With Russian troops occupying almost 20% of Ukrainian territory in Europe’s first major conflict since World War Two, Latvia, one of Russia’s Baltic neighbors, is reorganizing its defenses – reenergizing its volunteer force and raising discussions about reinstating its draft system. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in the Latvian capital, Riga.
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Month: April 2023
Climate Activists Glue Themselves to Roads, Stop Berlin Traffic
Environmental activists glued themselves to the asphalt in dozens of street blockades across Berlin on Monday to demand the government do more to tackle climate change, an action condemned by Germany’s finance minister as “physical violence.”
“We no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of the basis of our existence,” Carla Rochel, a spokeswoman for Last Generation, the group behind the protests, said in a statement.
The action was swiftly rejected by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, with spokesman Steffen Hebestreit saying: “We do not support such forms of protest.”
Around 200 arrests were made over the protests, Berlin’s regional interior minister Iris Spranger said on Twitter.
Campaigners launched their protests at the start of morning rush hour traffic.
They glued themselves to the street surface, halting traffic across the Berlin, including on the city’s busy A100 motorway.
Police used a drill to dislodge one activist who was glued firmly to the ground, an AFP journalist saw, leaving the protester with a slab of asphalt stuck to his hand.
Around 500 officers were deployed to secure the streets and clear demonstrators from over 30 protest sites, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police told AFP.
The protesters’ actions caused “massive traffic disruptions” across the city, Berlin’s transport information network said on Twitter, with police working through to morning to remove the activists.
Climate targets
The campaign group has in recent months carried out a string of protests, blocking roads and spraying public buildings with paint to raise awareness of climate change and putting pressure on the government in Berlin, a coalition between the Social Democrats, the pro-business FDP and the Greens.
Among other measures, Last Generation has called for the government to provide a “detailed plan” to meet the goal of a 1.5-degree Celsius global warming limit and introduce a general speed limit.
“We’re bringing the city to a standstill so the government moves,” Last Generation activist Raphael Thelen said in a video posted on Twitter.
Monday’s protests “exceeded our highest expectations”, the group’s spokeswoman Aimee van Baalen said in a statement.
Social Democrat Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Tagesspiegel daily she did not have the “slightest understanding” of the form of protests.
Faeser backed police enforcement action, saying activists would not be allowed to “walk all over the rule of law” with their protests.
‘Physical violence’ –
Finance Minister Christian Lindner condemned the protesters’ action, saying on Twitter that “no motive, no matter how noble, can hide the fact that the Berlin Blockade is nothing other than physical violence.”
“Those who want a different policy can found a party and seek majorities for their positions,” added the minister from the FDP.
The Greens, also part of Scholz’s coalition, likewise criticized the protests. The street blockades were “not productive”, Britta Hasselmann, the Green party’s leader in parliament, told broadcaster ARD.
Last Generation has signaled its intention to continue with the blockades over the coming days.
Hundreds of legal proceedings are underway against members of Last Generation over the protests.
Recently, a court in the southwestern city of Heilbronn handed prison sentences of between three and five months to three activists for their part in protests.
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Countries Evacuate Diplomats, Citizens Out of Sudan
Countries are rushing to evacuate their diplomats and citizens from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, as fighting between the two rival factions in the Northeastern African country continues.
Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States are among the nations using aircraft and convoys to bring foreign nationals out of Sudan.
More than 420 people have been killed so far, and thousands have been injured.
More than 420 people have been killed so far and thousands have been injured.
SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Veronica Balderas
Sudanese nationals are fending for themselves amid power blackouts and loss of internet service.
Some Sudanese have made the decision to escape in cars and buses on the dangerous roads.
Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, announced Sunday the organization has deployed a team of disaster response experts to Sudan. She said the team will initially operate out of Kenya.
“The United States is mobilizing to ramp up assistance to the people of Sudan ensnared between the warring factions,” Power said.
She said the Disaster Assistance Response Team will work with “the international community and our international partners to identify priority needs and to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to those who need it most.”
“At a time when many Sudanese families should be celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, they are instead living in terror,” Power said.
Fighting between the warring factions has also erupted in Darfur.
“All of this suffering compounds an already dire situation,” Power said. “One-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday the U.N. is not leaving Sudan but has temporarily relocated “hundreds” of staff members inside and outside of the country.
“Working with humanitarian organizations on the ground, we are reconfiguring our presence in Sudan to enable us to continue supporting the Sudanese people,” Guterres said at a Security Council meeting. “Let me be clear: The United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time.”
The U.N. has about 800 international staff in the country, and many of them have their families living with them in Khartoum. There are also about 3,200 Sudanese nationals working for the organization.
Guterres said he is in constant contact with the warring parties. He has repeatedly called for de-escalation, an end to the fighting and talks. He urged all Security Council members to “exert maximum leverage” on the rival generals to stop fighting and return to a democratic transition.
“The violence must stop. It risks a catastrophic conflagration within Sudan that could engulf the whole region and beyond,” he warned.
He strongly condemned the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas and health care facilities.
“I call on the parties to stop combat operations in densely populated areas and to allow unhindered humanitarian aid operations,” Guterres said. “Civilians must be able to access food, water and other essential supplies, and evacuate from combat zones.”
VOA’s Margaret Besheer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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EU Urges Kosovo, Ethnic Serbs to Start ‘Serious Dialogue’ After Vote Boycott
The European Union called on Kosovo’s government and ethnic Serbs to start a “serious dialogue” to bring them back into state institutions after they boycotted local elections to press demands for more autonomy.
