Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s primary challenger in the May 14 elections, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is targeting the Kurdish vote in presidential and parliamentary elections. This marks a turnaround for Kilicdaroglu’s CHP party, which for decades ignored Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish region. Dorian Jones reports from the region’s main city, Diyarbakir.
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Month: May 2023
Biden Seeks to Calm Global Financial Jitters on US Debt Impasse
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to calm global financial market jitters on the looming debt limit weeks before the nation is at risk of defaulting on its financial obligations for the first time in history.
Biden met Tuesday afternoon with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a bid to ensure the government can borrow more money to pay for spending it has already incurred.
“We’re going to get started and solve all the world’s problems,” Biden said as the Oval Office meeting began. He and the other leaders declined to take reporters’ questions ahead of the meeting.
Without a deal between the White House and congressional leaders, the country is estimated to be weeks from default. Earlier, the White House warned that the United States defaulting on its debts would be “a gift” to adversaries, including China and Russia, and would lead to a recession that could send shock waves across the global economy.
“We cannot be a deadbeat nation,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her press briefing on Tuesday, warning congressional Republicans who are refusing to raise the nation’s debt limit unless it’s paired with spending cuts.
“Default would create global uncertainty about the value of the U.S. dollar and U.S. institutions and leadership, leading to volatility in currency and financial markets and commodity markets that are priced in dollars,” Jean-Pierre said.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines previously made a similar point to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the national security consequences of the U.S. teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff.
But Republicans are urging spending cuts and blame Biden for the impasse.
“The solution is clear. It’s been clear for months,” McConnell said ahead of the meeting. “President Biden needs to negotiate on spending with Speaker McCarthy. The Speaker’s been at the table since February. House Republicans are the only people in town who have passed any bill that prevents default.”
The Treasury debt limit, which caps the amount of outstanding debt the country can have and thus Treasury’s ability to issue securities to fund the government’s obligations, was reached on January 19.
Even with Treasury taking “extraordinary measures” to pay the government’s bills, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers last week that the department’s ability to pay the government’s bills could run short as early as June 1 — what’s commonly known as the X-date.
Republicans are insisting that the federal government reduce spending before they will agree to raise the debt ceiling. Meanwhile, Biden is adamant that Congress has a duty to pay its bills and that the two issues should be addressed separately.
Ceiling raised many times before
Lifting the debt ceiling was once a routine vote. Congress has raised it 78 times since 1960, 29 times under Democratic presidents and 49 times under Republican presidents, including three times under former President Donald Trump.
How would a U.S. default affect the world?
The U.S. economy is the largest in the world, and the U.S. dollar is considered the world’s reserve currency, meaning that many countries’ central banks and other monetary authorities hold U.S. dollars as part of their foreign exchange reserves as a backup in case their own currency fails.
A debt event in the United States would have serious consequences not only for the U.S. but also for the global economy and for world financial markets.
Should the U.S. fail to pay its debts, in addition to creating havoc in global stock markets and sending the American economy into recession, it would trigger a sell-off in U.S. Treasury bonds, weakening the dollar and raising interest rates. This would affect foreign currency reserves held by other countries and make the costs of borrowing more expensive, potentially leading countries with already high levels of borrowing into a debt crisis.
“If interest rates in the United States go up, it’s going to take all other interest rates up with it. It’s going to make all other risk assets look very shaky,” said Desmond Lachman, former deputy director at the International Monetary Fund and now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Lachman agreed with Yellen that a U.S. debt default would be an economic catastrophe that must be avoided.
Lachman told VOA the world can ill-afford such financial turbulence, especially with the regional banking crisis that began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March, followed by the toppling of two other U.S. banks — Signature Bank and First Republic.
Safest investment
U.S. Treasury bonds are traditionally considered the safest investment that global financial investors turn to in times of distress, said Heidi Crebo-Rediker, former chief economist of the U.S. Department of State and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“It is the deepest, most liquid, solid and reliable market in the world,” she said.
Crebo-Rediker added that countries and investors need not be overly concerned about an actual U.S. default.
“This is a question of willingness to pay, not ability to pay,” she said. “And that is a very big distinction.”
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Biden, Mexican President Discuss Border Security Before End of Title 42
U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday discussed border security measures as they prepare for a potential migrant wave when a key U.S. border policy ends this week, the White House said.
The Biden administration and Texas state authorities are sending reinforcements to the U.S.-Mexico border to prepare for a possible increase in immigration when COVID-19 restrictions known as Title 42 end on Thursday.
The order, in place since 2020, allows U.S. authorities to quickly expel migrants to Mexico without giving them the chance to seek U.S. asylum. The policy shift is expected to lead to a rise in border arrivals.
In a phone call on Tuesday, Biden and Lopez Obrador “discussed continued close coordination between border authorities and strong enforcement measures,” the White House said in a statement.
They discussed the urgency of reducing crowding in northern Mexico and affirmed their commitment to address the root causes of migration from Central America, the statement said.
Lopez Obrador said on Twitter they had discussed their commitment to work together on migration, as well as on drugs and arms trafficking.
They also discussed “cooperation in caring for the continent’s poorest,” Lopez Obrador added.
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What the Case of Georgia’s Only Jailed Journalist Means for the Country’s EU Aspirations
Nearly one year into a 3½-year prison term, Georgian journalist Nika Gvaramia says he’s doing OK.
“I’m good. I met all this very prepared,” he told VOA from a prison in Rustavi, Georgia, through written messages shared with VOA via his lawyer. “I knew it was going to happen and I knew I would have to endure it.”
Gvaramia is a former member of the Georgian parliament and founder of the pro-opposition broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi. Last May, a court convicted him of abuse of power related to his work in 2019 as the director for a separate broadcaster, Rustavi 2.
Gvaramia denies the charges and is appealing his case at the Supreme Court. His colleagues and press freedom advocates believe the conviction is retaliatory.
The case “is purely political,” said Tamar Kintsurashvili, executive director of the Tbilisi-based Media Development Foundation. “There’s no legal grounds for his detention. He was critical of the current government.”
“It actually reflects recent developments in this country,” she said. “Nika’s detention is just an illustration of their goals.”
Gvaramia is the only journalist jailed in Georgia over his work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the first jailed in Georgia over his work since at least 1992, when the press freedom group started keeping track.
EU diplomats and others see his case as a red flag for press freedom. Some have said that Gvaramia’s trial was linked to apparent efforts to undermine the country’s candidacy for European Union membership.
