May 2023 - Page 25 of 25

Report: One-Third of US Nurses Plan to Quit Profession

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

Almost a third of the nurses in the United States are considering leaving their profession after the COVID-19 pandemic left them overwhelmed and fatigued, according to a survey.

The survey of over 18,000 nurses, conducted in January by AMN Healthcare Services Inc., showed on Monday that 30% of the participants are looking to quit their career, up 7 percentage points over 2021, when the pandemic-triggered wave of resignations began.

The survey also showed that 36% of the nurses plan to continue working in the sector but may change workplaces.

“This really underscores the continued mental health and well-being challenges the nursing workforce experiences post pandemic,” AMN Healthcare CEO Cary Grace told Reuters in an interview.

The survey showed there are various changes needed, with 69% of nurses seeking increased salaries and 63% of them seeking a safer working environment to reduce their stress.

This comes at a time that hospital operator and sector bellwether HCA Healthcare Inc. indicated a recovery in the staffing situation.

While a shortage of staff in hospitals has been an issue for a couple of years, it gained traction globally in late 2021 and hit a peak early last year following a large number of resignations due to burnout.

The staffing crisis drove up costs at hospital operators, while boosting profits at medical staffing providers such as AMN Healthcare.
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Biden Reelection Bid Prompts Concerns Among Many Democrats

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will run for reelection in 2024 has left voters in his own Democratic party divided and generated far less immediate enthusiasm from the party faithful than bids by other recent presidents seeking a second term.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but my initial reaction was disappointment,” said Jamie Leff, a musician living in Houston, Texas. “He has an extremely low approval rating and he’s so old. It just feels like he’s not the proper person to be running the country.”

The 80-year-old Biden is the oldest American president to seek reelection.

“We young voters want to see big changes and progress,” Leff, 32, added, “and can he give us that? I’m not sure. But he is the sitting president, which means he’s probably our best option and so we need to support him.”

Leff isn’t alone among Democrats.

Less than half (47%) of Democrats said they wanted President Biden to run for reelection according to an April poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Even so, a commanding 81% of Democrats polled said they would “at least probably support” Biden in the general election against a Republican opponent.

“It seems that Democratic voters — especially younger voters — are ready to move on to a new, exciting generation of politicians,” explained University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock.

“But do you know who most Democrats would want even less than an old president?” Bullock asked. “A Republican president — and especially Donald Trump president.”

An American gerontocracy?

“All politics in America kind of feels like a gerontocracy, doesn’t it?” asked Leff.

According to a recent survey by USA Today/Suffolk University, half of Americans said their ideal age for a president was between 51 and 65. Another quarter of respondents said their preference was a candidate who was no more than 50 years of age.

“I think there’s a desire among many of us to elect people who aren’t afraid to speak up and who don’t give a damn about old, antiquated rules,” Yasmeen Husain, a Democratic voter in New Orleans, Louisiana, told VOA.

Bullock said, “People look at Biden and ask if the Democratic party is a gerontocracy, propping up its oldest politicians but the Republican party’s most recent leader is only four years younger. I think it’s something that’s plaguing both sides.”

Bullock noted that younger Democrats in Congress are taking on leadership roles within the party, but he believes voters on both sides of the political spectrum want younger choices.

Jillian Streger, a Republican voter from Merritt Island, Florida, agrees.

“I really think Biden’s mental health is starting to decline,” she told VOA. “I don’t say that in a mean way, it just seems like he’s having trouble focusing and completing sentences.

“But I think Republicans would do a lot better if we picked a newer, stronger candidate than Trump,” Streger continued. “He’s pushing voters away from our side, too.”

Former President Donald Trump announced last year he will seek to return to the White House.

Presidential accomplishments

Norma Rodrigues is a senior citizen who works as a translator in Miami, Florida. A Democrat, she acknowledges age will likely play a factor in Biden’s reelection bid.

“I had mixed feelings when I heard he was running for reelection,” Rodrigues told VOA. “His age is a concern because it means a higher probability of potential health issues, but also because of age prejudice that exists with some voters.”

She hopes, however, it’s not the most important factor.

“Despite age, I think he’s been a good president,” she said. “Biden doesn’t divide people or incite hate. I feel his conciliatory approach has brought respect and dignity, and that’s something this country has needed very badly after recent years.”

Independent voters, a critical bloc of the American electorate, helped Biden defeat Trump in 2020. Democrats are hopeful for a repeat of that support in 2024, and that Biden’s temperament will once again appeal to independents.

“Listen, he’s old and he stutters, which isn’t the best combo for impassioned speeches,” said Abby Rae Lacombe of Pennsylvania, an independent voter with anti-Trump leanings, “but I think he’s been really good at handling a whole lot of high-level crises.

“He guided us through COVID-19, he stood up for ‘proper’ interventionism against Russia without going too far, he’s managed to avoid a recession longer than most thought possible, and he handled a major security leak,” Lacombe said. “All of that, and our alternative is a fascist GOP, so I think the choice is clear.”

2024 matchups

Republican voters like Alberto Perez, from the rural town of Blairsville, Georgia, harshly grade Biden’s performance.

