June 2023 - Page 20 of 26

China Reportedly to Build Spy Station in Cuba

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

China and Cuba have reached a secret pact allowing Beijing to build an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island that is 160 kilometers from the United States, U.S. news outlets reported Thursday.

A senior White House official described the reports as “not accurate” without specifying what in the reports they took issue with.

According to the reports, which first appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the spy facility would allow China to collect electronic communications from throughout the southeastern U.S., where numerous military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic.

Asked about the report, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Reuters: “We are not aware of the case and as a result we can’t give a comment right now.”

U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the project were quoted anonymously as saying that China has agreed to pay financially hard-pressed Cuba several billion dollars for the right to construct the facility, although it is not known when the project might be operational.

The prospective facility has alarmed the administration of President Joe Biden because of its proximity to the United States, the reports said. The White House and many lawmakers in Congress consider China to be the U.S.’s chief economic and military rival. The U.S. is the world’s biggest economy and China second.

Earlier this year, the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, but not before it traversed the breadth of the United States and flew over numerous military bases. Last weekend, a Chinese warship abruptly sailed across the bow of a U.S. destroyer as it passed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. said the incident forced the American ship to slow down to avoid a collision.

A Defense Department official said the U.S. would not comment directly on the reports of a planned Chinese facility in Cuba.

“On a broader level, we are very aware of [China’s] attempts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in the Western Hemisphere,” the official said. “We will continue to monitor it closely and remain confident that we are able to meet all our security commitments at home and across the region.”

U.S. officials believe the Chinese facility in Cuba would allow Beijing to conduct signals intelligence, which could include monitoring a range of communications, including emails, phone calls and satellite transmissions, the news accounts said.

Republican opponents of Biden were quick to attack the administration about the Chinese venture into the Western Hemisphere although it was unclear what, if anything, the U.S. could do to stop it.

“Joe Biden needs to wake up to the real Chinese threats on our doorstep,” Nikki Haley, a former United Nations ambassador and a current Republican presidential candidate, wrote on Twitter.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the closest U.S. state to Cuba, said on Twitter, “The threat to America from Cuba isn’t just real, it is far worse than this.”
…

your ad here

Ghanaian Painter Campaigns Against Child Marriage

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeAF

A painter in Ghana is using her art to campaign against child marriage. Awanle Ayiboro was forced into marriage as a teenager and is using her own experience to dispel misconceptions about the development of girls and young women. Victoria Amunga reports from Accra. Camera: Senanu Tord.
…

your ad here

Rooted in Green: Seattle Celebrates 50 years of Community Gardens

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

In the Pacific Northwest, one of America’s biggest community garden projects is celebrating its 50th anniversary. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya gives us a look.
…

your ad here

Russian Trade Rises Despite Sanctions, as NATO Member Turkey Offers ‘Critical Lifeline’

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

Despite Western attempts to stifle Russia’s economy through sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian trade volumes with dozens of countries have actually increased since the war began — with NATO member Turkey providing a “critical” economic lifeline for Moscow, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

The countries that have increased trade since the February 2022 invasion include several European Union and NATO members, according to the analysis.

“Such surges in trade, however, are not necessarily an indicator of support” for the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the report says. “Instead, it is more likely they are predominantly the result of companies — and countries — pursuing legal opportunities for cheaper exports and new gaps in the Russian market.”

China

It notes that China’s trade with Russia had already been increasing at an average annual rate of 23% over the past five years, excluding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It said China’s trade with Russia has jumped by another 27% since the Ukraine invasion.

Other countries have seen a far greater increase in trade with Russia since February 2022.

“We see increases of trade across a range of different countries, with places like India and Greece, for example, importing cheap Russian oil at below market prices. And this is what’s causing the surge of trade there,” said Niels Graham, a co-author of the Atlantic Council report, in an interview this week with VOA.

“But we also see other countries like Turkey, for example, exporting a lot of electronics as well as chemical industrial goods to Russia to take advantage of the holes in the Russian market that have been caused by the sort of G7 statecraft response,” he said.

He said that Beijing is actually showing signs of “restraint” since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“China is certainly engaging with Russia, certainly increasing its trade overall, but doing so very much in line overwhelmingly with the red lines the West has drawn — for fear of Western retaliation against China, cutting it off from a much more important Western market,” Graham told VOA.

Russian Oil

India’s trade with Russia has soared by 250% since 2021, the biggest increase by far among Russia’s trading partners.

China and India imported record volumes of Russian oil in May, according to Reuters, totaling about 110 million barrels for the month. Analysts say the world’s two biggest buyers of Russian oil are capitalizing on discounted prices after the G7 group of rich nations imposed a price cap of $60 per barrel in December.

Washington has warned that Moscow is seeking to circumvent the price cap by using the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline along with ports in eastern Russia, where there may be less Western oversight of trading activities.

The West never intended to completely block Russia oil sales, said Graham.

