Month: January 2023

Malawi Reopens Schools Despite Rise in Cholera Cases

Posted on by SeeAF

There was visible excitement among students when schools reopened Tuesday in Malawi’s two biggest cities, Lilongwe and Blantyre, after a two-week suspension caused by a cholera outbreak. 

The bacterial illness has killed close to 800 people, more than 100 of them children, and affected more than 25,000. 

Malawi’s government announced measures to prevent cholera from spreading in schools but warned it will shut down the schools again if needed.  

To many students, especially those who are preparing to take national examinations this year, the closure doomed their hope of passing the exams.

Ronnie Lutepo, a teenaged student at Michiru View secondary school in Blantyre, said returning to the school was the best thing he hoped for.

“Yes, as I was at home my mum was telling me to study, but being in an examination class affected me badly,” he said. “We are all supposed to be here and ready for the exams and if we are not ready, we are not going to get good grades.”

The reopening comes after the government announced that it has put into place preventive measures against the spread of cholera, which is transmitted mainly through dirty water. 

These include fixing broken boreholes and water taps in the schools and banning the sale of cooked food around school premises.

Malawi is battling its worst cholera outbreak in a decade. Government statistics show that as of Monday it had registered 25,458 cases since the start of the outbreak last March, with 550 cases reported on Monday alone.

The disease has so far killed more than 800 people with around 1,000 hospitalizations as of Tuesday.  

Justin Rice Phiri, the deputy head teacher at Michiru View secondary school, told VOA that the school has put in place measures to prevent students from contracting the disease.

“At the same time our support staff; the cleaners and the cooks have been trained on how best to prevent the cholera and also giving them the protective wear; the gloves, the work suits and the like,” he said.

On Tuesday, the U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, started distributing anti-cholera supplies in schools in areas most affected by the outbreak.

Government authorities, however, have warned that they may close the schools again should the outbreak spread among students at an unmanageable level.
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US Treasury Secretary Heads to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is headed to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa this week to discuss trade expansion, investment and the U.S. commitment to African economies.

This comes after a promise from President Joe Biden at the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit last month that he and members of his Cabinet would visit Africa in 2023.

“I think this is the first in many steps to engage Africans on the continent,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa Program. But he told VOA, “There’s an overall message [U.S. officials] are trying to send as well, which is Washington is present, and that message is not only for the Africans but for the Chinese, Russians competing with the U.S. in these markets.”

Senior U.S. Treasury officials maintain that the purpose of the trip is to exchange ideas with African government officials, private sector leaders, entrepreneurs and youth, and to deepen economic ties between the U.S. and Africa, charting new opportunities for trade and investment.

Senegal

Yellen’s first stop is Senegal, where she will visit a business incubator providing credit and sector-specific technical assistance to young women entrepreneurs in the capital, Dakar.

She will also participate in a business forum with leaders from the American Chamber of Commerce in Senegal and the groundbreaking of a rural electrification project being led by U.S. engineering firm Weldy Lamont.

The project, Treasury officials say, is supported by a U.S. government initiative known as Prosper Africa and $100 million in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Secretary Yellen also plans to visit Gorée Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site that served as a slave trading post in West Africa.

The Treasury chief will meet with Senegalese President Macky Sall, the African Union chair whose country is also a leading member of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.

This could be an opportunity for Sall to discuss other issues including unfair international trade practices, said Chisanga Chekwe, president of the Canada-based Masomo Education Foundation charity.

Four African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali – are among the most efficient cotton producers in the world, says Chekwe. “Three of the countries are in ECOWAS, and all four are in the AU,” Chekwe said. Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali are ECOWAS members. The AU refers to the African Union.

“Here is an interesting thing. Despite their efficiency, they only contribute 3% to world cotton production,” Chekwe said.

The reason, Chekwe said, is that cotton production is heavily subsidized in most countries, a reality that tends to distort markets.

Zambia

Chekwe is also the author of many books on African issues, especially on Zambia, where he said America sees an opportunity to counter Chinese influence with a new government that is considered pro-West.

“It’s seen as a government that’s weary of China. … One possible area of immediate cooperation is the restructuring of a $6 billion debt Zambia has to China, and let’s remember that makes up 24-25% of the country’s GDP [gross domestic product],” he said.

In 2020, Zambia became the first African country in the COVID pandemic era to default on its debt. But regardless of whether money is owed to China or financial institutions, Zambia is not the only African country with a debt burden, said Hudson.

“Ghana, another successful African country, is really experiencing a mounting crisis there, so Washington is seen as partly responsible,” he said. “Because like it or not, Washington is seen as controlling the international financial institutions of the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund], which have pushed for austerity measures on African states, kept interest rates on international lending very high to African states and at the same time has been critical of concessionary lending they’ve received from China, Russia and others outside of a multilateral system.”

The U.S. Treasury secretary met with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema at the summit last month and emphasized the need to work on a debt plan treatment for Zambia under the Common Framework, an initiative endorsed by the G-20 and others, as quickly as possible. The G-20 represents the 20 largest economies in the world.

While in Zambia, Yellen will meet with Hichilema again, along with his finance minister and that nation’s central bank governor. She’ll also tour two agriculture-related sites in an effort to promote climate-resilient agriculture and food production and mitigate the effects of the Russian war in Ukraine.

The war has had enormous economic effects on the global wheat, energy and fertilizer supplies, “all of which are affecting Africans much more acutely than anyone else in the world. This comes on top of a slow recovery from the COVID pandemic,” said Hudson.

During the summit last month, Biden announced his administration will spend $2 billion in humanitarian assistance to address acute food insecurity in Africa, to “help ensure that children and families don’t have to go to bed hungry.”

South Africa

In South Africa, Yellen will meet with the country’s finance minister and reserve bank governor.

She’ll also visit a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant outside Pretoria. The facility, which employs more than 4,000 people, is slated to become carbon neutral by next year.

Yellen’s Africa tour coincides with a visit by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to Zambia next week. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang just completed a five-nation Africa tour that took him to Ethiopia, Angola, Benin, Gabon and Egypt.

