March 2023 - Page 6 of 21

Jehovah’s Witnesses Mourn Victims of Hamburg Shooting

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany held a memorial service Saturday for the six people killed during a mass shooting at a religious service in Hamburg this month.

A 35-year-old German man who opened fire during the March 9 service killed himself as police arrived at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall where the service was taking place. The attack wounded nine people, including a pregnant woman who lost her unborn child.

“We are speechless in the face of the violence and brutality. There’s no word for this,” Dirk Ciupek, a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in his sermon. “This was an attack not just on a few of us, but an attack on all of us.”

Ciupek expressed gratitude to the police officers who he said prevented more deaths and to the medical personnel who tended to the wounded with dedication and empathy.

“Do not let evil defeat you,” he said, addressing the family members of those who died. He spoke about each victim individually, including the unborn baby.

“We miss them, their love, their smiles, everything,” Ciupek said.

All the victims were German citizens apart from two wounded women, one with Ugandan citizenship and one with Ukrainian.

The gunman, identified by authorities only as Philipp F. due to German privacy laws, was a former member who left the Jehovah’s Witnesses two years ago. Investigators have said his departure was “apparently not on good terms.”

German prosecutors said they were investigating whether there was a religious motive for the crime, but that there were no indications he was involved in any network or had far-right views.

The Hamburg congregation that was holding the service has about 60 members and is one of 47 in the port city, which is home to almost 4,000 denomination members, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

About 3,300 people attended Saturday’s memorial service, which took place in a gymnasium in Hamburg, German news agency dpa said. The event also was livestreamed for Jehovah’s Witnesses who couldn’t be there in person.

Mark Sanderson, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, traveled to Hamburg from the United States and addressed the mourners.

“Our hope, our faith, our love, can survive tragedy, they can overcome hatred and violence,” he said. “If we show our love to those around us, we reflect our faith to God.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. The church claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.

Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag, or participate in secular government.
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US State Department Monitoring Reports of Kidnapped Couple in Haiti

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Saturday the government is aware of reports of two U.S. citizens missing in Haiti, after media outlets said a Florida couple had been kidnapped.

Abigail Toussaint and Jean-Dickens Toussaint, both 33, were taken near capital Port-au-Prince and have been held for days, according to an online petition started by a woman who said she is a relative of the couple.

The couple was on a trip to visit family and attend a festival when they were kidnapped during a bus ride, the relative said, according to CNN.

“We are aware of reports of two U.S. citizens missing in Haiti,” the State Department spokesperson said. “When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts, and we share information with families however we can.”

A spokesperson for Haiti’s national police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Haiti’s gangs have grown in strength since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, with large portions of the capital and much of the countryside considered lawless territory.

The security situation has devolved further in recent months with routine gun fights between police officers and the gangs.

Bloody turf battles have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

Seventeen missionaries from the United States and Canada were taken hostage and held for ransom in 2021 while on a trip to Haiti organized by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries.

The group said ransom money was paid for the release of the captives, but a dozen had escaped on their own.

(Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince, Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City and Rami Ayyub in Washington; editing by Diane Craft)
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Kenya Reduces Sentence for Two Garissa University Attackers

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeAF

The prison sentences for two defendants who were convicted in Kenya’s Garissa University terror attacks have been lowered by a court.

High Court Justice Cecilia Githua has acquitted Hassan Edin Hassan and Mohamed Abdi Abikar of the crime of being members of the al-Shabab militant group, but she upheld the convictions of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. The action lowers their prison sentences from 41 years to 25-and-a-half years.

Nairobi-based security analyst Richard Tuya says the ruling is a blow in the fight against terrorism.

“The ruling is making terrorism in this country an attractive business because terrorists are rational thinkers who do a cost benefit analysis of their actions, but now, if the punishment is less than the cost, then it’s an advantage to them,” he said.

In 2019, a lower court had sentenced the duo to 25-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commission and commit a terrorist act and 15-and-a-half years for being members of al-Shabab.

On Friday, while overturning the sentence of being members of al-Shabab, the judge said the prosecution did not present evidence to prove the two terror convicts were members of the militia group.

Tuya says the ruling disregards the families of the 148 victims, however, who were killed in the 2015 attacks at Garissa University.

“To me, I feel like it is a mockery, but now you can’t blame the courts because also the court relies on evidence that has been brought before it,” he said.

While sentencing the two convicts to 25-and-a-half years in prison, the judge upheld the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution, saying it left no doubt that the two were aware of the attack plan and they were the actual perpetrators of the attack.

In 2015, four gunmen stormed Garissa University and started to shoot randomly, killing 148 people.

The Somali-based militia group al-Shabab later said it was motivated to carry out the attack against Kenya because that country sent its troops to Somalia.
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West Regains ‘Unity, Purpose’ in Light of Russian Ukraine War, Poll Indicates

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

A poll of global attitudes toward Russia’s Ukraine war suggests the West has regained its “unity and sense of purpose” following the invasion, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The survey, conducted in nine EU countries, Britain, China, India, Turkey, Russia, and the United States in December and January, portrays markedly different attitudes in non-Western nations.

“We asked the question whether they agree strongly with the idea that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine needs to stop as soon as possible, even if that means giving Russia control of some areas of Ukraine,” Susi Dennison, an analyst at the council, which commissioned the poll, told VOA earlier this week.

“What we found was that within the EU, but also in Great Britain and the United States — so what you might refer to as the West — there is a general agreement with the idea that Ukraine needs to regain all of its territory. And that has grown in the European countries that we looked at since we asked a similar question last summer,” Dennison said.

The report says Americans and Europeans are united in believing that Russia is an adversary or a rival. Seventy-one percent of U.S. respondents, 77% in Great Britain, and 65% in the EU countries “regard the future of relations with Russia as one of confrontation,” according to the report.

Non-Westerners gave very different answers.

In China, 42% of those asked are said to agree that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine must stop as soon as possible, even if it means Ukraine giving control of parts of its territory to Russia. The desire to quickly end the war is stronger in Turkey, with 48% and India, with 54%, the report said.

“It is worth noting, however, that almost a third of people in both these countries would prefer Ukraine to regain all of its territory, even if it means a longer war or more Ukrainians being killed and displaced,” the report added.

The authors say three factors have driven Western unity: Ukrainian battlefield success, the way the war has united the political left and right, and the perceived return of a strong West led by the United States.

Europeans also feel they have survived a difficult winter, despite high energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion, Dennison said.

“There is a certain sense among Europeans that we weathered that particular storm, we can sustain economically the position that we’re taking against Russia and that we need to do so because of the nature of the war that Russia is fighting — that it threatens the fundamental rules on which the international order is based.”

