An event organized by the Russian Cultural Center in Seattle to celebrate WWII Victory Day May 9 was met with protesters calling glorification of war inappropriate while Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine. Natasha Mozgovaya has our story from Seattle.
…
Month: May 2023
UN Calls for Effort to Push Sudan’s Warring Sides Toward Resolution
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk urged countries with influence in Africa to encourage Sudan’s warring sides to end the fighting that began last month.
Addressing an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk said the conflict has pushed “this much-suffering country into catastrophe.”
“I condemn the use of violence by individuals who have no regard for the lives and fundamental rights of millions of their own compatriots,” Turk said.
Fighting in Sudan’s capital worsened Wednesday, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in several neighborhoods.
The Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, struck targets in Khartoum and its two sister cities, Omdurman and Bahri. The army is trying to dislodge the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, which have dug into the residential areas they have held since fighting began in mid-April.
According to the World Health Organization, the conflict has left more than 600 people dead and more than 5,000 others injured.
Delegations from the army and the RSF have been meeting in Saudi Arabia for almost a week. A Western diplomat familiar with the talks told Reuters that mediators were focusing on an agreement on a cease-fire and humanitarian access.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland has said U.S. negotiators were “cautiously optimistic” on both points.
The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.
Repeated cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence.
The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since the violence broke out last month — a figure that is more than double the 334,000 the agency reported to be internally displaced last week.
The International Organization for Migration said an additional 100,000 Sudanese have fled the country.
Most aid operations have been suspended or severely scaled back due to the lack of security. Several aid workers have been killed in the fighting.
Looting also has hampered aid operations. The World Food Program said nearly 17,000 tons of food worth between $13 million and $14 million have been stolen from its warehouses across Sudan.
The WFP said Wednesday that up to 2.5 million additional people in Sudan are “expected to slip into hunger” in the near future due to the violence. The U.N. agency said this would take acute food insecurity in Sudan to record levels.
More than 19 million people, or two-fifths of Sudan’s population, are currently affected, according to the WFP.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…
Number of Internally Displaced People Hits Record High
The number of people internally displaced globally hit a record 71.1 million at the end of last year, according to a report released Thursday by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
The figure represents a 20% increase from 2021.
Among the drivers of new displacements last year were the war in Ukraine, which the report said accounted for 17 million displacements, and massive floods in Pakistan that caused eight million displacements.
SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Heather Murdock
Worldwide, conflict and violence were responsible for leaving 62.5 million people internally displaced at the end of 2022.
Nearly three-quarters of internally displaced people around the world were in 10 countries: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
“Conflict and disasters combined last year to aggravate people’s pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale never seen before,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which established the IDMC.
Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…
In Town Hall, Trump Digs in on Election Lies, Downplays Capitol Riot
During a tense CNN town hall Wednesday, former President Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and repeatedly insulted a woman in response to a civil jury’s finding this week that he was liable in sexually assaulting her.
During the contentious back-and-forth in early voting New Hampshire — where moderator Kaitlan Collins sometimes struggled to fact-check his misstatements in real time — Trump continued to insist the election had been rigged, even though state and federal election officials, his own campaign and White House aides, and numerous courts have rejected his allegations.
Trump also repeatedly minimized the violence caused by a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s win. Instead, he said he was inclined to pardon “a large portion” of Jan. 6 defendants if he wins reelection. He also rejected a suggestion that he apologize to his former vice president, Mike Pence, who was targeted by the mob.
“I don’t feel he was in any danger,” he said. In fact, Trump said, Pence was the one who “did something wrong.”
Throughout, the audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters cheered him on, laughing and applauding.
The prime-time forum in New Hampshire brought together a network and candidate who have long sparred with each other. But the stakes were raised considerably Tuesday after jurors in New York found Trump had sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, though they rejected her claim that he raped her nearly three decades ago.
The jury awarded her $5 million in damages. Trump said the ruling was “a disgrace” and he vowed to appeal.
Trump, at Wednesday’s event, again insisted he didn’t know Carroll, even as he attacked her in deeply personal terms. “She’s a wack job,” he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
While the civil trial verdict carries no criminal penalties, it nonetheless revives attention on the myriad investigations facing Trump, who was indicted in New York in March over payments made to women to cover up their allegations of extramarital affairs with him. Trump is also facing investigations in Georgia and Washington over his alleged interference in the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents and potential obstruction of justice.
A small group of anti-Trump protesters gathered Wednesday evening outside the site where the town hall was being held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. Their signs included messages like “Nobody is above the law” and “Elections not insurrection.”
Trump, during the town hall, repeatedly refused to say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if it landed on his desk, saying he would “negotiate” so “people are happy.”
“I’m looking at a solution that’s going to work,” he said.
Trump has had a much more contentious relationship with CNN than he had with Fox. Trump has called CNN “fake news” and sparred with Collins. She was once barred from a Rose Garden event after Trump’s team became upset with her shouted questions at an earlier Oval Office availability.
Nonetheless, Trump’s team saw the invitation from CNN as an opportunity to connect with a broader swath of voters than those who usually tune into the conservative outlets he favors.
“President Trump has been battle-tested and is a proven winner. He doesn’t shy away from anything and faces them head on,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.