Prior to arriving in Senegal, Yellen will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in Switzerland on Wednesday.
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Biden Urges Netherlands to Back Restrictions on Exporting Chip Tech to China

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President Joe Biden hosted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday at the White House, where he urged the Netherlands to support new U.S. restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China, a key part of Washington’s strategy in its rivalry against Beijing.

During a brief appearance in front of reporters before their meeting, Biden said that he and Rutte have been working on “how to keep a free and open Indo-Pacific” to “meet the challenges of China.”

“Simply put, our companies, our countries have been so far just lockstep in what we’ve done in our investment to the future. So today, I look forward to discussing how we can further deepen our relationship and securing our supply chains to strengthen our transatlantic partnership,” he said.

ASML Holding NV, maker of the world’s most advanced semiconductor lithography systems, is headquartered in Veldhoven, making the Netherlands key to Washington’s chip push against Beijing. Ahead of Rutte’s visit, Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said the Netherlands is consulting with European and Asian allies and will not automatically accept the new restrictions that the U.S. Commerce Department launched in October.

“You can’t say that they’ve been pressuring us for two years and now we have to sign on the dotted line. And we won’t,” she said.

Rutte did not mention the semiconductor issue ahead of his meeting with Biden, focusing instead on Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, where the NATO allies have been working together to support Kyiv.

“Let’s stay closely together this year,” Rutte said. “And hopefully, things will move forward in a way which is acceptable for Ukraine.”

China is one of ASML’s biggest clients. CEO Peter Wennink in October played down the impact of the U.S. export control regulations.

“Based on our initial assessment, the new restrictions do not amend the rules governing lithography equipment shipped by ASML out of the Netherlands and we expect the direct impact on ASML’s overall 2023 shipment plan to be limited,” he said.

Shoring up allies

Biden has been shoring up allies, including the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea — home to leading companies that play a critical role in the industry’s supply chain — to limit Beijing’s access to advanced semiconductors. Last week he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who said he backs Biden’s attempt but did not agree to match the sweeping curbs targeting China’s semiconductor and supercomputing industries.

U.S. officials say export restrictions on chips are necessary because China can use semiconductors to advance their military systems, including weapons of mass destruction, and commit human rights abuses.

The October restrictions follow the U.S. Congress’ July passing of the CHIPS Act of 2022 to strengthen domestic semiconductor manufacturing, design and research, and reinforce America’s chip supply chains. The legislation also restricts companies that receive U.S. subsidies from investing in and expanding cutting edge chipmaking facilities in China.

Some information for this story came from AP.
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Ex-GOP Candidate Charged in Shootings at Lawmakers’ Homes 

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A failed Republican candidate who authorities said was angry over his defeat in November is facing numerous charges in connection with drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city.

Solomon Pena, 39, was arrested Monday evening after SWAT officers took him into custody and served search warrants at his home, police said.

Pena, a felon whose criminal past had been a controversial issue during last year’s campaign, repeatedly made baseless claims that the election was “rigged” against him as he posed with “Trump 2024” flags and a “Make America Great Again” hoodie.

“I dissent. I am the MAGA king,” he posted the day after the election. And on Nov. 15, he added: “I never conceded my HD 14 race. Now researching my options.”

He was being held pending an initial court appearance Wednesday on charges including multiple counts of shooting at a home and shooting from a motor vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina described Pena as the “mastermind” of an apparently politically motivated conspiracy leading to shootings at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators between early December and early January.

No one was injured, but in one case bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.

Pena ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Pena got just 26% of the vote, but refused to concede.

Pena then showed up uninvited at the elected officials’ homes with what he claimed were documents proving he had won his race, police said. There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, or any irregularity involving enough votes to change a result, in New Mexico in 2020 or 2022.

The shootings began just days after those conversations, according to a criminal complaint.

“This type of radicalism is a threat to our nation and has made its way to our doorstep right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico,” said Mayor Tim Keller, a Democrat. “But I know we are going to push back, and we will not allow this to cross the threshold.”

The New Mexico Republican Party condemned Pena in a statement Monday night. “If Pena is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Four men conspired with Pena, who is accused of paying them cash to carry out at least two of the drive-by shootings in stolen vehicles, while Pena “pulled the trigger” during one of the crimes, Deputy Police Commander Kyle Hartsock said.

Detectives identified Pena as their key suspect using a combination of cellphone and vehicle records, text messages that included the elected officials’ addresses, witness interviews and bullet casings collected near the lawmakers’ homes. His arrest came one week after Medina announced they had identified a suspect in the shootings.

A lawyer for Pena who could comment on the allegations wasn’t listed Tuesday in court records.

Authorities nationwide are concerned about rising threats to members of Congress, school board members, election officials and other government workers. In Albuquerque, law enforcement also has struggled to address back-to-back years of record homicides and persistent gun violence.

The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, state Rep. Javier Martinez’s home was targeted, followed by a Dec. 11 shooting at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley. More than a dozen rounds were fired at her home, police said.

The final related shooting, targeting state Sen. Linda Lopez’s home, unfolded in the midnight hour of Jan. 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired and Lopez said three of the bullets passed through her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

Technology that can detect the sound of gunfire led an officer to Lopez’s neighborhood shortly after the shots were fired.

The officer found bullet casings matching a handgun found later that morning in a Nissan Maxima registered to Pena. Around 1:30 a.m., about an hour after the shooting at Lopez’s home, police stopped the Nissan about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the lawmaker’s neighborhood.

The driver, identified as Jose Trujillo, was arrested on an outstanding warrant, leading to the discovery of more than 800 fentanyl pills and two firearms in the car.

The criminal complaint details text messages shared between Pena, Trujillo, another man identified as Demetrio Trujillo and two unnamed brothers. One of the messages referenced officials certifying the election in November, saying “They sold us out to the highest bidder.”

Investigators said it appeared the men were using code words; some messages pointed to meetings around Albuquerque. One image shared via text showed Pena and Jose Trujillo in a vehicle together and another showed Jose Trujillo eating at a table with a number of handguns.

