Month: October 2022

US Announces New Sanctions on Iran for Bounty on Rushdie

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The U.S State and Treasury departments announced Friday the United States is imposing economic sanctions on the Iran-based 15 Khordad Foundation for issuing a multimillion-dollar bounty on author Salman Rushdie, which led to an attack on him in August.

In 1989, following the publication of Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims found blasphemous, then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the author’s death, leading to attacks on Rushdie and those associated with him.

The fatwa was reaffirmed by Iran’s current Supreme Leader in 2017 and was republished by Iranian state-controlled media as recently as August 2022.

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said the 15 Khordad Foundation has maintained the bounty on Rushdie and as recently as 2012 increased its bounty on the author from $2.7 million to $3.3 million. They said the organization has advertised its offer, claiming the entire sum would be given immediately to anyone who assassinated Rushdie.

In the statement, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said, “The United States will not waver in its determination to stand up to threats posed by Iranian authorities against the universal rights of freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of the press.”

Rushdie, 75, was attacked August 12 as he prepared to speak in a lecture hall in Chautauqua, New York, outside the city of Buffalo. He was stabbed in the face, neck and torso and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he underwent several surgeries.

In a simultaneous statement Friday, the U.S. State Department said the original fatwa was designed to incite terrorism and violence. It went on to say, “The United States condemns such incitement and the attack on Rushdie in the strongest terms as a blatant assault on freedom of speech and an act of terrorism. Today’s action is another clear signal that we will not stand by in the face of it.”

The author’s agent said he lost sight in one eye and lost the use of one hand as a result of the attack. A 24-year-old New Jersey resident, Hadi Matar, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault in connection with the attack.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Infighting Brings New Split in South Sudan’s Ruling Party

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The search for sustainable peace in South Sudan hit another obstacle this week as infighting erupted within the ruling SPLM party. Riek Machar, the country’s first vice president, was expelled from his position as SPLM vice chairman. The dismissal pours cold water on years of efforts to heal rifts among South Sudan’s top leaders – the same rifts that caused the country’s civil war.

Riek Machar was the party’s first vice chairman, a spot that placed him in a strategic position to claim the SPLM presidency if President Salva Kiir, who is also SPLM chairman, were to opt out of party politics.

Kuol Atem, SPLM secretary for political affairs, said this week that Machar and party Secretary General Pagan Amum have been taken off the party register because they are trying to build up their own parties.

“Though his office is just less than 200 meters away from the SPLM national secretariat and the same distance from the President Saliva Kiir’s, he continues to organize his party as we are all eyewitness to that effect. Comrade Pagan is busy with Real SPLM Party, abroad and the Rome process; and SPLM is being held hostage.”

Though associated with the SPLM in Opposition (SPLM-IO), Machar insists that SPLM-IO is not a registered party and thus he never ditched the mother party as claimed by Atem.

Puok Both Baluang is the acting press secretary in the Office of First Vice President.

“The decision made by President Salva Kiir faction to dismiss comrade Riek Machar and comrade Pagan Amum, from SPLM and also…as first deputy chair of the party and secretary general of the party, it is unconstitutional based on the SPLM constitution. They are elected members. Such dismissal or replacement is only possible if there is a national convention of SPLM, not a faction.

There are 14 registered political parties in South Sudan, according to records at the Political Parties Council. However, in reality there are more than 50 parties operating in Juba alone.

That includes several factions of the SPLM, including Machar’s, Amum’s and President Kiir’s. The last, which is the original SPLM party, is known as SPLM-in-Government.

It was a split between Kiir and Machar that triggered South Sudan’s six-year civil war in December 2013.

Abraham Kuol Nyuon, an associate professor of political science at the University of Juba, says the removal of Machar and Amum from their positions in the main party is ultimately a dispute over which faction is legitimate.

“So this removal is about the ownership of the party symbol, it is about the ownership of the emblem and it is about the ownership of the party of SPLM.”

Analysts say parties with the SPLM tag will likely have an advantage with voters in the next elections, slated for late 2024.

South Sudan is currently run by a transitional government, which recently extended its mandate by another two years.

Professor Kuol says the country should expect such bickering at party levels in the run up to the elections.
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South Africa’s Former Electricity Boss Charged With Corruption

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South African investigators have arrested the former head of the country’s national power provider, Eskom, on corruption charges. South African analysts say while this is a significant step toward tackling state graft, it won’t fix the country’s worsening energy crisis.

Matshela Koko, the former head of state power provider Eskom, was charged Thursday with multiple counts related to corruption, fraud and money laundering.

The lawyer leading the charge for the National Prosecuting Authority, Andrea Johnson, said in a statement, “This arrest is about accountability and rule of law … it is imperative for the country and its people that we serve without fear, favor or prejudice.”

Koko’s wife, two stepdaughters and other officials under his tenure also were charged in the complex case, which involves more than $121 million in power station construction contracts.

Analysts say the charges show growing momentum in efforts to tackle widespread corruption in state institutions.

“I think what this sends out is [the message] that if you are in a position of power and authority and you commit corruption, that the precedent has been clearly set that you can and will be held accountable,” said Gareth Newham, head of justice and violence prevention for the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria. “So, it’s a very important principle that has now been established, and one of those lacking for too long in South Africa.”

Eskom was just one institution targeted in state graft — called state capture — under the nearly decade-long tenure of former president Jacob Zuma that was investigated by a judicial inquiry.

Among the inquiry’s recommendations was to strengthen the National Prosecuting Authority.

Current President Cyril Ramaphosa has done just that, by adding an independent directorate to the authority and giving it more resources, as part of his anti-corruption mandate.

Newham said the investigation into Koko exemplifies the potential of a strengthened public prosecutor.

“I think it shows that the hard work that has been undertaken within the National Prosecuting Authorities since the beginning of 2019 is starting to pay off,” he said.

Koko has maintained his innocence, and his arrest doesn’t mean a political win for Ramaphosa.

