Month: January 2023

UK: Russia Likely Undercounts New Year’s Day Strike Casualties

Posted on by SeeEU

The British Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russia “highly likely” suffered more than 300 casualties in a New Year’s Day strike on its troops in Ukraine at Makiivka near Donetsk City.

The ministry said it believes that “the majority were likely killed or missing, rather than wounded.”

The ministry noted that while its Russian counterpart “took the rare step of publicly acknowledging” that it had suffered casualties, Russia claimed only 89 had been killed.

The British ministry said the Russian ministry “likely assessed” it could not avoid commenting on the strike because Russian commanders had come under widespread criticism following the incident.

The British ministry said in its intelligence update posted on Twitter that the difference between Russia’s number of casualties and the likely true numbers “highlights the pervasive presence of disinformation in Russian public announcements.”

The disinformation, the ministry said, is a result of a combination of deliberate lying authorized by senior leaders and “the communication of inaccurate reports by more junior officials, keen to downplay their failings in Russia’s ‘blame and sack’ culture.”

Ukraine said Russian missile strikes killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians Friday as fierce fighting continued in the east of the country. Twenty others were wounded.

Ukrainian officials say most of the casualties from the missile strikes occurred in towns in the country’s east and south that are near Russian artillery units. They follow Russian missile attacks that went farther into Ukrainian territory Thursday, killing 11 people.

Kyiv said its troops were involved in fierce fighting Friday with Russian troops in the eastern town of Vuhledar, part of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Friday that fighting was heavy in Donetsk and that Russian forces were not just trying to achieve military gains but were also seeking to destroy towns and villages.

Earlier Friday, the European Union’s top general said that Russia is taking the war in Ukraine into a “different stage,” launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians and cities as a reaction to recent decisions by NATO allies to send advanced armaments to Ukraine in support of its war effort.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino told reporters Russia is no longer focused on military targets but is making indiscriminate attacks on cities and people.

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” he said.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has moved from a concept of [a] special [military] operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West,” Sannino said.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Sannino’s comments came as Germany and the United States announced this week they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine, hoping to match the firepower Russia has on the ground.

The EU general said the new supplies from the West are not an escalation but rather an effort to give Ukraine a chance to defend itself. He said the developments have forced Putin to change his initial narrative, in which he described the invasion as a “special operation” to free Ukraine from a Nazi regime.

“Now we are speaking about a war with NATO and the West. Different story,” Sannino said.

Poland pledged Friday to send more tanks to Ukraine, promising an additional 60 tanks on top of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it had already agreed to send.

Zelenskyy responded on Twitter, “Thank you … Poland for these important decisions to deliver to Ukraine 60 Polish tanks — 30 of which are the famous PT-91 Twardy, along with 14 Leopards.”

Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Friday the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine would not help Kyiv’s military prospects but would rather “bring the countries of the West to a new level of confrontation with our country and our people.”

On Thursday, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the growing number of countries pledging advanced weaponry, including tanks, while at the same time pressing the need to hasten delivery of the promised weapons systems.

Zelenskyy said the only way to stop “this Russian aggression” is with “adequate weapons.” He emphasized, “The terrorist state will not understand anything else.”

The Ukrainian president also credited Western supplies for added protection from Thursday’s missile attacks. “Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said in his address.

“Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide 100% protection with air defense alone. Especially when terrorists use ballistic missiles,” he added.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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UN Weekly Roundup: Jan. 21-27, 2023 

Posted on by SeeUS

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this week, as seen from the United Nations’ perch.

UN deputy chief says Taliban’s desire for recognition is bargaining chip on rights

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Wednesday that the international community’s best leverage to persuade the Taliban to reverse restrictions on Afghan women’s rights is the group’s desire for international recognition. She told reporters that the U.N. and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are discussing holding a conference in March in the region on women in the Muslim world. Mohammed led a high-level U.N. delegation to Afghanistan this past week.

Nuclear watchdog warns Iran has enough material for several nuclear bombs

International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Rafael Grossi warned Tuesday that Iran has accumulated “enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons.” Grossi told the European Parliament’s security and defense subcommittee in Brussels that his agency is no longer monitoring Iran’s nuclear program because the regime has disconnected 27 of the agency’s cameras installed at its declared nuclear sites. Grossi said he plans to travel to Tehran, Iran, next month.

No progress on international force for Haiti

The U.N. and the government of Haiti reiterated their appeal Tuesday for an international force to quickly deploy to the island nation to help subdue an unprecedented level of gang violence that has terrorized the population. In early October, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed a request from the Haitian government to send a force to address escalating insecurity and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

2023 global economic forecast looks gloomy

U.N. economists forecast a gloomy and uncertain outlook this year, with the global economy projected to grow at a very sluggish rate. The 2023 World Economic Situation and Prospects report, issued Wednesday, says a series of severe shocks have reduced global economic output to its lowest level in years, leaving many economies at risk of falling into recession. In good news, the authors say inflation appears to have peaked in some of the more advanced economies, and East and South Asia emerged as the report’s bright spots for growth.

Myanmar poppy production grows since military coup

A report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says Myanmar’s farmers are flocking back to opium poppy cultivation amid rising prices for the contraband crop and an economic decline that is wiping out jobs, reversing nearly a decade of poppy decreases. Myanmar is the world’s second-largest producer of opium, after Afghanistan, and the main source for most of East and Southeast Asia. UNODC says many people have resorted to poppy cultivation because jobs and investment have dried up following the military coup two years ago.

In brief

— U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield is on a mission to Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya this week to advance joint priorities following December’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Her tour is focused on regional security issues, food insecurity, humanitarian issues, and supporting African efforts to mitigate climate change, a senior administration official said.

— This week, World Food Program Chief David Beasley is in Syria, where he raised the alarm on unprecedented levels of hunger. He said 12 million people do not know where their next meal is coming from, while an additional 2.9 million are at risk of sliding into hunger. Overall, due to conflict, COVID-19 and an economic crisis, 70% of the population might soon be unable to feed their families.

— The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a report released Friday that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that Syria’s Air Forces perpetrated a chemical weapons attack on April 7, 2018, in Douma, Syria. The OPCW said at least one helicopter of the Syrian “Tiger Forces” elite unit dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in a residential area of Douma, killing at least 43 people and affecting dozens more. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric condemned the use of chemical weapons and said, “it is imperative that those who use chemical weapons are identified and held accountable.”

Quote of note

“You have to remember that what happened before the Taliban came back was a huge amount of hope, and an expression of that hope with many women who got an education, who were in decision-making roles, who were leaders in Afghanistan, and now that’s dashed. And when that happens, the anxiety and the level of fear amongst women and their future is huge, it’s palpable.”

— U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed to reporters on the situation of Afghan women under the Taliban​

What we are watching next week

February 1 marks two years since the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to protests and a crackdown on human rights. Since the coup, leaders and thousands of pro-democracy protesters have died or been jailed, and the humanitarian situation has worsened.
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Half Moon Bay Shooting Suspect Had Complained About Gun Violence

Posted on by SeeUS

The tragic shooting this week at a mushroom farm in northern California’s Half Moon Bay wasn’t the first time workers there witnessed gun violence. In fact, according to one of the former owners of the farm, the suspect at the center of Monday’s mass shooting, Chunli Zhao, was there during the earlier incident and documented the aftermath on video.

On July 3, 2022, a day after the incident, Zhao sent a video to his former boss Huizhong Li on WeChat, a Chinese social media app. Li, who no longer lives in the San Francisco Bay area, shared the video with VOA’s Mandarin service.

According to court documents from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office, one farm manager had threatened to kill another and fired bullets into the man’s trailer. No one was hurt.