The police complaint is based in part on testimony from a confidential witness who said he had “personal and intimate knowledge of the crimes” and was present at most of the shootings.

That witness told authorities that Pena had paid $500 for the men to do a “job” using guns the witness provided. He said one of the men told the shooters to aim above the windows to avoid striking anyone inside, but that wasn’t enough for Pena, who wanted them to shoot lower, and that Pena was there at the Lopez shooting “to ensure better target acquisition.”

The witness said Pena and two of the men jumped into a stolen pickup for the drive-by shooting of the Lopez home, and that while Pena’s gun jammed and did not fire correctly, Jose Trujillo’s handgun did.

Pena’s insistence that the men be more aggressive made the other participants uneasy “since they knew that doing so would likely end in death or injury,” said the witness, who faces criminal charges and has asked for leniency. Authorities said no such promises have been made.

Police said additional arrests and charges are expected but declined to elaborate.

Pena spent nine years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007 for stealing electronics and other goods from several retail stores as part of what authorities described then as a burglary crew. He was released from prison in March 2016, and had his voting rights restored after completing five years probation in April 2021, corrections officials said.
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Belarus Opens Trial of Journalist for Prominent Polish Paper

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Belarus has opened the trial of a journalist and prominent member of the country’s sizable Polish minority, the latest in a series of court cases against critics of the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Andrzej Poczobut, 49, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of the charges of harming national security and inciting discord. Poczobut, a journalist for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a top figure in the Union of Poles in Belarus, has been behind bars since his detention in March 2021.

He widely covered major protests that gripped Belarus for weeks in 2020 following a presidential election that gave Lukashenko, in power since 1994, a new term in office, but that was widely regarded by the opposition and Western countries as fraudulent.

The trial in the western city of Grodno was closed to independent journalists and Western diplomats on Monday, but photos from the courtroom suggested that Poczobut has lost significant weight while in custody.

In Poland a spokesman for the government, Piotr Mueller, said that despite “numerous diplomatic efforts, unfortunately, we have no additional tools that could help in this area” of political freedom in Belarus. He said it was a “scandalous situation.”

Mueller told a news conference in Warsaw that Poland will continue diplomatic efforts to change the situation.

“But we know very well that at this point authorities in Belarus are directly linked to Russia and that they are pursuing a defined policy that counters not only Poland but the entire democratic area that holds human rights as top state priorities,” Mueller said.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry said it met the information about Poczobut’s trial with “disappointment” and said the charges are “untrue and politically motivated.”

The ministry appealed for Poczobut’s release and said his imprisonment constituted “another example of the instrumental use of the justice system against any and all democratic standards and an element in the anti-Polish campaign pursued by the authorities of Belarus.”

In the eastern Polish city of Bialystok, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the border with Belarus, a group of protesters representing Belarusian diaspora and human rights organizations gathered before the Belarusian consulate to demand freedom for Poczobut and other political prisoners.

The 2020 protests in Belarus were the largest and most sustained in the country.

Authorities responded to the demonstrations with a crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested, thousands beaten by police and dozens of media outlets and nongovernmental organizations shut.

This month, Belarus put human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, a co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, on trial for financing protests. Another trial against two top figures of the now-banned independent news portal TUT.BY began last week.

About 300,000 of Belarus’ 10 million people are ethnic Poles. The Union of Poles came under government pressure after authorities accused Poland of trying to foment an uprising against Lukashenko.
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At Davos, Ukraine’s 1st Lady Urges Leaders to ‘Use Influence

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Ukraine’s first lady scolded world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in the snowy Swiss town of Davos for not all using their influence at a time when Russia’s invasion leaves children dying and a world struggling with food insecurity.

As the anniversary of the war nears, Olena Zelenska said Tuesday that parents are in tears watching doctors trying to save their children, farmers are afraid to go back to their fields filled with explosive mines and “we cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen,” referring to the 1986 nuclear disaster as Russian missiles have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure for months.

“What you all have in common is that you are genuinely influential,” Zelenska told attendees. “But there is something that separates you, namely that not all of you use this influence, or sometimes use it in a way that separates you even more.”

She spoke as hundreds of government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists from around the world who descended on the town billed as Europe’s highest. The weeklong talkfest of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritizes global problems such as hunger, climate change and the slowing economy, but it’s never clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forum’s stated ambition of “improving the state of the world.”

“We are all internally convinced that there is no such global problem that humanity cannot solve,” Zelenska said. “This is more important now when Russia’s aggression in Europe poses various challenges.”

The war in Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions and jolted food and fuel markets worldwide. With the war raising inflation and expanding food insecurity in developing nations, Zelenska called it “an insult to mankind and human nature to have mass starvation.”

Ukraine and Russia had been key suppliers of wheat, barley and other food supplies to Africa, the Middle East and Asia where many were already going hungry.

About 345 million people in 82 countries are facing acute food insecurity, according to the U.N. World Food Program, up from 135 million in 53 countries before the pandemic and war in Ukraine.

Zelenska warned that the war could expand beyond Ukraine’s borders and worsen the crises but “unity is what brings peace back.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged the assembled executives and global leaders at Davos to keep aiding Ukraine.

“Ukraine wants to become a member of the European Union, and it is a perfect opportunity to take investment and reform to pave this way for Ukraine towards the European Union,” she said after Zelenska’s address. “And my call on you is: We need every helping hand on board. Ukraine deserves to have as much support as possible.”

While urging unity for Ukraine, von der Leyen unveiled a major clean tech industrial plan to compete with China and the United States as the 27-nation bloc looks to stay a leader on plotting a greener future.

She said the plan would make it easier to push through subsidies for green industries and inject funding into EU-wide projects to help reach its goal of climate neutrality by 2050. The bloc also would be more forceful in countering unfair trading practices.

At Davos, a helicopter buzzed overhead in overcast skies as scores of notables, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, trudged through the snow and crisscrossed the Alpine town of 10,000 to attend a number of panel sessions on everything from the environment to cryptocurrencies to the fight against COVID-19.

