The largest and longest running auto show in North America, the Chicago Auto Show, is an annual showcase of the latest vehicle technology and offerings available to customers. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports this year’s show reflects consumer demand, and government mandates.
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Month: February 2023
Survey Paints Bleak Picture of Ethiopia’s State of Mind After Two Years of War
As Ethiopians emerge from two years of conflict, a new Gallup survey paints a bleak picture of people suffering economically and emotionally.
The survey conducted in the fall of 2022, found that a record-high 65% of Ethiopians are struggling to afford food, with food prices rising 43% in 2022 compared to 2021, and certain staple items soaring by more than 80%.
Opinion researchers had not been able to enter the country in 2021 and saw a significant change when they returned the following year. Zach Bikus, regional director-Africa at Gallup said the team interviewed about 1,000 people but were not able to travel to the conflict areas.
“This year we were really excited to get back and really hear what the people are thinking,” he said. “And so, the main takeaway from this data that we just collected really is that the past couple of years have been difficult years.”
In addition to the conflict, the country is facing its worst drought in 40 years, putting additional pressure on the food supply, the report said. At the same time, income is also under pressure, with 45% of Ethiopians finding it “very difficult” to get by on their present household income, compared to 28% in 2019.
Bikus said he is seeing similar results across the region. “Really, East Africa, in general, is facing this drought, but also the fallout from the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” he said. “Many of the countries in these regions are big importers of wheat, Ethiopia included, and fertilizer. So, really the global pressures on food supply and prices I think are happening in a major impact.”
The situation has had a profound effect on Ethiopians’ mental and emotional well-being. When asked to rate their quality of life from 1 to 10, the average rating dropped from 4.5 in 2020 to just 3.6 in 2022, the lowest since 2012. The survey also found significant increases in people reporting they feel “worry,” “physical pain,” “anger,” and “stress.”
“We asked about physical issues, food and infrastructure, but really there’s kind of an emotional component too and how people are feeling themselves in terms of happiness or negative emotions,” Bikus said. “I think that’s another important thing to keep an eye on.”
The country faces a monumental task in maintaining peace, restarting the economy and reconciliation in the wake of the conflict, but there has been some positive news, the report noted.
Researchers still haven’t been able to access the Tigray region and some of the surrounding areas, Bikus said. “I believe it was about 7% of the population we were unable to talk to,” he said, adding that although the team followed protocols, they are “kind of at the mercy of circumstances sometimes.”
your ad hereReport: Africa Relations with China, Russia Do Not Imply Support for New World Order
The annual report of the Munich Security Conference has found that global attitudes toward Russia and China have shifted since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, including in Africa. The report says African countries’ discontent with the West has not translated into a desire for Beijing or Moscow to wield greater influence over the international order.
A 176-page report released by the Munich conference, an independent annual forum focused on international security, found that Africa is not interested in supporting a global order led by China and Russia.
According to the report, African countries’ attitudes toward Russia and China are changing as a result of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.
Critics have accused African governments of failing to speak out against Russia’s aggression and of refusing to economically and diplomatically isolate the nation.
In a United Nations General Assembly vote in March 2022, 38 African countries condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine, while 16 countries abstained.
David Otto is head of security and defense analysis for the Center for Africa Security and Security Studies. He said African countries’ behavior in the international system confuses many people.
“There is confusion between internal interest and support. African countries are now focusing more on their own interest rather than supporting China or Russia’s geopolitical strategy. Every country has to focus on interest. I think the difference here is that more African countries are becoming independent in the choices they make,” said Otto.
While China and Russia may have garnered some support for their desired dominance in the global security and economic fields, most countries do not want a world led by autocrats, according to the researchers.
The authors say Africa is dissatisfied with the global system led by Western countries and is also opposed to Russia and China gaining greater influence in the international system.
Paul Nantulya is a specialist in China-Africa relations. He said China and the continent are collaborating to change some of the international institutions they feel are unfavorable to their survival.
“The Chinese government has been able to leverage African grievances with the current international system in order to build diplomatic and political affinity with the African countries. I think what China wants to do is selectively shape the current international system. China does not necessarily want to overthrow the international order. China wants to selectively shape different parts of the international system and in that endeavor, China has found the support of African countries.”
Experts say China has created institutions like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Global Security Initiative, which Africa is part of, to push for its influence and representation in the international systems.
David Monyae is the head of the Center for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg. He said Africa prefers a world order that is fair to all continents and countries.
“We want an order in which resources are distributed fairly within multilateral structures in the WTO with fairness in terms of trade. You cannot have countries that are talking about the government must not subsidize but they are subsidizing their own agricultural products. So whether Africa gets that, it may not have the power to get what it wants. However, it will continue to raise these issues,” said Monyae.
The report said Africa wants its voice heard and to be given a role to play in shaping international laws and rules.
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Malawi Launches Campaign to End Deadly Cholera Outbreak
Health rights campaigners in Malawi are welcoming a national campaign against a record cholera outbreak, which has affected all 29 districts in the country and killed nearly 1,400 people.
President Lazarus Chakwera launched the campaign Monday, pledging to reduce the transmission and mortality rate of the water-borne illness. Chakwera said the spread is largely because people in the country are not following good hygiene practices.
“And because the behavior is not changing, the situation has become dire,” he said. “So far, over 1,300 funerals have happened around the country because of cholera. And the disease is still spreading at an alarming rate. We are getting between 500 to 600 cholera cases every day in our health facilities throughout the country.”
The campaign, known as “Tithetse Kolera” or “Let’s end cholera,” focuses on repairing water kiosks across the country and helping people construct toilets in their homes.
Chakwera said statistics show that about 40 percent of Malawians do not have toilets and instead use the bush to relieve themselves.
Several organizations in Malawi have long been running campaigns against the practice of open defecation, but with little result.