As Russia tries to take more territory in a spring offensive, the report authors say Western leaders should exploit the public support for arming Ukraine.

“Military aid and support in dealing with that is needed now, because if it starts to look like actually this is not something that the Ukrainians could push back against, then we could see the support among Europeans begin to dissipate,” Dennison added.

The survey also asked citizens about their expectations of the likely global geopolitical order, a decade from now.

Most respondents in Europe and America expect a bipolar world, dominated by the U.S. and China. Most of those outside the West, though, expect a fragmented global order, with several competing powers making up a multipolar world.

“You have strong majorities that say Russia is either an ally or a necessary partner. They see a world of multipolarity in which they are going to have to form pragmatic, relatively interest-based alliances. And so to a certain extent, most global players are seen as necessary partners within that picture. What was quite striking is that Russia is no exception,” Dennison told VOA.

The report concludes that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has “confirmed the renewed centrality of American power to Europe — with billions of dollars spent maintaining the war effort, which has sustained unity across the Atlantic on sanctions and diplomatic positions towards Russia and given a new lease on life for Western-led institutions such as NATO and the G-7. This reality has not gone unnoticed by global publics.”
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Pope Expands Sex Abuse Law, Reaffirms Adults Can Be Victims

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

Pope Francis on Saturday updated a 2019 church law aimed at holding senior churchmen accountable for covering up cases of sex abuse, expanding it to cover lay Catholic leaders and reaffirming that vulnerable adults can also be victims of abuse when they are unable to consent.

Francis reaffirmed and made permanent the temporary provisions of the 2019 law that were passed in a moment of crisis for the Vatican and Catholic hierarchy. That law had been praised at the time for laying out precise mechanisms to investigate complicit bishops and religious superiors, but its implementation has been uneven, and the Vatican has been criticized by abuse survivors for continued lack of transparency about the cases.

The new rules conform to other changes in the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse that have been issued since then. Most significantly, they are expanded to cover leaders of Vatican-approved associations headed by lay leaders, not just clerics. That is a response to the many cases that have come to light in recent years of lay leaders abusing their authority to sexually exploit people under their spiritual care or authority.

They also reaffirm that even adults can be victims of predator priests, such as nuns or seminarians who are dependent on their bishops or superiors. Church law previously considered that only adults who “habitually” lack the use of reason can be considered victims alongside minors.

The new law makes clear that adults can be rendered vulnerable to abuse even occasionally, as situations present themselves. That is significant given resistance in the Vatican to expanding its abuse rules to cover adults.

It states that a vulnerable person is “any person in a state of infirmity, physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal liberty which, in fact, even occasionally, limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist the offense.”

Francis originally set out the norms in 2019 as a response to the latest chapter in the decades-long crisis, focused on a cover-up exposed by a Pennsylvania grand jury report and the scandal over then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Francis himself was implicated in that wave of the scandal, after he dismissed claims by victims of a notorious predator in Chile.

After realizing he had erred, Francis ordered up a wholescale review of the Chilean abuse dossier, summoned the presidents of all the world’s bishops conferences to Rome for a four-day summit on safeguarding and set in motion plans for a new law to hold senior churchmen to account for abuse and coverup, and to mandate that all cases be reported in-house.

The law and its update Saturday contain explicit norms for investigating bishops accused of abuse or cover-up — a direct response to the McCarrick case, given it was well-known in Vatican circles and in some U.S. church circles that he slept with his seminarians. The law contained precise timelines to initiate investigations if allegations were well-founded, and that has been retained with some modifications.

The law also mandates all church personnel to report allegations of clergy abuse in-house, though it refrains from mandating reporting to the police. The new law expands whistleblower protections and reaffirms the need to protect the reputation of those accused.

Survivors have long complained that the Vatican for decades turned a blind eye to bishops and religious superiors who covered up cases of abuse, moving predator priests around from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police. The 2019 law attempted to respond to those complaints, but victims have faulted the Holy See for continued secrecy about the investigations and outcomes.
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‘Hotel Rwanda’ Hero’s Release Result of Resolving Diplomatic Discord

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

The release of Paul Rusesabagina from a Rwandan prison late Friday was the result of months of negotiations between Washington and Kigali, with both eager to draw a line under what they described as an “irritant” to their relationship.

Two U.S. officials — one from President Joe Biden’s administration and a Congressional aide — said no concrete concessions were made to secure the release of Rusesabagina, a U.S. permanent resident made famous by the 2004 film ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ about his role saving Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.

He was detained in 2019 and subsequently convicted on eight terrorism charges stemming from his leadership role in the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), whose armed wing, the National Liberation Front (FLN), has attacked Rwanda.

His detention strained relations between the two countries. The U.S. has said Rusesabagina was unlawfully detained, while Rwanda has bristled at the criticism, saying it would not be intimidated.

The U.S. allocated more than $147 million in foreign assistance to Rwanda in 2021, making it Rwanda’s largest bilateral donor.

“The U.S. government made clear to the… Rwandans that this would remain a bilateral irritant until we could reach a mutually satisfactory resolution,” the Biden administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Yolande Makolo, a spokesperson for the Rwandan government, said the case was “an irritant in both directions.”

“After a few false starts, progress started to be made precisely when the U.S. abandoned the ‘pressure’ and threats approach — and decided to engage with Rwanda on the substance of the matter and its context — political violence by armed groups and the security of Rwandans,” she told Reuters.

When asked how the U.S. had engaged on these issues, Makolo pointed to a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken after Rusesabagina’s release, emphasizing that political change in Rwanda should only come through peaceful means.

The U.S. Congressional aide, who also asked not to be named, said the negotiations were advanced by moves from Washington and Rusesabagina himself to acknowledge Rwanda’s point of view.

Particularly helpful, the aide said, was a letter Rusesabagina wrote to Rwandan President Paul Kagame in October, in which he expressed regret at not ensuring that MRCD members refrained from violence. The Rwandan government released it Friday.

Mobilizing the executive

Before the talks gained momentum, a major challenge for the Rusesabagina family and members of Congress advocating for his release was mobilizing the full capacity of the executive branch, the aide said.

As a Belgian citizen of Rwandan origin with U.S. residency, Rusesabagina’s case did not “fit neatly in a box,” the aide said.

Momentum picked up over the past year as the Biden administration decided in May 2022 that Rusesabagina had been wrongfully detained.

Blinken met Kagame during a visit to Rwanda in August, where U.S. officials said the case was discussed extensively. Another opportunity for discussions came during the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington in December.