“I promised myself I would give him a year before I passed judgment,” Perez told VOA. “I ignored the mumbling and the incoherent sentences, and I still feel like his term has been a disaster. His departure from Afghanistan was a mess, his mandate that our hero nurses be vaccinated was tyrannical … and his war on gas companies has contributed to record inflation.

“The only policy I agreed with was the infrastructure bill he passed,” Perez added, “but progress has even been hard to see there.”

Political scientists like Bullock warned Biden might struggle to get credit from voters on accomplishments like the infrastructure bill because of how long it takes for many projects to reach completion.

But Robert Collins, a professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy at Dillard University in New Orleans, argues that a list of Oval Office accomplishments will likely not be the deciding factor in the 2024 presidential election.

“These days there are two proven ways to motivate people to the polls,” he told VOA. “There’s hope — but nobody has appealed to hope since Obama — and there’s also fear. A fear of what happens if the other guy or woman gets elected.”

Trump, Collins said, is an easy target for voters to fear.

“That’s why Biden beats Trump in early polling,” he said, “but Biden struggles against relative newcomer [Florida Republican Governor] Ron DeSantis. Would Democrats be better off in a matchup against DeSantis with someone other than Biden? We don’t know, and we won’t know.”

The reasons, Collins said, are twofold. One is that challenging an incumbent president for the nomination rarely succeeds and often harms the party in a general election. Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican George H.W. Bush both fended off challenges from within their respective parties only to lose their reelection bids months later, Carter in 1980 and Bush in 1992. That history is likely to dissuade any would-be Biden challengers.

The other reason, according to Collins, is that Democrats don’t appear to have a deep bench of viable candidates beyond the current president.

“Vice President Harris was supposed to be the heir apparent,” he explained, “but it’s become obvious that she is — for whatever reason — very unpopular with voters. Even Democrats don’t seem to like her very much.”

Husain from New Orleans admits she was at first disappointed to learn that Biden was running for reelection. The more she thinks about it, however, the more she is warming to his decision.

“I wouldn’t say he’s the lesser of two evils because I do believe he’s inherently a good man,” she said, “and maybe against these Trump-like Republicans, that’s what we need. He’s our safest option, and that could be the best bet against the other side’s extremism.”
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Cameroonian Workers Seek Security, Better Pay on International Labor Day

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

In Cameroon, hundreds of thousands of workers marched on the May 1 International Labor Day, calling for wage increases amid price hikes fueled by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Cameroon’s trade unions want minimum wages for workers doubled to $200 per month while employers argue the price hikes make such a raise impossible.

These Cameroonian workers are singing in French that they deserve better wages. In the song, they say Cameroon is developing socially and economically due to its labor force, yet workers are poorly paid.

Abraham Babule is a representative of the Confederation of Cameroon Workers Trade Unions. He’s one of the organizers of the Labor Day celebration and the march in Yaounde.

Babule says trade union leaders unanimously agreed to mobilize workers in all Cameroonian towns and villages to press for better working conditions. He says both the state of Cameroon and private employers do not respect legal contracts that outline employment terms and conditions and either illegally dismiss workers or refuse to pay their wages. Babule says price hikes caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine and armed conflicts are making it very, very difficult for workers to make ends meet.

Babule said trade unions in Cameroon want the government and private employers to double the monthly minimum wage to $200 and increase all workers’ salaries by at least 25 percent.

Workers say since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago, many households are going hungry because prices for commodities exported by the two countries, such as wheat, maize, and fertilizer have increased by 40 percent.

The price of fuel has also increased, by more than 15 percent.

The government gave workers a 5 percent pay raise in February, but workers say with inflation so high, the raise is negligible.

The Cameroon government says more than 30,000 workers marched in Yaounde on Monday, and hundreds of thousands marched in other towns and villages.

Cameroon Minister of Labor and Social Security Gregoire Owona says the world financial crisis makes it impossible for the state and private investors to satisfy the needs of all workers

He says Cameroon is not the only country where unemployment and inflation are high and bankrupt companies are either closing or reducing their labor force because of economic shocks and the climate crisis. He says despite the morose atmosphere, the future is promising because the government is finalizing negotiations with local and foreign investors who have indicated their willingness to invest in Cameroon.

International Labor Day activities were suspended in Cameroon in 2020, after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the central African state. Workers say for three years they were unable to demonstrate in large numbers and press for higher wages and better job protection.
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WFP to Resume Operations in Sudan as Fighting Continues

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

The World Food Program said in a statement Monday that it has lifted its suspension of operations in Sudan, as the fighting there threatens millions with hunger.

The WFP said distribution of food is expected to commence in the states of Gedaref, Gezira, Kassala and White Nile in the coming days to provide the life-saving assistance that many so desperately need right now.

The agency said, “We will take utmost care to ensure the safety of all our staff and partners as we rush to meet the growing needs of the most vulnerable.”

The WFP suspended operations when three staff members were killed on the first day of the conflict between Sudan’s army and a paramilitary unit, the Rapid Support Forces.

The WFP noted that more than 15 million people faced severe food insecurity in Sudan before the conflict began, and said it expects the number “to grow significantly as the fighting continues.”

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has dispatched U.N. emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths to Sudan to assess the situation there.

