Month: March 2023

France’s Macron Promises $53M to New Forest Protection Plan

Posted on by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron promised $52.9 million (50 million euros) to a new global scheme to reward countries for protecting their forests and biodiversity on Thursday as he called for more concrete action on global climate commitments.

The pledge was announced at the end of the two-day One Forest Summit in Gabon that aimed to assess progress made since last year’s COP27 climate conference and renew targets for the preservation and sustainable management of the world’s forests.

“We understood the need to have cash on the table and concrete actions,” Macron said in a speech on the first full day of a four-nation Africa tour.

The funding from France is part of a joint $106 million (100 million euro) commitment to kickstart a mechanism that aims to reward countries that are scientifically proven to have protected their forests or restored them.

Macron said the scheme would be underpinned by research to improve the understanding of forests’ value by mapping carbon reserves, biodiversity and levels of carbon sequestration in the Amazon, Africa and Asia.

How Central African countries such as Gabon manage their share of the world’s second-largest rainforest is critical. The so-called lungs of Africa store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon, help regulate temperatures, and generate rain for millions in the arid Sahel and distant Ethiopian highlands.

Macron said the new mechanism would address a current issue with carbon credit schemes where countries like Gabon with relatively untouched forests are not compensated as well as deforested countries that are planting new trees.

“It’s a bit absurd,” he said.

Macron earlier visited a rainforest on the outskirts of the Gabonese capital, where he strolled among towering trees and sampled a kola nut. He has said he wants to avoid politics during the Africa tour, which includes his first-time visits as president to Angola, Congo and Republic of Congo.

Closing the summit, Gabonese President Ali Bongo expressed satisfaction with its outcome and the outlook for the next climate conference.

“We have put in place a sound plan that will make COP28 the success we wanted it to be.”
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China Slams US Plans to Sell Missiles to Taiwan

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China is slamming a decision by the Biden administration to approve a $619 million potential arms sale to Taiwan that includes hundreds of missiles for F-16 fighter jets. Tensions are high between Washington and Beijing, amid Western fears that Beijing may supply weapons to help Russia win its war in Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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Survey: US Companies in China No Longer See It as Primary Investment Destination 

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U.S. companies no longer regard China as the primary investment destination it once was, according to an annual survey of American businesspeople operating there who, for the first time in 25 years, no longer see China as a top-three market.

Most of those surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) say they are pessimistic, given 2022 revenue and profits, China’s economy, the overall outlook for investment and business environment, and the future of U.S.-China relations.

According to the 2023 China Business Climate Survey, released Wednesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), only 45% of the surveyed American companies regard China as their primary or among their top three investment destinations, which is the largest drop in the survey’s 25-year history.

Michael Hart, president of AmCham China, said Wednesday at a news conference, “A year ago, 60% of people said China was either their top priority or their top-three priority. And this year, that’s fallen to 45%.”

The survey was conducted from October 16 to November 16 last year, before Beijing lifted its draconian zero-COVID policy, but AmCham China conducted a flash survey in February to monitor changes as China emerged from lockdowns and other controls.

A request for comment emailed by VOA to the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not answered in time for publication.

Factors affecting plans

Executives from 319 American multinational companies participated in the survey, accounting for about 47% of the total member companies of AmCham China. Of the respondents, 55% reported no plans to expand or decrease investment in China operations in 2023.

The factors coloring the survey results include the impact of the three-year pandemic and severe lockdown, the difficulty of business travel for Americans, the challenge of supply chain disruption, and the overall downturn in the business atmosphere, according to Hart.

Affected by the zero-COVID lockdowns, 68% of the American companies participating in the survey predicted that their company’s revenue in 2022 may be flat or lower than that in 2020. COVID was first reported in humans in late 2019 in Wuhan, China.

Hart said that in order to diversify risks, most of the member companies have begun to invest in other countries and establish alternative production lines. Their overall confidence in China has begun to decline, especially after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last year. That’s when the Chinese government discussed establishing state-controlled companies in various industries, making 65% of the American businesspeople question China’s commitment to continued foreign investment.

Of the AmCham China members surveyed, 49% said they feel less welcome than a year ago; that rises to 56% in the consumer sector.

However, when asked if they planned to withdraw from China, as many as 74% of the American companies said they would not consider relocating manufacturing or sourcing outside China, compared with 12% who had begun moving their businesses out of China, and another 12% who remained on the fence.

Warning sign

According to AmCham China’s survey, the increasing number of companies that are relocating or considering relocation is a warning sign worth watching.

Colm Rafferty, chairman of AmCham China, called on the U.S. and Chinese governments to face up to the challenges the foreign business community is encountering. He addressed a news conference Wednesday through a prerecorded video.

Rafferty said, “Last year was particularly challenging for our member companies, as they dealt with China’s economic slowdown, zero-COVID control measures, and ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with various new U.S. and China-related regulations.”

According to the survey, the increasingly tense U.S.-China relations topped the challenges facing U.S. businesspeople in China for three consecutive years, far ahead of COVID-19 prevention measures, inconsistent regulatory interpretation and unclear laws and enforcement, rising labor costs and regulatory compliance risks.

Moreover, American businesspeople are pessimistic about the future trend of U.S.-China relations. Forty-six percent of those surveyed believe that the relationship between the two countries will continue to deteriorate, and as many as 72% have felt political pressure from the governments of the two countries, asking them to violate commercial operations and occasionally make political statements.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have affected the hiring progress of U.S. companies for the first time. The survey found that 51% of members reported qualified employees are unwilling to relocate to China. This may also be related to China’s strict pandemic prevention measures.

Wang Zhangcheng, professor of human resources management at Guangzhou City University of Technology, told VOA Mandarin that the tensions in U.S.-China relations may affect the employment choices of Chinese employees, but that most workers will make employment choices without considering U.S.-China relations.

He said a small number of Chinese workers may refuse to work for foreign companies or use foreign products because they see patriotism trumping livelihood.

 

Geopolitical effects

He Jiangbing, a Chinese economist in Hubei province in central China, told VOA Mandarin that the survey results reflect geopolitics such as the war in Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan.

He said that China’s tightening control of foreign and private enterprises is not conducive to attracting investment. He predicts the pace of economic decoupling between the United States and China may accelerate in the future.

“Overall, the business environment will deteriorate in the future, and it will not improve,” he said. “I personally predict that this trend will not be reversed within five to 10 years.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Nigeria’s Opposition Parties Vow to Challenge Election Results

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Nigeria’s electoral commission has declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner of last Saturday’s presidential election. However, the two major opposition parties say the results were rigged and have vowed to challenge the results in court. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.
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Trump Can Be Sued for January 6 Riot Injuries, Justice Department Says

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Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability and the limits of executive power.

Although a president enjoys broad legal latitude to communicate to the public on matters of concern, the department wrote that “no part of a President’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence. By definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties.”

The brief was filed by lawyers of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by a department special counsel into whether Trump can be criminally charged over efforts to undo President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol riot.

In fact, the lawyers note that they are not taking a position with respect to potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.

The Justice Department lawyers also wrote that they take no view on a lower court judge’s conclusion that those who sued Trump have “plausibly” alleged that his speech caused the riot.

Nevertheless, the department wrote that an appeals court should reject Trump’s claim of absolute immunity.

An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney for Trump on Thursday. Trump’s lawyers have argued he was acting within his official rights and had no intention to spark violence when he called on thousands of supporters to “march to the Capitol” and “fight like hell” before the riot erupted.