Gvaramia’s lawyer, Tamta Muradashvili, believes that his case is “directly linked to Georgia’s European future.” The fates of Gvaramia and his country are intertwined, she said.
His colleague at Mtavari Arkhi, Eka Kvesitadze, went further, saying that the arrest “was a clear sabotage, and it was done to hinder this process with the EU, and it was done deliberately.”
A September 2022 poll from the National Democratic Institute found that 75% of Georgians support EU membership, with the government’s lack of political will listed as the main barrier.
Georgia was expected to receive EU candidacy status last June, alongside Ukraine and Moldova.
Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status. But Georgia was denied, with the EU listing 12 reforms — including on press freedom — needed before the country can be granted candidacy status.
Georgia was once lauded as among the freest former Soviet countries. But in recent years, concerns have deepened over whether the country is moving away from the West amid corruption issues, democratic backsliding, and the apparent influence of billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who founded the ruling Georgian Dream political party in 2012. Critics say he still exercises significant influence despite no longer holding a formal position.
Still, others say that Georgian Dream may be trying to walk a fine line with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine out of fear of angering its neighbor.
The Georgian Embassy in Washington told VOA that the country is committed to EU integration.
“Georgia is closer than ever to its goal of becoming a full-fledged member of the EU,” the embassy said, adding that claims that Gvaramia was jailed to block the country’s EU candidacy “is based on absolutely false information.”
“Georgia has a free, independent, and pluralistic media environment,” the embassy email read.
This year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Georgia 77 out of 180 countries in the world, where 1 shows the best media environment. In 2022, Georgia ranked 89.
Double blow
On May 16, 2022, the day that Gvaramia was sent to prison, the journalist sent his children to school like normal. It was windy and drizzling in Tbilisi.
“They left to school, and we went to the courtroom,” his wife, Sofia Liluashvili, told VOA.
After the decision was announced, “the only thing he asked me was not to cry,” Liluashvili said. The tears flowed after she left the building.
“As Nika’s partner, as his friend, and as a person who shares Nika’s values, I’m trying to do all I can for Nika — of course personally, but for my country,” Liluashvili said. “Georgia’s future is at stake.”
Gvaramia’s jailing has also taken a toll on the broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi, especially financially. “Nika’s channel is in constant survival mode,” Liluashvili said.
Kvesitadze, a presenter at Mtavari Arkhi, has worked with Gvaramia since 2013.
“I have been missing him so much,” she told VOA. “We’re the two hosts for prime time, and I’m the only one now. And it’s a horrible, horrible feeling, and still it’s so hard to operate without him.”
Gvaramia, too, is well aware of the challenges for his channel.
“It is not a question of optimism. It is a question of struggle and dedicated work. My fantastic team proves every day that they can do it, and every day they win against the system,” he said. “Georgian media is the most outstanding fighter in this country.”
EU dreams
Among the EU’s recommendations for Georgia is that it should “undertake stronger efforts to guarantee a free, professional, pluralistic and independent media environment, notably by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfil the highest legal standards.”
Releasing Gvaramia is a clear step to achieving that, advocates said.
“We called on the Georgian president [Salome Zourabichvili] to release Gvaramia and hope that she will do that soon,” said Gulnoza Said, who covers violations in Georgia at the CPJ. “Otherwise, the stain on Georgia’s reputation will remain unwashed.”
Georgia has until the end of the year to implement the EU’s recommendations.
But some analysts told VOA they believe failed attempts this year to pass a foreign agent law is another sign that the government is trying to move away from Western values.
The proposed bill required all nonprofits and media groups to register as foreign agents if they received more than 20% of funding from abroad. Met with widespread protests, the bill was withdrawn.
The foreign agent law was another attempt by the government to establish control over the media, according to CPJ’s Said, adding, “It was unsuccessful. For now.”
From cell 212, Gvaramia is waiting for updates or any information on his appeal at the Supreme Court, which has until June to issue its decision.
Until then, he has established a routine: He watches TV in the morning and spends much of the rest of the day reading, adding, “I have a lot of books in my cell.”
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end with the discipline to confront your current reality, whatever it might be,” Gvaramia said. “You must retain your fortitude and freedom, but you must also be able to find tranquility. This is the most important thing, and I was able to do it.”
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SADC to Send Troops to DRC to Help Quell Disturbances in East
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) plans to send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help fight rebels in the country’s east.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi arrived in Botswana’s capital on Tuesday and is expected to discuss details of the deployment with the regional bloc’s leaders. He also will talk with Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
Addressing the media at the end of a special SADC meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, Namibian President Hage Geingob said the security situation in eastern DRC is cause for concern.
“The summit reiterated SADC’s solidarity to assist the government and people of the Republic of Congo in its efforts to restore peace and stability in the eastern part of the country, particularly in light of the upcoming national elections scheduled for December 2023,” said Geingob, who serves as chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Security and Defense.
Reading out the Windhoek Summit’s resolution, SADC Executive Secretary Elias Magosi said the meeting resolved to send troops to the DRC to assist in ending hostilities.
“Summit approved the deployment of a SADC Force within the framework of the SADC Standby Force as a regional response in support of the DRC to restore peace and security in Eastern DRC. Summit approved a SADC Common Position to have a more coordinated approach, given the multiple deployments under multilateral and bilateral arrangements in the eastern DRC, and urged the Government of the DRC to put in place the necessary conditions and measures for effective coordination amongst sub-regional forces and bilateral partners operating in the DRC,” said Magosi.
South Africa, an SADC member, already has 1,184 soldiers deployed in the DRC under the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONESCO.
Security expert Willem Els at the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies said there is a need for clarity on the deployment of the SADC force.
“They want to send troops but they did not give any details. We do not know if they are going to complement the troops that are currently deployed in the DRC under MONESCO or whether they will be separate,” said Els. “We know that Kenya as well as Uganda have already deployed some troops there.”
Conflict has heightened in the DRC’s North Kivu province, where hundreds have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced in fighting between M23 rebels and government forces.
Els said any SADC troops deployed in the DRC need sufficient backup in order to be effective.
“If these troops are going to be deployed without the necessary air support and also to provide them with air dominance, they are going to face a similar outcome like we currently have in Cabo Delgado,” said Els.
Troops in Cabo Delgado have been unable to stop an Islamist militant insurgency in that energy-rich Mozambican province.