“Doing so against an oil producer as large as Russia would have skyrocketed global oil prices, would have likely tipped the global economy into recession, and would have made a lot of countries angry against Western actions,” he said.

Turkish lifeline

The Atlantic Council report says NATO member Turkey also provides a vital lifeline for Russia’s economy, with trade volumes increasing by some 93% since the invasion.

It said Turkey has sold Russia sensitive material like integrated circuits and semiconductors which could be used in weapons systems.

“Although Turkish exports of electronic machinery, including critical integrated circuits, fell in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion, they have since recovered and grown well beyond the pre-invasion average. From March 2022 to March 2023, Turkish electronic exports to Russia jumped by about 85%,” the Atlantic Council report said.

“To Ankara’s credit, following pressure from the Group of Seven [G7], Turkey has agreed to halt its transit of sanctioned goods to Russia,” the report added. “However, its trade with Russia remains a vital economic lifeline for its businesses as the country recovers and reconstructs from a devastating earthquake earlier this year.”

Turkey assured the European Union in March that it would no longer ship or transit goods to Russia that are subject to sanctions or export controls, according to an EU official quoted by Reuters.

Ankara has denied exporting goods to Russia that could have military applications.
…

your ad here

In Photos: Ukrainians Flee Flood Following Destruction of Kakhovka Dam

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the Kherson region where thousands of people are dealing with the effects from flooding following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. The hydroelectric dam in Russian-held territory was destroyed on June 6, flooding dozens of villages and parts of a nearby city, with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for the destruction.
…

your ad here

UNICEF Says 300 Trapped Children Rescued from Sudanese Orphanage After 71 Others Died

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeAF

About 300 infants, toddlers and older children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan’s capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside, aid officials said Thursday. The evacuation came after 71 children died from hunger and illness in the facility since mid-April.

The tragedy at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage made headlines late last month as fighting raged outside between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The deaths have highlighted the heavy toll inflicted on civilians since mid-April when the clashes erupted between forces loyal to Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF forces led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.

About 300 children at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage in Khartoum were transferred to a “safer location” elsewhere in the northeastern African nation, said Ricardo Pires, a spokesman for the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

Sudan’s ministries of social development and health have taken charge of the children, while UNICEF has provided humanitarian support including medical care, food, educational activities and play, Pires said in an email to The Associated Press.

He said the children had received medical checks following their long journey to their new location, adding that “any child requiring hospitalization will have access to healthcare.”

The International Committee of The Red Cross, which helped with the evacuation, said the children, aged between 1 month to 15 years, were relocated after securing a safe corridor to Madani, the capital of Jazira province, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum. Seventy caretakers have been transferred with the children, the ICRC said.

“They (the children) spent incredibly difficult moments in an area where the conflict has been raging for the past 6 weeks without access to proper healthcare, an especially hard situation for children with special needs,” said Jean-Christophe Sandoz, the head of the ICRC delegation in Sudan.

Nazim Sirag, an activist who heads the local charity Hadhreen, said in a phone interview that the children were ferried late Tuesday to a newly established facility in Madani.

Sirag, whose charity led humanitarian efforts to help the orphanage and other nursing homes in Khartoum, said at least 71 children died at the Al-Mayqoma since the war in Sudan began on April 15.

Among the dead were babies as young as three months, according to death certificates obtained by the AP. The certificates listed circulatory collapse as a cause of death, but also mentioned other contributing factors such as fever, dehydration, malnutrition, and failure to thrive.

Their relocation followed an online campaign led by local activists and international charities, which intensified after the death of 26 children in two days at the orphanage in late May. The children had been trapped in the fighting for over seven weeks as food and other supplies dwindled. The facility was inaccessible because of the war had turned the capital and other urban areas into battlefields.

“The safe movement of these incredibly vulnerable children to a place of safety offers a ray of light in the midst of the ongoing conflict in Sudan,” Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF Representative in Sudan, said in a statement. “Many millions of children remain at risk across Sudan.”

Local volunteers, meanwhile, evacuated 77 other children earlier this week from separate foster homes in the coastal, Sirag of Hadhreen said. The children have temporarily sheltered along with 11 adults in a school in the town of Hasahisa, also in Jazira province, he said.

The fighting has inflicted a heavy toll on civilians, particularly children. More than 860 civilians, including at least 190 children, were killed and thousands of others were wounded since April 15, according to Sudan’s Doctors’ Syndicate which tracks civilian casualties. The tally is likely to be much higher.

The conflict has forced more than 1.9 million people to flee their homes, including around 477,000 who crossed into neighboring countries, according to the U.N.’s migration agency. Others remain trapped inside their homes, unable to escape as food and water supplies dwindle. The clashes have also disrupted the work of humanitarian groups.

There have been reports of widespread looting and sexual violence, including the rape of women and girls in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, which have seen some of the worst fighting in the conflict. Almost all reported cases of sexual attacks were blamed on the RSF, which didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.
…

your ad here

Local Representative: Ethnic Clashes at UN Site in South Sudan Kill at Least 13 People

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeAF

A local representative says at least 13 people are dead and 21 have been wounded in clashes at a United Nations site in South Sudan for the protection of displaced civilians.