Yet Kigali continued to take a hard line, with Kagame suggesting on the sidelines of the December summit that only an invasion of Rwanda could force Rusesabagina’s release.

The first major public sign of softening came in an interview with the online news outlet, Semafor, less than two weeks ago, when Kagame said there were discussions about “resolving” the case.

Then came the announcement Friday that Rusesabagina’s sentence had been commuted. He was moved hours later from Nyarugenge Prison to the embassy of Qatar.

He will remain in Rwanda for a couple of days before traveling to Doha and then to the United States, U.S. officials said.
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Texas Officials Find Migrants in Shipping Container on a Train 

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

The bodies of two people were found Friday on a freight train in Texas after someone telephoned officials to let them know that there were people on board who were in distress.

It was not immediately clear who made the phone call.

Officials discovered the bodies and 13 people inside a shipping container when they stopped the train in Uvalde County, Texas, near the town of Knippa. At least five of the people were in critical condition.

All the people, many of them dehydrated, were thought to be migrants.

An investigation is underway.

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Latest in Ukraine: UK Says Russia Likely Conducting ‘More Defensive Operational Design’

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

New developments:

Transcript of Ukrainian president’s daily address: "The enemy must know: Ukraine won't forgive offenses against our people, won't forgive these deaths and injuries." – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The British Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily intelligence report on Ukraine that Russia is likely conducting “a more defensive operational design after inconclusive results from its attempts to conduct a general offensive since January 2023” in its campaign in Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops have dug in at Bakhmut instead of pulling back. Some Western military experts said this tactic might be risky because the Ukrainians need to conserve forces for a counterattack.

However, according to the British ministry, the Russian assault in Bakhmut has “largely stalled … a result of extreme attrition of the Russian force.”

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross says some 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many who are older or have disabilities, were clinging on in grisly circumstances in Bakhmut and surrounding settlements.

“They are living in very dire conditions, spending almost the entire days in intense shelling in the [underground] shelters,” said Umar Khan of the ICRC, speaking to a news briefing via video link from Dnipro, Ukraine.

“All you see is people pushed to the very limits of their existence and survival and resilience.”

In its latest report on human rights abuses in the war, the United Nations confirmed thousands of civilian deaths as well as disappearances, torture and rape, mostly of Ukrainians in Russian-occupied areas. Russia denies carrying out atrocities in what it calls a “special military operation.”

U.S. senators from both parties urged the Biden administration Friday to share information that could assist the International Criminal Court as it pursues war crimes charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The letter to President Joe Biden from Democrats Dick Durbin, Bob Menendez, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse and Republicans Lindsey Graham and Thom Tillis noted that Congress passed legislation to give the administration more flexibility in assisting the ICC.

“Knowing of your support for the important cause of accountability in Ukraine we urge you to move forward expeditiously with support to the ICC’s work so that Putin and others around him know in no uncertain terms that accountability and justice for their crimes are forthcoming,” the letter said.

Although the United States is not a party to the ICC, Biden said last week that Putin has clearly committed war crimes, adding that the ICC warrant was justified.

Last week, the court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The legal move will obligate the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot in their territory.

Firing on Donbas

Russian forces fired a barrage of missile strikes Friday on northern and southern sections of the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

At least 10 civilians were killed and 20 were wounded in several parts of Ukraine by Russian missile strikes, according to regional officials. Five people died in Kostiantynivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province, when a Russian missile hit an aid station.

In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned these attacks, saying, “The enemy must know: Ukraine won’t forgive offenses against our people, won’t forgive these deaths and injuries. All Russian terrorists will be defeated.”

Officials in Kyiv said the Russians used S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in the attacks. According to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Russians targeted the Center for the Registration of Homeless Persons, which recently served as an “invincibility point” where war-stricken residents could warm up, recharge their cellphones, and get food. Five refugees lived in the destroyed wing at the time of the attack.

Russian forces also used air-launched missiles, exploding drones and gliding bombs to attack several regions, Ukraine air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said.

Airstrikes and rocket and artillery attacks killed two civilians and wounded nine overnight in the town of Bilopillia in Sumy province, according to officials in the northeastern region. In southern Ukraine, Russian shelling killed one person in the city of Kherson.

Ukrainian forces are poised for a spring counteroffensive to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas as warmer weather sets in and new weapons, including tanks, come in from the West.

Nuclear warning

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now deputy head of the country’s Security Council, said its forces were ready to repel a counterattack.

“Our General Staff is assessing all that,” he said. Medvedev asserted that any Ukrainian attempt to take Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, could trigger a nuclear response from Moscow.

“An attempt to split part of the state away means an encroachment at the very existence of the state,” he said. “Quite obviously, it warrants the use of any weapons. I hope our ‘friends’ across the ocean realize that.”

Medvedev’s warning echoes Russia’s security doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or one with conventional weapons that threatens “the very existence of the Russian state.”

Additionally, Medvedev said Western weapons, such as the U.S.-made Patriot air defense missile systems supplied to Ukraine, could be targeted. Russian officials claim that foreign instructors stationed in Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers would also be targeted.

“If Patriot or other weapons are delivered to the territory of Ukraine along with foreign experts, they certainly make legitimate targets, which must be destroyed,” Medvedev said in a video posted to his messaging app channel. “They are combatants, they are the enemies of our state, and they must be destroyed.”

Kyiv denies this assertion and says soldiers are receiving their training in the U.S.

Medvedev disclosed that the Kremlin wants to create a “sanitary cordon” of up to 100 kilometers around Russian-held areas, so that short- and medium-range weapons can’t hit them.

He asserted that Moscow may even try to grab a chunk of Ukrainian territory stretching all the way to the Polish border.

Nordic air defense

To counter the rising threat from Russia, air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said Friday they have signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defense.

Their aim is to operate jointly based on known ways of operating under NATO, according to statements by the four countries’ armed forces.

The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Unrest in France Prompts Postponement of King Charles III Visit

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

Violent pension reform protests in France led to the postponement Friday of British King Charles III’s trip to the country, highlighting the growing security and political problems faced by President Emmanuel Macron.

The French president condemned the latest burst of violence overnight, while a human rights watchdog criticized the “excessive use of force” by police during recent demonstrations.

King Charles’ first foreign trip as monarch had been intended to highlight warming Franco-British relations. Instead, it has underlined the severity of demonstrations engulfing Britain’s neighbor just 10 months into Macron’s second term.

Uproar over legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years of age was enflamed when Macron exercised a controversial executive power to push the plan through parliament without a vote last week.

With fresh strikes expected Tuesday on what would have been the second day of the king’s tour, Macron asked for the postponement of the royal visit, a British government spokesperson said.