Writing on Twitter from Nairobi Monday, Griffiths said, “We need to find ways to get aid into the country and distribute it to those in need,” as well as protect civilians, ensure safe passage for people fleeing the hostilities, and facilitate relief operations.

Griffiths is expected to arrive on Tuesday.
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Judo-Ukraine to Boycott World Championships Over Russia, Belarus Inclusion

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainian judokas will not take part in this month’s world championships in Qatar following the International Judo Federation’s decision to readmit Russians and Belarusians as neutrals, the Ukrainian Judo Federation said on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee last month recommended that athletes from the two countries be allowed to return to international competition as neutrals.

The IJF last week announced that it would allow judoka from Russia and Belarus to participate in the May 7-14 championships, saying its decision would allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The IOC’s recommendations exclude athletes who support the war or are contracted to military or national security agencies. The IJF has said it has enlisted an independent company to perform background checks and identify any such athletes.

However, the Ukrainian federation alleged that a number of Russian judoka registered for the championships are “active servicemen.”

“We do not see here neutrality, equal conditions and a ‘bridge to peace,’ as stated in the IJF Resolution on the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams in the World Championships in Doha,” the UJF said.

“We see here a decision that contradicts the latest recommendations of the International Olympic Committee … We are disappointed with the decision of the International Judo Federation. Therefore, we have decided not to participate in the World Championships in Doha.”

Ukraine has barred its national sports teams from competing in events that include competitors from Russia and Belarus.

The IJF and the Judo Federation of Russia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

After Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, for which Belarus was a staging area for Russian troops, the IJF removed Russian President Vladimir Putin from his position as honorary president and cancelled a Grand Slam event in Kazan, Russia.
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Current, Former Prisoners Learn to Be Auto Technicians for Chance at Success

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

A nonprofit in Maryland is giving current and former prisoners a chance at a better life by training them to become auto technicians. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. Videographer:  Adam Greenbaum         
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Autopsies Begin on Cult Members Who Starved Themselves to Death

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

Pathologists in Kenya began performing autopsies Monday on over 100 bodies of members of a religious cult who starved themselves to death under the belief that doing so would take them to heaven.

Officials found the bodies buried in shallow graves in Kenya’s Shakahola Forest.

A few people were found alive, but they died on the way to the hospital.

Children account for most of the recovered bodies so far, authorities say.

The Christian-based cult was founded by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, a former taxi driver. He is in police custody and is reported to be refusing food and water.

DNA samples will be extracted from the bodies to compare with relatives who have reported their loved ones missing.

Reuters reports that more than 300 people have been reported missing.
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UN Mission Chief in Sudan Renews Call for Dialogue

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

The head of the United Nations in Sudan reiterated his call for the Sudanese warring parties to stop fighting and engage in a genuine dialogue. Efforts are being made to engage representatives of the military and the rapid support forces to meet for the first time in a third country.

Volker Perthes, who leads the United Nations Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan, or UNITAMS, said a genuine dialogue is the only way resolve any grievances that led to the ongoing fighting.

“Up to this moment, there is no direct talks going on, but we are at the preparation stage for talks between the two parties,” Perthes said. “Some regional and international countries are engaging the two sides for these talks. We fully support these efforts, and I personally are in [and] continue direct communication with the two sides.”

More than 500 civilians and fighters have been killed and over 4,000 others injured since the fighting erupted more than two weeks ago.

The warring parties have announced a series of cease-fires, but none held for long.

The humanitarian situation in the country continues to deteriorate as more than two-thirds of hospitals in areas of active fighting are shut down due to attacks and a lack of medical supplies, staff, water and electricity.

Perthes insisted any cease-fire must be observed by both sides.

“We need to step in and help the situation out,” he said. “Citizens need to come out of their homes and hospitals are in need of medical supplies. In order to realize all these, we need a true and effective cease-fire, not only making [the] announcement.”

Most humanitarian aid agencies and organizations suspended their operations in Khartoum and evacuated their staff outside of Sudan.

Perthes said he and other diplomatic missions have relocated “temporarily” to Port Sudan in hopes that some semblance of normalcy returns to the capital.

“Most of them have left the country temporarily,” he said. “And I insist on the word “temporarily” because we would like to go back to Khartoum when the security situation allows us to do so.”

The Rapid Support Forces announced Sunday evening yet another 72-hour cease-fire in response to the regional and international calls.

The Civil Aviation Authority in Sudan has issued a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) that extends the closure of Sudanese airspace to all air traffic until May 13, with exception of humanitarian aid flights and evacuation flights for foreign nationals.

Those flights require a permit from the civil aviation authority and the approval of the Sudanese armed forces.
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‘Woolly Delinquents’ Celebrate Charles’ Coronation in Yarn

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeEU

Heather Howarth tugged at King Charles III’s ears and tittered with satisfaction.

The other ladies who gather to knit and natter in her small English village thought the ears should be bigger. But when creating a crocheted likeness of the new king, she was determined not to cause offense.

“He might not like this one,” she said reaching out to give the king a fond pat. “But he’ll love his Grenadier Guards!”

Howarth and her friends in the village of Hurst, a stone’s throw from Reading, west of London, have fashioned a woolly coronation procession to rival the pomp and circumstance that will take place when Charles is crowned on May 6 at Westminster Abbey. Sheathing the 29 posts that circle the community pond with their knitted and crocheted creations, the women have recreated the cast of characters set to attend the big event.