As Zhao walked through mobile homes on the farm in Half Moon Bay, he provided narration in Chinese, explaining how 9 mm bullets whizzed through the exterior walls and windows of the mobile homes housing other farm workers at California Terra Garden, a commercial mushroom grower. He showed how one bullet passed through a window and cardboard boxes before lodging in interior walls.

“Let the whole world know about America’s gun violence,” Zhao said in the video. “We don’t feel safe at all. Bullets were flying everywhere.”

In that same chat, Zhao also shared a video with Li of him firing rounds with a handgun at a local shooting range.

Fast forward six months and now Zhao, 66, is the suspect in the latest and deadliest shooting that left seven people dead.

On Wednesday afternoon, Zhao appeared in a San Mateo County court, where he was charged with seven counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and related charges in back-to-back shootings on Monday.

A semiautomatic weapon was legally registered to him, said San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, speaking to CNN.

Zhao did not enter a plea and was not granted bail. District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Zhao was a flight risk, according to KGO-TV, which reported Wagstaffe’s office is trying to determine Zhao’s immigration status.

Zhao told KNTV-TV, another San Francisco Bay area station, that he has lived in the U.S. for 11 years and has a green card. He also said he bought a handgun in 2021.

The 10-page criminal complaint from the district attorney’s office also alleges “special circumstances” and that Zhao “personally and intentionally” shot to kill.

Under California law, defendants who are convicted of murder with “special circumstances” are eligible for the death penalty, although the state declared a moratorium on executions in 2019.

San Mateo County sheriff’s officials said they believe Zhao acted alone when he entered California Terra Garden and opened fire, killing four and leaving another person seriously wounded. He then drove to a nearby farm where he had previously worked and killed three people and wounded another, sheriff’s office spokesman Eamonn Allen told reporters Tuesday.

Officials have identified the seven victims and said they were of Asian and Hispanic descent. The survivor was Hispanic.

Li said one of the victims at the first site was Zhao’s manager. Two more victims were Zhao’s co-workers and neighbors who, like Zhao, hailed from northeastern China.

Li told VOA Mandarin that Zhao started working with him at California Terra Garden at the end of 2016 or early 2017 when it was known as Mountain Mushroom Farm. Li said he was the CEO until the business was taken over later in 2017.

Li said Zhao lived in one of the farm homes with his wife and that the couple has a daughter in China. Li said he believes that Zhao and his wife are permanent residents of the United States.

David Oates, spokesman for the current owner, California Terra Garden, told VOA Mandarin that Zhao has a legal work permit and Social Security number.

Oates told CNN that Zhao worked at the farm about seven years. He also said that, like the other 34 employees at the farm, Zhao had gone through a background check and there was “nothing to indicate anything like this was even a possibility.”

However, according to San Mateo County court documents, in 2013 Zhao was accused of threatening Yingjiu Wang, 44 at the time, who worked at a restaurant with him in San Jose. According to the documents, Zhao on March 12, 2013, attempted to suffocate Wang with a pillow around 6 a.m. and on March 14, threatened to split open Wang’s head with a knife.

The court granted Wang, who was also Zhao’s roommate at that time, a temporary restraining order against Zhao on June 4, 2013. The men had had disagreements related to work, according to the filing.

“Mr. Zhao said to me, today I am going to kill you. … He then took a pillow and started to cover my face and suffocate me,” Wang told investigators according to the court filings.

Li remembers Zhao as a “narrow-minded” and “petty” person without friends.

“In terms of work, if there is any friction between him and certain employees, he liked to report them behind their back saying that other employees are not good, but he is better,” Li said. “If you made it easier for him and gave him more money at work, he thought you were very good.”

This story originated in VOA’s Mandarin Service.
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Curious Washington Awaits Next Chinese Ambassador

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One of the lowest points in recent Sino-American relations came in July 2021 when U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on a visit to Beijing, was scolded by her Chinese interlocutor and handed a “List of U.S. Wrongdoings that Must Stop.”

Sherman was also warned during the strained encounter about what the Chinese described as the Biden administration’s “highly misguided mindset” and handed a second “List of Key Individual Cases that China Has Concerns With.”

The man who delivered those messages, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng, is now widely expected in diplomatic circles to be named as the next Chinese ambassador to Washington, taking up the post recently vacated by current Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

China has noticeably softened its anti-American rhetoric since a Nov. 14 meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia, and policy analysts in Washington are waiting to see whether Xie’s expected appointment portends a continuation of that trend or a return to the “wolf warrior” diplomacy of recent years.

The uncertainly is heightened by the fact that, despite a stint at the Chinese embassy in Washington earlier in his career, Xie remains largely a cipher even to people who make a living knowing who’s who in China, such as June Teufel Dreyer, the author of China’s Political System, now in its 10th edition.

“I don’t really know much about him,” acknowledged Dreyer, a political science professor at the University of Miami. “My attitude towards the incoming Chinese ambassador is ‘wait and see’ – let’s see what he does,” she told VOA in a phone interview.

Born in 1964, Xie was promoted to his current position of vice minister of foreign affairs in February 2021 after serving as the ministry’s special envoy in Hong Kong for a little over three years. In that time, he was noticed and appreciated by higher ups for daring to engage with antagonists, local media reported at the time Xie was leaving Hong Kong for Beijing.

He had been just a few months in his current post at the time of the widely reported encounter with Sherman. In that same meeting with the American diplomat and her delegation, he delivered a strongly worded rebuttal to U.S. calls for the world to adhere to a “rules-based order.”

“The U.S. side’s so-called ‘rules-based international order’ is an effort by the United States and a few other Western countries to frame their own rules as international rules and impose them on other countries,” Xie told a visiting American delegation, according to the Chinese foreign ministry and state media.

By demanding adherence to a rules-based order, Xie was quoted as saying, the United States and its Western allies “resort to the tactic of changing the rules to make life easy for itself and hard for others, and to introduce ‘the law of the jungle’ where might is right and the big bully the small.”

Xie also told the delegation that the declared American approach to China – based on competition, cooperation where possible, and contest “where we must” – is in fact aimed at deception.

The core of the policy is “confrontation,” he said, according to reports published on the foreign ministry’s website. “Cooperation” is mere stopgap and “competition” is a rhetorical trap; all America wanted was “one-sided absolute gains while having done everything bad imaginable,” Xie was quoted as saying.

Dreyer, in the telephone interview, acknowledged the perceived softening of Chinese rhetoric in more recent months, but said she was reserving judgment. The Chinese “say they want to be friends, but we need to see some concrete action, not just words, but deeds,” she said.

“I would also remind you that people who say nice words will often stab you in the back; in other words, being nice and having nice, polite manners is one thing, but being truly nice is another. People who speak kind words [their doing so] often masks sinister intentions.”

The author also stressed that Chinese policy will be made in Beijing, not at the embassy in Washington.

“Ambassadors — our ambassadors and their ambassadors — are essentially window-dressing,” she said. “They give cocktail parties; they give interviews where they say largely meaningless things. There’s not much he can do unless the party tells him to do it. In this case he’s the mouthpiece of the party.”

The same point was made by Xia Ming, a political science professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, who cited volatility in Chinese domestic politics as a reason to reserve judgment on what to expect from the new envoy.

“The 20th Party Congress showed the world that Chinese politics is anything but staid or stable,” he told VOA in a phone interview.

Even greater skepticism was expressed by Republican Congressman Chris Smith, the chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and a prominent promoter of human rights around the world.

“Unless the Chinese Communist Party’s promise to soften its rhetoric is matched with a radical change in behavior and deeds, their words still mean absolutely nothing,” said Smith, who has been sanctioned by China for calling out human rights violations that China describes as baseless.