The case is among many legal woes facing Trump as he mounts another bid for the White House in 2024.

A prosecutor in Georgia has been investigating whether Trump and his allies broke the law as they tried to overturn his election defeat in that state. Trump is also under federal criminal investigation over top secret documents found at his Florida estate.

In the separate investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the election results, special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence, who has said he will fight the subpoena.

Trump is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Washington, who last year rejected efforts by the former president to toss out the conspiracy civil lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trump’s words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”

The lawsuits, filed by Representative Eric Swalwell, officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and later joined by other House Democrats, argue that Trump and others made “false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendant’s express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.”

The suits cite a federal civil rights law that was enacted to counter the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of officials. They describe in detail how Trump and others spread baseless claims of election fraud, both before and after the 2020 presidential election was declared, and charge that they helped to rile up the thousands of rioters before they stormed the Capitol.

The lawsuits seek damages for the physical and emotional injuries the plaintiffs sustained during the insurrection.

In its filing, the Justice Department cautioned that the “court must take care not to adopt rules that would unduly chill legitimate presidential communication” or saddle a president with meritless lawsuits.

“In exercising their traditional communicative functions, Presidents routinely address controversial issues that are the subject of passionate feelings,” the department wrote. “Presidents may at times use strong rhetoric. And some who hear that rhetoric may overreact, or even respond with violence.”
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Myanmar Diaspora in US Calling for No-Fly Zone Over Myanmar

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Burmese ethnic groups in the United States urged the Biden government to establish a no-fly zone over Myanmar and to impose jet fuel sanctions on the country’s military junta.

A group consisting of several different ethnic groups, Buddhist monks, and young activists from different states across the U.S. came to Washington recently to participate in a march on the White House. Activists demanded an end to the Myanmar junta’s airstrikes on its own citizens.

“We’re saying to the American people, and particularly to President [Joe] Biden, that the people of Burma [Myanmar] need help because every single day, the junta in Burma is killing our people through airstrikes,” said Peter Thawnghmung, president of the Chin Community of Indiana, a non-profit group based in Indianapolis.

Thawnghmung said the U.S. can help by urging Myanmar’s southeast Asia neighbors to establish a no-fly zone over the country.

“We’re here to plead with the government,” said Thawnghmung. “Please don’t ignore us. Help us. We need your help right away. Also, we ask you to influence other organizations like the U.N. to help impose a no-fly zone in the area. The U.S. is the country that can most help us to make this happen.”

Junta airstrikes

Myanmar Witness, a human rights group, recently reported the Myanmar military was increasing the air attacks with deadly results to try to crush stiff-armed resistance two years after it seized power.

According to the report, the number of airstrikes has been increasing since September, with 135 “airway incidents” from July to mid-December.

The rights group said, “As the Myanmar military struggles to exert control over areas of resistance, airstrikes have become a key part of their offensive.”

In a February press statement, Forces of Renewal for Southeast Asia — also known as FORSEA — said, “The Myanmar coup leader Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing’s use of violent attacks from the air perfectly fits the definition of “domestic terrorism” developed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

FORSEA is a non-profit organization and was formed by Southeast Asian democrats and rights campaigners. The group also said, “The Myanmar junta has been deploying its Air Force fighter jets and gunship helicopters to deliberately strike ‘soft targets’ in the conflict regions of the country” after a February 2021 coup saw the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

A BBC analysis of data collected by ACLED, a non-governmental organization that monitors conflicts, shows at least 600 air attacks by the junta from February 2021 to January 2023.

Dilemma for the US

In a January interview with VOA, Derek Chollet, a senior adviser to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said no-fly zones are “not something we are considering now. What we’re trying to find is a way that we can peacefully resolve the situation inside Burma.”

M Tu Aung, a leader of the American-Kachin community in the Washington metropolitan area, said protesters can put pressure on the U.S. to work with its allies.

“We have been asking the U.S. government and the international community including the U.N. for no-fly zones over Myanmar since 2021. There is still no pressure from the U.S. government side. Although it is unlikely to happen with China, but if the U.S. put pressure and cooperated with its close allies such as Thailand, Bangladesh and India, it would be much more effective,” M Tu Aung told VOA.

Solidarity with Myanmar people

The “multi-ethnic march” on February 25 was aimed at showing “the role of the ethnic groups who have been fighting for decades against the military dictatorship, and achieving a federal democratic system is very important. Also, it is to prove that all ethnic groups [in Myanmar] are united in this fight,” he said.

After gathering in front of the State Department and marching to the White House, the protesters then demonstrated in front of the military attache of the Myanmar junta on February 25. The crowd shouted, “End deadly air strikes in Myanmar,” and they sang revolutionary songs.

The protesters came from eight U.S. states, including neighboring Maryland and Virginia. Khin La May, a Burmese activist from Kentucky, told VOA, “We need to fulfill our duty to overthrow the military dictator in Myanmar. No matter how far away it is from my state, we were determined to participate in this important march here in D.C.”

She noted her appreciation for the inclusion of the Burma Act to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, saying she asked her U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell for its support.

The Burma Act, part of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, broadens the U.S. government’s authority to impose sanctions against the post-coup regime and to aid Myanmar opposition and resistance groups, including ethnic armed groups. The authorized aid does not include arms.

Fifty-four organizations representing multiple ethnicities in Myanmar from around the U.S. recently wrote an open letter to the Biden administration asking it to impose sanctions on the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, a state-owned company that serves as one of the junta’s main sources of income.
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Earthquake Deals Another Blow to Turkey’s Struggling Local Media

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Local journalists in southern Turkey have been torn between mourning their loved ones and reporting the scope of destruction in their cities.

On the night of the earthquake on February 6, Sinasi Inan, a reporter based in Sanliurfa for the Ihlas News Agency, rushed outside with his wife and children and went to an area with collapsed buildings to report the damage.

After finding a safe place to leave his immediate family — an expansive lot across from his father-in-law’s house — Inan went to his hometown of Adiyaman, where he discovered about 40 of his own relatives among the dead.

“We came to the region without fully experiencing the pain of losing our relatives, and we continue to do our job,” Inan told VOA, noting that the importance of reporting the story is a journalistic reflex.

Kadir Gunes, who is based in Gaziantep for the Demiroren News Agency, described the hardship in the first days of the earthquake as he and his family used their car for shelter like other survivors.

“I produced my stories in the car and slept in the car,” Gunes told VOA. “We usually hear about an incident first and go to the scene. This time, we experienced the incident ourselves.”

Gunes’ wife and 2-year-old son later went to stay with her family.

The 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes that jolted Turkey and Syria killed nearly 50,000 people. At least 26 local journalists in 10 Turkish provinces were among the victims.

Survival

As the reporters mourn their personal losses, they also think of the physical and mental impact the earthquake may have on Turkey’s media.

“It will be a long process for Hatay and its local media to recover from this, and it might take three or five years,” said Abdullah Temizyurek, owner of Hatay and Hatay Soz newspapers.” I do not know if those who live with this fear will return. But they must return. This is our homeland.”

Temizyurek noted that four people on his staff lost family members in the earthquake.

Since thousands of people have left Hatay, one of the worst-hit provinces in Turkey, Temizyurek believes local media must report on the aftermath, given that national and international media will eventually leave.

“I think we should continue to talk about Hatay. But everyone is in shock. I think we need to do our job and cover the news as much as possible,” Temizyurek said.