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20 Worshipers Still Missing After Latest Church Attack in Nigeria
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says it’s still searching for 20 people abducted by gunmen from a church during a Sunday service. CAN says gunmen invaded the church in a remote Kaduna state village and took more than 40 people but later let some go. Kaduna is among Nigerian states most affected by groups of armed bandits that frequently kidnap for ransom.
The Kaduna state chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria Tuesday said about 42 people were in the church on Sunday morning before the attackers invaded and took all the worshipers away, including women and children.
He said the bandits later released 22 of them and have been holding the remaining 20.
It’s the latest attack on a church in Nigeria.
Reverend Joseph Hayab, secretary general of the Christian Association of Nigeria, spoke to VOA by phone.
“Up till now, the people are with the bandits. The bandits have not called. The [remaining] in fear have left the village. The bandits for some reason just selected some and allowed them to come back. Sometimes when they pick a large number like that, they select those who they think are strong enough that they can use to bargain for money,” he said.
CAN said the state police have been told about the abduction. Police have yet to issue a statement, and spokesman Mohammed Jalige did not take calls for comment.
Armed gangs known locally as bandits have been carrying out kidnap-for-ransom raids in Northern Nigeria for years. Local villages, schools and churches are often targets.
Gangs have been especially active in Chikun district where the church is located.
CAN’s national spokesperson, Luminous Jannamike, said this latest kidnapping is one too many.
“It’s a deeply disturbing development. The Christian Association of Nigeria is closely monitoring the situation and is in contact with the families of the victims, as well as with the authorities to obtain more information on the incident. While security agents are making efforts, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect places of worship from criminals and terrorists,” said Jannamike.
Nigeria is facing numerous security challenges, but kidnap-for-ransom attacks are rampant.
Experts say a declining economy and increasing hardships are fueling the rise in insecurity and criminality.
Jannamike said to address the problem, authorities must fix some fundamental issues.
“To put an end to the incessant attacks on churches and other places of worship, it is important government takes a comprehensive approach that involves addressing the underlying socioeconomic and political factors that contribute to insecurity in the country,” said Jannamike.
In May 2022, the prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria was kidnapped. He was freed after a huge ransom was paid.
In July, hundreds of clergymen protested attacks on priests in Kaduna after a clergyman was gruesomely killed by gunmen while on his farm.
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Russia Finds New Buyers for Its Oil, But at a Big Cost
Russian crude oil shipments by volume have hit their highest level since the beginning of 2022, as Moscow has found new buyers outside Europe following Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
At the same time, Russia’s oil revenues have shrunk by two-thirds. Western sanctions, along with a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil that began February 5, are squeezing the Kremlin’s profits by forcing it to sell at deep discounts.
“On a four-week average basis, overall seaborne exports in the period to May 5 were up by 180,000 barrels a day to 3.63 million barrels a day, the highest since the start of 2022, when Bloomberg began tracking the flows in detail,” the Bloomberg report said.
Almost all of the oil is being shipped to China and India, with smaller amounts heading to Egypt and Turkey.
“Four-week average shipments to Russia’s Asian customers, plus those on vessels showing no final destination, rose to a new high of 3.37 million barrels a day in the period to May 5. That’s up by 124,000 barrels a day from the period to April 28,” Bloomberg said.
Before its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia shipped around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day to the European Union. However, Western sanctions have reduced that trade to almost zero.
Bulgaria is the only EU member state still importing Russian crude oil, purchasing on average 83,000 barrels a day in the four weeks prior to May 5.
The Kremlin has succeeded in finding new markets, said Stefan Legge, an economist at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
“The EU imports of crude oil from Russia are completely replaced by Egyptian and Indian imports of crude oil. So, Russia has found other buyers, and the EU, in turn, has looked for other suppliers and also found it,” Legge told VOA.
Despite finding new buyers, Russia’s finance ministry said last week that oil export proceeds fell 67% last month, to $6.4 billion. Total federal budget revenues from oil and gas fell 64% in April from a year earlier.
“Russia is suffering,” Legge said. “Yes, they have found new buyers of oil but at a lower price. Urals [Russian oil] is trading at a discount compared to other sorts of oil. And the new buyers are not as attractive as the old ones.”
The new buyers are also much farther away, resulting in average shipping times of 16 to 18 days, up from four to six days for the pre-war shipments to Russia’s European neighbors, according to Reuters.
“That is negative for the cost, so prices in general will go up. And it’s also bad for the environment if you think about CO2 emissions. Part of the gamble of Vladimir Putin was that the Western countries would not be willing to bear those costs. But now that we see, I think more than a year, Western countries are willing to accept some of the cost,” Legge told VOA.
The West is trying to persuade allies like India to import less Russian oil.
“But of course, those countries are sovereign countries, and they have their own interests,” Legge added. “In a way, you want to make the second-best option for Russia even worse. But that will have limited success, as history tells us and as the economic analysis tells us today.”
Analysts say some Russian oil is likely still entering European markets. Crude oil is difficult to track, as it can be easily blended with other shipments in transit countries or at sea, while the complexity of shipping companies and vessel flagging adds to the difficulty of enforcing sanctions.
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Russia Finds New Buyers for Its Oil, But at a Big Cost
Russian crude oil shipments have hit their highest levels since the beginning of 2022, according to a Bloomberg report, despite Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Russia has found new buyers outside Europe — but at a significant hit to its profits.
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FBI Takes Down ‘Sophisticated’ Russian Cyberespionage Tool, US Says
U.S. officials said on Tuesday they’ve taken down a global network of compromised computers that Russian intelligence agents used for nearly 20 years to spy on the United States and its allies.
Officials said a unit within Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, used a malicious software called Snake to steal sensitive documents from hundreds of compromised computer networks in at least 50 countries.
The hacked computers belonged to NATO member governments, journalists and other targets of interest to the Russian government, officials said.
Snake-infected computers in the United States and around the world served as conduits for funneling the stolen data back to Russia.
The Justice Department called Snake the “FSB’s premiere cyberespionage malware implant.”
“The Justice Department, together with our international partners, has dismantled a global network of malware-infected computers that the Russian government has used for nearly two decades to conduct cyber-espionage, including against our NATO allies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We will continue to strengthen our collective defenses against the Russian regime’s destabilizing efforts to undermine the security of the United States and our allies.”
The FBI dismantled the Snake network with a court-approved operation dubbed MEDUSA, the Justice Department said.
The operation disabled the Snake malware on compromised computers with an FBI-created tool named PERSEUS.
The bureau is working with authorities in other countries to notify other victims of Snake infections, officials said.