The appearance also served as another contrast with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a top rival to Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 and is expected to launch his campaign in the coming weeks. DeSantis has taken a sheltered media approach, largely eschewing questions from the mainstream press while embracing Fox News, which was once a loyal Trump cheerleader but is now frequently denigrated by the former president.
Trump’s campaign has turned to new channels, including popular conservative podcasts and made-for-social-media videos that often rack up hundreds of thousands of views. His team has also been inviting reporters from a variety of outlets to ride aboard his plane and has been arranging unadvertised stops at local restaurants and other venues to show him interacting with supporters, in contrast to the less charismatic DeSantis.
It remains unclear how or whether Tuesday’s verdict will have any impact on the race. Trump’s indictment in New York on charges he falsified business records only seemed to improve his standing in the GOP primary and his campaign was fundraising off the verdict.
Trump’s rivals weighed in on Tuesday’s verdict, with some hitting him harder than others.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson called the accusations “another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.” Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy came to Trump’s defense and said he doubted a case would have even been brought if the defendant had been someone other than Trump.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former ally who is now weighing a run as a Trump antagonist, said Trump’s insistence that he had no idea who Carroll was “ridiculous.”
“This kind of conduct is unacceptable for somebody that we call a leader,” Christie told Brian Kilmeade on Fox News radio. “Do I think this is a silver bullet that ends Donald Trump’s candidacy? No. I just think it’s additional weight of evidence that people are going to look at.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is expected to launch a campaign in the coming weeks, told NBC he doesn’t believe voters will pay much attention to the verdict.
“It’s just one more story, focusing on my former running mate, that I know is a great fascination to members of the national media, but I just don’t think it’s where the American people are focused,” Pence said. He said he had “never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature” while he was serving under Trump.
The CNN town hall, the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign, had drawn suspicion from both sides of the political divide.
Democrats questioned whether a man who continues to spread lies about his 2020 election loss — lies that sparked the Capitol riot — should be given a prime-time platform. Conservatives wondered why Trump would appear on — and potentially give a ratings bump to — a network that he has continually disparaged.
…
Rights Groups Criticize Nigeria’s Bid to Relocate Conflict Impacted
Rights groups are urging Nigerian authorities to suspend the resettlement of people who fled Islamic militants in the country’s northeast. Borno state authorities have relocated most camps for displaced people, but critics say security and basic needs are not being met. Timothy Obiezu reports from Maiduguri, Nigeria.
…
Government Report Finds Former USAGM CEO Abused Authority, Wasted $1.6 Million in Funds
The first presidentially appointed head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media breached editorial firewall regulations, engaged in gross waste of public funds and abused his authority, according to a 145-page report released Wednesday by the Office of Special Counsel.
The OSC, an independent agency empowered to investigate wrongdoing within the federal government, alerted USAGM in December 2020 to a number of allegations of wrongdoing under the leadership of Michael Pack and directed the federal agency to conduct an investigation. USAGM subsequently engaged three independent experts with backgrounds in government whistleblower protections and journalism to conduct the probe.
The experts’ report, which was submitted to OSC, found evidence of gross mismanagement in two instances. It said CEO Pack engaged in gross waste when he spent $1.6 million on an unnecessary contract with a private law firm, and he failed to respect the journalistic independence and integrity of the networks he was tasked with overseeing.
Pack, a conservative documentary filmmaker, was nominated by then-President Donald Trump to his position as head of the agency that oversees six independent news networks and other entities, including Voice of America. Seven months after assuming the position, he resigned in January 2021 at the request of President Joe Biden.
The independent report focuses on six areas based on complaints from whistleblowers within the agency.
The three external investigators conducted 78 interviews, 64 with people who are current or former employees in the agency or its networks. The investigators requested interviews with Pack and 13 of his senior political team as well as the Pack appointees heading three of those networks. Those requests were declined or not responded to in all but two cases.
The report publishes correspondence between the OSC and Pack when he was still CEO, in which the OSC says it found a “substantial likelihood” of lawbreaking. The report says Pack told the investigators that the allegations did not merit consideration because the whistleblowers “have an axe to grind.”
Among the findings
The independent report’s findings concluded that Pack abused his power when:
He improperly suspended security clearances of six executives and one management employee "without a legitimate basis."
Tried to debar federal funding to the Open Technology Fund, which finances research to circumvent foreign censorship.
Violated the International Broadcasting Act by attempting to change bylaws and contracts of CEO-appointed network heads.
Violated the Privacy Act by directing employee-related materials to be sent to individuals outside the agency. The independent report notes he did this despite an external law firm telling him the action could violate the law.
On gross mismanagement:
Pack moved the VOA Standards Editor, who is responsible for maintaining and enforcing VOA's journalistic ethics, to a position with no function. That action, the report found, prevented the editor from answering queries from VOA journalists about their work and from holding a workshop on ethical election reporting in the closing months of the 2020 presidential campaign.
He spent $1.6 million to have a law firm investigate staff when the work could have been done by federal employees.
He took actions that were inconsistent with the statutory mandate that the CEO respect the networks' journalistic independence and integrity.
The independent report found Pack violated “laws, rules and regulations,” as follows:
A directive restricting outside communications failed to account for USAGM's legally required disclosures to the State Department and other entities.
