May 2023 - Page 23 of 25

USAGM Chief Tells Lawmakers Global Information Wars at ‘Inflection Point’

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

The chief executive officer of the United States Agency for Global Media said Wednesday the agency she leads is playing a critical role globally in giving audiences access to credible and unbiased news countering media run by authoritarian regimes.

“We are at an inflection point,” Amanda Bennett said in prepared testimony for the Senate foreign relations subcommittee overseeing the State Department and other international activities.

“Authoritarian regimes are using malign influence, disinformation, propaganda and information manipulation to close the flow of information and undermine those seeking fact-based information about the world around them. The governments of the [People’s Republic of China], Iran and Russia often work together to amplify their malign influence,” she continued.

USAGM estimates that 394 million people access its programming each week. The federally funded agency overseen by the U.S. Congress comprises two federal entities — Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting — and four nonprofits: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and the Open Technology Fund (OTF).

Bennett said USAGM was built for this moment with more than 4,000 media partners around the world countering the influence of state-run media.

According to USAGM, RFE and VOA programming was viewed 8 billion times in Russian and Ukrainian in the year since the Russian invasion, and 1 in 4 Iranian adults used OTF-supported circumvention tools to access information.

“This is the most important time for this agency since the Cold War, and perhaps since World War II,” said Bennett. “USAGM must be positioned to be consistently competitive in today’s dangerous world of information manipulation and heavy investment by authoritarian regimes and other bad actors.”

Agency asks for $944 million

USAGM has requested $944 million for fiscal 2024, a $59 million increase over the current year. Some lawmakers have questioned whether the agency is making good use of taxpayer funding.

“We have a very open system,” Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said, comparing USAGM networks to state-funded media. “We guard very carefully the journalistic independence of your agency, and we will do that. But we as policymakers want to make sure that we’re placing our resources and priorities in those parts of the world where we are the most vulnerable.”

USAGM has undergone Senate-directed structural changes in recent years to address different priorities across the entities, technological hurdles, government bureaucracy and low funding in comparison to state-funded media in other countries.

Earlier this year, House Foreign Affairs chairman Michael McCaul expressed concern about hiring practices and possible censorship at Voice of America, writing in a letter to Bennett, “As a publicly funded media organization, it is imperative that USAGM and VOA comply with these strict requirements for both integrity and nonpartisanship, keeping USAGM leadership out of the editorial decision-making process.”

USAGM valued abroad

Public diplomacy experts told lawmakers that USAGM should not try to adopt every platform and every target given resourcing challenges.

“Washington should undertake concerted campaigns grounded in truthfulness to expose the failures and false promises of dictatorship,” said Jessica Brandt, policy director for the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution. “It should also apply that information worldwide, not just because it’s consistent with democratic principles, but because it puts Russia and China in a defensive position.”

Brandt noted that overseas audiences value USAGM coverage for its truthfulness.

“In its coverage of the United States, VOA should not hesitate to present the American experience in its full complexity,” she testified. “It is a sign of strength, not weakness, for a government-funded entity to reckon honestly with its challenges. I think doing so may resonate with those who are struggling to nurture their own democracies.”
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Kenyan President: Regional Bloc Won’t Allow Military Rule in Sudan

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

Nearly a month since armed conflict began between rival factions of the military government of Sudan, efforts by the international community to broker a truce in the country have failed as both parties repeatedly violated three cease-fire agreements.

But leaders in East Africa say they will bar military rule in the region.

Speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday, Kenyan President William Ruto said Sudan had already made progress toward governance and that East Africa leaders would not allow what he termed a small disagreement to destroy those gains. He also said the soldiers would be held accountable.

“They have absolutely no reason to destroy people’s businesses, people’s livelihoods, cause unnecessary chaos and mayhem, when the quarrel can be solved by dialogue or conversation,” he said. “And we are determined to stop our continent from sliding into military rule. The continent is ready, and we are prepared to build our democratic institutions and get the people of this continent to choose the government they want.”

Experts such as Macharia Munene, an analyst on international relations in Kenya, say that despite its failure to end conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the East African Community regional bloc stands a chance to persuade Sudan’s military to end fighting because it is in the military’s interest, as the country itself hopes to become an EAC member.

“Concerted effort is what is needed,” he said, urging anyone with connections to Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan or General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, to “use those avenues to point out that it is in their interest to stop killing each other, and to convince the leaders that they do not want to be perpetual pariahs in the region.”

The fighting has left 400 people dead and has displaced more than 800,000 people since erupting on April 15, according to the United Nations. Each military faction has defended its stance.

Nick Westcott, director of the Royal African Society, sees the conflict as a chance for the East African region to move past failures in the DRC independently and persuade warring soldiers to lay down their arms.

Westcott pointed to MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping force in the DRC. The EAC force sent to DRC “was complementary to that, and its presence was agreed [upon] by various parties involved, particularly Kinshasa authorities,” he said. “In Sudan, there is no existing authority and no agreement on any party that they should be the force coming for peace, not at this stage.”

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development agreed last week to send South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, Kenya’s Ruto and Ismail Omar of Djibouti to help broker a cease-fire in Sudan. Sudan’s former colony brokered the latest cease-fire, and Munene said it was in Kiir’s interest that Khartoum end its war because of his dependence on the port for trade.

“Being a landlocked [country], you know, it is an oil-producing country, and the oil goes through Khartoum to the Red Sea,” he said. “So South Sudan is hurting.”