“The CCP’s long-term strategic objective — to assert global dominance and spread its malign system abroad — is being pursued as aggressively as always. The United States must continue to combat Xi Jinping’s brutal dictatorship and hold the CCP to account for its atrocious human rights abuses,” he said in a written response to questions from VOA.
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Green Comet Zooming Our Way; Last Visited 50,000 Years Ago

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A comet is streaking back our way after 50,000 years. 

The dirty snowball last visited during Neanderthal times, according to NASA. It will come within 42 million kilometers (26 million miles) of Earth on Wednesday before speeding away again, unlikely to return for millions of years. 

Discovered less than a year ago, this harmless green comet already is visible in the northern night sky with binoculars and small telescopes, and possibly the naked eye in the darkest corners of the Northern Hemisphere. It’s expected to brighten as it draws closer and rises higher over the horizon through the end of January, best seen in the predawn hours. By February 10, it will be near Mars, a good landmark. 

Skygazers in the Southern Hemisphere will have to wait until next month for a glimpse. 

Bigger, brighter, closer

While plenty of comets have graced the sky over the past year, “this one seems probably a little bit bigger and therefore a little bit brighter and it’s coming a little bit closer to the Earth’s orbit,” said NASA’s comet and asteroid-tracking guru, Paul Chodas. 

Green from all the carbon in the gas cloud, or coma, surrounding the nucleus, this long-period comet was discovered last March by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility, a wide field camera at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory. That explains its official, cumbersome name: comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). 

On Wednesday, it will hurtle between the orbits of Earth and Mars at a relative speed of 207,000 kph (128,500 mph). Its nucleus is thought to be about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) across, with its tails extending millions of kilometers (miles). 

The comet isn’t expected to be nearly as bright as Neowise in 2020, or Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the mid- to late 1990s. 

But “it will be bright by virtue of its close Earth passage … which allows scientists to do more experiments and the public to be able to see a beautiful comet,” University of Hawaii astronomer Karen Meech said in an email. 

Scientists are confident in their orbital calculations, putting the comet’s last swing through the solar system’s planetary neighborhood at 50,000 years ago. But they don’t know how close it came to Earth or whether it was even visible to the Neanderthals, said Chodas, director of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. 

When it will return, though, is tougher to judge. 

Every time the comet skirts the sun and planets, their gravitational tugs alter the iceball’s path ever so slightly, leading to major course changes over time. Another wild card: jets of dust and gas streaming off the comet as it heats up near the sun. 

“We don’t really know exactly how much they are pushing this comet around,” Chodas said. 

A moving time capsule

The comet — a time capsule from the emerging solar system 4.5 billion years ago — came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud, well beyond Pluto. This deep-freeze haven for comets is believed to stretch more than one-quarter of the way to the next star. 

While this comet originated in our solar system, we can’t be sure it will stay there, Chodas said. If it gets booted out of the solar system, it will never return, he added. 

Don’t fret if you miss it. 

“In the comet business, you just wait for the next one because there are dozens of these,” Chodas said. “And the next one might be bigger, might be brighter, might be closer.” 
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Ukraine: Latest Russian Missile Strikes Kill at Least 10

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukraine said Russian missile strikes killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians Friday as fierce fighting continued in the east of the country. Twenty others were wounded.

Ukrainian officials say most of the casualties from the missile strikes occurred in towns in the country’s east and south that are near Russian artillery units. They follow Russian missile attacks that went farther into Ukrainian territory Thursday, killing 11 people.

Kyiv said its troops were involved in fierce fighting Friday with Russian troops in the eastern town of Vuhledar, part of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Friday that fighting was heavy in Donetsk and that Russian forces were not just trying to achieve military gains but were also seeking to destroy towns and villages.

Earlier Friday, the European Union’s top general said that Russia is taking the war in Ukraine into a “different stage,” launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians and cities as a reaction to recent decisions by NATO allies to send advanced armaments to Ukraine in support of its war effort.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino told reporters Russia is no longer focused on military targets but is making indiscriminate attacks on cities and people.

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” he said.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has moved from a concept of [a] special [military] operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West,” Sannino noted.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Sannino’s comments came as Germany and the United States announced this week they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine, hoping to match the firepower Russia has on the ground.

The EU general said the new supplies from the West are not an escalation but rather an effort to give Ukraine a chance to defend itself. He said the developments have forced Putin to change his initial narrative, in which he described the invasion as a “special operation” to free Ukraine from a Nazi regime.

“Now we are speaking about a war with NATO and the West. Different story,” Sannino said.

Poland pledged Friday to send more tanks to Ukraine, promising an additional 60 tanks on top of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it had already agreed to send.

Zelenskyy responded on Twitter, “Thank you … Poland for these important decisions to deliver to Ukraine 60 Polish tanks — 30 of which are the famous PT-91 Twardy, along with 14 Leopards.”

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said Friday the supply of Western tanks to Ukraine would not help Kyiv’s military prospects but would rather “bring the countries of the West to a new level of confrontation with our country and our people.”

On Thursday, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the growing number of countries pledging advanced weaponry, including tanks, while at the same time pressing the need to hasten delivery of the promised weapons systems.

Zelenskyy said the only way to stop “this Russian aggression” is with “adequate weapons.” He emphasized, “The terrorist state will not understand anything else.”

The Ukrainian president also credited Western supplies for added protection from Thursday’s missile attacks. “Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said in his address.

“Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide 100% protection with air defense alone. Especially when terrorists use ballistic missiles,” he added.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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US Weighs Turkey, Greece Jet Sales Amid NATO Expansion

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As the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to secure NATO enlargement with the accession of Sweden and Finland, it is dealing with requests by Turkey and Greece to purchase fighter jets, the latter being less controversial and more likely to be approved.

Analysts speaking to VOA said the outcome of the proposed sale of F-16s to Ankara and F-35s to Athens would impact the air defense capabilities of the two neighbors and the power balance in the region.

Turkey requested to buy 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter jets, the most advanced of their kind, and nearly 80 modernization kits from the United States to upgrade its aging fleet of other F-16s. Greece sent a request to buy 20 F-35s, plus 20 more down the road. Turkey was removed from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program almost three years ago because of its purchase of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia.

Both proposed sales require approval by Congress. Some U.S. senators, including Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, oppose the F-16 sale to Turkey, citing several concerns about Turkey’s relations with Russia and its persistent blockage of NATO expansion. The Greek request for the F-35s is seen as more likely to be approved.

Some experts say a scenario where Turkey is not able to get the F-16s but Greece is approved for the F-35s could give Athens the upper hand in terms of aircraft technology in the long run.

“If Turkey cannot get the F-16s and modernize its aircraft as opposed to Greece having the F-35s, upgraded F-16s as well as the Rafale jets it purchased from France, this brings the risk of tilting the air superiority in favor of Greece,” Sinan Ulgen told VOA. Ulgen is the chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy research group and a visiting fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels.

He argued that if the process gets stalled, Turkey might investigate other options available in the NATO system, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon developed by a consortium of defense companies in the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain. He added that Ankara is also working on the production of its own national combat aircraft.

Jim Townsend, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, said the United States has been successful in terms of managing the balance between the two NATO allies despite their many spats over the years and would not let things get to a point where that balance could significantly shift. Townsend is currently an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security Transatlantic Security Program.

Sweetening the deal

U.S. experts previously speaking to VOA suggested that a deal on F-16s for Turkey could be dependent on whether Ankara drops its objection to Sweden and Finland’s joint NATO membership bid.

Townsend argued that the administration’s position on F-16s may be a bargaining chip if it signals it’s prepared to work with Congress and use its leverage to get the sale approved — provided that Turkey gives them assurances on NATO’s enlargement.

Turkey had been involved in trilateral talks with Finland and Sweden to try to persuade them to do more to address its security concerns, including the repatriation of individuals whom it considers to be affiliated with terrorist groups.