“We are human beings with dignity, not animals that can just use any place as a toilet. If any place is not a toilet, don’t treat it as a toilet,” Chakwera said. “And a toilet is not something that is given to you by the government or something that is donated from abroad or something that comes down from heaven. It is something you give yourself as a human being because you respect yourself better than an animal.”
Health authorities say they hope the campaign will help reduce the cholera fatality rate from the current 3.6% to 1%.
Health rights campaigner George Jobe welcomed the campaign, but said the government should go further by ending myths and misinformation associated with the outbreak.
Jobe, who is also executive director for the Malawi Health Equity Network, cited two recent incidents in Lilongwe and Balaka districts, where angry members of the community assaulted medical workers and vandalized two public health facilities, forcing them to close. The community members accused the medical workers of deliberately infecting patients with cholera-infested vaccines.
“The current cholera seems to be different from previous outbreaks of cholera just because the current one was preceded by COVID-19. So, we shall continue to provide some piece of advice to the government that when we are doing awareness raising, we must be mindful that we are also fighting with reductions of COVID-19,” Jobe said.
Chakwera ordered the reopening of the closed health facilities and assured the health workers that they would receive maximum security.
In the meantime, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations have pledged their support toward the success of the cholera campaign.
“The United Nations is currently in the process of preparing a multisector cholera appeal to increase the capacity of the U.N. and NGOs to support the government of Malawi. It will be launched next week,” said Rebecca Donto, the United Nations’ resident coordinator in Malawi.
Local media have reported that Malawi needs an additional $40 million for an effective cholera response.
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Indian Tax Authorities Search BBC Offices in Delhi, Mumbai
Tax officials in India searched the British Broadcasting Corporation’s offices Tuesday in New Delhi and Mumbai, weeks after the Indian government called a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi “propaganda.”
The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” focuses on communal riots that swept through the western state of Gujarat in 2002, killing at least a 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Modi was its head.
In a statement on Twitter, the BBC said it was “fully cooperating” with income tax authorities, who are “currently” in the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.
“We hope to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible,” the BBC said.
Domestic media reports said authorities seized the phones of BBC employees.
Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called the action a “tax survey.”
“If you have been following the law of the country, if you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of an action that is according to the law?” he told reporters.
Accusing the BBC of having a “tainted and black history of working with malice against India,” Bhatia told reporters at a press conference, “It would not be wrong to say that it is the most corrupt and ridiculous corporation in the world.”
He said media outlets that “have a hidden agenda” and “spew venom” cannot be tolerated in the country.
The documentary angered the BJP and Modi’s supporters, who questioned why the broadcaster chose a subject that dates back two decades.
The documentary highlights an unpublished report the BBC obtained from the British Foreign Office which according to the broadcaster raised issues over Modi’s actions during the riots, and claims he was “directly responsible” for the “climate of impunity” that enabled the violence.
In 2012, an inquiry by India’s Supreme Court exonerated Modi of any complicity in the riots, including charges that he had told police officers not to restrain the rioters.
The BBC documentary was not aired in India, but using emergency powers under its information technology laws, the government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to it. Police scrambled to halt screenings arranged by some student groups on university campuses and detained several students in connection with the screenings.
India’s Foreign Ministry said the film “lacked objectivity” and called it a “propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative.” The BBC had said the documentary was “rigorously researched” and that it had featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BBC.
Organizations representing media groups in India expressed concern at Tuesday’s search of the BBC offices.
The Editors Guild of India said the move mirrored similar actions against other news organizations such as NewsClick, Newslaundry and Dainik Bhaskar, whose coverage was perceived to be critical of the government.
In a statement, the guild said the raids were a “continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organizations that are critical of government policies or the ruling establishment” and that the trend “undermines constitutional democracy.”
Opposition parties also criticized the action.
“First came the BBC documentary, it was banned. Now, I-T has raided BBC.” “Undeclared Emergency,” the opposition Congress Party tweeted.
“As hosts of G-20 what we are telling the world that rather than an emerging great power we are an insecure power,” Manish Tewari, a member of the Congress Party and former information minister, tweeted.
Media watchdogs and critics have raised concerns about press freedom in India. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that ordering social media platforms to block the BBC documentary constitutes “an attack on the free press that flagrantly contradicts the country’s stated commitment to democratic ideals.”
India’s press freedom ranking fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 last year in the 2022 World Freedom Index by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.
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Window Closing for Finding Quake Survivors, as Relief Efforts Stepped Up
Rescuers in Turkey pulled several more people alive from the rubble Tuesday, nearly 200 hours after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the region but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive.
In neighboring Syria, more aid is starting to flow to war- and now earthquake-scared civilians in the country’s northwest, following President Bashar al-Assad’s agreement with the United Nations on Monday to allow humanitarian workers to use two additional crossing points from Turkey into opposition-held areas to speed deliveries.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Tuesday that an 11-truck convoy “is on the move” to cross through the newly reopened Bab al-Salam border crossing from Turkey, “with many more [convoys] to come.”
Guterres’ humanitarian chief negotiated the use of two border crossings from Turkey into northwest Syria, meeting with President Assad on Monday in Damascus, bringing to three the number the U.N. has to work with. It is the first time since the conflict began in 2011 that Assad has agreed to allow aid to cross from Turkey to rebel-held areas.
The U.N. chief also announced an appeal for $397 million in the next three months for the earthquake response in Syria, adding that a similar appeal is being drawn up for Turkey.
“We all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed,” Guterres said of opposition-held areas of Syria. “The scale of this disaster is one of the worst in recent memory.”
He emphasized that aid “must get through from all sides, to all sides, through all routes — without any restrictions.”
The U.N. humanitarian office said Monday the death toll in Syria has surpassed 4,300, with another 7,600 injured.
In Turkey, authorities have reported at least 31,643 deaths from the earthquake centered in the Gaziantep region.
The latest rescues included one from a crumbled building in Adiyaman province and two others from a destroyed building in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter.
Turkish residents in Samandag in Hatay province, complained the government has not done enough in the search for survivors.