Kiir on Tuesday said he’d held separate telephone conversations with Burhan and Dagalo, both of whom agreed to send representatives to talk.
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US Charges Russian National, Shutters Stolen Credit Card Network

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

U.S. law enforcement officials have charged a Russian national with running Try2Check, a network of websites that verified stolen credit card numbers for cybercriminals.

The network’s four websites have been taken offline, and the State Department announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Denis Gennadievich Kulkov, the alleged mastermind of Try2Check.

Kulkov is believed to live in Samara, Russia.

A grand jury indictment unsealed on Wednesday charges him with access device fraud, computer intrusion and money laundering.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Patrick Freaney, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s New York field office, announced the charges.

“Today is a bad day for criminals who relied on the defendant’s platform as the gold standard to verify that the credit cards they stole from hard working individuals living in the Eastern District of New York and across the world had value,” Peace said in a statement.

According to court documents, Kulkov created Try2Check in 2005, and he developed it into a critical online service for cybercriminals buying and selling stolen credit cards.

Cybercriminals steal millions of credit card numbers every year by hacking into corporate databases and payment systems. They then sell the numbers in batches of thousands or even millions through online message boards known as “carding forums.” But many of the numbers are worthless because they’re either inactive or deactivated.

To weed out the bad numbers, cybercriminals use “card checking” websites such as Try2Check.

These services allow cybercriminals to verify the authenticity of the stolen credit card numbers before selling them.

Try2Check was one of the most popular services of its kind, processing tens of millions of checks per year through its four separate websites, according to court documents.

On carding forums, cybercriminals offering stolen cards sometimes included a screenshot of a verification report produced by Try2Check, according to court documents.

Try2Check charged the equivalent of 14 cents in bitcoin per check, earning Kulkov at least $18 million.

The FBI and U.S. Secret Service had been investigating Try2Check since 2013, according to court documents.

The takedown was coordinated with law enforcement in Austria and Germany.

Credit card fraud is a growing problem worldwide.

The Nilson Report estimates that global losses from card fraud will exceed $397 billion over the next 10 years, including $165 billion in the United States.
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UN Aid Chief: Sudan’s Rival Military Leaders Must Back Delivery of Humanitarian Relief

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

A top United Nations official is calling on Sudan’s rival military leaders to publicly commit themselves to the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance to millions of people struggling to survive amid escalating fighting.

At the end of a three-day troubleshooting visit to the region, Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the Sudanese people face a humanitarian catastrophe.

Speaking by video link from Port Sudan, Griffiths said it was essential that the leaders of the two warring factions publicly back the efforts of humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need.

He said he was already working on a plan to get supplies where they are needed and that he sought “to be sure that we have the commitments publicly and clearly given by the two militaries to protect humanitarian assistance.”

Griffiths said it was important for them “to deliver on the obligations to allow supplies for people to move, and that we should do that … even when there is no formal natural cease-fire.”

Griffiths said he and Volker Perthes, U.N. special representative for Sudan, spoke Wednesday with Sudanese Armed Forces leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

In their talks, he said they stressed the need for humanitarian aid to reach the people. But for that to happen, Griffiths said he told the generals that strong guarantees on the safety of aid workers and supplies had to be backed up with agreements from the top.

“It seems to me that getting those commitments is a condition precedent for large-scale humanitarian action,” Griffiths said. “And I say large-scale because humanitarian action is continuing day by day by day, and it has been a mistake to suggest that it stopped.”

Griffiths said the U.N. was hampered in its ability to provide for the Sudanese people because of severe funding shortages. He said only $200 million of the U.N.’s $1.7 billion appeal for Sudan, which was launched before this crisis, has been received.

He said money is needed to get assistance to the different parts of Darfur and to hardest-hit urban areas, especially Khartoum.

Besides money, Griffiths said, “We need access, we need airlift, we need supplies that do not get looted.

“The World Food Program today told me six trucks of theirs which were going to Darfur were looted, despite assurances of safety and security.”

He reiterated, “We need to be very, very clear about commitments made to ensure the safety of moving the supplies from Port Sudan, or indeed from Chad to Darfur to Port Sudan and westwards to places of need.”

Griffiths said medicines, food, clean water, fuel and other critical commodities are desperately needed.

He said the Food and Agriculture Organization and WFP told him Wednesday about “the importance of getting the food and seeds into places which are going to be hard to reach because of the rainy season that is coming in June,” and corresponds with the planting season.

Since fighting between the two warring factions began more than three weeks ago, at least 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and more than 100,000 have fled to neighboring countries in search of assistance and protection.

Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health reports some 528 people have been killed and 4,620 injured, although U.N. agencies say they believe the toll to be much higher.
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Ukrainian, Iranian Demonstrators Join Forces in London

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainian and Iranian women living in London are finding a common cause, joining in regular protests against Russian expansionism and the tyranny of the Iranian regime. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Umberto Aguiar in London.
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Sheriff: Wife of Suspected Texas Gunman Has Been Arrested

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

A woman identified as the wife of a Texas man suspected of killing five of his neighbors was arrested Wednesday for allegedly helping the man elude capture for four days, authorities said, and a third person is expected to face similar charges.

Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, identified as the wife of suspect Francisco Oropeza, was in custody in connection with the Friday night shooting, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson.

Although Henderson identified Nava as Oropeza’s wife, jail records list her as not being legally married. The two share a home address, according to the records.

Nava had previously denied knowledge of Oropeza’s whereabouts, Henderson said, but authorities believe she hid him in the home near Conroe where he was arrested Tuesday.