Analysts point out that other high-ranking officials implicated in the graft inquiry continue to hold offices under Ramaphosa’s watch.

“He has the authority as the president of the country, as the leader of the administration to remove certain people now on all levels of government… which he’s not doing,” said Ina Gouws, a political scientist at the University of the Free State.“If he’s waiting for the National Prosecuting Authority to do his job for him, when it comes to getting rid of caterers who are implicated in corruption, then you can imagine how badly that goes for the country.”

The trial, set to take place in March, will not fix Eskom and the country’s energy crisis.

The utility is billions of dollars in debt and implementing daily blackouts due to breakdowns at power stations.

“The recovery of funds from the likes of people that have been arrested recently is quite frankly, trivial at this stage,” said Clyde Mallinson, an independent energy expert. “If Eskom had an infinite budget, as we speak, and if they had an infinite amount of coal, we would still be where we sit at the moment, because it’s time that we’ve lost.”

While the public may welcome the prospect of accountability for corruption at Eskom, Mallinson said they can’t expect the blackouts to end any time soon.
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WHO: Blockade of Humanitarian Aid to Tigray Puts Millions at Risk of Deadly Diseases

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World health officials say conflict and an ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid to northern Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region are putting the lives and health of millions of people at risk

The World Health Organization says 13.1 million people in parts of Ethiopia need health care and humanitarian assistance. More than 5.2 million are in Tigray.

Since conflict between the Ethiopian government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front began nearly two years ago, Tigray has been in a de facto blockade. A recent five-month truce was shattered two months ago, cutting off road and air access, as well as humanitarian aid.

Ilham Abdelhai Nour is Ethiopia team lead for the WHO’s Incident Management System and Emergencies Operations. She says 89% of Tigray’s population is food insecure and 29% of children under five are acutely malnourished.

“Malnourished children are usually very sick. They need urgent treatment. Some of them will need hospitalization and around-the-clock care. When they get sick, they tend to get a severe disease. They tend to die as well.”

She adds that 55% of pregnant and breastfeeding women also are acutely malnourished and risk getting sick and dying as well.

Director of the Health Emergencies interventions Altaf Musani notes only nine percent of health facilities in Tigray are fully functional. He says routine immunization has fallen below 10% this year, putting children at high risk of vaccine-preventable diseases.

He says that is particularly dangerous now when drought-affected areas of Ethiopia are reporting outbreaks of cholera and more than 6,000 cases of measles nationally have been confirmed.

“In Tigray and in parts surrounding it—and we have learned this from COVID—diseases do not know borders,” said Musani. “They do not respect those borders. So, whether it is measles, malaria, or suspect cases of anthrax, these things will move. And hence our ability as a system at large to detect and contain them is vital. In the case of northern Ethiopia, those systems are either stretched or non-existent.”

Musani says the WHO knows what diseases exist and what must be done to treat and prevent people from getting ill. However, he says, the WHO has limited access to Tigray.

He says the WHO is not able to get life-saving vaccines, fuel, and essential medicine into the area. He says those and other supplies that could make the difference between life and death cannot be brought into the area. And that, he says, is deeply worrying.
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Spokesman: Speaker Pelosi’s Husband Assaulted in Break-In

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was “violently assaulted” by an assailant who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, and he is now in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery, her spokesman said.

Pelosi was not in the residence at the time. Spokesman Drew Hammill said the assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation.

“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” Hammill said in a statement.

Pelosi just returned to Washington this week from a security conference in Europe and is due to keynote an advocacy event Saturday evening with Vice President Kamala Harris.

While the circumstances of the attack are unclear, the incident raises additional questions about the safety of members of Congress and their families as threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the violent Capitol insurrection.

Members of Congress have received additional dollars for security at their homes, but some have pushed for more protection as people have showed up at their home,s and as members have received an increasing number of threatening communications.

Often at Pelosi’s side during formal events in Washington, Paul Pelosi, 82, is a wealthy investor who largely remains on the West Coast. They have five adult children and many grandchildren.

Earlier this year, Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May crash in California’s wine country and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation.
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Cypriot Envoy Says Any Maritime Border Dispute With Lebanon ‘Easily’ Resolved

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A Cypriot delegation in Lebanon on Friday for talks on maritime border delineation between the two countries said any disputes during that process could be easily resolved.

“There is no problem between Lebanon and Cyprus that cannot be resolved easily,” said Cypriot special envoy Tasos Tzionis, after meeting with outgoing Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

Lebanon and Cyprus reached a maritime border agreement in 2007, but it was never ratified by Lebanon’s parliament and therefore never went into force.

Cyprus delineated its maritime exclusive economic zone vis-a-vis Israel in 2010. Lebanon and Israel officially delineated their contested sea boundary Thursday, following years of U.S.-mediated indirect talks.

Aoun said the next step following that achievement would be defining Lebanon’s maritime boundaries with northern neighbor Syria and resuming talks with Cyprus to the west.

A planned visit this week to Damascus by a top Lebanese delegation was indefinitely postponed after the Syrian government told Beirut it was “not the right time.”

Lebanon’s deputy speaker of parliament and border negotiator Elias Bou Saab said Friday said Syria was still the priority.

“We will not delineate with Cyprus until we communicate with Syria,” Bou Saab told reporters at the presidential palace.
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US Election Cycle 2022 Sees Most Ever LGBTQ Candidates

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According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, more than 1,000 LGBTQ people are running for local and federal offices around the U.S. this year. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. VOA footage by Aleksandr Bergan.
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Hundreds of Journalists Have Fled Russia Since Start of Ukraine War

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When Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian journalists who continued to work independently in the country came under significant pressure — so much so that many have been forced to leave. Anush Avetisyan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by David Gogokhia.
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Analysts Criticize Nigeria’s Plan to Redesign Currency

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is planning on replacing its naira currency to reduce excess cash, inflation and crime. Although the currency could be in circulation as early as mid-December, Nigerians will have until the end of January to exchange the old bills, after which they will cease to be legal tender.  

