in distress, as she initially claimed, and that she changed her story after the video surfaced.

She says in her lawsuit that she went to her apartment building with Richard Liu to be polite, and that she believed he was simply walking her to the door. Florin, Jingyao Liu’s attorney, intends to play body camera video from police that he says shows his client feared Richard Liu because he is powerful.

“Insanely wealthy men, they always have the card that they play: ‘Well, I’m being accused of this because I’m wealthy,’” Florin said.

“What happened that night was an evening of consensual sex,” Doolittle, one of Richard Liu’s attorneys, said. “Mr. Liu regrets that, and he regrets being unfaithful to his wife.”

The burden of proof is lower than in a criminal trial, and jurors need only find a preponderance of evidence in either side’s favor, said Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney who isn’t involved in the case.

If jurors proceed to considering punitive damages, that portion of the case requires a different standard of proof. To award punitive damages, jurors must find “clear and convincing evidence” that Richard Liu “deliberately disregarded the rights or safety of others,” Madel said.

After cases like this, Madel said, no matter how much evidence is presented, jurors will typically say: “We just listened to him, we listened to her, and we made our minds up.”
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Hurricane Ian Moves Across Florida After Powerful Landfall

Posted on by SeeUS

Nearly 2 million people were without power and crews were preparing to conduct rescue efforts early Thursday as Hurricane Ian moved across the U.S. state of Florida.

Forecasters warned of life-threatening, record flooding in the central part of the state with the storm expected to emerge off the northeastern Florida coast into the Atlantic Ocean sometime Thursday before making a second landfall in the southeastern United States.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it expects the storm to weaken throughout Thursday, but that it could still be near hurricane strength. Forecasters said central and northeastern Florida could get 30-50 centimeters of rain, with higher amounts in some isolated areas.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of about 150 kph late Wednesday.

It came ashore earlier Wednesday near Cayo Costa with maximum sustained winds of nearly 250 kph, along with a powerful storm surge and heavy rains that combined to flood coastal areas.

State emergency officials said crews, including those working by land, sea and air, were ready to launch rescue efforts as day broke Thursday.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said it carried out at least 30 rescue missions Wednesday and cautioned residents that Thursday was likely to be “frustrating and heartbreaking for many” as people began to assess damage from the storm. The county was one of several that instituted overnight curfews.

“We’ll be there to help you clean up and rebuild, to help Florida get moving again,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday. “And we’ll be there every step of the way. That’s my absolute commitment to the people of the state of Florida.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters Wednesday the storm had done “a lot of damage.” He praised other states in the region and utility companies that sent crews to help restore power to affected areas.

More than 2 million residents on Florida’s west coast were told to evacuate their homes ahead of the storm. Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld are among tourist attractions that shut down their popular theme parks and resorts. The U.S. space agency, NASA, closed the visitors’ center at its Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s eastern coast, and rolled its massive Artemis 1 moon rocket and Orion space capsule from its launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, further delaying its much-anticipated test flight by several more weeks.

Biden has issued an emergency declaration for Florida, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts and provide more federal funding.

The hurricane earlier hit western Cuba, killing two people and leaving the entire island without power after its aging electrical grid, which has been struggling to remain operational amid a dire economic crisis, collapsed late Tuesday.

Ian left behind a trail of destruction across Pinar del Rio province, Cuba’s main tobacco-growing region, ripping the roofs off homes and buildings and making streets impassable because of downed trees and power lines, and flooding. Authorities evacuated as many as 40,000 people from low-lying areas of Pinar del Rio.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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Hurricane Ian Swamps Southwest Florida

Posted on by SeeUS

Hurricane Ian, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S., swamped southwest Florida, flooding streets and buildings, knocking out power to 2 million people and threatening catastrophic damage further inland. A coastal sheriff’s office reported that it was already getting a significant number of calls from people trapped in flooded homes. Some video showed debris-covered water sloshing toward the eaves of homes. The hurricane made landfall Wednesday afternoon near Cayo Costa, a protected barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers. Though expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it marches inland, Ian’s hurricane force winds are likely to be felt well into central Florida.
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Homeless Shelter Makes Room for Canine Companions