The FBI has been tracking Snake and related malware tools for nearly two decades, developing the ability to decrypt and decode Snake communications.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the takedown “has neutralized one of Russia’s most sophisticated cyber-espionage tools, used for two decades to advance Russia’s authoritarian objectives.”
“By combining this action with the release of the information victims need to protect themselves, the Justice Department continues to put victims at the center of our cybercrime work and take the fight to malicious cyber actors,” Monaco said in a statement.
Court documents released on Tuesday detailed how the FSB unit, known as Turla, deployed Snake from a known FSB facility in Ryazan, Russia, to conduct daily espionage operations.
The unit has repeatedly upgraded and revised the malware to ensure it remains “Turla’s most sophisticated long-term cyberespionage malware implant,” the Justice Department said.
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New York Jury Reaches Verdict on Woman’s Allegation That Trump Raped Her Three Decades Ago
A federal court jury in New York reached a verdict Tuesday on a claim by a one-time magazine advice columnist that Donald Trump, 20 years before he became the U.S. president, raped her in a department store dressing room, and then defamed her by dismissing the encounter as a “hoax.”
Trump is facing several criminal investigations stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 reelection loss and his retention of classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
But the allegations made by E. Jean Carroll are being adjudicated in a civil, not criminal case, and carry no threat of a conviction or imprisonment for the 76-year-old Trump.
Instead, the nine-member jury — six men and three women — had to decide by a unanimous vote whether there is a preponderance of evidence to believe the now 79-year-old Carroll’s contention that after a chance encounter with Trump at the upscale Bergdorf Goodman department store sometime in 1996, he lured her into a dressing room in the lingerie department, quickly pinning her against a wall, pulling down her tights, opening his pants and sexually assaulting her.
Trump did not appear in the courtroom, nor was he required to, to hear Carroll’s account. Two other women testified on her behalf that Trump unexpectedly assaulted them decades ago in similar fashion: A one-time stock broker said he groped her in the first-class cabin of a New York-bound flight and a journalist alleged that he suddenly started kissing her at Mar-a-Lago while she was there to report a story for People magazine on the first anniversary of his marriage to his third wife, former first lady Melania Trump.
No defense witnesses called
Trump’s defense attorney, Joseph Tacopina, called no defense witnesses in the case, instead trying to chip away at Carroll’s account of the incident, noting that she could not remember the exact date the attack allegedly occurred, never reported it to police at the time, nor went to a hospital for treatment, and only first made her allegation public in a 2019 memoir.
“It’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story. It’s just made up,” Tacopina told the jurors in his closing argument on Monday. Earlier, as the case opened two weeks ago, Tacopina said, “There are no witnesses to call to prove a negative” and that jurors would have to “believe the unbelievable” to rule in favor of Carroll, who is seeking a retraction of Trump’s denial of the incident and unspecified monetary damages.
On the witness stand, Carroll gave a searing account of her claimed encounter with Trump, even as she acknowledged she could not precisely pinpoint the date it occurred, although trial testimony indicated it might have been in the spring of 1996 on an early Thursday evening when the store was open later for shoppers.
Carroll testified that Trump used his weight to pin her against the dressing room enclosure. “I was pushing him back,” she said. “I was almost too frightened to think.”
“His fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful,” Carroll said. Then, she said, he inserted his penis, before she said she used her knee to push him away and fled.
She said that she was so traumatized by the incident that “it left me unable to ever have a romantic life again.”
During an extensive cross-examination by Tacopina, Carroll acknowledged that she did not scream for help.
She said rape victims are always asked, “‘Why didn’t you scream?'”
“He raped me, whether I screamed or not,” she declared.
In a taped video deposition from last October that Carroll’s.lawyers showed jurors, Trump claimed that he would not have attacked Carroll, once a cheerleader and university beauty queen, because she was not his “type.” But he undercut his own claim when he was shown a picture of himself with Carroll at a New York social event in the 1970s: He misidentified her as his second wife, Marla Maples, while acknowledging all three of his wives were the type of women he was attracted to.
Carroll’s lawyers also showed jurors the 2005 video from the celebrity TV show “Access Hollywood,” in which Trump claimed that women allowed him to start kissing them and grabbing them by their genitals because he was a star.
Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan said Trump may not have appeared to testify in the case, but contended in her closing statement to the jurors that the videotape showed how he treated women.
Kaplan told jurors: “What is he doing here? He is telling you in his own words his modus operandi, his M.O. … he kissed them without their consent. The evidence shows overwhelmingly he followed this playbook and in the dressing room there grabbed” Carroll and assaulted her.
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Turkish, Syrian Foreign Ministers to Meet in Moscow
The foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria will hold their first official meeting on Wednesday since the start of Syrian civil war more than a decade ago, officials said.
The talks in Moscow will also involve the top diplomats of Russia and Iran, Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The announcement delivers a diplomatic boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just days before he faces the toughest general election of his 21-year rule on Sunday.
Erdogan supported early rebel efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, keeping a military presence in northern stretches of the war-torn country that angers Damascus.
But Erdogan reversed course after Turkey plunged into an economic crisis two years ago.
The Turkish leader has made up with former rivals across the region and is now courting a presidential summit with Assad.
Syria had refused, insisting that Turkey first pull out its troops.
A reconciliation with Syria is also supported by Erdogan’s opponents and plays an important part in Turkey’s election campaign.
Erdogan has pledged to speed up the repatriation of nearly four million Syrian refugees and migrants who fled to Turkey to escape poverty and war.
An agreement with Damascus is seen as a prerequisite for this process.
Iran and Russia have been helping mediate talks between the two sides.
Ankara said the repatriation will be discussed at the talks.
The sides will “exchange views on the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria, discuss humanitarian issues … and the voluntary, safe and dignified return of asylum-seekers,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu exchanged a few words with his Syrian counterpart on the sidelines of a regional summit in 2021.
But both sides insisted that this did not mark a resumption of formal talks.
Erdogan turned into one of Assad’s fiercest opponents when the violent repression of protests set off Syria’s civil war in 2011.
The Turkish leader called Assad a “murderer” in 2017, saying he should be brought to justice before an international tribunal.
But reversing course, Erdogan this year said that a presidential summit could help “establish peace and stability in the region.”
The Moscow meeting follows several rounds of lower-level talks in Moscow involving the four countries’ defense ministers.
The last one in April ended with Damascus insisting on “the withdrawal of Turkish forces” from Syria.