He violated the Privacy Act the day before he resigned when a senior adviser, whose name is redacted in the report, shared investigative material about six executives with nongovernment individuals.
His acting vice president for legal, compliance and risk, whose name has been redacted in the report, violated record-keeping regulations by failing to preserve government communications and communicating via encrypted and disappearing message apps.
Violations of the Privacy Act can constitute a misdemeanor and carry a fine of up to $5,000.
Investigators also determined that several whistleblower complaints did not amount to mismanagement or abuse of authority by Pack.
These include the decisions to terminate network heads, change board members, freeze contracts and hiring, repurpose congressional funds, and refuse to approve or renew J-1 visa applications for foreign journalists working at the agency.
In the case of the visas, the independent report notes that Pack failed to account for the impact the actions would have on the ability of VOA to report the news in several languages, nor did he provide a viable alternative to hiring foreign journalists with needed language skills. In his time in power, Pack acknowledged the need to explain his rationale for the decision, but “that guidance was never provided.”
Pack did not respond to emails from VOA sent Wednesday seeking comment on the report.
David Seide, senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project, which represented around 30 whistleblowers during Pack’s time as CEO, noted the OSC’s bipartisan credentials and described the report as “breathtaking in its scope.”
Seide said OSC reports only go into so much depth and detail “when they know the integrity of the organization is on the line and you have to demonstrate to the world that you’re trying to play it straight, you’re trying to conduct an objective analysis.”
While calling the report “exhaustive,” Seide said he believes more should still be done, including the referral of some matters to the Department of Justice for further investigation.
In a statement Wednesday, USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett welcomed the process and results of the review.
“When I became CEO in October 2022, I pledged to focus on USAGM’s mission as one of the world’s largest global media operations, with a robust editorial firewall and the highest of journalistic standards,” said Bennett, a veteran journalist who previously headed VOA.
“The agency has advanced a comprehensive set of corrective actions and reforms to address many of the issues identified by the independent review team. We will continue this work,” she said.
In a letter to Biden, made public along with the report, Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said, “The report largely substantiated the deeply troubling conduct disclosed by the whistleblowers. However, I am heartened by the steps that the agency has taken to restore its operations and its reputation.”
Trust issues
The report gives a detailed accounting of how Pack and his team believed that employees at the Congress-funded news networks were biased and untrustworthy.
The team assisting Pack earmarked several senior officials at the federal agency for dismissal, describing them as “deep state” and “not people to be trusted.”
Pack subsequently took actions against some of those same individuals “without a legitimate basis” after they had made protected disclosures, according to the independent report.
On June 5, 2020, Pack met with a career employee, not identified in the report, who in a memo had identified “targets for removal.”
In that memo and follow-up emails, the employee included suspected political affiliations of the targets with remarks such as, “Eliminate the entire … team (anti-Trump),” “Hates Republicans and Trump,” and “not on the Trump team.”
Some of the biggest concerns during Pack’s time related to efforts to dismantle the editorial firewall, which refers to laws and regulations that protect VOA from political interference.
A federal district judge in November 2020 issued a preliminary injunction barring officials from interfering with the editorial independence and First Amendment rights of VOA journalists.
In assessing Pack’s failure to respect the firewall, the independent report cites his conflicting responses. The CEO directed a political appointee to investigate a VOA Urdu video that was seen to be partisan but took no action when informed that the Office of Cuba Broadcasting had provided a political appointee with a link to content.
Pack also failed to take action or intervene when his newly appointed head of VOA, Robert Reilly, retaliated against White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara after she asked “legitimate questions of the Secretary of State.” Reilly had invited then-Secretary Mike Pompeo to participate in a question-and-answer session at VOA, but the director failed to ask Pompeo any questions that had been submitted by agency journalists. Widakuswara subsequently shouted questions at Pompeo as he left the VOA building.
…
US ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Sudan Cease-Fire
U.S. diplomats told lawmakers on Wednesday they are cautiously optimistic that Sudan’s warring factions will agree to a temporary humanitarian cease-fire during peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Since fighting started in April, hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. VOA’s Katherine Gypson reports.
…
Ahead of Turkey’s Election, Erdogan Turns to Radical Islamist Party
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned to Huda Par, a radical Islamist party, to consolidate his Kurdish base. But the move is controversial, with the Huda Par accused of past links to political violence. Dorian Jones reports from Diyarbakir.
…
Former US Diplomats Confident in Turkish People’s Commitment to Democracy
As Turkey heads to the polls for its momentous elections Sunday, former U.S. ambassadors to Ankara will be monitoring from afar.
While the perspectives shaped by their respective tenures in Turkey may vary, three former mission chiefs speaking to VOA share at least one view: The elections in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will face the biggest challenge to his two-decade rule will determine the course of Turkey’s future, its role as a NATO ally and its international standing.
Turkey’s elections are taking place amid an economy battered by inflation and a currency that has depreciated, much of which has been blamed on the current government’s policies as well as its failure to help people recover from devastating earthquakes earlier this year.
Erdogan has focused his campaign on quake reconstruction, the defense sector and spending measures, including raising the minimum wage and pensions, providing help for electricity and natural gas, and allowing some to take early retirement.