The fighting erupted Thursday morning in the Malakal site between members of the Shilluk and Nuer ethnic groups.

The cause of the fighting was not immediately clear. The situation remained tense amid fears that the fighting would resume, Yoannes Kimo, deputy chairperson representing displaced people at the site, told The Associated Press by phone.

The U.N. office in South Sudan said in a statement that the fighting began with a stabbing, and it called for “calm and order.” It said reports indicated three dead. The office said its mission has reinforced the military and police presence in the area in “close collaboration” with the military and authorities.

Deadly violence between ethnic groups and communities still troubles South Sudan years after a 2018 peace deal to end a five-year civil war. During the conflict, thousands of people took shelter inside U.N. protection sites.
…

your ad here

Report: US Suspends Food Aid to Ethiopia Amid Theft Accusations

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

The Washington Post reports the U.S. government is suspending food aid to Ethiopia after an investigation uncovered a scheme to divert the food from the poor to the Ethiopian military.

The Post quoted a statement from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which said: “After a country-wide review, USAID determined, in coordination with the Government of Ethiopia, that a widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance. We cannot move forward with distribution of food assistance until reforms are in place.”

The reported suspension could affect millions of Ethiopians who depend on food aid amid recurring droughts, high inflation and the aftermath of a war in the northern Tigray region.

The Post says the Ethiopian government spokesman, prime minister’s spokeswoman and National Disaster Risk Management Commission did not respond to requests for comment.

The report, based on USAID statements and documents, says the investigation by found that elements within the Ethiopian government were involved with the scheme.

It said that Ethiopian officials have been stealing donated food in order to feed soldiers and ex-combatants. It said officials have also sold flour on the open market to millers who re-exported it.

“Extensive monitoring indicates this diversion of donor-funded food assistance is a coordinated and criminal scheme, which has prevented life-saving assistance from reaching the most vulnerable,” reported The Post, quoting a USAID document prepared for donors. “The scheme appears to be orchestrated by federal and regional Government of Ethiopia [GoE] entities, with military units across the country benefiting from humanitarian assistance.”

The document said USAID investigators visited 63 flour mills in seven of Ethiopia’s nine regions and found “significant diversion” across all seven regions. Food from the United States, Ukraine, Japan and France donated to the United Nations World Food Program has been stolen, the report said.

It called on all donors who sent food aid to check how it is being used.
…

your ad here

US Vice President Announces more than $100M to Help Caribbean

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.

The announcement was made ahead of an official trip to the Bahamas for a meeting of Caribbean and U.S. leaders hosted by Harris and Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis.

As part of the initiatives, the U.S. Justice Department expects to appoint a coordinator to oversee cases involving illegal weapons smuggling in the Caribbean as island nations report a rise in violent crimes. In addition, the State Department vowed to help improve forensic work in the region, help strengthen local police departments and support a unit based in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at helping islands solve gun-related cases and provide training for the collection and analysis of related intelligence.

The U.S., with help from the U.K., also will establish a program in the eastern Caribbean to mentor local judges and prosecutors in a bid to improve prosecutions of gun-related crimes as island nations struggle with a backlog of cases.

The State Department also expects to work with Haiti’s National Police, a severely underfunded and understaffed agency struggling to quell a surge in gang violence, to help investigate and prosecute crimes with U.S. ties that involve gangs, weapons smuggling and human trafficking.

That initiative is considered key given that gangs are estimated to control up to 80% of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as killings and kidnappings soar across the metropolitan area and beyond.

Harris announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development will invest nearly $54 million in Haiti to help fight a sharp rise in starvation and provide access to potable water and healthcare. Almost half of Haiti’s more than 11 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and 19,000 are in catastrophic famine conditions.

Another $10.5 million will go toward supporting Haiti’s agricultural sector as poverty deepens.

USAID also expects to invest $20 million to help Caribbean businesses that use technologies related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Another nearly $15 million will be used to boost emergency response and preparedness across the region.

Additional funds will help low-lying island nations whose economies largely depend on tourism prepare and adapt to climate change.

…

your ad here

Four Children Wounded in Knife Attack in French Town, Two in Critical Condition

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

A Syrian national wounded four children and an adult in a knife attack in a park in the southeastern French town of Annecy on Thursday, police said, leaving some of the victims critically ill in hospital.

The attacker was a Syrian national with legal refugee status in France, a police official told Reuters. He was not known to security agencies and his motives were unclear, an investigative source said.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter that the attacker had been arrested.

Two children and one adult were in life-threatening condition, while two children were slightly hurt, police said.

“Children and one adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Twitter, calling the attack “an act of absolute cowardice.”

Witnesses said at least one of the children wounded in the attack was in a stroller. The incident took place at around 0745 GMT in the playground of a lakeside park in Annecy, a town in the French Alps.

