Month: October 2022

Google Agrees to Compliance Reforms to Prevent Search Warrant Data Loss

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it had reached an agreement with Alphabet Inc’s Google resolving a dispute with the search engine giant over the loss of data responsive to a 2016 search warrant.

The government said it was a “first-of-its-kind resolution” that would result in Google reforming “its legal process compliance program to ensure timely and complete responses to legal process such as subpoenas and search warrants.”

“The department is committed to ensuring that electronic communications providers comply with court orders to protect and facilitate criminal investigations,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite, who heads the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The settlement demonstrated the department’s “resolve in ensuring that technology companies, such as Google, provide prompt and complete responses to legal process to ensure public safety and bring offenders to justice,” he added.

Google said it had a “long track record of protecting our users” privacy, including pushing back against overbroad government demands for user data, and this agreement in no way changes our ability or our commitment to continue doing so.”

The company told a U.S. court it had spent more than $90 million “on additional resources, systems, and staffing to implement legal process compliance program improvements.”

The Justice Department said an independent compliance professional will be hired to serve as an outside third party related to Google’s compliance upgrades.

In 2016, the United States obtained a search warrant in California for data held at Google related to the investigation of the criminal cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, the department said.

Later the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled search warrants issued under the Stored Communications Act (SCA) did not cover data stored outside of the United States.

In 2018, Congress clarified the SCA did cover U.S. providers that chose to store data overseas, but the government said that “in the intervening time, data responsive to the warrant was lost,” the Justice Department said.

Google will assemble reports and updates regarding the compliance program that will go to the government, the Google Compliance Steering Committee and Alphabet board committees.
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Biden Urges Americans to Get COVID Boosters, as Funding Hangs in Balance

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President Joe Biden got his second COVID-19 booster shot Tuesday and urged Americans to do the same before major holidays and winter flu season. But with no more congressional funding coming for COVID relief, where does this leave nations the U.S. vowed to help? Anita Powell reports from the White House
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Zimbabwe Authorities Worried Over Illegal Miners’ Deaths

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Authorities in Zimbabwe say the death toll from illegal mining is rising, with more than100 killed so far this year — more than double the casualties in 2020. The government has launched a safety campaign aimed at illegal miners, but the struggling economy pushes many people to keep risking their lives underground. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Bubi, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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Jan. 6 Panel Interviews Former Trump Aide Hope Hicks

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The House January 6 committee is interviewing Hope Hicks, a longtime aide to former President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Tuesday’s interview comes as the investigation is winding down and as the panel has subpoenaed Trump for an interview in the coming weeks. The person requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.

Hicks did not play a major role in the White House response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, in which hundreds of Trump’s supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. The longtime Trump communications aide was still working there at the time but left the White House in the days afterward.

Still, Hicks had been one of Trump’s most trusted aides. And she was looped in on some texts and emails that day ahead of the then-president’s speech outside the White House and before the violence unfolded, according to CNN, which obtained copies of texts turned over by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Hicks is no stranger to investigations of her former boss. She was a key witness in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, delivering important information to the special counsel’s office about Trump’s attempts to obstruct that investigation. But she declined to answer questions about her time in the White House to House Democrats who were investigating the former president in 2019, after Mueller’s report came out, citing privilege concerns.

The New York Times first reported Hicks’ interview.

The January 6 panel has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including multiple White House aides, and has established that Trump was repeatedly told by some of his closest advisers that he had lost the 2020 election. But he continued to spread false claims of widespread election fraud, and his supporters who stormed the Capitol repeated them.

The nine-member panel issued a letter to Trump’s lawyers late last week demanding his testimony, either at the Capitol or by videoconference, “beginning on or about” Nov. 14 and continuing for multiple days if necessary. The letter also outlined a sweeping request for documents, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups.

Trump has not yet responded to the subpoena.The committee held nine hearings this year and is expected to release a final report by the end of the year.
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Journalist Held on Spy Charge in Poland Takes Case to European Court 

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In letters from prison, freelance journalist Pablo Gonzalez said that secret service agents told him to “eat flies or insects” if he wanted to keep up his protein levels. 

Gonzalez, who has been in custody in Poland for eight months — nearly entirely in solitary confinement — said in the letters seen by VOA that he does not receive enough food so is forced to buy provisions from the prison.

Classed a “dangerous prisoner” by Polish authorities, the journalist, who has no criminal record, said he is handcuffed and accompanied by up to five guards every time he leaves his cell.  

Gonzalez is now taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, seeking to secure his release on the grounds that the terms of his imprisonment contravene his constitutional rights. 

In Madrid on Tuesday, media organizations and lawyers held a demonstration in front of Spain’s Foreign Ministry in support of Gonzalez and delivered a letter of protest to the Polish embassy in Madrid. 

Poland in February ordered Gonzalez held in pre-trial detention while authorities investigate allegations that he was spying for Russia — accusations the journalist has denied. That pre-trial period was extended in August for a further three months. 

Poland’s secret service claims Gonzalez used his role as a journalist as a cover for espionage, but officials have not publicly disclosed any supporting evidence.  

The legal papers seen by VOA do not comment directly on that investigation. Instead, they say that the status of “dangerous prisoner” is groundless. 

“It gives rise to a number of consequences that undermine [his] rights, his dignity and his health,” the court papers said.  

Legal papers also said that letters sent to Gonzalez are being opened and translated by the prosecutor and kept for weeks or months before they are delivered. The journalist claims this violates the constitutional right to family life. 

Gonzalez has had contact only with his Polish lawyer and the Spanish consul but has been denied phone calls or visits from his family in Spain, according to people familiar with the case.

“Gonzalez lives in physically and mentally unbearable conditions; his cell where he is alone, has one window that does not open,” the papers add.  

A spokesperson for the Polish prosecutor’s office told VOA in a statement that “due to the nature of the proceedings” it could not disclose any details of the case against Gonzalez.

The statement said, “Gonzalez has all the rights and obligations resulting from the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Executive Penal Code including the conditions of isolation in pre-trial detention as well as telephone contacts and visits.”

Family visits denied

Gonzalez has covered conflicts in Ukraine and Syria for various outlets including Voice of America, the left-wing Spanish paper Publico, and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper. 

Gonzalez did some camera work for VOA in 2020 and 2021. At the time of his arrest, VOA released a statement saying that it had removed his content “out of an abundance of caution” and informed the VOA/USAGM security office of the arrest. 

The journalist has dual Russian and Spanish nationality. His family moved to Russia after the Spanish Civil War, but Gonzalez is not part of Russia’s secret intelligence service, his Polish lawyer Bartosz Rogala said. 

The journalist’s detention is hard on his family who say that Gonzalez is not allowed to speak with his wife, Oihana Goiriena, or their three children by telephone. Visits are forbidden. 

“In the letters, Pablo does not include all the details about his captivity because it might upset the children,” Goiriena told VOA from their house in the Basque Country, northern Spain. 

“The boys are starting to ask questions about when their father might be home and I don’t have the answers,” she said. “I expect they will extend the custody so he is still in prison at Christmas, which will be hard.”

A court in Poland ruled in August that Gonzalez must remain in custody for a second three-month period until November 25. Under Polish law, he can be held for up to a year. If convicted, the journalist could be jailed for up to 10 years. 

Alfonso Bauluz, president of Reporters Without Borders in Spain, said the watchdog objects to the ”breaching of Pablo’s basic human rights.” 

“We protest against the lack of presumption of innocence, the lack of judicial aid and the extremely tough prison conditions in which he is being held, despite not being convicted of any offense,” he told VOA.  

A spokesperson for the Polish prosecutor’s office told VOA that the order detaining Gonzalez until November indicates “a high probability of committing the alleged acts as well as a justified fear of procedural fraud, hiding or fleeing.”

The 40-year-old war reporter has seen the Spanish consul seven times since his detention. 

Earlier this month, Jose Manuel Albares, the Spanish foreign minister, told the country’s senate, or upper house, “The government attaches great importance to the case of Mr. Gonzalez. Since the arrest became known, numerous steps have been taken at different levels, both from the ministry and the Spanish Embassy in Warsaw.”  

The ministry told VOA it could not disclose some details of the case. 