The decision was made “to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in conditions which reflect our friendly relations,” Macron’s office said.

Police arrested more than 450 people Thursday, according to interior ministry figures.

In addition, 441 members of the security forces were injured on the most violent day of protests since the start of the year.

More than 900 fires were lit around Paris, with anarchist groups blamed for setting uncollected rubbish ablaze and smashing shop windows, leading to frequent clashes with riot police.

But rights groups, magistrates and left-wing politicians have also denounced alleged police brutality in recent days.

The Council of Europe — the continent’s leading human rights watchdog — warned that sporadic acts of violence “cannot justify excessive use of force by agents of the state” or “deprive peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly.”

More than a million

More than a million people marched in France on Thursday, according to official estimates, as the protest movement was reinvigorated by Macron’s refusal to back down over the past week.

In the northeast city of Rennes, regional officials denied claims by union leaders that police had deliberately targeted them with tear gas and a water cannon during Thursday’s protests.

In Bordeaux, protesters set fire to the ancient wooden entrance to the city hall Thursday. King Charles had been set to visit the southwestern city Tuesday, after a day in Paris.

With protesters threatening to disrupt the royal visit and the streets of the capital strewn with rubbish because of a strike by waste collectors, some feel the trip’s postponement will avoid further embarrassment for France.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Brussels on Friday, Macron said discussions over rescheduling the visit could take place in the coming months.

“We have proposed that at the beginning of the summer, depending on our respective agendas, we can arrange a new state visit,” he said.

He also insisted that Paris “would not give in to the violence.”

“I condemn the violence and offer my full support to the security forces who worked in an exemplary manner.”

Way out?

It remains unclear how the government will defuse a crisis that comes just four years after the “Yellow Vest” demonstrations rocked the country.

“Everything depends on one man who is a prisoner of the political situation,” political scientist Bastien Francois from the Sorbonne University in Paris told AFP.

The leader of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, said Friday he had spoken to an aide to the president and suggested a pause on implementing the pensions law for six months while opening a channel for negotiations.

“It’s the moment to say, ‘Listen, let’s put things on pause, let’s wait six months,'” Berger told RTL radio. “It would calm things down.”

While France’s Constitutional Court still needs to give the final word on the reform, Macron said in a televised interview Wednesday that the changes needed to “come into force by the end of the year.”

Blockades of oil refineries by striking workers continued on Friday, but the energy transition ministry said it had requisitioned enough workers to restart production at one of these and resume fuel supply to the capital.

About 15% of gas stations were still out of at least one fuel by Friday morning, according to an analysis of public data by AFP.

Some flights have been canceled until at least Wednesday at airports around the country due to a strike by air traffic controllers.

Police and protesters will face off again Saturday, and not just at demonstrations over the pension reform.

At Saint Solines, central France, thousands of people are expected at a protest against the deployment of new water-storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation, despite an official ban on the gathering.
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Indigenous Artists Help Skateboarding Earn Stamp of Approval

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

Years ago, skateboarding was branded as a hobby for rebels or stoners in city streets, schoolyards and back alleys. Those days are long gone.

Skateboarding, which has Native Hawaiian roots connected to surfing, no longer is on the fringes. It became an Olympic sport in 2020. There are numerous amateur and professional skateboarding competitions in the U.S. And on Friday, the U.S. Postal Service issued stamps that laud the sport — and what Indigenous groups have brought to the skating culture.

Di’Orr Greenwood, 27, an artist born and raised on the Navajo Nation in Arizona whose work is featured on the new stamps, says it’s a long way from when she was a kid and people always kicked her out of certain spots just for skating.

“Now it’s like being accepted on a global scale,” Greenwood said. “There’s so many skateboarders I know that are extremely proud of it.”

The postal agency debuted the “Art of the Skateboard” stamps at a Phoenix skate park. The stamps feature skateboard artists from around the country, including Greenwood and Crystal Worl, who is Tlingit Athabascan. William James Taylor Jr., an artist from Virginia, and Federico “MasPaz” Frum, a Colombian-born muralist in Washington, D.C., round out the quartet of featured artists.

The stamps underscore the prevalence of skateboarding, especially in Indian Country where the demand for skate parks is growing.

The artists see the stamp as a small canvas, a functional art piece that will be seen across the U.S. and beyond.

“Maybe I’ll get a letter in the mail that someone sent me with my stamp on it,” said Worl, 35, who lives in Juneau, Alaska. “I think that’s when it will really hit home with the excitement of that.”

Antonio Alcalá, USPS art director, led the search for artists to paint skate decks for the project. After settling on a final design, each artist received a skateboard from Alcalá to work on. He then photographed the maple skate decks and incorporated them into an illustration of a young person holding up a skateboard for display. The person is seen in muted colors to draw attention to the skate deck.

Alcalá used social media to seek out artists who, besides being talented, were knowledgeable about skateboarding culture. Worl was already on his radar because her brother, Rico, designed the Raven Story stamp in 2021, which honored a central figure in Indigenous stories along the coast in the Pacific Northwest.

The Worl siblings run an online shop called Trickster Company with fashions, home goods and other merchandise with Indigenous and modern twists. For her skate deck, Crystal Worl paid homage to her clan and her love of the water with a Sockeye salmon against a blue and indigo background.

She was careful about choosing what to highlight.

“There are certain designs, patterns and stories that belong to certain clans and you have to have permission even as an Indigenous person to share certain stories or designs,” Worl said.

The only times Navajo culture has been featured in stamps is with rugs or necklaces. Greenwood, who tried out for the U.S. Women’s Olympic skateboarding team, knew immediately she wanted to incorporate her heritage in a modern way. Her nods to the Navajo culture include a turquoise inlay and a depiction of eagle feathers, which are used to give blessings.

“I was born and raised with my great-grandmother, who looked at a stamp kind of like how a young kid would look at an iPhone 13,” Greenwood said. “She entrusted every important news and every important document and everything to a stamp to send it and trust that it got there.”

Skateboarding has become a staple across Indian Country. A skate park opened in August on the Hopi reservation. Skateboarders on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona recently got funding for one from pro skateboarder Tony Hawk’s nonprofit, The Skatepark Project. Youth-organized competitions take place on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Dustinn Craig, a White Mountain Apache filmmaker and “lifer” skateboarder in Arizona, has made documentaries and short films on the sport. The 47-year-old remembers how skateboarding was seen as dorky and anti-establishment when he was a kid hiding “a useless wooden toy” in his locker. At the same time, Craig credits skateboarding culture as “my arts and humanities education.”