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UN Says More than 700,000 Sudanese Internally Displaced in Fighting
The United Nations refugee agency says more than 700,000 Sudanese have fled their homes since violence broke out last month between two armed factions fighting for control of the northern African nation.
The updated figure, provided Tuesday by the U.N. International Organization for Migration, 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.
The new figures were released a day after envoys from both warring factions met for a third day of talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The talks are aimed at allowing humanitarian aid to reach hundreds of thousands in need of food, shelter and medical care in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities after more than three weeks of fighting.
The Saudi kingdom has already pledged that it will provide Sudan with $100 million worth of aid.
Fighting between Sudan’s military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted on April 15.
Repeated cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence. Eyewitnesses in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, told VOA they heard renewed gunfire and an airstrike in the city Monday in and around the downtown area.
A Saudi official told Agence France-Presse Monday that the talks in Jeddah have yielded “no major progress” so far. The official said “a permanent cease-fire isn’t on the table. Every side believes it is capable of winning the battle.”
The Sudan Tribune reported Sunday that the army negotiators have made three demands, including unconditional withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from Khartoum, an extension of a humanitarian truce, and the integration of the RSF into the Sudanese army within two years.
The newspaper said, “It’s not clear how the RSF negotiators will respond to these demands.”
Sudanese citizens are watching the talks in Jeddah with a mix of hope and skepticism.
Sumeya Musa, who fled violence from Khartoum to Al Jazirah state, told VOA she hopes the talks produce a truce that will allow her to safely escape Sudan.
“Our hope from these talks is that the guns will be silenced, and we move out of this country. Practically, we are suffering. We just want to see airstrikes, bombing and guns to stop for a while,” she said.
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 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said recently it has launched an emergency appeal to support the Sudanese Red Crescent Society in its effort to deliver assistance to 200,000 people.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
your ad hereDemocratic, Republican Leaders to Meet on US Debt Limit Deadlock
U.S. President Joe Biden and the top Republican and Democrats in Congress are set to meet Tuesday at the White House amid an impasse about raising the country’s debt limit.
Republicans House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will be joined by Democrats House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as the group discusses the impending deadline to make sure the government can pay for spending it has already incurred.
Republicans are insisting on spending cuts before they will agree to raise the debt ceiling, while Biden has said Congress has a duty to pay its bills and that the two issues should be addressed separately.
SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers last week that the Treasury’s ability to pay all of the government’s bills could run short as early as June 1.
She told CNBC on Monday there was a “very big gap” between the Democratic and Republican positions and warned that not raising the debt limit would bring “economic catastrophe.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Iranian American Wins Pulitzer Prize
Iranian American Sanaz Toossi won the Pulitzer Prize in drama Monday for her play English.
The play takes place in 2008 near Tehran, where four Iranian adults prepare for an English proficiency test. It examines how family separation and travel restrictions push them to learn a new language and how that may change their identity.
The Pulitzer board called the play “quietly powerful.”
The award includes a $15,000 prize.
Toossi is the daughter of Iranian immigrants to the United States and grew up in the western U.S. state of California.
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Leaders Of Armenia, Azerbaijan to Meet May 14 in Brussels
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are to meet next week in Brussels, the European Union said Monday, the latest attempt to secure a durable peace accord and resolve long-standing differences over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The meeting on May 14 between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev follows talks between their two foreign ministers that prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to suggest a breakthrough was possible.
An announcement on the EU Council’s website said a three-corner meeting with Council President Charles Michel would take place at EU headquarters.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet states, have fought two wars over 30 years focusing on Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by Armenians.
In a six-week conflict in 2020, ended by a Russian-brokered truce, Azerbaijan recovered territory lost in the first war dating from the collapse of Soviet rule. Border skirmishes erupt periodically between the two sides.
Pashinyan and Aliyev have held several rounds of talks, generally organized by the EU or Russia, but have failed to resolve outstanding difficulties, including border demarcation and access to areas across each other’s territory.
The latest EU announcement said the two leaders would also meet on June 1 in Moldova during an EU-sponsored development meeting to be attended by President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany.
“The leaders have also agreed to continue to meet trilaterally in Brussels as frequently as necessary to address ongoing developments on the ground and standing agenda items of the Brussels meetings,” the EU statement said.
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Sudanese Have Mixed Reactions to Peace Talks
Sudanese citizens are cautiously optimistic about the Saudi- and U.S.-brokered peace talks in Jeddah between their country’s warring generals amid reports of a lull in the fighting.
But thousands of Sudanese are still trying to flee the country, and analysts are skeptical that any deal between the two sides will bring long-term peace.
The mediation talks continued for a third day Monday, with no word on whether the negotiations were making progress.
Representatives of the military and the Rapid Support Forces were invited to Jeddah to discuss a proposed cease-fire so humanitarian aid agencies can access people who are wounded, hungry or displaced after more than three weeks of fighting.
The Sudan Tribune reported Sunday that the army negotiators have made three demands: unconditional withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces from Khartoum, an extension of a humanitarian truce, and the integration of the RSF into the Sudanese army within two years.
The newspaper said, “It’s not clear how the RSF negotiators will respond to these demands.”
Renewed gunfire
A truce between the sides remains officially in place, but eyewitnesses in Khartoum told VOA they heard renewed gunfire and an airstrike in the city Monday in and around the downtown area.
Sudanese citizens are watching the talks in Jeddah with a mix of hope and skepticism.
Sumeya Musa, who fled to Al Jazirah state from the violence in Khartoum, said she was optimistic that the talks would bear fruit and allow her to find a safe route to escape Sudan.
“Our hope from these talks is that the guns will be silenced and we move out of this country,” she said. “Practically, we are suffering. We just want to see that airstrikes, bombing and guns stop for a while.”
Another woman, Amira Saleh, arrived in Port Sudan a week ago and is living in an open area within the town.
Saleh said she doubted that the warring parties were ready to stop hostilities.
“There is no consensus among them, and they will not reach any agreement, or at least a basis to draw a road map that can take these talks to a stage of negotiations,” she said.
Sudanese writer Mekki Al Mograbi said that the majority of Sudanese citizens support the military and that there was no way they would allow the Rapid Support Forces to remain as a separate armed group.
He said he thought the only solution at the moment would be for the RSF to get a safe route and leave the city.
“Granting the Rapid Support Forces safe passage or their exit out of Khartoum could be a possible solution,” he said.
An Arab foreign ministers summit on Sunday in Cairo called for a complete cease-fire in Sudan. The ministers also formed a committee to try to find a way to halt the fighting.