A Spanish foreign ministry spokesperson, who did not disclose their name as is customary, said, “Our role is twofold: to urge the Polish government to respect the rights of Mr. Gonzalez and to facilitate consular visits.” 

Gonzalez was arrested at a hotel near Poland’s border with Ukraine on February 28. 

Earlier in 2022, Ukrainian secret service officials questioned the journalist and accused him of spying for Russia, which he denied. He returned to Spain for a few days before leaving for Poland.
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Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Divides Americans Before Midterm Elections

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Katelyn Umholtz still owes nearly $25,000 in college debt. Umholtz said when she first heard the news that President Joe Biden was ordering the partial forgiveness of student loan debt like hers, she immediately texted her family to celebrate.

“It’s a big and exciting deal for us,” Umholtz told VOA. “My sister has a bunch of student debt, too. We came from a low-income family and our dad told us taking out loans was the only way we could go to college.”

According to U.S. government data, Americans owe a combined total of $1.6 trillion in college debt, nearly equivalent to the size of the entire economy of Australia or Brazil.

In August, President Biden gave hope to tens of millions of these borrowers. He announced that the government would forgive $10,000 of federal student loan debt for any American who earns less than $125,000 per year. Loan recipients who received a Pell Grant — typically for lower-income students who demonstrate a financial need — would have an additional $10,000 forgiven in the president’s plan.

Excitement reached a fever pitch last week as the program’s online application went live. Already more than 22 million individuals have signed up via the digital form.

To borrowers like Umholtz, there is a hope partial student debt forgiveness can provide essential relief as crippling cost of living increases and record-level inflation hinder Americans still trying to recover from the economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve never missed a student loan payment,” Umholtz said, “but the payments are high and so are rent, health insurance and other life costs. I’ve taken on medical debt, and I’ve taken on credit card debt. I’m hoping student loan forgiveness can give me space to pay these things off, and then — maybe one day — to think about having a family or buying a home. I haven’t been able to save for any of that yet.”

Despite the progress Biden’s plan has made toward becoming a reality, student loan forgiveness is not yet guaranteed. Six conservative-leaning states filed a lawsuit arguing that the president’s program would hurt companies managing federal loans.

On Friday, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked any debt from being erased until it deliberates on whether canceling student loan debt is within the president’s authority.

In fact, for all the Americans celebrating Biden’s push, many others deride it as an example of unnecessary spending during a period of rising national debt and economic turmoil.

“I think this could all potentially be a publicity stunt to help the president’s Democratic Party during the midterm elections in a few weeks,” said Angelica Garcia, a Republican voter from Saginaw County, Michigan. “If we want to help the economy, this is not the way to do it. It’s wasteful spending and it will have dire consequences for our country’s future.”

Expected divisions

Political analysts say disagreement over the wisdom of partially canceling student debt is split the same way many issues are in the United States — along political lines.

“The breakdown is really exactly as you’d expect it to be,” explained Robert Collins, professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans. “The vast majority of Democratic voters — who are also the most likely to go to college as well as to support economic relief for those struggling — are in favor of canceling student debt. The majority of Republican voters are against it.”

A poll conducted last month by Economist/YouGov confirmed this, showing that 80% of Democrats supported college debt cancellation while 72% of Republicans opposed it. Independent voters — especially important because they are less likely to have committed their vote to one of the two main political parties — were split almost exactly down the middle with 44% in favor of Biden’s student debt plan and 42% against it.

Central to the argument of many supporting college debt relief is the belief that student loan providers are acting in a predatory way against borrowers — many of whom are only children at the time they agree to loan terms.

“When you take out a loan on a car or a house, you’re an adult,” Liz Skelding, a teacher in Glastonbury, Connecticut, told VOA. “But I was 17 years old when I signed my student loan paperwork. Nobody explained the terms to me. Nobody explained how interest will compound so I can never get out of debt. I was 17 years old!”

Natalie Krusemeier, a middle school teacher in Ethete, Wyoming, took out $70,000 in student loan debt to obtain associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She agrees the current structuring of interest rates makes it difficult to pay off college loans.

“I’ve made my student loan payments every single month, but what do I have to show for it?” she asked. “After the tens of thousands of dollars I’ve paid, I somehow owe $12,000 more than when I began repayment. Everything I’ve paid is going toward interest. This isn’t working. We need help.”

A matter of fairness

For many who have already paid off their student loan debt or who never took out loans to begin with, it feels unfair that taxpayer money would go toward partially relieving others’ debt burdens when they themselves received no such help.

“I paid for my entire education myself,” Denver Mullican, a resident of Natchez, Mississippi, told VOA. “I worked during school and then worked three jobs every summer to afford college. Nine of my closest college friends worked and went to university at the same time too.”

In last month’s Economist/YouGov poll, a majority of respondents (56%) said they felt student loan debt forgiveness was unfair to Americans who already paid off their debts.

Collins, from Dillard University, said he believes a false narrative is to blame for the division on this issue.

“There is this idea that student loan forgiveness is going to have this huge impact on the national debt or on further increasing inflation,” he said, “but that’s not true. Your cost of gas, eggs and milk aren’t going up because a little student debt is forgiven.

“There’s also a narrative among conservatives that student loan forgiveness is helping out spoiled brat, wealthy, elitist college graduates,” Collins said. “As a college professor, I can tell you that’s not true. Most of the people who this is going to help aren’t from wealthy families because then they wouldn’t have needed loans. This relief will go to people who can really use the assistance.”

Impacting elections

While the current lawsuit by six Republican-led states has stopped the Biden administration from erasing any debt, it has not stopped them from continuing to encourage borrowers to submit their online applications.

“Amidst Republicans’ efforts to block our debt relief program, we are moving full speed ahead to be ready to deliver relief to borrowers who need the help,” tweeted U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

“[It will not] prevent us from reviewing the millions of applications we have received,” he added in another tweet.

The last time the federal government launched a high-profile online presence was a decade ago when the passage of the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) required the creation of an online marketplace. The website frequently crashed and was nonfunctional in its early days, causing anger among voters and embarrassing Democrats.

While some feared the same could happen with the online student loan application, that has so far not been the case.

“It took about two minutes,” Colleen LaFlamme, a musician in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, told VOA. “Incredibly easy. Uncomplicated. User friendly. It was great.”

As the fate of the president’s student loan forgiveness order awaits a decision by the courts, many Americans are wondering how the plan will affect the midterm elections, just two weeks away.

“I think Biden’s trying to falsely paint Republicans as heartless,” said Garcia from Michigan. “He wants to force Republican politicians to block his measure. They’re blocking it because it’s bad for the economy, but it will look like they don’t want to help people struggling with debt.”

While Collins from Dillard University doesn’t think student loan forgiveness will change anyone’s mind on whom to vote for, he does think it could impact the election.

“This election is going to be about who can get their base excited enough to show up and vote,” he said. “Student debt isn’t going to flip anyone’s vote, but it could get more Democratic voters excited enough to go out and cast their ballot. Whether that will be enough to impact the election — we’ll find out soon.”
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Security Forum Focuses on Stability Challenges in Africa

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Policymakers from around the world met Monday and Tuesday in Senegal to discuss Africa’s most pressing security challenges. This year, attendees of an annual conference focused on redefining the role international partners play in promoting stability in Africa.

More than 1,000 people participated in the eighth edition of the International Forum of Dakar on Peace and Security.

Attendees included the heads of state from Cape Verde, Angola and Guinea-Bissau, as well as high-ranking officials from Japan, Saudi Arabia and France.

The event opened with a speech from Senegalese President and African Union Chairman Macky Sall, who spoke about the need to re-examine modern peace operations.

If U.N. peacekeepers are being attacked on their own bases, they can’t be expected to protect local populations, he said.

“Threats to peace and stability lie in the deep economic crisis that is shaking the world,” Sall said. “Millions of people can no longer bear the cost of living, and others fall into extreme poverty, with no hope of a better future.”

The solution, he said, is to educate and create employment for Africa’s growing youth population.

The conference took place in the wake of France’s withdrawal of military forces from Mali and ongoing criticism of U.N. missions throughout the region.

Militant Islamic violence in Africa has doubled since 2019, with a record 6,300 incidents in 2022 – a 21 percent increase over last year, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a U.S. Department of Defense research group. The Sahel has been the most impacted, with violent events quadrupling over the same period.