Many concerned minds in Davos were on the devastation from a Russian missile strike that hit an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing 44 people in one of the deadliest single attacks in months.

Zelenska said Ukrainians “can’t take a day off from war” and that they “have to risk their lives each day” but said she believed the world would unify for peace.

Her husband, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be beamed in by video Wednesday to complement the in-person delegation of his wife and officials such as Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Davos offers a new chance for Ukrainian envoys to ramp up international support for donations of weapons like tanks and anti-rocket defenses and greater pressure to further isolate and squeeze Russia’s economy.

France, the U.K., the U.S. and other nations are vowing to send increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine, such as tanks or armored combat vehicles.
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Cameroon Activists Push Gender Parity for Senate Elections

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Activists in Cameroon are urging more women candidates to enter races for Senate seats before a January 28 deadline. Only 26 members of Cameroon’s 100-member senate are women, a number advocates want to see doubled. But patriarchal beliefs and a lack of political support are preventing more women from contesting the March election. 

Female activists have been visiting political party leaders in northern Cameroon to push for greater representation for women in Cameroon’s upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, announced last week that senate elections will be held March 12 with a registration deadline of January 28.

The announcement prompted activists to push for more women candidates.

Aissa Doumara Ngatansou is with the Association for the Fight Against Violence on Women and Girls.

She says only 2 of the 10 former senate members from Cameroon’s Far North region, where Maroua is located, are women. Ngatansou says she is visiting political parties that will contest the elections to tell them activists want gender parity among their candidates – half women and half men. She says it’s delightful that many women who were quiet in the past now want to take part in politics.

Cameroonian women have long raised complaints of low participation in politics ahead of elections.

Activists say patriarchal attitudes still prevail in many parts of Cameroon, where women are expected to get their husband’s permission before running for office.

Funding campaigns is also a challenge, as many women candidates cannot afford the $1,650 deposit required to run for the Senate.

Justine Diffo is coordinator of the group More Women in Politics.

She says women’s associations, wealthy donors, and political parties should assist women candidates with such campaign fees.

Diffo says it is the wish of Cameroonian women to see political leaders including President Paul Biya respect promises they made on several occasions to give equal chances (in politics) to men and women. She says the March 12 Senate elections provide an opportunity for Cameroon to prove to the world that parity is not just a slogan.

Political leaders have not responded to calls by rights groups for political parties to pay the deposit for women candidates.

The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party said in a press release it is examining issues raised by women activists and will do all it takes to have more women run for the Senate.

The CPDM says four out of every ten candidates for the elections are expected to be women.

Marie Theres Abena Ondoua is Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family.

Speaking on Cameroon’s state broadcaster CRTV Tuesday, she says government training for women who register as candidates has made progress in gender parity.

Ondoua says from just one female lawmaker 30 years ago, Cameroon today counts 61 in the National Assembly out of 180 members. She says 30 years ago, Cameroon had fewer than three female mayors but today there are 39 out of 360 in the country. Ondoua says Cameroon is determined to assist women who are hard working to gain political positions.

About 15,000 councilors in 60 divisions across Cameroon make up the electoral college that will vote for 70 of the senator seats.

The remaining 30 are directly appointed by President Biya.
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Central American Migrants Upset US Immigration Program Excludes Them

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In early January the United States put in place a new humanitarian parole process which allows some Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants to live and work temporarily in the U.S. and expands the number of Venezuelans eligible. Some Central American migrants argue they should also qualify for the same humanitarian relief. Victor Hugo Castillo reports from Reynosa, Mexico. Video editor -  Veronica Villafane.
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Al-Shabab Launches Deadly Attack on Somali Military Base

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Al-Shabab launched a deadly attack on a Somali military base on Tuesday, just a day after the government claimed a “historic victory” over the jihadists with the capture of a strategic coastal town.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll after the Islamist fighters stormed the camp in the town of Hawadley north of the capital Mogadishu.

Army chief Odowaa Yusuf Rage said on national radio that five soldiers including a senior officer had died in the attack claimed by the al-Qaida-allied militant group.

A clan militia commander near Hawadley, which lies in the central Hirshabelle state, said 11 soldiers had died.

The Islamists detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Mogadishu before gunmen stormed the compound, witnesses and security officials said.

Al-Shabab, which controls swathes of countryside in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack via its communication channels.

In recent months, the army and local clan militias have retaken chunks of territory from the militants in Galmudug and Hirshabelle states in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force.

But despite the gains, al-Shabab has demonstrated the ability to strike back with lethal force against civilian and military targets.

The Hawadley base had only been recaptured from al-Shabab in October last year by the Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Monday proclaimed a “historic victory” over Al-Shabaab after the army took control of the strategic city of Haradhere in central Galmudug state without a fight.

“The brave members of the national armed forces… have destroyed the enemy of the nation and liberated the strategic port town of Haradhere,” he said in a statement.

Haradhere had been a key supply route for Al-Shabaab for both people and goods after it seized the port in 2010, dislodging local militias and pirates.

‘Attempt to distract’

Tuesday’s attack “demonstrates al-Shabab’s continued ability to produce explosive devices and deploy them within Hirshabelle state, where the offensive originally began”, said International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for eastern Africa, Omar Mahmood.

“The group has mounted a number of similar assaults recently, likely an attempt to distract the government by attacking multiple locations,” he told AFP in a message.

On Saturday, eight people were killed in a roadside bombing claimed by al-Shabab in central Somalia, police said. Earlier this month, 19 people were killed in twin car bombings in Mahas, a town in Hiran district in Hirshabelle.

Rage said the army had repelled the assault in Hawadley and was pursuing the militants who got away.

“Five members of the army were martyred, including a senior military officer,” he said, adding that the army had killed 21 al-Shabab fighters.

Ahmed Mohamud, an SNA military commander in the nearby town of Balcad, said more than 10 people had died, but added that it was not clear how many were soldiers and that the toll was provisional.

He said the army was “in full control” of the area.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had declared “all-out war” on the jihadists after taking office in May last year.