The boycott underlined that a Western-backed plan verbally agreed to by the Kosovo and Serbian governments in March was not working. It aimed to defuse tensions by granting local Serbs more autonomy with Pristina retaining ultimate authority.
“These elections do not offer a long-term political solution for these municipalities,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said on Monday, referring to a northern area of the 90% ethnic Albanian country where Serbs form a majority.
“There is an urgent need for a serious dialogue. It is imperative that we urgently restore a situation where Kosovo Serbs participate actively in local governance, policing and judiciary in the north of Kosovo,” he said in a statement.
Some 50,000 Serbs who live there have not recognized Kosovo state institutions since Pristina declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a guerrilla uprising, instead seeing Belgrade as their capital.
Kosovo’s election commission said the turnout in Sunday’s local elections in the north was 3.47%. All four elected mayors were from ethnic Albanian political parties including two from the ruling Self-Determination Party of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. The only Serb candidate drew only five votes.
Serb officials in the north resigned collectively in November 2022 in protest at the Pristina government’s plan to replace Serbian car number plates dating to the pre-independence era with number plates with those of Kosovo.
They are demanding the implementation of an association of semi-autonomous Kosovo Serb municipalities that was agreed with European Union mediation a decade ago, before taking part in any election organized by Pristina.
Kurti accused the Serbian government of orchestrating “a threatening campaign” intimidating Serbs in the north who had been willing to vote.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied the accusations.
“We have witnessed a peaceful political uprising of Serbs in the north [on Sunday],” Vucic said. “I am afraid that this is just the start of a greater political crisis.”
Serbia has not recognized the independence of its former southern province, where NATO intervened during the 1998-99 conflict to protect ethnic Albanians from a fierce Serbian security crackdown replete with killings and ethnic cleansing.
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US Supreme Court to Decide If Public Officials Can Block Critics on Social Media
The U.S. Supreme Court, exploring free speech rights in the social media era, on Monday agreed to consider whether the Constitution’s First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The justices took up an appeal by two members of a public school board from the city of Poway in Southern California of a lower court’s ruling in favor of school parents who sued after being blocked from Facebook pages and a Twitter account maintained by the officials.
The justices also took up an appeal by a Michigan man of a lower court’s ruling against him after he sued a city official in Port Huron who blocked him on Facebook following critical posts made by the plaintiff about the local government’s COVID-19 response.
At issue is whether a public official’s social media activity can amount to governmental action bound by First Amendment limits on government regulation of speech.
The justices faced a similar First Amendment issue in 2021 involving a legal dispute over former President Donald Trump’s effort to block critics from his Twitter account. The justices brought an end to that court fight after Trump had left office by deciding the case was moot, throwing out a lower court’s decision that found that the former president had violated constitutional free speech rights.
The California case involves Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, elected members of the Poway Unified School District. They blocked Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, the parents of three students at district schools, on Facebook and Twitter after the couple made hundreds of critical posts on issues such as race and the handling of school finances.
The Garniers sued O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane in federal court, claiming their free speech rights under the First Amendment were violated.
Zane and O’Connor-Ratcliff each had public Facebook pages identifying them as government officials, according to the Garniers’ court filing. Zane’s page was entitled “T.J. Zane, Poway Unified School District Trustee” and included a picture of a school district signage.
O’Connor-Ratcliff also had a public Twitter profile. On that account and her Facebook page, she identified herself as “President of the PUSD Board of Education” and linked to her official email address, the court filing said.
A federal judge in California ruled in favor of the parents in 2021. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last July agreed, finding that the school board members had presented their social media accounts as “channels of communication with the public” about school board business.
The Michigan case involves Port Huron resident Kevin Lindke, who was blocked from City Manager James Freed’s public Facebook page after posting criticism relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lindke sued Freed in federal court, also claiming his First Amendment rights were violated.
Freed’s account was a public Facebook page that identified him as a “public figure,” included a picture of him wearing his city manager pin and frequently included information about city programs and policies, according to Lindke’s court filing.
A federal judge ruled in favor of Freed in 2021. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last July agreed, finding that Freed had not been acting in his official capacity when he blocked Lindke from Facebook.
The petitioners in both disputes told the Supreme Court that the divergent outcomes in their cases reflected a divide among lower courts that the justices should resolve.
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US Personnel Evacuated from Sudan Returning to Washington
A majority of U.S. government personnel who were evacuated from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, will arrive in Washington Monday afternoon, an official who has knowledge of the operation but wishes not to be named told VOA.
Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official said the United States is looking for options to help other Americans who wish to leave the embattled central African country.
“One of those ways is to potentially make the overland routes out of Sudan potentially more viable,” said Chris Maier, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, during a phone briefing late Saturday. “DOD is at present considering actions that may include: use of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to be able to observe routes and detect threats,” he added.
Washington does not plan to coordinate a large-scale evacuation of private U.S. citizens in Sudan due to volatile security situations and closure of Khartoum’s main airport. There are believed to be about 16,000 Americans in Sudan, many of them dual nationals and aid workers.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has deployed a team of disaster response experts for Sudan. The team will operate out of Kenya amid deadly fighting in Sudan between rival factions — the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
“We are in communication with U.S. citizens requesting assistance departing Sudan, and their families in the United States. This is an unfolding situation, and we cannot provide more details for security reasons,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
The State Department declines to say how many private U.S. citizens may intend to leave Sudan.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the State Department will continue to assist Americans in Sudan in planning for their safety.