Posted on by SeeUS

Dogs are companions to many people without homes, but canines are often not allowed to stay with their owners in homeless shelters. Mike O’Sullivan reports on a Los Angeles nonprofit that instead encourages the bond between humans and their animals, letting them live together. VOA footage by Roy Kim, Mike O’Sullivan.
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Sudanese Authorities Launch Cases Against Newspaper, Bar Association 

Posted on by SeeAF

Sudan’s public prosecution has launched legal proceedings against a prominent newspaper and the bar association, triggering complaints that authorities are trying to restrict basic freedoms nearly a year after a coup.

On Monday, the public prosecution’s cybercrimes unit issued an order to block the website of Al-Sudani newspaper, one of the country’s most respected dailies.

A day earlier, the prosecution called the head of the steering committee for the Sudanese Bar Association in for questioning and ordered the seizure of its headquarters, a lawyer for the group said.

The public prosecutor’s media office did not respond to a phone call from Reuters.

Following the military takeover on October 25, 2021, scores of veterans who served under Sudan’s former ruling party began returning to the civil service, including within the public prosecutor’s office, justice department and foreign ministry.

The takeover put in question a widening of political freedoms in Sudan since the ousting of former autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir in a 2019 uprising.

“We learned about the prosecutor’s order through social media, and it was surprising because we were not informed of any complaint against the newspaper,” Al-Sudani editor-in-chief Ataf Mohamed Mukhtar said.

Mukhtar said the newspaper, whose website was still operating Wednesday, would fight the order, which he said could be issued only by the courts.

“This order goes against the right to free speech and free press that is guaranteed by the law,” he added.

The bar association had recently developed a proposal for a new constitution to resolve Sudan’s political crisis, which has seen the military locked in a standoff with pro-democracy civilian parties and protesters.

Lawyer Satie Al-Haj told Reuters a lawyer had made a complaint over the association’s financial disclosures. The association had secured a block on the order to seize the association’s headquarters, he said. 

“What is happening is an organized attack on freedoms by the remnants of the old regime who are trying to return to power,” Al-Haj said.
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Private American Pilots Help Deliver Aid to Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

Private American pilots with a group called “Ukraine Air Rescue” are working to get supplies into Ukraine. VOA Russian met some of them and has the story. VOA footage by David Gogokhia.
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MSF Seeks Humanitarian Aid for Malnourished Children in Northwest Nigeria

Posted on by SeeAF

Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders has called on the United Nations to add northwest Nigeria to its humanitarian response plan, due to high numbers of children suffering from malnutrition. The group, known by its French abbreviation MSF, said it has treated nearly 100,000 children in the region for malnutrition this year.

In a communique Tuesday, MSF warned that malnutrition among children in northwest Nigeria is at catastrophic levels and called for an immediate response from the global humanitarian community.

MSF even proposed that northwest Nigeria be included in the U.N.’s annual humanitarian response plan.

It’s the second time in three months that the medical aid group has raised serious concerns about the malnutrition crisis in Nigeria, following an alarm about northeast Nigeria in July.

Northwest Nigeria has been hard-hit by militant attacks and raids by kidnap-for-ransom gangs since late 2020.

MSF also said climate change and soaring food prices have made matters worse.

“We have scaled our response. We’re almost at a limit basically because we cannot handle this alone,” said Froukje Pelsma, MSF’s head of mission in Nigeria. “This is why we’re asking for more people to come.”

Pelsma said there are more than 30 organizations working in the northeastern part of the country but only three or four agencies in the northwest working on malnutrition.

“We want people, most especially the U.N. and other agencies, to look beyond the northeast,” she said.

MSF said it has admitted 17,000 children into 10 feeding centers across five states in the region.

Zamfara State has been the most impacted, with a 64 percent increase in the number of severely malnourished children this year compared to 2021.