One earthquake survivor told VOA’s Turkish service that everything is being done through volunteers and community efforts, not by the government.
“We rescued a lady and her baby from under the rubble. Alive. With our own efforts. With our own sledgehammers, with our hammers. I had many friends with me. This is not acceptable,” the survivor said.
Another said, “Volunteers are working here, day and night, nonstop. They don’t even eat. They don’t even come down to drink water. AFAD [Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority] came to save us supposedly. The team came here to work on detecting. They just came and left. They said, ‘There was nothing here,’ and turned back and left.”
Turkish television broadcast scenes of the rescues, but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive in what remains of collapsed buildings after so much time.
The VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Afghan Journalists Win Case Against UK Government Over Relocation
Eight Afghan journalists who worked for the BBC broadcaster won a legal challenge on Monday against Britain’s refusal to relocate them from Afghanistan, which they said put them at high risk of being killed by the Taliban rulers.
The journalists’ lawyers told London’s High Court in December that the government had “betrayed the debt of gratitude” owed to them by refusing to relocate them after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Representatives for the government had argued that none of the eight was eligible for relocation under its Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) program.
David Blundell, a lawyer for the Ministry of Defense, said the Taliban’s perception that the BBC is a part of the British government was irrelevant.
But Judge Peter Lane said in a written ruling that the perception was “clearly relevant” to the risks the journalists faced.
The decision on whether to relocate the eight will now have to be taken again, which their lawyers said would have to be done within three weeks.
The journalists were embedded with military personnel and worked on British government-funded projects, the lawyers said.
As part of their work, they spoke out against the Taliban and exposed corruption and abuse, resulting in numerous threats and attacks by Taliban fighters, the lawyers added.
Erin Alcock, who represented the journalists, said her clients have been “living in fear for over 18 months.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said the department does not comment in detail on specific legal cases but was considering potential next steps.
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US Inflation Likely Eased Again Last Month If More Gradually
U.S. inflation likely slowed again last month in the latest sign that consumer price increases are becoming less of a burden on America’s households. But Tuesday’s report from the government may also suggest that further progress in taming inflation could be slow and “bumpy,” as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has described it.
Consumer prices are expected to have risen 6.2% in January from 12 months earlier, down from a 6.5% year-over-year surge in December. It would amount to the seventh straight slowdown.
On a monthly basis, though, inflation is expected to have jumped 0.5% from December to January, according to a survey of economists by the data provider FactSet. That would be much faster than the 0.1% uptick from November to December.
So-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs to provide a clearer view of underlying inflation, are also expected to have slowed on a 12-month basis. They are forecast to have increased 5.5% in January from a year earlier, down from a 5.7% year-over-year rise in December.
But for January alone, economists estimate that core prices jumped 0.4% for a second straight month — roughly equivalent to a 5% annual pace, far above the Fed’s target of 2%.
“The process of getting inflation down has begun,” Powell said in remarks last week. But “this process is likely to take quite a bit of time. It’s not going to be, we don’t think, smooth, it’s probably going to be bumpy.”
Average gasoline prices, which had declined in five of the past six months through December, likely rose about 3.5% in January, according to an estimate from Nationwide. Food prices are also expected to have risen, though more slowly than the huge spikes of last summer and fall.
On a brighter note, clothing and airfare costs are thought to have barely budged from December to January. And economists have estimated that hotel room prices fell sharply.
Overall, the government’s inflation report will likely show the continuation of a pattern that has emerged in recent months: The costs of goods — ranging from furniture and clothing to toys and sporting goods — are falling. But the prices of services — restaurant meals, entertainment events, dental care and the like — are rising faster than they did before the pandemic struck and threaten to keep inflation elevated.
Goods have become less expensive because supply chain snarls that had inflated prices after the pandemic erupted in 2020 have unraveled. And Americans are shifting much of their spending toward services, after having splurged on items like furniture and exercise equipment during the pandemic.
Yet average wages are rising at a brisk pace of about 5% from a year ago. Those pay gains, spread across the economy, are likely inflating prices in labor-intensive services. Powell has often pointed to robust wage increases as a factor that’s driving up services prices and keeping inflation high even as other categories, like rent, are likely to decelerate in price.
The Biden White House last week calculated a measure of wages in service industries excluding housing — the sector of the economy that Powell and the Fed are most closely tracking. The administration’s Council of Economic Advisers concluded that wages in those industries for workers, excluding managers, soared 8% last January from a year earlier but have since slowed to about a 5% annual pace.
That suggests that services inflation could soon slow, especially if the trend continued. Still, wage gains of that level are still too high for the Fed’s liking. The central bank’s officials would prefer to see wage growth of about 3.5%, which they see as consistent with their 2% inflation target.
A key question for the economy this year is whether unemployment would have to rise significantly to achieve that slowdown in wage growth. Powell and other Fed officials have said that curbing high inflation would require some “pain” for workers. Higher unemployment typically reduces pressure on businesses to pay bigger wages and salaries.
Yet for now, the job market remains historically very strong. Earlier this month, the government reported that employers added 517,000 jobs in January — nearly twice December’s gain. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969. Job openings remain high.
Powell said last week that the jobs data was “certainly stronger than anyone I know expected,” and suggested that if such healthy readings were to continue, more rate hikes than are now expected could be necessary.
Other Fed officials, speaking last week, stressed their belief that more interest rate increases are on the way. The Fed foresees two more quarter-point rate hikes, at its March and May meetings. Those increases would raise its benchmark rate to a range of 5% to 5.25%, the highest level in 15 years.
The Fed lifted its key rate by a quarter-point when it last met on Feb. 1, after carrying out a half-point hike in December and four three-quarter-point increases before that.
The financial markets envision two more rate increases this year and don’t expect the Fed to reverse course and cut rates until sometime in 2024. For now, those expectations have ended a standoff between the Fed and Wall Street investors, who had previously been betting that the Fed would be forced to cut rates in 2023 as inflation fell faster than expected and the economy weakened.