This is the first time Nigeria will have changed the design of its currency in two decades.  

The bank will redesign and print new bills for the 200, 500 and 1,000 naira denominations, CBN governor Godwin Emefiele told journalists during a news conference in Abuja.   

The action is part of authorities’ efforts to halt the slide of the country’s official tender, which has lost more than 35 percent of its value in the past year. The CBN said the measure will help tackle the issue of counterfeit notes and recall large amounts of money outside the bank’s control.   

It will also stifle access to money used as ransom by terrorists and kidnappers. These kidnap-for-ransom gangs often demand huge sums, usually delivered to them in cash.   

Emefiele pointed out that the currency in circulation had more than doubled since 2015, a “worrisome trend that cannot continue to be allowed.”  

Authorities say now more than 85% of the total money in circulation is outside the vaults of banks.   

But while some analysts praise the move — saying it could address excessive flow and stashing of cash ahead of the elections next February — others, like economic expert Emeka Okengu, say it is ill-timed.   

Okengu argued that, “You don’t stop counterfeiting by changing the currency, you do so by finding those involved and getting them arrested. This is not the time. Eighty percent of Nigeria is under water both economically and financially.” He pointed out that the change was too close to the general elections and that, “If they waited for twenty years, nothing stops them from waiting another six months.”  

Security expert Senator Iroegbu also questioned the decision.   

“The reason they gave on the surface sounds genuine,” Iroegbu told VOA, “But when you look at it holistically you begin to ask questions. How practical is this and why now? Most times they always cite insecurity. What is the benefit of such exercise on security? This policy will only affect the poor masses.” 
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Hawaii’s Big Island Gets Warning as Huge Volcano Rumbles

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Hawaii officials are warning residents of the Big Island that the world’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa, is sending signals that it may erupt.

Scientists say an eruption isn’t imminent, but they are on alert because of a recent spike in earthquakes at the volcano’s summit. Experts say it would take just a few hours for lava to reach homes closest to vents on the volcano, which last erupted in 1984.

Hawaii’s civil defense agency is holding meetings across the island to educate residents about how to prepare for a possible emergency. They recommend having a “go” bag with food, identifying a place to stay once they leave home and making a plan for reuniting with family members.

“Not to panic everybody, but they have to be aware of that you live on the slopes of Mauna Loa. There’s a potential for some kind of lava disaster,” said Talmadge Magno, the administrator for Hawaii County Civil Defense.

The volcano makes up 51% of the Hawaii Island landmass, so a large portion of the island has the potential to be affected by an eruption, Magno said.

There’s been a surge of development on the Big Island in recent decades — its population has more than doubled to 200,000 today from 92,000 in 1980 — and many newer residents weren’t around when Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago. All the more reason why Magno said officials are spreading the word about the science of the volcano and urging people to be prepared.

Mauna Loa, rising 13,679 feet (4,169 meters) above sea level, is the much larger neighbor to Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential neighborhood and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Some of its slopes are much steeper than Kilauea’s so when it erupts, its lava can flow much faster.

During a 1950 eruption, the mountain’s lava traveled 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the ocean in less than three hours.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, said Mauna Loa has been in a state of “heightened unrest” since the middle of last month when the number of summit earthquakes jumped from 10 to 20 per day to 40 to 50 per day.

Scientists believe more earthquakes are occurring because more magma is flowing into Mauna Loa’s summit reservoir system from the hot spot under the earth’s surface that feeds molten rock to Hawaii’s volcanoes.

The temblors have declined in frequency in recent days but could rise again.

More than 220 people attended a community meeting last weekend that county civil defense officials held in Ocean View, a neighborhood that lava could reach in hours if molten rock erupts through vents on Mauna Loa’s southwest flank.

Bob Werner, an Ocean View resident who didn’t attend the meeting, said it’s wise to be aware of a possible eruption but not to fear it. He’s not concerned that the neighborhood would be completely cut off, if lava flows across the only road connecting it to the bigger towns of Kailua-Kona and Hilo, where many people do their shopping.

The “greater concern is it will be extremely annoying to drive an extra hour or two hours to get the same stuff,” he said.

Ryan Williams, the owner of the Margarita Village bar in Hilo, said the volcanic unrest wasn’t worrying customers who are used to warnings.

There could still be a heightened sense of urgency since officials have been holding town hall meetings, urging people to prepare.

“But everything I’ve read or heard, they trying to kind of assure people that conditions have not changed,” Williams said. “There’s no imminent eruption, but just to be alert.”

Magno said his agency is talking to residents now because communities closest to vents likely wouldn’t have enough time to learn how to respond and prepare once the observatory raises its alert level to “watch,” which means an eruption is imminent.

The current alert level is “advisory” meaning the volcano is showing signs of unrest yet there’s no indication an eruption is likely or certain.

Residents in other parts of the island would have more time to react.

Lava from Mauna Loa’s northeast flank could take days or weeks to reach residential communities. That’s because the mountain’s slopes on that side are relatively gentle and because towns are farther from volcanic vents.

Frank Trusdell, research geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said all of Mauna Loa’s eruptions in recorded history have started in its summit crater. About half of them stayed there, while the other half later spewed lava from vents lower down the mountain.

Lava erupting from the summit generally doesn’t travel far enough to reach residential areas.

Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times since 1843. It last erupted in 1984 when lava flowed down its eastern flank only to stop 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) short of Hilo, the Big Island’s most populous town.

Mauna Loa also has a history of disgorging huge volumes of lava.

In the 1950 eruption, which lasted for 23 days, Mauna Loa released 1,000 cubic meters (1,307 cubic yards) of lava per second. In contrast, Kilauea released 300 cubic meters (392 cubic yards) per second in 2018.

The earthquakes could continue for a while before any eruption: increased seismic activity lasted for a year before a 1975 eruption and a year-and-a-half before the 1984 one. Alternatively, the temblors could subside and Mauna Loa may not erupt this time.