Nava was arrested early Wednesday and was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon, according to online jail records. The records do not list a bond for her and indicate she was arrested by state police at a home in Conroe.

Also, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said a friend of Oropeza’s, Domingo Castilla, was also arrested Tuesday in the neighborhood where the shooting took place. Castilla was taken in for marijuana possession, but authorities expect to also charge him with other crimes, including hindering Oropeza’s apprehension, Dillon said.

Found in a closet

A four-day manhunt for Oropeza ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.

At a news conference Wednesday morning in Coldspring, Tim Kean, chief deputy with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office, said authorities spotted Oropeza, 38, on Monday afternoon in Montgomery County, prompting the lockdown of several schools.

“We did confirm that was him on foot, running but we lost track of him. That was not a false alarm. That was him,” Kean said outside the county jail.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office had previously said reports of a possible sighting of Oropeza in the area was a false alarm.

Kean declined to comment on the tip that led authorities to the home where Oropeza was arrested as well as when he arrived or how he got there. Kean said the home had not been previously checked by authorities.

Kean said Oropeza only mildly resisted arrest and was not injured.

Kean said there have been several other arrests “but I can’t go into the details on that.”

Kean said the home where Oropeza was arrested has a personal connection to the suspect. He declined to provide more details but said there was no indication Oropeza was about to leave.

“I believe he thought he was in a safe spot,” Kean said.

Oropeza was expected to appear before a judge inside the San Jacinto County Jail on Wednesday and the judge would formally set his bond at $5 million, Kean said.

The home is near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 32 kilometers (20 miles) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland, where authorities say he shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday.

Oropeza had been shooting rounds on his property and attacked his neighbors after they asked him to go farther away because the gunfire was keeping a baby awake, according to police.

The arrest ends what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions and had seen $80,000 in reward money offered. As recently as Tuesday morning, the FBI said that Oropeza “could be anywhere,” underlining how investigators for days struggled to get a sense of his whereabouts and candidly acknowledged they had no leads.

The tip that finally ended the chase came at 5:15 p.m., and a little more than an hour later, Oropeza was in custody, said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul. The alleged shooter is a Mexican national who has been deported four times between 2009 and 2016, according to U.S. immigration officials.

Connor Hagan, an FBI spokesman, said they would not disclose the identity of the person who called in the tip — one of more than 200 tips he says investigators received.

The hunt for the suspect

Authorities would not say where Oropeza had been since fleeing the scene in Cleveland, which authorities previously said was likely on foot.

Hagan said the three agencies that went in to arrest Oropeza were the U.S. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety, and U.S. Border Patrol’s BORTAC team.

Drones and scent-tracking dogs had been used during the widening manhunt, which included combing a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene. Republican Governor Greg Abbott offered a $50,000 reward as the search dragged late into the weekend, while others offered an additional $30,000 in reward money.

Capers said that prior to Friday’s shooting, deputies had been called to the suspect’s house at least one other time regarding shooting rounds in his yard.

All of the victims were from Honduras. Wilson Garcia, who survived the shooting, said friends and family in the home tried to hide and shield themselves and children after Oropeza walked up to the home and began firing, killing his wife first at the front door.

The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

A government official in Honduras said the remains of four of the victims would be repatriated. Velasquez Alvarado will be buried in the United States at the request of her sister and her husband, said Wilson Paz, general director of Honduras’ migrant protection service.
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Fountain Pens Continue to Draw Writers     

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

The fountain pen as a practical writing instrument has been declared obsolete numerous times. It was supposedly doomed by the innovations of the drip-free ballpoint pen and the typewriter, then the computer keyboard and now the ability to automatically render voices into text on cellphones.

But the 19th-century invention has defied total extinction and is even evolving.

In a warehouse in a gritty Philadelphia neighborhood, mechanical engineer Ian Schon is doing something no one else in America does: manufacturing writing implements with nibs — the business end of the fountain pen — handcrafted from titanium.

“The way we’re doing it is really what makes us separate from the other brands and other companies that have done this in the past, which is utilizing equipment in this workshop that’s traditionally designed for aerospace or medical manufacturing and repurposing it to create an innovative, unique experience that is just different,” Schon said.

Not only different in the 21st century, it is counterintuitive — with a risky investment in expensive equipment to make a pricey product for a niche market.

“A fountain pen is impractical. It can be messy. It’s not as good as a ballpoint pen. It’s expensive. So, it’s really in line with the culture of the pen user that it’s irrational and strange,” Schon said.

“The next wave of fountain pen collectors and users will be rebelling against technology,” he predicted. “They’ll hate how much time their parents spent on Facebook when they should have been out hiking in the woods. They’ll want to throw their cellphones into the sea.”

Schon, who also successfully tried his hand at watchmaking, is no Luddite. His company is a product of the digital age. The one-man startup was initially funded through Kickstarter in 2011, and the founder produces his own YouTube videos to explain his production process and promote the pens, which range in price between $125 and $400. He also manufactures a few models of ballpoint and rollerball pens for those who decline to dive into the retro era of refillable ink.

The metal nib makes the fountain pen distinct from all other writing instruments. It was an innovation for its time, allowing continuous writing without having to repeatedly dip the pen into ink. Early prototypes were around more than a thousand years ago; Leonardo da Vinci may have used a fountain pen he developed.

Investment analyst Tony Blair shows off his collection at Philadelphia’s 130-year-old Pen & Pencil Club, formed by the city’s journalists, who wielded fountain pens to conduct their interviews.

For Blair, the antiquated writing instrument endures as an antidote to the digital age.