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Open Hearts, Helping Hands: Jill Biden’s Valentine to US
The handprints of military children pressed onto paper hearts are decorating a corner inside the White House and the lawn as first lady Jill Biden celebrates Valentine’s Day.
Three large hearts, one with the message, “Reach Out with Open Hearts and Helping Hands this Valentine’s Day,” and two others featuring handprints are on display on the north lawn in view of television cameras where White House correspondents stand for their live reports.
Cut-outs of dog Commander and cat Willow are also part of the display.
The theme continues inside the executive mansion as a corner of the East Wing entrance is decorated with three more large hearts, all printed with “Love,” and replicas of the dog and cat. Hearts bearing the children’s handprints have been strung together and hung in a window for visitors taking public tours to see.
The first lady and the children worked on the “heart” projects when she visited the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Drum, New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division, on Jan. 30. The 3- to 5-year-old children are enrolled at Fort Drum South Riva Ridge Child Development Center.
The visit was part of her Joining Forces initiative to support military and veteran families and their caregivers.
Valentine’s Day is one of the first lady’s favorite holidays. She also displayed Valentine’s Day messages at the White House in 2021 and 2022.
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AU Sending 90-Strong Observer Team for Nigeria Election
The African Union Commission announced Tuesday that it will be sending a 90-strong observer mission to Nigeria for this month’s elections.
Africa’s most populous country goes to the polls on February 25, but has been plunged into crisis in the runup to the vote with dire shortages of cash and fuel.
The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) is being headed by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped broker a deal to end two years of war in northern Ethiopia and is mediating in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The AU said the objectives of the mission were to provide an “accurate and impartial assessment” of the electoral process, offer recommendations for any improvement in future polls and to demonstrate AU support “towards consolidation of democracy, peace, stability and development in Nigeria.”
Nearly 100 million people will vote to chose the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who steps down after two terms as Nigeria struggles with widespread insecurity and economic malaise.
your ad hereFord to Cut 3,800 Jobs in Europe, Mostly in Germany, UK
Ford said Tuesday that it will cut 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years in an effort to streamline its operations as it contends with economic challenges and increasing competition on electric cars.
The automaker said 2,300 jobs will be eliminated in Germany, 1,300 in the United Kingdom and 200 elsewhere on the continent. It said its strategy to offer an all-electric fleet in Europe by 2035 has not changed and that production of its first European-built electric car is due to start later this year.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company said it is looking for “a leaner, more competitive cost structure for Ford in Europe.” The automaker will embark on consultations “with the intent to achieve the reductions through voluntary separation programs.”
The job cuts come amid a sea change in the global auto industry from gas-guzzling combustion engines to electric vehicles. Governments are pushing to reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change, and a resulting race to develop electric vehicles has generated intense competition among automakers.
It’s even stirred tensions among Western allies as the U.S. rolls out big subsidies for clean technology like EVs that European governments fear could hurt homegrown industry.
Ford aims to cut 2,800 of the European jobs in engineering by 2025 as a result of the transition to electric cars that are less complex, though it plans to keep about 3,400 engineering jobs on the continent. The remaining 1,000 jobs will be cut on the administrative side.
“Paving the way to a sustainably profitable future for Ford in Europe requires broad-based actions and changes in the way we develop, build and sell Ford vehicles,” Martin Sander, general manager of Ford’s Model e unit in Europe, said in a statement. “This will impact the organizational structure, talent and skills we will need in the future.”
“These are difficult decisions, not taken lightly,” he added. “We recognize the uncertainty it creates for our team, and I assure them we will be offering them our full support in the months ahead.”
Ford also announced in August cuts of about 3,000 white-collar jobs in North America as it reduces costs to help make the long transition from internal combustion to battery-powered vehicles.
In a step in that direction, it said Thursday that it plans to build a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan that would employ at least 2,500 people to make lower-cost batteries for new and existing EVs.
Company officials reported that its net income fell 90% in the last three months of 2022 from a year earlier. It said costs were too high and that it contended with a global shortage of computer chips and other parts used in its vehicles.
In Europe, Ford has some 34,000 employees at wholly owned facilities and consolidated joint ventures.
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Rescue Crews in Turkey Find Survivors on 8th Day After Earthquake
Rescuers in Turkey pulled several more people alive from the rubble Tuesday, nearly 200 hours after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the region.
The latest rescues included one from a crumbled building in Adiyaman province and two others from a destroyed building in central Kahramanmaras, near the epicenter.
Turkish television broadcast scenes of the rescues, but experts warned the window is closing for finding more people alive in what remains of collapsed buildings after so much time.
Turkish residents in Samandag in Hatay province, complained the government has not done enough in the search for survivors.
One earthquake survivor told VOA’s Turkish service that everything is being done through volunteers and community efforts, not by the government.
“We rescued a lady and her baby from under the rubble. Alive. With our own efforts. With our own sledgehammers, with our hammers. I had many friends with me. This is not acceptable,” the survivor said.
Another said, “Volunteers are working here, day and night, nonstop. They don’t even eat. They don’t even come down to drink water. AFAD (Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority) came to save us supposedly. The team came here to work on detecting. They just came and left. They said, ‘There was nothing here,’ and turned back and left.”
Turkish authorities have reported at least 31,643 deaths from the massive earthquake centered in the Gaziantep region.
Across the border in northern Syria, the United Nations humanitarian office said Monday the death toll there had topped 4,300, with another 7,600 injured.
The VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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3 Downed Objects Still Unrecovered, Says US Military
The United States said Monday it does not know the origin of the three high-altitude objects it shot down over the past few days as they drifted in the winds over North America.
The government said it does not believe the objects were surveillance aircraft, though it is leaving open the possibility that they may be.
“They didn’t have propulsion,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House. “They were not being maneuvered. They didn’t have surveillance [capability], but we couldn’t rule it out.”