Trusdell said residents should look at his agency’s maps and learn how quickly lava may show up in their neighborhood. He also urged people living in one of the short-notice areas to pay attention if the summit turns red.

“All you got to do is look up there and see the glow. You grab your stuff, throw it in the car and drive. Go!” he said.

They can always go home after if the lava ultimately doesn’t flow into their neighborhood, he said.
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Approval of Oil Leases in New Mexico Prompts Legal Challenge

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The Biden administration’s approval of oil leases in a corner of New Mexico that has become a battleground over increased development and preservation of Native American sites has prompted a legal challenge.

Environmental groups are suing the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. They contend in a complaint filed Wednesday that the federal government is going back on its word by clearing the way for oil and gas development on federal lands near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

At issue are leases that span more than 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) in northwestern New Mexico. The groups say the federal government agreed in April to reconsider the Trump-era leases given their proximity to homes and an area held sacred by Navajos.

“We are disappointed that the Bureau of Land Management decided to double down on fracking and ignore the cumulative impacts, inequities and injustices of oil and gas leasing and drilling in the Greater Chaco [area],” Ally Beasley with the Western Environmental Law Center said in a statement.

Outside buffer zone

The Bureau of Land Management said Thursday that the parcels in question are outside an informal 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer zone around Chaco park that the agency has observed for years.

Under an initiative by Haaland, that buffer would be in effect for the next 20 years, prohibiting oil and gas development on federal land within that area.

Federal land managers are currently assessing the proposal, although Navajo Nation officials have argued for a smaller area to be protected because the tribe and its citizens benefit economically from oil and gas development.

Environmentalists have argued that the Bureau of Land Management has failed to consider the cumulative impacts of drilling in the area. Archaeologists and leaders of New Mexico pueblos with ancestral ties to the Chaco area also have concerns about damaging culturally significant sites that are outside the park’s boundaries and the buffer zone.

A World Heritage site, Chaco park is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization, with many Southwest tribes tracing their roots to the high desert outpost. Archaeologists have found evidence of great roads that stretched from Chaco across what are now New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, has talked about her own tribe’s connection to the area. She visited last November and announced her agency’s intentions to develop a landscape-level plan to protect the region’s cultural values.

The Bureau of Land Management, which is overseen by Haaland’s agency, on Thursday reiterated its commitment to updating the environmental analysis that governs leasing in the area and promised that there would be more opportunities for public comment.
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US Says Russia May Be Helping Iran Put Down Protests

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The White House says the Biden administration supports the people of Iran and their right to peaceful protests — and that there may be cooperation between Iran and Russia in cracking down on Iranian protesters. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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Another Belarusian Journalist Handed Prison Term Amid Crackdown on Civil Society 

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The Minsk City Court has sentenced journalist Ales Lyubyanchuk to three years in prison amid a crackdown on independent media and civil society in Belarus under authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAZh) said Thursday that Judge Alena Ananich had sentenced the journalist after finding him guilty of creating an extremist group and taking part in its activities.

BAZh demanded that Belarusian authorities immediately release Lyubyanchuk, saying his incarceration was “retaliation for his journalistic activities.”

Lyubyanchuk, who cooperated with various media outlets, including Poland’s Belsat news agency, actively covered nationwide mass protests sparked by an August 2020 presidential poll that Lukashenko said he won but the opposition said was rigged.

He was arrested several times over his coverage of the protests at the time and subsequently stopped his journalistic activities. However, in late May, Lyubyanchuk was arrested.

The Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) human rights center has recognized him as a political prisoner.

The sentence came a day after the court sentenced noted investigative journalist Syarhey Satsuk to eight years in prison on charges of bribe-taking, inciting social hatred and abuse of office.

Satsuk, who also has been recognized by Belarusian human rights organizations as a political prisoner, rejected all the charges, calling them groundless.

Currently, 32 Belarusian journalists are in custody, many of whom have been jailed since the August 2020 presidential election.

Thousands have been detained during countrywide protests over the results, and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has refused to negotiate with the opposition, and many of its leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country.

The United States, the European Union and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenko as the winner of the vote and have imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the crackdown.
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Togo Targets COVID Relief With Satellites, Mobile Phones and AI

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How satellite imagery and artificial intelligence helped the government of Togo deliver COVID-19 relief to its neediest citizens.
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China Remains Top Threat in New National Defense Strategy

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China remains the top challenge to U.S. national security interests, while Russia remains an “acute” threat as it continues its brutal war in Ukraine, according to the Pentagon’s newly released National Defense Strategy.

“The [People’s Republic of China] is the only competitor out there with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, a power to do so,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon.

A senior defense official, speaking to reporters about the new defense strategy on the condition of anonymity, said China continues to gain more “capability to systematically challenge the United States across the board: militarily, economically, technologically, diplomatically.”

The “China challenge,” according to Austin, has led to boosting defense capabilities across all warfighting domains, especially space and cyberspace, to make it clear to any potential adversary that “the cost of aggression against the United States or our allies and partners far outweighs any conceivable gains.”

The unclassified strategy report comes as both China and Russia have escalated aggressions against their neighbors. China repeatedly threatens to control Taiwan, by force if necessary, and Russia invaded Ukraine in February and continues to attack Ukrainian towns and cities with missiles and even Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

A classified version of the report was released to Congress earlier this year.

Another senior defense official, also speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity Thursday, said nuclear weapons would continue to be the “bedrock” of U.S. military deterrence.

According to the official, the new defense strategy reflects that the U.S. is now facing two major nuclear-armed competitors in Russia and China.

“Other non-nuclear capabilities have the potential to complement but cannot replace nuclear deterrence in some circumstances,” the official said.

Other major threats

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine poses “an immediate and sharp threat,” Austin said, causing the United States to increase its military presence in Europe from about 80,000 troops to more than 100,000.