There’s the king, of course, the queen consort and the Archbishop of Canterbury. And lots of Grenadier Guards. They even threw in Paddington Bear — a sort of honorary member of the royal family after he shared tea with the late Queen Elizabeth II in a film celebrating her 70 years on the throne.

The Hurst Hookers are part of a phenomenon that has taken hold across Britain in recent years, with guerrilla knitters and crochet enthusiasts celebrating holidays and royal occasions by decorating the nation’s iconic red post boxes and other public spaces with their handiwork. There’s no money in it, and the creations are sometimes stolen. But they do it anyway because they have fun brightening their communities, even if no one asked them to.

“Yarn bombers” around the country have been hard at work for months creating everything from golden coaches to crenelated castles and jewel-encrusted crowns that will add fuzzy bits of color to the coronation festivities.

But how to explain the Hurst Hookers?

This is a group that got started during the coronavirus pandemic, meeting every couple of weeks at the local cricket club when Britain’s intermittent lockdowns would permit. It’s bring your own gin and tonic, but there’s tea for anyone who wants it. When the 18 women aren’t meeting up for crocheting and community, they keep in touch via WhatsApp. The pings are so incessant at least one member has had to turn off her alerts.

They began planning and creating their coronation scene in early September, soon after the queen died and Charles became king. By April, it was finally time to install it.

The “guerrilla” action began just after 5:30 p.m. on a recent Friday as the setting sun bathed the newly cleaned pond in a peaceful light.

Clad in jackets and sweaters on a chilly spring night, the women arrived with their creations tucked inside huge shopping bags emblazoned with supermarket logos, then swooped down on the posts surrounding the pond.

There was little stealth, but much determination.

First they pulled out the crocheted likenesses of Charles, wearing a crown and a cape fashioned from an old Christmas stocking, and Camilla, with a flash of unruly blond hair.

Then came the archbishop, whose spectacles rest on a bulbous woolen nose. And finally, the red-coated guardsmen.

Quick as you like, the figures were pulled down over the posts and firmly stapled in place, with the precisely embroidered medals, moustaches, sergeant stripes and other embellishments getting an extra staple or three.

“King Charles wants our support, doesn’t he?” Howarth said. “How else do I show that I am supporting him?”

Valerie Thorn, who did the embroidery, carefully researched all the decorations, so that every medal was from a different campaign in which the guards participated. The insignia on Charles’ chest is so precise that from a few feet you mistake it for the real thing. The archbishop’s miter, modeled after the one he wore at his installation, is immediately recognizable.

So far, the fat sergeant character seems to be the village favorite.

A Daily Mail newspaper columnist described crafters such as these as “unhinged … woolly delinquents.” Rather than taking offense, the ladies of the Hurst Hookers embraced the jibe.

“I’m going to embroider that on a T-shirt,” said Thorn, 76, with pride. “If I am unhinged, what is wrong with that?”

And when the installation was almost complete, there was the moment to put the icing on the confection.

Pip Etheridge pulled out a resplendent copy of St. Edward’s Crown — the crown that will be placed on Charles’ head next weekend — and handed it to Janette Vorster because she didn’t want to be in the pictures.

In a procession all their own, the group trooped to the village store for the piece de resistance, installing the crown atop the post box out front.

As they chatted around the post box, the group debated whether their handiwork was more about the coronation or about themselves. They giggled, talked about posting the photos on social media and wondered what the neighbors might say. And they just kept laughing.

“If you swapped that one with the real one,” Etheridge asked, nodding to her crown, “do you think he’d notice?”
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Latest in Ukraine: Russia Making ‘A Particular Effort’ to Strengthen Northern Crimea Border

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeEU

New Developments:

“A free press is a pillar, maybe the pillar of a free society,” said U.S. President Joe Biden, as he called for the release of The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, from Russian captivity.
A French artist dedicates a mural to executed Ukrainian POW.
Pope Francis says he will do anything to bring peace in Ukraine.

“Russia has constructed some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world for many decades,” the British Defense Ministry said Monday in its daily intelligence update about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The report, posted on Twitter, said there is imagery that shows that Russia “has made a particular effort” to strengthen the northern border of occupied Crimea, “including with a multi-layered defensive zone near the village of Medvedevka.”

In addition, according to the ministry, Russia has dug “hundreds of miles of trenches well inside internationally recognized Russian territory, including in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.”

The trenches show, the update said, that Russia is worried that Ukraine could achieve “a major breakthrough.” Some of the work, however, the ministry said, has “likely been ordered by local commanders and civil leaders in attempts to promote the official narrative that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and NATO.”

Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed at least 477 children and wounded nearly 1,000 since Russia invaded more than a year ago, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Sunday in a report posted on the messaging app Telegram.

Most casualties were documented in the Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts, where 452 and 275 children were either killed or wounded, respectively. The casualty rate among children is expected to be higher, the report said, as the current count does not include data from Russian-occupied territories or where hostilities are ongoing.

On Sunday in Uman, two children who had died in an attack Friday were buried. In all, 23 people, including six children, died in the Russian attack on an apartment building in Uman.