“Any time you introduce input/output like you do with a computer, now there’s also these other distractions. You’ll get a pop-up, and I’ll lose my thread. Or if I type up something, am I going to remember it the same way? I think writing by hand helps you remember it,” said Blair, pulling out a fountain pen from a zip-up traveling case holding nearly two dozen of his favorite models.

Blair said his first fountain pen was a secondhand Pilot Metropolitan with a medium nib he purchased for $10.

Fountain pens are meant to last a long time, another reason some prefer them over disposable ballpoints. Fountain pens can be customized with different colors of ink and types of nibs. But there are inconveniences.

“You have to refill it with ink. You are much more likely to spill ink on yourself or something else than you are with a standard disposable ballpoint,” Blair warned.

By the late 19th century, the Waterman and Parker brands were mass marketed in America. Fountain pens became more commonplace than dip pens around the time of the World War I, although early 20th-century schoolchildren were still learning how to write with the older implements. That explains why you may still come across an old school desk with a hole in it — for the inkwell.

By the 1960s, the ballpoint pen had become fashionable. Subsequent generations who did not get instruction in cursive script are likely to find the fountain pen as mysterious as the rotary dial phone or the film camera.

Liz Sieber is accustomed to encountering such curious novices. She is the owner of Philadelphia’s Omoi Zakka, a Japanese-themed stationery shop selling fountain pens, writing paper and ink.

“Some people really understand what the different nibs are about and the difference between a machine-aligned or a hand-aligned nib,” said Sieber, standing in front of a tray containing fountains pens and ink bottles for sale. “And then we also meet a lot of people who have never tried one before and are looking for something that’s not too expensive, easy to use, plays nice with a lot of different types of paper.”

Most modern nibs are made of steel, gold or iridium, and the fountain pen bodies are made of ebonite, stainless steel or sterling silver. A true fountain pen also has a self-contained reservoir for ink, loaded manually or with a cartridge insert.

Sieber is a fan of a Sailor brand pen from Japan that has a 14-karat gold nib.

“The art of that nib is that it’s gold, which is a very soft metal. So, as I hold it, it will become shaped uniquely to the way that I hold the pen,” she said.

More stores in Japan than in the United States carry Schon’s made-in-Philadelphia pens, thus creating a tiny entry on the export side of America’s trade deficit ledger.  

“I love that challenge. I love being the underdog,” said Schon.

That challenge is also writing a new page in the story of American entrepreneurship.
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Zambian Police Surround Former President Lungu’s House

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

Police in Zambia have surrounded the home of former President Edgar Lungu and are demanding they search it as part of a corruption probe.

A spokesman for Zambia’s former ruling Patriotic Front party, Raphael Nakachinda, told VOA that police forcefully gained access to the Lusaka home of the former president.

“It’s not only unconstitutional, but criminal — this government never to respect the supreme law of the land, which is the constitution, which confers the former president with immunity,” Nakachinda said.

Zambian police spokesman Dan Mwale told VOA on Wednesday afternoon that police were still outside the property.

“Police officers are at the former head of state’s residence. Currently, we can’t give out a statement as to why we have surrounded the house,” Mwale said.

The police action comes 10 months after Zambia’s anti-money laundering agency summoned former first lady Esther Lungu over the ownership of 15 luxury flats in Lusaka.

Investigators said they believed the apartments were ill-gotten gains. The Lungus denied wrongdoing, according to the Patriotic Front party spokesman.

No charges were filed and Lungu’s lawyer told journalists the matter was closed.

Critics say a government campaign against corruption is being used to target and intimidate political opponents.

Numerous officials who served under former President Lungu have been arrested, and his family members questioned.

Current President Hakainde Hichilema has denied allegations that his fight against corruption is targeting opponents. Lungu’s party was defeated by Hichilema and his United Party for National Development nearly two years ago.
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Greece Bans Convicted Neo-Nazi and His Party From May 21 Election

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

Greece’s Supreme Court has barred a convicted neo-Nazi from competing in upcoming national elections. But despite that decision, the court has allowed another extreme-right, nationalist party to run, raising fears that it can soak up reactionary votes, and enter parliament.

The Greek Supreme Court assembly voted nine to one to disqualify Ilias Kasidiaris and his party, called The Greeks, from the May 21 polls.

It is the first time a party has been banned since the 1974 restoration of democracy, in the birthplace of democracy.

In its 400-page ruling, the Supreme Court called Kasidiaris “undemocratic,” citing his conviction and imprisonment in 2020 for targeting migrants, members of the LGBT community and left-wing politicians while at the helm of Golden Dawn, an ultranationalist neo-Nazi party that has also been designated a criminal organization.

Sixty other leading members and active supporters of that party, among the most violent neo-Nazi movements in Europe, were also jailed at the time, pushing Golden Dawn out of the parliament and out of operation.

“This ruling, he says, is historic and it strengthens but also shields democracy,” said government spokesman Akis Skertso.

From prison, appealing to a massive following, Kasidiaris blasted the ruling. He said it was a broad swipe against democracy and vowed to challenge it both at home and at the European Union Court of Justice.

Polls published this week show Kasidiaris’ public support at about 4%, just over the 3% threshold needed to win entry into the Greek parliament. And while his disqualification now makes it easier for incumbent conservatives to win the May 21 polls, another decision by the Supreme Court has allowed a far-right party called EAN to run.

That has observers and politicians concerned.

“The bigger issue is where Kasiadiris will drive his supporters to. They are not insignificant numbers,” explained Kostas Chrysogonas, a candidate with the socialist PASOK party.