Angered by a recent protest in Stockholm outside the Turkish Embassy in which far-right anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran, Turkey postponed the next round of those talks indefinitely.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a joint news conference with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic, accused Sweden on Thursday of not taking serious steps to address Turkey’s concerns, saying “a trilateral meeting would not make sense” under the circumstances.

Window of opportunity

U.S. and NATO officials hope to resolve the differences by July, in time for NATO’s summit. Before that happens, Turkey will hold elections in mid-May. Some analysts predict that the election could be the nation’s most consequential vote in generations.

Experts speaking to VOA said it would be beneficial if a solution could be found in the two months between Turkey’s elections and the NATO summit.

“We are used to nations extracting concessions within the alliance over various policy issues,” Townsend told VOA. “Every nation has its national agenda. But they eventually will compromise. Once that election goes by, if Turkey continues to obstruct, I think it’ll be a lot of harsh words behind closed doors.”

Ulgen said he expected the issue to be resolved after the elections, saying Turkey would not want to be blamed for the stall.

In an opinion piece for Bloomberg earlier this week, former NATO commander Admiral James Stavridis wrote that the alliance needs Turkey to continue being an active and positive member and needs to have Finland and Sweden on board.

“No one wants to have to choose between them,” he wrote, putting the onus on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ensure that that doesn’t have to happen.

Townsend agreed, adding that Turkey should not be moving the goal posts or stretching out the decision to gain more concessions after the elections.

“Otherwise, we are in some uncharted territory,” he warned.
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Cameroon’s Media Community Mourn Killing of Radio Journalist

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Cameroon journalists are calling for an investigation and say their profession is in danger after a popular radio host investigating government corruption was found dead. Emmanual Jules Ntap has more from Yaounde.
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Dance Studio Attendee Missed Mass Shooting by Minutes

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A celebration turned into a violent tragedy when 11 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Southern California dance studio on Lunar New Year’s Eve. One man describes how he left the studio just minutes before the massacre started.
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South Africa Battles Drownings With Survival Pools

Posted on by SeeAF

A red shipping container lies in a school playground in a small South African town. 

The imposing steel structure has an unexpected function: to help save youngsters in a country gripped by an epidemic of drownings. 

Within it is a swimming pool — the only one within 25 kilometers — where children will learn the basics of how to stay afloat. 

South Africa has thousands of kilometers of beaches, and in rich neighborhoods, swimming pools dot the gardens. 

Yet just one South African in seven knows how to swim, and each year about 1,500 people drown, according to a local rescue institute — an average of four individuals per day. 

In the Cape Town suburb of Riebeek-Kasteel, Meiring primary school, which hosts the container, has suffered its own drowning tragedy. 

A framed photo in the entrance hall pays tribute to a 12-year-old lad who perished in a dammed lake at a nearby farm in 2021. 

“If he just knew how to float in water, he could have saved his own life,” said school principal Brenton Cupido.  

“It gets very hot here, especially in summer, and our (pupils) flock every afternoon, unsupervised, to the nearby dams. But most of them can’t swim.”  

The toll is a “huge public health issue” rooted in historical inequalities, said Jill Fortuin, director of drowning prevention at the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).  

Most fatalities are Black South Africans. 

“Apartheid is a big portion of the problem,” said Fortuin, herself a person of mixed heritage. 

Under segregation, swimming pools and holiday beaches were limited to the white minority, providing little incentive for the majority to learn how to swim. 

Three decades after the advent of democracy, stark inequalities remain, with limited infrastructure and opportunities. 

“Government schools, where most disadvantaged people go to, often do not have swimming pools,” said Fortuin. 

Faced with choosing between putting food on the table or paying for swimming lessons, most families opt for the former, she added.  

“Swimming is not seen as a priority.” 

‘Safe water’

To help tackle drowning, NSRI has deployed 1,350 volunteer lifeguards across the country’s beaches and installed 1,500 bright pink buoys on various water bodies to help rescuers aid people in distress. 

But prevention is paramount, said the group, whose awareness-raising campaign has reached more than 3 million people in recent years. 

With climate change fueling floods and heat waves, the need increases, said Fortuin. 

The “Survival Swimming Centre” pool installed at Meiring is the brainchild of Andrew Ingram, 58, a drowning prevention manager. 

In their homes, some of “the children … don’t even have toilets that flush. So how on earth are they going to have a swimming pool?” he asked.  

“We provide safe water and somebody to teach them.” 

The container pool is 6 meters long and 1 meter deep. 

Children are taught how to help friends in difficulty, control breathing, orient themselves under the water and use an empty bottle as an emergency buoy. 

Half of the school’s children now know how to float — and most of them are the first in their families to learn, said Cupido.  

Jonathan Van der Merwe used to be very “concerned” that his daughter, who was one of the first to take lessons at Meiring’s survival pool, might get into trouble in one of the many ponds around the wine farming area. 

“Now, I’m very calm and relaxed about it,” he said. 

A sister container will soon be installed at a school in KwaZulu-Natal, an eastern province ravaged by deadly floods last year. Another is already in place in Eastern Cape province.  

Petro Meyer, 62, NSRI’s water safety instructor, has introduced about 100 students between 6 to 12 years old to survival swimming.  

“You should see their smiles when they realize they’re floating by themselves for the first time,” she said. “We want to create a new culture in these kids.”  
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Turkey Summons Danish Envoy Over Quran-burning Protest 

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Turkey summoned the Danish ambassador and accused Denmark of endorsing a “hate crime” after an anti-Islam activist on Friday burned two copies of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, in a solitary protest in Copenhagen. 

Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, had already infuriated Turkey by staging a Quran-burning protest in Sweden on January 21. On Friday, he replicated the stunt in front of a mosque, as well as the Turkish Embassy in Copenhagen, and vowed to continue every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO. 

Sweden and neighboring Finland are seeking to join the military alliance amid the war in Ukraine, in a historic departure from their nonaligned policies. But their accession requires approval from all NATO members, and Turkey has indicated it will block Sweden’s bid — in part because of Paludan’s initial stunt. Even before that, Ankara was pressing the two countries to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists. 

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the Danish ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry where Turkish officials “strongly condemned the permission given for this provocative act, which clearly constitutes a hate crime.” 

The ambassador was told that “Denmark’s attitude is unacceptable” and that Turkey expected that the permission be revoked, according to Anadolu. 

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry later issued a statement calling Paludan an “Islam-hating charlatan” and deploring the fact that he was allowed to stage the demonstration. 

“Showing tolerance toward such heinous acts that offend the sensitivities of millions of people living in Europe threatens the practice of peaceful coexistence and provokes racist, xenophobic and anti-Muslim attacks,” the ministry said. 

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Danish media that the incident would not change Denmark’s “good relationship” with Turkey, adding that Copenhagen intended to talk to Ankara about Denmark’s laws upholding freedoms. 

“Our task now is to talk to Turkey about how the conditions are in Denmark with our open democracy, and that there is a difference between Denmark as a country — and our people as such — and then about individual people who have strongly divergent views,” Lokke Rasmussen said. 

After Paludan’s action in Sweden last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Stockholm not to expect support for its NATO bid. Turkey also indefinitely postponed a key meeting in Brussels that would have discussed Sweden’s and Finland’s membership. 

A lawyer, Paludan established far-right parties in both Sweden and Denmark that have failed to win any seats in national, regional or municipal elections. In last year’s parliamentary election in Sweden, his party received just 156 votes nationwide. 

On Friday, protests were held in several predominantly Muslim countries to denounce Paludan’s protest in Sweden and a similar incident in the Netherlands. 
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Parents of Tyre Nichols Call for ‘Peaceful Protests’ in Memphis

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The stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man beaten to death following a traffic stop earlier this month, called for peace Friday, ahead of the release later in the day of the police bodycam and surveillance video of the violence.