“He jumped (in the playground), started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife,” a witness who gave his name as Ferdinand told BFM TV.

“Mothers were crying, everybody was running,” said George, another witness and owner of a nearby restaurant.

The TV channel showed footage of several policemen overpowering an individual in a park.

“Nothing more abominable than to attack children,” National Assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said on Twitter. Parliament observed a minute of silence to mark the incident.
…

your ad here

Latest in Ukraine: Zelenskyy Visits Flood-Hit Kherson

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

Latest developments:

U.S. President Joe Biden to host NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg for talks Monday with support for Ukraine at the top of the agenda ahead of next month’s NATO summit.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said Thursday he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the upcoming visits to Russia and Ukraine by a delegation of African leaders who are seeking to help resolve the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he visited the Kherson region where thousands of people are dealing with the effects from flooding following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Zelenskyy shared a video on Telegram of him meeting with officials and said they discussed evacuations, restoring the region’s ecosystem and the military situation in the area.

That followed his nightly address Wednesday in which he called for a “clear and quick response from the world.”

He said “large-scale efforts are needed” including the help of groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The ICRC said earlier Wednesday it was closely coordinating with the Ukrainian Red Cross to support the humanitarian response to the dam’s destruction.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg “promised NATO mechanisms will be used to provide humanitarian assistance.” Kuleba and Stoltenberg announced they would lead a meeting Thursday with NATO allies to discuss the situation.

The governor of the Kherson region said Thursday about 600 square kilometers were under water.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said about two-thirds of the flooded land was on the side of the Dnipro River occupied by Russia, while one-third was on the side still under Ukrainian control.

Prokudin said efforts to evacuate people from flooded areas were ongoing.

The hydroelectric dam collapsed Tuesday, with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for the destruction.

Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
…

your ad here

Blinken: Islamic State Fight ‘Not Yet Done’ 

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that when it comes to defeating the Islamic State militant group, the “fight is not yet done.”

Speaking in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the start of a ministerial meeting of the 80-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Blinken said the group has achieved territorial defeat of the group in Iraq and Syria, taken out its leaders and prevent large-scale attacks.

But Blinken highlighted several areas of focus to achieve what he called the “enduring end” of the Islamic State group.

He announced a goal for commitments of $600 million to help with programs in Iraq and Syria to address areas that militants exploit to recruit fighters, including funding for social services and ensuring accountability for crimes.

Blinken also discussed repatriations from the region, saying it is particularly important for countries to take back their nationals who traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight with the Islamic State group and are now in detention centers. Not doing so, he said, risked those fighters one day being freed and returning to militant activities.

He also said civilians, especially children, need to be taken back to their home countries in order to have hope and opportunities.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, told the meeting that while it is admirable that many countries, including smaller nations, have stepped forward and carried out repatriations, a number of wealthy countries he did not name have not done so. He called that lack of action “unacceptable” and said that being part of a coalition means “you must take your responsibility.”

Blinken also discussed the threat of Islamic State affiliates, including those in the Sahel region in Africa and in Afghanistan. He said there is a need to keep up with evolving threats and to also remain vigilant and ensure that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorists.
…

your ad here

Blinken Expected to Visit China Soon

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Beijing in coming weeks, rescheduling a trip canceled in February amid tensions that included a Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States.

Officials speaking on condition of anonymity discussed the updated plans with reporters but did not give information on the exact timing of the expected trip to China.

The Financial Times reported the visit could come this month.

When asked about the issue Monday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at a briefing there was no public update on Blinken traveling to China but that the United States looks forward to rescheduling that visit “when conditions allow.”

The State Department’s top official for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, and the National Security Council’s senior director for China, Sarah Beran, were in China earlier this week for what Patel described as “candid and productive discussions” with Chinese officials.

‘Candid, constructive and fruitful’

China’s foreign ministry called those talks “candid, constructive and fruitful communication on promoting the improvement of China-U.S. relations and properly managing differences.”

Patel highlighted the need for U.S. and Chinese officials to meet in person, whether in Beijing or Washington, saying there is no substitute for those engagements “to carry forward our discussion.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the need for major powers to have open lines of communication last week ahead of a security conference in Singapore. His Chinese counterpart, General Li Shangfu, declined to meet with Austin on the sidelines of the conference, and while the two did shake hands at the forum, Austin said that was “no substitute for a substantive engagement.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

your ad here

Biden To Host British Prime Minister Sunak for White House Talks

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

U.S. President Joe Biden will host British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for talks at the White House Thursday that are expected to cover economic ties and supporting Ukraine in its defense against a Russian invasion.

The visit by Sunak is his first to the United States since becoming prime minister in October, but he and Biden have already met three times this year.

“The two leaders will review a range of global issues, including our economic partnership, our shared support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal war of aggression, as well as further action to accelerate the clean energy transition,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “The president and the prime minister will also discuss the joint U.S.-U.K. leadership on critical and emerging technologies as well as our work to strengthen our economic security. They will also review developments in Northern Ireland as part of their shared commitment to preserving the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”

Ahead of Thursday’s talks, Sunak said he would push for closer economic relations in the same spirit as the countries’ defense and security cooperation.