So he is wary of the mainstream’s embrace, as well as the sometimes clique-ish nature, of today’s skateboarding world.

“For those of us who have been in it for a very long time, it’s kind of insulting because I think a lot of the popularity has been due to the proliferation of access to the visuals of the youth culture skateboarding through the internet and social media,” Craig said. “So, I feel like it really sort of trivializes and sort of robs Native youth of authenticity of the older skateboard culture that I was raised on.”

He acknowledges that he may come off as the “grumpy old man” to younger Indigenous skateboarders who are open to collaborating with outsiders.

The four skateboards designed by the artists will eventually be transferred to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, said Jonathan Castillo, USPS spokesperson.

The stamps, which will have a printing of 18 million, are available at post offices and on the USPS website. For the artists, being part of a project that feels low-tech in this age of social media is exciting.

“It’s like the physical thing is special because you go out of your way to go to the post office, buy the stamps and write something,” Worl said.
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 VOA Immigration Weekly Recap, March 19–25

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Biden, Trudeau Work to Stop Unofficial Border Crossings, Officials Say

The United States and Canada reached a deal aimed at stopping asylum-seekers from crossing the shared land border via unofficial crossings, though details still need to be ironed out when the two sides meet, a Canadian government source and a U.S. official told Reuters Thursday.

Media Groups Warn Immigration Case Could Affect US Press Freedoms

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a case Monday that some First Amendment experts warn could affect how journalists cover immigration. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros reports.

US Flies Migrants Caught at Canada Border to Texas in Deterrence Effort

U.S. authorities have been flying migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Canada border to Texas as part of a deterrence effort to tackle a rise in crossings, according to authorities, flight records, and a Reuters witness.

VOA Day in Photo

Migrants, transferred from Plattsburgh, New York, to El Paso, Texas, disembark from a plane at the airport, in El Paso, Texas, March 21, 2023.

Immigration around the world

Rohingya Skeptical of Myanmar Refugee Return Offer

Rohingya refugees said Wednesday they doubted Myanmar was offering a genuine return to their homeland, as a spokesperson for the country’s military junta said it would begin welcoming back members of the persecuted minority as soon as next month. Story by Agence France-Presse.

Ukrainian Refugees in Israel Stuck in Legal Limbo

While Europe and the U.S. have welcomed large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, many in Israel are living in legal limbo without official refugee status. Linda Gradstein reports from the Israeli port city of Haifa, where a group is offering the refugees help. VOA footage by Ricki Rosen.

UK to Send Migrants to Rwanda Soon if Courts Agree

Britain’s government said Sunday that it could start deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda in the next few months — but only if UK courts rule that the controversial policy is legal. Story by the Associated Press.

News brief

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that certain flexibilities it first announced in March 2020, to address the COVID-19 pandemic will end March 23, 2023.
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Biden Warns Iran After Deadly Strikes in Syria

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would respond “forcefully” to protect Americans after the U.S. military said it carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria in response to a suspected Iranian-backed attack.

Speaking during a state visit to Canada on Friday, Biden said the United States “does not seek conflict with Iran but is prepared to act forcefully to protect our people.”

“That’s exactly what happened last night,” he added.

The U.S. military said it carried out multiple “precision” airstrikes overnight Thursday against targets in eastern Syria in response to a drone attack that killed a U.S. contractor.

Defense Department spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that the operation was intended “to send a very clear message that we will take the protection of our personnel seriously, and that we will respond quickly and decisively if they are threatened.”

He described the strikes as “proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation to minimize casualties.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the war in Syria, said 14 people were killed by the U.S. strikes in Syria.

On Friday, U.S. officials said multiple drones were launched at the Green Village in northeast Syria, where U.S. troops are also based. Officials said there were no injuries in those attacks.

In a statement, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin described the strikes as mounted against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” Austin said.

“No group will strike our troops with impunity,” he added.

The drone struck a maintenance facility on a base in Hasaka, Syria, at 1:38 p.m. local time, according to the Pentagon.

Six other Americans were wounded in the attack, including five U.S. service members. Two of the wounded service members were treated onsite, while three others and the U.S. contractor were medically evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq, according to the U.S. military statement.

The United States has about 900 troops in eastern Syria to help Syrian Kurdish forces prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terror group.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, the top U.S. military officer, and the head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, warned lawmakers in separate hearings Thursday that Iran continues to destabilize the Middle East through its support to terrorist groups and proxy forces.

Iranian proxies have attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria 78 times using drones and rockets since January 2021, according to CENTCOM commander Gen. Erik Kurilla.

“This was another in a series of attacks on our troops and partner forces,” Kurilla said late Thursday.

“We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks,” he added.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Los Angeles Schools, Union Leaders Reach Deal After Strike

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeUS

The Los Angeles Unified School District and union leaders said Friday that they had reached a deal on pay raises for bus drivers, custodians and other support staff after a three-day strike that shut down the nation’s second-largest school system.

The deal includes a series of retroactive raises going back to 2021 that will collectively hike worker pay by about 30%, said Max Arias, executive director of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union.

The deal also provides workers with a one-time $1,000 raise, sets the district’s minimum wage at $22.52 and creates a $3 million educational and professional development fund for union members, district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. Free health care will be provided for any employee working at least four hours a day, he said.

“I have no doubt that this contract will be seen as a precedent-setting, historic contract that elevates the dignity, the humanity of our workforce, respects the needs of our students, but also guarantees the fiscal viability of our district for years to come,” Carvalho said.

He announced the deal alongside Max Arias, executive director of Local 99, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Both sides credited Bass, who took office in December, with helping reach the agreement.

The deal must still be voted on by the full union, which represents about 30,000 workers who also include cafeteria workers, special education assistants and other support staff. Those workers walked off the job Tuesday through Thursday amid stalled talks, and classes resumed Friday.

Members of United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing 35,000 educators, counselors and other staff, joined the picket lines in solidarity.

The union said district support staffers earn, on average, about $25,000 per year and many live in poverty because of low pay or limited work hours while struggling with inflation and the area’s high cost of housing.

The deal came just days after the union accused the district of engaging in unfair labor practices. Arias noted that another contract must be negotiated next year.

“Thanks to the parents of Los Angeles and the students of Los Angeles and everyone who stood shoulder to shoulder with our members,” he said.

SEIU members have been working without a contract since June 2020, while the contract for teachers expired in June 2022. The unions decided last week to stop accepting extensions.