Last month, Ukraine’s National Police said nearly 400 children are missing.

More than 19,000 children from Russian-occupied territories have been subjected to forced deportations to Russia. So far, Ukraine has retrieved only 364 of them, according to Children of War, a Ukrainian national database.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russia President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Earlier this month at a Moscow news conference, Lvova-Belova rejected the ICC’s war crime charges as false, saying her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect the interests of children in an area where military action was taking place, according to the Reuters news agency.

The Kremlin has previously called the ICC’s actions “outrageous and unacceptable.”

But many Ukrainian children who were returned to families and guardians tell a different story.

Earlier this month, Vitaly, a child from the Kherson region, told Reuters: “We were treated like animals. We were closed in a separate building.” He said he and other children were told their parents no longer wanted them.

Sunday was the professional day of border guards in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Sunday. “They were the first to face the occupier in the east,” he said, “they are holding the border firmly.”

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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U.S. Regulator Seizes First Republic Bank, to Sell Assets to JP Morgan

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said Monday it had closed First Republic Bank and agreed a deal to sell its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co and National Association, in what is the third major U.S. bank to fail in two months.

JPMorgan bank was one of several interested buyers including PNC Financial Services Group, and Citizens Financial Group Inc, which submitted final bids on Sunday in an auction being run by U.S. regulators, sources familiar with the matter said over the weekend.

A deal for First Republic, which had total assets of $229.1 billion as of April 13, comes less than two months after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed amid a deposit flight from U.S. lenders, forcing the Federal Reserve to step in with emergency measures to stabilize markets. Those failures came after crypto-focused Silvergate voluntarily liquidated.
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Sudan’s Warring Factions Announce Cease-Fire Extension

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

The warring sides in the Sudan conflict bowed to international pressure and said Sunday that the cease-fire agreement that was set to expire at midnight would be extended for another 72 hours.

A truce was already in place but was widely ignored by both sides. It was established by the two warring factions to allow people safe passage and to open up a means for the country to receive humanitarian aid, but the violence continued. Each side blamed the other for the infractions.

Britain’s government announced Sunday that it was offering an additional evacuation flight for its nationals in war-torn Sudan.

A late Saturday flight out of Wadi Seidna Airport had been set to be the last flight out of the African country for British nationals. Sunday, however, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced a flight leaving Monday from the airport in Port Sudan would instead be the last one.

The conflict between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group broke out on April 15. Tens of thousands have fled the country because of the intense fighting between the military forces headed up by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have been injured since the fighting started.

Fighting has been particularly intense in Khartoum, the capital.

Finding basic necessities, like food and water, has become almost impossible. The medical workers who remain in the country do not have proper supplies. The first shipment of medical supplies has arrived in Khartoum, however, workers have not been able to deliver it to hospitals because of the fighting.

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias

Martin Griffiths, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said in a statement, “The scale and speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented.”
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Widening Manhunt for Texas Gunman Slowed by ‘Zero Leads’

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

A widening manhunt for a Texas gunman who fatally shot five neighbors continued coming up empty Sunday as officers knocked on doors, the governor put up $50,000 in reward money and the FBI appeared no closer to catching the killer after nearly two days of searching with a team that has grown to hundreds of people.

“I can tell you right now, we have zero leads,” James Smith, the FBI special agent in charge, told reporters while again asking the public for tips in the rural town of Cleveland, where the shooting took place just before midnight Friday.

The search for the gunman near Houston has grown in scale: Authorities said that by Sunday evening more than 200 police from multiple jurisdictions were searching for Francisco Oropeza, many of them going door to door in hopes of any clues that would lead to the 38-year-old suspect. Local officials and the FBI also chipped in reward money, bringing the total to $80,000 for any information about Oropeza’s whereabouts.

Oropeza is considered armed and dangerous after fleeing the area Friday night, likely on foot. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said authorities had widened the search area beyond the scene of the shooting, which occurred after the suspect’s neighbors asked him to stop firing off rounds in his yard late at night because a baby was trying to sleep.

At a Sunday vigil in Cleveland, Wilson Garcia, the father of the 1-month-old, described the terrifying efforts inside his home by friends and family that night to escape, hide and shield themselves and children after Oropeza walked up to the home and began firing, killing his wife first at the front door.

Another of Garcia’s children, 9-year-old Daniel Enrique Laso, was also killed. Garcia said he and two other people had gone to “respectfully” ask Oropeza to shoot his gun farther away from the house, which is on a street where residents say it is not uncommon for neighbors to unwind by firing off guns.

Garcia said he walked away and called the police when Oropeza refused. It was 10 to 20 minutes later when he said he saw Oropeza loading his AR-style rifle while running toward the house.

“I told my wife, ‘Get inside. This man has loaded his weapon,’” Garcia said. “My wife told me to go inside because, ‘He won’t fire at me. I’m a woman.’”

Authorities have said at least five other people who were in the house at the time were uninjured.

During the early hours of the search, investigators found clothes and a phone while combing an area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent, Capers said.

Authorities were able to identify Oropeza by an identity card issued by Mexican authorities to citizens who reside outside the country, as well as the doorbell camera footage. He said police have also interviewed the suspect’s wife multiple times.