“We’re sort of in uncharted territory here,” Kirby said.
He said parts of all three objects fell “in remote, difficult places to reach” — ice off the coast of the far northwestern U.S. state of Alaska, the Yukon territory of northwestern Canada and the depths of Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. personnel have not yet recovered any debris from the three objects.
Austin told reporters Monday in Brussels, where he is scheduled to meet with NATO defense ministers this week, that weather is hampering recovery efforts in Alaska while the remote terrain in Canada is affecting the search there.
He said the priority for the Pentagon is “debris recovery so that we can get a better sense of what these objects are.”
Kirby declined to refer to any of the three airborne objects as balloons.
“We don’t know who owns them,” he said, in contrast to the Chinese spy balloon the U.S. shot down February 4 over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of the southern state of South Carolina after it traversed the U.S. mainland for eight days.
China is continuing to claim the balloon was an errant weather-monitoring aircraft that drifted off course. But U.S. officials say the parts they have recovered from the ocean floor show the balloon was on a surveillance mission.
The U.S. military’s Northern Command said in a statement Monday that crews had recovered “significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.”
Kirby said President Joe Biden “has made this a very top priority,” to determine the ownership and origin of the three objects downed by U.S. fighter pilots, either on his orders, or in the case of the one that landed in the Yukon, in consultation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The spokesperson said the three objects were shot down because they posed a “very real” threat to civilian aviation, with the objects near Alaska and over the Yukon territory drifting about 12,000 meters above the Earth and the one over Lake Huron at half that height.
After the Chinese balloon was discovered, Kirby said U.S. radar has been recalibrated to look for more objects.
“One of the reasons we’re seeing more is we’re looking for more,” he said.
Earlier, Kirby vehemently rejected Beijing’s accusation Monday that the U.S. had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons over China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, at a daily briefing, said, “It is also common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries. Since last year, U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China’s airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities.”
He said the United States should “first reflect on itself and change course rather than smear and instigate a confrontation.”
“Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true,” Kirby told the U.S.-based cable news network MSNBC. “We’re not flying balloons over China.”
Both countries deploy spy satellites, but after Wang accused the United States of flying balloons over China, he offered no details about how they had been dealt with or whether they had alleged links to the U.S. government.
The United States said Monday it has also spotted Chinese balloons flying through the Middle East. But Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, commander of the U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said, “They’ve not been a threat. They’ve flown through a few times since I’ve been in command but nothing that I would be concerned about in any way.”
Following the balloon incident, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing that potentially could have eased relations between the two countries and disagreements over Taiwan, trade, human rights and Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.
VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin and Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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At Least 3 Killed in Michigan State Shootings
A series of shootings late Monday at Michigan State University left at least three people dead and five others injured.
Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department, told reporters early Tuesday the injured were all hospitalized in critical condition.
Rozman said the suspected shooter was a 43-year-old male who was later found dead outside of the campus with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and that he had been “confronted by law enforcement.”
Rozman said the suspect was not affiliated in any way with the university.
“We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight. That is part of our ongoing investigation,” he said.
The shootings began at an academic building and continued a short time later with more shots fired at the nearby student union, prompting authorities to order those on campus to shelter in place.
“Our campus grieves,” Teresa Woodruff, the university’s interim president, told reporters. “We will all grieve, and we will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.”
The university canceled all campus activities for 48 hours.
Michigan State has about 50,000 students at its campus in East Lansing, located 145 kilometers northwest of Detroit.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Injuries Reported in Michigan State Shootings
Police at Michigan State University searched Monday for a suspect in a series of shootings at the school’s campus.
University police tweeted that shots were fired near the Berkey Hall academic building and the IM East athletic facility.
Authorities said there were multiple reported injuries and issued orders for people to shelter in place.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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White House: Don’t Panic, Downed UFOs are Not Aliens
Less than a week after the U.S. downed what officials say was a Chinese surveillance balloon, the U.S. military shot down three more flying objects of unknown origin. Chinese officials say they can’t say whether the newly downed objects are theirs but say the U.S. is overreacting. As Washington searches for answers, one thing is clear: China-U.S. relations have taken a hit. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
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Somali Journalist Freed in Surprise Move Hours After Conviction
A Somali journalist said he had been freed from jail Monday just hours after a court handed down a two-month sentence on security charges, a case widely criticized by rights campaigners and media advocacy groups.
Abdalle Ahmed Mumin was arrested in October last year after the government announced a crackdown on media outlets that publish what it deems propaganda for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.
The court sentenced Mumin to two months in prison but in a surprise move he was released shortly after the ruling, having already spent around five months in jail.
“When I was taken to Mogadishu central prison, officers refused to jail me granting my immediate freedom,” he said on Twitter.
“I went straight to my office to conduct my daily routine. I will continue to be on the forefront of defending press freedom and human rights in Somalia,” he added.
Mumin is the secretary-general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), which had vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it “a pure travesty of justice.”
In a text message sent to AFP, SJS president Mohamed Ibrahim said: “This afternoon Abdalle has been released by the prison chief, saying that he has already served this sentence despite the verdict.”
Ahead of the sentencing, rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Press Institute had called for the charges to be dropped, saying Mumin faced ongoing threats and persecution by Somali authorities for advocating the right to freedom of expression.
“Continuing his prosecution not only casts a chilling effect on media freedom and journalism, but it also significantly contributes to the closing civic space in the country,” they said in a joint letter to Somalia’s attorney general in December.
The SJS and four other media advocacy groups had protested the government’s security directive, warning it clamped down on free speech.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, ranks Somalia 140th out of 180 countries on its global list of press freedom, with more than 50 journalists killed in the country since 2010.
The nation of 17 million people is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa, according to RSF.
The main threat is from al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab fighters who are trying to overthrow the internationally backed government in Mogadishu, though Somali authorities are also accused of numerous violations.