“We’re working now in Kebbi, Sokoto Zamfara, Katsina and in Kano, but we’re still also very much afraid and pretty sure that we only see the top of the iceberg,” Pelsma said. “We can see numbers, but that doesn’t mean that that covers the whole issue, because we cannot be in every location.”

For years, humanitarian responses have been centered around northeastern states, especially Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, where the militant group Boko Haram has been active since 2009.

This week, top officials of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) met in the capital to highlight problems of food security, with the goal of strengthening responses, using agriculture.

“There’s a lot to be done. This is a country where we have quite a big segment geographically that is affected by different forms of conflict,” said Fred Kafeero, FAO representative in Nigeria. “But how do we intervene in terms of strengthening and responding to that humanitarian emergency and moving towards resilience building? Much of our work is also looking at the root causes and trying to strengthen and build sustainability in the process.”

On Wednesday, MSF is taking part in a high-level humanitarian coordination team meeting with top officials of the United Nations.
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Armenia, Azerbaijan Accuse Each Other of Violating Cease-Fire

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Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Wednesday of violating a cease-fire agreement that ended two days of warfare this month – the second such violation in five days.

Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said that at about 6 p.m. (1400 GMT), Armenian units had started firing at Azerbaijani positions in the Kalbajar region, wounding one serviceman, and that Azerbaijani forces had taken “retaliatory measures.”

The Armenian defense ministry gave an opposite account, tweeting that Azerbaijani forces had fired towards Armenian positions near the common border using mortars and large-caliber weapons, and that the Armenian side had retaliated.

After border clashes two weeks ago that killed almost 200 soldiers, the worst bout of fighting since a six-week war between the two ex-Soviet countries in late 2020, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire deal brokered by Russia.

Armenia said then that Azerbaijan had attacked its territory and seized settlements inside its borders; Azerbaijan said it was responding to “provocations” from the Armenian side.

Last Friday, both sides accused each other of breaching the truce by firing across the border.

The fighting is linked to decades-old hostilities over control of the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but until 2020 largely controlled by the majority ethnic Armenian population.
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Vultures, Nature’s Cleanup Crew, Get New Lease on Life in Cyprus

Posted on by SeeEU

Cyprus released griffon vultures into the wild on Wednesday in the latest attempt to boost a once thriving population now critically endangered by poisoning. 

The island’s largest bird of prey has seen its population fall dramatically to the smallest in Europe in recent decades, either from accidental poisoning or changing farming techniques leaving them short of food. 

Earlier this year, the population suffered a massive loss from poisoning, reducing numbers to just 8, conservationists say. 

They will be joined by eight vultures from Spain, home to Europe’s largest population of griffon vultures, which were released on Wednesday in the mountains north of the coastal city of Limassol. They form a group of 15 brought to the island last year, with seven released in mid-September. 

Another 15 are expected from Spain in November. In the past decade, Cyprus had also brought griffon vultures from Crete. 

“We were only left with eight birds because of the poison baits placed in the countryside mainly to kill foxes and dogs,” said Melpo Apostolidou, project coodinator at BirdLife Cyprus, one of the partners in the part EU-funded Life with Vultures project. 

The birds with names like “Pablo” and “Zenonas” have been fitted with satellite trackers to monitor their movements. 

Big, gangly and smelly, griffon vultures play a vital role as nature’s cleanup crew, feeding off dead carcass and reducing the spread of disease. But the use of banned poisons to kill perceived pests which the scavenging bird will then feed on has a knock-on effect. 

Nicos Kassinis, a senior officer with Cyprus’s Game and Fauna Service, said authorities were operating several feeding stations and had set up dog units trained to detect poison bait. “It is a serious problem,” he said. 

Conservationists say only when the use of poison is effectively addressed can the bird start to thrive again. “Even if we continue to bring vultures from elsewhere, we are just delaying their extinction if we don’t do anything to reduce the frequency of poisoning incidents,” Apostolidou said. 