Challenges

According to a 2021 Media Research Association report, local newspapers in Turkey have struggled through an economic crisis, rising printing costs and a decline in ad revenue and subscriptions. The earthquakes provided new challenges to their survival.

Mustafa Gonuleri, owner of Kent Media in Hatay’s Iskenderun district, said he lost all of his video and audio equipment in the earthquake, destroying his business. He now worries about how he will support his family and keep his media outlet running.

“Even after a few months, if [local media outlets] ask for subscription or advertisement support from the shopkeepers, they would kick us out. Your shop is gone, maybe your employees are dead. A local journalist comes … and asks for your support. You would kick them out,” Gonuleri said.

There is no public data on the number of Turkish media outlets impacted by the earthquake. On February 23, Cavit Erkilinc, head of Turkey’s state-run Press Advertising Agency (BIK), announced that 130 local newspapers had been affected.

BIK offered a $42,370 relief package to local newspapers in the damaged provinces. The agency has also exempted the newspapers from having to meet minimum circulation numbers to receive public ad revenues. That exemption remains in effect until January 2024.

The earthquakes also silenced Diyarbakir-based Can Radio and TV for 24 days — the longest interruption Turkey’s first Kurdish-language media outlet experienced in 28 years. Twelve employees are now unemployed.

“There have been short interruptions because of the [government limitations on] Kurdish broadcasts [in the past], but this is the first time we have experienced such a long interruption,” Ahmet Dalgic, editor-in-chief of Can Radio and TV, told VOA.

He said the outlet would have to cease broadcasting if he could not retrieve equipment and archives from the heavily damaged complex where the radio and TV station is located.
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American Cindy McCain to Head UN World Food Program

Posted on by SeeEU

American Cindy McCain will take over as executive director of the United Nations World Food Program when current director David Beasley steps down next month.

“Ms. McCain, a champion for human rights, has a long history of giving a voice to the voiceless through her humanitarian and philanthropic work,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu in a statement announcing the appointment.

McCain is a prominent Republican Party member who is currently U.S. ambassador to United Nations agencies in Rome, which include the FAO, the WFP, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

She has been active in U.S. politics for decades as the wife of Arizona Senator John McCain, who died of brain cancer in August 2018. Since then, she has forged her own political profile, including backing Democrat Joe Biden in his presidential bid against then-incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in 2020.

Biden appointed McCain to the Rome post in November 2021. Typically, the White House is involved in nominating the U.S. candidate to head the WFP, which is often a U.S.-held post.

McCain has worked in philanthropy, starting the American Voluntary Medical Team in 1988, which provides emergency medical and surgical care to poor children across the world. She has also traveled in her personal capacity on behalf of the WFP, visiting mother and child feeding programs in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mammoth challenges

McCain, 68, takes over the agency at a time of unprecedented global need. The WFP says 349 million people across 79 countries are acutely food insecure. The agency is attempting to raise $23 billion this year to reach almost 150 million people worldwide.

In 2022, the WFP reached 160 million people with humanitarian assistance.

“McCain takes over as head of the World Food Program at a moment when the world confronts the most serious food security crisis in modern history and this leadership role has never been more important,” the president of the WFP’s executive board, Polish Ambassador Artur Andrzej Pollok, said in a statement. “We wish her well and can assure her she will have the full support of the Executive Board.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his congratulations and said Washington is “deeply invested” in the WFP’s continuing success.

“I am confident that she will bring renewed energy, optimism, and success to the World Food Program,” Blinken said of McCain.

The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, and the highest-ranking Democrat, Gregory Meeks, welcomed McCain’s appointment saying she is “an exceptionally qualified leader.”

“At a time when food insecurity and fuel costs are at an all-time high and there is soaring global hunger, the task of leading the World Food Program is more significant and consequential than ever,” they said in a joint statement.

Former leader warns against partisanship

The United States is the WFP’s largest contributor, providing about 40% of its budget or $7 billion in 2022, so McCain’s political clout will be an asset in securing funding.

But former U.S. ambassador Ertharin Cousin, who headed the WFP from 2012-2017 and is now CEO of the Chicago-based Food Systems for the Future, cautioned that McCain is serving as an international civil servant, not as member of the Republican Party.

“She must serve on a non-partisan basis in order to effectively support the work of the organization,” Cousin told VOA. “But having said that, of course, I am not naive that she will need to continue to work with both sides of the aisle in order to secure the commitment from the U.S. for the level of contribution that is required to meet the global food insecurity needs.”

Cousin also said it will be important for McCain to keep the organization fit for its purpose.

“You are stewards of taxpayers’ dollars from across the globe, and as a result you have a responsibility to make sure the organization remains the efficient behemoth that the world needs,” Cousin said.

Outgoing chief Beasley offered his congratulations on Twitter Wednesday, a day ahead of the official announcement.

Outgoing WFP leader praised

Beasley said in mid-December that he would be leaving in April. He has served as the food agency’s chief since 2017. In 2020, the World Food Program was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

Guterres and the FAO Director-General expressed deep appreciation for Beasley’s leadership.

“He has led WFP with a deep compassion for the world’s hungry and most vulnerable during what can only be described as unprecedented crises that severely impacted global food security,” Guterres and Qu said. “He has humanized for the world the women and children most affected by hunger and has used his powerful voice to bring awareness and substantial resources to one crisis after another.”

Beasley’s tenure has coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented droughts and floods in several developing countries, as well as a steady stream of conflicts, including Russia’s invasion last year of Ukraine.

Despite tremendous levels of fundraising, a number of the agency’s programs are hurting for cash and facing cutbacks as needs continue to rise.
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Robert Kennedy’s Assassin Gets Parole Rejected for 16th Time

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A California parole board has denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, who was found guilty of killing U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

It was the 17th parole hearing and 16th rejection for the 78-year-old Sirhan. While his lawyers argued he is no longer a threat to the public, the parole board Wednesday ruled he still was not suitable for release.  

In 2021, a parole board approved his parole, but the decision was overturned by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who argued Sirhan was not yet rehabilitated. His lawyers sued, saying the governor’s decision was illegal. The case is still pending. 

Kennedy, the former U.S. attorney general in his brother John F. Kennedy’s administration, had just finished a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in which he claimed victory in the California presidential primary. As he and his entourage were leaving, Sirhan, an Israeli-born Palestinian who emigrated to the United States from Jordan, shot him. He was arrested at the scene.

Sirhan later said he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel. Robert Kennedy’s death came five years after JFK’s.

Surviving members of his family are divided on parole for Sirhan. Kennedy’s widow, 94-year-old Ethel Kennedy, and six of their children oppose it, but two sons support the release.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Somalia’s Neighbors to Send Additional Troops to Fight Al-Shabab

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The three neighboring countries of Somalia are to send new troops to support Somali forces against al-Shabab in the next phase of military operations, the national security adviser for the Somali president said. 

In an interview with VOA’s Somali Service on Wednesday, Hussein Sheikh-Ali said Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya will be sending troops in addition to the soldiers they already have serving as part of the African Transitional Mission in Somalia, or ATMIS. He said the new troops will not be part of the ATMIS mission.

“It is their plan to be coming inside Somalia within eight weeks,” he said.

Ali declined to give specific number of the incoming troops, citing “operational purposes.”  

“Their role is to jointly plan and jointly operate under the command of the Somali security forces,” he said. “So, they will be fighting against al-Shabab alongside Somali forces. That is the plan.” 