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Kenya’s Big Flower Farms Shift to Solar Power
Valentine’s Day is the busiest time of year for the flower industry in Kenya, the fourth largest exporter of cut flowers in the world. Kenya’s rose and carnation producers are also showing love to Mother Earth, by shifting to solar power to fight climate change. Juma Majanga reports from Nakuru, Kenya.
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Moldovan Leader Outlines Russian ‘Plan’ to Topple Government
Moldova’s president outlined Monday what she described as a plot by Moscow to overthrow her country’s government using external saboteurs, put the nation “at the disposal of Russia” and derail its aspirations to one day join the European Union.
President Maia Sandu’s briefing comes a week after neighboring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova, claims that were later confirmed by Moldovan intelligence officials.
“The plan for the next period involves actions with the involvement of diversionists with military training, camouflaged in civilian clothes, who will undertake violent actions, attack some state buildings, and even take hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a briefing.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners. Last June, it was granted EU candidate status, the same day as Ukraine.
Sandu said the alleged Russian plot’s purpose is “to overthrow the constitutional order, to change the legitimate power from [Moldova’s capital] Chisinau to an illegitimate one,” which she said “would put our country at the disposal of Russia, in order to stop the European integration process.”
She defiantly vowed, “The Kremlin’s attempts to bring violence to our country will not succeed.”
There was no immediate reaction from Russian officials to Sandu’s claims.
Sandu said that between October and December, Moldovan police and its Intelligence and Security Service, the SIS, have intervened in “several cases of organized criminal elements and stopped attempts at violence.”
Over the past year, non-NATO member Moldova has faced a string of problems. These include a severe energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced gas supplies; skyrocketing inflation; and several incidents in recent months involving missiles that have traversed its skies, and debris that has been found on its territory.
Moldovan authorities confirmed that another missile from the war in Ukraine had entered its airspace on Friday.
Last April, tensions in Moldova also soared after a series of explosions in Transnistria — a Russia-backed separatist region of Moldova where Russia bases about 1,500 troops — which had raised fears it could get dragged into Russia’s war in Ukraine. Transnistria has a population of about 470,000 and has been under the control of separatist authorities since a civil war in 1992.
Sandu claimed that Russia wants to use Moldova in the war against Ukraine, without providing more details, and that information obtained by intelligence services contained what she described as instructions on rules of entry to Moldova for citizens from Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro.
“I assure you that the state institutions are working to prevent these challenges and keep the situation under control,” Sandu said.
She said that Moldova’s Parliament must adopt draft laws to equip its Intelligence and Security Service, and the prosecutor’s office, “with the necessary tools to combat more effectively the risks to the country’s security.”
Costin Ciobanu, a political scientist at the Royal Holloway University of London, said it’s likely there “was a huge pressure” on Moldovan authorities to explain more to the public after Zelenskyy first went public with the security information last week in Brussels.
“Today’s announcement by President Sandu legitimizes the narrative that Moldova needs to focus on its security,” he told The Associated Press. “Probably, based on the evidence they received, they are now more sure of these kinds of attempts by [the] Russians.”
He added that Sandu going public could also be a preemptive bid to thwart “Russia’s attempts to destabilize Moldova,” in the same way Western officials called out the Kremlin’s war plans before its invasion of Ukraine.
The president added that the plan would “rely on several internal forces, but especially on criminal groups,” and went on to name two Moldovan oligarchs, Ilan Shor and Vladimir Plahotniuc, both of whom are currently in exile. Both men last year were sanctioned by the U.S. and the U.K.
Last fall, a series of mass anti-government protests organized by Shor’s populist, Russia-friendly Shor Party, also rocked Moldova amid the energy crunch.
The president’s press briefing on Monday comes after the surprise resignation on Friday of Moldova’s Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita. The same day, Sandu appointed her defense and security adviser, pro-Western economist Dorin Recean, to succeed Gavrilita.
On Friday, after Moldovan authorities confirmed the missile incident, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington that “Russia has for years supported influence and destabilization campaigns in Moldova, which often involve weaponizing corruption to further its goals.”
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Russia Wages New Offensive Against Ukraine
The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Monday endured heavy artillery fire. The Ukrainian military reported Russian shelling all along the front line and said 16 settlements had been bombarded near Bakhmut.
Ukrainian fighters, who have already held out there for months, are bracing for new ground attacks, Ukrainian military officials said.
Bakhmut is a prime objective for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and its capture would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and a rare victory after several months of setbacks. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the Donbas, Ukraine’s industrial heartland now partially occupied by Russia, which wants full control.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said a new major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has already begun as the anniversary of Russia’s February 24 invasion approaches.
“It is clear that we are in a race of logistics,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. “Key capabilities like ammunition, fuel and spare parts must reach Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield. Speed will save lives,” he stressed.
Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s use of ammunition in the war against Russia is outstripping supply and that the alliance needs to increase production to meet Ukraine’s needs.
The NATO chief made these comments one day before the ninth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, known informally as the Ramstein summit, set to take place in the Belgian capital.
NATO’s call for an increase in ammunition production is expected to dominate the discussions on Tuesday. Stoltenberg said the contentious issue of providing modern combat aircraft to Ukraine would be discussed, as well.
The Russian assault on Bakhmut has been headed by mercenaries of the Wagner paramilitary group. The renewed Russian shelling has made the situation even more tense.
“The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka, are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” said Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion.
The head of the Wagner Group claimed Sunday to have taken control of Krasna Hora, a village a few kilometers north of Bakhmut.
Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, denied Russian claims that Krasna Hora had been captured.
“There are ongoing battles there,” Cherevatyi said. “We are keeping it under our control,” he told CNN. “We have the ability to supply weapons, food, equipment, medicines, and to evacuate the wounded from there,” he added.
A report by Britain’s Ministry of Defense says that as of February 7, Russia had likely further strengthened defense fortifications in the central part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in particular near the town of Tarasivka.
Russian forces have also established defensive fortifications between the towns of Vasylivka and Orihiv in the same region as of January 8.