In a statement, the African Union urged parties to the conflict to immediately cease fire for humanitarian reasons and urgently open humanitarian corridors.
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Severe Food Shortage in Nigeria’s Northeast Leaves Children on the Brink
The U.N. says more than 4 million people in Nigeria’s northeast are facing severe food shortages as global aid is stretched thin. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs took journalists to the region to see the worsening situation. Timothy Obiezu files this report from Maiduguri in Nigeria’s Borno State.
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Spain Records Hottest, Driest April on Record
Drought-stricken Spain says last month was the hottest and driest April since records began in 1961.
The State Meteorological Agency, known by the Spanish acronym AEMET, said Monday that the average daily temperature in April was 14.9 degrees Celsius (58.8 Fahrenheit), which was 3 degrees Celsius above the average.
AEMET said average maximum temperatures during the month were up by 4.7 degrees Celsius.
Rainfall was a fifth of what would normally be expected in the month, making it the driest April on record in Spain.
Last year was Spain’s hottest since record-keeping started in 1961, and also the country’s sixth driest.
Three years of scant rainfall and high temperatures put the country officially into long-term drought earlier this year.
A flash study by a group of international scientists last week found that record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change and would have been almost impossible in the past.
The government has requested emergency funds from the European Union to support farmers and ranchers whose crops are being affected by the situation.
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After High-Level Meeting, China Urges US to ‘Correct’ Itself
After meeting in Beijing with U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang criticized the U.S. for what he described as an ongoing effort to “suppress” his country, saying that improved communications between the two superpowers will depend on the U.S. changing its policies.
In a readout of the Monday meeting, Qin said that U.S.-China relations have worsened since a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November, saying “a series of erroneous words and deeds by the U.S. since then have undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-U.S. relations.”
Qin described relations between the two countries as having “hit the ice,” and he criticized U.S. policy toward Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own.
Burns, for his part, was more reticent about the talks, posting a brief update on his official Twitter account that said, “I met State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang today. We discussed challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication.”
Possible thaw
Despite the tone of Qin’s comments, some viewed the meeting, one of the first high-level meetings between American and Chinese officials in several months, as a positive step.
Relations have been particularly strained since early February, when the U.S. spotted a Chinese espionage balloon flying over the U.S. mainland. That incident caused U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel what had been expected to be an in-person visit with Qin earlier this year.
Last week, Burns seemed to signal an interest in greater dialogue between the two countries.
“Our view is we need better channels between the two governments and deeper channels, and we are ready to talk,” he said last week in a virtual appearance at an event hosted by the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank.
“We’ve never been shy of talking, and we hope the Chinese will meet us halfway on this,” Burns said.
Critical comments
The Foreign Ministry’s readout of the meeting depicted Qin as sharply critical of the U.S., urging Washington to “correct its understanding of China” and to “return to rationality.”
Appearing to refer to Burns’ comments about being willing to talk, Qin said, “It is not possible to talk about communication on the one hand, but to keep suppressing and containing China on the other hand. You cannot say one thing and do another. We must respect China’s bottom line and red line, and stop undermining China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
He added, “In particular, we must correctly handle the Taiwan issue, stop hollowing out the one-China principle, and stop supporting and condoning ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”
In what appeared to be a reference to the espionage balloon incident, Qin said, “It is necessary to persist in handling unexpected incidents in the relationship between the two countries in a calm, professional and pragmatic manner, so as to avoid another impact on Sino-U.S. relations.”
He said any future talks should be based on “mutual respect, reciprocity and mutual benefit.”
State Department reacts
In a press conference Monday afternoon, Deputy State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel commented on the meeting, saying, “Maintaining open lines of communication with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] has been a key tenet of our approach as it relates to this very complicated bilateral relationship.”
Asked whether the U.S. had anything to “correct” in its position on Taiwan, Patel said it did not.
“There has been no change to our policy with China. There has been no change to our ‘One China’ policy, which is guided by more than four decades of the Taiwan Relations Act, the three joint communiqués and the six assurances. We have been very clear-eyed about that. And we’re also going to continue standing with our friends and allies across the Indo-Pacific to advance our shared prosperity and security and values.”
Room for progress
Zuri Linetsky, a research fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation, told VOA that he saw the dialogue between Qin and Burns as a positive sign, and said that the language in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout was clear about the policy changes Beijing wants the U.S. to make, in particular toward Taiwan and trade.
“One thing that stands out to me is this discussion of ‘security and development interests’ which is, I think, a call out to the restrictions on Chinese access to semiconductors,” Linetsky said.
The Biden administration has pressured countries that use U.S. technology to make semiconductors and the machines that fabricate them to restrict sales to China. Though the U.S. has branded this as a very narrow ban, applying only to military technology or items that could be repurposed for military use, the Chinese appear to view the ban as part of a broader strategy to restrict the country’s overall development.
Linetsky said that the meeting between Qin and Burns appeared to signal that more talks might be on the horizon, though he warned that it would be a mistake to expect progress to be smooth.
“This isn’t going to happen in a straight line,” he said. “It’s going to happen in fits and starts.”
Coming investment guidance
As soon as next week, the Biden administration is expected to release new guidelines that will restrict the investments U.S. firms can make in China, to prevent technology that can be used for military purposes from being transferred to Beijing.
The policy will be part of a broader administration plan to insulate the U.S. from China without fully breaking ties, a process that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in a recent speech referred to as “de-risking” rather than the more commonly used term “decoupling.”
“De-risking fundamentally means having resilient, effective supply chains and ensuring we cannot be subject to the coercion of any other country,” he said in remarks delivered at the Brookings Institution on April 27.
In that same speech, Sullivan pushed back against Chinese claims that the U.S. was trying to freeze China out of new technologies and to hinder its overall development.
“These are tailored measures,” Sullivan said. “They are not, as Beijing says, a technology blockade. They are not targeting emerging economies.”
VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching contributed to this article.
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Chinese Students in DC Establish Safe Space for Dissent to Counter Beijing
A group of Chinese international students studying in Washington has established an independent student union, hoping to provide a safe space and platform for other Chinese students and scholars at their university to express political dissent without harassment by pro-Beijing students and organizations.
Students from George Washington University (GWU) call the organization Torch on the Potomac.
A statement by the organization on April 25 said, “We want to provide Chinese students and scholars at George Washington University, as well as their peers in the diaspora, with a platform, social support and community independent from the Chinese Communist Party and its puppets. In addition, we welcome students from all backgrounds interested in Chinese culture, politics and identity.”