The leaders of the three countries attended a summit hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on February 1 in Mogadishu. In a communique at the time, they said they have agreed to jointly plan and organize a robust operational campaign to “search and destroy” al-Shabab on multiple frontlines. 

“The time-sensitive campaign will prevent any future infiltrating elements into the wider region,” the communique read. 

Asked why the military operations against al-Shabab have paused recently, Ali said the government is concluding the first phase of the operations. 

“It is a calm before the storm,” he said. “We are preparing the second phase … and with the support of the extra non-ATMIS forces from our neighboring countries joining the fight, it is a planning time, that’s why it looks it is quiet.”   

He said the objective of the second phase is to be able to take over “every village and town” that al-Shabab is now controlling. 

Matt Bryden, a Horn of Africa regional security expert, said the intervention of additional, non-ATMIS forces “could certainly accelerate efforts to degrade and defeat” al-Shabab.

But, he added, “Since the FGS [Federal Government of Somalia] and partners have telegraphed their intentions, al-Shabab is likely to disperse its fighters and avoid direct military engagements as far as possible.” 

Bryden warned that the success of the second phase offensive will hinge on two key considerations. 

“First, planning,” he said. “Counterinsurgency operations should be intelligence-led, with clearly defined objectives such as dismantling specific al-Shabab bases and neutralizing high-value jihadist leaders.”  

The second factor is the availability of holding forces to secure newly recovered territory after the clearing forces have passed through, he said. 

“Recent FGS operations against al-Shabab in central Somalia have highlighted the absence of capable holding forces,” he added.

Arms embargo

Meanwhile, the Somali government has received a boost in its quest to have the decades-old weapons embargo lifted. 

This week, representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — five countries that provide security assistance to Somalia — met in Washington, D.C., with Somali officials.

In a statement, the countries said they are committed to supporting Somalia’s effort to meet benchmarks on weapons and ammunition management with a view to “fully lift” the arms embargo by the United Nations. 

Ali, who attended the meeting, said that to have the backing of the five countries was “significant.” 

“It was the first time that two Security Council members have openly came up supporting Somalia in lifting arms embargo,” he said. 

“And it’s a very promising five important countries with us to help achieve all the benchmarks that is required for Somalia to achieve before November this year, but also to lobby for Somalia politically within the Security Council.”

The U.N. weapons embargo was imposed in 1992 at the height of the civil war in Somalia. In 2013, the U.N. slightly eased the embargo allowing the government to buy light weapons. 

Bryden, who previously served as the coordinator for the United Nations Monitoring for Somalia, said lifting the embargo would not alter Somali government access to military hardware. 

“Because it is already exempt from many aspects of the embargo or is simply required to notify the U.N. Security Council of arms imports,” he said. 

“But since the FGS does not directly control any of Somalia’s land borders or its major ports, other than Mogadishu, lifting the embargo would potentially make it easier for non-state actors, as well as Somalia’s federal member states, to obtain arms and ammunition with no fear of consequences.”

Some might say that this is already the case, but it is hard to see how lifting the arms embargo would improve this situation, Bryden added. 

This week, the United States delivered the second shipment of weapons to Somalia this year. The 61 tons of AK-47, heavy machine guns, and ammunition arrived off two U.S. Airforce C-17 aircraft at Mogadishu airport.

On January 8, the U.S. announced the donation of $9 million of heavy weapons, equipment including support and construction vehicles, explosive ordinance disposal kits, medical supplies, and maintenance equipment for vehicles and weapons, according to the U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM.  
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California Names First Asian American Poet Laureate

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California has a new poet laureate. And for the first time, that state poet is Asian American. For VOA, Genia Dulot traveled to Fresno, California, to hear from Lee Herrick about his roots and his poetry
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Blinken, Lavrov Meet Briefly as US-Russia Tensions Soar

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked briefly Thursday at a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in the first high-level meeting in months between the two countries.

U.S. officials said Blinken and Lavrov chatted for roughly 10 minutes on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in New Delhi. The short encounter came as relations between Washington and Moscow have plummeted while tensions over Russia’s war with Ukraine have soared.

A senior U.S. official said Blinken used the discussion to make three points to Lavrov: that the U.S. would support Ukraine in the conflict for as long as it takes to bring the war to an end, that Russia should reverse its decision to suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty and that Moscow should release detained American Paul Whelan.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Blinken had “disabused” Lavrov of any idea they might have that U.S. support for Ukraine is wavering.

The official declined to characterize Lavrov’s response but said Blinken did not get the impression that there would be any change in Russia’s behavior in the near term.

Russia had no immediate comment on the substance of the conversation, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Blinken had asked to speak to Lavrov.

It was their first contact since last summer, when Blinken called Lavrov by phone about a U.S. proposal for Russia to release Whelan and formerly detained WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner was later released in a swap for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but Whelan remains detained in Russia after being accused of spying.

The last time Blinken and Lavrov met in person was in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2022 on the eve of Russia’s invasion. At that meeting, Blinken warned Lavrov about consequences Russia would face if it went ahead with its planned military operation but also sought to address some complaints that Russian President Vladimir Putin had made about the U.S. and NATO.

Those talks proved to be inconclusive as Russia moved ahead with its plans to invade and Blinken then canceled a scheduled followup meeting with Lavrov that was set for just two days before Moscow eventually invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

The two men have attended several international conferences together since the war began, notably the last G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year, but had not come face-to-face until Thursday.
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Ukraine Reports Russian Missile Strikes Residential Building

Posted on by SeeEU

Authorities in Ukraine said Thursday a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least three people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on Telegram that the missile destroyed three floors of the building, and that search efforts were ongoing.

“The terrorist state wants to turn every day for our people into a day of terror. But evil will not reign in our land,” Zelenskyy said.  “We will drive all the occupiers out and they will definitely be held accountable for everything.”

Ukraine’s military reported Thursday that Russian forces “continue to advance and storm” the city of Bakhmut, which has been the site of fierce fighting for months.

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said Wednesday that Kyiv has sent reinforcements to Bakhmut, even as Russian forces have gradually strengthened their position there. But she did not say how many troops were being deployed or how they would be used — whether as fighters to defend the city or possibly as logistical support if Ukraine decides to retreat.

The death toll at Bakhmut has been staggering for both sides. Ukraine has held on, but Russia’s troop reinforcements have allowed it to seize villages and towns around the city and surround it on three sides.

Much of the Russian fighting in and around Bakhmut has been conducted by troops from the Wagner Group, a mercenary paramilitary force whose leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has close ties to Putin.

On Wednesday, Prigozhin said in an audio message on social media that there was no sign that Ukrainian forces were retreating from the city.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Britain Intercepts Iranian Arms in Gulf of Oman

Posted on by SeeEU

The British navy said Thursday its forces seized Iranian anti-tank missiles and fins for ballistic missiles from a small boat in the Gulf of Oman.

Britain did not identify a destination for the arms, but the U.S. military, which said it provided “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support” for the operation, said the seizure took place “along a route historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully to Yemen.”

It is the latest in a series of shipments intercepted by Western forces who say Iran has armed Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a charge which Iran denies.

“This seizure by HMS Lancaster and the permanent presence of the Royal Navy in the Gulf region supports our commitment to uphold international law and tackle activity that threatens peace and security around the world,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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SpaceX Launches Latest Space Station Crew to Orbit for NASA

Posted on by SeeUS

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX launched a four-person crew on a trip to the International Space Station early Thursday, with a Russian cosmonaut and United Arab Emirates astronaut joining two NASA crewmates on the flight.