Ambassador James Jeffrey, who served in Ankara from 2008 to 2010, thinks Turkish people will be casting their votes based on three things: economic policies, earthquake response and criticisms of authoritarianism.
Turkey’s six-party opposition alliance is running on a promise to do away with the executive presidential system, established through a close mandate. The opposition, which says that mandate consolidated one-man rule, vows a return to the parliamentary system.
According to Jeffrey, the elections are the “first real referendum” on the presidential system. “This is the first chance for the Turkish public to decide whether they like this model or not,” he told VOA.
Democracy, media freedom concerns
David Satterfield, who served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2019 to 2022, believes Turks deserve to live in a flourishing democracy.
The U.S. government has expressed its concerns on several occasions with regard to democratic backsliding, including but not limited to what it describes as wrongful imprisonment of some political figures in Turkey.
Speaking to VOA via Zoom last week, Satterfield praised the level of political enthusiasm in Turkey. He believes the elections will produce an outcome that “genuinely reflects the views of the Turkish people.”
Despite criticism that Erdogan’s tenure has been marked by an authoritarian approach to politics, U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, who served from 2011 to 2014, says Turkey remains substantially democratic.
In February 2011, shortly after expressing concern about increasing press restrictions and diminishing freedom of expression, Ricciardone’s criticism drew an angry response from government officials, including then-Prime Minister Erdogan, who called him a “rookie” ambassador.
In an interview with VOA on World Press Freedom Day, Ricciardone spoke about his dismay at what he saw as deteriorating media diversity and freedom in Turkey.
“There was still a multiplicity of voices that could be heard, whether in print and broadcast media or in what was then still relatively early days on social media, with a lively conversation among different political perspectives,” he said.
Jeffrey said the reports the State Department does every year on the lack of checks and balances, along with ongoing press restrictions, should be taken seriously.
“Turks are well-educated and will make a considered decision on which way they want their country to go,” he said during a Skype interview. “I think that in the end, that will be reflected on whatever government we have.”
Human Rights Watch issued fresh warnings Wednesday that the government has accelerated efforts to tighten control over social media and independent news sites ahead of the high-stakes election, saying “the vote will test whether Turkish voters can rely on social media for independent news.”
Heat of elections or serious concern?
Asked about Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu’s comment describing the upcoming elections as a “Western coup plot,” Ricciardone said that even though such talk cannot be dismissed as political rhetoric, politicians resort to such statements in the heat of elections.
“I put it in that kind of context of trying to raise the political support by rallying against the foreigner or as a way of blaming others for things that make the electorate unhappy,” he told VOA.
Turkish voters still seem to have confidence in the electoral bodies of the state, he added. “I believe the state still has structures of governance that are strong enough to comply with the will of the Turkish people.”
Jeffrey appears to be on the same page. Underscoring the commitment of Turkish people to democracy, he said he expected they would demand a fair, democratic outcome.
But he also said he found Soylu’s comments concerning. “I have never heard anything accurate about my country from him. But fortunately he is not in charge of U.S.-Turkish relations,” Jeffrey said.
Implications for foreign policy
The election outcome could open up more opportunities for Washington and Ankara to directly talk, if not immediately reset relations.
Turkey’s S-400 defense system purchase from Russia triggered U.S. sanctions and Ankara’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program. The opposition has signaled its intent to address the issue.
Ricciardone said the opposition’s plan to look into this issue was a “good intention that the United States can work with.”
A possible deal in response to Turkey’s request to buy new F-16 jets and modernization kits from the U.S. is still uncertain because of opposition in Congress, which needs to approve any proposed weapons sale to a foreign country.
Former diplomats do not expect to see any lessening of friction over the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey sees as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Ankara has designated as a terrorist organization.
Jeffrey, who also served as the special representative for Syria engagement until 2020, said Washington and Ankara had managed to avoid a real crisis, although they came close to one in 2019, when Turkish troops entered Syria to fight Islamic State rebels but also targeted Kuridsh SDF forces allied with U.S. forces in the region.
“SDF is still there and Turkey is still unhappy about this,” he told VOA. “But the basic positions have still been held almost four years later.”
…
In Sudan’s Khartoum, Civilians Face Desperate Struggle to Survive
Since fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15, Khartoum resident Omar says he and his father have not left their home and believe they are the only civilians left in the neighborhood.
They have limited themselves to one meal a day, hoping their dwindling food supplies will last a month longer.
“After that, we don’t know what we’ll do except survive off water and dates,” he said by phone from Sudan’s embattled capital.
While others have fled, they have stayed in Khartoum in an area near the airport where there has been intense fighting, because they did not want to abandon their home, said Omar, who declined to give his full name out of fear for their safety.
His account captures the desperate situation facing the millions of people still believed to be in Khartoum more than three weeks since the eruption of deadly fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
While tens of thousands of people have fled the capital — which had a pre-war population of some 10 million — most have stayed put, some because it was too dangerous or expensive to leave, others to hold onto their homes.
They face dwindling food supplies, power cuts, water shortages and patchy telecoms. The United Nations, which has warned of a major humanitarian catastrophe, has said it is working to negotiate safe aid access to Khartoum.
The World Food Program said that as many as 2.5 million people in Sudan are expected to slip into hunger. Even before the violence began, millions of people in Sudan and neighboring countries were dependent on aid due to poverty and conflict.