 
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In St. Petersburg, Russia’s Anti-War Movement Gains Its Voice

Posted on by SeeEU

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stalls, tensions have been unleashed throughout Russian society. Voices of protest are emerging, despite the government crackdown on dissent. The city of St. Petersburg, a center of opposition to the war, is again at the forefront of citizen unrest. Henry Ridgwell narrates this report by VOA’s Moscow bureau.
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Burkina Faso: 11 Dead, Dozens Missing After Militants Attack Convoy 

Posted on by SeeAF

Burkina Faso says an Islamist militant attack on an aid convoy has left 11 troops dead and dozens of civilians missing. 

The Burkina Faso government said Tuesday that armed fighters ambushed a 150-vehicle military-escorted convoy carrying supplies to the northern town of Djibo.

It said at least 11 soldiers were killed and more than 50 civilians are missing.

The government said that the incident occurred Monday in the commune of Gaskinde in the northern province of Soum, where, since 2015, armed organizations affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamic State have taken over large swathes of territory.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo described the incident as “cowardly and savage.”

The death toll could reach 60, according to French news agency AFP, which cited a security source who said “practically the entire caravan was burned.”

The attack will likely exacerbate shortages of basic supplies, such as food and fuel in Djibo, which has been under a de facto siege for months by militant groups.

It may also increase concern about Burkina Faso, where some two million people are displaced amid increasing conflict and climate change.
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US Urges Americans to Leave Russia Quickly 

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. State Department expressed concern Wednesday that Americans with dual citizenship with Russia could be conscripted by Moscow to help fight its war against Ukraine.

“Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service,” the State Department said in a statement.

It said more broadly that U.S. citizens should not travel to Russia and that anyone there now “should depart Russia immediately while limited commercial travel options remain.”

The State Department said flights out of Russia “are extremely limited at present and are often unavailable on short notice. Overland routes by car and bus are still open.”

But it said U.S. travelers in Russia or Americans living there who are planning to leave “should make independent arrangements as soon as possible. The U.S. Embassy has severe limitations on its ability to assist U.S. citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may suddenly become even more limited.”

In addition, the State Department warned Americans “that the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not guaranteed in Russia. Avoid all political or social protests and do not photograph security personnel at these events. Russian authorities have arrested U.S. citizens who have participated in demonstrations.”
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‘Extremely Dangerous’ Hurricane Ian Grows Stronger as It Nears Florida 

Posted on by SeeUS

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center says the extremely dangerous hurricane named Ian is gaining strength as it moves close to the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.

Forecasters say Ian is off Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast with maximum sustained winds of 250 kilometers an hour, near the threshold of becoming a Category 5 storm on the center’s five-level scale that measures a storm’s maximum sustained wind speed and destructive potential. Ian is moving north at a speed of 17 kilometers an hour, with hurricane force winds extending outward about 65 kilometers from the center and tropical force winds extending outward up to 280 kilometers.

The storm was located 105 kilometers west-southwest of the city of Naples, Florida after brushing the Florida Keys, an archipelago at the tip of the state’s southern peninsula, early Wednesday morning. The center of Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall along Florida’s western Gulf Coast region Wednesday between the cities of Fort Myers and Sarasota.

More than 2 million residents on Florida’s west coast have been ordered to evacuate their homes, while Governor Ron DeSantis has activated thousands of National Guard troops as part of the state’s response. Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld are among tourist attractions shutting down their popular theme parks and resorts. The U.S. space agency NASA has closed the visitor’s center at its Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s eastern coast, and has rolled its massive Artemis 1 moon rocket and Orion space capsule from its launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, further delaying its much anticipated test flight by several more weeks.

Thousands of flights have been canceled after several major airports in the expected path of the storm, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, shut down operations.

Forecasters say Hurricane Ian is expected to cause life-threatening storm surges, catastrophic winds and flooding in the Florida peninsula, as well as considerable flash, urban and river flooding as it crosses central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday before reemerging over the western Atlantic Ocean. Ian is also expected to produce as much as 60 centimeters of rain from the Florida Keys and South Florida into the neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina.