But unlike China, Austin told reporters, “Russia can’t systemically challenge the United States over the long term.”

The senior official added that “Russia is absolutely deterred from attacking NATO,” as the United States has made clear that it will defend every inch of NATO territory.

But the official raised concern that Russia’s failures on the Ukrainian battlefield could cause it to rely more on its nuclear forces in the future.

Other threats mentioned in the 2022 National Defense Strategy include North Korea, Iran and global violent extremists.

Iran remains a destabilizing presence in the Middle East and the greatest state sponsor of terrorism, all while continuing to develop nuclear capabilities that would enable Tehran to produce a nuclear weapon. However, according to the report, “Iran does not today possess a nuclear weapon” and the U.S. “currently believe[s] it is not pursuing one.”

North Korea also continues to expand its nuclear and missile capabilities to threaten U.S. forces and American allies in the region.

The 2022 strategy is largely a continuation of the 2018 National Defense Strategy under then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, which made a fundamental shift away from primarily countering extremists to focusing first on a potential war with a near-peer competitor.

Last year the U.S. ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan. The U.S. still has a small number of troops in Somalia, Iraq and Syria but has largely shifted away from major counterterrorism operations.

The new strategy calls for more advancements in technologies from hypersonic weapons to artificial intelligence. Austin added that the fiscal 2023 budget includes more than $130 billion for research and development, the largest such research budget in the department’s history. 
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Putin Says West Playing ‘Dangerous, Bloody Game’

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In a foreign policy speech Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western nations of trying to dominate the world, saying the coming decade will be one of the most dangerous since the end of World War II. 

In a lengthy speech in Moscow during the opening session of Valdai Discussion Club’s annual foreign affairs forum, Putin characterized the West as aggressively, desperately seeking to “single-handedly govern humanity.” He said people of the world no longer want to put up with it. 

He said the West is playing a dangerous, bloody and dirty game, and blamed Western aggression for, in his words, “the incitement of war in Ukraine … provocations around Taiwan, the destabilization of the global food and energy markets,” and the destruction of the European gas pipelines. 

The Reuters news agency later cited the White House as saying Putin’s comments were not new and did not indicate a change in his strategic goals, including in Ukraine. 

Analysts say Putin’s annual speech has traditionally provided the best insight into the Russian president’s view of the world and geopolitics.  

Putin said the world is at a “historical turning point,” and the “period of undivided dominance of the West in world affairs is coming to an end.” He said, “Russia is not challenging the elites of the West, Russia is just trying to defend its right to exist.” 

During a question-and-answer session, Putin spoke about the conflict in Ukraine — which he continued to refer to as Russia’s “special military operation.” Russia invaded Ukraine February 24 and has faced Western sanctions over the offensive. 

Putin said he thinks “all the time” about the casualties Russia has suffered but that the operation “ultimately benefits Russia and its future.” 

During the session, Putin ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, saying it would “make no sense at all to us — either in political or military terms.” 

He said Ukraine and the West accused Russia of military escalation to “influence neutral countries,” which he maintained had failed. 

Putin also called on the International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring team in Ukraine to inspect Ukraine’s nuclear sites “as fast as possible,” reiterating Moscow’s claims — without evidence — that Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” in the conflict. 

He said Ukraine is “doing everything to cover up traces of this preparation.” 

A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb laced with radioactive, biological or chemical materials which are spread in an explosion. 

The United Nations Security Council discussed Russia’s allegations at a closed-door meeting Tuesday. 

 

Ukraine and its Western allies have strongly denied the accusations, and suspect they are being made as a pretext for some type of escalation in the war in Ukraine. 

U.S. President Joe Biden has warned that the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine would be a “very serious mistake.” 

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Press. 

 
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New Swedish Government to Tighten Migration Policy  

Posted on by SeeEU

Sweden has historically been viewed as Europe’s most welcoming country for refugees, but observers say that changed in 2015 when the government decided to close its borders.

The election in September of a new government steered by the far-right Sweden Democrats has further tightened migration policy.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s Moderate Party, the Liberals and Christian Democrats constitute Sweden’s new ruling coalition. But observers say the Sweden Democrats, who have neo-Nazi roots and won the largest number of parliamentary seats, hold enormous sway over the coalition, setting far-reaching policies on migration and other key issues.

Observers say the Sweden Democrats have further stroked anti-immigrant sentiment over rising violence, some of which occurred in migrant communities.

Rights advocates criticize a deal the coalition and Sweden Democrats reached called the Tido Agreement, which gives the Sweden Democrats a powerful say in drafting new laws. The deal proposes a drastic reduction in the quota of refugees coming into Sweden, from 5,000 per year to just 900; consideration of an end to the permanent residence permit system; and the possible return of people who have “not integrated.”

It also tightens requirements for Swedish citizenship and reduces the right to family reunification to the minimum set at the European Union level.

Contradictory position

John Stauffer, legal director and deputy executive director of the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders organization, says the Tido Agreement contradicts the human rights norms to which Sweden is bound by focusing on “harsher sentencing measures, undermining the rule of law and making it more difficult to be a refugee or asylum-seeker,” he told The Local, an online publication.

He says the deal’s proposals should be challenged, including stop-and-search zones, easier surveillance, elimination of benefits for newly arrived immigrants, and the detention of asylum-seekers while their asylum applications are processed, among others.

Swedish migration expert Anna Lundberg, a professor in sociology of law at nearby Lund University, told VOA that the Tido Agreement is not a legally binding document, and that it’s unreasonable to implement these suggestions within given time frames.

“It’s easy to say that you should aim at the EU minimum level,” she said, “but it’s not so clear what this minimum level actually means. … I assume that the government is also interested in considering knowledge about how legislation works in practice, if they want to achieve effect with their legislative changes. In that case, a thorough work is needed on the root of the problems they wish to solve.”