Memphis and other U.S. cities reportedly were preparing for possible protests following the release of video.

Memphis police said Nichols, an African American, was stopped for alleged reckless driving on January 7. He was assaulted after the stop, and he died from his injuries three days later.

Five Memphis police officers, all of them African American, were charged Thursday with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression in the incident. All the officers have been fired.

During a news conference Friday at a Memphis church, Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, said the family was very satisfied with the legal process so far, and he urged people, if they needed to protest, to do so peacefully.

“We want peace. We do not want any type of uproar. We do not want any type of disturbance. We want peaceful protest,” he said. “The family is very satisfied with the process, with the police chief, with the D.A. [district attorney].”

Also speaking at the news conference, lawyers for the family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, applauded the district attorney for the swiftness with which the charges were brought against the officers.

Romanucci said the officers were members of a “SCORPION” unit – an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. He said such units are known as “suppression” units and contended they act with impunity and are more likely to use force than other members of a police force.

He called on the Memphis police department to disband the unit immediately.

The call for peace by Nichols’ stepfather came after President Joe Biden issued a similar call Thursday. In a statement, the president said, “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.”

“Tyre’s death is a painful reminder that we must do more to ensure that our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment, and dignity for all,” Biden said.

Federal law enforcement officials said they were prepared for any unrest.

Speaking at a news conference Friday in Washington, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau had alerted all of its field offices around the country to work with state and local law enforcement “in the event of something getting out of hand.”

Wray said he had seen the video of Tyre’s beating and was “appalled” by its content.

“I’m struggling to find a stronger word, but I’d just say I was appalled,” Wray noted.

But Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland joined calls by other officials to keep any protests against police peaceful.

“I do want to say, and I want to repeat what the family has said, that expressions of concern when people see this video, we urge that they be peaceful and nonviolent,” Garland said at the press conference. “That’s what the family has urged, and that of course is what the Justice Department urges as well.”

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the case.

VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Clerics in Somalia Vow to Counter Al-Shabab

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More than 300 Muslim clerics meeting in Somalia’s capital this week have declared their support for the government’s war against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The clerics issued their declaration following a four-day conference of Muslim scholars that ended Thursday with the formation of a Supreme Council. It was the first time in years that Somali clerics from all sects of Islam came together to denounce terrorism. Even the conservative Wahhabi sect, which has been accused of sympathizing with al-Shabab, participated.

The coming together of Somali clerics from different ideological persuasions is one of the Somali government’s most ambitious attempts to pull religious leaders into the war against terrorism.

The meeting is part of the government’s triple offensive against al-Shabab, which includes military and financial operations in addition to countering extremist propaganda.

When Prime Minister Hamza Barre closed the conference, he said it will be instrumental in winning the war against al-Shabab and other extremist elements.

He said it is the first time he has seen different sects of clerics sitting together and issuing a statement together. He said they are fighting an enemy, whom the clerics have called Khawarij, and he is happy they have joined the fight.

Sheikh Aweys Abdi, who participated in the conference, called for an uprising against al-Shabab.

“Those they kill and target with explosions and term as infidels are all Muslims. Therefore, they should be fought,” he said. “Any soldier who kills al-Shabab or is being killed by the Shabab is a martyr.”

Attacking al-Shabab

The Somali government has been waging a military campaign against al-Shabab since July last year. In central regions, government forces working with clan militia have captured a series of towns and villages and say they have killed more than 2,000 al-Shabab fighters.

Analysts say enlisting religious leaders is another crucial step in attacking al-Shabab from several fronts. Abdiaziz Issack, a security analyst with a cultural and research organization known as the Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center in Denmark, said the government is right to bring clerics into the campaign.

“Religious leaders, just like clan elders in Somalia, are very influential,” he said. “Al-Shabab relies on twisting Islamic teachings to drive their ideology, so the clerics can effectively counter that narrative by drawing the line between truth and falsehood.”

Issack said that, though al-Shabab spreads its ideology in mosques and affiliated media, the government might be able to counter those narratives, given the number of clerics on its side.

Waging ideological warfare

“Al-Shabab has its team of clerics, too, but they are few, and if all pro-government clerics join forces, they can easily counter them,” said Issack. “The government will need to increase funding to the religious affairs ministry and screen the imams to ensure al-Shabab does not infiltrate mosques.”

According to Ahmed Abdihadi Abdullahi, the founder of Somali Civic House, a governance think tank in Mogadishu, the conference of clerics and declaration against al-Shabab is a major step in challenging the group’s use of religion to advance its terrorist agenda.

“For the clerics to come together and make clear that al-Shabab’s ideology is not based on Islam is a good move and could contribute a lot to the ideological warfare against the group,” said Abdullahi.

Abdullahi said the open defiance by the religious leaders is a strong statement considering the targeted assassinations of pro-government clerics by al-Shabab.

“Al-Shabab previously killed many clerics, and that those clerics who attended the conference came despite that risk,” he said “The government and its forces are not now capable of guaranteeing security for these clerics, but for now, the assassinations by the group have gradually decreased.”

The Somali government hopes that by enlisting the support of religious leaders, it can make gains in its ongoing war against al-Shabab, which has been fighting the government since its emergence in 2007.

Last year, Prime Minister Barre picked former al-Shabab number two Mukhtar Robow as religious affairs minister, as part of attempts to deflate al-Shabab ideology.

As the government campaign enters its eighth month in February, the Somali government is preparing to open new battle fronts in southern parts of the country.
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UN Chief Leads Ceremony to Remember Holocaust Victims

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The United Nations held a solemn ceremony Friday to mark the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, plus the Roma, disabled people and countless others who died at the hands of Nazi Germany.

It began with a lullaby composed by Gideon Klein, who perished in a Nazi concentration camp. Klein’s music was followed by a solemn ceremony in which six candles were lit in memory of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust.

The event also paid tribute to those who liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland 78 years ago on January 27, 1945.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke in honor of the millions whose lives were cut short, their futures taken away.

He said the Holocaust was not inevitable but was the culmination of a millennia of antisemitic hate.

“The Nazis could only move with calculated cruelty from the discrimination of Europe’s Jews to their annihilation because so few stood up, and so many stood by,” Guterres said. “It was the deafening silence, both at home and abroad, that emboldened them. … Today and every day, let us resolve to never again remain silent in the face of evil.”

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said antisemitism did not start with the Nazis and did not end with the liberation of the camps in 1945. She said anti-Jewish sentiment is still alive and spreading.

“We must double down on our fight against antisemitism,” she said. “We must fight against indifference and never forget our responsibilities. It is also why preserving the memory of the Holocaust and why remembering it is more important than ever.”

Holocaust survivor Avraham Roet was born in the Netherlands in 1928. He has made it his mission to pass on his memories of life as a Jewish child under Nazi occupation to a younger generation.

He said he survived by becoming a so-called child of the hidden. He said he had to keep moving from one place to another so as not to get caught. He said every community had traitors who were on the lookout for Jewish children to turn over to the Nazis.

“Finally, I did wind up with very poor Dutch farmers in the south of Holland,” he said. “They were Catholic and there was a pastor in that village who gave them orders to hide children with the various farmers in that neighborhood.”

Roet spoke for nearly an hour, the words flowing out in a rush as if a dam were about to break, as if time were running out.

“I feel it is my plight,” he said. “I feel it as my obligation to ask you to remember and not to forget. My sisters, Holocaust victims — all of them before they died, they asked me please remember and do not forget.”