Police recovered the AR-15-style rifle that they said Oropeza used in the shootings. Authorities were not sure if Oropeza was carrying another weapon after others were found in his home.

Capers said he hoped the reward money would motivate people to provide information and that there were plans to put up billboards in Spanish to spread the word.

“We’re looking for closure for this family,” Capers said.

By Sunday, police crime scene tape was removed from around the victims’ home, where some people stopped by to leave flowers.

In the neighborhood, an FBI agent, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and other officers were seen going door to door. One trooper stopped a red truck and asked to look inside before letting the driver continue on his way.

Veronica Pineda, 34, who lives across the street from the suspect’s home, said authorities asked if they could search her property to see if he might be hiding there.

She said she was fearful that the gunman had not yet been captured.

“It is kind of scary,” she said. “You never know where he can be.”

Pineda said she didn’t know Oropeza well but occasionally saw him, his wife and son ride their horses on the street. She said the family had lived there about five or six years and that neighbors have called authorities in the past to complain about people firing guns.

The victims were between the ages of 9 and 31 years old and all were believed to have been shot from the neck up, according to authorities. All were believed to be from Hondurus.

Enrique Reina, Honduras’ secretary of foreign affairs and international cooperation, said on Twitter that the Honduran Consulate in Houston was contacting the families in connection with the repatriation of remains as well as U.S. authorities to keep apprised of the investigation.

The FBI in Houston said in a tweet on Sunday that it was referring to the suspect as Oropesa, not Oropeza, to “better reflect his identity in law enforcement systems.” His family lists their name as Oropeza on a sign outside their yard, as well as in public records. Authorities had also previously stated that Garcia’s son was 8 years old, but the father and school officials said Sunday that the third grader was 9.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said. He said they were staying with family members.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe those at the home were members of a single family. In addition to the young boy, the other victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18.

Garcia said they had called police five times between the time they asked Oropeza to shoot farther away and when the gunman entered their home. Capers said police got there as fast as they could and that he had three officers covering 700 square miles (1,800 square kilometers).
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Biden, Marcos Set to Meet as Tensions Grow With China

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeUS

President Joe Biden is set to host President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines for White House talks Monday as concerns grow about the Chinese navy’s harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.

Marcos’ visit to Washington comes after the U.S. and Philippines last week completed their largest war drills ever and as the two countries’ air forces on Monday will hold their first joint fighter jet training in the Philippines since 1990. The Philippines this year agreed to give the U.S. access to four more bases on the islands as the U.S. looks to deter China’s increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea.

Meanwhile, China has angered the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy and coast guard patrols and chasing away fishermen in waters close to Philippine shores but which Beijing claims as its own.

Before departing for Washington on Sunday, Macros said he was “determined to forge an ever-stronger relationship with the United States in a wide range of areas that not only address the concerns of our times, but also those that are critical to advancing our core interests.”

Monday’s Oval Office meeting is the latest high-level diplomacy with Pacific leaders by Biden as his administration contends with increased military and economic assertiveness by China and worries about North Korea’s nuclear program. Marcos’ official visit to Washington is the first by a Philippine president in more than 10 years.

The U.S. president hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit last week in which the two leaders introduced new steps aimed at deterring North Korea from launching an attack on neighbors. Biden is scheduled to travel to Japan and Australia in May.

The two sides are expected to discuss the security situation and come out with new economic, education, climate and other initiatives as part of Marcos’ four-day visit to Washington, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the visit, said Biden administration officials are looking to redevelop “habits of alliance building” with the Philippines as aspects of the historically complicated relationship have “atrophied” over the years.

Increased Chinese harassment of vessels in the South China Sea have added another dimension to the visit. On April 23, journalists from AP and other outlets were aboard the Philippine coast guard’s BRP Malapascua near Second Thomas Shoal when a Chinese coast guard ship blocked the Philippine patrol vessel steaming into the disputed shoal. The Philippines has filed more than 200 diplomatic protests against China since last year, at least 77 since Marcos took office in June.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Saturday called media reporting on the encounters a “stark reminder” of Chinese “harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels as they undertake routine patrols within their exclusive economic zone. We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct.”

Close U.S.-Philippines relations were not a given when Marcos took office. The son and namesake of the late Philippines strongman had seemed intent on following the path of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who pursued closer ties with China.

Before Marcos took office last year, Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the White House National Security Council, acknowledged that “historical considerations” could present “challenges” to the relationship with Marcos Jr. It was an oblique reference to long-standing litigation in the United States against the estate of his father, Ferdinand Marcos.

A U.S. appeals court in 1996 upheld damages of about $2 billion against the elder Marcos’ estate for the torture and killings of thousands of Filipinos. The court upheld a 1994 verdict of a jury in Hawaii, where he fled after being forced from power in 1986. He died there in 1989.

Biden and Macros met in September during the U.N. General Assembly, where the U.S. president acknowledged the two countries’ sometimes “rocky” past.

During their private meeting, Biden stressed to Marcos his desire to improve relations and asked Marcos how the administration could “fulfill your dreams and hopes” for that, according to the senior administration official.