Across the continent close to 15,000 people have died this year from extremist-linked violence, a nearly 50 percent increase from 2019.

Aude Darnal, a fellow with the Stimson Center, a Washington research organization, said of the violence, “Solutions need to be defined by local actors. They also need to be implemented by local actors. International stakeholders should support, but the leadership needs to come from Africa.”

Nadia Adam, a Sahel analyst for the nonprofit Center for Civilians in Conflict, said solutions must be built from the inside. “Most African countries, especially the youth, now want to make decisions for themselves,” she said. “They want to be part of the change. And they have the capacity. More people are educated.”

Government officials attending the conference reiterated that message.

Chidi Blyden is the U.S. assistant secretary of defense for African affairs. In a speech, she quoted a Creole saying from Sierra Leone, which translates to “When and if there’s a problem, look exactly where you’re standing.”

“Some of the problems reside there, but more importantly, the solution probably resides there as well,” she said. “The continent is full of African solutions to global problems.”

The forum also addressed how to decrease Africa’s dependence on international food aid and become more resistant to external shocks, such as the war in Ukraine.
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Zimbabwe Tries to Rally Support Against Western Sanctions

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Hundreds of Zimbabweans turned out Tuesday for rallies against Western sanctions that the government has long blamed for the country’s economic troubles.

The sanctions, some of which date back 20 years, were imposed in response to alleged election rigging and rights abuses under former President Robert Mugabe, who died in 2019. The United States and Britain maintain the targeted sanctions are not the cause of Zimbabwe’s problems.

About 500 Zimbabweans gathered in the city of Bulawayo on Tuesday for an anti-sanctions rally organized by the ruling ZANU-PF Party.

One of the demonstrators, Mabutho Moyo, said U.S. and British sanctions caused the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy because industries could no longer get lines of credit.

“People lose jobs, and the loss of jobs leads to poverty,” Moyo said. “And poverty, ultimately, to high mortality rates, as you have seen in Zimbabwe. But as [Zimbabweans], we have remained resilient. We have not allowed ourselves just to cry. And through the leadership of comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa, we are not going to beg for anyone’s support.”

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Constantino Chiwenga read a speech for President Mnangagwa that was aired on national television.

“The sanctions regime undermines the tenets of the human factor approach of nations in pursuit of social sustainable economic development. They are an attack on the freedoms and on the sovereignty of Zimbabwe,” Chiwenga read. “Further, the illegal sanctions defy the fundamentals and precepts of international law. They challenge the notions of equality of nations and values of global governance enshrined in the United Nations Charter.”

U.S., British and European Union officials have long rejected Zimbabwe’s accusations, saying that the sanctions target individuals and certain companies rather than state institutions.

They say mismanagement of the economy is the key factor behind Zimbabwe’s long economic slump, which dates back to 2000.

Last week, James O’Brien, the U.S. State Department’s sanctions coordinator, told an online press briefing that U.S. sanctions are not hurting Zimbabwe’s economy, as they do not affect banks.

A much bigger problem, he said, is the tax revenue lost from billions of dollars in black market, cross-border transactions that take place each year.

On Tuesday, the British embassy in Harare released a statement saying its sanctions list had only five people for “human rights violations and serious corruption.”

It added that “these measures do not affect trade or economic measures. Trade between the U.K. and Zimbabwe was $175 million last year, and we are working hard to increase this.”

The embassy said, “We want Zimbabwe to succeed. Anything to suggest that the U.K. wants to harm Zimbabwe is simply false.”

Harare-based independent political commentator Rejoice Ngwenya also doubts the sanctions have much of an effect.

“Zimbabwe is doing enough business with China and the rest of the world not to even worry who is sanctioning,” Ngwenya said. “We have enough business associations with other countries, and we have been able to attract enough mining from other countries other than the countries of the West. So, corruption, bad governance and inability to run a simple economy is what is causing economic problems in Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe declared October 25 “Anti-Sanctions Day” and Mnangagwa’s government called for the protests, asking regional bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support it.

The government said Zimbabwe is still being punished for the land reform program under Mugabe in 2000, which forcefully displaced white commercial farmers from their land and gave it to Black Zimbabweans.
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Adidas Ends Partnership With Kanye West Over Antisemitic Remarks

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Adidas ended its lucrative partnership with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over his offensive and antisemitic remarks, which drew widespread criticism from Jewish groups, celebrities and others on social media who said the German sportswear company was being too slow to act.

The sneaker giant became the latest company to cut ties with Ye, who was suspended from Twitter and Instagram this month over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. The outcry swelled after demonstrators on a Los Angeles overpass unfurled a banner Saturday praising Ye’s antisemitic comments.

Adidas said it expected to take a hit of up to 250 million euros ($246 million) to its net income this year from the decision to immediately stop production of its line of Yeezy products and stop payments to Ye and his companies.

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

Jewish groups, noting Adidas’ past links to the Nazi regime, said the decision was overdue. The World Jewish Congress noted that during World War II, Adidas factories “produced supplies and weapons for the Nazi regime, using slave labor.”

“I would have liked a clear stance earlier from a German company that also was entangled with the Nazi regime,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the main Jewish group in the country where Adidas is headquartered.

For weeks, Ye has made antisemitic comments in interviews and social media, including a Twitter post earlier this month that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

The rapper has alienated even ardent fans in recent years, teasing and long tinkering with albums that haven’t been met with the critical or commercial success of his earlier recordings. Those close to him, like ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her family, have ceased publicly defending him after the couple’s bitter divorce and his unsettling posts about her recent relationship with comedian Pete Davidson.

Ye has told Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with his corporate suppliers. After he was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, Ye offered to buy conservative social network Parler.

An email message sent to a representative for Ye was not immediately returned.

Adidas, whose CEO Kasper Rorsted is stepping down next year, said it reached its decision after conducting a “thorough review” of its partnership with Ye, whose talent agency, CAA, as well as Balenciaga fashion house had already dropped the rapper.

Despite the growing controversy, Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce, believes that Adidas’ delayed response was “understandable.”

“It’s a hugely profitable, edgy brand association,” Adamson said. “The positives are so substantial in terms of the audience it appeals to — younger, urban, trendsetters, the size of the business. I’m sure they were hoping against hope that he would apologize and try to make this right.”

Adamson noted that Adidas was facing pressure from everywhere including customers, employees and stakeholders.

“There’s the short-term profits of selling shoes, and then there is the long-term equity of the Adidas brand,” he said.

In the hours before the announcement, some Adidas employees in the United States had spoken out on social media about the company’s inaction.

Sarah Camhi, a director of trade marketing at the company who described herself as Jewish, said in a LinkedIn post that she felt “anything but included” as Adidas.

“remained quiet; both internally to employees as well as externally to our customers” for two weeks after Ye made his antisemitic remarks.

The rapper, who has won 24 Grammy Awards, has been steadily losing audience on radio and even his streaming numbers have declined slightly over the last month. According to data provided by Luminate, an entertainment data and insights company whose data powers the Billboard music charts, his airplay audience slipped from 8 million in the week ending Sept. 22, to 5.4 million in the week ending on Oct. 20. The popularity of his songs on streaming on demand also went down in the same period, from 97 million to 88.2 million, about a 9% drop.

Ye has earned more of a reputation for stirring up controversy since 2016, when he was hospitalized in Los Angeles because of what his team called stress and exhaustion. It was later revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

He recently suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast,” among other comments. He also was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection show in Paris.

MRC studio announced Monday that it is shelving a complete documentary about the rapper. JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship, although the banking breakup was in the works even before Ye’s antisemitic comments.

Gap said Tuesday that it is also taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap products from its stores and has shut down yeezygap.com in light of West’s comments. The clothing retailer said that in September it was ending their relationship but at the time, it said that it planned to continue to sell Yeezy Gap products that were in the pipeline.

Jewish groups have pointed to the danger of the rapper’s comments at a time of rising antisemitism. Such incidents in the U.S. reached an all-time high last year, the Anti-Defamation League said in a letter to Adidas last week urging it to break with Ye.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, applauded the company’s decision to drop Ye.

“This is a very positive outcome,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “It illustrates that antisemitism is unacceptable and creates consequences.”