Teachers waged a six-day strike in 2019 over pay and contract issues, but schools remained open.
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Ukrainian Mother Faces Worst Fear: Child Deported to Russia

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeEU

According to Ukrainian officials, more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories. As of March 24, only 324 have been returned, including Olena Dudnik’s son, Andriy. Lesia Bakalets reports on one mother’s ordeal.
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‘Hotel Rwanda’ Hero Paul Rusesabagina Released from Prison

Posted on 03/25/2023 by SeeAF

Paul Rusesabagina has been released from a Rwandan prison, according to U.S. officials, after the Rwandan government commuted his prison sentence following diplomatic efforts by the United States.

Rusesabagina, once a hotel manager in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the country’s 1994 genocide. His actions inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda.

U.S. officials say Rusesabagina was released from prison shortly before midnight Friday and was taken to the residence of the Qatari ambassador in Kigali. They say he will likely stay there a couple of days before flying to Qatar, which helped to broker his release.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement welcoming the release.

“It is a relief to know that Paul is rejoining his family, and the U.S. government is grateful to the Rwandan government for making this reunion possible,” Blinken said.

“We also thank the government of Qatar for their valuable assistance that will enable Paul’s return to the United States,” he added.

Earlier Friday, the Rwandan Ministry of Justice said in a statement that the sentences for several individuals, including Rusesabagina, “have been commuted by presidential order after consideration of their requests for clemency.”

The 68-year-old Rwandan hotelier-turned-dissident had been jailed in Rwanda since August 2020, when a plane he believed was headed for Burundi instead landed in Kigali.

After he left the plane, he was tried and convicted on a number of terrorism-related charges the following year, over his ties to an organization opposed to President Paul Kagame’s rule.

Rusesabagina, who denied the charges, was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In his statement Friday, Blinken said there is “no place for political violence” in Rwanda and did not back Rwanda’s accusations that Rusesabagina had engaged in such violence.

“The United States believes in a Rwanda that is peaceful and prosperous,” he said.

Rusesabagina has U.S. permanent residency rights, and the U.S. government had described him as “wrongly detained,” in part because of what it called the lack of fair trial guarantees.

Senior U.S. administration officials said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan held a series of phone calls with a close adviser to Kagame to petition for Rusesabagina’s release.

The United States has traditionally had close ties with Rwanda, but they have been strained by the case against Rusesabagina.

Stephanie Nyombayire, a spokesperson for Kagame, tweeted Friday the release was “the result of a shared desire to reset US-Rwanda relationship.”

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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US Envoy Visits 3 US Citizens Jailed in China, Official Says

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeUS

Chinese American citizen Kai Li, jailed in China on spying charges that he denies, received a rare in-person visit last week from the U.S. ambassador to Beijing and urged the U.S. government to continue to work for his release, Li’s son said Friday.

Over the past month, U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns met for the first time in more than five years with at least three U.S. citizens who Washington says have been wrongfully detained, a senior U.S. official and family members said.

Burns met Li on March 16 in a Shanghai prison, Li’s son Harrison said. Li, a businessman, has been held in China since 2016 and was handed a 10-year jail sentence in 2018 for espionage.

“The biggest message that my dad wanted to convey is to remind everyone in the U.S. government and the public that … he’s 100 percent innocent,” Harrison Li said. “Of course, the U.S. government knows this, but he said it just bears repeating.”

Burns wanted to shake Li’s hand, but Chinese authorities did not allow that, Harrison Li said. The two could see and hear each other in an hourlong meeting through a floor-to-ceiling glass partition, he said.

Harrison Li said that when the ambassador asked his father what he hoped to do once he was released, he replied that he wanted to work on “improving relations between the United States and China.”

China did not allow in-person visits during its prolonged COVID-19 lockdown.

Burns also met with Mark Swidan, a Texas-based businessman who was convicted by a Chinese court in 2019, and David Lin, an American pastor detained in China since 2006, the senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He did not provide the dates but said Burns visited the men “within the last few weeks” and that “this is the first time he’s actually had a chance to get face to face.”

Burns accompanied consular officers on the prison visits, a State Department spokesperson said.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Burns visited the three men at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are the worst in decades following a series of disputes, including Washington’s accusation that China flew a spy balloon over the continental United States in February. A U.S. fighter jet shot it down. China has said the balloon was a civilian research craft, but the dramatic episode forced U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a trip to Beijing.

Since then, there has been little positive diplomacy between the two countries aside from a brief, tense meeting between Blinken and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on February 18 in Munich.

And last week Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow where he and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly denounced the United States.

The detainee issue often takes a back seat to more urgent issues in the U.S.-China relationship. Families of detained Americans say the freedom of their relatives should not be bundled up with challenging policy issues and are better addressed in a separate track focused on humanitarian matters.
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Powder, Threat Sent to Manhattan Prosecutor Investigating Trump

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeUS

A powdery substance was found Friday with a threatening letter in a mailroom at the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the latest security scare as the prosecutor weighs a potential historic indictment of former President Donald Trump, authorities said.

New York City police and environmental protection officials isolated and removed the suspicious letter, and testing “determined there was no dangerous substance,” Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson said. The substance was sent to a lab for further testing, police said.

“Alvin, I am going to kill you,” the letter said, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and did so on the condition of anonymity.

The discovery, in the same building where a grand jury is expected to resume work Monday, came amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from Trump, who is holding the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign Saturday in Waco, Texas.

Hours earlier, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that any criminal charge against him could lead to “potential death & destruction.”

Trump also posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg, a Democrat. On Thursday, Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, as an “animal.”

The building where the letter was found wasn’t evacuated and business mostly went on as usual, with prosecutors coming and going — and bicycle delivery workers dropping off lunch orders. The building houses various government offices, including the city’s marriage bureau.

Security has been heavy around the court buildings and district attorney’s office in recent days as the grand jury investigates hush money paid on Trump’s behalf during his 2016 campaign.

Additional police officers are on patrol, metal barricades have been installed along the sidewalks, and bomb sniffing dogs have been making regular sweeps of the buildings, which have also faced unfounded bomb threats in recent days.

After Trump called on people to protest his possible arrest, Bragg sent a memo telling his staff: “We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”

The grand jury, convened by Bragg in January, has been investigating Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the claim.
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Iran Condemns France for ‘Repression’ of Protests

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeEU

Iran on Friday condemned what it called France’s repression of protests after more than 450 people were arrested and nearly as many police were injured in demonstrations against pension reforms.

Protesters clashed with French security forces Thursday in the most serious violence yet of a three-month revolt against President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to change the retirement age from 62 to 64.

“We strongly condemn the repression of the peaceful demonstrations of the French people,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted in French.

“We call on the French government to respect human rights and refrain from using force against the people of the country who are peacefully pursuing their claims,” he added.

His ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanani had previously urged the French government to “talk to its people and listen to their voices.”

“We do not support destruction or rioting, but we maintain that instead of creating chaos in other countries, listen to the voice of your people and avoid violence against them,” he said.

Kanani was referring to criticism, including from France, of Iran’s response to months-long protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini after the 22-year-old’s arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Hundreds of people have been killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested in connection with what Iranian officials described as “riots” fomented by Israel and the West.

The United States, Britain and the European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran for its response to the protest movement, led mostly by women.

“Those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind,” Kanani said, adding that such “violence contradicts sitting on the chair of morality lessons and preaching to others.”

On Friday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 457 people had been arrested and 441 members of the security forces injured the day before during the protests.

Darmanin dismissed calls from protesters to withdraw the pension reform.

“I don’t think we should withdraw this law because of violence,” he said. “If so, that means there’s no state. We should accept a democratic, social debate, but not a violent debate.”
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Food Deliveries Continue in South Sudan Despite Dangers

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeAF

The shooting deaths of two drivers with the U.N.’s World Food Program in South Sudan last week underscored the country’s status as one of the deadliest for aid workers. But aid workers say help is needed now more than ever as the World Bank estimates more than 9 million people will need assistance this year.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been close to 20 attacks on humanitarian aid workers, according to the World Food Program country director in South Sudan, Mary Ellan. She said the attacks could result in a large-scale loss of life if not stopped.

In January of this year, for example, over 300 tons of food were looted in Jonglei state. “That’s enough food to feed 30,000 people for a month,” she said. “These acts are deplorable because that road going to northern Jonglei and into Pibor is an artery of hope for over 1 million people who are currently food insecure.”

The attack in Jonglei state that killed the two drivers led the WFP to temporarily halt food deliveries throughout the area.

Roads to areas in need of aid are often flooded and in disrepair, and aid workers say they face chronic danger from rebels, bandits and police.

Many checkpoints

Ellan described a typical trip:

“There is a proliferation of checkpoints. Our convoys spend a lot of time negotiating at these checkpoints to get past. We don’t pay, but it takes time, and we lose hours delivering humanitarian cargo. Humanitarian cargo is not subject to taxes and levies.”

Peter Pal leads the Rapid Response Mechanism, the WFP team that delivers food assistance to remote areas of the country. He often takes the long journey on the highways from Juba to the most remote parts of the country, gathering data, registering individuals who have been rescued and delivering food to remote regions, often with no road access.

“We were doing registration and the water levels [rose], and for us to serve everyone coming to be registered, we have to bring the services closer to the people,” Pal said.

“We have to use the canoes, put the generators [in them], cross [to] the other side of the swamp and register them. This is not that easy, because we have to cross the swamp for 50 minutes on that small canoe with all your equipment.” Later it began to rain, he said, and “we have to cover ourselves with a plastic sheet.”

Pal said that despite working in such a difficult environment, he gets satisfaction from serving those in need of help in some of the remotest areas.

“I think I have the courage of serving the people,” he said. “I am here for a reason, because I am far better off than the suffering men and women. Let the government open humanitarian access to all areas where we serve the people. Let the government also embrace peace.”

Another aid employee, Juma, has been a humanitarian aid worker for five years. He said serving humanity is what makes him happy.

“I want to build a career where I can directly help vulnerable people due to many factors,” he said. “There are incidents where other humanitarian workers have been killed while delivering aid assistance that have greatly affected me, but there is nothing that I can do and I cannot leave my work.”

Long trek in water

However, Juma – who declined to give his real name because he was not authorized to speak to the media – said the job has hard moments, too.

“The regrettable moment that I cannot forget was in 2021 in greater Jonglei,” he said. “In September we walked for 15 hours barefooted in the water to access the areas, so that incident continues to disturb me when I recall about it.”

John Simon Manyuon, Jonglei state’s minister of information, called attacks on aid workers were “alarming and of much concern.” He said the state government was finding it hard to provide security “because we don’t have enough forces and tanks to be stationed along the roads” to address civilian, humanitarian and other needs.

He urged humanitarian organizations to notify the government before sending out convoys so the state government could prepare to provide security for aid workers.
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Kamala Harris to Visit Ghana in Bid to Counter Ties with China

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeAF

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Ghana Sunday as part of a three-nation Africa tour aimed at strengthening U.S. relations on the continent. Although Ghana and America have a close friendship dating back to 1957, China is now a far larger trading partner with Ghana than the U.S. Kent Mensah reports from Accra on how Harris’ trip could impact U.S. trade with Ghana. Camera: Nneka Chile
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UN Weekly Roundup: March 18-24, 2023

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeEU

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

Activists thirsty for action at water conference

A major U.N. water conference concluded Friday with more than 700 commitments for action across many sectors to stem a growing global water crisis. Thousands of participants from government, the private sector, academia and civil society participated in the three days of meetings that resulted in a new Water Action Agenda. However, calls by at least 150 countries for the U.N. secretary-general to create a special U.N. envoy for water have so far gone unheeded, although U.N. officials said Antonio Guterres is giving the proposal serious consideration.

UN Seeks Game Changers to Address Global Water Crisis

Black Sea grain deal continues, but for how long?

On March 18, the United Nations announced that the Black Sea Grain Initiative would continue but did not specify for how long. Turkey, which, along with the U.N., helped broker the deal, also did not specify the length of the extension. Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said it is for 120 days (which is what the agreement calls for) but Russia’s foreign ministry said it has agreed to only a 60-day extension. The package deal facilitates the export of Ukrainian grain and Russian food and fertilizer products to international markets.

Black Sea Grain Deal Extended, Russia Says for 60 Days

Tensions increasing on Korean Peninsula

A senior United Nations official warned Monday that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is heading in the “wrong direction” days after North Korea fired its second intermediate-range ballistic missile of the year, followed by a short-range ballistic missile test Sunday. U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council that tensions are increasing, with no off-ramps in sight. On Friday, North Korea claimed it had tested a new underwater nuclear attack drone, which it said would create a “radioactive tsunami” on enemy shores.

UN: Tensions on Korean Peninsula Headed in ‘Wrong Direction’

Guterres meets with EU Commission, presses climate action

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres brought an urgent climate message to the European Union summit Thursday in Brussels, encouraging leaders of the bloc’s 27 member nations to take dramatic action. Following the release earlier in the week of a grim report by the organization’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Guterres said dramatic action is needed, as the planet gets closer to the “tipping point” that will make it impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

UN’s Guterres Brings Climate Warning to EU Summit

Calls for investigation of rights violations in northern Ethiopia

U.N. human rights experts warned Wednesday that peace in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region will not last unless violations committed during more than two years of armed conflict are investigated and the perpetrators are held to account.