“Just as interoperability between our militaries has given us a battlefield advantage over our adversaries, greater economic interoperability will give us a crucial edge in the decades ahead,” Sunak said.

British officials said Sunak also wanted to discuss ways to protect global supply chains, particularly against individual countries that may corner and manipulate markets for certain sectors.

Another topic on the agenda for Sunak is the regulation of the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence.

Before meeting with Biden, Sunak held talks with congressional leaders and took part in a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery. He also appeared at the Washington Nationals baseball game where the team was honoring U.S.-U.K. Friendship Day.

White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters
…

your ad here

Trump’s Lawyers Notified That Former President Is Target of Classified Documents Probe

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

Federal prosecutors have notified former U.S. President Donald Trump’s attorneys that he is the target of an investigation into his handling of classified materials, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, adding to his legal troubles as he campaigns for the White House in 2024.

The Justice Department typically notifies people when they become targets of an investigation to give them an opportunity to present their own evidence before a grand jury. The notification does not necessarily mean Trump will be charged.

News of the notification to Trump’s legal team surfaced just two days after his attorneys met with Justice Department officials to discuss the case.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump’s attorneys in the documents case could not be reached for comment.

Trump’s legal team was notified on Monday, the person said. Although there are some signs that the documents investigation is coming to a close, the timing of when a person is told they are a target cannot necessarily be used as a predictor of when charges might be brought, said David Schoen, an attorney who represented Trump ally Steve Bannon during his criminal trial on contempt of Congress charges.

“Sometimes they are issued at the beginning of a long investigation and sometimes at the conclusion of an investigation,” he said.

Trump, the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly described the multiple investigations as politically motivated.

A federal grand jury has been investigating Trump’s retention of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021.

A second criminal investigation is looking into alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

A spokesperson for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the probes, declined to comment.

Thousands of documents

Investigators in August 2022 seized roughly 13,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. One hundred of these were marked as classified, even though one of Trump’s lawyers had previously said that all records with classified markings had been returned.

Trump has defended his retention of documents, suggesting that he declassified them while he was president. However, Trump has not provided evidence of this, and his attorneys have not made that argument in court filings.

Trump handed over 15 boxes of records in January 2022, a year after leaving office, but federal officials came to believe he had not returned all the documents.

The Justice Department issued Trump a grand jury subpoena in May 2022 asking him to return any other records bearing classified markings, and top officials traveled to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the materials.

Trump’s attorneys turned over 38 pages marked as classified to FBI and Justice Department officials and showed them a storage room at Mar-a-Lago but did not permit the agents to open any of the boxes.

One of Trump’s lawyers also signed a document attesting that all records with classified markings had been returned to the government, a claim later proven false after the FBI searched his home.

Trump’s legal woes are growing.

A jury in federal court in Manhattan in May decided in a civil lawsuit that Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her by branding her a liar.

Trump also faces a criminal investigation by a county prosecutor in Georgia relating to his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.

Trump’s legal woes are growing.
…

your ad here

Former VP Pence Takes Aim at Trump for Republican Nomination

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeUS

Several challengers this week have jumped into the race to try to thwart former U.S. president Donald Trump from capturing the Republican Party’s presidential nomination for a third consecutive time. Most notable among the new entrants: Trump’s longtime vice president, Mike Pence. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman at the White House explains Pence wasted no time doing what he previously hesitated to — forcefully criticize his former boss’ conduct in office.
…

your ad here

Ukraine Rejects Calls to ‘Freeze’ Conflict, Foreign Minister Says

Posted on 06/08/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that talks about resolving the conflict with Russia could not start with a mere cessation of hostilities.

“If anyone thinks they should freeze the conflict and then see how to solve it, they don’t understand it,” he said in an online briefing aimed at African journalists, following a tour of African countries.

More than 100 rounds of consultation and attempts at a cease-fire since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 only led to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he said.

A delegation of African heads of state is expected to visit Ukraine and Russia in the next few days, hoping to persuade them to cease hostilities, a spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told Reuters last month.

He said on Wednesday that no date had been set for the mission.

Such a proposal means that Russian troops would remain on Ukrainian soil even as peace talks start. Ukraine previously said Russian forces should withdraw before such negotiations could start, while Moscow wants Kyiv to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea as a precondition for negotiations.

President Macky Sall of Senegal, last year’s African Union chairman, whose country was not present at the latest U.N. vote condemning Russia in February, leads the initiative. The current African Union chairman, Comoros Islands President Othman Ghazali, was recently added to the delegation.

It also includes Presidents Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia — which both voted for the resolution — and Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, which both abstained, as did South Africa.

Kuleba has been on a charm offensive in Africa to win support on a continent where 30 of the 54 African U.N. member states voted in favor of the U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.