The saga of Ye, not just with Adidas but with brands like Gap and Balenciaga, underscores the importance of vetting celebrities thoroughly and avoiding those who are “overly controversial or unstable,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail.

“Companies or brands that fail to heed this will get stung, especially if they become overly reliant on a difficult personality to drive their business,” Saunders said.
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Ash Carter, US Defense Secretary Who Opened Jobs to Women, Dies at 68

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Ash Carter, who as defense secretary in the final two years of the Obama administration opened military combat jobs to women and ended a ban on transgender people serving in the military, has died at age 68.

Carter died after suffering a heart attack on Monday evening, according to a statement Tuesday from Douglas Elmendorf, dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Carter had served as director of the school’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Before Carter was named the Defense Department secretary, he served in President Barack Obama’s administration as its top procurement officer and oversaw the department’s effort to speed more than 24,000 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, thousands of U.S. troops were being maimed or killed by roadside bombs because there was not adequate protection in the vehicles they were operating. Carter frequently mentioned the rapid development and procurement of those vehicles as one of his proudest accomplishments.

“At peak production, the United States shipped over 1,000 MRAPs a month to theater. And there, they saved lives,” Carter said at a 2012 ceremony marking the completion of the vehicle production. “And you all know me, I would have driven one in here today, if I could get it through the door.”

In December 2015, after three years of study and debate, Carter ordered the military to open all jobs to women, removing the final barriers that kept women from serving in combat, including the most dangerous and grueling commando posts.

The following year, Carter ended the ban on transgender troops serving in the U.S. military, saying it was the right thing to do.

“Americans who want to serve and can meet our standards should be afforded the opportunity to compete to do so,” Carter said in June 2016, laying out a one-year plan to implement the change. “Our mission is to defend this country, and we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine who can best accomplish the mission.”

Carter, a Philadelphia native, served at the 25th defense secretary and “loved nothing more than spending time with the troops, making frequent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit U.S. forces with his wife Stephanie,” his family said in a statement. “Carter always set politics aside; he served presidents of both parties over five administrations.”
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11 Children Killed in Fire at Ugandan School for Blind

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Police in Uganda are investigating the cause of a fire at a boarding school for visually impaired students that killed 11 girls, ages four to 13.

The fire at the Salama School for the Blind in Uganda’s central Mukono district broke out shortly after midnight Monday, in a girl’s dormitory that was occupied by 17 children.  

Kampala deputy police spokesman Luke Owoyesigire said police have deployed a forensics team that will carry out DNA tests before the bodies of the dead children are handed over to family members. 

“The cause of the fire is currently unknown. But so far, eleven deaths as a result of the fire have been confirmed. While six are in critical condition,” Owoyesigire said. 

The Salam School for the Blind, in the town of Kisoga, is home to 70 visually impaired children. 

Hudson Kiyaga, the town’s mayor, told VOA the fire at the isolated school has left members of the neighboring community in shock. Kiyaga said the school’s power switch is in the matron’s room, but she did not know what started the fire. The matron escaped the blaze, but was unable to save any students. 

Charles Nkuse, a school board member, said the school headmaster called him at 12:15 a.m. to tell him the school was on fire and children had died. 

The fire broke out just a few days before a planned visit by Britain’s Princess Anne and Uganda’s first lady, Janet Museveni.  

“We expect to get the first lady, the daughter of the late Queen, Princess Anne, and the husband. They were to be with us on Friday, but I really don’t know what will take place,” Nkuse said. “But, we are still in terrible condition because, I think, the police are bringing back the dead bodies from Mulago and the parents are here.” 

Since January, several schools in Uganda have caught fire but security officials have yet to determine the cause of the blazes. 

In its guidelines to schools, the Ministry of Education advises that all dormitories among other school buildings have fire extinguishers at several locations. However, most schools do not have such safety measures in place.   

 
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US Targets Al-Shabab in Somalia Airstrike, Killing 2 

Posted on by SeeAF

A U.S. military airstrike has targeted al-Shabab terrorists who were attacking Somali National Army forces, killing two, according to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

The strike Sunday was near Buulobarde, Somalia, 218 km northwest of Mogadishu.

AFRICOM says its initial assessment is that two terrorists who were actively attacking Somali forces were killed, and that no civilians were injured or killed.

“Al-Shabab is the largest and most kinetically active al-Qaida network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests,” the command said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it would continue “to take action to prevent this malicious terrorist group from planning and conducting attacks on civilians.”

The U.S. strike comes as al-Shabab launched two major attacks in Somalia this month.

A siege at the Tawakal Hotel on Sunday in the southern coastal city of Kismayo killed at least 11 people, and in early October, a triple bombing in the town of Beledweyne killed at least 20 people.

The Somali National Army and allied militia in central Somalia have launched an offensive against the terror group.

Abdisalam Guled, the director of the Mogadishu-based security company Eagle Ranges Services, told VOA that al-Shabab may have been trying to target government forces that had been meeting at the hotel to plan the offensive against the terror group.

VOA’s Somali Service contributed to this report.
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NATO’s Expansion in Doubt Over Turkey’s Objections

Posted on by SeeEU

Finland and Sweden’s aspirations to join NATO are in doubt as Turkey has renewed its objections to their membership bids.

Finnish diplomats met with their Turkish counterparts Tuesday in Ankara, according to local media reports. The meeting marked the latest diplomatic effort by Helsinki to persuade Ankara to agree to its bid to join NATO. For the Atlantic alliance to expand, all members must agree.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced reservations over Finland and Sweden’s bid to join, accusing the countries of giving sanctuary to Kurdish groups that Ankara considers terrorists. Speaking to parliament earlier this month, Erdogan said he would closely monitor commitments by both Finland and Sweden to address Turkish concerns.

Erdogan said Turkey is not going to give concessions as a country that has fought terrorism for 40 years.

Earlier in October, the Turkish leader accused Stockholm of reneging on its commitments to Ankara, saying enemies of Turkey were continuing to operate freely in Sweden. Erdogan, however, said he is ready to meet with Sweden’s newly elected prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, to discuss Turkish demands.

Huseyin Bagci, head of the Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara, said Erdogan sees NATO expansion as an opportunity.

“Tayyip Erdogan tries to increase the leverage of the Turkish bargaining process through this. Maybe at the end, he will say yes, but he has to take now something. It is a calculated act but whether [it is] a miscalculation, we will have to see this,” Bagci said.

News reports say Sweden has made many security concessions. Ankara is demanding the extradition of dozens of people, including Swedish nationals wanted for terrorist offenses.

Analyst Ilhan Uzgel with the Duvar news portal said concessions from Washington are Erdogan’s main aim.

“The membership bid of Finland and Sweden, he tries to use these two bargaining chips to get something from the West,” Uzgel said. “It can be either a meeting with [U.S. President Joe] Biden; it can be the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States, [or] external support during the elections. Something that will help Erdogan get into a better position before the elections.”

Erdogan is languishing in most opinion polls ahead of elections that Turkey is required to hold by June of 2023. Analyst Uzgel said Erdogan will be reluctant to give up leverage over NATO before the June polls.

“My guess is that he is going to use it until the elections. It’s a leverage that he needs right now, unless he gets something quite important from the United States,” Uzgel said. “He is completely and utterly focused on winning the elections because he is losing support domestically. So, he has to win the elections, so he is going to do whatever it takes to stay in power domestically or externally.”

Analysts say Erdogan will also be aware that standing up to NATO and, in particular, the United States, plays well among his religious and nationalist base. This means Finland and Sweden could have a long wait until they are able to join the alliance.
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Brittney Griner’s Appeal Rejected; Sentence to Include Time Served 

Posted on by SeeUS

A Russian court on Tuesday dismissed U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against a nine-year sentence for possessing and smuggling vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.

Griner and her lawyers had asked for acquittal or at least a reduction in her sentence, which they said was disproportionate to the offense and at odds with Russian judicial practice.

After retiring for no more than 30 minutes to consider the appeal, the presiding judge said the original verdict was upheld “without changes” except for the counting of time served in pretrial detention as part of the sentence.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested on Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, and her case has inevitably been viewed in the context of the ensuing crisis in U.S.-Russian relations.

Washington was quick to respond to the verdict.