Over the weekend, U.S. special operations forces evacuated all American diplomats and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, using helicopters that flew from a base in Djibouti and refueled in Ethiopia. They were not fired on during the evacuation.
Several diplomats from other countries were also evacuated in the operations.
The White House said U.S. military forces will remain deployed in Djibouti to protect U.S. personnel and others until the security situation in Sudan no longer requires their presence. It said additional forces are prepared to deploy to the region if needed.
On Monday, Blinken holds meetings with Kenya’s top diplomat, Alfred Mutua, with Sudan seen as high on the agenda.
Washington is also in close contact with Sudan’s military and civilian leaders to see if an Eid-al-Fitr cease-fire, which reduced but did not stop the clashes, can be extended to facilitate humanitarian arrangements. Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
More than 420 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in Sudan.
Two-thirds of the hospitals have closed since fighting erupted more than a week ago.
The World Health Organization has urged the warring military factions to halt fighting to allow a humanitarian corridor for health workers, patients, and ambulances.
There needs to have “pathways” so civilians “can get to safer parts of the country,” Rebecca Hamilton, a law professor at American University and a former lawyer for the International Criminal Court, told VOA.
VOA’s Vero Balderas Iglesias contributed to this story.
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Egypt Celebrates Eid Al-Fitr, Marking the End of Ramadan
As Muslims worldwide welcomed the Eid al-Fitr holiday, photojournalist Hamada Elrasam turned his lens to Cairo where communities sought relief in rituals, festivities, and causes, especially amid the country’s deepening economic crisis. Captions were written in collaboration with Elle Kurancid.
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60 Killed in Attack in Burkino Faso
Men wearing Burkinabe military uniforms killed approximately 60 people last week in a village in northern Burkina Faso, a local prosecutor said Sunday, citing a police report.
Lamine Kabor said authorities have launched an investigation into the attack in the village of Karma in Yatenga province, near Mali.
The region has experienced an uptick in similar attacks by suspected jihadists.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Press and Reuters.
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Air Pollution Kills 1,200 Children a Year, Says EU Agency
Air pollution still causes more than 1,200 premature deaths a year in under 18’s across Europe and increases the risk of chronic disease later in life, the EU environmental agency said Monday.
Despite recent improvements, “the level of key air pollutants in many European countries remain stubbornly above World Health Organization” (WHO) guidelines, particularly in central-eastern Europe and Italy, said the EEA after a study in over 30 countries, including the 27 members of the European Union.
The report did not cover the major industrial nations of Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, suggesting the overall death tolls for the continent could be higher.
The EEA announced last November that 238,000 people died prematurely because of air pollution in 2020 in the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
“Air pollution causes over 1,200 premature deaths per year in people under the age of 18 in Europe and significantly increases the risk of disease later in life,” the agency said.
The study was the agency’s first to focus specifically on children.
“Although the number of premature deaths in this age group is low relative to the total for the European population estimated by EEA each year, deaths early in life represent a loss of future potential and come with a significant burden of chronic illness, both in childhood and later in life,” the agency said.
It urged authorities to focus on improving air quality around schools and nurseries as well as sports facilities and mass transport hubs.
“After birth, ambient air pollution increases the risk of several health problems, including asthma, reduced lung function, respiratory infections and allergies,” the report noted.
7 million dead annually
Poor air quality can also “aggravate chronic conditions like asthma, which afflicts nine percent of children and adolescents in Europe, as well as increasing the risk of some chronic diseases later in adulthood.”
Ninety-seven percent of the urban population were in 2021 exposed to air that did not meet WHO recommendations, according to figures released Monday.
The EEA had last year underlined that the EU was on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by 50% by 2030 compared with 2005.
In the early 1990s, fine particulates caused nearly a million premature deaths a year in the 27 EU nations. That fell to 431,000 in 2005.
The situation in Europe looks better than for much of the planet, says the WHO, which blames air pollution for 7 million deaths globally each year, almost as many as for cigarette smoking or bad diets.
It took until September 2021 to reach agreement to tighten limits set for major pollutants back in 2005.
In Thailand alone, where toxic smog chokes parts of the country, health officials said last week that 2.4 million people had sought hospital treatment for medical problems linked to air pollution since the start of the year.
Fine particulate matter, primarily from cars and trucks and which can penetrate deeply into the lungs, is considered the worst air pollutant, followed by nitrogen dioxide and ozone.
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Highest Military Spending in Europe Since Cold War: Study
Europe’s military spending grew at a record pace in 2022, reaching a level unseen since the Cold War following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global security researchers said Monday.
The rise in Europe helped global military expenditures reach an eighth straight record at $2.24 trillion, or 2.2% of the world’s gross domestic product, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
“It’s driven by the war in Ukraine, (which is) driving European budget spending upwards, but also the unresolved and worsening tensions in East Asia between the US and China,” researcher Nan Tian, one of the study’s co-authors, told AFP.
Europe spent 13% more on its armies in 2022 than in the previous 12 months, in a year marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The figure does not take into account sharp inflation rates, which means actual spending was even higher, the think tank said.
That was the strongest increase in more than 30 years, and a return, in constant dollars, to the level of spending in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.
“In Europe, it is at its highest level since essentially the end of the Cold War,” Tian said.
Ukraine alone increased its spending seven-fold to $44 billion, or a third of its GDP. The country has additionally benefitted from billions of dollars of weapons donations from abroad, SIPRI noted.