The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule called Endeavour, lifted off at 12:34 a.m. EST (0534 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A live NASA webcast showed the 25-story-tall spacecraft ascending from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life in billowing clouds of vapor and a reddish fireball that lit up the predawn sky.

The launch was expected to accelerate the Crew Dragon to an orbital velocity of 28,164 kph, more than 22 times the speed of sound.

The flight came 72 hours after an initial launch attempt was scrubbed in the final minutes of countdown early on Monday due to a clog in the flow of engine-ignition fluid. NASA said the problem was fixed by replacing a clogged filter and purging the system.

The trip to the International Space Station (ISS), a laboratory orbiting some 420 kilometers above Earth, was expected to take nearly 25 hours, with rendezvous planned for about 1:15 a.m. EST (0615 GMT) Friday as the crew begins a six-month science mission in microgravity.

Designated Crew 6, the mission marks the sixth long-term ISS team that NASA has flown aboard SpaceX since the private rocket venture founded by Musk — billionaire CEO of electric car maker Tesla and social media platform Twitter — began sending American astronauts to orbit in May 2020.

The latest ISS crew was led by mission commander Stephen Bowen, 59, a onetime U.S. Navy submarine officer who has logged more than 40 days in orbit as a veteran of three space shuttle flights and seven spacewalks.

Fellow NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg, 37, an engineer and commercial aviator designated as the Crew 6 pilot, was making his first spaceflight.

The Crew 6 mission also is notable for its inclusion of UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, 41, only the second person from his country to fly to space and the first to launch from U.S. soil as part of a long-duration space station team. UAE’s first-ever astronaut launched to orbit in 2019 aboard a Russian spacecraft.

Rounding out the four-man Crew 6 was Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, 42, who like Alneyadi is an engineer and spaceflight rookie designated as a mission specialist for the team.

Fedyaev is the second cosmonaut to fly aboard an American spacecraft under a renewed ride-sharing deal signed in July by NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, despite heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Crew 6 team will be welcomed aboard the space station by seven current ISS occupants — three U.S. NASA crew members, including commander Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first Native American woman to fly to space, along with three Russians and a Japanese astronaut.

The ISS, about the length of a football field, has been continuously operated for more than two decades years by a U.S.-Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

The Crew 6 mission follows two recent mishaps in which Russian spacecraft docked to the orbiting laboratory sprang coolant leaks apparently caused micrometeoroids, tiny grains of space rock, streaking through space and striking the craft at high velocity.

One of the affected Russian vehicles was a Soyuz crew capsule that had carried two cosmonauts and an astronaut to the space station in September for a six-month mission now set to end in March. An empty replacement Soyuz to bring them home arrived at the space station Saturday.
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A Inside Look at US–NATO Interoperability Lab

Posted on by SeeUS

NATO is made up of 30 members and each country’s military has its own technical systems on the battlefield. Some work together better than others. At the US Army’s easternmost European headquarters in Poznan, Poland, soldiers are working to integrate NATO systems. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb is there.
Camera: Mary Cieslak Video editor: Mary Cieslak
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US ‘Stands with Caribbean’ in Climate Change Fight, Navy Secretary Says

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro on Wednesday reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Caribbean nations in their fight against what he called the “existential threat” of climate change.

“The United States stands by you, with you, combatting this threat,” Del Toro said during a meeting with officials, students, and professors at Nassau’s University of the Bahamas. “Time is not on our side. We are in a critical decade to make meaningful progress so we can avoid the worst climate scenarios. We must act now. We view the climate crisis the same way we view damage control on a sinking ship: All hands on deck.”

The second Hispanic to head of the U.S. Department of the Navy, Del Toro said he traveled to the Bahamas to listen to the region’s climate emergency “challenges and stories,” acknowledging that “the increasing severity of those consequences are already being felt in the Caribbean and also in the United States” as he pointed to the dozen devastating storms that have pummeled the region in the last decade.

‘No one can fight climate change alone’

In the Caribbean, climate change has caused sea levels to rise, islands to be devastated by flooding and extreme temperatures while the salinization of farmland endangers ecosystems and makes it harder for residents to make a living in an area mainly sustained by tourism.

The Navy secretary said the U.S. is cooperating on several projects with universities and governments in the region, including a multimillion-dollar fund for disaster relief infrastructure, as well as aid to cope with health emergencies and epidemic outbreaks.

Del Toro added that work is also under way on energy-efficiency programs to lower carbon emissions at U.S. bases and on ships, and financing scientific research on soil and marine life, especially on the Caribbean’s coral reefs.

“No one can fight climate change alone,” he said. “We want to share and trade information, resources and expertise with allies, governments, and NGOs. Everywhere from Vietnam, Ghana, or right here in the Caribbean, we are collaborating on projects and enabling best practices.”

The Cuban-born Del Toro, who said the Navy launched the 2030 Climate Action Plan last May, said he still feels a part of the Caribbean community and has made the “threat of climate change a priority,” since taking office 18 months ago.

“To remain the world’s dominant maritime force, the Department of the Navy must adapt to climate change: We must build resilience and reduce the threat,” he said.

‘We want to help’

Del Toro also highlighted the Biden administration’s support for efforts to reduce the effects of climate change, reflected in the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030), introduced by Vice President Kamala Harris in June.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry also recently visited the Bahamas, and Del Toro said he would convey details of this meeting to Kerry at the Our Oceans Conference in Panama, March 2-3.

Secretary Del Toro said that in April, the United States, Caribbean and Central American countries would participate in the Ninth Inter-American Specialized Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation to be held in Orlando, Florida. The event will focus on the use of scientific innovation to address climate change and marine pollution.

“We recognize that the resilience of our friends and neighbors in this region is of critical importance to our own security,” asserted Del Toro. “And like I have said, and I will continue to say, we want to help.”
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In Somalia, Women Journalists Are Changing the Narrative

Posted on by SeeAF

As a school kid in Mogadishu, Farhia Mohamed Kheyre spoke in an unusual way. When her teachers asked questions in class, Kheyre would answer in a newsreader’s voice, she told VOA, bursting into laughter at the recollection.

She was copying the news presenters she heard daily when her family listened to the radio.

But when it came to pursuing a career in journalism — a male-dominated profession in Somalia — her father was against it.

He was worried for her safety due to the insurgency by the militant group al-Shabab. Some of her other family members were concerned that a job in media went against cultural and religious norms in the Muslim country.

That’s a problem common among Somalia’s female journalists, many of whom defy family and societal expectations to do work that they believe is integral to their nation’s future.

“Freedom is important,” said Kheyre, 29, who now heads the Somali Women Journalists Organization, an advocacy group fighting for the rights of women in an industry that she and others say is rife with sexual harassment and discrimination.

As part of those efforts, members of the organization have been traveling to newsrooms around Somalia to promote a handbook about how to recognize sexual harassment in the workplace and what to do about it.

“For us, our focus is giving female journalists more training and skills,” Kheyre said of the 200 plus-member organization. “We are also doing advocacy. Some female journalists when they’re getting pregnant, they’re not getting the salary. When there are sexual harassment cases, we try to solve that issue.”

Changing the game

Robert Few, head of communications for the United Nations Development Program in Somalia, echoes Kheyre’s assessment of the media landscape. For that reason, he said, the U.N.-funded newsroom Bilan is a game-changer.