Marcos is also slated to visit the Pentagon, meet Cabinet members and business leaders and make remarks at a Washington think-tank during the visit.
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Pope Voices Willingness to Return Indigenous Loot, Artifacts

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeEU

Pope Francis said Sunday that talks were underway to return colonial-era artifacts in the Vatican Museum that were acquired from Indigenous peoples in Canada and voiced a willingness to return other problematic objects in the Vatican’s collection on a case-by-case basis.

“The Seventh Commandment comes to mind: If you steal something you have to give it back,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary.

Recently, Francis returned to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures that had been in the Vatican Museums’ collection for two centuries. The pope said Sunday that the restitution was “the right gesture” and that when such returns were possible, museums should undertake them.

“In the case where you can return things, where it’s necessary to make a gesture, better to do it,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t, if there are no possibilities — political, real or concrete possibilities. But in the cases where you can restitute, please do it. It’s good for everyone, so you don’t get used to putting your hands in someone else’s pockets.”

His comments to The Associated Press were his first on a question that has forced many museums in Europe and North America to rethink their ethnographic and anthropological collections. The restitution debate has gathered steam amid a reckoning for the colonial conquests of Africa, the Americas and Asia and demands for restitution of war loot by the countries and communities of origin.

The Vatican has an extensive collection of artifacts and art made by Indigenous peoples from around the world, much of it sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries for a 1925 exhibition in the Vatican gardens.

The Vatican insists the artifacts, including ceremonial masks, wampum belts and feathered headdresses, were gifts. But Indigenous scholars dispute whether Native peoples at the time could have freely offered their handicrafts given the power differentials at play in colonial periods.

Francis, the first-ever Latin American pope, knows the history well. Last year, he travelled to Canada to personally apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses they endured at the hands of Catholic missionaries at residential schools.

In the run-up to the visit, Indigenous groups visited the Vatican’s Anima Mundi museum, saw some of their ancestors’ handiwork, and expressed interest in having greater access to the collection, and the return of some items.

“The restitution of the Indigenous things is underway with Canada — at least we agreed to do it,” Francis said, adding that the Holy See’s experience meeting with the Indigenous groups in Canada had been “very fruitful.”

Indeed, just a few weeks ago in another follow-up to the Canada apology, the Vatican formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery.” This theory, backed by 15th-century “papal bulls,” was used to legitimize the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and forms the basis of some property laws today in the U.S. and Canada.

Francis recalled that looting was a common feature during colonial-era wars and occupations. “They took these decisions to take the good things from the other,” he said.

He said going forward, museums “have to make a discernment in each case,” but that where possible, restitution of objects should be made.

“And if tomorrow the Egyptians come and ask for the obelisk, what will we do?” he said chuckling, referring to the great obelisk that stands at the center of St. Peter’s Square. The Roman Emperor Caligula brought the ancient obelisk to Rome more than 2,000 years ago, and it was moved to the square in the 16th century.

The Vatican Museums are mentioned in the 2020 book “The Brutish Museums,” which recounts the sacking of the Royal Court of Benin City by British forces in 1897 and the subsequent dispersal in museums and collections around the globe of its famed Benin Bronzes.

In the appendix, the Vatican is listed as one of the museums, galleries or collections that “may” have objects looted from Benin City, in today’s Nigeria, in 1897.

The Vatican Museums hasn’t responded to requests for information. The Nigerian Embassy to the Holy See, asked recently about the claim, said its “contact in the Vatican is currently looking into the issue.”
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‘Soviet Dior’ Zaitsev Dead at 85

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeEU

Russian fashion designer Vyacheslav “Slava” Zaitsev, dubbed the “Soviet Christian Dior,” has died at the age of 85, his fashion house told AFP Sunday.

Confirming Russian media reports, a spokeswoman added that when Zaitsev had celebrated his birthday in March with friends, “we could already see he was very, very, weak.”

“The couturier Vyacheslav Zaitsev has died,” Russian state channel Perviy Kanal reported, paying tribute to a man who “dictated Soviet and Russian fashion for decades, an innovator who wasn’t afraid of bold experiments.”

“It’s a great loss for the world of international fashion,” Ria Novosti news agency quoted Russian stylist Sergei Zverev as saying.

Russia’s most famous fashion designer, Zaitsev achieved global success with bright dresses adorned with the flower patterns found on traditional Russian shawls.

From a modest childhood in Ivanovo, a town of 400,000 people to the northeast of the capital, his career took him to the catwalks of Paris, New York and Tokyo.

The French press in the 1960s dubbed him the “Soviet Christian Dior.”

Watched closely by the KGB because of his contacts with Western designers and his flamboyant character, Zaitsev was initially refused permission to leave the Soviet Union and his first collections were shown abroad without him.

In 1962, Zaitsev’s first collection of clothes — a uniform for female workers that featured skirts with the flower patterns of traditional Russian shawls and multicolored boots — was rejected by Soviet authorities.

“The colors were too bright and contrasted with the greyness of Soviet everyday life, where an individual should not differ from the rest of society,” Zaitsev said in an interview with AFP in 2018.

But the collection, nonetheless, attracted international attention. In 1963, French magazine Paris Match became the first Western media outlet to describe Zaitsev as a pioneer of Soviet fashion.