At the same time, Russian spending rose by 9.2% last year, estimates showed.
“Irrespective of whether you remove the two warring nations, European spending still has increased by quite a lot,” Tian said.
Spending in Europe, which totaled $480 billion in 2022, has already risen by a third in the past decade, and the trend is expected to continue and accelerate over the next decade.
The continent could “potentially” see growth levels similar to 2022 for several years, Tian said.
After declining sharply in the 1990s, global military expenditure has been on the rise since the 2000s.
The upturn was initially the result of China’s massive investments in its military, which was then followed by renewed tensions with Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
US, China account for half
The US alone accounted for 39% of global military expenditure. Together with China, which came in second at 13%, the two nations accounted for more than half of the world’s military spending.
Those next in line lagged far behind, with Russia at 3.9 percent, India at 3.6% and Saudi Arabia at 3.3%.
“China has been increasingly investing in its naval forces as a way to expand its reach to Taiwan of course, then further out than the South China Sea,” Tian said.
Japan, as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia are all following the trend.
Britain is the top spender in Europe, coming in sixth place overall and accounting for 3.1% of global expenditures, ahead of Germany at 2.5% and France at 2.4% — figures which include donations to Ukraine.
Britain, Ukraine’s second-biggest donor behind the United States, “spends more than France and Germany. It also gave more military aid than France and Germany,” said Tian.
Countries like Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden were among the European countries that increased their military investments the most during the past decade.
Modern and costly weapons also explain some spending hikes, as in the case of Finland which last year purchased 64 US F-35 fighter jets.
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Kenyan Cult Death Toll Jumps to 47
Kenyan police say 47 cult members who were convinced by their minister that they would meet Jesus if they starved themselves have died.
Search teams found 26 bodies in shallow graves Sunday in the coastal town of Malindi, on their minister’s property, increasing the death toll from last week’s discovery.
Paul Makenzie Nthenge, the leader of the Good News International Church, told his members they could meet Jesus if they starved themselves to death and some believed him.
Police received tips that there were likely more victims on the minister’s property. When police raided the location, they found 15 emaciated people. Four of them have since died.
Officials fear other members of the church may be hiding from authorities.
The minister is in custody.
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Pollution Lawsuit Could Curb Use of Aerial Fire Retardant
A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft.
A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.
An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.
The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit.
The dispute comes as wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades because climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.
Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more than 200 times over the past decade. They said it happens usually by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of drops annually, and that environmental damage from fires can exceed the pollution from retardant.
“The only way to prevent accidental discharges of retardant to waters is to prohibit its use entirely,” government attorneys wrote. “Such a prohibition would be tantamount to a complete ban of aerial discharges of retardant.”
Government officials and firefighters say fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of a blaze so firefighters can try to stop it.
“It buys you time,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “We live in a populous state — there are people everywhere. It’s a high priority for us to be able to use the retardant, catch fires when they’re small.”
Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit but that could take years.
“The Forest Service says it should be allowed to pollute, business as usual,” said Andy Stahl, who leads the Eugene, Oregon-based group behind the lawsuit. “Our position is that business as usual is illegal.”
A ruling from U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen is expected sometime after the opposing sides present their arguments during a Monday hearing in federal court in Missoula.
Christensen denied a request to intervene in the case by the coalition that includes Paradise, other California communities and trade groups such as the California Forestry Association. The judge is allowing the coalition’s attorney to present brief arguments.
As the 2023 fire season gets underway, California Forestry Association President Matt Dias said the prospect of not having fire retardant available to a federal agency that plays a key role on many blazes was “terrifying.”
“The devastation that could occur as a result of the Forest Service losing that tool could be just horrific,” Dias said.
More than 100 million gallons (378 million liters) of fire retardant were used during the past decade, according to the Department of Agriculture. It’s made up of water and other ingredients including fertilizers or salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.
A government study found misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.
Health risks to firefighters or other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment commissioned by the Forest Service.
To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet (92 meters) of waterways.
Under a 2011 government decision, fire retardant may only be applied inside the zones, known as “avoidance areas,” when human life or public safety is threatened and retardant could help. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents, officials said.
The remaining 23 drops were necessary to save lives or property, they said.
Stahl’s organization suggested in court filings that the buffer zones be increased, to 600 feet (182 meters) around lakes and streams.
In January — three months after the lawsuit was filed — the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a permit allowing the service to drop retardant into water under certain conditions. The process is expected to take more than two years.
Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof declined to comment on the case.
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‘People Are Suffering’: Food Stamp Woes Worsen Alaska Hunger
Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment.
The backlog, which began last August, is especially concerning in a state where communities in far-flung areas, including Alaska Native villages, are often not connected by roads. They must have food shipped in by barge or airplane, making the cost of even basic goods exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — or SNAP — in July, before the troubles began.
“People are struggling and having to make choices of getting food or getting heating fuel,” said Daisy Lockwood Katcheak, city administrator in Stebbins, an Alaska Native village of 634 people, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage.
Faced with food shortages and rampant inflation, the city recently used $38,000 in funds raised for a children’s spring carnival to buy residents basic supplies. The community on Alaska’s western coast is also reeling from the remnants of a typhoon that destroyed a critical stockpile of fish and fishing boats at the same time problems with the food stamp program were emerging.
“My people are suffering first hand,” said Katcheak.