The ceremony ended with a song by a Jewish composer who died in Auschwitz. Pianist Amit Weiner dedicated the song to his grandfather, Israel Weiner, and to the memory of his family members who were murdered in the Holocaust.
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Three in Custody in Plot to Murder Iranian-American Journalist

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Three members of an Eastern European criminal gang with ties to Iran have been indicted in connection with plotting to murder Iranian-American human rights activist and VOA Persian host Masih Alinejad, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

Rafat Amirov, 43, of Iran, Polad Omarov, 38, of the Czech Republic, and Khalid Mehdiyev, 24, of Yonkers, New York, are all in custody and face charges of murder for hire and money laundering, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference.

“In the United States of America, our system of laws protects our citizens in the peaceful exercise of their constitutional and civil rights,” Garland said. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to undermine those protections and the rule of law upon which our democracy is based.”

Amirov, the alleged ringleader of the plot, was “lawfully arrested” outside the United States and arrived in New York on Thursday, Garland said. Amirov was to be arraigned before a federal magistrate judge later Friday.

Mehdiyev, a New York-based member of the group, was arrested on July 29 and will make his first court appearance next week.

Omarov was detained in the Czech Republic on January 4, and U.S. officials said they will seek his extradition on charges in the indictment.

Mehdiev was arrested after police found him with an assault rifle and about 66 rounds of ammunition near Alinejad’s home in Brooklyn.

Alinejad, the host of “Tablet,” a weekly TV program for VOA Persian covering news developments in Iran and featuring videos shared by people living there, has been the target of several Iranian-sponsored assassination attempts.

In 2021, federal prosecutors charged an Iranian intelligence officer and three Iranian intelligence assets with plotting to kidnap the journalist for rendition to Iran and possible execution.

“The government of Iran has continued to target the victim since then,” Garland said.

Following news of the indictments, Alinejad said in a video published on Twitter that she has no plans to stop what she is doing, and she called on authorities to pay more attention to the situation facing people in Iran.

“I’m not scared for my life,” she said. “I knew that killing, assassinating, hanging, torturing, raping is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic. That’s why I came to the United States of America, to practice my right, my freedom of expression to be voice to the brave people of Iran who say ‘no’ to the Islamic Republic.”

The Eastern European gang’s alleged involvement in the plot to kill Alinejad goes back to at least July 2022.

According to a superseding indictment unsealed on Friday, Amirov, a leader of the Eastern European gang, was initially tasked with undertaking the plot.

Amirov then directed Omarov, another leader of the group based in Eastern Europe, who in turn directed Mehdiev, described as a member of the gang, to murder Alinejad.

According to court documents, the Thieves-in-Law gang engages in murders, kidnappings, assaults and extortions. Its members typically identify themselves with tattoos and other displays of eight-pointed stars.
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Cameroon’s Media Community Mourns Killing of Radio Journalist

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Cameroon journalists are calling for an investigation and say their profession is in danger after a popular radio host investigating government corruption was found dead.

On his radio program two weeks ago, Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo said he had information that people involved in corruption wanted him dead.

Then, on January 17, Zogo, the director of the urban radio station Amplitude FM, was abducted, prompting fears for his safety.

On Sunday, Zogo’s body was found. Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said that it showed signs of torture and that the killing was “barbaric, unacceptable and despicable.”

Zogo was known in the capital, Yaoundé, for his high-profile program, “Traffic Jam,” which broadcast in English.

Friends, colleagues and fans created a shrine in his honor outside his workplace.

“There is a feeling of shame. Why in Cameroon?” Haman Mana of the Federation of Press Editors of Cameroon said in French. “We are confused, but I would like us all to keep our sanity because those who did it are simply not human.”

Samuel Bondjock of the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon said his organization will always denounce this crime and its infringement on press freedom.

Journalists operating in Cameroon said Zogo’s killing is part of an effort by the authoritarian government of President Paul Biya to intimidate the press corps.

“Through the barbarity of the assassination of Martinez Zogo,” Naja TV General Manager Jean-Bruno Tagne said in French, “it is a message of fear that they want to instigate among journalists and in the circles of all those who have decided not to remain silent in the face of the crime that we observe in this country.”

Government spokesman Sadi said the investigation into the killing was ongoing, and he promised the killers would be brought to justice.

While Cameroon has a thriving media market, the group Reporters Without Borders says it is a “hostile and precarious environment” for journalists.
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US FDA Proposes Eased Restrictions on Blood Donations from Gay, Bisexual Men

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed revisions to its guidelines to make it easier for gay and bisexual men to donate blood, eliminating a three-month abstinence period before donations.

The restrictions were implemented years ago to prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In a release posted to the agency’s website, the FDA said under the draft proposals, all donors — regardless of sexual orientation — would be given a questionnaire regarding new partners, sexual history, and certain types of sexual activities.

Any prospective donors who do not report having new or multiple sexual partners and have not engaged in certain practices, such as anal sex, in the previous three months, may be eligible to donate, provided all other eligibility criteria are met.

The proposed new guidelines would allow gay and bisexual men in monogamous, long-term relationships to more easily give blood.

The FDA said the draft proposals were developed after reviewing available information, including data from Britain and Canada, countries with similar HIV epidemiology that have implemented the “gender-inclusive, individual risk-based approach for assessing donor eligibility.”

In the statement, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said, “Maintaining a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S. is paramount for the FDA,” and these proposals will allow the agency to do so.

Under the plan, the donor deferral time periods would stay in place for other HIV risk factors, including for those who have exchanged sex for money or drugs, or have a history of non-prescription injection drug use. 

Any individual who has ever had a positive test for HIV or who has taken any medication to treat HIV infection would continue to be deferred permanently.

The proposed guideline changes released Friday will be open for public comment for 60 days. The agency will then review and consider all comments before finalizing the changes.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.  
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VOA on the Scene: Remnants of Occupation Reveal War Tactics in Ukraine

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As countries around the world prepare to send high-tech weapons to Ukraine, remnants of the Russian occupation of some villages reveal how low-tech the war can also be. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from the Kherson Oblast in Ukraine. Videographer: Yan Boechat
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African Leaders Discuss Path to Food Security at Dakar Summit

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African heads of state and development partners will discuss ways to increase Africa’s agricultural production at a summit in progress in Senegal. Climate change, soaring inflation, and the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine have combined to make food security precarious throughout much of Africa.

The consensus throughout the three-day event has been that it’s time for Africa to end its dependence on food imports.

The continent has enough arable land to feed 9 billion people, yet it spends $75 billion each year to import more than 100 million metric tons of food, according to the African Development Bank, which organized the summit.

“Only a secure continent can develop with pride,” said Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank. “For there is no pride in begging for food. The timing is right. And the moment is now,” he says. “My heart and my determination is that Africa feeds itself.”

Around 282 million Africans suffer from hunger, according to U.N. figures, and persistent drought has pushed some areas such as the Horn of Africa and Madagascar to the brink of famine.

Recent disruptions in the global food supply chain have also aggravated the issue.

Africa typically imports 30 million metric tons of food from the now warring nations of Russia and Ukraine, and energy, fertilizer and food prices have increased by 40 to 300 percent, according to the African Development Bank.

In order to become self-sufficient, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said, African nations must increase funding toward agricultural initiatives and rural infrastructure.

“To succeed, there is no doubt that we need to subsidize farmers,” he said. “We must reduce the rate of rural to urban migration through the development of rural areas,” he said, “We must invest heavily in irrigation to help address the increasing frequency of droughts.”

Due to high lending risks, less than 3 percent of total financing from African commercial banks goes towards funding agriculture, Buhari said, and central banks must pick up the slack.

At a CEO roundtable Thursday, Ahmed Abdellatif, president of Sudanese business conglomerate CTC Group, said risks can be minimized with agri-insurance.

“If you’re one of the unlucky half a percent where the rain does not come, it wipes you out totally, and you’re in very big trouble,” he said. “So agri-insurance would be a big enabler.”