Launched last year, the all-woman operation has a team of six female journalists.

“[Bilan] has gained a huge local audience and broken new ground on subjects like HIV, autism and women’s health, spurring public debate and calls for policy change,” Few told VOA.

The outlet produces text, radio and TV stories, which are distributed locally by one of the country’s leading media houses, Dalsan.

“They have also been commissioned by international media like The Guardian, BBC and El Pais, demonstrating that Somali women journalists can compete at the highest level and [blaze] a trail for other Somali women in the media,” Few said.

Untold stories

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed, is chief editor at Bilan. Like Kheyre, her interest in the media came at a young age when her grandmother played BBC news constantly on the radio.

But the 28-year-old journalist said she hid the fact she was studying media. For months she told her family she was doing IT, because they didn’t think journalism was a job for a woman.

After eight years as a reporter, her family are proud of her accomplishments, she said, and she even shares links to her stories with them.

She said the main difference working for Bilan is that the reporters speak to female sources all the time and it’s much easier to report on sensitive topics such as domestic violence.

The mother of three said previously she and her male colleagues mainly told stories about men.

“Bilan is different from the others because we focus on what’s going on in society: women, children, health…traditional media don’t cover this, they just focus on politics all the time,” she told VOA.

“I like this job environment because we are free from harassment and we understand each other,” she said of the all-female newsroom.

When Bilan started, it attracted criticism and threats, with some in Somalia saying that women shouldn’t be working alone or with foreigners, Mohamed Ahmed said.

While all Somali journalists work in incredibly difficult circumstances due to al-Shabab attacks, “when you’re female it’s harder,” she said.

Mohamed Ahmed survived a massive truck bombing in Mogadishu in 2017 that left her colleague from another news organization dead.

Kheyre told VOA that it’s hard for women to go out onto the street for reporting and many will wear a full niqab, which covers the face, in order to do so.

She said her organization gives safety advice, such as not rushing to report at the scene of an explosion because journalists and emergency workers are often targeted a few minutes later by a second bomber.

Al-Shabab particularly dislikes female journalists, she said. “They said we are haram (forbidden), they say Muslim females must stay at home.”

Inspiring change

For Bilan reporter Kiin Hasan Fakat, her inspiration to work in media came from growing up in the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, after her family fled Somalia when she was a child.

Her uncle had a radio and when she returned to the camp from school each day they’d listen to Voice of America.

Fakat, 26, was encouraged by a female reporter who broadcast for the Somali language service. She started to think that maybe she too could be a journalist.

“I like talking to people, talking about issues,” Fakat said, adding that the stories she’s most proud of for Bilan were ones that shed light on underreported or taboo issues, such as a story about a mother living with HIV.

After that story published, members of the Somali diaspora sent money to help the woman she had interviewed, Fakat said.

The journalists at Bilan receive regular mentorship and training from seasoned foreign correspondents, including the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, who tweeted after meeting the women in November: “What a privilege to meet this brave team of journalists telling new stories & telling them so well.”

Kheyre, who recently became a new mother, says she would never block her daughter from being whatever she wants when she grows up, whether that’s a pilot, or yes, even a journalist.
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Russians Place Flowers at Burned-Out Tanks in Baltic Cities

Posted on by SeeEU

Burned-out Russian tanks seized by Ukrainian forces last year have gone on display in recent days in the capitals of the three Baltics states, where Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians are turning out to view them and snap photos in sympathy with the Ukrainians defending their homeland.

But among those visiting the tanks are also members of the countries’ sizeable ethnic Russian minorities, some of whom placed flowers and lit candles to commemorate the fallen Russian soldiers and express support for Moscow.

The Russian gestures of support for Russia’s side in the war have set off some arguments, and at least one fist fight in Vilnius — underscoring the tensions that are simmering in the Baltic nations.

On Wednesday, supporters and opponents of the war argued in front of a burned-out Russian T-72 tank struck by Ukrainian forces near Kyiv on March 31. It stands on Freedom Square in the center of the Estonian capital, a space adorned with Ukrainian and Estonian flags and where the Ukrainian anthem could be heard from nearby St. John’s Church.

The Estonian Defense Ministry on Saturday called the tank “a symbol of Russia’s brutal invasion. It also shows that the aggressor can be defeated. Let’s help Ukraine defend freedom.”

Last week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced that the tanks were going on display in the three Baltic capitals, and to Berlin as museum exhibits, following similar displays in Poland and the Czech Republic last year.

“It is a powerful reminder to all of us how well and peacefully we live when people die in Ukraine,” Vilnius resident Darius Klimka said. “Yesterday my kids were at the tank, we watched the evening news together. They kept on asking me why the world is still putting up with Russian aggression, and why Putin is not yet on trial.”

In Estonia, Anatoly Yarkov, a 78-year-old Soviet army veteran who showed up to see the tank in Tallinn, said that he feels bitter about Ukraine fighting against Russia in a war that he said had been rooted in the 1991 collapse of the U.S.S.R.

“Russian tanks are burning again like it happened during the war with the Nazis,” Yarkov said. “The Russian people always stood against the Nazis, no matter what flag they used. And I’m very sorry to see that the Ukrainians aren’t on our side today.”

Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have promoted a false narrative that Moscow’s military is fighting against neo-Nazis even though Ukraine has a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government.

As some Russians placed flowers on the tank in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, the city authorities put a garbage container in the vicinity with a sign saying it’s “for flowers, candles & Soviet nostalgia.”

One person placed a toilet bowl near the tank as a reminder of looting by Russian forces.

Lithuanian police launched several investigations related to incidents, including one in which a man was beaten for removing flowers. Another incident was reported Tuesday when a man sprayed it with red color.

Not all Russians are taking Moscow’s side.

Marina, a 60-year-old Russian citizen who didn’t give her last name for reasons of personal security, said she condemned the invasion of Ukraine and hailed Ukrainians for fighting back.

“This Russian tank could have rolled into the Estonian city of Narva, which Putin might have declared a Russian city,” she said, adding that her children and grandchildren have Estonian citizenship. “And I understand very well that only heroic resistance of the Ukrainians saved my children from that bloody scenario unfolding in Estonia.”

In Berlin, the tank also became a site of homage. Pro-Russia sympathizers placed red roses on a destroyed tank that was displayed in front of the Russian Embassy. The roses were eventually removed. The Russian Embassy denied that it had organized the placement of the flowers but said that it welcomed the “heartfelt gesture by German citizens and our compatriots in Germany.”

Nerijus Maliukevicius, an analyst at Institute of International Relations and Political Science in Vilnius, said he believes the placement of pro-Russia tributes at the tanks are part of an organized Kremlin tactic, noting that the images of them have ended up on social media and state television.

“This is how an alternative reality of a Europe that supports Putin is created,” he told The Associated Press.
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Lilly Plans to Slash Some Insulin Prices, Expand Cost Cap

Posted on by SeeUS

Eli Lilly will cut prices for some older insulins later this year and immediately give more patients access to a cap on the costs they pay to fill prescriptions. 

The moves announced Wednesday promise critical relief to some people with diabetes who can face thousands of dollars in annual costs for insulin they need in order to live. Lilly’s changes also come as lawmakers and patient advocates pressure drugmakers to do something about soaring prices. 

Lilly said it will cut the list prices for its most commonly prescribed insulin, Humalog, and for another insulin, Humulin, by 70% or more in the fourth quarter, which starts in October. 