Alaska lawmakers have responded to the state’s sluggish response, as lawsuits have alleged failures in the state’s administration of the food stamps and a program that provides aid to low-income Alaskans who are blind, elderly or have disabilities.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy authorized $1.7 million to provide relief to communities in a state that is almost 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. Lawmakers approved emergency funding to hire staff to handle the crush of cases as food banks have reported the highest level of demand they have seen.
“We know a lot of people that are not eating multiple meals a day; they’ve drawn down to maybe a single meal,” said Anthony Reinert, director of programs at the Food Bank of Alaska. There has always “been a baseline of hunger in Alaska. But it’s spread and expanded pretty significantly in the last six months.”
The hunger crisis in Alaska stems from a perfect storm of cascading events, compounded by staffing and technology issues within the state health department.
During the pandemic, the regular renewal process for SNAP benefits — a federal program administered by states — was suspended. Problems emerged after the state ended its public health emergency last July and recertification requirements for SNAP were reinstituted, resulting in a flood of applications.
A cyberattack that targeted the state health department in 2021 complicated Alaska’s ability to process the applications, said Heidi Hedberg, who was appointed health commissioner late last year. Employees who were supposed to upgrade key department computer systems were pulled away to address the attack, leaving the upgrade work undone. But 100 positions that were set to be eliminated due to anticipated efficiencies with the upgrade nonetheless were still cut, Hedberg said.
In January, the backlog of applicants seeking to renew food assistance benefits had reached a high of 9,104. Officials hope to clear the recertification backlog this month and turn their attention to thousands of new applications, according to the department.
“This is not how SNAP systems are supposed to work, period,” said Nick Feronti, an attorney representing Alaskans who are suing over delays and other concerns with the food stamp program.
Stephanie Duboc is still waiting for assistance after submitting her application in December. She volunteers at the Chugiak-Eagle River Food Pantry in suburban Anchorage and said the food she receives from the pantry is essential.
“It would be a huge impact on my family financially,” without that help, she said.
Among those suing is Rose Carney, 68, who receives $172 a month in assistance.
Carney said she received a letter in September saying her benefits had been renewed — but a month later, got another letter saying her application was due the next day. She filled it out but didn’t start receiving benefits until last month after contacting a lawyer, she said. Meanwhile, she added water to stretch bean soup and visited a church food pantry to get by.
“I was really upset because that was like income that I was depending on, even though it was just food stamps,” said Carney.
Feronti, her attorney, has 10 clients seeking class-action status, but the case has been on hold as the parties work toward a possible resolution that could compel long-term changes.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, also involved in the case, has filed a similar lawsuit in Missouri, but Alaska’s situation is “in the extreme,” said Saima Akhtar, an attorney with the center.
The $1.7 million allocated by Dunleavy in February was for the food banks to address urgent needs, including the bulk purchases of goods and distribution of cash cards so people in rural communities can buy groceries on their own and support local stores.
Reinert, with the food bank, said about $800,000 was used to buy staples like oatmeal, pasta, beans, canned fruit and shelf-stable cheese at cheaper prices in Washington state. The goods were then shipped to Alaska for distribution.
Those supplies are beginning to reach the most needy communities, where the cost of groceries in the store are astronomically high due to the logistics of getting them there.
In Bethel, a hub community in southwest Alaska, the Bethel Community Services Foundation provides food to about 350 households a month — nearly six times as many as before the pandemic. Milk at the store costs about $12.50 a gallon, while a 20-pound bag of rice is $62.49 and a 40-pound bag of a discount brand of dog food is $82.49, said Carey Atchak, the foundation’s food security coordinator.
That’s cheap compared to the Yup’ik village of Kwethluk, a 12-mile (19-kilometer) flight from Bethel, where an 18-pack of eggs can cost almost $17 and a double pack of peanut butter goes for $25.69.
“When the lower 48 experiences these problems, they have workarounds, they have neighbors, they have connections, they have the ability to grow their own food. That’s not even an option up here,” Reinert said, using a term common in Alaska for the contiguous U.S. states.
“And so, we’re very, very dependent and reliant on these systems working to keep the lights on and the traffic moving up here.”
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‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Is No. 1 for Third Week
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up coins at the box office, leading ticket sales for the third straight weekend, as the animation hit neared $1 billion after just 18 days in theaters.
The weekend’s top new release, the horror reboot “Evil Dead Rise” debuted solidly, launching with $23.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But that was no match for Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $58.2 million in its third weekend.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is setting a torrid pace for an animated movie. This week, it became the highest-grossing animated released of the pandemic era, with domestic ticket sales up to $434.3 million through Sunday and its global tally at $871.1 million. When “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” soon passes $1 billion worldwide, it will be just the fourth film of the pandemic era to reach that benchmark, following “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
“Evil Dead Rise,” From Warner Bros. and New Line, is the fifth installment (and first in a decade) in the thriller franchise that Sam Raimi began with this 1981 ultra-low-budget classic, “Evil Dead.” Though Raimi’s subsequent and much-adored films starring Bruce Campbell grew increasingly slapstick, marrying comedy and horror, the 2013 reboot and “Evil Dead Rise” (with Raimi as an executive producer) rely on chillier frights.
“Evil Dead Rise,” which had a reported budget of $17 million, also had originally been planned as an HBO Max release. When Warner Bros. decided direct-to-streaming films weren’t financially appealing, it pushed some films – including “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “House Party” – to theaters, and simply canned a few others including “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.”