Last week, he called on ordinary Somalis to help flush out members of the jihadist group he described as “bedbugs”.

Although forced out of Mogadishu and other main urban centers more than a decade ago, al-Shabab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
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Belarus Begins Trial of Opposition Leader

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Belarus on Monday began the trial in absentia of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the country’s state-run Belta news agency said. 

Tsikhanouskaya fled Belarus after facing President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections that drew mass protests over allegations of electoral fraud that gave Lukashenko a new term. 

Speaking to news agencies in Switzerland, Tsikhanouskaya called her trial a “farce” and said she was not given access to court documents. 

The charges against her include treason, conspiracy to seize power and leading an extremist organization. 

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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British Foreign Minister Seeks to Bolster Ukraine Support on North American Trip

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British Foreign Minister James Cleverly will seek to bolster support for Ukraine on a trip to the United States and Canada which begins on Tuesday, ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion by Russia.

Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Kyiv since Russia’s invasion last February, and at the weekend pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks and other heavy weaponry to Ukraine.

Germany is under pressure to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but its government says such tanks should be supplied to Ukraine only if there is agreement among Kyiv’s main allies, particularly the United States.

Cleverly will tell U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly that it is the right time to go “further and faster” to give Ukraine military support.

“Today we stand united against Putin’s illegal war, and we will continue to use our uniquely strong defense and security ties to ensure that, in the end, the Ukrainian people will win,” Cleverly said in a statement ahead of the trip.

The British foreign ministry also said Cleverly would raise the topic of Iran while on the trip after Britain temporarily recalled its ambassador following the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari on Saturday.
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White House on Classified Documents: No Visitor Logs for Biden’s Delaware Home

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The White House counsel’s office said Monday that no visitor logs are kept at President Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, thwarting one Republican effort to find out who might have visited the home while classified documents have been stored there.

On Sunday, Representative James Comer, the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked Ron Klain, Biden’s White House chief of staff, in a letter for information on the searches for the documents at Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington and at Biden’s home, including lists of who visited the residence since he became president nearly two years ago.

“Like every president across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” the counsel’s office said in a statement. “But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”

The Secret Service also said that while a security detail is assigned to the home, it does not track who comes and goes.

“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” a Secret Service spokesperson said.

Newly empowered House Republicans have been demanding more information about who might have had access to classified documents from Biden’s vice presidency that ended in 2017 that were discovered at his Washington think tank office where he worked occasionally and at his Delaware home.

Biden has said he was surprised that any classified documents — about 20 in all — were found at locations linked to him.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the top U.S. law enforcement official, has named two special counsels, one to investigate how Biden and his aides handled the classified documents as he left the vice presidency and one to investigate how former President Donald Trump took more than 300 classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago, his oceanside retreat in Florida, when his presidency ended two years ago.

Biden has turned over the documents recovered at locations linked to him to the National Archives and Records Administration, as required by law. In both instances, the Trump and Biden documents should have been turned over when their terms in office ended.

Meanwhile, Trump, at the request of the National Archives, returned some documents months after he left office, but when officials came to believe he still had more classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, they secured court approval for a search of the property in August and recovered dozens more documents.

Comer’s request Sunday for the visitor logs came a day after the White House said Biden’s aides had found five additional pages of classified material at his home, in addition to an earlier disclosure that other documents had been found in the garage at the residence and at the Washington office Biden occasionally used before running for president in 2020.

Republicans, who reclaimed narrow control of the House of Representatives in November’s nationwide congressional elections, have assailed Biden for not acknowledging the existence of the classified documents from his vice presidency until last week even though the cache at his office was discovered in early November, just days before the elections.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show Sunday, Comer said he was not accusing Biden of wrongdoing, but added, “I will accuse the Biden administration of not being transparent” in not confirming that the classified documents had been discovered until after CBS News first reported it.

“The hypocrisy here is great,” Comer said about Biden attacking Trump for his document cache and then not confirming his own until weeks after the election, the disclosure of which could have influenced voting.

The White House, seeking to minimize the political fallout from the disclosure of the classified material found at Biden locations, has noted that it is fully cooperating with the investigation of his documents while Trump has decried the probe of the material found at Mar-a-Lago.
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Sweden, Finland Must Send ‘Terrorists’ to Turkey for NATO Bid

Posted on by SeeEU

Sweden and Finland must deport or extradite up to 130 “terrorists” to Turkey before the Turkish parliament will approve their bids to join NATO, President Tayyip Erdogan said.

The two Nordic states applied last year to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their bids must be approved by all 30 NATO member states. Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the applications.

Turkey has said Sweden must first take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

“We said look, so if you don’t hand over your terrorists to us, we can’t pass it (approval of the NATO application) through the parliament anyway,” Erdogan said in comments late Sunday, referring to a joint news conference he held with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson last November.

“For this to pass the parliament, first of all you have to hand more than 100, around 130 of these terrorists to us,” Erdogan said.

Finnish politicians interpreted Erdogan’s demand as an angry response to an incident in Stockholm last week in which an effigy of the Turkish leader was strung up during what appeared to be a small protest.

“This must have been a reaction, I believe, to the events of the past days,” Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told public broadcaster YLE.

Haavisto said he was not aware of any new official demands from Turkey.

In response to the incident in Stockholm, Turkey canceled a planned visit to Ankara of the Swedish speaker of parliament, Andreas Norlen, who instead came to Helsinki Monday.

“We stress that in Finland and in Sweden we have freedom of expression. We cannot control it,” the speaker of the Finnish parliament, Matti Vanhanen, told reporters at a joint news conference with Norlen.

Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson said Monday that his country was in a “good position” to secure Turkey’s ratification of its NATO bid.

Erdogan’s spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said Saturday that time was running out for Turkey’s parliament to ratify the bids before presidential and parliamentary elections— which are expected in May.
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Official: Jihadis Abduct 50 Women in Burkina Faso

Posted on by SeeAF

At least 50 women were abducted by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso’s northern Sahel region last week, a local official said Monday.