“We are aware of the news out of Russia that Brittney Griner will continue to be wrongfully detained under intolerable circumstances after having to undergo another sham judicial proceeding today,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement

He said the United States would “continue to engage with Russia” to bring her home.

The state prosecutor had said Griner’s Aug. 4 sentence of nine years in a penal colony was “fair,” but Alexander Boykov, one of her lawyers, had told the three-judge panel sitting in Krasnogorsk, on the outskirts of Moscow:

“No judge, hand on heart, will honestly say that Griner’s nine-year sentence is in line with Russian criminal law.”

He listed a series of what he said were procedural flaws in Griner’s conviction and requested an acquittal, but asked that “if the court wants to punish her, [it should] give her a new, ‘fair’ verdict and mitigate the punishment.”

“The severity and cruelty of the sentence applied to Griner shocks people around the world,” he said.

Permitted to make a final statement by live video link from her detention center in the town of Novoye Grishino, just outside Moscow, Griner spoke of how stressful her eight-month detention and two trials had been.

“I was barely over the significant amount [of cannabis oil] … People with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given,” she said.

‘I did not intend to do this’

Griner apologized for what she said was an honest mistake, as she had at her original trial, saying, “I did not intend to do this,” and asking the court to take into account the fact that she had pleaded guilty.

She has said she used medical cannabis to relieve the pain from a series of sports injuries. Both recreational and medicinal uses are prohibited in Russia.

Wearing a black and red lumberjack shirt over a black hooded top, the 32-year-old alternately sat or stood in her cell, sometimes with head lowered, sometimes leaning against the white bars.

When asked if she had understood the verdict, she merely replied “Yes” before being led away.

U.S. President Joe Biden had called the original verdict “unacceptable.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday that Washington was working to free Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, serving 16 years in prison after being convicted of spying, and that there had been “active discussions, including in recent days.”

“We have not weighed in on the various judicial proceedings and judicial steps because as we’ve made clear, we believe that these proceedings have been largely shambolic,” Price told reporters.

U.S. Charge d’Affaires Elizabeth Rood, the ranking U.S. diplomat in Moscow, told media waiting outside the court that she had not been allowed to speak to Griner before or after the hearing.

But Griner’s lawyers said in a statement: “Brittney’s biggest fear is that she is not exchanged and will have to serve the whole sentence in Russia. She had hopes for today as each month, each day away from her family and friends matters to her.”

They said it would be some time before Griner was moved to a prison colony, and that they had not yet decided whether to try to launch another appeal.

“We generally think we must use all the available legal tools, especially given the harsh and unprecedented nature of her verdict,” the statement said.

 
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UK Court to Hear Uyghur Demands to Ban Xinjiang Cotton

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A Uyghur organization and a human rights group are taking the U.K. government to court to challenge Britain’s failure to block the import of cotton products associated with forced labor and other abuses in China’s far western Xinjiang region.

Tuesday’s hearing at the High Court in London is believed the first time a foreign court hears legal arguments from the Uyghurs over the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang. The region is a major global supplier of cotton, but rights groups have long alleged that the cotton is picked and processed by China’s Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in a widespread, state-sanctioned system of forced labor.

The case, brought by the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress and the Global Legal Action Network, a nonprofit, is one of several similar legal challenges aimed at putting pressure on the U.K. and European Union governments to follow the lead of the United States, where a law took effect this year to ban all cotton products suspected of being made in Xinjiang.

Researchers say Xinjiang produces 85% of cotton grown in China, constituting one-fifth of the world’s cotton. Rights groups argue that the scale of China’s rights violations in Xinjiang – which the U.N. says may amount to “crimes against humanity” – means that numerous international fashion brands are at high risk of using cotton tainted with forced labor and other rights abuses.

Gearóid Ó Cuinn, the Global Legal Action Network’s director, said the group submitted almost 1,000 pages of evidence — including company records, NGO investigations and Chinese government documents — to the U.K. and U.S. governments in 2020 to back its case. British authorities have taken no action so far, he said.

“Right now, U.K. consumers are systematically exposed to consumer goods tainted by forced labor,” Ó Cuinn said. “It does demonstrate the lack of political will.”

Researchers and advocacy groups estimate 1 million or more people from Uyghur and other minority groups have been swept into detention camps in Xinjiang, where many say they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. The organizations say the camps, along with forced labor and draconian birth control policies, are a sweeping crackdown on Xinjiang’s minorities.

A recent U.N. report largely corroborated the accounts. China denounces the accusations as lies and argues its policies were aimed at quashing extremism.

In the U.S., a new law gives border authorities more power to block or seize cotton imports produced partly or wholly in Xinjiang. The products are effectively banned unless the importer can show clear evidence that the goods were not produced using forced labor.

The European Commission last month proposed prohibiting all products made with forced labor from entering the EU market. The plans haven’t been agreed upon yet by the European Parliament.

The British government’s Modern Slavery Act requires companies operating in the U.K. to report what they have done to identify rights abuses in their supply chains. But there is no legal obligation to undertake audits and due diligence. In a statement, the U.K.’s Conservative government said it is “committed to introduce financial penalties for organizations that do not comply with modern slavery reporting requirements.”

Lawyers representing the Uyghurs will argue at the High Court on Tuesday that the British government’s inaction breaches existing U.K. laws prohibiting goods made in foreign prisons or linked to crime.

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of the most vocal China critics in Britain’s Parliament, said the U.K. has been “dragging its feet” on the issue because of “huge institutional resistance to change” after years of dependence on trade with China. Britain’s Conservative government has not taken the China threat seriously enough, he argued.

“Treasury and the business department are desperate not to destroy ties with China and (officials) are still living in project kowtow,” Duncan Smith said. Compared to the U.S. and the EU, “we are bringing up the rear” on the cotton issue, he added.

Earlier this month, Ó Cuinn’s organization made a separate submission to the Irish government demanding a halt to the import of forced labor goods from Xinjiang. Meanwhile, lawyers representing a survivor of detention and forced labor in Xinjiang have also written to the U.K. government threatening to sue over the issue.

The claimant in that case, Erbakit Ortabay, said he was detained in internment centers, where he was tortured and beaten, and later forced to work for no pay in a clothing factory. Ortabay, who was eventually released in 2019, is currently seeking asylum in Britain.

Clothing is among the top five type of goods the U.K. imports from China, accounting for about 3.5 billion pounds ($4 billion) in imports in 2021. The U.K. does not publish shipping data detailing trade with the Xinjiang region.

But Laura Murphy, a professor of human rights at Sheffield Hallam University, has identified 103 well-known international fashion brands – including some trading in the U.K. — at high risk of having Xinjiang cotton in their supply chains because they buy from intermediary garment manufacturers, which in turn are supplied by Chinese companies that source cotton in Xinjiang. 

“What we find is that a lot of Xinjiang cotton is also sent out to other countries to be manufactured into apparel. So, it’s not always coming directly from there — it might be coming from a company making clothes in Indonesia or Cambodia,” Murphy said.

In the U.S., the new ban on Xinjiang cotton has forced apparel companies to step up tracking technologies to map out routes for their products’ origin, according to Brian Ehrig, partner in the consumer practice of management consulting firm Kearney. The ban is also accelerating the migration of apparel production in China to other regions like Vietnam and Cambodia.

Some experts believe that the U.S. law has also compelled companies to block Xinjiang cotton products from other markets. Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor rights monitoring organization, said even if companies want to reroute Xinjiang-linked products to other markets, it would require a ”substantial reorganization” of their supply networks.

Figures from the China National Cotton Information Center show that sales of cotton produced in Xinjiang in the year to mid-June fell 40% from a year earlier to 3.1 million tons. The commercial inventory of cotton produced in Xinjiang was 3.3 million tons at the end of May, up 60% from a year earlier, according to Wind, a Chinese financial information provider.
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Russian Court Hears Griner Appeal

Posted on by SeeUS

A Russian court on Tuesday began hearing an appeal by U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner against a nine-year jail term for having cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner participated in the hearing via video link from a detention center outside of Moscow.

The twice Olympic gold medalist was arrested February 17 at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia. She was sentenced August 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs.

“She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing,” Griner’s lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said ahead of Tuesday’s session. “Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term.”

Griner pleaded guilty at her trial but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law.

The United States says Griner was wrongfully detained and has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.