Amazon Studios’ “Air,” likewise initially was intended to go straight to streaming, has also continued to perform well theatrically. The Ben Affleck-directed film, about Nike’s courting of Michael Jordan, dipped a modest 29% in its third weekend with $5.5 million to bring its cumulative total to $41.3 million.
But while horror remains one of the most dependable genres at the box office, and families — after a long dry spell of all-audience releases — have flocked to “Super Mario,” some adult-oriented releases have continued to have a harder time attracting audiences.
Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an injured army sergeant in Afghanistan, opened with $6.3 million in 2,611 theaters. But with mostly good reviews (81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and an “A” CinemaScore from ticket buyers, the MGM release may hold well in coming weeks.
Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” the most expensive movie ever made by specialty studio A24, expanded until near-wide release, going from four theaters to 926. Aster’s three-hour opus, received with more mixed reviews than his previous two films (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”), took in $2.7 million.
Searchlight’s “Chevalier,” starring Kelvin Harrison as the 18th century French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also failed to make a dent. It took in $1.5 million in 1,275 theaters.
But with overall business in movie theaters largely thriving thanks to spring hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($168.9 million domestically in five weeks of release), the theatrical industry will have much to celebrate when it convenes Monday in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon. Studios, beginning with Sony Pictures on Monday, will hype their summer blockbusters as Hollywood looks to return to pre-pandemic box-office levels.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
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“Super Mario Bros,” $58.2 million.
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“Evil Dead Rise,” $23.5 million.
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“The Covenant,” $6.3 million.
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“John Wick: Chapter 4,” $5.8 million.
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“Air,” $5.5 million.
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“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $5.4 million.
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“The Pope’s Exorcist,” $3.3 million.
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“Renfield,” $3.1 million.
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“Beau Is Afraid,” $2.7 million.
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“Suzume,” $1.6 million.
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US Deploying Disaster Response Team for Sudan as It Faces Humanitarian Crisis
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has deployed a team of disaster response experts for Sudan in the region to coordinate the humanitarian response as fighting rocks the country, USAID head Samantha Power said on Sunday.
In a statement, Power said the Disaster Assistance Response Team will operate out of Kenya for the initial phase, adding that the experts are working with the international community and partners to identify priority needs and safely deliver humanitarian assistance.
“The United States is mobilizing to ramp up assistance to the people of Sudan ensnared between the warring factions,” Power said.
The eruption of fighting eight days ago between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has triggered a humanitarian crisis, killed hundreds of people and trapped millions of Sudanese without access to basic services.
Sudan’s sudden collapse into warfare has dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster, and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers.
“Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan has claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and yet again dashed the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people. Civilians trapped in their homes cannot access desperately needed medicines, and face the prospect of protracted power, water, and food shortages,” Power said.
“All of this suffering compounds an already dire situation – one-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence.”
Power reiterated calls on Sunday for the parties to abide by the cease-fire for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, end the fighting, and comply with international humanitarian law, including by enabling safe and unhindered access for humanitarian and medical workers.
The United States on Saturday evacuated U.S. government personnel from its embassy in Khartoum and temporarily suspended operations at the embassy due to security risks.
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Torchlight March Marks Mass Deaths of Armenians
About 10,000 people bearing torches on Sunday night marched through Armenia’s capital to commemorate the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks more than a century ago.
The march from a central square to a sprawling memorial complex began with activists burning the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have spiraled in recent months since the blockage of the road leading to the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.
Historians estimate that, in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in what is widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Armenians have long pushed for the deaths to be recognized as genocide.
While Turkey concedes that many died in that era, the country has rejected the term genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest during the Ottoman Empire’s collapse.
Armenia on Monday formally observes Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the start of the killings in 1915.
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Kenya’s Kiptum Wins London Marathon in 2nd Fastest Time
Kelvin Kiptum collapsed to the ground after winning the London Marathon on Sunday and recording the second fastest time in history over the distance.
The 23-year-old Kenyan runner set the course record with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 25 seconds, missing out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 16 seconds.
“I am so happy with the result,” said Kiptum. “I don’t know what to say right now, I am just grateful. The course felt good, there was a bit of rain around halfway but it was OK.
“I enjoy doing the marathons, it is good preparation for me. I loved it, I am very happy.”
In the women’s race, Sifan Hassan completed a stunning comeback to win on her marathon debut after appearing to be injured part way through.
In what was long distance great Mo Farah’s final marathon, defending champion Amos Kipruto and world champion Tamirat Tola were also among the elite men’s field that Kiptum left behind.
Farah, 40, finished ninth with a time of 2:10:28.
Hassan won the women’s elite race in dramatic fashion in what was billed as possibly the strongest field ever.
The Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete triumphed despite falling off the pace and clutching her hip around the 15-mile mark.
The 30-year-old 5,000 and 10,000-meter Olympic champion then reeled in the leaders with three miles to go.
Hassan also overcame making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, and even offered last year’s winner, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, a gulp from her bottle.
Hassan pulled away from Alemu Megertu and reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir in a sprint finish along The Mall, coming home in 2:18:33.
“I never thought I would finish a marathon and here I am winning it,” said Hassan. “I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop. But it started to feel a little bit better. And then I missed one of the drinks stations! I didn’t practice that part of the race because I have been fasting and so that was quite difficult.”
Earlier, women’s world record holder Brigid Kosgei was forced to pull out less than four minutes after the start.
The Kenyan runner came into the race with injury concerns and looked in visible discomfort early on.