Various speakers pointed to success stories on the continent. Ethiopia increased production of a heat resistant wheat variety from 5,000 to 800,000 hectares over a four-year period and is now on its way to becoming a wheat exporter.

The adoption of a drought-resistant maize variety in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has more than doubled outputs.

In response to the conflict in Ukraine, Zimbabwe began producing its own fertilizer and wheat. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country expects to produce enough wheat to begin exports next year.

“A country must be ruled by the people of that country. A country must be developed by the people of that country,” he said. “And a country must eat what it sows – that is village wisdom.”

The conference will continue through Friday.
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Air Raid Alert in Ukraine as Zelenskyy Calls for Aircraft, Missiles

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Russia launched a fresh wave of missile strikes on Ukraine in the morning Thursday, killing at least one person, hours after an overnight drone attack, while heavy fighting continues unabated in the east, where Moscow’s forces have been increasing pressure on Ukrainian defenders.

The new missile attacks came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking just hours after Germany and the United States pledged to provide Kyiv with advanced battle tanks, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to deliver long-range missiles and military aircraft to beef up Ukraine’s air defense.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and two others were wounded in a strike on the capital and urged residents to stay in shelters.

“As a result of a rocket hitting a nonresidential building in the Holosiyiv district, we have information about one dead and two wounded. The wounded were hospitalized,” he said.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said more than a dozen missiles were destroyed above the capital by air defenses.

“The enemy launched more than 15 cruise missiles in the direction of Kyiv. Thanks to the excellent work of air defense, all air targets were shot down,” he said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, wrote on Telegram, “the first Russian missiles have already been shot down,” without specifying the locations.

Two energy facilities were hit by Russian missiles in the southern region of Odesa, local authorities said.

“There is already information about damage done to two critical energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa. There are no injured. Air-defense forces are working over the Odesa region,” the head of the region’s military administration, Yuriy Kruk, wrote on social media. 

The central region of Vinnitsya was also targeted by Russian missiles, said Serhiy Borzov, the head of the regional military administration, adding that there were no casualties.

Earlier, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Military said its forces destroyed 24 drones, including 15 over Kyiv, that Russia launched in overnight attacks.

Zelenskyy said in his regular nightly video address on Wednesday that it is now necessary to “go ahead with the supply of aircraft for Ukraine.”

On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continued to sustain incessant pressure from Russian attacks in the east, mainly in Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the Donetsk region and Chervopopyivka in Luhansk, the General Staff said in its daily report Thursday.

“Despite suffering numerous losses, the enemy did not halt its offensive actions,” the General Staff said, adding that Ukrainian defenders also repelled attacks in Lyman, Kupyansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.

Russia has been “intensifying” its offensive near Bakhmut, where it deployed a “superior number of soldiers and weapons” in what has become a hot spot in the 11-month-old invasion, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Wednesday, adding that “the enemy is intensifying pressure in the Bakhmut and Vuhledar sectors” of the front.

Ukrainian officials on Wednesday also acknowledged their loss to Russian forces of the Donetsk-region salt-mining town of Soledar as many military experts are forecasting a Russian spring offensive in the area.

Berlin and Washington agreed to provide the tanks following months of intense debate among NATO allies in the hope of helping stem the expected push by Russia.

Zelenskyy praised the allies’ commitment to deliver advanced tanks and urged them to provide large numbers of tanks quickly.

“The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said. “We have to form such a ‘tank fist,’ such a ‘fist of freedom.'”

“It is very important that there is progress in other aspects of our defense cooperation as well,” Zelenskyy said.

“We must also open the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine. It is important — we must also expand our cooperation in artillery, we must enter into the supply of aircraft for Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is the task.”

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the United States will send 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks in a move he said was not a threat to Russia.

Moscow has warned that it regards the Western supply of advanced battle tanks to Ukraine a dangerous provocation.

Speaking from the White House, Biden said the NATO tanks for Ukraine would help “improve their ability to maneuver in open terrain.”

He praised Berlin’s similar announcement as evidence that “Germany has really stepped up.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said hours earlier that Germany will supply 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and will also allow third countries to reexport their own German-made Leopards.

Scholz said the decision, approved Wednesday, was “the right principle” in the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added that the first Leopard tanks could be in Ukraine within three months.

With reporting by Reuters, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and dpa.
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Experts: Arming Ukraine Via US Could Worsen South Korea’s Ties with Russia

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South Korea, with a world-class arms industry, is facing mounting pressure to find a way to get needed arms and munitions to Ukraine without unduly angering Russia, which has hinted that it could resume military cooperation with North Korea.

Experts interviewed by VOA say the most likely solution under consideration in Seoul is for the nation’s commercial arms manufacturers to make private sales to the United States, allowing the U.S to ship more of its own armaments to Ukraine without depleting its stockpiles.

A spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs told VOA Korean Service on Wednesday that the administration in Seoul “has been providing humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine” but “there has not been a change” in its position that it “will not send lethal weapons to Ukraine.”

Depleted stockpiles

Since the Russian invasion, Washington’s military aid to Kyiv has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a U.S.-led coalition of about 50 countries, has been sending Kyiv weaponry ranging from High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to howitzers. The U.S. and Germany announced Wednesday that they will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks and 14 Leopard 2 tanks, respectively. Additional tanks have been promised by other NATO countries.

Ukraine is using about 90,000 artillery rounds per month while the U.S. and European countries are producing only half that amount among them, according to The New York Times, citing U.S. and Western officials.

The U.S. has asked the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to route some of its equipment stockpiled in South Korea to Ukraine, USFK spokesperson Isaac Taylor told the VOA Korean Service on Jan. 19.

And Washington “has been in discussion about potential sales of ammunition” from South Korea’s “non-government industrial defense base,” said Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners to the VOA Korean Service on Jan. 18.

“The Republic of Korea has a world-class defense industry which regularly sells to allies and partners, including the United States,” Meiners added. South Korea’s official name is the Republic of Korea (ROK).

South Korea’s arms sales

Experts said arms sales from South Korea’s private defense companies to the U.S. could elevate South Korea’s standing as “a global pivotal state,” a stated foreign policy aspiration of President Yoon Suk Yeol since he took office in May.

Yoon said in August that South Korea’s goal is to become one of the top four global arms sellers. He reiterated the goal of boosting weapons sales in November.

South Korea was the world’s eighth-largest exporter of weapons in 2017-21 according to a 2022 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) which said the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany are the top five sellers.

“President Yoon has called South Korea a global pivotal state,” David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. “… Providing support to Ukraine directly or indirectly is an example of that.”

Putin’s warning

Experts said that by allowing the private arms sales to proceed, South Korea could shore up its alliances with Western powers and help to demonstrate to authoritarian neighbors like China and North Korea that the kind of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine will not succeed.

But the move will likely come at the cost of further deterioration in Seoul’s relations with Moscow, which are already fraying over South Korea’s support of the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

“South Korea has the same interest about peace, stability, territorial sovereignty, protecting [against] states that are invading through outright aggression,” said Terence Roehrig, a professor of national security and Korea expert at the U.S. Naval War College.

“It is about South Korea making the decision that it needs to stand with the West on those issues with some degree of hedging by being reluctant to send direct military assistance to Ukraine,” he added.

“You will not see South Korea directly contributing arms to Ukraine. It will only be about backfilling other states who might be doing that.” That, he said, is because of concerns that Russia could “play a role on North Korea” through potential technology transfers and weapons development.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea that sending ammunition to Ukraine would ruin their relations.

“We have learned that the Republic of Korea has made a decision to supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. This will destroy our relations,” said Putin as reported by Russian state-owned Tass. “How would the Republic of Korea react if we resumed cooperation with North Korea in that sphere?”