Moscow has also suggested it is open to a prisoner swap.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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EU Urges Support for Rebuilding Ukraine Amid ‘Staggering’ Destruction

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged support Tuesday for the “fast rehabilitation” of Ukraine as it faces what she called targeted attacks by Russian forces on civilian infrastructure.

Speaking in Berlin at a conference to discuss the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, von der Leyen said Russia is clearly working to cut off Ukrainians from water, heat and electricity services as winter approaches. She said such Russian attacks “are pure acts of terror.”

Von der Leyen described the scale of destruction in Ukraine eight months after Russia launched its invasion as “staggering.”

“These are hard, scary and painful days for Ukrainians, but Ukrainians are showing us that they have hope and confidence in the future and they will keep fighting for it. And it is their future that brings us here today,” she said.

The conference involves representatives from national governments, academic institutions and international organizations. The EU said the talks would cover how to prioritize Ukraine’s needs and what options exist for financing projects.

No financial pledges or political agreements are expected.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is addressing the conference.

Ukraine’s government, along with the European Commission and the World Bank, estimated in a September report that it could cost $350 billion to rebuild the country after Russia’s invasion.

The World Bank on Monday disbursed $500 million, supported by loan guarantees from Britain to Ukraine to help the government maintain essential services.

“The Russian invasion continues to cause massive destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure — including water, sanitation, and electricity networks — just as winter is approaching, further endangering Ukrainian people,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in a statement.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Monday about meeting Ukraine’s needs for military aid, according to statements from both sides.

Ukraine denies planning to use “dirty bomb”

They also discussed U.S. support for Ukraine amid Russia’s claims that Ukraine was preparing to use a “dirty bomb,” an allegation Ukraine and its allies have dismissed.

Diplomats said Russia told its counterparts on the U.N. Security Council it will bring up the issue during a close-door meeting of the 15-member body Tuesday.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya sent a letter, seen by VOA, to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council late Monday, saying Russia “will regard the use of the dirty bomb by the Kiev regime as an act of nuclear terrorism.”

Ukraine has strongly denied Moscow’s allegations that it is planning to detonate a dirty bomb on its own territory and has in turn accused Russia of plotting to use the threat of a bomb laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price warned Monday of the “profound nature of consequences” that would befall Russia if it used a dirty bomb or any other nuclear weapon.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO allies rejected Russia’s claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory and added “Russia must not use it as a pretext for escalation.”

Stoltenberg said he had a call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his British counterpart, Ben Wallace, on the matter Monday.

Russian troops prep for “radioactive contamination”

Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in a media briefing said Russian forces are “preparing to work under radioactive contamination.”

U.S. officials said Monday there is currently no indication that Moscow has made any efforts to use a dirty bomb or nuclear weapons.

“We continue to see nothing in the way of preparations by the Russian side for the use of nuclear weapons,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed that “no undeclared nuclear activities or material were found” in Ukrainian nuclear locations.

“The IAEA inspected one of these locations one month ago and all our findings were consistent with Ukraine’s safeguards declarations,” Grossi said.

Grossi confirmed that both locations are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors. He added that the IAEA received a written request from Ukraine Monday to send teams of inspectors to carry out verification activities at the two locations.

Pelosi calls drones “dangerous”

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Iran was making the world less safe by supplying Russia with drones to be used against targets in Ukraine.

“I think Iran is making a big mistake,” Pelosi said after meeting Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. “First of all, we have to be able to counter the drones … it is a dangerous technology, and it must be stopped,” she said.

Pelosi arrived in Zagreb Monday to attend “The Crimea Platform Summit,” on Ukraine’s independence and the return of the Crimean Peninsula to Kyiv since its annexation by Russia in 2014.

“We’ve been trying for a while now to have a nuclear agreement with Iran so that we can make the world a safer place, and now they’re going off aiding the Russians and making the world a less safe place,” Pelosi said.

Iran has denied supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine and condemned a call by Britain, France and Germany for the United Nations to investigate whether Russia used Iranian-made attack drones.

Iran will not remain indifferent if it is proved that its drones are being used by Russia in Ukraine, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was reported as saying by Iranian state media Monday.

He also said that the defense cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will continue.

VOA’s U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this article. Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Europe’s Bees Stung by Climate, Pesticides and Parasites

Posted on by SeeEU

Bees pollinate 71 of the 100 crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide. They also pollinate wild plants, helping sustain biodiversity and the beauty of the natural world.

But climate change, pesticides and parasites are taking a terrible toll on bees, and they need protecting, said European beekeepers, who held their annual congress in Quimper, western France, this week.

The congress, which said some European beekeepers were suffering “significant mortalities and catastrophic harvests due to difficult climatic conditions,” was an opportunity for beekeepers and scientists to respond to the major concerns.

The European Union, the world’s second-largest importer of honey, currently produces just 60% of what it consumes.

French beekeepers, for example, expect to harvest between 12,000 and 14,000 metric tons of honey this year, far lower than the 30,000 tons they harvested in the 1990s, according to the National Union of French Beekeepers (UNAF).

“I’ve been fighting for bees for 30 years, but if I had to choose now, I don’t know if I’d become a beekeeper,” said UNAF spokesman Henri Clement, who has 200 hives in the mountainous Cevennes region in southeastern France.

Clement is 62 and not far off retiring.

“But it’s not much fun for young people who want to take up the profession,” he said.

Many of the topics buzzing around the congress were evidence of this — pesticides, climate change, and Asian hornets, parasitic varroa mites and hive beetles, all invasive alien species in Europe.

Challenges includes rain, drought

With climate change, “the bigger issue is just the erratic weather and rain patterns, drought and things like that,” said U.S. entomologist Jeff Pettis, president of Apimondia, an international federation of beekeeping associations in 110 countries.

“In certain places, the plants had been used to a certain temperature. And now it goes up, and you have a hot dry summer, and there are no flowers,” Pettis told AFP.

No flowers means no pollen, which means bees dying of hunger.

Climate scientists say human-induced global heating is intensifying extreme weather events such as flooding, and heatwaves that exacerbate wildfires.

“The fires seem to be a big issue,” Pettis said. “They come sporadically, and we lose hives directly from flooding and fires.

Pettis, a former scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, published a study in 2016 on the quality of pollen produced by goldenrod, a hardy perennial also known as solidago that produces a myriad of small yellow daisy-like flowers.

The study showed that the more carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — that accumulates in the atmosphere, the lower the amount of protein in goldenrod pollen.

North America bees are dependent on nourishment from goldenrod pollen to get through the winter, Pettis said.

“Getting inferior food … should affect wintering. It could happen with other pollen sources. We don’t know.”

As in France, 30% to 40% of hives in the United States are dying every winter, Pettis said, decimated by varroa mites, pesticides and the destruction of wild spaces where wild plants grow

“Today, there are even American startups that are developing drones to pollinize plants in the place of bees. It’s utterly appalling,” said Clement.

Toxic threat

Toxic pesticides are another factor decimating bee colonies and other pollinating insects.

French molecular biophysics scientist Jean-Marc Bonmatin said parasites such as varroa were “boosted by the presence of neonicotinide pesticides, which directly poison pollinators.”

Neonicotinoids, chemically similar to nicotine, are systemic pesticides.

Unlike contact pesticides, which remain on the surface of the treated leaves, systemic pesticides are taken up by the plant and transported to its leaves, flowers, roots and stems, as well as to its pollen and nectar.

These toxic substances can remain in the soil for between five and 30 years, Bonmatin said.

The EU restricted the use of three neonicotinoids — but not all — in 2013 and banned them outright in 2018.

But since 2013, several EU states have repeatedly granted “emergency authorizations” to use noxious insecticides on major crops.

He said open-source software called Toxibee was being launched soon to help farmers protect bees by identifying the least toxic molecules to use on their crops.

“Before they spray the crops with pesticides, they can try to limit their noxious effect,” he said. “Because what kills bees will one day damage people’s health, too.”

Pettis strove, however, to remain upbeat, pointing to some of the ways people can help bees.

“[We should] diversify agriculture and try not [to] be driven by chemically dependent agriculture, support organic and more sustainable farming.”

He also stressed the incredible resistance of some bee species, helped by factors in the natural world.