Kosgei, who holds the women’s record of 2:14:04 limped to the sidewalk after around 3 minutes. She then bent down to untie the laces on her running shoes and signaled that her race was over.
The marathon returned to its traditional April slot after three years of being staged in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A record 48,000 people were expected to cross the finish line near Buckingham Palace from a field of 49,675 runners who registered for the race.
The number of entrants was up from the previous record of 43,199 in 2019.
London Marathon organizers said they expanded numbers in an attempt to reach a cap of 50,000.
Runners set off beneath overcast skies amid temperatures of around 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit).
Forecasters had warned there was likely to be heavier rain later in the day.
Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race for the third time in a row, achieving the feat just six days after winning the Boston Marathon.
The Swiss racer won for the fifth time in London and beat his own course record with a time of 1:23:44.
Australia’s Madison de Rozario won her second women’s wheelchair race in a time 1:38:51.
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Americans Left in Sudan Must Shelter in Place Until Further Notice
As more countries safely evacuate their diplomats from Sudan, U.S. citizens who are still stranded in the conflict-ridden African nation are being asked to continue sheltering in place and monitor U.S. official communications. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias takes a look at the options being considered to provide support to those left behind amid ongoing fighting between Sudan’s armed forces and a paramilitary group.
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Ukrainian Troop Positions Spark Counteroffensive Speculation
Ukrainian military forces have successfully established positions on the eastern side of the Dnipro River, according to a new analysis, giving rise to speculation Sunday that the advances could be an early sign of Kyiv’s long-awaited spring counteroffensive.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, reported late Saturday that geolocated footage from pro-Kremlin military bloggers indicated that Ukrainian troops had established a foothold near the town of Oleshky, along with “stable supply lines” to their positions.
Analysts widely believe that if Ukraine goes ahead with a spring counteroffensive, a major goal would be to break through the land corridor between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, which would necessitate crossing the Dnipro River in the country’s south.
Responding to Ukrainian media reports proclaiming that the establishment of such positions indicated the counteroffensive had begun, Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Operational Command South, called for patience.
While neither confirming nor denying the ISW report, she said only that details of military operations in the Dnipro delta couldn’t be disclosed for operational and security reasons.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Humeniuk added that it was “very difficult work” when “it’s necessary to overcome an obstacle such as the Dnipro, when the front line passes through a wide and powerful river.”
The Kremlin-installed head of the Kherson region, one of four parts of Ukraine that Russia said it was illegally annexing in September, denied on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have established a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro.
In a Telegram update, Vladimir Saldo said that Russian forces are “in full control” of the area, and speculated that the images referenced by the ISW may have depicted Ukrainian sabotage units that “managed to take a selfie” across the Dnipro before being forced back.
After more than a year since the Russian invasion, recent fighting has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum.
But Ukraine has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies, and new troops freshly trained in the West, giving rise to growing anticipation of a counteroffensive.
American-made Patriot missiles arrived in Ukraine last week and military spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Sunday on Ukrainian television that some have already gone into battlefield service.
The United States agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.
The fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.
On Sunday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Moscow’s forces had captured two more neighborhoods in the western part of Bakhmut, without providing further details or clarifying what areas were still in Ukrainian hands.
In the south, the Dnipro has for months marked the contact line in the Kherson region, where its namesake capital is regularly pummeled by shelling from Russian forces stationed across the river.
In addition to having established a foothold near the town of Oleshky, across the Dnipro delta from Kherson, the ISW said that Ukrainian troops were also approaching the nearby village of Dachi, citing data from Russian military bloggers.
In Telegram posts on Thursday and Saturday, the ISW said the bloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces had maintained these positions for weeks and established stable supply lines to them, indicating a lack of Russian control over the area.
The Associated Press confirmed the posts from the bloggers, but it wasn’t immediately possible to independently verify the data they shared.
Russia is also expected to launch more intensive attacks in the spring, but ISW reported that top Russian defense figures are showing signs that they may be pushing for a consolidation of existing gains in Ukraine, rather than costly new operations, as Moscow struggles with both material and manpower.
The ISW cited comments from financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group — a private Russian military company whose fighters have spearheaded the offensive on Bakhmut.
On Saturday, Prigozhin’s press service posted comments he made on its official Telegram channel in which he argued that Russian forces need to “anchor (themselves) in such a way that it is only possible to tear them out with (the) opponent’s claws.”
The interview was published shortly after Western leaders meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany pledged to train more Ukrainian personnel and keep up their military support for Kyiv.
As Moscow seeks to bolster its troop numbers, the U.K. Ministry of Defense noted Sunday in an intelligence briefing that Russian authorities had mounted a large-scale military recruitment campaign using social media, billboards and state television.
It said Russian officials are “almost certainly seeking to delay any new, overt mandatory mobilization for as long as possible to minimize domestic dissent,” while assessing that this latest effort would likely fail to meet the defense ministry’s stated goal of recruiting 400,000 new volunteers.
In attacks overnight, local authorities in eastern Ukraine reported that Russian forces had launched at least five S-300 missiles at Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city and the surrounding region.
The missiles damaged an industrial facility and private homes but caused no casualties, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv regional governor.
In Kherson, one civilian was killed and two were wounded as Russian troops used artillery, drones and warplanes to launch a total of 54 strikes on the province, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram on Sunday morning.