Celebrity clients

Born into a poor family with a mother who worked as a cleaner, he initially was barred from attending a top-flight university because his father, taken captive by the Nazis during World War II, had, like other former prisoners-of-war, been labeled an “enemy of the people” and sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp.

“When I was a child, my mother taught me embroidery so I wouldn’t roam the streets without purpose,” he told AFP. “In the evenings I would pick flowers with girls on Lenin Avenue to draw them and recreate them in embroidery. That’s how I began my adventure in art.”

He studied at a vocational college until the age of 18 and then went on to the unglamorous Moscow Textile Institute.

“During my studies, I lived with a family whose children I looked after. The apartment was tiny and I slept on the floor under the table,” he recalled.

Later in life, between 2007 and 2009, he presented a popular television show called “The Verdict of Fashion,” in which stylists dressed participants in the latest street looks.

He counted several Russian movie stars, singers and the ex-wife of President Vladimir Putin, Lyudmila, among his clients.
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Sudan’s Army and Rival Extend Truce, Despite Ongoing Clashes

Posted on 05/01/2023 by SeeAF

Sudan’s army and its rival paramilitary said Sunday they will extend a humanitarian cease-fire a further 72 hours. The decision follows international pressure to allow the safe passage of civilians and aid, but the shaky truce has not so far stopped the clashes.

In statements, both sides accused the other of violations. The agreement has deescalated the fighting in some areas, but violence continues to push civilians to flee. Aid groups have also struggled to get badly needed supplies into the country.

The conflict erupted on April 15 between the nation’s army and its paramilitary force and threatens to thrust Sudan into a raging civil war. The U.N. warned on Sunday that the humanitarian crisis in Sudan was at “a breaking point.”

“The scale and speed of what is unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented,” U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement.

He said water and food are becoming increasingly hard to find in the country’s cities, especially the capital, Khartoum, and that the lack of basic medical care means many could die of preventable causes. Griffiths said that “massive looting” of aid supplies has hindered efforts to help civilians.

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias

Earlier Sunday, an aircraft carrying eight tons of emergency medical aid landed in Sudan to resupply hospitals devastated by the fighting, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which organized the shipment. It arrived as the civilian death toll from the countrywide violence topped 400 and aid groups warned that the humanitarian situation was becoming increasingly dire.

More than two-thirds of hospitals in areas with active fighting are out of service, a national doctors’ association has said, citing a shortage of medical supplies, health workers, water and electricity.

The air-lifted supplies, including anesthetics, dressings, sutures and other surgical material, are enough to treat more than 1,000 people wounded in the conflict, the ICRC said. The aircraft took off earlier in the day from Jordan and safely landed in the city of Port Sudan, it said.

“The hope is to get this material to some of the most critically busy hospitals in the capital” of Khartoum and other hot spots, said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa.

The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties, said Sunday that over the past two weeks, 425 civilians were killed and 2,091 wounded. The Sudanese Health Ministry on Saturday put the overall death toll, including fighters, at 528, with 4,500 wounded.

Some of the deadliest battles have raged across Khartoum. The fighting pits the army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

The generals, both with powerful foreign backers, were allies in an October 2021 military coup that halted Sudan’s fitful transition to democracy, but they have since turned on each other.

Ordinary Sudanese have been caught in the crossfire. Tens of thousands have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad and Egypt, while others remain pinned down with dwindling supplies. Thousands of foreigners have been evacuated in airlifts and land convoys.

On Sunday, fighting continued in different parts of the capital where residents hiding in their homes reported hearing artillery fire. There have been lulls in fighting, but never a fully observed cease-fire, despite repeated attempts by international mediators.

Over the weekend, residents reported that shops were reopening and normalcy gradually returning in some areas of Khartoum as the scale of fighting dwindled after yet another shaky truce. But in other areas, terrified residents reported explosions thundering around them and fighters ransacking houses.

Youssef, the ICRC official, said the agency has been in contact with the top command of both sides to ensure that medical assistance could reach hospitals safely.

“With this news today, we are really hoping that this becomes part of a steady coordination mechanism to allow other flights to come in,” he said.

Youssef said more medical aid was ready to be flown into Khartoum pending necessary clearances and security guarantees.

Sudan’s healthcare system is near collapse with dozens of hospitals out of service. Multiple aid agencies have had to suspend operations and evacuated employees.

On Sunday, a second U.S.-government organized convoy arrived in Port Sudan, said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller. He said the U.S. is assisting American citizens and “others who are eligible” to leave for Saudi Arabia where U.S. personnel are located. There were no details on how many people were in the convoy or specific assistance the U.S. provided.

Most of the estimated 16,000 Americans believed to be in Sudan right now are dual U.S.-Sudanese nationals. The Defense Department said in a statement on Saturday it was moving naval assets toward Sudan’s coast to support further evacuations.

Meanwhile, Britain has announced that an extra evacuation flight will depart from Port Sudan on Monday, extending what it called the largest evacuation effort of any Western country from Sudan.

The government asked British nationals who wish to leave Sudan to travel to the British Evacuation Handling Centre at Port Sudan International Airport before 12 p.m. Sudan time. The flight comes after an evacuation operation from Wadi Saeedna near Khartoum, involving 2,122 people on 23 flights.
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