He cited the example of a black bee found on the Ile de Groix in Brittany, which has survived varroa attacks without beekeepers treating them for mites or giving them supplementary feeding.

“We think the bees are dependent on us, but in reality, they survive pretty well even without us,” he said. “And you still have the beauty of the bees. It’s such a good thing to work with bees.”
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Death Toll Climbs to 11 Following al-Shabab Hotel Attack in Somalia

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The siege at the Tawakal hotel marked al-Shabab’s second major attack in Somalia this month amid an offensive against the group by the Somali National Army and allied militia in central Somalia.

In early October, a triple bombing in the town of Beledweyne left at least 20 people dead.

Abdisalam Guled, the director of Eagle Ranges Services, a Mogadishu-based security company, told VOA that al-Shabab is staging war in every part of Somalia and sending a message to the government in Mogadishu.

Guled said Sunday’s attack on the Tawakal Hotel in Kismayo shows that al-Shabab can attack anywhere any time. He said it also shows how al-Shabab has information about the people preparing themselves to fight the group. Guled says he has information that there were ongoing meetings in the hotel to discuss how al-Shabab could be fought.  

A long battle

Al-Shabab has been fighting to topple the internationally recognized Somali government for more than 15 years.

Guled warned that, should the government fail to defeat al-Shabab, the consequences could be disastrous, especially for communities that joined forces with the government and dispatched militias to the battlefront.

Guled said the fight against al-Shabab is going on in specific areas and, in order to weaken al-Shabab, there should be more front lines. Jubaland state should join the war; Southwest state should join the war. Guled said clans should be encouraged and  authorities in the Puntland state should join the effort.

Yusuf Hussein Osman, Jubaland’s regional state minister for security, described what happened on Sunday.

Osman said there were four terrorists; one blew himself up at the gate and three others forced their way into the hotel. All were eliminated, he said. Osman also said the majority of hostages in the hotel were rescued but there were casualties involving students from a nearby school.

Osman said plans were already under way for deceased victims of the attack to be buried.

Advice: Prep for a long fight

Abdiaziz Hussein Issack, a security analyst with the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center in Denmark, said the government should prepare for a drawn-out battle in Jubaland because al-Shabab has a strong presence there.

“I think Jubaland state is the stronghold of al-Shabab,” he said. “The fiercest war against al-Shabab will take place in this state if the group is defeated in central Somalia. The state is the breeding ground of al-Shabab as the top leaders are in this state.”

The raid on Sunday was the group’s deadliest in Kismayo since 2019 when 26 people — among them Somali-Canadian journalist Hodan Naleyeh — were killed in an attack on another hotel.
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US Supreme Court’s Thomas Temporarily Blocks Graham Election Case Testimony

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring Senator Lindsey Graham to testify to a grand jury in Georgia in a criminal investigation into whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies unlawfully tried to overturn 2020 election results in the state. 

Thomas put the case on hold pending further action either from the justice or the full Supreme Court on a request by Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and Trump ally, to halt the order for testimony. Graham filed the emergency application to the Supreme Court on Friday after a federal appeals court denied his request to block the questioning.

Thomas acted in the case because he is designated by the court to handle emergency requests from a region that includes Georgia. 

Graham has argued that his position as a senator provides him immunity under the U.S. Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause from having to answer questions related to his actions as part of the legislative process. 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Graham to answer questions about phone calls he made to a senior Georgia election official in the weeks after the November 2020 election. 

Atlanta-based U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May last month narrowed the scope of questions that Graham must answer from the grand jury, ruling that he is protected from having to discuss “investigatory fact-finding” that he was engaged in during his calls to state election officials. 

However, May said he may be questioned about alleged efforts to encourage officials to throw out ballots or alleged communication with the Trump campaign. May rejected Graham’s bid to avoid testifying altogether. 

The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to block Graham’s testimony pending an appeal. 

Graham is not a target in the investigation, but his testimony could shed further light on coordination among Trump allies to reverse the election results.

The senator’s lawyers said in his application that the testimony would “undisputedly center on Senator Graham’s official acts — phone calls he made in the course of his official work, in the leadup to the critical vote under the Electoral Count Act.  

Trump continues to appear at rallies repeating his false claims that the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. 

The investigation was launched after Trump was recorded in a January 2, 2021, phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud. During the phone call, Trump urged Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn his Georgia loss to Biden. 

The transcript of the call quotes Trump telling Raffensperger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” which is the number Trump needed to win Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the phone call. 

Legal experts have said Trump’s phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties. 
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Spanish Man Trekking to World Cup Reported Missing in Iran

Posted on by SeeEU

A Spanish man trekking from Madrid to Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has not been heard from since the day after he crossed into Iran three weeks ago, his family said Monday, stirring fears about his fate in a country convulsed by mass unrest.

The experienced trekker, former paratrooper and fervent soccer fan, 41-year-old Santiago Sanchez, was last seen in Iraq after hiking through 15 countries and extensively sharing his journey on a popular Instagram account over the last nine months.

Sanchez’s family last heard from him Oct. 2, a day after he crossed the Iraq-Iran border.

“We are deeply worried, we can’t stop crying, my husband and I,” his mother, Celia Cogedor, told The Associated Press.

Cogedor and Sanchez’s father, Santiago, sat next to the fireplace at the family’s home in a hamlet in central Spain. Clearly exhausted, the couple shared with journalists the treasured last audio message their son sent them that morning, allegedly already from Iranian soil, detailing his future plans.

“I’m with a friend who has come to pick me up. I’m going to go to Bandar Abbas, very far away 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) south in Iran, near the island of Hormuz,” Sánchez’s calm voice said.

The Spanish adventurer explained how he planned to go to Tehran, the Iranian capital, the following day, where a television station wanted to interview him. His next step would have been Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran where he would hop on a boat to Qatar. But all traces of him evaporated even before he reached Tehran, his parents think.

Sanchez had already warned his family before crossing into Iran that communication wouldn’t be as easy as it had been in previous months.

“After a few days we didn’t worry about him not posting, it matched what he had said. But after eight or nine days, my daughter and his closest friends … we already began to think that we had to report his disappearance,” his mother said.

His parents reported him missing Oct. 17, and they said Spain’s police and diplomats were helping the family.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry said it had no information about Sanchez’s whereabouts, adding that the Spanish ambassador to Tehran was handling the matter. Calls to the Iranian Foreign Ministry seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Sanchez’s reported disappearance in Iran comes as protesters are rising up across the Islamic Republic in the largest anti-government movement in over a decade. The demonstrations erupted Sept. 16 over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not adhering to the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Tehran has violently cracked down on protesters and blamed foreign enemies and Kurdish groups in Iraq for fomenting the unrest, without offering evidence. The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said authorities had arrested nine foreigners, mostly Europeans, over their alleged links to the protests last month.

Sanchez arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan in late September, after trekking thousands of kilometers carrying a small suitcase in a wheeled cart, packed with little more than a tent, water purification tablets and a gas stove for his 11 months on the road. He said he wanted to learn how others lived before reaching Qatar, the first World Cup host country in the Arab world, in time for Spain’s first match Nov. 23.

The day before he disappeared, Sanchez had breakfast with a guide in Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq. The guide, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he tried to warn Sanchez about the dangerous political situation in Iran.

But Sanchez was undeterred and confident, the guide said.

“He didn’t look nervous at all. He told me, ‘I sorted out everything, don’t worry,’” he said.

Sanchez, the guide added, planned to meet an Iranian family in the Kurdish town of Marivan — a scene of recent anti-government protests. The family, delighted by Sanchez’s Instagram posts, had offered to host him.

After Sanchez crossed the border Oct. 1, his messages became sparse and cryptic, the guide said. Sanchez told him that things were “very different” in Iran from Sulaymaniyah, an Iraqi metropolis filled with parks and cafes.

“It’s been a long story,” his last message read.

In his last Instagram update, the night before he crossed the Iranian border, he posted images of his emotional farewell to Iraq and told of a Kurdish family’s generosity. He had planned to camp on a mountain, but the owner of a nearby farm took him in, giving him a bed, a shower and a hearty dinner.

Pictures on Instagram show him eating bread and chicken soup, smiling and posing with young boys from the village and drinking tea over an open fire.
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US Issues Dire Warning Against Russia on ‘Dirty Bomb’

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price warned of the “profound nature of consequences” that would befall Russia if it uses a so called “dirty bomb” or any other nuclear weapon.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO allies rejected Russia’s claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory and added “Russia must not use it as a pretext for escalation.”