White House press secretary Karrine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday on Twitter that President Joe Biden had spoken to Governor DeSantis “to discuss the steps the federal government is taking to help Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian.” President Biden has issued an emergency declaration for Florida, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts and provide more federal funding.

The hurricane is heading toward Florida after making landfall Tuesday on western Cuba as a Category 3 storm. The storm killed two people and left the entire island without power after its aging electrical grid, which has been struggling to remain operational amid a dire economic crisis, collapsed late Tuesday.

Ian left behind a trail of destruction across Pinar del Rio province, Cuba’s main tobacco growing region, ripping the roofs off homes and buildings and making streets impassable from downed trees and power lines and flooding. Authorities evacuated as many as 40,000 people from low-lying areas of Pinar del Rio.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

 
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Ukraine Calls for Isolation of Russia, More Military Aid for Ukrainian Forces  

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukraine urged its backers Wednesday to make clear to Russia that “its attempts of annexation, blackmail and ultimatums” will only bring more support to the Ukrainian side in the conflict that began with the February invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.    

“Ukraine calls on the EU, NATO and the Group of Seven to immediately and significantly increase pressure on Russia, including by imposing new tough sanctions, and significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine, including by providing us with tanks, combat aircraft, armored vehicles, long-range artillery, anti-aircraft and missile defense equipment,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.  

The appeal came as the Russia-installed leaders in Luhansk and Kherson appealed Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to annex those territories based on what they said was the support of residents. 

Russia-installed officials said 93% of ballots cast during the five days of voting in Zaporizhzhia supported annexation, along with with 87% in Kherson, 98% in Luhansk and 99% in Donetsk. Together, the regions make up about 15% of Ukraine’s territory.    

Ukraine, the United States and other Western countries have denounced the referendums as illegal. International recognition is highly unlikely. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Russia must be isolated internationally for its sham referendums in his country.         

“There is only one way to stop this all,” he said by video. “First, it is the complete isolation of Russia in response to everything it does.”        

More sanctions should be imposed on Moscow, he said, and it should be deprived of its veto at the U.N. Security Council and suspended from all international institutions.  

“The annexation of the captured territories … is the most brutal violation of the U.N. Charter,” the Ukrainian president said. “This is an attempt to steal the territory of another state. This is an attempt to erase the norms of international law.”       

If Moscow annexes these territories, Zelenskyy said, it “will mean that there is nothing to talk about with the president of Russia.”    

U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told council members that the referendums are not a “genuine expression of the popular will.”       

“Unilateral actions aimed to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the attempted acquisition by force by one state of another state’s territory, while claiming to represent the will of the people, cannot be regarded as legal under international law,” she said.       

“Now, Kyiv is being rejected not only by the people of Crimea and Donbas, but Kherson and Zaporoizhzhia regions,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told council members. “This process is going to continue if Kyiv does not recognize its mistake and its strategic errors and doesn’t start to be guided by the interests of its own people, and not blindly carry out the will of those people who are playing them.”        

There are concerns in Ukraine and the West that should the territories be annexed, Russian President Vladimir Putin would claim any attempt by Ukrainian military forces to recapture the land as an attack on Russia itself.        

Diplomatic action    

The United States and Albania have circulated a draft resolution to Security Council members condemning the referendums, calling on countries not to recognize any altered status of Ukraine and compelling Russia to withdraw its troops from the country.      

“If Russia chooses to shield itself from accountability here in the council, we will then look to the U.N. General Assembly to send an unmistakable message to Moscow,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “The world must stand together and defend the Charter of the United Nations.”      

She told reporters after the meeting that she hopes to seek a vote in the Security Council either late this week or early next week.      

“We call on all U.N. members — everyone for whom the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders have meaning — to oppose Russia’s actions, condemn the referendums and their anticipated results, and never recognize any attempt to steal Ukrainian land through violence and terror,” Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said.       

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Pipeline Leaks Appear to Be Result of Deliberate Act      

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European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday that all indications are that leaks from two Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea “are the result of a deliberate act.” 