Rights Experts: Violations in Ethiopia Must Be Investigated to Ensure Durable Peace

World Tuberculosis Day

After decades of progress, cases of the lung infection tuberculosis are on the rise again. Last year 1.6 million people died from the disease. India has the highest number of cases, with more than half-a-million related deaths in 2021 — about a third of the global total. March 24 is World TB Day and there is hope of a vaccine being developed in the next few years. The World Health Organization has set a target for eradicating TB by 2030, primarily through diagnosis, treatment and the development of a vaccine. Watch this report from VOA’s Henry Ridgwell for more:

World TB Day Sees Global Push to Eradicate Disease By 2030

Good news

Nearly 420 million children benefited from free school meals last year, a new World Food Program report said Tuesday, providing an important safety net as hunger reaches unprecedented crisis levels worldwide. The WFP said governments seem to be realizing the value of protecting the health and nutrition of children.

UN: School Meal Programs More than Just a Plate of Food

In brief

— Ukraine and the International Criminal Court signed a cooperation agreement Thursday on the establishment of a country office for The Hague-based tribunal in Ukraine. The court has been investigating a wide range of possible international crimes carried out since Russia’s invasion February 24, 2022. Earlier this week, the court made headlines when it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another senior Russian official, charging them with criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. The Kremlin rejected the court’s move saying, like many other states, Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court.

— The U.N., the World Bank, the European Union and the government of Ukraine said in the second Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment report that after a year of war, direct damage to infrastructure and people’s lives is calculated at more than $135 billion and social and economic losses amount to $290 billion. The country’s agriculture sector was hard hit, estimated to have lost $40 billion, overwhelmingly from destroyed equipment and mined farmland.

— The World Health Organization expressed concern this week at the rising number of cholera cases, especially in countries that have not had outbreaks in decades. As of March 20, two dozen countries have reported cases. The WHO says the response is hampered in part due to the global shortage of the oral cholera vaccine, as well as overstretched medical personnel, who are dealing with multiple health emergencies.

— As gang violence continues unabated in Haiti hindering people’s ability to access water and food, the World Food Program said Thursday that half of the population – nearly 5 million people – are struggling to feed themselves. Inflation and food prices are also hitting Haitians hard. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification of IPC, says 1.8 million people are estimated to be at emergency Phase 4 levels. The WFP says it urgently needs $125 million for the next six months to assist the most vulnerable.

— As the new school year got underway in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, called on de facto Taliban authorities “to allow all girls to return to school with immediate effect.” It said the “unjustified and shortsighted decision” to continue to bar more than 1 million Afghan girls from attending classes “marks another grim milestone in the steady erosion of girls’ and women’s rights nationwide.”

— WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China Saturday to be transparent in sharing data on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data recently made public suggests that raccoon dogs were present in the Wuhan animal market and may have been infected with the coronavirus. The Chinese city was where the first infections were reported and many of the first human cases were centered around the animal market. The WHO says the information is not conclusive but could shed new light on the origins of the virus and should have been shared three years ago.

What we are watching next week

On March 29, the General Assembly will take up a proposal from Vanuatu and backed by more than 100 countries that would seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice clarifying the legal obligations and consequences of and to states on protecting the rights of current and future generations from climate change. The resolution began in 2019 as the brainchild of students from the Pacific Island nation, which is among several small island states that are suffering the effects of the climate crisis but have contributed little to it.
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New Russian Attacks Kill Civilians in Ukraine’s Donbas Region

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeEU

Russian forces fired a barrage of missiles Friday on northern and southern sections of the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

At least 10 civilians were killed and 20 were wounded in several parts of Ukraine by the missile strikes, according to regional officials. Five people died in Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province when a missile hit an aid station.

Officials in Kyiv said the Russians attacked with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. According to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Russians targeted the Center for the Registration of Homeless Persons, which recently also worked as the Point of Invincibility, where war-stricken residents could warm up, recharge their cellphones and get food. Five refugees lived in the destroyed wing at the time of the attack.

Russian forces also used air-launched missiles, exploding drones and gliding bombs to attack several regions, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said.

Two civilians were killed and nine were wounded in the town of Bilopillia in Sumy province overnight in airstrikes and rocket and artillery attacks, according to officials in the northeastern region. In southern Ukraine, Russian shelling killed one person in the city of Kherson.

Ukrainian forces are poised for a counteroffensive in the spring as warmer weather sets in and new weapons, including tanks, are coming in from the West to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and now deputy head of the country’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said its forces were ready to repel a counterattack.

“If Patriot or other weapons are delivered to the territory of Ukraine along with foreign experts, they certainly make legitimate targets, which must be destroyed,” Medvedev said in video posted to his messaging app channel. “They are combatants, they are the enemies of our state, and they must be destroyed.”

Kyiv denies this assertion and says soldiers are receiving their training in the U.S.

Medvedev disclosed that the Kremlin wants to create a “sanitary cordon” of up to 100 kilometers around Russian-held areas, so that short- and medium-range weapons can’t hit them.

He asserted that Moscow may even try to grab a chunk of Ukrainian territory stretching all the way to the Polish border.

In an attempt to counter the rising threat from Russia, air force commanders from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said Friday that they had signed a letter of intent to create a unified Nordic air defense.

The intention is to be able to operate jointly based on known ways under NATO, according to statements by the four countries’ armed forces.

The move to integrate the air forces was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters.

In its daily assessment of the war, Britain’s Defense Ministry said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “severely dislocated the Russian military’s training system.”

In a Twitter post Friday, the ministry said Russia has “likely redeployed at least 1,000 troops who had been training at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in southwestern Belarus.”

Russia has likely not dismantled the tented training camp, the British intelligence update said, suggesting that Russia “is considering continuing the training program” under the “much less experienced Belarusian army.”

Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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US Artist Travels to Ukraine to Cook for People in Need

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeUS

In his long career, Scott Cohen of Maryland has worked as a playwright and an artist. But his latest project involves the art of cooking for refugees and migrants. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Video: Artyom Kokhan
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Invasive Animals Wreak Havoc in Florida

Posted on 03/24/2023 by SeeUS

Florida’s warm weather attracts millions of visitors, including animals that outstay their welcome. Wildlife brought in from somewhere else has seriously damaged the ecosystem in Florida, home to the most severe invasive animal crisis in the continental United States. VOA’s Dora Mekouar has more from Orlando. Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Dora Mekouar, Adam Greenbaum
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