The kidnappings occurred January 12 and 13, approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the town of Arbinda in Soum province, Lt. Col. P.F. Rodolphe Sorgho, the governor of Sahel, said in a statement.

The women were kidnapped while in the countryside gathering wild fruit, he said.

Jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has overrun Burkina Faso, killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people in the West African nation. The failure of successive governments to stop the fighting has caused widespread discontent and triggered two military coups in 2022, the second against the first military regime to seize power.

The military junta that seized power in September, vowing to restore security, is still struggling to stem the violence.

During the second week of this month, 116 security incidents were recorded, according to an internal report for aid groups seen by The Associated Press. The number represents more than 60% increase compared to the last week of December.

Extremists have besieged towns around the country, preventing people and goods from moving freely. The town of Arbinda has been under jihadi blockade for years, making women more vulnerable to attacks if they try to leave, rights groups say.

Former Arbinda Mayor Boureima Werem said the large-scale abductions were a new strategy and could point to a shift in extremists’ tactics.

Ousmane Diallo, a researcher at Amnesty International’s regional office for West and Central Africa, called the kidnappings “a very concerning and serious development in Burkina Faso that exposes the vulnerability of women in areas under blockade.”

“The rights of civilians and their rights to their livelihoods must be protected by all parties to the conflict,” Diallo said. “There needs to be more attention and more protection of civilians by the government in these besieged towns, but also [a] tailored approach to the protection of women and girls.”

Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory, which provides intelligence analysis, said the jihadis are trying to add pressure to the Burkinabe government.

“Abductions are an easy way to score points and a bargaining card,” Alkhouri said. “These tactics are meant to add pressure on the government to provide concessions, such [as] ransom money, as well as highlight the ruling body as unable to protect its citizens, in the process creating fear among the locals and distrust between the public and the government.”
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Islamic State Claims Responsibility for DR Congo Church Bombing

Posted on by SeeAF

Islamic extremists claimed responsibility Monday for a bombing of a church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as authorities said that the toll from Sunday’s attack had risen to at least 14 dead.

The Islamic State group and its Aamaq news outlet issued statements saying that its militants had planted an explosive device inside the Pentecostal church in Kasindi and detonated it while people were praying.

“Let the Congolese forces know that their continued attacks on the Mujahideen will only bring them more failure and losses,” the group said in its statement.

The extremists claimed the bomb killed 20 Christians. Congolese authorities put the toll Monday at 14 dead and at least 63 wounded.

The injured were evacuated to Beni General Hospital by the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, authorities said.

Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power. Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the U.N.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel organization which is believed to have links to the Islamic State group, have carried out several attacks in Kasindi, which is located on the border with Uganda.

Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread.

ADF attacks since April have killed at least 370 civilians and involved the abduction of several hundred more, a report by the United Nations last month said.
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On King Holiday, Biden Declares, ‘In America, Hate Will Not Prevail’

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President Joe Biden declared Monday that “in America, hate will not prevail,” as he recalled the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the national holiday commemorating the slain civil rights leader and his quest for justice and equal rights for Blacks in the United States.

Biden, speaking in Washington to leaders of the National Action Network, a civil rights group, said Americans must “never grow weary in doing what is right.”

He cited actions he has taken to improve the lives of Black Americans during the first two years of his presidency, but added, “Folks, we have a lot of unfinished business. We cannot remain silent.”

The Democratic president promised to work with the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives on issues where they might be able to reach agreement. But he also said he will veto legislation that he feels would hurt working-class families.

He assailed Republicans for their passage last week of a measure attempting to rescind $80 billion in new funding for the country’s tax collection agency, the Internal Revenue Service, saying the lack of new auditors at the agency scrutinizing tax returns would “reduce taxes for the super wealthy.”

Republicans say the extra funding would have led to burdensome audits of small businesses and middle-income taxpayers. Biden said he would veto the measure in the unlikely event the Democratic-controlled Senate passes it. He also attacked a call by some Republicans for a national sales tax on almost every purchased item and doing away with taxation on income.

Biden said the U.S. recovery from the economic depths caused by the coronavirus pandemic has laid the foundation for a stronger, more equitable economy for decades to come.

“Black unemployment is near record lows,” he said. “Wages for Black workers are up. Two strongest years ever for small business creation including for Black small businesses.”

“We’re expanding efforts to build Black generational wealth like every other person who built their wealth,” Biden said. “How’d they build it? Homes.”
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March in France, Eiffel Tower Display Back Iran’s Activists

Posted on by SeeEU

Up to 12,000 people marched Monday to the EU Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg in support of Iran’s anti-government protesters while the Eiffel Tower lit the night with the slogan “Woman. Life. Freedom,” which embodies the protest movement spilling beyond Iran.

The Eiffel Tower display also beamed the message, “Stop executions in Iran,” highlighting a demand of protesters.

Both messages pay tribute to Mahsa Amini, whose death in September triggered demonstrations in Iran, along with arrests and executions.

Paris posthumously declared Amani an honorary citizen in October, and Paris City Hall has said that the Eiffel Tower displays Monday were an homage to Amini and to “those who are bravely fighting for their freedom as the (Iranian) regime is continuing executions of protesters.”

The Strasbourg march was organized by Iranians in Europe on the 44th anniversary of the day when Iran’s last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ailing and under growing pressure, left the country forever. The following month, the monarchy collapsed under the fervor of the Islamic revolution that gave Iran its theocracy. Some of the demonstrators Monday carried photos of the former shah.

Local media cited police as saying some 12,000 people took part.

“Your silence is violence,” one banner read, reflecting the demand of Iranian protesters abroad to support their message and ensure Tehran hears it.

Protesters want the European Union to take a firmer stance against Iran, declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

The European parliament’s plenary session is to debate the EU’s response this week to the protests and executions in the Islamic Republic. A non-binding resolution is to be voted on Thursday, which protesters and others see as a chance to put the Revolutionary Guard on the EU’s terrorist list.