The organization has more than 12 members. All have chosen to remain anonymous for security reasons, according to Luo Qiu, one of the organizers who uses a pseudonym.
“Before this organization was established, we were sporadic,” said Thomas, who also uses a pseudonym. “Many of our Chinese students had engaged in some resistance activities, including putting up posters or organizing candlelight vigils. But because there is still this kind of fear on campus – that is, fear of C.S.S.A. and of people who are pro-Chinese Communist Party who may report us.”
The Chinese Students and Scholars Association has long been linked to the Chinese government.
“[We want to] let the school, including people outside, know that C.S.S.A. is not the only representative of our Chinese students,” Thomas said. “We also have many Chinese students who oppose the CCP and support democracy. They should also have their own voices.”
The members expressed their disappointment with GWU in their statement, believing that the university has not done enough to protect the freedom of speech of international students who criticize the Chinese government.
The statement reads, “As Chinese students and scholars by the Potomac River, by the Lincoln Memorial, and at the foot of Capitol Hill, we are thousands of miles away from the People’s Republic of China but still under the shadow of fear: we find ourselves facing systemic repression. We and our families have faced intimidation, surveillance, harassment, blackmail, and other forms of coercion. We are denied true academic freedom and civil rights despite studying at a university that claims to promote and defend rights.”
VOA contacted GWU for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
GWU reaction
Axios reported that during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, some Chinese students put up multiple posters on the school campus criticizing China’s human rights issues. Other Chinese students ripped them down, and some Chinese student organizations who are pro-Chinese-government took the matter to the president of the university, Mark Wrighton, claiming that the posters were racially discriminatory, Axios reported.
At first, Wrighton expressed support in an email for the position of the pro-government Chinese student organizations and promised to investigate the matter, according to Axios.
But after discussing with faculty and staff familiar with human rights issues in China, he pivoted to express his support for the students who put up the posters and promised to protect their freedom of speech, Axios said.
In October, some Chinese students at the university also put up posters on campus opposing Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s re-election. But those posters were also torn up.
Torch on the Potomac said in its statement that not long ago, the “Democracy Wall” on campus, which includes posters put up by students from China, Iran, Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine, was vandalized. The wall is in a hallway on the outside of a school building.
Luo said, “We tried to get the school involved in the investigation before, but the response from the school police and the dean is almost nothing.”
In a screenshot of an email obtained by VOA Mandarin, police told the students who had called them, “Unfortunately, [when] you post a poster you relinquish ownership to the poster and as long as there is zero damage to the building it will not be a destruction of property.”
VOA Mandarin contacted GWU police for specific information on the damage but did not receive a response.
‘Silencing’ of students
Rory O’Connor, president of the U.S. student organization Athenai Institute, told VOA Mandarin the vandalism of the Democracy Wall “amounts to the silencing of students who have few other means to safely speak out.”
The Athenai Institute website says the organization “is a non-partisan, student-founded nonprofit devoted to educating American students, scholars and the public about the dangers posed by the genocidal, anti-democratic Chinese Communist Party’s influence on our college campuses, and about the tools universities can use to financially disentangle themselves from the CCP and its human rights abuses.”
The Athenai Institute supported the establishment of Torch on the Potomac, according to the organizers’ statement.
O’Connor said, “I can think of few, if any, better uses of our time and resources than supporting pro-democracy Chinese students who, simply by trying to authentically express themselves, are now facing down the proxies of a fascist party-state.”
Other student organizations at GWU have also supported Torch on the Potomac, including the campus organizations for the Democratic and Republican parties, GW Chinese Feminists, GW Uyghur Human Rights Initiative and GW Russian Speaking Association, according to the Torch on the Potomac statement.
Sarah McLaughlin, scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told VOA Mandarin, “Universities can do more, too. They can make an effort to educate international students about their rights in the U.S. and on campus, and what they can do if they’re facing threats to their ability to speak freely on campus.”
Torch on the Potomac said that the school’s C.S.S.A. is behind the suppression of its political demands, and “our top priority remains to protect George Washington University students from being influenced by the C.S.S.A. at the school and the Chinese Communist Party. … For a long time, the C.S.S.A. and similar organizations have maintained a monopoly on Chinese students’ cultural and political representation.”
A report by Foreign Policy in 2018 said that C.S.S.A. organizations across the U.S. had organized international students to welcome visiting Chinese leaders and paid them a fee for being among the gathering of greeters.
The close relationship the C.S.S.A. maintains with the Chinese government is no secret. In 2017, Liu Chen, president of the C.S.S.A. at George Washington University, said in a video that the C.S.S.A. was “the only official Chinese student union. It is directed by the Chinese Embassy and operates in every international university.”
Domination of C.S.S.A.
William, who belongs to Torch on the Potomac and uses a pseudonym, said, “There was no organization like this before. In the past, C.S.S.A. dominated the public domain of Chinese international students.”
Another Torch of the Potomac member, Sally, said, “I think the goal of the organization is to show there are alternative forms of representation and that not all Chinese students are monolith.
“Because right now we see a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment and a lot of people who are talking about how they are spies in U.S. campuses,” she said. “And we realize these discussions are real, and we want to show that most Chinese students are not supporting the government, and most Chinese students are not here to be Chinese spies. But we don’t have an outlet for our voice to be heard, so we were trying to … provide those students with support so that they do not feel alone, and they don’t feel alienated and isolated.”
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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King Charles III Takes Day Off After Busy Coronation Weekend
On the third day of his long coronation weekend, King Charles III rested.
Monday was, after all, a holiday declared in honor of his crowning and he had spent several whirlwind days of elaborately choreographed public festivities capped with an off-the-cuff cameo on “American Idol.”
While Charles, 74, had no public appearances, he sent a note of “heartfelt thanks” for the many celebrations in his honor and Buckingham Palace released official portraits of him and working members of the royal family that doesn’t include his son, Prince Harry, the disgruntled Duke of Sussex.
In one photo, the king was seated on a throne at Buckingham Palace in the regalia he wore when he walked out of Westminster Abbey: the Imperial State Crown, a purple and ermine-trimmed robe and holding the sovereign’s orb and scepter.
“To know that we have your support and encouragement, and to witness your kindness expressed in so many different ways, has been the greatest possible coronation gift, as we now rededicate our lives to serving the people,” he wrote on behalf of himself and Queen Camilla. Other royals, including one of the youngest, picked up the mantle of service the king had called for Monday in declaring the “Big Help Out” that was said to draw millions to volunteer a couple hours on their day off.