Russia has “highly likely” restarted major offensive operations in Ukraine aiming to capture the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk Oblast.
Russia’s front line in Ukraine is approximately 1,288 kilometers, with the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast front line amounting to 192 kilometers, the report adds.
A significant breakthrough by Ukrainian troops in Zaporizhzhia Oblast would “seriously challenge” the viability of the Russian “land bridge” connecting its Rostov region and occupied Crimea, the ministry wrote in its latest intelligence update.
Wagner’s private army is pushing hard to give Russia battlefield wins in Ukraine, but mounting evidence suggests the Kremlin has moved to curb what it sees as the excessive political clout of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group.
Recently, Prigozhin, a 61-year-old ex-convict, grabbed headlines over his bloody role in Ukraine. Wagner has openly criticized Russia’s top military brass and tried to win the Kremlin’s favor through his group’s battlefield success.
Prigozhin’s public prominence has created speculation among analysts that he is eyeing an official role in politics.
There is growing evidence though, that the Kremlin has moved to nip such speculation in the bud, ordering Prigozhin to halt public criticism of the Defense Ministry while advising state media to stop mentioning him or Wagner by name.
“The position of the [Kremlin] political bloc is not to let him into politics. They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person,” Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser who remains close to the authorities, told the Reuters news agency.
Prigozhin confirmed last week he had also been stripped of the right to recruit convicts from prisons — a key element of his growing political influence and one which had bolstered his forces to make small but steady gains in eastern Ukraine.
Moldova coup attempt
The president of Moldova accused Russia on Monday of planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her leadership and break Moldova’s path to Europe. Moldova has been granted candidate status in the European Union. Moldova’s breakaway region, Transnistria, has survived for three decades with support from Moscow.
President Maia Sandu made her comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that his country had uncovered a Russian intelligence plan “for the destruction of Moldova.” Days later, the government of the country, which borders Ukraine and Romania, resigned.
Responding to reporters during the White House briefing on Monday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S government is concerned over reports of Russia’s attempts to influence the pro-European government of Moldova.
“We absolutely stand with the modern Moldovan government and the Moldovan people,” he said.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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German Ballet Director Suspended Over Feces Attack on Critic
A German newspaper critic had animal feces smeared on her face in the city of Hannover by a ballet director who apparently took offense at a review she wrote.
The Hannover state opera house apologized for the incident and said Monday that it was immediately suspending ballet director Marco Goecke.
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a furious Goecke approached its dance critic, Wiebke Huester, during the interval of a premiere at Hannover’s opera house on Saturday and asked what she was doing there. It said that the two didn’t know each other personally.
The newspaper said that Goecke, who apparently felt provoked by a recent review she wrote of a production he staged in the Dutch seat of government, The Hague, threatened to ban her from the ballet and accused her of being responsible for people canceling season tickets in Hannover.
He then pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and smeared her face with the contents before making off through a packed theater foyer, the newspaper said. Huester identified the substance as dog feces and said she had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.
In a statement on its website, the opera house said Huester’s “personal integrity” was violated “in an unspeakable way.” It said that it contacted her immediately after the incident to apologize.
The opera house said that Goecke’s “impulsive reaction” violated the ground rules of the theater and that “he caused massive damage to the Hannover State Opera and State Ballet.” As a result, it said, he is being suspended and banned from the opera house until further notice.
Goecke has been given the next few days to apologize “comprehensively” and explain himself to theater management “before further steps are announced,” it added.
The ballet director appeared at least partly unrepentant, however. In an interview with public broadcaster NDR, Goecke acknowledged that his “choice of means wasn’t super, absolutely.”
“Of course, socially that is also certainly not recognized or respected, if one resorts to such means,” he said of the attack, adding that he had never done anything like that before and was “a bit shocked at myself.”
Goecke said that while having his work “soiled for years” was a price he had been told he had to pay for being in the public eye, there was a limit.
“Once a certain point has been reached, I disagree,” he said.
The German journalists’ association DJV denounced the attack.
“An artist must tolerate criticism, even if it seems exaggerated,” the union’s regional head in Lower Saxony state, Frank Rieger, said. “Whoever reacts violently to criticism is unacceptable. The attack on the … journalist is also an attack on press freedom.”
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Biden Fires Architect of the Capitol Over Alleged Abuses
Report says Brett Blandon misused his government vehicle and misrepresented himself as a law enforcement official
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Calls Grow for Broader Access to Quake Areas of Northwest Syria
The U.N. Security Council will this week consider whether to authorize the opening of additional border crossings into northwest Syria in order to speed humanitarian assistance to earthquake victims there.
“People in the affected areas are counting on us,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Sunday. “They are appealing to our common humanity to help in their moment of need. We cannot let them down — we must vote immediately on a resolution to heed the U.N.’s call for authorization of additional border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. We have the power to act. It’s time to move with urgency and purpose.”
The U.N. has come under criticism from many quarters for the slow response to people inside Syria, particularly in the northern areas which are outside government control and difficult to access.
U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths acknowledged the difficulties Sunday in a tweet.
The first aid convoy crossed into northwest Syria on February 9, after the road from the U.N.’s transshipment hub at Gaziantep in Turkey was cleared of rubble. In total since the quake, the U.N. says 58 trucks have crossed into northwest Syria from the hub in Turkey, carrying mainly shelter and non-food items. That included six trucks on Monday.
Griffiths visited quake-affected areas of Turkey in the past few days, including Kahramanmaras, the earthquake’s epicenter in southern Turkey. On Monday he was in the Syrian city of Aleppo where he spoke to reporters.
“I’ve come from Türkiye and seen devastating scenes,” he said, using Turkey’s official name. “I had hoped that Aleppo, being farther from the earthquakes, would have suffered less, but it hasn’t. Aleppo’s pain is visible to all.”
The U.N. humanitarian chief then went to Damascus, where he met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other officials.