Law-abiding Afghan refugees in Malmo, who suffered religious persecution at home and in neighboring Iran, told VOA they felt particularly vulnerable to the proposals because they cannot return to either country, where they would face likely death at the hands of the Taliban and Islamic Republic rulers.

“I can understand their concern,” Lundberg said. “Young people who have sought protection in Sweden without their guardians have been very badly affected by the restrictive changes in both law and legal application after 2015. Now that the new government is talking about a paradigm shift, I assume they want to clean the slate through collective regularization programs so that these young people can make a life for themselves.”

Rights advocates point out that it is not Afghan youth who are involved in gun violence and gang crime in Sweden, but such incidents may involve second- or third-generation migrants. They allege that arguments for stricter migrant controls are used by the far-right Sweden Democrats to distort perceptions.
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US Rolls Out Voluntary Cybersecurity Goals

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States is trying to make it easier for companies and organizations to bolster their cybersecurity in the face of growing attacks aimed at crippling their operations, stealing their data or demanding ransom payments.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) rolled out their new Cybersecurity Performance Goals on Thursday, describing them as a critical but voluntary resource that will help companies and organizations make better decisions.

“Really what these cybersecurity performance goals present is a menu of options to advance one’s cybersecurity,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters, describing the rollout as a “watershed moment” for cybersecurity.

“They are accessible, they are easy to understand, and they are identified according to the cost that each would entail, the complexity to implement the goal, as well as the magnitude of the impact that the goal’s implementation would have,” he added.

For months, U.S. officials have been warning of an ever more complex and dangerous threat environment in cyberspace, pushing the government’s “Shields Up” awareness campaign, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

They have also called attention to cyberattacks by Iran and North Korea, while warning that both nation states and non-state actors have increasingly been scanning and targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, from water and electric companies to airports, which were struck by a series of denial-of-service attacks earlier in October.

Private cybersecurity companies have likewise warned of a growing number of attacks against health care companies and education and research organizations.

While some bigger U.S. companies and organizations have been able to devote time, money and other resources to confront the growing dangers, U.S. officials are concerned that others have not.

In particular, CISA has worried about small to mid-sized businesses, along with hospitals and school systems, often described by officials as target rich but resource poor because they do not have the money or resources to defend systems and data from hackers.

Officials said the new guidelines, which focus on key areas like account security, training, incident reporting, and response and recovery, and come with checklists, are designed to ease the burden. The officials also said they anticipate the goals will change and evolve along with the threat.

The newly unveiled goals “were developed to really represent a minimum baseline of cyber security measures that if implemented, will reduce not only risk to critical infrastructure but also to national security, economic security and public health and safety,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly, calling them a “quick start guide.”

“[It’s] really a place to start to drive prioritized investment toward the most critical practices,” she said.

According to CISA, many of the new goals are already resonating, including with state and local officials running U.S. elections.

“We’ve been working with them to implement several of these best practices, as well as ensuring that they have the tools and resources and the capabilities to ensure the security and resilience of election infrastructure,” Easterly told reporters Thursday. “I’ve met with election officials even just over the past few days … and they all expressed confidence in particular in the cybersecurity across all of their systems.”

CISA also said Thursday that U.S. states and territories needing more help can take advantage of $1 billion in grants that are being made available over the next four years.

The grants, designed specifically to help protect U.S. critical infrastructure, were first announced last month.
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US to Give Pakistan Additional $30 Million for Flood Victims

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States said Thursday it would give an additional $30 million in humanitarian aid to Pakistan to support victims of recent catastrophic flooding in the South Asian nation. It brings the total disaster-related assistance from Washington to Islamabad this year to $97 million. 

 

U.S. Ambassador Donald Blome announced the new funding during a trip to southern Sindh province, one of the country’s worst-hit regions.  

 

“We have been here for the people of Pakistan since the beginning, supporting the most vulnerable communities. With these new funds, the United States will expand upon its existing response, enabling USAID to reach more than 1.8 million people in Pakistan,” Blome said. 

 

 

Pakistani and United Nations officials say torrential seasonal rainfall, made worse by global climate change, has triggered floods across Pakistan, affecting 33 million people and killing more than 1,700 others since June. Floodwaters destroyed or damaged 2.1 million houses, killed 1.2 million livestock, damaged 13,000 kilometers of roads, displaced 8 million people, including 644,000 living in relief camps, and drenched one-third of the country at one point.  

 

A U.S. Embassy statement said the new funding would provide lifesaving food, nutrition, shelter supplies, winterization kits, and health assistance to mitigate increased food insecurity and malnutrition resulting from the impact of the floods. It will also support efforts aimed at curbing the rise of diseases resulting from stagnant flood waters, it said. 

 

The United Nations said Thursday that 7% of the land in Pakistan is still inundated, warning health perils are changing with a rise in respiratory diseases. 

 

“Water is receding, but now there’s not enough water for [operating] rescue boats. This is increasing the number of areas which are inaccessible. People are returning to nothing,” noted a U.N. statement. It lamented that people in hundreds of villages are surviving on fish from the water they drink, cook with, clean in, and defecate in. 

 

The U.N. earlier this month increased its international humanitarian aid appeal to $816 million from $160 million for Pakistan after reviewing the scale of the disaster and fearing a surge in water-borne diseases, as well as growing food insecurity, could pose new challenges for the impoverished country.   

 

The U.N. statement noted Thursday that 23%, or $110 million, has been committed to the appeal.  

 

“Funding for food assistance may finish by the end of the year if more funds are not received. An estimated 14.6 million people require emergency food assistance from December through March 2023,” the statement said. Almost 10 million children require immediate lifesaving support, while nearly 4 million lack access to health services, it added. “The shelter is becoming more and more important as people return home and winter sets in.”  

 

Nearly 2,000 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed in calamity-hit districts where more than 8 million people need health assistance. About 650,000 pregnant women in flood-affected areas face challenges in getting access to maternal services. 

 

Pakistan officials have estimated damage from the flooding at about $40 billion, urging the global community to do more to provide financial aid to the country of about 220 million people.  