A letter last week by over 100 ministers to Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, called on the bloc to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “in its entirety as a terrorist organization.” The U.S. designated the Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization in 2019.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Monday after a meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in The Hague that they both had summoned Iran’s ambassadors in their respective countries to protest executions of protesters and British-Iranian former defense ministry official Ali Reza Akbari.

Hoekstra said the ministers support moves “to go further with EU sanctions against those responsible, all those responsible for these grave human rights violations in Iran.”

Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Amini, who died after being detained by the morality police. The protests have since become one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s leaders.
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Zimbabwe Opposition Members in Court Following Arrests for ‘Illegal Meeting’

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Twenty-five members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of holding an illegal meeting Saturday that police broke up with tear gas.

Among those arrested is Amos Chibaya, a member of parliament, who talked briefly to journalists before going into the court. He called the action harassment, and said it will come to an end. The dictator will go, he added, and the people of Zimbabwe will free themselves.

Fadzayi Mahere, spokesperson for Citizens’ Coalition for Change, or triple C, said party members were treated badly by police during the arrests.

She said a girl, younger than 18, was among those arrested, and there also were complaints that some women were molested by police. She added there were rumors that the arresting police were drunk and threw alcohol at people. Police actions were not about arresting people who were committing a crime, Mahere said, but about inflicting pain on people because the ruling ZANU-PF party is afraid of losing the upcoming elections.

Zimbabwe is supposed to hold general elections this year, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

The ZANU-PF party and police refused to comment on the accusations when VOA reached out, saying the matter was now before the courts.

Magistrate Yeukai Dzuda has ordered prosecutors Pardon Dziva and Zebediah Bofu to investigate the complaints which triple C members raised against the police.

Meanwhile, the 25 opposition members will be back in court Tuesday to apply for bail, which the state is opposed to granting.
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Reporter’s Notebook: Ukraine Amputees Prepare to Go Back to War

Posted on by SeeEU

There is a certain bravura among war-wounded amputees at the St. Panteleimon Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine.

We meet two men on their lunch break from demining roads and neighborhoods. Both are missing the lower half of one leg from mine explosions on the job, and six of their teammates have also recently lost limbs. 

“We are too busy to be psychologically damaged from this,” says Taras, 40, a soldier and father of two. 

“This guy works and has four kids,” he adds, gesturing to his colleague who wraps and re-wraps his stump before trying on a slightly smaller temporary prosthetic. A few minutes later the pair head back out to search for more of the mines that litter large swaths of Ukraine.

The prosthetist, Nazar Bahniuk, explains their quick visit to the hospital, saying man-made limbs need to be replaced or adjusted from time to time, because a person’s thigh is not accustomed to carrying their weight.

“You stand on your heels and feet since you are maybe one year old,” he explains. 

Most of Bahniuk’s patients come from battle zones in eastern Ukraine, the heart of the nearly yearlong war with Russia, but there is no region of the country that has been completely spared, he says. About 75% are soldiers and the rest are civilians, including a 70-year-old woman who recently stepped on a landmine.

 

The waiting list for prosthetics at his hospital is in the hundreds, adds Bahniuk.

Upstairs in a rehabilitation room, patients use treadmills and a stationary bike to gather their strength. Andriy, 44, lost his leg in September on a mission in Kherson, a city that was occupied by Russia for nine months before being freed by Ukraine and is now under constant attack.

We asked how he feels about losing his left leg.

“I’m sad I lost my time,” Andriy replies. “I’ve been in the hospital for months when I could have been fighting in the war.”

Children prepare

In the Lviv city center, where markets are packed by day with a population long swelled by displaced families, the local tourism office now serves as a press center. They offer emergency first aid kits, body armor and helmets to freelance journalists.

Olga Letnianchyk, a press center official, is also the mother of an eight-year-old girl. The school is open, she says, and children regularly go down into the basement when the air raid sirens go off or bombs hit the region, usually aiming at infrastructure outside of the city. Her daughter has a bag prepared in case of long stays in the shelter, she says, which holds water, a snack and a teddy bear.

But Lviv is comparatively safe, and more than a thousand kilometers from the ground war, Letnianchyk adds, which is why she stayed home when millions of other people fled Ukraine.

“It would be harder,” she adds, “to be outside and not be able to do anything.”

Like many people here, she jokes about the dangers of the war, saying after almost a year, the new ways of life in Ukraine have become ‘almost’ normal.

But only almost, she emphasizes, saying one never really gets used to bombs sailing in from the sky from more than a thousand kilometers away.

“It is mostly OK,” she says. “But don’t look up.”
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California Assesses Damage After Days of Deadly Storms

Posted on by SeeUS

Authorities in California were set to assess damage on Monday after a wave of storms killed at least 19 people, swept away scores of homes and forced thousands to evacuate.

The state was expected to get a break from rain on Monday, but forecasters warned mud and rockslides are possible in canyons and steep hills as the ground is saturated after three weeks of rain and snow. Local and state emergency declarations remained in effect in Los Angeles County and dozens of other counties as the state begins to dig out.

Small rainstorms lingered early on Monday from San Francisco through central California and a few inches of snow fell on the foothills of the Sierras, the National Weather Service reported.

“It’s coming to an end as we speak,” said meteorologist William Churchill on Monday morning at the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

President Joe Biden on Saturday approved California’s request for a federal disaster declaration, making federal funding available to assist recovery efforts in the three counties most impacted by the storms: Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz.

Since Dec. 26, California has been pounded by a string of atmospheric rivers – storms akin to rivers in the sky that carry moisture from the Earth’s tropics to higher latitudes, dumping massive amounts of rain.

Churchill said that after dry days on Tuesday and most of Wednesday, a small, weak storm will do a “driveby, glancing blow” late Wednesday in North and Central California and then blow south.

Then most of the state will have sunny days and at least a 10-day spell of dry, cool weather.
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Analysts Question Viability of Proposed Ugandan Railway Link to Kenya 

Posted on by SeeAF

Ugandan officials have confirmed switching from a Chinese to a Turkish company to build a proposed $2 billion railway line linking the capital, Kampala, to the border with Kenya. The railway aims to link up with one being built in Kenya to improve trade and travel between the neighbors. But analysts say Chinese investors poured doubt on the viability of the project.