Stoltenberg said he had a call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his U.K. counterpart Ben Wallace on the matter Monday.

Western countries also accused Russia Monday of plotting to use a threat of a bomb laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.

Moscow reiterated its claims, Monday, that it is Ukraine who is planning to detonate “a dirty bomb” — something Kyiv has strongly denied.

Russia plans to raise its claims against Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council Tuesday. It has told council counterparts it will bring up the issue during a closed-door meeting of the 15-member body, diplomats said.

Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in a media briefing said Russian forces are “preparing to work under radioactive contamination.”

Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed that “no undeclared nuclear activities or material were found” in Ukrainian nuclear locations.

“The IAEA inspected one of these locations one month ago and all our findings were consistent with Ukraine’s safeguards declarations,” said Director General Grossi.

Grossi confirmed that both locations are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors. He added that the IAEA received a written request from Ukraine today to send teams of inspectors to carry out verification activities at the two locations.

As Ukraine advances into Kherson, pressure is mounting for Russia, which told 60,000 people there “to save your lives” and flee a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In calls with his French, British and Turkish counterparts Sunday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed the “rapidly deteriorating situation,” and leveled accusations that Ukraine is planning on using a “dirty bomb.”

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and the United States said they had all rejected the allegations and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine against Russia.”

Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine [is] preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory,” they said. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation.”

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, held a phone conversation with Russian General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, the defense ministry said in a statement. It also said both sides agreed on the importance of maintaining open channels of communication.

Ukraine has rejected Russian allegations that Ukrainian forces might detonate a radioactive device and accused Russia of planning to carry out such an act and blame it on Ukraine.

“Russian lies about Ukraine allegedly planning to use a ‘dirty bomb’ are as absurd as they are dangerous,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his nightly address Sunday that Russia was the only one in the region capable of using nuclear weapons.

“If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” Zelenskyy said. “I believe that now the world should react in the toughest possible way.”

Iran drones

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday, that Iran was making the world less safe by supplying Russia with drones to be used against targets in Ukraine.

“I think Iran is making a big mistake,” Pelosi said after meeting Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. “First of all, we have to be able to counter the drones … it is a dangerous technology, and it must be stopped,” she said.

Pelosi arrived in Zagreb Monday to attend “The Crimea Platform Summit,” on Ukraine’s independence and the return of the Crimean Peninsula to Kyiv since its annexation by Russia in 2014.

“We’ve been trying for a while now to have a nuclear agreement with Iran so that we can make the world a safer place and now they’re going off aiding the Russians and making the world a less safe place,” Pelosi said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its eighth month Monday.

Pelosi has been a strong supporter of providing aid and military assistance to the country since Russia invaded February 24.

Iran has denied supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine and condemned a call by Britain, France and Germany for the United Nations to investigate whether Russia used Iranian-made attack drones.

Iran will not remain indifferent if it is proven that its drones are being used by Russia in Ukraine, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was reported as saying by Iranian state media Monday.

“If it is proven to us that Iranian drones are being used in the Ukraine war against people, we should not remain indifferent.” He also said that the defense cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will continue.

Griner verdict

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner “does not expect miracles” at her appeal hearing Tuesday against a nine-year Russian jail term for having cannabis oil in her luggage, her lawyers said in a statement.

The twice Olympic gold medalist was arrested Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia. She was sentenced Aug. 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs.

Griner’s lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said she would take part in Tuesday’s hearing by video link from the detention center where she has been held, and that they expected a verdict the same day.

“She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing. Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term,” they said.

Griner pleaded guilty at her trial but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law.

Washington says Griner was wrongfully detained and has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States.

Moscow has also suggested it is open to a prisoner swap.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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On Witness Stand, Trump Ally Denies Foreign Influence Charge

Posted on by SeeUS

A California billionaire known as an ally of Donald Trump used his testimony at his federal trial on Monday to question Trump’s leadership on foreign policy, saying the former president was clueless about the dynamics in the Middle East.

The defendant, Tom Barrack, is accused of using his “unique access” as a longtime friend of Trump to provide confidential information about the Trump administration to the United Arab Emirates to advance the UAE’s foreign policy and business interests. Prosecutors say that while UAE officials were consorting with Barrack, they were rewarding him by pouring millions of dollars into his business ventures.

Barrack, the onetime chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, told a New York City jury that he considered Trump to be “bold” and “smart” businessman, and had backed his candidacy as a political outsider who “could be a good thing for the system.” However, he testified that he later grew disillusioned because of Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and other divisive positions he called “disastrous.”

He testified that some of his clients in his private equity firm “were upset I was friends with the president.” Trump, he added, was perceived as someone who “could not spell ‘Middle East.’ … It was a nightmare.”

Barrack said he made it a mission to sell Trump on encouraging the UAE and Saudi Arabia to align with Israel as a way to bring stability to the oil-rich region. He also worked behind the scenes to try to get the former president to drop the idea of a Muslim travel ban.

Barrack said he took the position, “This is America. How can you ban a whole religion?”

Barrack also testified that it would have been “impossible” for him to act as a foreign agent for one Middle East investor in his firm because other investors would object to it. Barrack said there’s an intense vetting process to assure that money managers don’t have such conflicts of interest.

Investors “want to know that nobody has an edge, that they’re all equal,” he said. Otherwise, “It would chill every other investor,” he added.

Barrack, 75, has pleaded not guilty to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. His lawyers have denied he did anything underhanded.

The Los Angeles-based billionaire has known Trump for decades, since their days developing real estate. Barrack played an integral role in the 2016 campaign as a top fundraiser at a time when many other Republicans were shunning the upstart candidate.

The government rested its criminal case last week. Much of the evidence focused on emails and other back-channel communications between Barrack and his high-level leaders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors say those communications show how Barrack and his contacts strategized over how to win over Trump.

The defendant suggested on Monday that there was nothing nefarious about his constant contact with UAE leaders while Trump was taking office. The interactions would have been a normal part of doing business with any country or government partnering with him in high-end real estate deals using state-owned investment funds, he said.

The explanation came after Barrack described his rise to a high-finance heavyweight from humble beginnings in Southern California as the son of a small grocery store owner of Lebanese descent. With his background, the Arabic speaker said he developed a cultural “sixth sense” for building relationships with Arab world clients.

Before being indicted, Barrack drew attention by raising $107 million for the former president’s inaugural celebration following the 2016 election. The event was scrutinized both for its lavish spending and for attracting foreign officials and businesspeople looking to lobby the new administration.

Barrack is to continue testifying on Tuesday.
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10 Burkina Faso Soldiers Killed, 50 Wounded in Army Base Attack

Posted on by SeeAF

At least 10 Burkina Faso soldiers died and around 50 were wounded Monday in an assault in the northern city of Djibo, the army said.

The “terrorist attack” hit the 14th regiment at a base in Djibo, which has been under a jihadi blockade for three months, the army said.

“The preliminary toll is 10 soldiers fallen during fighting and about 50 injured and being treated,” the statement said.

“On the enemy side, at least 18 bodies of terrorists have been counted during mopping-up operations which are still underway.”

Air support had been called in to back up the operations.

A security source told AFP the pre-dawn raiders had fired shells at the Djibo barracks.

“Other strategic installations in the town were also targeted,” the source added.

Djibo’s population of some 30,000 has been cut off for three months with jihadis controlling the main roads after blowing up bridges.

An attack on a supply convoy heading for Djibo September 26 left 37 dead — 27 of them were soldiers. Seventy truck drivers are still missing.

The attack helped trigger the latest coup in Burkina just four days later, led by young army captain Ibrahim Traore.

He became interim president October 14, vowing to win back territory from the jihadis.

It was the west African nation’s second coup in eight months.

“We are confronted with a security and humanitarian crisis without precedent,” Traore said at his swearing-in.

“Our aims are none other than the reconquest of territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists. Burkina’s existence is in danger.”

Traore toppled Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had seized power in January, forcing out Burkina’s last elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

The motive for both coups was anger at failures to stem a seven-year jihadi insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven nearly 2 million people from their homes.
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