Talks underway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, aim to secure a lasting cease-fire and humanitarian access.
But the fighting has continued in Khartoum, where long queues can be seen at the limited number of bakeries that are still functioning.
“There’s always a shortage of something,” said business owner Hashim, 35, who hasn’t been able to find rice or pasta for a week. He would have left Sudan but couldn’t because he lost his passport before the fighting began.
“There are those without money who have resorted to going into their neighbors’ abandoned homes and they take whatever food they can find,” he said. “I’ve been surviving off my own savings … but eventually that will run out.”
Those with money have struggled to spend it as cash has dried up and the banking apps upon which many Sudanese depend have mostly stopped functioning.
With most hospitals shut, volunteer medics have fanned out into Khartoum’s neighborhoods to help those in need of medical attention, while locals have taken to the streets to keep watch in an effort to prevent looting.
Airstrikes, artillery, and gunfire can be heard far from the front lines, inflicting a mental toll.
Life had come to a complete standstill, said Ahmed Khalid, 22, a college student still in Khartoum. “We cannot even feel the days as they pass by.”
your ad hereTrump’s 2005 Comments on Grabbing Women Played Key Role in Assault Suit
In the end, the audacious claims Donald Trump made in 2005 about the way he could treat women might have doomed his chances of defeating a sexual assault lawsuit.
E. Jean Carroll brought the suit, and a federal jury in New York this week awarded $5 million to her on her claim that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s and then defamed her by calling the encounter a hoax.
Trump never showed up in the courtroom to defend himself against the allegations brought by Carroll, now 79, a former longtime Elle magazine advice columnist, and his lawyers offered no defense witnesses.
But Carroll’s chief lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday that in a videotaped pretrial deposition last October that was shown to the jury in Carroll’s case, “he made admissions where he was basically a witness against himself.”
‘Access Hollywood’ tape
Kaplan was referring to Trump’s reaction to remarks he made during taping for the celebrity TV show “Access Hollywood” in 2005. During that taping, he said to show host Billy Bush, “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women] — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it … You can do anything,” including, he said in a vulgar comment, grab women by their genitals.
Asked in the deposition about the veracity of his thoughts in the “Access Hollywood” tape, Trump replied, “Well, historically, that’s true with stars.”
“Well, if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true,” Trump said. “Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately, or fortunately.”
“And you consider yourself to be a star?” Trump was asked.
“I think you can say that, yeah,” he said.
In the “Today” show interview, Kaplan rhetorically asked, “Who uses the word ‘fortunately’ to talk about sexual assault?”
The jury on Tuesday decided against Carroll’s claim that Trump had raped her in a dressing room at the upscale Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996. But it ruled in her favor that he had sexually abused her and then defamed her over several years by saying her claim was a “scam,” a bid for her to make money off the sale of a memoir in which she disclosed her encounter with Trump. He also said the lawsuit was part of the Democrats’ political scheme to undermine his 2024 bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Her claim was in a civil lawsuit, not a criminal case, and as a result there was no threat of a conviction or imprisonment for Trump.
Carroll said of the verdict, “I’m overwhelmed, overwhelmed with joy and happiness and delight for the women in this country.”
‘Getting my name back’
She said of the damages awarded her, “I didn’t even hear the money. This is not about the money. This is about getting my name back, and that’s what we accomplished.”
She said that as the trial ended, Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina “came over to congratulate me. He put out his hand, and I said, ‘He did it and you know it.’ And then we shook hands and I passed by, so I got my chance to say it.”
Trump assailed the verdict on his Truth Social media outlet and said he would appeal. He continued to claim he did not know Carroll, although a photo introduced at the trial showed them at a New York party several years before Carroll said he assaulted her.
The photo also undermined Trump’s claim that Carroll was not “my type.” Shown the photo at the October deposition, Trump misidentified Carroll as Marla Maples, his second of three wives, and he acknowledged he was attracted to all his wives.
…
Protests Engulf New York City After Death of Homeless Man on Subway
The death of a homeless man on a New York City subway train is raising questions about how to deal with mentally ill persons in public places. A former Marine and fellow passenger of the man alleges he felt threatened and inadvertently killed the homeless man while holding him down in a headlock. The incident has split New York public opinion on the way passengers should have responded. Aron Ranen has the story.
…
US Watchdog Says Problems Found in Chinese Company Audits
A U.S. accounting watchdog found unacceptable deficiencies in audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies performed by KPMG in China and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, the government agency said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board published the findings of its inspections after gaining access to the records of Chinese company auditors for the first time last year after more than a decade of negotiations with Chinese authorities. That access kept roughly 200 China-based public companies from potentially being kicked off U.S. stock exchanges.
The deficiencies were so great that auditors failed to obtain enough evidence to substantiate the companies’ financial statements, PCAOB Chair Erica Williams told reporters on Wednesday. The firms, two of the so-called “Big Four” in accounting, represent 40% of the market share of U.S.-listed companies audited by Hong Kong and mainland China firms, she said.
PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong said it is working with the PCAOB to address issues raised and noted the inspection report marks an important milestone for U.S. and Chinese cooperation. KPMG’s firm in China said in a statement it has taken steps to address the issues the PCAOB had found.