Until it collapsed in 1991, the Soviet Union provided military support to North Korea. The Ukraine war has drawn Russia and North Korea closer together. On Friday, the U.S. released a photo of what it said was evidence of North Korea sending weapons to the Wagner Group, a Russian private military organization, via trains to Russia.

VOA Korea contacted the Russian embassy in Washington and Foreign Ministry in Moscow for comment, but they did not respond.

Andrew Yeo, the SK-Korea Foundation chair at Brookings Institution, said the proposed private weapons sales to the U.S. “would suggest greater support for the Ukrainian cause and further sour relations with Moscow, although Moscow has already placed Seoul on its list of hostile countries.”

In March, Russia placed South Korea on a list of countries that commit “unfriendly actions,” according to Tass. According to the Tass report, countries on the list imposed or joined the sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

“Seoul is eager to preserve a workable relationship with Moscow, so in some way drawing down U.S. weapons in [its bases in South] Korea is more palatable than selling them directly,” said Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute.

“But South Korea also has an abiding interest in ensuring that Russian aggression in Ukraine cannot prevail,” he added. “That would be a bad precedent for South Korea’s neighbors.”
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Lloyd Morrisett, Who Helped Launch ‘Sesame Street,’ Dies

Posted on by SeeUS

Lloyd Morrisett, the co-creator of the beloved children’s education TV series Sesame Street, which uses empathy and fuzzy monsters like Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Cookie Monster to charm and teach generations around the world, has died. He was 93.

Morrisett’s death was announced Monday by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit he helped establish under the name the Children’s Television Workshop. No cause of death was given.

In a statement, Sesame Workshop hailed Morrisett as a “wise, thoughtful, and above all kind leader” who was “constantly thinking about new ways” to educate.

Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney worked with Harvard University developmental psychologist Gerald Lesser to build the show’s unique approach to teaching that now reaches 120 million children. Legendary puppeteer Jim Henson supplied the critters.

“Without Lloyd Morrisett, there would be no Sesame Street. It was he who first came up with the notion of using television to teach preschoolers basic skills, such as letters and numbers,” Cooney said in a statement. “He was a trusted partner and loyal friend to me for over 50 years, and he will be sorely missed.”

 

Sesame Street is shown in more than 150 countries, has won 216 Emmys, 11 Grammys and in 2019 received the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement, the first time a television program got the award (Big Bird strolled down the aisle and basically sat in Tom Hanks’ lap).

Born in 1929 in Oklahoma City, Morrisett initially trained to be a teacher with a background in psychology. He became an experimental educator, looking for new ways to educate children from less advantaged backgrounds. Morrisett received his bachelor’s at Oberlin College, did graduate work in psychology at UCLA, and earned his doctorate in experimental psychology at Yale University. He was an Oberlin trustee for many years and was chair of the board from 1975-81.

The seed of Sesame Street was sown over a dinner party in 1966, where he met Cooney.

“I said, ‘Joan, do you think television could be used to teach young children?’ Her answer was, ‘I don’t know, but I’d like to talk about it,’” he recalled to The Guardian in 2004.

The first episode of Sesame Street, sponsored by the letters W, S and E and the numbers 2 and 3, aired in the fall of 1969. It was a turbulent time in America, rocked by the Vietnam War and raw from the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. the year before.

Children’s programming at the time was made up of shows like Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room and the often-violent cartoon skirmishes between Tom & Jerry. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was mostly teaching social skills.

Sesame Street was designed by education professionals and child psychologists with one goal: to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school. Social scientists had long noted kids who were white and from higher-income families were often better prepared.

The show was set on an urban street with a multicultural cast. Diversity and inclusion were baked into the show. Monsters, humans and animals all lived together peacefully.

It became the first children’s program to feature someone with Down syndrome. It’s had puppets with HIV and in foster care, invited children in wheelchairs, dealt with topics like jailed parents, homelessness, women’s rights, military families and even girls singing about loving their hair.

It introduced the bilingual Rosita, the first Latina Muppet, in 1991. Julia, a 4-year-old Muppet with autism, came in 2017 and the show has since offered help for kids whose parents are dealing with addiction and recovery, and children suffering as a result of the Syrian civil war. To help kids after 9/11, Elmo was left traumatized by a fire at Hooper’s store but was soothingly told that firefighters were there to help.

The company said upon the news of his death that Lloyd left “an outsized and indelible legacy among generations of children the world over, with Sesame Street only the most visible tribute to a lifetime of good work and lasting impact.”

He is survived by his wife, Mary; daughters Julie and Sarah; and granddaughters Frances and Clara.
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US, Chinese, Russian Officials Scramble to Visit Africa

Posted on by SeeUS

Top Chinese, Russian and American officials are visiting Africa, the world’s fastest-growing continent, this month. Several U.S. officials are in Africa, walking a fine line between their desire for Africa’s support against Russian aggression and Chinese ambitions, and their promise to do work that benefits the continent. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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Somalia Airspace Regains Class A Status After 30 Years

Posted on by SeeAF

The Somali airspace has regained its Class A classification after more than 30 years, the International Air Transport Association said.

IATA confirmed the reclassification of the Mogadishu Flight Information Region airspace in a statement on Wednesday.

Class A airspace is the sky above the base altitude of about 24,500 feet (7,467 meters) above mean sea level, according to IATA. In it, all flights must be cleared by air traffic control, which is responsible for maintaining the correct separation between aircraft, which required the Mogadishu FIR to install new equipment.

IATA said the move will significantly improve safety in the region and enhance efficiency.

The reclassification of Somali airspace to Class A took effect at 00:01 a.m. local time Thursday (16:01 EST), Somali officials said.

Uncontrolled airspace for decades

The collapse of the state in Somalia in 1991 ended the country’s control of its airspace. That control had been run from Nairobi in neighboring Kenya from 1992 until June 2018, when the Somali government transferred management of the airspace to Mogadishu. Somalia airspace had been classified as Class G, or uncontrolled airspace, for decades.

The Somali government has welcomed the reclassification.

“It [is] welcoming news. We will be celebrating,” said Ahmed Moallin Hassan, director general of Somali Civil Aviation Authority.

Asked what the reclassification of airspace means for Somalia, Hassan said the Civil Aviation Authority will be providing more services to pilots.

He said that under Class G airspace designation, the aviation authority was providing advisory services to the pilots.

“But now since the airspace class has changed from uncontrolled airspace to controlled space, the service we are providing changed to air traffic control services. Now we will be instructing the pilots, and we will be using words like climb, descend, clear to land, clear for takeoff,” he said.

Good for employment, safety, bottom line

Hassan also said the classification upgrade will increase revenue for Somalia. Most countries charge airlines for the use of the airspace and air traffic control, and each country calculates charges differently.

About 400 international flights use Somali airspace a day, and the change to Class A airspace has the potential to increase traffic to as many as 600 flights a day, Hassan said. He said current annual revenue is $22 million, and they expect that to increase to $34 million.

“It means that the airspace has gone into significant change, it will increase revenue, job opportunity and overall safety of airspace will be enhanced,” he said. “That will attract international airlines that are currently avoiding Somali airspace.”

IATA said reclassification of the airspace, and the operational resumption of air traffic control in the Mogadishu FIR, has been made possible with the installation and commissioning of modern radio navigation and other technological infrastructure, and follows a successful trial, which began last May.

“The upgrade of air traffic management and improved navigation and communication infrastructure will enhance situational awareness along an increasingly busy air corridor and its intersections with routes linking many of the world’s regions,” said Kamil Al-Awadhi, who is the IATA’s regional vice president for the Middle East and Africa.

In 1991, the national flag carrier, Somali Airlines, ceased operations. Despite promises from successive governments to revive the airline, that has not been realized to date. But just as private companies filled the void in telecommunication, water and electricity services, private airline companies have stepped in to provide domestic services and flights to regional destinations in East Africa and Gulf countries.
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