The far-right EAN party is run by a former Supreme Court justice.

Last month, Kasidiaris named that retired justice the head of his party before he broke off to form his own political grouping or what some fear may open a back door for Kasidiari’s return to active politics.
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Colorado Restaurant Serves Taste of Ukraine

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

The Molotov Kitschen plus Cocktails, one of the first Ukrainian restaurants in Denver, Colorado, opened its doors in January. The venue’s owner is the grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, and every dish is a tribute to his family. Svitlana Prystynska has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Volodumur Petryniv.
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Ukraine Says It Has Nothing to Do With Kremlin Drone Attack

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

A senior Ukrainian presidential official said Wednesday that Kyiv had nothing to do with any drone attack on the Kremlin, and that such actions achieved nothing for Kyiv on the battlefield and would only provoke Russia to take more radical action.

Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in comments sent to Reuters that the allegation that Kyiv was behind the attack, and Russia’s arrest of alleged Ukrainian saboteurs, could indicate Moscow was preparing for a large-scale “terrorist” attack against Ukraine in coming days.

“Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with drone attacks on the Kremlin. We do not attack the Kremlin because, first of all, it does not resolve any military tasks,” Podolyak said.

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed attempt to kill President Vladimir Putin.

Podolyak said: “In my opinion, it is absolutely obvious that both ‘reports about an attack on the Kremlin’ and simultaneously the supposed detention of Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea … clearly indicates the preparation of a large-scale terrorist provocation by Russia in the coming days.”
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UN Aid Coordinator Arrives in Sudan

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

A high-ranking United Nations official arrived Wednesday in violence-torn Sudan as the deadline approaches for the latest shaky cease-fire agreement between the two warring factions.

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths tweeted that he was in the beleaguered city of Port Sudan to “reaffirm the @UN’s commitment to the Sudanese people.”

Scores of people have crowded into Sudan’s main seaport to escape the nearly three-week-old fighting between Sudanese government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Sudan’s health ministry says 550 people reportedly have been killed and more than 4,900 wounded since the fighting began on April 15 after relations between the two factions fell apart.

South Sudan’s foreign ministry announced Tuesday that Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have agreed to a new weeklong cease-fire agreement that will take effect Thursday.

Previous cease-fire agreements of various lengths have consistently been violated during the fighting, however, with neither side able to secure a quick victory nor showing any signs of backing down – raising the specter of a prolonged conflict that could draw in other countries.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir stressed the importance of a longer truce and the naming of envoys to peace talks, to which both sides agreed.

Burhan and Dagalo were allies in Sudan’s transitional government after a 2021 coup, and they shared power as part of an internationally backed transition toward free elections and civilian government.

With fighting now in its third week, the conflict has forced 100,000 people to flee Sudan for safety, and it is creating a refugee crisis in neighboring impoverished countries, the United Nations said.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said his government would support talks in Sudan between the rival factions but said he also was “being careful about not interfering in their domestic matters.”

“The entire region could be affected,” he said in an interview Tuesday with a Japanese newspaper, as an envoy from Sudan’s army chief met with Egyptian officials in Cairo.

The U.N. World Food Program said Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of Sudan after a pause earlier in the conflict after some aid workers were killed.

The agency said in a statement on Monday that distribution of food is expected to commence in the states of Gedaref, Gezira, Kassala and White Nile in the coming days to provide life-saving assistance.

“The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it’s going to be a regional crisis,” said Michael Dunford, the aid agency’s East Africa director.

The United Nations migration agency said earlier this week that at least 334,000 people have been internally displaced in Sudan since deadly fighting broke out last month, in addition to the 100,000 who have fled the country. The U.N. refugee agency, meanwhile, has warned the fighting could cause more than 800,000 people to flee the northeastern African country.

The top U.N. official in Sudan, Volker Perthes, told The Associated Press on Monday that Sudan’s warring generals have agreed to send representatives — potentially to Saudi Arabia — for negotiations.

The Sudanese ambassador to the United States, Mohamed Abdalla Idris, told VOA he hopes the cease-fire eventually will lead to meaningful long-term peace talks.

He said, “a cease-fire, truce, is a two-way traffic,” and noted peace can only be realized if all parties respect the terms of any deal.

The fighting in Sudan has forced foreign governments to pull their citizens from the country.

Russia’s military announced Tuesday that more than 200 people will be evacuated on four military transports.

Hundreds of Americans reached the eastern city of Port Sudan last weekend, watched over by U.S. military drones. Saudi officials said Monday that a U.S. Navy ship took more than 300 evacuees from Port Sudan to the Saudi port of Jeddah.

The U.S. State Department said Monday that three U.S. convoys evacuated more than 700 people since Friday and reported a total of more than 1,000 U.S. citizens have been evacuated since the violence started.

The violence has also spread to Sudan’s western Darfur region, where the RSF began as the Janjaweed militia, which was formed by former authoritarian president Omar al-Bashir from Arab tribal militias working alongside government troops in a brutal war against ethnic minority rebels.

The non-governmental Norwegian Refugee Council issued a statement condemning the violence that has claimed more than 190 lives, including that of an NRC volunteer. The statement said dozens of settlements have been burned and destroyed as a result of the fighting.

“Families across Sudan, including those of our colleagues, are being torn apart, and having to choose between remaining trapped in the battlefield, or risking their lives to flee or reach an overcrowded hospital,” said Jan Egeland, the NRC’s Secretary-General.