Russian forces on Saturday and overnight also dropped five guided aerial bombs over the Kherson region, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post Sunday. According to the post, the bombs were launched from drones and aircraft and damaged multiple residential buildings but caused no casualties.
Also in the Kherson region, two women, ages 85 and 57, were hospitalized after being wounded in a Russian artillery attack that damaged a local school and about 25 residential buildings in the village of Kizomys, Prokudin said in a Telegram post.
In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Russian shelling wounded a 56-year-old man in Stepnohirsk, a town on the banks of the Dnipro river, local Gov. Yurii Malashko wrote on Telegram.
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Russia ‘Will Not Forgive’ US Denial of Journalist Visas
Russia said Sunday that the United States has denied visas to journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s trip to New York, and Lavrov suggested that Moscow would take strong retaliatory measures.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department about the claim of refused visas. “The United States takes seriously its obligations as host country of the U.N. under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement, including with respect to visa issuance,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
The journalists aimed to cover Lavrov’s appearance at the United Nations to mark Russia’s chairmanship of the Security Council.
“A country that calls itself the strongest, smartest, free and fair country has chickened out and done something stupid by showing what its sworn assurances about protecting freedom of speech and access to information are really worth,” Lavrov said before leaving Moscow on Sunday.
“Be sure that we will not forget and will not forgive,” he said.
“I emphasize that we will find ways to respond to this, so that the Americans will remember for a long time not to do this,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The dispute comes in the wake of high tensions with Washington over the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom Russia accuses of espionage. The United States has declared him to be “wrongfully detained.”
Many Western journalists stationed in Moscow left the country after Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Russia currently requires foreign journalists to renew their visas and accreditation every three months, compared to once a year before the fighting began.
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US Transplant Surgeon Heads to Ukraine to Save Lives
An organ transplant surgeon from New York is planning a third trip to Ukraine, where he has been working with doctors to help patients caught up in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The surgeon, Dr. Robert Montgomery, is also working to raise money to buy medical equipment for a hospital in Lviv. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Pavlo Terekhov.
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39 Bodies Dug Up in Cult Investigation of Pastor in Kenya
Thirty-nine bodies have been found so far on land owned by a pastor in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death.
Malindi sub-county police chief John Kemboi said that more shallow graves have yet to be dug up on the land belonging to pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested on April 14 over links to cultism.
The total death toll is 43, because a further four people died after they and others were discovered starving at the Good News International Church last week.
Police have asked a court to allow them to hold Makenzi longer as investigations into the deaths of his followers continue.
A tipoff from members of the public led police to raid the pastor’s property in Malindi, where they found 15 emaciated people, including the four who later died. The followers said they were starving on the pastor’s instructions in order to meet Jesus.
Police had been told there were dozens of shallow graves spread across Makenzi’s farm and digging started on Friday.
Makenzi has been on hunger strike for the past four days while in police custody.
The pastor has been arrested twice before, in 2019 and in March of this year, in relation to the deaths of children. Each time, he was released on bond, and both cases are still proceeding through the court.
Local politicians have urged the court not to release him this time, decrying the spread of cults in the Malindi area.
Cults are common in Kenya, which has a largely religious society.
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US Lawmakers React to Ruling That Upholds Access to Abortion Pills
U.S. lawmakers have been reacting after the Supreme Court on Friday preserved women’s access to a pill long used for medically induced abortions while a lawsuit on the matter continues. The move blocked a lower court ruling that would have imposed restrictions on the use of the drug mifepristone. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Greece Welcomes Return of Chinese Travelers
With the peak tourism season setting in, Greece is bracing for a record number of arrivals and is welcoming back Chinese tourists. The warm feelings follow a period of discontent due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions placed on travelers from China for the past three years, and other issues.
On the cobblestone streets of Athens, tavern owner Spiros Bairaktaris opens his arms wide open, welcoming news of what is already called the Chinese return.
He says, “We await them with great love, from the bottom of our hearts. We want to host them, to feed them, to offer all our services.”
All restaurants here, he says, are aching for their return.
While groups of Chinese travelers are just starting to trickle in, Greece expects the number to surge through the summer, exceeding the roughly 200,000 who visited the country ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent months, a flurry of meetings between Greek and Chinese officials has helped ease visa restrictions. Direct flights have resumed, but also increased in number and locations in a strategy to boost inflows of travelers from China,
Tourism accounts for more than a quarter of Greece’s economic earnings. And with forecasts predicting more than 30 million travelers this summer, business and officials here say that the Chinese return will help stoke the engines of this country’s lackluster economy after a decade-long recession and the pandemic.
“In the past, we have seen that average spending from our friends from China was even double [that of] European travelers to Greece,” said Sofia Zacharaki, the deputy tourism minister.
Such sweeping feelings of welcome and enthusiasm are new.
Just five years ago and ahead of the pandemic, many businesses and locals said they upset with what they called an over-saturation of Chinese travelers. Greeks pointed to what they say was an over-commercialization of mass Chinese weddings against iconic sunsets on popular islands like Santorini.
They also say that on Santorini and other islands, law enforcement, garbage collection and other services were overstretched… due to the influx of mainly Chinese visitors. Concerns were also raised about reckless construction as the host islands sought to accommodate the visitors.
And many locals began fearing that Chinese and other visitors were posing threats to social cohesion.
Whether such deep-rooted concerns will creep up again remains unclear.
For now, though, restaurant menus are being translated into Mandarin, shops are being festooned with Chinese flags and hotel employees, are learning Mandarin.
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