“What we see in our relations with the continent right now is fair to call a Ukrainian-African renaissance,” Kuleba said.

He had no details on what the African peace mission entailed, but he welcomed it.

“We are looking forward to hosting these presidents in Kyiv,” he said.
…

your ad here

‘I’m Going to Miami:’ Messi Confirms Move to Major League Soccer

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeEU

Lionel Messi on Wednesday announced that he intends to join Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami as a free agent after parting ways with French champions Paris Saint-Germain and snubbing a lucrative contract offer in Saudi Arabia.

Messi, who played his final game for PSG over the weekend, was also linked with a return to Barcelona, but the Spanish club have had their hands tied due to LaLiga’s financial fair play rules.

“I made the decision that I’m going to go to Miami,” Messi said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo and Sport newspapers.

“I still haven’t closed it 100%. I’m still missing a few things, but we decided to go ahead. If Barcelona didn’t work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more about my family.”

Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in December and has earned a record seven Ballon d’Or awards, won the Ligue 1 title in his two seasons with PSG, as well as the French Super Cup in 2022.

“After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it was time to go to the U.S. league to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day,” Messi said.

“Obviously with the same responsibility and desire to want to win and to always do things well. But with more peace of mind.”

Ownership stake

The MLS said it was pleased that Messi intends to join Inter Miami this summer.

Messi had wanted to go to a club where he could eventually have an ownership stake, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters this week. He also wanted to maximize his existing deal with Adidas and MLS’s relationship with Apple.

MLS earns a flat fee of around $250 million per year from Apple until it reaches a certain threshold of subscriptions, after which point it will earn a share of the revenue from those subscriptions.

Messi’s move to MLS is expected to drive viewers to the Apple TV streaming platform, as the world’s most recognizable soccer player.

The forward was also linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad after he received a formal offer.

The Gulf country has been looking to bring the game’s biggest players to its league and was successful in persuading Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo to join Al Nassr soon after the World Cup. French striker Karim Benzema joined Al Ittihad this week.

Inter Miami is co-owned by former England captain David Beckham, who was one of the first major European stars to move to the United States to play in the MLS, winning the MLS Cup twice with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Messi will have his work cut out in Miami, however, with the club rock bottom of the Eastern Conference standings — six points from ninth place, the final spot which would give them a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

The team sacked coach Phil Neville last week after a dismal run of 10 defeats and five wins this season, a stark contrast to last season when they finished sixth and qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs.
…

your ad here

Surprise Merger of PGA Tour, Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Stuns Sport

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeUS

In a surprise announcement this week, the PGA Tour, golf’s long-established premier professional league, announced that it would merge with LIV Golf, an upstart league founded by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which was founded in 2021 and began hosting tournaments only last year.

The announcement, unexpected by most people associated with the sport, was particularly surprising because the relationship between the two leagues had seemed overtly hostile since LIV began spending money lavishly to lure top golfers away from the PGA.

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement released by his league.

“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said in the same document. “We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide.”

Major change

The pleasantries that marked the announcement were a marked departure from the way the PGA’s leadership was talking about LIV only last year. As LIV began competing with the PGA for talent, Monahan and others repeatedly cited the Saudi government’s poor human rights record, in an apparent attempt to shame golfers into remaining in the fold.

In a widely cited television interview last June, Monahan asked wavering PGA golfers to ask themselves, “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

John A. Fortunato, a professor at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and author of the book Making the Cut: Life Inside the PGA Tour System, told VOA he was surprised by the PGA’s change in tone.

“My first impression was complete shock,” Fortunato said. “I didn’t see it coming. I just thought there was such antagonism between the two and that because of the association with the Saudis, the PGA would never merge with that group.”

Activist groups that oppose the Saudi regime, including 9/11 Families United, which blames the Saudi government for its ties to the 9/11 terror attacks, were angered by the announcement.

Terry Strada, who chairs the group, said in a statement, “PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan co-opted the 9/11 community last year in the PGA’s unequivocal agreement that the Saudi LIV project was nothing more than sportswashing of Saudi Arabia’s reputation. But now the PGA and Monahan appear to have become just more paid Saudi shills, taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation.”

Tough competitor

LIV Golf first appeared on the scene in 2021 with a handful of big-name supporters, including Australian golf legend Greg Norman as its CEO, and a whole lot of money. As the league’s debut neared in 2022, it began spreading some of that money around.

LIV reportedly dangled signing bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars in a successful bid to entice several well-known players to join its ranks, attracting notable figures including American Dustin Johnson and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

LIV also promised eye-popping purses for tournament winners, often several times the value of those offered at comparable PGA Tour events. In its inaugural tournament last year, winner Carl Schwartzel earned $4 million. At the same event, Schwarzel was a member of the team that won a group competition and split another $3 million.

That same weekend on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy won the prestigious RBC Canadian Open and took home a relatively modest $1.5 million.