While the findings are consistent with what the agency usually discovers when gaining access to a foreign country’s audit records for the first time, they will likely raise worries among global investors over the accuracy of the public financial statements of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
“The fact that we found so many deficiencies is really a sign that the inspection process worked, and now we can go about the work of holding firms accountable and driving audit quality,” Williams said.
The PCAOB will give the two firms a year to remediate deficiencies around quality controls, and the agency will make referrals to the agency’s enforcement team where appropriate, Williams said. Such investigations could ultimately lead to monetary penalties or barring audit firms from doing work for U.S.-listed companies.
PCAOB officials have begun fieldwork for 2023 inspections. With its 2023 work, the PCAOB expects it will have inspected auditors representing 99% of the work in the region.
The agency will continue to demand full access to do its work, Williams said. If Chinese authorities begin to limit access for inspections and investigations, a U.S. law agreed to last year sets a two-year clock for compliance or ouster from American exchanges.
…
Spain Welcomes Immigrants in Battle Against Depopulation
Much of western Europe is dealing with dwindling populations, and the problem is especially severe in Spain, where the government says more than half of the country’s municipalities are in danger of total depopulation as many young people move to cities or choose not to have children. Jonathan Spier narrates this report from Alfonso Beato in the Catalonian town of Vilada, where a Honduran immigrant and her three daughters are breathing life into a community.
…
Refugees Fear Opposition Win in Turkish Elections
Ahead of what may be the most important elections in recent Turkish history, activists say the country’s refugee population is growing increasingly afraid of threats of mass deportations. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Istanbul and Sakarya province in Turkey with videographer Yan Boechat.
…
DRC President Accuses East African Forces of ‘Co-Habitiating’ With M23 Rebels
The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has accused East African forces deployed to fight rebels in his country of working with the enemy. Felix Tshisekedi made the remarks Tuesday during a visit to Botswana, where he welcomed the planned deployment of Southern African forces as a replacement.
Addressing journalists in Gaborone, Tshisekedi, who spoke through an interpreter, said there are issues within the East African Community regional force deployed to fight the M23 rebels in the east of DRC.
“We are going to evaluate the situation because there are problems with the regional force. The first reason that pushes us to ask questions is the role that was assigned to this regional force, which is not fulfilled,” he said. “Today, in certain regions, there is a co-habitation that we have noticed between the contingents of the regional force of Eastern Africa and the terrorists of M23, which was not the plan.”
The DRC president did not specify how the East African forces are working with the rebels, but said his government has had to reevaluate its operations in the east.
“We had to stop. Working together with the forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo so that we get peace, it means a cease-fire and a retreat,” Tshisekedi said. “But unfortunately today, we have noticed that there are forces that are tolerating that and we also have some officers, either from the countries of these contingencies, where the military officers of those countries, when they get to DRC, they clearly say they are not coming to fight the M23, which was not part of the plan.”
The DRC president said he is also concerned over Kenya’s decision to appoint a replacement commander for the regional forces, without consulting authorities in Kinshasa.
This came after the commander of the East African forces, Kenyan General Jeff Nyagah, abruptly quit the DRC mission at the end of April.
“He is talking about threats but he has never told us about those threats,” Tshisekedi said. “Why didn’t he tell us about the threats? He alone knows. And when he decides to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya directly sends another commander of the force without consultations, as if that force only belongs to Kenya. There must be a problem and we need to talk about it.”
Tshisekedi said the planned deployment of Southern African Community Development (SADC) troops is welcome, particularly at a time when the tour of duty of some East Africa regional forces is coming to an end.
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, speaking Tuesday night during a state banquet organized for Tshisekedi, said there is a need to find a solution to challenges in the eastern DRC.
“Let us not make a mistake; the agents of instability are hard at work to frustrate genuine efforts aimed at finding a lasting solution to the problems of the region,” Masisi said. “Which is why Botswana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo should in the context of the regional, economic and other structures to which they both belong, redouble their efforts to finding a lasting solution to the security challenges in the Eastern DRC.”
Nairobi-based political commentator Wene Owino said Tshisekedi’s concerns over the conduct of the East African regional force are valid.
“Tshisekedi is right about forces from East Africa. The SADC forces might be seen as neutral because of the historical bad blood between some of these [regional] militaries and the DRC,” he said. “Remember, Uganda and Rwanda were involved when President [Laurent] Kabila rose to power in the 1990s. So these troops have been compromised all along. But whether the coming of SADC troops will bring lasting peace to DRC is another issue, it’s a more complex issue than just neutral troops.”
Fierce fighting has raged for years in the North Kivu province of DRC, with more than 100 armed groups battling for valuable mineral resources.
Attempts by VOA to get a comment from the East African Community forces were not successful.
…
US Rep. George Santos Arrested on Federal Criminal Charges
U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating key parts of his life story, was arrested on federal criminal charges on Wednesday ahead of an expected court appearance.
The indictment says Santos induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense that the money would be used to support his campaign. Instead, it says, he used it for personal expenses, including luxury designer clothes and to pay off his credit cards.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.”
“Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself,” Peace said.
Santos was expected to make an initial court appearance at a federal courthouse on Long Island later Wednesday, at which time the charges against him would be unsealed.