“They are running out of everything, including water, food, electricity, fuel, and cash,” Egeland continued. “We need the international community to put as much effort into secure humanitarian access, regardless of ceasefire and in providing aid to millions of people as they have in evacuating their own citizens.”

Michael Atit in Khartoum; Margaret Besheer at the United Nations; Anthony LaBruto; John Tanza, Nike Ching at the State Department contributed to this story. Some information in this report came from The Associated
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Heavy Rain, Floods Kill at Least 109 in Rwanda, Six in Uganda

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

Heavy rain that triggered flooding and landslides in western and northern Rwanda has killed at least 109 people, the state-run broadcaster said on Wednesday, as authorities searched for survivors trapped in their homes.

Muddy water flowed swiftly down an inundated road and destroyed houses in a video clip posted by the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency.

“Our main priority now is to reach every house that has been damaged to ensure we can rescue any person who may be trapped,” François Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda’s Western Province, told Reuters.

The death toll stood at 95 in the province, he said. The state broadcaster’s toll of 109 included deaths from a second region, the Northern Province.

Some people had been rescued and taken to hospital, Habitegeko said but did not say how many.

The hardest-hit districts in the Western Province were Rutsiro, with 26 dead, Nyabihu with 19, and 18 each in Rubavu and Ngororero, he said.

Habitegeko said the rain started at about 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday and that the River Sebeya had burst its banks.

“The soil was already soaked from the previous days of rain, which caused landslides that closed roads,” he said.

The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has forecast rainfall above the average in May for the East African nation.

In neighboring Uganda near the border with Rwanda, six people died overnight into Wednesday in an area in the southwestern Kisoro district, after heavy rains pounded the mountainous region, according to the Uganda Red Cross.

Five of the dead are from one family, and emergency workers have begun excavations to retrieve the bodies, the Red Cross said in a statement.

Uganda has also been experiencing heavy and sustained rains since late March and in recent days landslides have been reported in other elevated areas, like Kasese near the Rwenzori mountains, where deluges and floods destroyed homes and displaced hundreds.
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Boy Opens Fire in Belgrade Classroom; Nine Dead, 5 Wounded

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

A 14-year-old boy shot his teacher in a Belgrade classroom Wednesday morning before opening fire on other students and security guards, killing at least eight students and one security guard, and wounding several other people police and witnesses said.

Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the pupils at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, said his daughter was in the class where the gun was fired.

“She managed to escape. (The boy) …first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly,” Milosevic told broadcaster N1.

Milan Nedeljkovic, mayor of the central Vracar district where the school is located, said doctors were fighting to save the teacher’s life.

Police said a seventh-grade student had been arrested.

“I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he (the shooter) was quiet and a good pupil. He recently joined their class,” added Milosevic, who had rushed to the school after the shooting.

Officers in helmets and bulletproof vests cordoned off the area around the school.

“I saw kids running out from the school, screaming. Parents came, they were in panic. Later I heard three shots,” a girl who attends a high school adjacent to Vladislav Ribnikar told state TV RTS.

Casualties are being treated and an investigation into the motives behind the shooting is under way, police said in a statement.

Mass shootings are comparatively rare in Serbia, which has very strict gun laws. But the western Balkans are awash with hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons following wars and unrest in the 1990s.

Serbian authorities have issued several amnesties for owners to hand in or register illegal guns.
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258 Million Needed Urgent Food Aid in 2022: UN

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

Some 258 million people needed emergency food aid last year because of conflict, economic shocks and climate disasters, a U.N. report said Wednesday, a sharp rise from 193 million the previous year.

“More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and some are on the brink of starvation. That’s unconscionable,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

It was “a stinging indictment of humanity’s failure to make progress… to end hunger, and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all,” he said.

More than 40% of those in serious need of food lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen, the U.N. report said.

“Conflicts and mass displacement continue to drive global hunger,” Guterres said.

“Rising poverty, deepening inequalities, rampant underdevelopment, the climate crisis and natural disasters also contribute to food insecurity.”

In 2022, 258 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 58 countries or territories, up from 193 million in 53 countries the previous year, the report said.

This overall figure has now increased for the fourth year in a row.
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US, Mexico Agree on New Policy on Border Crossings

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

The United States and Mexico have reached agreement on a new plan to control the flow of illegal border crossings while also allowing migrants to enter the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.

The plan was announced Tuesday after a meeting between Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall in Mexico City.

Under the plan, the United States will accept migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as part of a humanitarian parole program, while Mexico has agreed to accept migrants from those four nations who entered the United States illegally.

The U.S. will also accept about 100,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras under a family reunification program.

The agreement comes ahead of the end of COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump known as Title 42. The restrictions allowed U.S. officials to quickly expel tens of thousands of migrants for illegally entering the country.

The Title 42 policy will officially end on May 11.

In a related move, the administration of President Joe Biden has agreed to send an additional 1,500 active-duty military personnel to the southern U.S. border as local and state officials brace for a surge of migrants from Central and South America.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Dozens Arrested in Germany in European Probe of Italian Organized Crime

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

German police arrested dozens of people across the country on Wednesday in an investigation of the Italian ‘Ndrangheta organized crime group, German public prosecutors and state police said.

The ‘Ndrangheta is based in the southern region of Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot, and has surpassed Cosa Nostra to become the most powerful mafia group in the country – and one of the largest crime networks in the world.

The crackdown was part of a coordinated probe by investigators in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain as well as Europol and Eurojust, they said.

The suspects are accused of money laundering, criminal tax evasion, fraud and smuggling of drugs, they added.