Rethinking golf

The wealth of its prize money was not the only way in which LIV tried to differentiate itself from the PGA Tour. The Saudi-backed league marketed itself as a modernized version of the game, with events marked by raucous music, a relaxed dress code and new playing formats, including a team-based competition.

The league’s name comes from the Roman numerals that make up the number 54 — a reference to the number of holes played in the league’s tournaments, which consist of three rounds of 18 holes each. By contrast, PGA Tour events last for four rounds and 72 holes, though many of the lowest-performing participants are eliminated, or “cut,” at the halfway point.

After its initial tournament in 2022, the PGA announced that any of its members who had participated would be suspended and blocked from playing in future PGA-sponsored events.

However, as the year went on, a steady stream of players began migrating to the new league. And because the PGA does not sponsor some of the sport’s most significant tournaments, including the Masters Tournament and the U.S. Open, LIV players were not barred from them, and several finished in the top ranks.

This May, after LIV player Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship — which is sponsored by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, not the PGA Tour — many connected to the sport began to wonder if it would remain financially viable for the PGA Tour to continue suspending players of his caliber.

Work to be done

The answer, which became clear on Tuesday, was that it would not.

The leaders of the PGA Tour had swallowed their concerns about being associated with Saudi Arabia and agreed to a merger. The deal will leave the PGA Tour’s Monahan as CEO of the as-yet-unnamed new entity, with PIF’s Al-Rumayyan as chairman of the board.

Even with the deal signed, there appears to be a significant amount of work to be done to repair the damage the yearlong schism has inflicted on the sport.

Many players who remained loyal to the PGA Tour declined tens of millions of dollars each in signing bonuses offered by LIV, as well as the opportunity to play in its big-money tournaments. LIV CEO Norman last year told The Washington Post that Tiger Woods, tied for first in total career PGA Tour victories, turned down a sum that was “mind-blowingly enormous; we’re talking about high nine digits.”

For those players, having their loyalty rewarded with a surprise merger that invites LIV golfers back into PGA Tour events will likely be a bitter pill, and one that could threaten a successful reintegration.

Fortunato of Fordham told VOA he expects that LIV golfers will face some sort of penalty, most likely a fine. But he said that won’t make up for the fact that many of them earned windfall profits from their brief association with the league — money that other golfers consciously decided to forego.

“I want to see what they do for Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, who stuck with [the PGA] through all of this,” Fortunato said. “Do they do something further for those guys? It would have to be substantial. We’re talking about millions of dollars.”
…

your ad here

Former VP Pence Denounces Trump in Launching Presidential Bid

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeUS

Several more challengers this week have jumped into the Republican race to try to thwart former President Donald Trump from capturing the party’s presidential nomination for a third consecutive time.

There is former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Trump rival-turned-ally turned foe again. A current governor, billionaire Doug Burgum of North Dakota, also has launched his campaign. And on Wednesday, Trump’s longtime loyal vice president, Mike Pence, announced an unprecedented quest to defeat his former boss. He wasted no time denouncing Trump in a manner he had assiduously avoided.

“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Pence said in his first presidential campaign appearance on Wednesday in Iowa.

“And anyone who asks someone to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” he said.

When pro-Trump protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, there were chants of “Hang Mike Pence” because of the vice president’s refusal to follow the president’s demand that he derail the electoral formality of declaring Biden the 2020 election victor.

“On that fateful day, President Trump’s words were reckless. He endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol,” Pence said at the midday rally at the Future Farmers of America Enrichment Center in Ankeny.

Conservative credentials

Pence, who is without a hint of any scandal, ticks a lot of conservative Republican boxes on the economy and foreign policy issues. He is a white evangelical Christian, a core constituency of the party. And he is out to portray himself as the most conservative of all the party’s candidates on social issues, such as abortion.

“After leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race are retreating from the cause of the unborn,” said Pence during Wednesday’s campaign launch event.

Why then is Pence polling in the low single digits among Republicans and far behind Trump’s closest challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis?

“This is not electing a pastor or a minister,” said Karen Hult, chairperson of the political science department at Virginia Tech, a public university in Blacksburg.

“This is about electing someone who is doing in the office what you want a president to do, and what Mr. Trump has been able to do, in terms of his judgeship appointments, positioning against, for example, continued U.S. support for the war in Ukraine, and his ability to focus more on the populism rather than on some of the old fiscal conservatism of the Republican Party,” she told VOA.

The vice presidency diminished Pence “even more than it has diminished most vice presidents,” according to Jeremy Mayer, an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia.

On Wednesday, Pence said he was proud of the record of the “Trump-Pence administration,” such as its judicial appointments.

“President Donald Trump demanded extreme loyalty to the point of obsequiousness,” Mayer told VOA. “There are so many videos of Mike Pence saying the most obsequious things to Trump, about Trump. No previous vice president had to put himself so low. Not even Hubert Humphrey with Lyndon Johnson had to put himself down so much by elevating the president.”

In his harsh remarks about Trump at the Iowa event, Pence sought to begin erasing some of that image.