 

Pakistan maintains that it produces less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is listed among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change-driven disasters. 
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Malawians Protest High Cost of Living, Alleged Corruption

Posted on by SeeAF

In Malawi, protesters and opposition supporters chanted and marched Thursday in the commercial capital, Blantyre, to protest the high cost of living and alleged corruption.

The demonstrators presented a petition to the office of President Lazarus Chakwera.

Joshua Chisa Mbele, leader of Action Against Impunity, a network of civil rights organizations behind the protest, accused the government of mishandling money Malawi received to fight COVID-19, among other alleged transgressions. 

“We are tired of a government which is stealing day and night,” he said. “We have lost so much resources for the past two years. We lost the COVID money and we cannot take it anymore. We are saying that they should leave the office and go home.” 

Mbele also said Chakwera has failed to fulfill promises he made during his campaign two years ago, when he vowed to ensure food security to all Malawians and create one million jobs in the country once he was in power. 

There was no immediate comment from the government on the concerns raised by the protesters. 

Earlier this week, Chakwera fired Minister of Agriculture Robin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima over what the president called “incompetence and gross negligence.” 

The president blamed the two for facilitating a fertilizer procurement deal which saw Malawi’s government lose about $725,000 to a British company that failed to supply the commodity. 

The issue was among those listed as grounds for Thursday’s demonstration. Malawi’s opposition parties supported the protest, saying it was justified. 

Protester Rebecca Mwale said the situation in the country was growing worse, with food prices unreasonably high and medicines in short supply.

Mbele said he hopes Chakwera responds to the concerns once he sees the protesters’ petition, which was presented to his office. 

“In the petition, we are saying that we want to see action. We have heard enough, we have spoken enough, we want to see action. We want Chakwera to show leadership. We want him to take action so that we preserve what is remaining as people’s assets,” Mbele said. 

Similar protests are expected Friday in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, where protesters plan to march to the state house to present a petition directly to Chakwera. 

 
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South Africa Urged to Deny Russian Billionaire’s Yacht Entry

Posted on by SeeAF

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has urged the South African government to deny entry to a Russian billionaire’s megayacht, warning that allowing it to dock in the country could lead to sanctions.

Steel and mining tycoon Alexei Mordashov is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S., European Union and allies have been seizing property of Russian oligarchs close to Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine.  

The $500 million megayacht Nord left Hong Kong after that city was accused of giving safe haven to those who’ve been sanctioned. It is expected to arrive in South Africa on November 8 or 9. Although it is not known exactly where it will dock, the popular port of Cape Town is said to have people with the skills required to maintain the vessel. 

“The position of the South African government on the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and the illegal war being perpetrated there has been nothing short of spineless and embarrassing,” said Hill-Lewis, a member of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, which controls the municipality but remains subject to national policies set by the African National Congress ruling party. 

“In this case,” he added, “they had an opportunity to put some of that right by standing up for principle, by standing up for international law and enforcing sanctions by refusing entry to Mr. Mordashov and his enormous luxury yacht.” 

Hill-Lewis said he will continue to object. 

“This is an enabler of Putin’s war and of Putin’s regime, and he should be stopped. He should not be welcome. But unfortunately, they have missed an opportunity, and they have decided to muddle through sitting on the fence without taking any clear principled position on this matter,” he said. “I will certainly stand up for the basic principle that Cape Town and South Africa should not be offering safe harbor to international criminals.” 

South Africa has abstained from voting on every United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February. 

After the most recent vote earlier this month, South Africa’s ambassador to the U.N., Mathu Joyini, said South Africa remains steadfast that dialogue, mediation and diplomacy is the only path that will lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. 

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya discussed Mordashov’s yacht at a media briefing this week. 

“South Africa’s obligations with respect to sanctions relate to only those specifically adopted by the United Nations. Currently, there are no U.N.-imposed sanctions on the particular individual,” Magwenya said. “Therefore, South Africa has no legal obligations that the U.S. and EU have decided to impose within specific jurisdictions. For as long as individuals abide by our immigration laws, we have no reason to prevent their entry into South Africa.” 

Brooks Spector, a political analyst and associate editor of The Daily Maverick, said the South African government should be condemning the war. 

“If it had been me and I were in charge, which I’m not, I would’ve said, ‘No, the ship can’t dock until we have proof that it has no relationship to the war effort or other transgressions,’ and that would’ve put a stop to the immediacy of it and perhaps postponed if off to the distant future as a port visit,” Spector said. 

He said in this instance, the South African government’s expressed desire to take a neutral stance is damaging its reputation. 

 
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MSF Warns of Measles, Cholera Outbreaks at Kenya Refugee Complex

Posted on by SeeAF

The charity Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Complex faces a high risk of measles and cholera outbreaks as thousands of new refugees arrive from areas of Somalia where the diseases are circulating. 

More than 233,000 refugees live in three overcrowded camps in the complex.  

Doctors Without Borders, best known by its French acronym MSF, reported a sharp rise since January in the number of people fleeing to Kenya to escape drought, hunger and violence. 

Many of the new arrivals are from southern Somalia, where measles and cholera outbreaks recently have occurred, the charity said.  

MSF’s deputy program manager for Kenya, Adrian Guadarrama, said Thursday in Geneva that many are being received by refugee communities inside camps, but many more are living in very poor conditions on the outskirts of the camps. 

Last week, he said, MSF teams recorded three cases of measles and two suspected cases of cholera in Dagahaley, one of Dadaab’s three refugee camps. 

“This should be an alarm for all the actors and stakeholders involved in the response in Dadaab. Because we know that just one case of any of these diseases can cause a full-blown outbreak very quickly, affecting not only the refugee community, but also the host community,” Guadarrama said. 

Kenya’s Health Ministry last week issued a cholera alert following confirmation of 61 cases in six counties. 

Guadarrama said Kenya stopped registering new arrivals in Dadaab in 2015.  