State police in Bavaria said the arrests were the result of more than three years of an investigation dubbed “Operation Eureka.”

It said that Italian and Belgian investigators believe that the crime group smuggled close to 25 tons of cocaine between October 2019 and January 2022 and funneled more than $24.24 million from Calabria to Belgium, the Netherlands and South America.

Among those arrested were four people in Bavaria, 15 in North Rhine-Westphalia, and 10 in the southwestern German state of Rhineland Palatinate, and police seized potential evidence at dozens of locations including homes and offices.

Two suspects who were under investigation in the western state of Saarland, were arrested in Italy. Police did not identify them, saying only that one was 47 years old and the other 25.
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Writers Strike Looks to be a Long Fight, as Hollywood Braces

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

Hollywood writers picketing to preserve pay and job security outside major studios and streamers braced for a long fight at the outbreak of a strike that immediately forced late-night shows into hiatus, put other productions on pause and had the entire industry slowing its roll.

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years commenced Tuesday as the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working when their contract expired.

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era.

“Everything’s changed, but the money has changed in the wrong direction,” said Kelly Galuska, 39, a writer for “The Bear” on FX and “Big Mouth” on Netflix, who picketed at Fox Studios in Los Angeles with her 3-week-old daughter. “It’s a turning point in the industry right now. And if we don’t get back to even, we never will.”

The last Hollywood strike, from the same union in 2007 and 2008, took three months to resolve. With no talks or even plans to talk pending between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios and productions companies, there is no telling how long writers will have to go without pay, or how many major productions will be delayed, shortened or scrapped.

“We’ll stay out as long as it takes,” Josh Gad, a writer for shows including “Central Park” and an actor in films including “Frozen,” said from the Fox picket line.

The AMPTP said in a statement that it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals” and was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.”

The writers were well aware that a stoppage was likely. Yet the breakoff of contractual talks hours before a deadline that negotiations in previous years have sailed past for hours or even days, and the sudden reality of a strike, left some surprised, some worried, some determined.

“When I saw the refusals to counter and the refusing to even negotiate by the AMPTP, I was like on fire to get out here and stand up for what we deserve,” Jonterri Gadson, a writer whose credits include “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” said on a picket line at Amazon Studios as she held a sign that read, “I hate it here.”

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues and jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’ “The Late Show” and NBC’s “Late Night” all made plans for reruns through the week.

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark and air a rerun, and the two remaining episodes in the season are in jeopardy.

The strike’s impact on scripted series and films will likely take longer to notice — though some shows, including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” have already paused production on forthcoming seasons.

If a strike persisted through the summer, fall TV schedules could be upended. In the meantime, those with finished scripts are permitted to continue shooting.

Union members also picketed in New York, where less known writers were joined by more prominent peers like playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner (“The Fabelmans”) and “Dopesick” creator Danny Strong.

Some actors including Rob Lowe joined the picket lines in support in Los Angeles. Many striking writers, like Gad, are hybrids who combine writing with other roles.

Speaking from his acting side, Gad said of his fellow writers, “We are nothing without their words. We have nothing without them. And so it’s imperative that we resolve this in a way that benefits the brilliance that comes out of each of these people.”

The other side of his hyphenated role could be in the same space soon, with many of the same issues at the center of negotiations for both the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America. Contracts for both expire in June.

Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But writers say they’ve been made to make less under shifting and insecure conditions that the WGA called “a gig economy inside a union workforce.”

The union is seeking more compensation for writers up front, because many of the payments writers have historically profited from on the back end — like syndication and international licensing — have been largely phased out by the onset of streaming.

Galuska said she is among the writers who have never seen those kind of once common benefits.

“I’ve had the opportunity to write on great shows that are very, very popular and not really seen the compensation for that, unfortunately,” she said.

The AMPTP said sticking points to a deal revolved around so-called mini-rooms — the guild is seeking a minimum number of scribes per writer room — and the duration of employment contracts.

Writers are also seeking more regulation around the use of artificial intelligence, which the WGA’s writers say could give producers a shortcut to finishing their work.

“The fact that the companies have refused to deal with us on that fact means that I’m even more scared about it today than I was a week ago. They obviously have a plan. The things they say no to, are the things they’re planning to do tomorrow.”
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RSF: Journalists Increasingly Targeted for Their Work

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

Reporters Without Borders has just released its World Press Freedom Index for 2023, and it shows that journalists around the world face an increasingly hostile environment. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has a summary of the main findings. Jessica Jerreat and Lisa Bryant contributed to this report.
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Recent Press Freedom Trends in Africa Have Analysts Concerned

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeAF

According to this year’s World Press Freedom rankings, the environment for journalism is bad in seven out of 10 countries worldwide. The yearly rankings published by Reporters Without Borders evaluates 180 countries. From Nairobi, VOA’s Mariama Diallo looks at the meaning of the rankings in Africa where analysts say journalism has become more difficult and dangerous.
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Sheriff: Suspected Texas Gunman Caught Hiding Under Laundry

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

A four-day manhunt in Texas for a gunman accused of killing five neighbors ended Tuesday not far from the site of the shooting when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near Houston and about 32 kilometers from his home in the rural town of Cleveland, where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle after some of them had asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because it was keeping a baby awake.

“They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” San Jacinto County Greg Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”

The arrest happened in the Texas town of Cut and Shoot, near Conroe, ending what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions. As recently as Tuesday morning, the FBI said that Oropeza “could be anywhere,” underlining how investigators for days struggled to get a sense of his whereabouts and candidly acknowledged they had no leads.