After eight years of waiting, Uganda finally terminated its contract with China Harbor Engineering Company in favor of Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi.

Confirming the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Yapi Merkezi, David Mugabe, the public relations officer for Standard Gauge Railway Uganda says the change in contractor was due to financial challenges.

The Chinese firm reportedly failed to convince Beijing to finance the project.

Now, the Turkish firm, which is also building part of the Tanzanian railway network, is expected to submit a response to the government’s request for construction in the next few weeks, paving the way for the procurement process to start.

Mugabe tells VOA that the Ugandan government is now looking more closely at whether or not contractors can help the government procure funding for the project.

“Government decided to widen its nets and open up a bid. And a Turkish firm has expressed interest in partnering with government. Now, it’s early days, I should let you know that this has not been finalized. There is no contract yet with the Turkish firm. What we have is an MOU (Memorandum of understanding,” he said.

Under the Chinese deal, the project was to cost Uganda $2.2 billion with 85 percent funding to be sourced by the contractor.

Officials at the Uganda standard gauge railway said they read between the lines when China’s ambassador to Uganda said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, China had become more cautious on financing big infrastructure projects in Africa.

Economist Madina Guloba argues that it’s likely China pulled out of the deal.

‘I think it’s possible they are being risk shy. We are not bankable. Then they are safer going out of it than try to look at other issues. We have had infrastructure things and they are not productive. So how best are you planning to make it even more productive,” said Guloba.

Samuel Mutabazi, the head of an NGO, Uganda Road Sector Support Initiative, said says there are other issues that still need to be addressed for the project to make economic sense.

“If the procurement system was open enough and you had competent international companies bidding, possibly we would have a cheaper cost but also, the SGR [standard gauge railway] would have been up and running by now. Secondly the relationship between the Kenya railways and Uganda railways also need to be clearly stipulated because as you know, Uganda railways cannot for instance operate in Kenya,” he said.

Even though the Uganda standard gauge railway is meant to connect to Kenya via the Malaba border to connect transporters, Kenya has only built its section from Mombasa up to Naivasha. It’s still not clear when the third phase connecting Kenya to Uganda will commence.

Mutabazi says unless all the East African countries, especially Uganda draw up a strategic plan for the next couple of years, the railway project may not be beneficial.
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Terrorism Spreading From Burkina Faso to Northern Benin

Posted on by SeeAF

Many more violent incidents linked to extremist groups occurred in Benin’s north last year than the government has officially acknowledged, a recent report found, as the country has become the new front line in the Sahel conflict. In Natitingou, in northern Benin, reporter Henry Wilkins meets witnesses to attacks.
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Italian Film Legend Gina Lollobrigida Dies at Age 95 

Posted on by SeeEU

Italian film star Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international film stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. She was 95.

The agent, Paola Comin, didn’t provide details. But Lollobrigida had surgery in September to repair a thigh bone broken in a fall. She returned home and said she had quickly resumed walking.

A drawn portrait of the diva graced a 1954 cover of Time magazine, which in an article about Italian movie-making likened her to a “goddess.” More than a half-century later, Lollobrigida still turned heads with a head full of auburn curly hair and her statuesque figure.

“Lollo,” as she was lovingly nicknamed by Italians, began making movies in Italy just after the end of World War II, as the country began to promote on the big screen a stereotypical concept of Mediterranean beauty as buxom and brunette.

Besides “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner “Come September,” with Rock Hudson; “Trapeze;” “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell,” which won Lollobrigida Italy’s top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969.

In Italy, she worked with some of the country’s top directors following the war, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi and Vittorio De Sica.

Two of her more popular films at home were Comencini’s “Pane Amore Fantasia” (Bread Love Fantasy) in 1953, and the sequel a year later, “Pane Amore Gelosia” (Bread Love Jealousy). In each of them, her male foil was Vittorio Gassman, one of Italy’s most leading men on the screen.

Lollobrigida began her career in beauty contests, posing for the covers of magazines and brief appearances in minor films. But her sexy image quickly propelled her to roles in major Italian and international movies.

While Lollobrigida played some dramatic roles, her characters were most popular in lighthearted comedies, like the “Bread Love” movies.

Lollobrigida also was an accomplished sculptor, painter and photographer, and eventually essentially dropped film for the fine arts. With her camera, she roamed the world from what was then the Soviet Union to Australia.

In 1974, Fidel Castro hosted her as a guest in Cuba for 12 days as she worked on a photo reportage.

She was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, a picturesque hill town near Rome, where her father was a furniture maker.
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Yellen to Meet with Chinese Finance Minister in Switzerland 

Posted on by SeeUS

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in Switzerland on Wednesday to discuss economic developments between the two nations.

The Zurich talks will be a follow-up to the November meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. The two world leaders agreed to empower key senior officials to maintain communication.

Strains between the world’s two leading economies have been growing despite their trade ties. The Biden administration has blocked the sale of advanced computer chips to China and is considering a ban on investment in some Chinese tech companies, possibly undermining a key economic goal that Xi set for his country. Statements by the Democratic president that the U.S. will defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion have increased tensions.

The meeting comes ahead of Yellen’s travel to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa this week in what will be the first in a string of visits by Biden administration officials to sub-Saharan Africa during the year.

Africa is crucial to the global economy due to its rapidly growing population and significant natural resources. China’s deepening economic entrenchment in African nations, surpassing the U.S. in trade with the continent to become one of the world’s largest creditors, is also a motivator for the U.S. to deepen ties with African nations.

Yellen has spoken at length publicly about China’s financing practices on the continent, calling them “economic practices that have disadvantaged all of us.”

She has also called on China explicitly to end its relationship with Russia as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and its European and Asian allies have imposed sanctions and an oil price cap on Russia in retaliation for the war, putting China in a difficult spot as it had promised a “no limits” friendship with Russia before the invasion began.

It will be Yellen’s first in-person meeting with Liu since taking office and follows three virtual meetings between them.
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