Reached by the AP on Tuesday, Santos said he was unaware of the charges.
Santos was elected to Congress last fall after a campaign built partly on falsehoods. He told people he was a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker with a substantial real estate portfolio who had been a star volleyball player in college, among other things. In reality, he didn’t work at the big financial firms he claimed had employed him, didn’t go to college and had struggled financially before his run for public office.
Questions about his finances also surfaced. In regulatory filings, Santos said he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000, but it was unclear how he would have come into that kind of wealth so quickly after years in which he struggled to pay his rent and faced multiple eviction proceedings.
In a financial disclosure form, Santos had reporting making $750,000 a year plus dividends from a family company, the Devolder Organization. He later described that business as a broker for sales of luxury items like yachts and aircraft. The business was incorporated in Florida shortly after Santos stopped working as a salesman for a company accused by federal authorities of operating an illegal Ponzi scheme.
Many of Santos’ fellow New York Republicans called on him to resign after his history of fabrications was revealed. Some renewed their criticism of him as news of the criminal case spread.
“Listen, George Santos should have resigned in December. George Santos should have resigned in January. George Santos should have resigned yesterday. And perhaps he’ll resign today. But sooner or later, whether he chooses to or not, both the truth and justice will be delivered to him,” said U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican representing parts of upstate New York.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was more circumspect, saying “I think in America, you’re innocent till proven guilty.”
Santos has faced criminal investigations before.
When he was 19, he was the subject of a criminal investigation in Brazil over allegations he used stolen checks to buy items at a clothing shop. Brazilian authorities said they have reopened the case.
In 2017, Santos was charged with theft in Pennsylvania after authorities said he used thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks to buy puppies from dog breeders. That case was dismissed after Santos claimed his checkbook had been stolen, and that someone else had taken the dogs.
Federal authorities have separately been looking into complaints about Santos work raising money for a group that purported to help neglected and abused pets. One New Jersey veteran accused Santos of failing to deliver $3,000 he had raised to help his pet dog get a needed surgery.
…
Cameroon Journalists Protest Killing of Colleague by Separatist Fighters
Scores of journalists in Cameroon’s troubled Northwest region have protested after rebels claimed responsibility for killing their colleague. A separatist spokesman acknowledged their forces shot the newspaper reporter Sunday night but said they mistook him for a military officer.
Journalists in Cameroon’s Northwest region say they staged a peaceful march on the streets of the regional capital Bamenda on Tuesday to condemn the killing of their colleague Anye Nde Nsoh.
The Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, reports that armed men opened fire on Nsoh on Sunday night as he relaxed at a bar in the Ntarikon neighborhood of Bamenda.
He was struck in the chest and died while being rushed to a hospital.
CAMASEJ says it was a targeted killing because the armed men went straight to Nsoh and shot him in front of helpless onlookers.
Jude Muma, local president of CAMASEJ, said journalists want the killers of Nsoh punished.
“Some faction in the fighting in the Northwest here has come out to take responsibility for what happened. We are saying that justice should take its course. Whoever pulled the trigger should pay for this crime. Human lives matter,” said Muma.
Muma spoke via a messaging app from Bamenda.
The protest took place after separatists claimed responsibility for Nsoh’s killing. Capo Daniel is the president of the Ambazonia People’s Rights Advocacy Group.
He said the group commands separatists fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state called Ambazonia from French-speaking majority Cameroon.
Daniel said Nsoh was the victim of a case of mistaken identity. He spoke via a messaging app.
“A Cameroon commanding officer who visits that particular bar was the target of the operation that was carried out by Ambazonian forces. Unfortunately, Nsoh the young journalist was killed by Ambazonia forces in a case of a mistaken identity situation,” he said.
Daniel said the armed man who killed Nsoh has apologized but journalists say the killer should be found and punished.
Nsoh is not the only journalist who has died in the restive western regions.
Samuel Wazizi, who worked for Cillen Music Television, was arrested in 2019 for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists. He was not seen in public for more than a year. In 2020, the military declared that he died in government custody in August 2019.
Cameroon journalists also say that reporters Thomas Awah Junior, Tsi Conrad, Mancho Bibixy and Kingsley Njoka are being held at the Yaounde-Kondengui prison.
The reporters were accused of collaborating with western separatists, but they say they were simply doing their jobs. The government has charged them with threatening Cameroon’s national sovereignty.
Richard Nde Lajong is the publisher and editor of the Herald Tribune Newspaper. He said Cameroonian journalists in the Northwest and Southwest regions are increasingly facing oppression, threats, attacks and illegal detentions.
“No matter how objective you are in your report, you would be accused by the non-state armed groups of supporting the regular forces or the regular forces would accuse you of reporting in favor of the non-state armed groups. Government or whoever is concerned should find a solution to this problem so that journalists should do their work with ease,” he said.
Mooh Emile Simon, the Cameroon government’s highest official in Mezam municipality, where Bamenda is located, said government troops will hunt down the killers of Nsoh.
The government says media in the Northwest region will be protected and allowed free access to information but asks reporters to be cautious as any other civilian.