Drones and scent-tracking dogs were used during a widening search that included combing a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott offered $50,000 in reward money as the search dragged late into the weekend.

FBI spokesperson Connor Hagan said the three agencies that went in to arrest Oropeza were the U.S. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety and US Border Patrol’s BORTAC team.

The alleged shooter is a Mexican national who has been deported four times, according to U.S. immigration officials. The gunman was first deported in March 2009 and last in July 2016. He was also deported in September 2009 and January 2012.

Capers said that prior to Friday’s shooting deputies had been called to the suspect’s house at least one other time previously over shooting rounds in his yard.

Garcia said Oropeza came running over to their house loading an AR-style rifle after he and two other people had asked him to stop firing off rounds late at night. Garcia said Oropeza told him he could do what he wanted on his property.

In offering the reward, Abbot called the victims “illegal immigrants,” a partially false statement that his office walked back and apologized for Monday after drawing wide backlash over drawing attention to their immigration status. Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said they had since learned that one of the victims may have been in the country legally.

The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.

Osmán Velázquez, Diana’s father, said Tuesday that his daughter had recently gotten residency and had traveled to the United States without documents eight years ago with the help of a sister, who was already living there.

“Her sister convinced me to let her take my daughter. She told me the United States is a country of opportunities and that’s true,” he said. But I never imagined it was just for this.”
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US Set to Open New Embassy in Tonga This Month, Diplomat Says

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeUS

The United States is on track to open a new embassy in Tonga this month, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Tuesday, part of efforts to step up its diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter China.

Daniel Kritenbrink told a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States was also continuing to engage with Vanuatu and Kiribati about opening proposed new embassies in those countries.

The State Department said in March it plans to open an embassy in Vanuatu. The United States has diplomatic relations with the South Pacific island nation, but these are currently handled by U.S. diplomats based in Papua New Guinea.

The United States reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands this year after a 30-year absence.

Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced in March it had awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.

The United States and regional allies Australia and New Zealand have had concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.

Washington has also been working to renew agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia under which it retains responsibility for the islands’ defense and gains exclusive access to huge swaths of the Pacific.

The Biden administration is seeking $7.1 billion from Congress over the next two decades for economic assistance to the three countries, funds seen as key to insulating them from growing Chinese influence.

The United States is also planning a possible Biden stop in Papua New Guinea on May 22 as part of stepped-up engagement with the Pacific-island region, according to officials familiar with the matter.
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Latest in Ukraine: US to Send $300 Million in Weapons to Ukraine

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

New developments:

An explosion has derailed a second train in the Bryansky region of Russia adjacent to Ukraine and Belarus.
The White House estimates 20,000 Russians have been killed in eastern Ukraine since December. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said almost half of them were part of the Wagner Group mercenary force.
The head of the Wagner Group says his fighters aren't getting the supplies they need due to the lack of support from Moscow.
Ukrainian troops are pushing back against Russian troops in the beleaguered city of Bakhmut, launching counterattacks that have forced Russian soldiers to abandon some positions.

The United States is sending Ukraine about $300 million in military aid, with the official announcement expected as early as Wednesday, U.S. officials said, as Ukraine gears up for a spring counteroffensive.

The package will include rounds for artillery, howitzers, along with rockets for HIMARS, mortars, missiles and anti-tank rifles.

For the first time, the U.S. is sending Hydra-70 rockets, which are launched from aircraft and could be used in air support for advancing Ukraine ground forces.

The weapons will come from Pentagon stocks and resemble earlier deliveries.

The 37th shipment of arms to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, February 2022, comes as Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Ukraine is in the “home stretch, when we can say: ‘Yes everything is ready.'”

Second attack in Russia

For the second day in a row, an explosion on Tuesday in a Russian region bordering Ukraine caused a freight train to derail, the local governor said in a social media post, but there were no casualties.

“An unidentified explosive device went off near the Snezhetskaya railway station. There were no casualties,” Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.

“As a result of the incident, a locomotive and several wagons of a freight train derailed,” he added, without saying who was responsible.

Russian authorities say the region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, has seen multiple attacks by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 14 months since Russia invaded.

An explosion went off Monday in the same region, also causing a train to derail.

Both sides have denied targeting civilians since the Russian invasion on Ukraine began in February 2022.

Leaked documents

In an interview Tuesday in The Washington Post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the White House did not inform him about a leak of secret U.S. documents last month.

“I did not receive information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” Zelenskyy told The Post.

Of the leak, he said, “It is not beneficial to the reputation of the White House, and I believe it is not beneficial to the reputation of the United States.”

The materials posted online included a snapshot of the war in Ukraine. The New York Times first reported on the leaked documents on April 6.

On April 12, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the Pentagon document leaks contained a mixture of true and false information about his country’s military and downplayed its negative impact, Reuters reported.

In response to Zelenskyy’s comments, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council told Reuters: “We are in constant communication with our Ukrainian counterparts about a range of issues, including over the unauthorized disclosures, but we aren’t going to get into the details of those private discussions.”

A Pentagon spokesperson said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken to a number of allies, including Reznikov, regarding the issue.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Afghans Protest in Paris During UN Conference in Doha, Qatar

Posted on 05/03/2023 by SeeEU

Afghan protesters took to Paris streets this week, demanding the international community refuse to recognize the Taliban. The demonstration comes as a U.N.-convened conference is underway in Doha on how to engage with the Taliban. Jalal Mirzad has the story, narrated by Mary Alice Salinas. Roshan Noorzai contributed to this report.
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