List prices are what a drugmaker initially sets for a product and what people who have no insurance or plans with high deductibles are sometimes stuck paying. 

A Lilly spokeswoman said the current list price for a 10-milliliter vial of the fast-acting, mealtime insulin Humalog is $274.70. That will fall to $66.40. 

Likewise, she said the same amount of Humulin currently lists at $148.70. That will change to $44.61. 

Lilly CEO David Ricks said Wednesday that his company was making the changes to address issues that affect the price patients ultimately pay for its insulins. 

He noted that discounts Lilly offers from its list prices often don’t reach patients through insurers or pharmacy benefit managers. High-deductible coverage can lead to big bills at the pharmacy counter, particularly at the start of the year when the deductibles renew. 

“We know the current U.S. health care system has gaps,” he said. “This makes a tough disease like diabetes even harder to manage.” 

Patient advocates have long called for insulin price cuts to help uninsured people who would not be affected by price caps tied to insurance coverage. 

Lilly’s planned cuts “could actually provide some substantial price relief,” said Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University who studies drug costs. 

She noted that the moves likely won’t affect Lilly much financially because the insulins are older, and some already face competition. 

Lilly also said Wednesday that it will cut the price of its authorized generic version of Humalog to $25 a vial starting in May. 

Lilly also is launching in April a biosimilar insulin to compete with Sanofi’s Lantus. 

Ricks said that it will take time for insurers and the pharmacy system to implement its price cuts, so the drugmaker will immediately cap monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 for people who are not covered by Medicare’s prescription drug program. 

The drugmaker said the cap applies to people with commercial coverage and at most retail pharmacies. 

Lilly said people without insurance can find savings cards to receive insulin for the same amount at its InsulinAffordability.com website. 

The federal government in January started applying that cap to patients with coverage through its Medicare program for people 65 and older or those who have certain disabilities or illnesses. 

President Joe Biden brought up that cost cap during his annual State of the Union address last month. He called for insulin costs for everyone to be capped at $35. 

Biden said in a statement Wednesday that Lilly responded to his call. 

“It’s a big deal, and it’s time for other manufacturers to follow,” Biden said. 

Aside from Eli Lilly and the French drugmaker Sanofi, other insulin makers include the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. 

Representatives for both Sanofi and Novo Nordisk said their companies offer several programs that limit costs for people with and without coverage. 
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Nigeria’s Labour Party to Challenge Presidential Election Result in Court

Posted on by SeeAF

Nigeria’s opposition candidates for president say they will challenge the results declaring the ruling party candidate the winner. Saturday’s election was marred by technical and staff problems that saw voting delayed by a day or more at some polling stations.

The Labour Party met with journalists and supporters Wednesday afternoon, hours after the electoral commission declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress party, as the winner of Saturday’s election.

Labour’s presidential candidate Peter Obi did not attend Wednesday’s meeting but his deputy told reporters he and Obi will challenge presidential results in court.

Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, Labour’s vice presidential candidate, also called on party members and supporters to be calm.

“Illegality has been performed and as far as we’re concerned,” he said. “Here is an incoming government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is illegal and unconstitutional. We’re submitting our case to the court of law. It is for them to show again that level of confidence.”

Another major contender in the election, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, is also challenging the results. The PDP and Labour held a joint briefing Tuesday calling the result a sham hours before Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu winner.

Last weekend’s presidential election was marked by delays and many operational issues with the voting machines across the country, according to international observers. There were also reports of election violence, coercion and manipulation.

Rotimi Olawale, a political analyst and co-founder of Youth Hub Africa, said there were various reasons for election issues.

“Some of the issues that we witnessed on Saturday are just plain logistics issues; INEC faced some challenges in that regard,” Olawale said. “Unfortunately, INEC over-promised and under-delivered. There were also in many places all kinds of attempts by different parties to thwart the electoral process. This also cast a shadow of doubt on the electoral process.”

The opposition political parties want a re-vote. But Olawale sid that will only be possible if the evidence of manipulation presented by the parties is significant enough to have swayed the outcome.

“Are there infractions in this election? Yes, absolutely,” Olawale said. “The court is going to be looking at themselves and saying, ‘If we take into consideration the infractions, are they enough to perhaps change who would have won the election?’

“If they can prove beyond reasonable doubt that there were widespread violence, suppression and the number of votes or polling units involved is enough to change the fortunes of the election, then perhaps the court will overrule the election.”

According to the official results, Tinubu grossed nearly 8.8 million votes, followed by PDP’s Atiku Abubakar with abut 7 million and Obi with about 6 million.
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Ukraine’s Call for Weapons Remains Tough Sell in South Korea

Posted on by SeeEU

South Korea should more explicitly support Ukraine’s fight against Russia, the Ukrainian ambassador to Seoul told VOA, renewing a push for South Korean weapons that could play a pivotal role in helping Ukraine regain lost territory. 

In a written exchange with VOA, Ambassador Dmytro Ponomarenko expressed gratitude for the humanitarian aid South Korea has provided but stressed that Ukraine remains in “dire need” of heavy weapons that Seoul could offer.

“Regrettably, South Korea is still reluctant to provide our military with the weapons they need on the frontline,” Ponomarenko said. 

Since Russia’s invasion a year ago, Ukraine has regularly made public pleas for South Korea to provide weapons. But the situation has grown more urgent as Russia pushes its offensive in eastern Ukraine, where both sides are seeing ammunition shortages.

“We need uninterrupted and timely deliveries of heavily armored vehicles, artillery and air defense systems, ammunition and equipment of NATO standards to be able to continue counter-offensive operations,” Ponomarenko said.

South Korea is among the world’s largest weapons exporters and has recently aligned itself closer with the West. But Seoul has not approved the sale or donation of weapons to Ukraine, citing domestic laws that strictly regulate sending arms to war zones. 

Instead, South Korea has sent Ukraine several batches of non-lethal military aid, such as bulletproof vests, helmets and medical supplies. It recently announced plans to send Ukraine $130 million in humanitarian assistance on top of the $100 million it sent last year. 

Ponomarenko urged South Korea to go much further, saying the provision of weapons would be consistent with South Korea’s democratic ideals and status as a “global pivotal state.” 

“Sitting on the fence and pretending to be neutral does not help either the one who chooses such a ‘path’ or the cause of peace as a whole,” Ponomarenko said. 

South Korea urged to ‘step up’ 

Pressure on South Korea to do more has intensified as Western countries struggle to produce enough artillery for Ukraine. South Korea is seen as an ideal arms supplier, given its reputation for quickly delivering weapons that are high quality and relatively inexpensive.

During a January visit to Seoul, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pressed South Korea to “step up” its military aid to Ukraine, noting several European countries had changed their weapons export policies following Russia’s invasion. 

At a press conference last week marking the one-year anniversary of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed Stoltenberg’s call for South Korea to provide arms. 

The same day, Zelenskyy’s senior aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, told South Korea’s Hankook Ilbo newspaper that negotiations are underway for South Korea to provide Ukraine with weapons, though he did not elaborate. 

The report has not been confirmed by either side. A spokesperson for South Korea’s defense ministry said Monday that Seoul’s policy on providing lethal aid to Ukraine has not changed.

Finding workarounds

South Korea has instead found indirect ways to help Ukraine’s military, including by approving the sale of massive quantities of South Korean-made weapons to countries that are arming Ukraine.