Unregistered refugees, he said, cannot get basic services and assistance. He said clean drinking water is scarce, and toilets and handwashing points lacking. These conditions, he said, make the unregistered refugees highly vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. 

Guadarrama said the need for measles and cholera vaccination campaigns is urgent, but that devising a strategy is complex. Some people are scattered in the outskirts, he said, while others are inside Dagahaley camp. 

“We talk about a camp of 115,000. So, just to identify them is quite a challenge,” he said. “And this is why having screening, or a reception center or a registration center — that would be ideal — would allow us to cope with those activities and provide access to basic services including vaccination, for example.” 

Guadarrama said the humanitarian situation in the camps and in the surrounding communities is not yet at the breaking point and there is still time to avoid an emergency in a long and protracted crisis. 

 
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Greek PM Says Ready to ‘Extend Hand of Friendship’ to Turkey

Posted on by SeeEU

Greece is ready to “extend a hand of friendship” to neighbor and regional rival Turkey, Greece’s prime minister said Thursday, while also accusing Turkey’s president of whipping up anti-Greek sentiment at home. 

Tensions have escalated between the two NATO allies, which are divided over a series of issues and have come to the brink of war three times in the last half century. 

“My wish is that, even with delay, our neighbors will choose the road of de-escalation, of legality, of peaceful coexistence without rhetorical outbursts but with constructive actions,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Athens. 

“On my side, they will always find me ready to extend a hand of friendship. We don’t have any room for further needless sources of tension,” Mitsotakis said, adding that differences must be resolved peacefully. “That is what our people want, that is what the Greek people want, that is what the Turkish people want, that is what all of Europe wants.” 

Disputes between Greece and Turkey include sea boundaries in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean that affect energy exploration rights. Turkey has also blasted Greece for maintaining a military presence on eastern Greek islands that it says violates international treaties. 

Greece counters that it faces a direct threat from Turkey, which has a significant military presence on the Turkish coast opposite the islands, and it has reacted with horror to statements from Turkish officials implying the sovereignty of some inhabited Greek islands could be disputed. 

“It should not be that NATO partners question each other’s sovereignty,” Scholz said in a brief joint press conference with Mitsotakis after their meeting. “All issues must be resolved through dialogue and on the basis of international law. And we are very much in agreement on that.” 

Mitsotakis said it was “truly a shame” that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “can’t see that he is walking into a dead end when he poisons his people with lies against Greece. Because our neighbors and all our allies know that the Greek islands do not threaten anyone.” 

The German chancellor said it was “in the interest of all neighbors” to exploit the economic potential of the Mediterranean “for the benefit of their respective populations. I got the impression in my conversation that Greece is very willing to do this. And we can and should have confidence in that.” 

 
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European Central Bank Makes Another Large Interest Rate Hike

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, increasing rates Thursday at the fastest pace in the euro currency’s history and raising questions about how far the bank intends to go with the threat of recession looming over the economy.

The 25-member governing council raised its interest rate benchmarks by three-quarters of a percentage point at a meeting in Frankfurt, matching its record increase from last month and joining the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a series of rapid hikes to tackle soaring consumer prices.

“Inflation remains far too high and will stay above our target for an extended period,” ECB President Christine Lagarde told reporters after the meeting. Bank policymakers “expect to raise interest rates further to ensure the timely return of inflation” to the 2% target.

She pointed to continued rate hikes despite the bank expecting “further weakening in the remainder of this year and the beginning of next year.”

The ECB has now raised rates for the 19-country euro area by a full 2 percentage points in just three months, distance that took 18 months to cover during its last extended hiking phase in 2005-2007 and 17 months in 1999-2000.

Central banks around the world are rapidly raising interest rates that steer the cost of credit for businesses and consumers. Their goal is to halt galloping inflation fueled by high energy prices tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine, post-pandemic supply bottlenecks, and reviving demand for goods and services after COVID-19 restrictions eased. The Fed raised rates by three-quarters of a point for the third straight time last month.

Quarter-point increases have usually been the norm for central banks. But that was before inflation spiked to 9.9% in the eurozone, fueled by higher prices for natural gas and electricity after Russia cut off most of its gas supplies during the war in Ukraine.

Inflation in the U.S. is near 40-year highs of 8.2%, fueled in part by stronger growth and more pandemic support spending than in Europe.

Inflation robs consumers of purchasing power, leading many economists to pencil in a recession for the end of this year and the beginning of next year in both the U.S. and the 19 countries that use the euro as their currency.

Some analysts foresee a half-point increase at the last rate-setting meeting of the year in December and think the bank may pause after that.

The ECB predicts inflation falling to 2.3% by the end of 2024.

Higher rates can control inflation by making it more expensive to borrow, spend and invest, lowering demand for goods. But the concerted effort to raise rates has also raised concerns about their impact on economic growth and on markets for stocks and bonds. Years of low rates on conservative investments have pushed investors toward riskier holdings such as stocks, a process that is now going into reverse, while rising rates can lower the value of existing bond holdings.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, has warned that tightening monetary policy “too much and too fast” raises the risk of prolonged recessions in many economies. The IMF forecasts that global economic growth will slow from 3.2% this year to 2.7% next year.

The ECB also must keep an eye on the euro’s sagging value against the U.S. dollar, although the ECB says it does not target any particular exchange rate. A weaker euro worsens inflation by raising the price of imported goods. The euro rose above parity with the dollar on Wednesday but remains near its lowest levels in 20 years.

Reasons for the dropping exchange rate include higher U.S. interest rates that attract money into investments priced in dollars and, more broadly, the dwindling prospects for Europe’s economy. Europe is facing headwinds from the loss of cheap Russian natural gas and an economic slowdown in key trade partner China.

ECB rate hikes, other things being equal, could support the euro by lessening the interest rate gap with the U.S.

The ECB’s benchmark for short-term lending to banks now stands at 2%, a level last seen in March 2009.
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