Prince William, heir to the throne, took the controls of a small backhoe with his youngest son, Prince Louis, in his lap as his family helped renovate a Scout hut in Slough.
After his father dumped a load of soil, the 5-year-old Louis, who has become a social media sensation for making fidgety faces during public appearances, wore a look of determination as he shoveled sand and piloted a wheelbarrow under the watchful eye of his mother, Kate, the Princess of Wales.
When someone suggested Louis may grow up to be a painter, he replied, “No, a fighter pilot.”
It was the boy’s first royal engagement, and he was rewarded later with a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits.
“You won’t hear a peep out of him now for about 20 minutes,” his father quipped.
Louis took a bite, rolled his head back and staggered into his sister.
The volunteer work came after a weekend of pomp, circumstance and partying for the newly crowned king and queen in an ancient spectacle Saturday. Thousands of public picnics and street parties were held Sunday across the U.K. in honor of Charles before the concert at Windsor Castle.
Not everyone was thrilled about the new monarch. Criticism has been lobbed at the government for funding an event with estimates surpassing 100 million pounds ($126 million) and no publicly provided price tag yet. It comes as regular Britons struggle to pay bills during high inflation and heating costs.
Police were criticized for the arrests of 64 people — including many demonstrators who said they were unfairly swept up by heavy handed tactics under a new policy of low-tolerance for protesters.
Metropolitan Police had defended the arrests as necessary to prevent disrupting the event and keeping hundreds of thousands of people safe but said Monday it regretted arresting six members of an anti-monarchy republican group, and that no charges would be brought.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had defended the force and said police acted independently, pushing back on Smith’s suggestion that the aggressive tactics were politically motivated.
Sunak spoke to reporters after serving lamb casserole and wine while volunteering at a community center in Rickmansworth, a commuter town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of London.
Sunak hosted a “Big Lunch” the day before at 10 Downing Street, serving U.S. first lady Jill Biden, and he sat behind the king at Sunday’s concert of eclectic acts.
During the show, Charles and Camilla were on their feet swaying to the music at one point. Other members of the royal family, including Charlotte and Prince George, 9, waved Union flags along with a crowd of some 20,000 gathered on the castle’s east terrace.
After the big show, Charles and Camilla walked into a room at Windsor Castle on Sunday where “Idol” judges Katy Perry and Lionel Richie — who also performed — were appearing virtually on the talent show.
The king, wearing a dark blue suit and tie, showed a sense of humor by name-checking one of the signature songs Richie had performed, asking if he was planning to do this “All Night Long.”
“I just wanted to check how long you’ll be using this room,” Charles joked.
The audience laughed.
Charles was not the only member of the royal family to crack a joke about one of Richie’s most popular tunes.
The Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, before delivering a heartfelt speech telling his father, “Pa, we are all so proud of you,” had promised the audience that, unlike Richie, he wouldn’t go on “All Night Long.”
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20 Bodies Found in Congo Mass Grave; ADF Rebels Suspected
The remains of at least 20 people were found buried in a mass grave in an area used to cultivate cacao in Ndoma village in Congo’s North Kivu province over the weekend, according to local authorities and a military spokesperson.
A team of forensic and security officers exhumed the bodies after residents of villages in Beni territory found bones and clothing and alerted officials.
Until earlier this year, the area had been under the control of the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, a rebel militia with links to the Islamic State group. The area is now controlled by the Congolese army.
Muyisa Kambale Sindani, representative of the nearby Kilya village, said Saturday that the remains were reburied “with dignity and security.” He confirmed that bones of at least 20 people were found, but that it wasn’t possible to search further because of a lack of security in the region.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long the bodies had been there. Eastern Congo has been plagued by violence for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources and some to protect their communities.
The ADF attacks have concentrated on North Kivu province, but the group has recently extended its operations into the neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma, in South Kivu.
The rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of targeting, maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Captain Anthony Mwalushayi, regional spokesperson for the Congolese army, said the area had been an ADF stronghold.
“There are innocent people who have been buried here. This is really a mass grave,” he said, but noted that among the bones that were found, there were military insignias.
Mwalushayi pledged authorities would investigate and bring those responsible to justice.
Residents are demanding more protection from the government but also justice.
“We demand justice to be done so that the perpetrators of this massacre answer for their actions and set an example for other rebels to stop killing us unfairly,” said Richard Kakule, a farmer from Ndoma.
After the forensic experts collected the remains and placed them in white body bags, locals organized a small ceremony and sang while burying the bodies with their own hands.
ADF rebels have been active in eastern Congo for decades and have killed thousands in the region since they resurfaced in 2013.
Earlier this year, the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Seka Musa Baluku.
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Mexican, US Presidents to Confer on Immigration
Mexico’s president said Monday that he would talk with U.S. President Joe Biden by telephone Tuesday about immigration and the fentanyl crisis.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the leaders would also discuss development programs aimed at helping to stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. The conversation will come two days before the end of pandemic-era immigration restrictions that allowed U.S. authorities to quickly expel migrants who had crossed the border illegally.
Lopez Obrador appealed to migrants not to use smugglers to travel to the U.S. border.
“Don’t allow yourselves to be fooled,” he said during his morning news briefing. “Don’t allow yourselves to be blackmailed by coyotes, smugglers, who put you at risk.”
Mexico agreed last week to continue to accept migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away at the border, as well as some other migrants from Central America.
The Mexican president has previously asked the U.S. government to contribute more development aid to Central America so people won’t have to migrate.
Lopez Obrador has also slammed proposals by U.S. Republican legislators to make it more difficult to apply for asylum and easier for authorities to block migrants at the border.
“This really degrades them, morally,” he said.
The two presidents will also discuss the fentanyl crisis. The synthetic opioid, mainly smuggled in from Mexico, has caused about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States.
Lopez Obrador has denied that drug cartels make fentanyl in Mexico, although he has acknowledged that precursor chemicals — and, he contends, finished fentanyl — are smuggled into Mexico from China, a claim China has denied.
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Colorado Clinic With International Staff Welcomes Immigrants
Immigrants in the western U.S. state of Colorado have a unique place to go when they are not feeling well: a health care clinic that serves newcomers from many countries. For VOA, Svitlana Prystynska has more about the facility, which was founded by a Ukrainian immigrant. Camera: Olena Andrushenko
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