The most notable example came last year, when Poland, a major arms supplier for Ukraine, agreed to purchase $5.8 billion in South Korean weapons, including tanks, howitzers, and ammunition.

In November, the United States announced plans to purchase 100,000 artillery shells from South Korean arms makers. South Korea’s military insisted the deal was reached “under the premise that the United States was the end user,” but several U.S. media reported the shells were to be delivered to Ukraine.

“It’s becoming difficult for South Korea to argue that its weapons aren’t getting to Ukraine, or that they won’t get there,” said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Korea specialist at King’s College London. 

In recent months, South Korea has also begun providing Ukraine with direct forms of non-lethal aid that have raised suspicions in Moscow. 

In December, South Korea sent Ukraine 100 civilian pickup trucks made by SsangYong, a South Korean carmaker, as part of a humanitarian donation. 

Following the donation, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), a research group affiliated with Moscow’s foreign ministry, suggested Ukraine’s military intended to mount rocket launchers on the vehicles for use as what it called “jihad-mobiles.” 

Ponomarenko denied those allegations, saying the trucks were given to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, a non-military agency that focuses on rescue services. “The trucks will be used for demining works but not for carrying rockets or any other lethal weaponry,” he added.

Asked about the possibility of other indirect forms of military aid, Ponomarenko said Ukraine was open to “different forms of cooperation with Korean partners” but declined to elaborate. 

Moscow’s response

Even with indirect South Korean support for Ukraine, Russia still is not happy. Last March, Moscow placed Seoul on a list of “unfriendly” nations. In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea that providing arms to Ukraine “will destroy our relations.”

Russia has also condemned South Korea’s decision to join Western-led sanctions on Moscow, saying such moves will hurt bilateral ties and may impact Russia’s involvement in peace efforts with North Korea.

Moscow, though, may lack leverage on those fronts, since it is not one of South Korea’s major trading partners and Pyongyang has already repeatedly ruled out talks with Seoul. 

However RIAC, the Kremlin-linked research organization, warned in January that Russia may retaliate by providing arms to North Korea under the guise of humanitarian aid. It specifically mentioned the possibility of Russia exporting large logging trucks, which North Korea could convert into missile-launching vehicles.

Domestic skepticism

But one of the biggest obstacles to South Korea providing weapons to Ukraine is at home. 

Only 15% of South Koreans support sending weapons to Ukraine, according to a poll conducted last June by Gallup Korea. 

Many of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s loudest critics in the National Assembly, the country’s legislature, worry about South Korean involvement in Ukraine. 

When Zelenskyy last April delivered a virtual speech to the National Assembly to ask for more South Korean help, only around 60 out of 300 lawmakers attended, with some leaving the room during the event. 

A Seoul-based diplomat from a NATO country last month told VOA he did not expect a major shift from South Korea anytime soon.

“I hope I’m wrong,” said the diplomat, who asked his name not be used as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
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US Imposes Fresh Sanctions to Restrict North Korea’s Revenues

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on individuals and companies that it accused of illicitly generating revenue for the government of North Korea. 

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctioned Chilsong Trading Corporation, which it says is used by North Korea to earn foreign currency and collect intelligence; and Korea Paekho Trading Corporation, which is accused of generating funds for the North Korean government since the 1980s by conducting art and construction projects throughout the Middle East and Africa. 

OFAC also sanctioned two individuals — Hwang Kil Su and Pak Hwa Song — for helping the North Korean government generate revenue, the Treasury Department said in a statement. 

The department said the individuals established a company named Congo Aconde SARL in the Democratic Republic of Congo to earn revenue from construction and statue-building projects with local governments. 

Last week, state media said North Korea test-fired four strategic cruise missiles during a drill designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct a nuclear counterattack against what it calls hostile forces. 

North Korea’s “unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs threaten international security and regional stability,” Brian Nelson, Treasury’s top sanctions official, said Wednesday. 

“The United States remains committed to targeting the regime’s global illicit networks that generate revenue for these destabilizing activities,” he added. 

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, standing alongside his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, urged countries to step up enforcement of sanctions against North Korea in response to its latest ballistic missile launch. 

North Korea has forged ahead in developing and mass-producing new missiles, despite sanctions imposed by United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban the nuclear-armed country’s missile activities. 

U.S. and South Korean officials recently took part in a tabletop, or simulated, exercise that focused on the possibility of North Korea using a nuclear weapon. 
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US Donates Over 60 Tons of Weaponry to Somalia for Fight Against Militants

Posted on by SeeAF

The United States has donated more than 60 tons of weapons and ammunition to the Somali National Army, or SNA, to boost ongoing operations against the militant group al-Shabab and for future training of an elite infantry unit, according to the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu.

A statement from the embassy Wednesday said the weapons arrived in Mogadishu’s international airport aboard two U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes that were greeted by Somalia’s minister of defense and chief of defense forces, as well as Embassy Mogadishu Chargé d’Affaires Tim Trinkle.

According to the U.S. statement, the weapons included “Sixty-one tons of AK-47s, heavy machine guns, and ammunition.”

“This military assistance will support the current SNA operations against al-Shabab in Galmadug and Jubaland States and the next intake of the SNA Danab Advanced Infantry Brigade, for which the recruitment process has already started,” said the statement.

The State Department has also offered a new $5 million reward for information leading to the “identification or location” of al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage. 

Rage, also known as Ali Dheere, has been the group’s chief spokesperson since 2009. The State Department said he has been involved in the planning of militant attacks in Kenya and Somalia. 

The Somali National Army, working with various local clan militias, launched an offensive in central Somalia last year that has succeeded in wrestling back control of numerous towns and villages that had been controlled by al-Shabab, which ran them with its customary harsh brand of Islamic law.

Analysts have warned that Somalia’s national and state governments must maintain security and provide economic aid in the recaptured areas to keep them from sliding back into militant control.

That issue came up this week as representatives of Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. met in Washington to discuss Somalia’s security, state-building, development, and humanitarian priorities.

The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that the participants expressed support for the Somali government’s focus on counterterrorism and capacity building.

“The partners agreed to strengthen coordination of international security assistance, and the importance of ensuring timely delivery of stabilization assistance to newly liberated areas,” the statement said.

The statement added that the participants are committed to support Somalia’s efforts to meet the benchmarks on weapons and ammunition management to enable the U.N. Security Council to fully lift the arms controls on the Federal Government of Somalia.

The Council has so far declined to lift a longstanding arms embargo on Somalia for fear that weapons could fall into the hands of militants or other non-governmental actors.

The U.S. Embassy said the weapons that arrived Tuesday in Mogadishu “are marked and registered pursuant to the Federal Government of Somalia’s Weapons and Ammunition Management policy, designed to account for and control weapons within the Somali security forces and weapons captured on the battlefield.”

In an interview with VOA Somali Service, Somalia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ali Mohamed Omar said this week’s meeting in Washington was “fruitful.” 

“Our goal was to submit our requests to our partners such as training, logistics, stabilization resources, humanitarian, and development, and our partners’ goal was to discuss how to better support Somalia, including the fight against al-Shabab,” said Omar. 

“We are waiting for their response to our needs and the assistance we have asked as well as decisions regarding increasing the coordination of their support to Somalia,” he added.

“A very productive meeting,” Somalia’s national security adviser, Hussein Sheikh-Ali, tweeted after the Washington gathering.

VOA Somali Service’s Falastine Iman contributed to the report. 
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