“We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security,” Borrell said in a statement. “Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.” 

The U.S. State Department said late Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the situation with Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and that the United States “remains united with our allies and partners in our commitment to promoting European energy security.”  

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that the U.S. is supporting efforts to investigate the apparent sabotage.

Denmark’s defense minister Morten Bodskov is due to discuss the matter with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to speculate on the cause” of the leaks, replied White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to questions about the incident Tuesday, adding that she had nothing to report on whether the United States had been requested by European officials to help determine the cause of the ruptures.

“An act of sabotage”

The 1,222-kilometer-long Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been, until recently, a major source of gas for Germany. Nord Stream 2, which is 1,234 kilometers in length, has yet to go into commercial operation.

“We have established a report and the crime classification is gross sabotage,” the Swedish national police said Tuesday, announcing a preliminary investigation into possible sabotage of Nord Stream 1.

“There are three leaks, and therefore it is difficult to imagine that it could be accidental,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen Tuesday.

“We see clearly that this is an act of sabotage – an act which likely means a further step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” concurred Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Frederkisen and Morawiecki spoke in Gloeniow in Poland at the opening ceremony for Baltic Pipe, part of a Polish plan to reduce its energy dependence on Russia. The line will connect Poland to Norwegian gas fields through Denmark.

“No option can be ruled out right now,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, regarding the possibility of sabotage, adding that the leaks are a cause for concern.

Russia closed Nord Stream 1 earlier this month, ostensibly for maintenance work.

The majority owner of the network’s operator, Nord Stream AG, is Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy company.

“The destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented,” said NordStream AG in a statement. “It is not yet possible to estimate the timing of the restoration of the gas transport infrastructure.”

“The biggest leak is spreading bubbles a good kilometer in diameter. The smallest is creating a circle about 200 meters” in diameter, according to a statement from the Danish armed services, which included photographs of the leaks off the island of Bornholm.

Powerful blasts recorded Monday

Scientists in Europe say seismographs on Monday recorded powerful blasts in the Baltic Sea, the same day the two gas pipelines dropped pressure.

“There was a spike and then regular noise,” said Josef Zens, a spokesman for the German geological research center GFZ. “We cannot say if that could be gas streaming out.”

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action,” wrote Bloomberg Opinion columnist Javier Blas, quoting the late British author Ian Fleming.

“The leaks are more likely a message: Russia is opening a new front on its energy war against Europe. First, it weaponized gas supply, halting shipments, including via the Nord Stream pipeline. Now, it may be attacking the energy infrastructure it once used to ship its energy,” said Blas, author of The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.

Amid much speculation on social media about who might have sabotaged Nord Stream there is no credible evidence of a likely culprit or motive. Analysts and amateurs on Twitter contend the Russians may have deployed divers or unmanned submersible vehicles to poke holes in the pipelines.

The leaks are a result of a “terrorist attack” and “an act of aggression” against the European Union, declared Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian presidential office.

Some anonymous accounts on Twitter, parroting Russian state media, sought to blame Washington and Kyiv. On social media on Tuesday, a video clip from early February recirculated of Joe Biden vowing to “bring an end” to the Nord Stream 2 project if Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Kremlin has stated that if Western Europe wants Russian gas, it should end sanctions against Moscow imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seven months ago.

“My understanding is the leaks will not have a significant impact on Europe’s energy resilience,” Secretary Blinken said in Washington.

“This just drives home the importance of our efforts to work together to get alternative gas supplies to Europe and to support efforts to reduce gas consumption and accelerate true energy independence by moving to a clean energy economy,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told VOA.

While the impact to Europe ahead of the winter as a result of the loss of the pipelines remains to be seen, the trio of leaks poses an immediate hazard to wildlife and maritime navigation.

The gas could suffocate animals and is an explosion threat to passing ships, according to environmental groups.

Contributors include Patsy Widakuswara at the White House; Nike Ching at the State Department, and Chris Hannas in Washington. Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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