“Trump has transformed the party,” Mayer said. “You see the people that want to replace Trump, like Ron DeSantis — he’s heading into populism and wading into culture wars. And Mike Pence can do that in terms of substance. He can talk about the policies of the culture war. But what he can’t do, so far, has not shown us, is the ability to be a populist in tone. And that’s what the Republican Party is looking for after Trump.”

‘Breakout skills’

Pence “doesn’t seem to have the breakout skills that you would expect, like Nikki Haley or Tim Scott,” two Republican candidates from the state of South Carolina running for president, according to Mayer.

Haley, born to Sikh parents from India, is a former governor and Trump appointee as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Scott, who grew up in working-class poverty, is the first Black Republican elected to any office in the state since the 19th century and is a current U.S. senator.

Pence is likely to remain a long shot for the party’s nomination unless the campaigns of both Trump and DeSantis falter, Hult predicted.

“It’s not impossible for all kinds of missteps or criminal indictments or a range of other things [to] begin to rain down on Mr. Trump. Maybe Governor DeSantis continues to make at least some missteps,” Hult said.

Only two vice presidents, who had been out of office, have made it back to the White House by election. Republican Richard Nixon did it with his victory over Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat, in 1968. The second time was three years ago when Joe Biden, as the Democratic Party nominee, defeated incumbent Trump, also sending Pence packing.

Whatever happens in next year’s Republican primary election, Pence has already made history, becoming the first former U.S. vice president to directly challenge his onetime running mate.
…

your ad here

EU, US Tell Kosovo to Back Down in Serb Standoff or Face ‘Consequences’

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeEU

The United States and the European Union told Kosovo on Wednesday to back down in a tense standoff with Serbs in the north of the country or face “consequences” from its longtime Western allies.

The warnings came as U.S. and EU envoys concluded visits to Kosovo and Serbia to calm tensions that flared into violence last week, wounding dozens of NATO peace-keeping soldiers and Serb protesters in northern Kosovo.

The violence erupted after Kosovo authorities installed ethnic Albanian mayors in municipal offices. The mayors were elected on a turnout of just 3.5% after Serbs, who form a majority in the region, boycotted local polls.

U.S. envoy to the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar said that Kosovo must give greater autonomy to the Serb-majority municipalities if it wants to move closer to joining NATO and the EU.

“The actions taken or not taken could have some consequences that will affect parts of the relationship (between Kosovo and the United States). I don’t want to get there,” Escobar told Kosovo media on Tuesday before going to Belgrade.

He and the EU’s Miroslav Lajcak did not elaborate on what other consequences Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s ethnic Albanian-dominated government might face if it did not accede to their demands.

“I don’t think that these things are resolved with pressure and by mentioning consequences and even sanctions,” Kurti told reporters on Wednesday.

“We have challenges with EU and U.S. envoys, but our bilateral relations with the EU and U.S. are excellent.”

Lajcak said on Monday that the envoys presented proposals to Kurti to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo, adding they had a “long, honest, difficult discussion.”

Fresh municipal elections

The United States and the EU have called on Kurti to withdraw the mayors from their offices and to pull out the special police units that helped install them form the northern municipalities.

They have also called for fresh local elections to be held in the north, with Serb participation, and for Kosovo to implement a 2013 agreement to set up an association of Serb municipalities to give that community more autonomy.

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani told Reuters that the country could hold fresh elections in those municipalities if 20% of voters sign a petition asking for them.

A senior official in Kosovo told Reuters that Western nations — which have been staunch backers of the country’s independence since it formally broke with Serbia in 2008 — had warned Kurti that Kosovo could face multiple punitive measures.

Last week, Washington canceled the country’s participation in a U.S.-led military exercise, Defender Europe.

EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said Lajcak would report back to foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who would then consult with EU member countries.

He said that “only then they will discuss potential next steps or measures depending on whether the parties undertake sincere and immediate steps to de-escalate or not.”

NATO has around 4,000 troops in Kosovo and ordered in an extra 700 as a response to the flare-up in violence.
…

your ad here

AI Poses New Threat to Integrity of Kenyan University Students’ Work

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeAF

Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT are presenting problems in Kenya’s education system, as in so many others. Some writers who offer academic assistance to students say AI tools are cutting into their business, while professors worry students have new ways to cheat. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
…

your ad here

Parents of California Elementary School Children Protest Pride Event 

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeUS

Parents of children at a Los Angeles elementary school protested a book that discusses families that include LGBTQ parents. They also protested a Pride Month gathering at the school. But counterprotesters joined in the demonstrations, too. Angelina Bagdasaryan reports, with Anna Rice narrating. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian .
…

your ad here

Nigerian Immigrant Becomes New Mayor of Colorado Springs

Posted on 06/07/2023 by SeeUS

Nigerian immigrant Yemi Mobolade is the new mayor of Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the western U.S. state of Colorado. VOA’s Haruna Shehu has this story from his inauguration. Video editing by Kim Dickens and Jon Spier.
…