…
Ukrainian Nuclear Operator Warns of Worker Shortage at Russia-Occupied Plant
United States to provide $1.2 billion in new military aid to Ukraine, including air defenses and ammunition.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “only a matter of time before we can restore a sustainable and just peace for our part of Europe, for Ukraine.”
Agence France-Presse journalist Arman Soldin was killed by rocket fire in eastern Ukraine where journalists were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power plant operator warned Wednesday that Russia planned to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town that serves the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Energoatom posted on Telegram that “there is now a catastrophic lack of skilled personnel” at the plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Russia has occupied the site since the early stages of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Energoatom said the new evacuations of the Ukrainian personnel living in the town of Enerhodar “will exacerbate the already extremely urgent issue of having enough staff to ensure the safe operation” of the Zaporizhzhia plant.
The company said it will do its best to ensure safe operation by pulling together teams of staff who are in areas under Ukrainian control and specialists from other nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has repeatedly highlighted safety and security concerns regarding the Zaporizhzhia, both in regard to fighting nearby and the staffing situation.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said Sunday that the situation around the plant “is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”
“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment,” Grossi said in a statement. “This major nuclear facility must be protected.”
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…
US Returns Two Stolen 7th-Century Antiquities to China
The United States returned two looted antiquities to China, the latest in a wave of repatriations of artifacts stolen from more than a dozen countries, New York authorities announced Tuesday.
The two 7th-century stone carvings, currently valued at $3.5 million, had been sawn off a tomb by thieves in the early 1990s and smuggled out of China, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
The carvings were among 89 antiquities from 10 different countries purchased by Shelby White, a private art collector in New York.
From 1998, they were “loaned” to the Metropolitan Museum of Art until they were seized this year by the DA’s office following a criminal investigation.
“It is a shame that these two incredible antiquities were stolen and at least one remained largely hidden from the public view for nearly three decades,” Bragg said.
“While their total value is more than $3 million, the incredible detail and beauty of these pieces can never be truly captured by a price tag.”
Collectively valued at nearly $69 million, they were part of a criminal investigation by the city’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit that tracks and repatriates looted artifacts.
One of the funerary carvings was kept in the museum’s storage room and never displayed, according to the statement by Bragg’s office.
It was never cleaned and caked in dirt, another tell-tale sign of their illicit origin, the statement added.
The carvings were handed over during a repatriation ceremony at the Chinese consulate in New York.
“We regard the crackdown on crimes against cultural property a sacred mission,” Chinese Consul General Huang Ping was quoted as saying in the statement by the DA’s office.
Since January 2022, more than 950 antiquities worth over $165 million have been returned to 19 countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece, Turkey, and Italy.
In 2021, Michael Steinhardt, a private collector, returned around 180 stolen antiquities worth $70 million following an out-of-court agreement, in one of the most famous cases of art trafficking in New York.
…
Attack Near Tunisian Synagogue Kills 4
A Tunisian naval guard killed four people and injured nine others Tuesday as he tried to reach a synagogue on the island of Djerba.
The attack happened during an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue, Africa’s oldest, which brings hundreds of people from Europe and Israel each year.
Tunisia’s interior ministry said in a statement that the assailant first shot another guard at a naval installation and took his ammunition before heading to the synagogue.
The attacker then fired at security personnel outside the synagogue, killing one officer and two visitors. Security guards then shot the attacker dead.
Tunisia’s foreign ministry identified the two visitors killed as a Tunisian and a French national.
The synagogue was the site of a 2002 truck bombing that killed 21 tourists.
“The United States deplores the attack in Tunisia coinciding with the annual Jewish pilgrimage that draws faithful to the El Ghriba Synagogue from around the world,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We express condolences to the Tunisian people and commend the rapid action of Tunisian security forces.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…
Death Toll from Sudan War Rises to More than 600
The World Health Organization says the death toll from nearly one month of brutal fighting in Sudan is now over 600.
The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that more than 5,000 others have been injured in connection with the fighting between Sudan’s military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.
Repeated cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence.
Envoys for the two factions have been meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for several days to hash out an agreement to allow humanitarian aid to reach hundreds of thousands in need of food, shelter and medical care in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities.
The Saudi kingdom has already pledged that it will provide Sudan with $100 million worth of aid.
The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since the violence broke out last month – a figure that is more than double the 334,000 the agency reported to be internally displaced last week.
The IOM said an additional 100,000 Sudanese have fled the country.
Most aid operations have been suspended or severely scaled back due to the lack of security. Several aid workers have been killed in the fighting.
Looting also has hampered aid operations. The World Food Program said nearly 17,000 tons of food worth between $13 million and $14 million have been stolen from its warehouses across Sudan.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…
US Announces $1.2 Billion More in Military Aid to Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Washington is looking to cooperate with China to “solve big challenges.” His remarks come as China prepares to send an envoy to Ukraine for peace talks. Meanwhile, the U.S. is providing Ukraine with $1.2 billion in military aid ahead of its expected spring offensive against Russia. State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching has more.
…
No Deal on US Debt Limit
President Joe Biden and congressional leaders reached no deal during a Tuesday meeting to resolve the impasse on raising the limit the government can borrow to meet its financial obligations. If no agreement is reached in the next few weeks, the U.S. will go into default for the first time in history, sending financial shockwaves around the world. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. Anita Powell contributed to this report.
…