“President al-Assad affirmed the need for bringing in the urgent aid to all areas in Syria including those that are subjected to occupation and the dominance of the armed terrorist groups,” the official Syrian news agency SANA said about the meeting.
The U.N. humanitarian chief plans to launch flash appeals this week to fund quake-related humanitarian operations in both countries for the next three months.
“What we’ve seen happening in these zones of the earthquake is that the rescue phase is dragging live people out from the rubble, and finding those who have died in the rubble, that’s coming to a close. And now the humanitarian phase, the urgency of providing shelter, psychosocial care, food, schooling, and a sense of the future for these people, that’s our obligation now,” Griffiths said in Aleppo.
He said he will brief U.N. Security Council members in a private meeting Monday from the field. On Sunday, Griffiths said more access points are needed to get more aid out fast. That would require the council to adopt a resolution authorizing them.
“We need to be briefed, we need to be informed, for us to be able to take a decision to move forward,” council president Maltese Ambassador Vanessa Frazier told reporters Monday ahead of the meeting. “This couldn’t be done just because we see on the news what is going on.”
Difficulties
Beginning in 2014, the 15-nation council has authorized the use of border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan into Syria to assist millions of people in hard-to-reach areas of the country due to the civil war.
But since 2019, Russia has used or threaten to use its veto to shut the Iraqi and Jordanian crossings, as well as a Turkish one. What remains is a single crossing, Bab al-Hawa, which before the February 6 earthquakes saw between 500 and 600 trucks loaded with aid pass monthly from Turkey. That vital aid reaches 2.4 million Syrians each month.
Hours after the earthquakes on February 6, Syria’s U.N. ambassador appealed for international assistance for his country, adding there is “access from inside Syria.” Bassam al-Sabbagh said donors should coordinate with Damascus.
The Assad government prefers to be the conduit for aid and for it to be distributed across conflict front lines. But many guarantees are needed to carry out these missions and they are much less frequent than cross-border operations. The U.N. says both methods should be used to get the most aid to the most people.
U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Monday. Pedersen said after the meeting that the issue of getting aid into the northwest “is now being corrected” and he also appealed for humanitarians to be able to utilize both cross-border and crossline options.
Since the earthquake one week ago, the U.N. has not been able to get any aid moving across front lines, although it is working on it.
“We’ve had positive discussions with the government; it’s given us some assurances,” said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “We are waiting for all parties to give us those greenlights.”
Dujarric said the U.N. is working on all fronts to quickly get more aid flowing across Syria.
“The secretary-general’s message is clear: We need to ensure that every pathway to bringing more aid into Syria, including the northwest, is open and used freely – free of any restrictions,” Dujarric said. “And for that, we need all parties to put any politics aside.”
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Judge to Release Parts of Georgia Special Grand Jury Report
A Georgia judge on Monday ordered the partial release later this week of a special grand jury report into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as a section in which the grand jurors expressed concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath, will be released on Thursday, said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
Any recommendations on who should or should not be prosecuted will remain secret for now to protect their due process rights, McBurney wrote.
McBurney’s order came three weeks after hearing arguments from prosecutors, who urged the report be kept secret until they decide on charges, and a coalition of media organizations, which pressed for its release.
The release is a significant development in one of several cases that threaten legal jeopardy for the former president as he ramps up a 2024 White House campaign. The special grand jury spent about seven months hearing testimony from witnesses including high-profile Trump allies, such as attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and high-ranking Georgia officials, such as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp.
McBurney wrote that the report includes recommendations for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, including “a roster of who should [or should not] be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct [and aftermath] of the 2020 general election in Georgia.” The special grand jury did not have the power to issue indictments, and it will ultimately be up to Willis to decide whether to seek indictments from a regular grand jury.
The special grand jury’s final report was requested by Willis and is meant to inform her investigative decision-making process, McBurney wrote, adding that the panel’s investigation was largely controlled by the district attorney and her team and was “a one-sided exploration.”
There was “very limited due process” for people for whom the grand jurors recommended charges, McBurney wrote. Some may not have had the opportunity to appear before the panel, and those who did appear did not have the right to have their lawyers present or to offer any rebuttal.
For that reason, the judge concluded, it is not appropriate to release the full report at this time.
It is not clear if or when Willis will present the case to a regular grand jury with the purpose of getting one or more indictments. At a Jan. 24 hearing, she said decisions are “imminent” but did not elaborate.
Trump told The Associated Press last month that he did “absolutely nothing wrong.” He said he felt “very confident” that he wouldn’t be indicted.
At the January hearing, Willis had argued against the immediate release of the report, saying it could violate the rights of potential defendants and negatively affect the ability to prosecute those who may be charged with crimes.
“We want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and we think for future defendants to be treated fairly, it is not appropriate at this time to have this report released,” Willis said during the hearing.
A group of news organizations, including the AP, argued in favor of releasing the report immediately in full, saying that public interest in the report is “extraordinary.”
“The discomfort of the prosecuting authority in disclosing court records isn’t enough to make them sealed,” said attorney Tom Clyde, representing the media. “It has to be significant, identifiable evidence that’s going to cause a problem.”
Willis said in an emailed statement Monday that she believes McBurney’s order is “legally sound and consistent with my request” and that she has no plans to appeal. Clyde declined to comment.
Willis and her team began investigating two years ago, shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In that conversation, the then-president suggested that Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, could “find” the votes needed to overturn Trump’s narrow election loss in the state to Biden, a Democrat.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said on the call.
Since then, the investigation’s scope has broadened considerably. The special grand jury operated behind closed doors, as required by law, but public court filings and hearings related to its work provided a window into some of the topics Willis was exploring. Those included:
— Phone calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials in the wake of the 2020 election.
— A group of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
— False allegations of election fraud made during meetings of state legislators at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020.
— The copying of data and software from election equipment in rural Coffee County by a computer forensics team hired by Trump allies.
— Alleged attempts to pressure Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman into falsely confessing to election fraud.
— The abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in January 2021.
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